Page 65 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“You were having an affair.”

He met her eyes again. “It’s not something I’m proud of. Certainly not something I run around telling people.”

“Of course not. Your girlfriend murdered a woman. I’m sure you did your best to keep that on the down low.”

He winced, but Aspen wasn’t sorry.

Brent’s shoulders drooped. “I have nothing to gain by telling you any of this, Aspen. This story only makes me look bad.” He exhaled a long breath. “Your mother loved you, and I loved her. I’m trying to be honest with you. I wanted your mother to divorce your father. He was a nice guy, but he wanted her to fit into a box. To stay home and take care of the baby.”

As if that was too much to ask of a new mom.

“Your dad couldn’t give her the life I could. The life I wanted to give both of you. My parents had money. My dad built a business for me to take over when I graduated. I could offer her much more than your father could. Meanwhile, your dad wanted her to give up on her dreams and forget her passions. He wanted her to be somebody she could never be.”

That didn’t sound like the father Aspen had known her whole life. Maybe Brent was trying to justify his own behavior. Ormaybe Dad had changed over the years. Aspen guessed that the truth was much more complex than Brent was making it out to be.

“Jane could never have been happy in that role. Your dad didn’t understand her.”

“But you did.”

“God help me, I did. I understood her, and I loved her for who she was, and I would have married her in a heartbeat if he hadn’t beaten me to it. It was just a matter of time before she left him, and then the two of us”—he nodded to Aspen—“thethreeof us would have been together. It was selfish. I realize that now. But we were young and in love, and the fact that she had a husband…?” He shook his head. “I’m married. I have a wife I love and three kids of my own, and I realize how stupid I was. How incredibly self-absorbed your mom and I both were. But at the time…”

At the time, Aspen hadn’t mattered to this man or her own mother. At least Mom had the mental illness to blame.

“I thought you’d want to hear a different viewpoint,” he said. “I can see I’ve only upset you more, and I’m truly sorry for that. I think that, if she’d seen a psychiatrist, if she’d gotten on medication, maybe she would have left your father. Maybe she and I would have…”

He must’ve read the horror on her face. He shifted gears.

“Or maybe she would have stayed with your father, and they’d have made it work. I know he was trying very hard. I can tell you one thing. Your mother would never have set off that bomb if she’d thought there was somebody in that building. And now I’ve taken up enough of your time. I didn’t mean to upset you more.” He started to push to his feet.

“Wait.”

Seeming wary, he settled in the chair again.

“From the articles I read, after the bomb went off, the authorities immediately started looking for her.”

“She’d made so many threats?—”

“But nobody ever saw her again. She just vanished. What do you think happened to her?”

He took a long time answering. Finally, he said, “If your mother were still alive, I’d have heard from her. Again, I’m not proud of this, but if she’d contacted me, I’d have done everything in my power to protect her. She never contacted me.” Brent hung his head so long that Aspen feared he wouldn’t continue. But then he looked up and met her eyes. “I looked for her. I looked everywhere I could think of, everywhere we’d ever been together, everywhere we’d ever talked about going. I searched for her for months.”

Aspen didn’t speak, just waited for Brent to answer the question she’d asked.

“I think she heard about the woman in the building, and it destroyed her. I think she went somewhere remote, somewhere nobody would ever find her, and committed suicide. Either that or…” He pressed his lips and swallowed hard. “There’s only one other option I can think of, and I hesitate to say it.”

She couldn’t imagine what he could add that would be worse than what he’d already told her.

But then he said it, and it was so much worse.

“Or your father found out what she did, and he killed her.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THIRTY YEARS AGO.

They were six weeks out from the incident the next time they met. The Crusader was empty-handed when she followed the Builder across the dark bar to their table.

The Planner wasn’t happy. He glared at the Crusader. “You said you would bring the things.”

---