Page 141 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“She couldn’t have done it by herself. You’re right about that.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

“The person who made the bomb did it with your tools, wearing your clothes. We kept all that stuff, along with hair Jane collected for us. All that evidence will be sent to the police station tomorrow.”

Again, he studied the body that lay behind Brent. “Why?” He sounded perplexed, hurt. “Why would she do that?”

“She needed an alibi. She was going to ask you to tell the police she was with you tonight.”

Michael closed the distance between them so fast that Brent barely had time to step back. “It was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“I was trying to keep her out of prison.”

“Nice going. If only you’d tried as hard to keep her out of the grave.”

The words hit their mark.

Brent stumbled back. His legs suddenly felt like jelly, and he barely kept himself from falling backward. Over the cliff and tohis own death. He went to his knees, then leaned onto his hands and vomited.

His body was beginning to understand what had happened.

It would take his mind and heart some time to catch up.

When he sat back on his heels, Michael was still standing there, glaring down at him. “So, you and my wife—and Dean, I guess—decided to blow up… Was it the lumber company?”

Brent said nothing, but Michael had put it together.

“Her plan was for me to meet her here, then go home with her as if we’d been together the whole night. She was going to blackmail me into telling the police she’d been with me. Do I have that right?”

Brent just nodded.

“And then, what? We’d go on with our lives?” He scoffed, shook his head. “No. You knew I wouldn’t be able to live with it. I’d leave her, and you’d step in. You did all this”—he gestured as if he could encompass all the horrible events in the sweep of his arm—“as one big elaborate scheme to steal my wife.”

Brent crawled away from the vomit and forced himself to stand on shaky legs.

“And now she’s gone,” Michael said.

Brent couldn’t stand the condemnation he saw on the other man’s face. He averted his gaze, then caught sight of the glow in the forest below.

A fire.

Caused by the explosion.

Caused by thebomb.

Had they found the woman’s body yet?

There were no secrets between them now. Michael needed to know it all. Then, hopefully, he’d do the right thing.

Do right by Brent, anyway.

“The building wasn’t empty.”

Michael’s eyes widened.

“We’d agreed not to do it if there was anybody there, but Jane…” He closed his eyes against the memory of her face when she’d run from the building. The pure unadulterated joy he’d seen. “She decided to do it anyway.”

“You should have stopped her.”

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