Page 67 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“He is,” Luca verified.

That brought on more sobbing from Tara. “He’s dead,” the woman said and she kept babbling it. “You didn’t have to kill him.”

“I beg to differ,” Slater spoke up. “He was about to shoot Luca and me.”

Tara sucked in a hard breath, nearly choking on it, and she shook her head while tears streamed down her cheeks. “This is all Nathan’s fault. Manny and I wouldn’t have gotten mixed up in this if it weren’t for him.”

“She’s been Mirandized,” Duncan informed them. “And she’d obviously decided not to remain silent.”

“I want the world to know what Nathan did,” Tara snarled. “All of this is his fault.”

“How so?” Bree asked.

“Because he started up things with that woman. Brighton,” she snapped out like profanity. “Nathan must have known that Manny was still sniffing around her, but that didn’t stop him. So, Manny decided to go to Brighton’s place to confront her. I followed him because, well, because.”

“You were in love with him,” Bree provided.

“Yes,” Tara readily admitted, “and I was hoping once Manny saw Nathan and Brighton together that it would get her out of his system. It didn’t.” Her voice broke and she began to cry again. “Everything got messed up.”

“How?” This time it was Luca who pressed for more details.

“A heated argument. Brighton said some horrible things about both Manny and Nathan.” She paused. “Nathan slapped her, and Manny stepped in. A fight broke out, but then Brighton attacked Manny. She was punching, and I tried to stop her.”

“Who actually killed her?” Bree asked.

“Nathan,” she snapped but then shook her head. “Both Manny and Nathan. It was awful. Everything was out of control, and Brighton wouldn’t hush. She just kept telling Nathan and Manny that they were pathetic losers. She said she was going to file charges against both of them for assault and stalking.”

“Only one of them stabbed her to death,” Duncan snapped.

Tara shook her head. “Both of them did. Manny lost it. He just lost it, and he grabbed a knife from her kitchen counter. It seemed to go on forever, and she didn’t die. She just kept fighting and clawing at them. Then, Nathan shoved Manny aside and finished it.”

So, Nathan was the killer. But Manny and Tara were accessories.

“Nathan said Manny and I would be charged with murder if we went to the cops,” Tara went on. “He said as accomplices that we’d get the same sentence as if we’d actually killed her. I looked it up, and it’s true.”

Yes, it was. And while it likely wouldn’t have been a capital murder charge had they reported it, they still would have ended up with life sentences.

“Nathan took Brighton’s top because he said it would have all of our DNA on it,” Tara added. “He said that was his assurance that we wouldn’t try to save our own skins.”

Bree shook her head. “So, you created a pact of silence. How did my mother fit into that? And my father?”

Tara’s denial was fast and frantic. “We didn’t kill your father. I swear. We were all stunned when it happened.”

Maybe. But it was possible that Nathan was faking his reaction. Then again, he had denied killing her father when he’d been holding her at gunpoint.

“Your mother, well, we took her,” Tara said. “Or rather Shannon and Aubrey did. Manny set that up, but he messedup by using Nathan’s real name. Nathan was so mad and threatened Manny and me until Manny fixed it by linking it to some offshore account deal.”

Manny had hidden those steps well. His business experience had likely helped with that.

“Your mother was continuing to dig and had made the connection between Brighton and the bar,” Tara went on. “Manny and Nathan were worried she might learn the truth. So, we took her and thought we could somehow set her up for Brighton’s murder, but we found out she had an ironclad alibi.”

Hearing that gave Bree a fresh slam of fury. “So, you what...just decided to hold her captive?”

Tara nodded. “Nathan knew you were digging, too, and he wanted to be able to use your mother as leverage.” She swallowed hard. “Your son, too. He said you’d cooperate with anything if we had your son.”

This time, it was more than fury. It was a whirl of sickening disgust at this trio who hadn’t wanted to take responsibly for what they’d done.

“But Nathan wanted more than my cooperation,” Bree pointed out. “He told me he was going to frame me for Brighton’s murder.”

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