Justice for Sara (29 page)
Authors: Erica Spindler
Tags: #Contemporary Women, #General, #Romance, #Suspense, #Thrillers, #Fiction
Wednesday, June 26
3:10
P.M.
Her cell pinged again. “Give me the damn phone, Kat.”
“No.”
“You’re recording this, aren’t you?”
She was.
He saw it in her expression and held out a free hand. “Give me the fucking phone.”
“No.”
“Or I’ll kill you, then take it.”
He was going to kill her anyway. But better later than sooner.
“Slowly,” he said as she reached into her purse. She found the device, curled her fingers around it. Drew it out.
She heard sirens. He did, too. His expression went slack with panic.
“The phone, Kat.”
“Here, take it.”
She threw it at him, turned and ducked into the pantry, slammed and locked the door, backed up as far as she could. Waiting for his first kick to the wooden panel, praying it would hold.
Instead, she heard a single shot. A thud. Then shouts. Luke, calling her name.
“In here,” she shouted, fumbling with the lock. She got the door open, stumbled out and into his arms.
He held her tightly. The scene beyond was chaos. Mandeville police. Sheriff’s department.
“Don’t look,” he said. “Jeremy’s dead. You don’t want to see that.”
Kat pressed her face into his broad shoulder. “You shot him?”
“He shot himself.”
He’d had nowhere to turn.
“C’mon, let me get you out of here.”
Luke led her out, shielding her from the horror of the scene. Outside, he brought her back into the circle of his arms. “I thought I’d lost you. Scared me to death.”
The reality of it all, how close she had come to dying, came crashing down on her. She began to tremble. “I had a plan. Record his confession, lock myself in the pantry and call you.”
He tightened his arms around her. “Worst plan ever.”
And then he kissed her.
Saturday, July 20
9:06
A.M.
Kat stood at the gate and gazed at the cottage, it’s yellow once again sunny, the white trim crisp and bright, the gardens replanted, the shrubbery groomed. Restored to the way it had been.
The way Sara would have wanted it to be.
She shifted her gaze to the For Sale sign planted in the yard. She could have sold it the way it had been, ugly and broken, but that had felt very wrong.
The breeze stirred her hair, bringing the sweet smell of honeysuckle. Kat breathed it in, smiling. She’d done what she set out to do. In the process, she had found her future. And the person she wanted to spend it with.
They were leaving. She and Luke. Moving to Portland. She had her bakeries, Luke an interview with the Portland P.D. Too much water under the bridge to stay, Kat thought. Too much bad history. Not just for her, for the town as well.
Iris Bell was gone, murdered by Lilith in an attempt to silence her. Lilith and Jeremy had been exposed as the real culprits in Sara’s death, and those who had openly and vociferously convicted Kat now could not look her in the eye. Others had been exposed as well: Danny Sullivan as a compulsive gambler, a coward and a liar. Even though Kat had dropped the assault charges against him, he would never again be the man Liberty had looked up to. And the well-liked Realtor Tish Alexander was in jail, awaiting trial on arson and conspiracy charges.
Yes, Liberty needed to heal. And with her gone, maybe that would happen.
In the end, seeing Luke’s panicked text messages might have been the final straw for Jeremy. He’d read that Luke had the journal pages, and realized no amount of fast talking or legal maneuvering would have gotten him out of this.
Without those pages, Kat was convinced she would be dead. Jeremy would have shot her, then set about proving his innocence.
As Luke had said, her plan was the worst he’d ever heard.
Luke came up behind her and drew her against his chest. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” She looked up at him. “How about you? Are you sure about this?”
“Never been more certain of anything.”
“You told your mom and dad good-bye?”
He nodded. “But they promised to be out as soon as Dad is cleared to fly.”
Who would have thought the wound between her and his dad could ever be repaired? Although not completely mended, it was off to a good start.
She turned in his arms. “Let’s go, then. I’m ready.”
“Want one last look back?”
“Nope.” Kat smiled up at him. “Never again.”
Also by Erica Spindler
Watch Me Die
Blood Vines
Breakneck
Last Known Victim
Copycat
Killer Takes All
See Jane Die
In Silence
Dead Run
Bone Cold
All Fall Down
Cause for Alarm
Shocking Pink
Fortune
Forbidden Fruit
Red
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times
bestselling author ERICA SPINDLER has written thirty-one novels, including
Watch Me Die, Blood Vines, Breakneck,
and
Last Known Victim
. She lives just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband and two sons. Visit Erica online at
www.ericaspindler.com
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
JUSTICE FOR SARA.
Copyright © 2013 by Erica Spindler. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by James Iacobelli
Cover photograph @ Bill Mills
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Spindler, Erica, 1957–
Justice for Sara / Erica Spindler.—First edition.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-01252-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-25001253-1 (e-book)
1. Young women—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. Family secrets—Fiction. 4. Murder victims—Fiction. 5. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.P5436J87 2013
813'.54—dc23
2013004042
e-ISBN 9781250012531
First Edition: August 2013
