Page 46 of Caught By A Cowboy

“About what happened with your mom.” He turns back around to face me and when I see that the glass is trembling in his hand, I grab him by his lapels.

“What did he tell ya?” I knew that fucker was lying, I should never have let him go.

“That's the problem, Jace.” He shunts me away and looks real scared.

“I agreed to go to his apartment to find out, and that's when I found him.”

“Found him?” I frown.

“It was like a scene from a horror film, blood everywhere, soaked into the carpets, all over the walls. It was a massacre.”

“Wait, are you sayin’ he’s dead?” I check I’m hearing this right.

“Oh, he’s dead.” Eli‘s hands continue to shake as he raises the glass to his mouth and knocks it back.

“And where is he now?”

“Still fuckin’ dead, and rotting in that apartment he lives in above his store. What was I supposed to do? I can’t call it in to the police, not now that she’s here. I can’t have anything to do with this. It’ll destroy me.”

“Well, youdohave something to do with it Eli because he called you.”

“Exactly and, what if, whoever did this to him knows that? What if they come for me too? I told ya what happened to your mom was no fuckin’ accident. It was a warning, and it came from those Gendrys?—”

“All the Gendrys have solid alibis for that night. I checked, and checked again,” I remind him.

“And you think the Gendrys don’t have people like you and Sawyer working for them?” Eli shakes his head. “That family wants the power they used to have and they will stop at nothing to get it.”

He makes a valid point, but I still don’t think it was them who killed my mom. She may have been a kind and gentle woman but she was also strong and savvy, she would never have allowed a Gendry to get in her car.

“I need someone to take care of this.” I can tell from the way he’s looking at me that he’s never gotten his own hands dirty. If seeing death has had this effect on him, there's no way he could cause it.

“Well, if you're expecting that person to be me, you’re gonna be leaving here disappointed. I got shit of my own to deal with today,” I point out, taking the glass out of his hands and ushering him toward the door.

“Jace, Billy knew something about your mom, he was gonna tell me. Don’t you wanna know what that is?”

“Of course, I wanna fuckin’ know but, right now, I got Maddison’s parents on their way here from Denver, and I gotta explain to them that I got their daughter pregnant!”

“Maddison’s pregnant?” His eyes widen.

“She’s sixteen weeks now, and starting to show it.” I smile proudly then remember how serious this all is. “I need to be here today, but as soon as I get this sorted, we’re looking into who did this.” I open the door for him.

“Me and Isabel have been trying.” He lowers his head .“Since the wedding, actually.” The sad smile he makes has me feeling a little sorry for him.

“Look, I’m sure it’ll happen but in the meantime, you're really gonna have to do something about that body.” I haven’t got time for this.

“Doctor’s said it's too soon to be worrying that something’s wrong. That these things take time, but I ain’t getting any younger.”

“Eli, Billy’s body,” I remind him. It seems worrying about the fact he’s yet to knock up his wife has distracted him from the main focus here.

“Fuck…Billy.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head. All this is too much for him to take. How the fuck did this man become our mayor?

“Listen, my uncle knows some people, people who can help with that kinda trouble, they’re costly but they’re clean.”

“Who do you think the first person I went to was? He’s AWOL,” Eli explains and something about that puts a nasty taste in my mouth.

“Then speak to Sawyer, he has a few contacts of his own.”

I have to lower my voice when I hear Maddison coming down the stairs.

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