Page 84 of Slow Burn
We drove by a lot.
Opportunity.
Sally’s story was that Lydia had said something to Frank, and that had put Jocelyn’s eye on him. Knowing what she now didabout the bar back then, it wasn’t exactly Lydia’s scene. So why was she there?
An alibi?
She needed to talk to Cole. Resolving things from their fight that morning could wait. Once she got another look at her notes, they could talk it through. He wasn’t so tied to the whole thing, someone with a clear head. Too much was swirling in her mind to do it herself.
She pulled to the curb in front of the Nail, hoping Cole would be in there, would open the door for her despite everything. She pounded on it just in case he was upstairs and wouldn’t hear her, but it wasn’t necessary. It swung open after only a few seconds.
“Cole, I—” She stopped dead. “Frank?”
“Hey, Jossie.” He pulled the door wider, looking briefly behind her.
Her heart stuttered. “Where’s Cole?”
“Upstairs. I asked if I could talk to you about some things. Said I could wait here for you.”
Her stomach flipped, but she figured it was the heaviness in his demeanor about what he wanted to talk about. Their last conversation hadn’t exactly been warm and fuzzy. Cole wouldn’t have let Frank in if he didn’t think he was worth listening to.
Jocelyn stepped inside. A scent she couldn’t place hung in the air, tugging at her attention, but the hollow quiet pressed harder—an emptiness that echoed in the cage of her ribs. Her heart still pulsed with the urgency she’d felt on her way here, but whatever Frank had to say might help her clear things up. After all, he was the one Lydia had singled out that night.
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, peeking back toward the stairs.
He was breathing hard when she turned back, his hands hanging limply at his sides. He looked thin and hollow.
She pulled in a breath. “Frank?”
“Jossie, I’m so sorry.”
Pressure was a fist against her sternum. “Why are you sorry, Frank?”
Frank stared at her, looking so resigned that she knew she would hear something she wasn’t going to like.
She moved toward the stairs, but Frank moved with her. “Cole?” she called up, not letting her gaze leave Frank’s.
“Jossie—“
“Don’t.” She held a hand up to stop him, her throat threatening to close.
This man couldn’t be a murderer. She didn’t want him to be the one responsible. Maybe it was something else, but surely he didn’t do anything to harm her mama. If he had done something, Cole never would’ve let him inside. She just knew it.
“I loved your mama so much,” Frank said, the strangling sound of a sob threatening to break through.
The words scored her. It sounded too much like a confession of something more.No, please, no.
“But she didn’t love me. Not as much.” Frank swallowed. “It was always Daniel for her.” A bitter edge crept into his voice, and the shock of it snapped up her spine.
He looked at her then. “He was there that day. Did you know?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “When I found out, all I saw was red.”
Her pulse throbbed. “Did you confront her?” she asked, everything she thought she knew teetering over an edge. She’d been asking the questions, but she wasn’t sure she was ready now. Not when she was alone.
Where the hell was Cole?
