Living Lies (23 page)

“I put a lot of work into that.” Nate stepped out from the shadows and Haley’s breath clogged in her throat. “Worth every moment though. Many a night, while you were fucking Lawson, I was thinking about you.”

“How did you get these?” Except for the most recent photos, the rest had been in a cardboard box at her mother’s.

“I visited Claire the day your sister was away. She and I looked at the pictures together. When she went to lie down, I helped myself to my favorites. She won’t mind. The others I took whenever I came back to see Erin. I’ve been watching you for a long time, Haley.”

He took a step toward her. She took a step back, edging closer to the door. He smiled, clearly amused.

“Where will you go?” he asked. “You’ve no shoes, no coat. It looks cold out.” He took another step forward.

Haley glanced at the door and then back at the man who inched closer to her by the second. Barefoot and naked, she thought, then turned and ran.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Haley burst through the door into the black night. Her stocking feet sank into the wet, cold snow, but she ignored the slow numbing burn and ran. Without direction or thought, gripped with a nearly blinding panic, she fled past a decrepit barn, down the driveway, toward the road.

Her feet thudded against the fresh snow in time with her heart, the only sound reaching her over her own ragged breathing until the dry rev of a car engine ripped through the night. She didn’t dare look back. Instead, she ran faster.

The engine grew louder, and the snow-covered ground around her glowed under the glare of the truck’s headlights. Was he going to run her down? She’d never reach the road before he caught her.

She veered right, leaping over the high snow bank at the driveway’s edge. Her foot caught on a jagged outcrop of snow-covered ice, sending her tumbling down and knocking the wind from her as effectively as a kick in the gut.

Gasping, she scrambled to her feet. Her legs sinking in the much-deeper snow. Blood pounded inside her head as she struggled forward, her movements slow and sluggish as though she were running under water.

A thud followed by a high pitched whine made her turn sharply. In his attempt to follow her, Nate had driven his truck onto snow bank and lodged it there. The tires spun uselessly as the truck rocked forward and back on its narrow perch. A small fragment of relief flickered inside her until the driver side door opened and Nate climbed out. His long legs moving through the snow much faster than her height would allow.

Haley turned and forced herself to pick up her pace. Her small lead wouldn’t be enough to elude him. The field sloped gently downward, and through the falling snow she caught a glimpse of light. Warm, yellow and definitely electric. A house.

She could make it, she would escape. All she had to do was get there. Then she could call the police and Nate Johnson would spend the rest of his life rotting in prison.

Her breath left her lungs in a small yelp as something smashed into her and sent her sailing through the air. She landed hard, skidding over the snow like a human toboggan. Nate landed across her legs.

Gasping for air, Haley tried to wriggle out from under him, but he scrambled over her, using his body to press her deep into the snow. His fingers gripped her hair tightly, and her scalp came alive with a sharp tearing pain. He pulled her head back and pressed the cold barrel of a gun to the side of her head.

“Enough,” Nate panted, his voice furious and harsh. “We’re going back, and if you try anything like this again, I’ll have no choice. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

Would she regret that decision later? Was it better to stand and fight while she still could? And wouldn’t a quick death now be better than what waited for her inside?

No, don’t think like that. Play it smart.

Nate pulled her roughly to her feet. With one hand he gripped her elbow and pulled her toward the driveway, keeping the gun leveled at her with the other.

She was shivering nearly uncontrollably by the time they reached the house, her clothes soaked and cold against her skin. She wrapped her arms around her middle and her teeth chattered.

“You should be afraid,” Nate said. The anger had left his voice and he sounded like an annoyed parent. “What you did was very foolish. I’m disappointed in you.”

I’m not too thrilled with you either.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“You need to understand,” Nate said, shoving her inside. He turned the bolt in the door. “Don’t try anything stupid.”

He stepped around her, sat down on the sofa, facing the glowing fireplace and unlaced his boots. Haley didn’t move. She stayed shivering and dripping on the hallway floor, searching for an escape.

“I love you, Haley,” Nate said, pulling off one boot, then the other. His words made her stomach turn. Her gaze jumped around the room. There had to be a way out. “I didn’t realize right away, but all along you were the one.”

“You sent the flowers and the card?” Haley asked, though she already knew the answer.

“Did you like them?”

