Page 8 of Temptation (Temptation 1)

I nodded. “That about sums it up. And now she’s dead.”

“And you think it’s your fault.”

“I don’t know what to think, Nikko.”

A moment of silence passed between us as I peered into the distance, my picturesque surroundings at complete odds with the darkness invading my soul.

“She called me that night,” I confessed.

“What night? When Piper—”

“No. Claire called me the night she died, but I sent it to voicemail. I wasn’t busy. It was an off day for the team. And I’d just pitched, so I wasn’t scheduled to start for another few games. I easily could have picked up the phone and talked to her.”

“But you didn’t.”

I slowly shook my head, blinking back the tears threatening. “I didn’t want to fight again. Didn’t want to hear if she’d somehow uncovered definitive proof Piper had been cheating. Now I’ll never know why she called. The message she left was mostly static.”

“Can I listen?” Nikko asked hesitantly.

I pinched my lips together, unsure I could stomach listening to Claire’s voice, knowing I’d never hear it again. It was one of the things that tipped me over the edge as I answered questions after identifying Claire’s body. I’d told those detectives everything — about our conversation two months ago, Piper’s death five years ago, the voicemail Claire left mere hours before her death. The detective’s insinuation that perhaps she’d made the choice to end her life because of the trauma she’d suffered the night Piper died was the last straw, making me realize they weren’t going to take my sister’s death seriously.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I scrolled to my voicemail, drawing in a breath to prepare myself. Then I hit play. Static and interference sounded from the speakers, followed by Claire’s disjointed voice.

“Sor…love…but…think…bigger…years…Lucretia…”

“Hold up,” Nikko said excitedly. “Was that a name?”

I nodded. “Lucretia.”

“Do you know anyone by that name?”

“Not that I can recall.”

“Did Claire?”

I simply shrugged. “No idea.”

He worried his bottom lip. I could practically see the wheels in his head turning. “The detective you landed in the hospital… I’m going out on a limb here and guessing he claimed it was nothing.”

“Just the ramblings of a clearly unstable woman.” I gritted out a smile.

“And this is why you don’t think Claire committed suicide?”

“Do you think she’d do that?”

He slowly shook his head. “I don’t.”

“I get that all the evidence points to her taking her own life, just like all the evidence pointed to Caleb breaking into our house that night. But what if Claire was right? What if someone else broke into the house? What if she figured out who and that person silenced her before she could go to the authorities?”

“It’s a stretch, Lachlan,” Nikko offered after a moment. “But not completely unlikely. I’ve seen stranger things.”

“I just… I need to know the truth.” I met his eyes, my voice strong, despite the gentle quiver. “About Claire… And Piper.”

Nikko placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll figure it out.”

I arched a brow. “We?”

“Unofficially, of course,” he clarified. “At least until we have something concrete and indisputable.”

---