“Can I answer that question for you?” Sutton regained her balance from her reeling senses. Her fingers went to the blood running from her split lip.
Jared pulled out a gun his protruding belly had hidden.
“I wish you had told me he had a gun.”
“Everyone in Kentucky has a gun. I didn’t know he was carrying it around on him.” Cheryl edged closer to her for protection. The simple movement empowered Sutton. Her friend thought she was strong enough to get them out of this terrifying position.
“Tate’s on his way.”
“Good. I have a score to settle with him, too. He’s the last one on my list. I would have taken care of him the night I killed Lyle, but I wanted Knox to lock his ass up for a while.”
“You killed Lyle? Why?”
“Because, when I killed you, I wanted everyone to believe a crazy shooter was picking his victims at random.”
“You’re right about the crazy!” Cheryl yelled. “Did you kill Helen Stevens and Kyle, and shoot at Rider, too?”
“Yeah. What do you not understand? Mrs. Stevens gave you the advice to divorce me, remember? I heard them talking to you at the diner one day. That old bitch won’t be giving anyone advice anymore. Rider fucked you. I heard someone coming, or I would have gotten him. You saved me the trouble of going after Tate. Now I can kill all three of you and find you in the morning when I open the store, a love triangle gone wrong.”
“No one will believe that!”
“Why not? Everyone in town knows what the Porters are capable of. I’m surprised he’s still breathing after Kyle showed up dead. I’m disappointed in Asher and Holt; I was hoping they would take him out for me.” Jared’s evil gaze showed he had lost all reason. “Move.” He waved them out of the bathroom, pointing the gun at them.
Sutton and Cheryl gingerly stepped around Jared as he backed up, motioning them to his office. They went inside, and he shut the door behind them. He then went to a row of security screens, flicking them on.
“That’s disgusting.” Sutton couldn’t hold back her contempt when she saw one was of the bathroom.
“You want disgusting? Look at this.” Jared opened a drawer, rifling through several tapes before picking one out and putting it in a VCR. The video came up of Cheryl and Tate having sex in a bedroom.
“You put a camera in my bedroom!” Cheryl screeched.
“Shut up! You’re lucky I didn’t put this up on the internet. The only reason I didn’t was because what man would get off watching you?”
“If you watched that tape, then you saw Tate didn’t have a problem, which is more than I can say about you!”
Sutton knew Cheryl was furious and angry, but she needed her not to incite Jared any further. Sutton prayed Knox would be here soon, but with them locked in an office with no windows, she knew the chances of her and Cheryl getting out alive were small.
She sat down in the chair by Jared’s desk and started laughing helplessly.
Jared trained the gun on her. “What in the fuck are you laughing at?”
“I tried to commit suicide six years ago, and I haven’t really cared if I was alive or dead. Now, when I finally do, you’re going to kill me. Don’t you find that hilarious?”
“I don’t.” Cheryl started crying. “Why did you try to kill yourself?”
“Because my husband tried to kill me. He killed my daughter. He shot himself because he was too much of a coward to face what he had done. He was just like Jared.”
“I’m no coward. I’m not going to kill myself. I won’t have to as soon as Tate gets here. I’ll kill all three of you then take off. Diane is cooking dinner for me; she’ll be my alibi.”
The three of them watched as Tate came to the front door, trying to open it. When he couldn’t, all three of them watched as he walked around the building to the backdoor, alone and unarmed.
Jared shot the security screens and ripped the cords out of the wall. “Can’t have Knox looking through the security footage.”
“How are you going to explain those tapes?”
“Evidence for my divorce. I just didn’t throw them away, because I didn’t want to embarrass Cheryl.”
The man seriously believed he was going to be able to lie his way out of a triple murder. Maybe he could since he had gotten away with killing several people in town.
Jared ushered them into the other room where Tate was banging on the back door.
“Open it.” He motioned to Cheryl. “Let him in and don’t open your mouth, or I’ll shoot you where you’re standing.”
Sutton started to scream a warning but Jared grabbed her, placing his hand over her mouth.
Cheryl swung open the door, barely managing to move out of the way as Tate ran inside.