“Just like you sent flowers and cards to Michelle.”

“Michelle was a mistake,” Nate said. “I was wrong about her. It was you.”

“Was my father’s first wife a mistake also?” Haley couldn’t keep the derision from her voice. Even beneath the layers of fear, anger throbbed hot and strong.

“No. She got what she deserved. She should never have tried to come between your father and me.”

His words were spoken like a jealous lover rather than a close friend.

“Is that why you killed her?”

He was quiet for a moment his eyes hard and measuring. “I don’t like your tone, Haley.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Really? I don’t like being attacked at the side of the road and dragged somewhere against my will. And I especially I don’t like having guns pointed at my head.”

He stood and came toward her. Still shivering she backed up, but the wall behind her wouldn’t let her go any farther. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you like that, but Lawson threw me off. He nearly ruined everything. I almost lost you.”

A smile touched Nate’s mouth, his eyes looked far away and frightening. He ran his fingertips down the side of her face and she tried not to shudder in revulsion. “No,” she said.

He frowned.

Be careful, be very careful.
“I don’t understand what all of this is about.”

He smiled warm and guileless. “You need to get out of those wet things.”

Somehow she managed to keep from throwing up on the spot. “Not yet.” She edged away from him. “I’ll sit here by the fire.” The orange light from the hearth flickered over the dark metal of the gun on the table as she sunk onto the ottoman next to the fireplace. If she could grab the weapon, she could get the upper hand. She tensed, ready to spring, but relaxed again as Nate sat on the sofa opposite her. She couldn’t beat him to the gun. He was closer.

“Why did you kill my father’s first wife and Michelle? Help me to understand.” Her gaze flicked from his face, to the gun then back to his face.

He smiled at her like he would sometimes when she had said something that amused him. The way an uncle smiled at a favorite niece. Not the way a madman smiled at a potential victim. How could any of this be happening? How could Nate have murdered her sister?

“She tried to come between us.” His expression darkened and the madman who hit her and dragged her here clouded his features.

“How?”

“Darren and I were like brothers. Maybe not by blood, but we were as close as people can be without sharing the same parents. Closer, maybe. We grew up together, did everything together. Then he met Eleanor and everything changed. He moved away and left me.”

“You were jealous.”

“Shut up,” he snarled, suddenly furious. For a second, her heart ceased to beat. “I wasn’t jealous. That’s nonsense, but I knew what was best for Darren, and that wasn’t Eleanor with all her plans.”

She met his blazing stare. “You killed her?”

“She got what she deserved. She thought she was so much better than the rest of us. But she learned.”

“No one found her.”

“And no one will,” he snapped.

She nodded and swallowed, a feat all on its own considering her throat had shriveled to the size of a pin. He had been obsessed with her father. But why murder Michelle? And why had he suddenly fixated on her?

“So Dad came here?” Haley asked, cautiously.

“I told him that would be best. He was upset that Eleanor had left him. That her family had accused him of murder, but I knew he would get over it. I helped him to start again. I introduced him to Claire, she was a friend of Joan’s. We opened the store together. In the end, I was right. He was happy, with his friends and family.”

“Yes he was, until Michelle disappeared.”

He looked at her sharply. “You didn’t know your sister the way I did.”

“And how did you know her?” Though she doubted very much she really wanted to hear.

“I thought she and I were meant to be together. Since she was about sixteen, and I would see her at the store. She shared your father’s goodness. I knew she was for me. She needed someone to guide her, just as your father had. I thought she needed me, but I was wrong. She wasn’t good at all.”

“Is that why you killed her? She didn’t meet your expectations?” She knew she sounded accusatory, but she couldn’t help herself.

“First Lawson then Williams and then Lawson again behind Williams’s back. She was a little slut.”

“That was a rumor,” Haley snapped. “And even if it had been true, who were you to judge, lusting after a sixteen-year-old girl.”

In a flash Nate stood, the back of his hand connected with her already-bruised cheek. Pain exploded in her face, searing up the side of her head as she tumbled from the ottoman.

“Why do you make me do this?” Nate’s voice had turned almost shrill. “I don’t want to hurt you, Haley. I love you.”

Trembling , Haley shrank away from the madman towering over her. Would he kill her now? Had she pushed too far? She needed to keep her mouth shut and her temper in check.

