Page 144 of Jack

“Nope. Just . . . you know. Next door.”

He carried her then, back down the trail between the houses, back to the big inn on the lake, the home she’d always longed for, to the family she’d always belonged with.

Boo and Oaken stood in the parlor. Penelope sat on the sofa, cleaned up, her nose still reddened and swollen. They looked up as the group came in, Jack still carrying Harper. He put her down, his hand on her waist.

Boo came over. “You okay?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

Harper looked at Penelope. “All I can think is that Kyle faked his death.”

“But why did he come back for Penelope?”

“Because he’s the masked man.” This from Penelope, her voice tight.

And just like that, it clicked. “He was the one in Sarah Livingston’s flat. He knew about Walsh—maybe Walshwasthere, and that . . . that made Kyle crazy with jealousy.”

“Crazy enough to kill Sarah?” Oaken asked.

“Maybe it was an accident. Blunt head trauma, right?” Jack said.

“And who was in the car with you? Because you would have recognized Kyle, right?” Boo said.

Penelope nodded. “Probably the man from Turbo. A bouncer. Working for Swindle.”

“So Kyle worked for Swindle too?”

“He was a lawyer with the firm that S & W employed. According to his own testimony, he introduced Sarah to Walsh. I don’t know why Swindle wanted Sarah dead, but I think Kyle went there that night, saw that Walsh had been there—at least recently—and who knows what went down? Maybe it was an act of passion. Maybe something else.”

“Is that why he wanted to meet with you on Tuesday?” Harper asked Penelope.

“No. He met with me to give me the thumb-drive files that were on Sarah’s laptop.”

“He stole it?”

“No. I think he was trying to help her until it all went south, and then she was dead and he was a suspect.”

“Then who was the dead guy at the Motor Lodge?” Jack had retrieved a blanket and now draped it over Harper’s shoulders.

“The guy who shot Ty. Big guy—Felix Johnson. Probably followed Kyle out to Duck Lake,” Penelope said. “My guess is that he worked for Swindle too.”

“Kyle might have seen what went down in the parking lot, and when Felix returned to kill him, he reacted in self-defense.”

“So then who took you and Tommy?” Conrad directed his question to Harper.

“Kyle,” said Harper. “I didn’t recognize him in the darkness, with his glasses and hat, but my guess is that he feared Tommy could identify him.”

“And he didn’t know where Penelope was. He might have thought she got away,” Jack said.

“But it doesn’t explain who killed Sarah,” Harper said.

“Probably Kyle,” Jack said. “It’s possible he really loved Sarah. He went over to confront her and it just . . . got out of hand. He did things that he wishes he could change.”

Penelope nodded. “Maybe that’s why he wanted to talk to me?—”

“No, Penelope,” Harper said. “I think he wanted to make you disappear. He told me that he just wanted it to be over.”

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