Page 40 of A Deceitful Pact

“You killed her, ran her off the road.”The woman sounds as if she’s crying.“Michael. Speak to me. This is going too far.”

“That town is ours. We get the road, we get the power.”I assume the voice I’m listening to now is Michael Gendry’s.

“You can have the road, just reroute it, you're never going to get the Sullivan ranch. Jace Sullivan is as stubborn as you are. None of this makes any sense, you stood more chance of getting the place while Marie owned it. Now she’s dea–”

“But Marie never did own it, and neither will Jace… What if I told you that Marie Sullivan was really a nasty, little whore who cheated on her husband?”

I listen more carefully when I realize that this could be incriminating evidence.

“What if I told you that Keith knew, and ensured her bastard boy would never prosper from his family's legacy?”

“Michael?”

“The ranch belongs to Jamie, Jamie’s got no interest in cattle and horses. He’ll sell, if the price is right.”

“Then why kill Marie? Why would you run her off the road like that?”The woman, whoever she is, sounds distressed.

“That was just payback, sweetheart.”

The audio ends there, and I play back and listen to it again to make sure I heard what I think I did.

There’s no response to the message Billy sent Gendry, but I can see that it’s been read. Michael Gendry knows that Billy had this recording. My question is, does Jace Sullivan?

I turn off the phone and lock it away in my top drawer. I can’t make any rash decisions when it comes to this. The Gendrys are smart, they don’t make mistakes or leave evidence. It’s why taking them down is proving to be such a challenge. Anything I get on them needs to be handled cleverly, and this is the step forward I’ve been waiting for since I came here.

SAWYER

I’ve been calling her for three days straight, and not once has she picked up my calls. It was hard to stay away from her before, but now, knowing what condition she’s in makes it feel impossible.

She’s pregnant. She’s having my baby, and she won’t let me get close to her. The frustration of that has me wanting to tear down walls and unleash hell, but I can’t channel any of that anger onto her. She’s got enough to deal with, it’s obvious that the baby’s making her sick. I was up all night last night researching what I can do to make her feel better. Now, after a trip to the grocery and the drug store, then a stop off at Jean’s, I decide that I’m not gonna let her ignore me anymore.

It’s ten a.m. and her patrol car ain’t at the station. It must be her day off, so I drive out to her place and knock on her door. It takes her a while to answer and when she does, I smile despite the fact she looks pissed to see me

“Sawyer, what are you doing here?” She sighs.

“I picked up a few things I thought you might appreciate.” I decide to wait for her to invite me in, instead of barging past her; she’s a woman who appreciates boundaries, after all. There’s a long, awkward silence that we spend just looking at each other, and I wonder what's going on in that pretty head of hers.

“Oh, for heaven's sake, come in.” She admits defeat, opening the door wider, and I nod politely instead of saying something clever.

“You still feelin’ sick?” I ask, placing the bag on the table and pulling out a chair for her to sit down.

“Yep.” She sighs again as she takes the seat and watches me unpack all the items I picked up from Alice Walker’s store on the table in front of her.

“What is all this?” She looks up at me as if I’ve gone crazy.

“What we have here is… ginger tea, ginger cookies, ground ginger, and root”, I explain. “I messaged Jean last night and she also made these...” I pull the cake box from the bottom of the bag and open it up to reveal four fresh and delicious-smelling muffins. “They’re ginger too,” I add, in case she hadn’t figured that out yet.

Riley’s still looking confused, so I explain it to her.

“I read that ginger helps with all the feelin’ sick. Figured you might wanna give it a try.”

“Oh.” Her lips twitch into a smile as she lifts up the root from the table and examines it carefully.

“I ain’t really sure what you do with that, guess you could chew on it.” I shrug, before taking it out of her hand and placing it back on the table so I have her full attention.

“Listen, Riley, I’m worried about ya. You’re lookin’ tired, and if you're not eating properly, it’s only gonna make ya feel worse. Our ba…” The firm look she hits me with reminds me to correct myself. “Yourbaby,” I growl, “needs you to take care of yourself.”

“And you think I don’t know that?” She stands up from her chair and heads straight for the sink, gripping the basin and leaning over it.

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