Page 36 of Exposure of Murder

She placed her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry. No child should go through that. But there must have been some help available to you.”

“Well, if there was, no one volunteered.” He gave a little chuckle. “I’m not sure I would have been receptive.”

“How did Lisa fit into your life?”

Bucky closed his eyes, envisioning Lisa the first time he saw her. An angel, that was what he thought. Pale skin, light blond hair, a smile that brought tears to his eyes. He loved her from the moment she came into the foster home. She loved him, too. She always told him how wonderful he was, how he could do anything he set his mind to. Lisa believed in him. She was the only one.

“She loved me, and I knew I had found my soulmate. She wanted to wait until we graduated high school and got jobs before we got married. She wanted to be a nurse.”

Jane’s eyes got wide. “Aaand?”

He shook his head. “Not the love story ending you’re envisioning. I got caught stealing and ended up in juvie. When I got out, Lisa’s grandmother had whisked her away. I searched and searched for a year, and I finally found her in another town.”

“Then what happened?”

“She didn’t want to see me, but I persisted. Finally, she told me someone had raped her and she couldn’t be with me.” Bucky groaned. He never forgot the blank look in Lisa’s eyes, how devastated she was and how beyond angry he had been.

“I tried to convince her it didn’t matter, that I loved her. She didn’t believe me, just shut the door in my face.”

Jane wiped a tear from her face. “That is so sad. Where was Mike at the time?”

“By then, Mike was in college. But he had heard through another guy who had been in foster care with us that Lisa killed herself and that he knew who the rapist was.” He stopped. The pain he had pushed to the back of his heart came bursting through, and he didn’t trust himself to talk.

Talking a deep breath, Bucky said, “Mike remembered his name. I found the guy, told him who I was, what Lisa meant to me, and then I punched and kicked him until I was tired. Took a breath and started over. By the time…” He looked at Jane. “You don’t need to hear this.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I do. I refuse to stand back and diminish an innocent’s life to protect my own feelings.”

This woman! No wonder Mike married her. She was kind, generous, and fearless.

“By the time I finished, I had broken his nose, knocked out most of his teeth, and broke all his fingers besides kicking hisballs into his ass.” Bucky stopped and sighed. “I wanted to kill him, but I couldn’t.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.” Jane leaned over and hugged him. “Mike was lucky to have you as a friend, and I am too. So, let’s see if we can find the diary and get you some peace.”

Then she winked at him. “Then you have work to do at the barn.”

Twenty-One

Ethan drove back to the station, thoughts of Jane invading his mind.

How did one small woman keep popping up in his life when all he wanted to do was forget she existed? Besides that, she was like a kitten with claws—fierce, not backing down. He was a foot taller, had a hundred pounds on her, wore a badge, but she still got to Vanessa before he did, enjoying coffee and cookies with a potential killer.

The woman had a death wish for sure.

There was an attraction there that he didn’t understand—didn’t want—especially after Corrine.

Maybe Tanner was right when he told Ethan to snap out of his self-pity, just put himself out there and find some happiness. Hmmm. Thoughts for another day when a murder mystery wasn’t on his mind.

Several deputies were working at their desks when he got in. Nora handed him a couple of messages as he headed toward his office.

He grabbed another mug of coffee and pulled out his chair and sighed.

This case was getting stranger and stranger. They had no clear killer but lots of suspects with motives, but who most likely didn’t kill Thornton.

Ethan took a sip of coffee, swallowing the bitter brew. His mind was still on Jane and her uncanny ability to get into trouble. Damn. Why couldn’t he erase her from his mind?

No matter.

He looked at the two messages.

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