Nate turned away from her and started pacing, muttering to himself as he did. His mind was gone. How did he manage to go through life fooling people? Fooling her?

“She was pregnant.” Nate stopped pacing and looked directly at her. “She told me. She actually believed that would make a difference.”

“Is that why you killed her?”

“I loved her,” Nate said. “I thought we were meant to be together.”

Nate resumed his pacing as Haley shifted back onto the ottoman. She slid the seat closer to the table before sitting down, and prayed he wouldn’t notice.

“She wouldn’t have me, though.” Nate stopped again, looked at her. “She was carrying a child and didn’t know who the father was, but she wouldn’t have me.”

With her toes, Haley gripped the wood floor and slid the ottoman closer. The legs scraped against the wood and she tried not to cringe.

“I was so wrong,” Nate took a step toward her. Haley froze. “It wasn’t Michelle I was meant to be with. It was you. You are so like your father. I didn’t see it before. You were young and not as outgoing as she was, but you’re good like him. You need someone to keep you safe and protect you.”

He moved between her and the coffee table—her and the gun—and bent down. Gripping both her shoulders, he pulled her to her feet. He smelled of perspiration.

“I’ve thought of you, of this, for so long.” He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to hers, grinding her already-swollen lips against her teeth. She twisted her head away and those cold reptilian lips fell on her neck. Her stomach heaved, but she fought the nearly instinctual need to shove him away.

Michelle had rejected him, and he’d killed her for it. Despite the terror and loathing writhing inside her, she had to be smart. She had to stay calm.

When his fingers fumbled with the fly of her jeans all thoughts of smart and calm flew out the window. She pushed away from him hard. His furious eyes met hers.

With her heart thundering against her chest she wracked her brain for an excuse, something to stall him. To buy her time. To get her closer to the gun.

“Not yet,” she said. Just saying the words made her cold. “Not like this. It’s too fast. I need a little time to digest everything you’ve told me.”

Nate released her almost instantly. Relief flooded through her system making her knees weak. She sank back down to the ottoman. For a moment or two, Nate stayed where he was, standing over her, searching her face with his narrow gaze.

“This is a surprise for you,” Nate said at last. Then he smiled. “I’ve been in love with you for so long, I forget this is new for you.”

“How long?” How long had she trusted him as friend while he’d been obsessively planning for this moment?

“Just before I left Hareton. I was getting ready to tell you, but Joan got sick. I may not have loved her, but she’d been a good wife to me and deserved to have me with her during her final years.”

“You were gone for six years,” she said stunned.

“I tried to visit, but Joan’s illness made it difficult for me to get away. I might have ended her suffering sooner if that damn sister of hers hadn’t always been hovering.” Bitterness turned his voice hard, then he smiled brightly. “But I knew you would be here waiting for me. Someone had to take care of Claire.”

Haley sat stunned. No wonder he’d been so cooperative when she’d bought out his half of the store. One more thing to keep her tied to Hareton, and available for him. But she hadn’t been available the whole time. “I was engaged to Jason.”

The smile vanished and Haley tensed waiting for him to hit her again, but he didn’t. “He’s lucky your sister helped him show his true colors, otherwise I would have had to deal with him.”

For the first time, Haley thought so too. Jason might have been a fickle bastard, but she hated to think what Nate might have done to him.

“And I forgive you for him, Haley. Just like I’ve forgiven you for Lawson.”

Her throat tightened. Had Nate dealt with Dean the same way he’d planned to deal with Jason? She glanced at the gun, but Nate took a step toward her.

“Wait.” She held up her hand to stop him. “I still have questions. I know this may be difficult to talk about, but Michelle was my sister.”

“Of course, you want to know about Michelle.” He sat down again on the couch. “I’ve always regretted having to keep what happened to Michelle a secret, but I know it was for the best. Your parents would have been devastated to learn what Michelle had become.”

Haley forced herself to keep her tone even, to bite back on the furious words bubbling in her throat. God, she hated the man before her. She’d never known she was capable of such intense loathing.

What kind of person could justify murdering a pregnant twenty-one year old woman and believe that he had done the right thing? How could he convince himself that he had done her family a favor by keeping the truth from them for more than a decade? The sincerity in his voice, in his expression, his firm belief that Michelle had gotten exactly what she deserved was horrifying.