Page 39 of Baby Me

“June was nasty to Kim and your wife turned it right back around on her. Embarrassed June and put her in her place where you were concerned. She flaunted how happy you guys were and how you never even thought about June at all.”

“And?”

“My cousin was madder than a hornet comin’ out of a kicked nest. She was angrier than I’ve ever seen her or any other human for that matter. Tripp, that was the same day as the fire at your house.”

My stomach clenched tightly at what she insinuated. “You think she started that fire?”

Anna nodded. “June also went to the funeral. She watched you bury Kim and swore then that she’d get you back now that your wife was out of the way.”

“And you didn’t think to tell anyone this back then?”

“I didn’t think she was crazy enough to kill her,” Anna pleaded. “It wasn’t until I saw that look in her eyes when she was asking me about your little girl that it really started to sink in that maybe that’s exactly what she did.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I muttered before spinning around, so I could get back to Scout before she took off. When I got back to the cafeteria, Scout was still there, but so was my brother, Mack.

“I need you to remain calm when I tell Scout what I’m about to divulge. We’re in public and I can’t have you making a scene, I told my brother-in-law.”

He pulled a chair out and took a seat while keeping his eyes locked with mine. “Fuck man. This better not be what I think it is.” I tilted my head and really studied the man then. Had he always suspected June of setting the fire that killed his sister?

“I just ran into Anna,” I explained. “June’s cousin,” I added when he didn’t seem to know who Anna was.

His shoulders sagged and he turned his eyes down to the floor. “Fucking spit it all out already. It’s not like she wasn’t my number one suspect.”

“It would have been nice to have known that all those years ago,” I admitted. That was something we were going to have to discuss later, though. “Anna is worried because no one has heard from June. Her father is dying in this very hospital, giving her an excuse to hang around if she chooses to.”

“Bet her father dying right at this very moment isn’t all that coincidental,” Mack muttered. He had a point, but I needed to get all the information to Scout so she could do some digging.

“Anna said that June used to follow Kim.” Mack flinched as I said her name. It had been a good long while since either of us had spoken about her to one another. “She said that the day of the fire Kim ran into her and June at the paper. June tried to run her down verbally and Kim spouted some shit back and left. It was enough to rile June up enough that her cousin described her reaction as the angriest she had ever seen a human in her life.”

“Fucking Kim. She never could just shut up and walk away.”

“Nah, that shit isn’t on her.”

“No. It’s fucking not.”

“Not on me either, brother. I left that bitch behind in the past a long time ago.”

“Yeah, except from what I hear you’ve been running around with that fucking cunt for months now behind everyone’s back.”

“Be glad to explain that situation to you, but I thought we were just rekindling a friendship, considering she’s been married this whole time.”

“So, you weren’t dating her?”

I blew out a frustrated breath, because knowing what I did now, it killed to admit that I was. “It took that turn recently, though we hadn’t been physical yet. Then Davina came into the picture with a daughter I didn’t know was mine.”

“If that cunt gets her hands on either of Kim’s children, or Davina’s for that matter, you and I will not be okay. You invited this trouble back into all our lives by not being able to leave the trash in the past.”

“That’s not true,” Scout stated before I could agree with my brother.

“What do you mean?” I asked at the same time Mack demanded, “Explain.”

“You told me to do a deep dive on her, and since she seemed to have a problem with your kids, I pulled the surveillance we had on Star. Bagger wasn’t great about taking video proof of life for you, but his replacement was.” She turned her laptop so we could both see what was there. “Trench obviously didn’t realize there was a problem, since he probably had no clue who June was.”

“Jesus,” I hissed.

“Is that from five years ago?” Mack asked, his eyes just as wide in shock as my own had to be.

“It’s a little over four years ago.”

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