Page 82 of Hey, Daddy

“John was in on it?” Nastya rasped.

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I…I don’t…”

John was solid.

I would’ve never, ever suspected him.

“I don’t think he was doing anything willingly.” Lev shifted over and showed off his screen. Hundreds of phone calls werecoming in from a burner phone starting on Saturday, when the FBI agent showed to let us know that he thought we had a serial killer murder on our hands.

Hundreds of texts went out, too.

All of them were the same.

John:

Is she okay?

2143903300:

For now.

“Who is ‘she?’” Shasha asked.

“John was a love ’em and leave ’em kind of man. He had a fiancée once, but she left him after she asked him to quit his job, and John refused. I know that John still loves—loved—her. I imagine that, if he was this worried about anyone, it would be her,” I explained.

“Enough to kill your girl over?” Lev questioned.

I rubbed at the spot where I felt the physical ache in my chest before saying, “I think he’d do just about anything for her. She was the love of his life. The almost mother of his child. The one that got away. He knew everything that happened in her life because he couldn’t let her go. So yes, I think if she was threatened, it wouldn’t matter that Nastya was the one to pay the price, as long as she remained okay.”

“And who is this woman?” Auden asked.

I scrubbed at my face. “Her name is Sutton Barlowe.”

“Are we sure that this Sutton Barlowe isn’t in on this?” Dima questioned.

I opened my mouth and then closed it before starting again. “Well, I would’ve said that John wouldn’t do anything like that ever, either. But at this point, I don’t know which way is up.”

“I…” Lev paused and frowned, his gaze going to the computer screen with such intensity that it made my heart leap.

He started typing away at his computer furiously, then the video feed from Nastya’s apartment was back.

She caught my hand and held it, and I felt her all but bury her face into the space between my back and the couch cushion.

“What…” Auden said, then trailed off when the door opened and two people came inside.

The crime scene technicians were still there, combing through all the evidence.

However, the two newcomers…

One was Senator Kennedy, and the other was a man that I’d never seen before.

They spoke in low tones, but the camera that I picked up was phenomenal.

But even if I hadn’t picked it up, the audio equipment would have.

“Think it worked?” the senator asked the new man.

Nastya’s head jerked up and she stared at the screen.

---