“I am not a lesbian, Patrick Kincaid!” Jeanette’s lips twisted in anger and her arms crossed defiantly over her chest. “What I am is a scorned woman! All right, fine. Yes, it was me. I am the infamous Rosewood Peeper!”
An audible gasp rose up from the crowd, but the two of them could’ve been alone for all they cared. “I started wearing your work boots after the police got involved. I tried not to leave footprints, but if I did, I certainly didn’t want to leave a woman’s shoe print. I never thought they’d track your freakishly narrow boots back to you.”
“Jeanette, what were you thinking? Why would you do any of this?”
“I was thinking that my husband was cheating on me. If you were out with one of the single women in town, I wasn’t about to just sit on my rear end at home and wait for you to return. I was looking in the windows of women to catch your sorry, cheating ass in the act!”
Pat’s expression crumbled as his face fell into his hands. “I’m not cheating on you,” he insisted. “You did all this for nothing.”
A look of concern flickered across Jeanette’s face for a moment, but it was quickly wiped away with a stern frown. She was a woman who was far beyond believing her husband’s stories any longer. “I just can’t make myself believe you.”
“You didn’t find me in any of those women’s windows, did you? No. Because I’m not cheating.”
“Then why are you lying to me about it? Where are you going at night?”
Pat looked around. It was obvious he didn’t want to do this publicly, but the crowd wasn’t going to scatter just to suit him. If he wanted privacy, they should’ve started this fight after they got home.
“I’ve been working a second job for extra money. I didn’t want to tell you that.”
Jeanette frowned, not expecting the answer she’d gotten. “Extra money? Why? Has something happened at work? Are we in some kind of financial trouble?”
“No, nothing like that.” Pat planted a hand on his hip and shook his head. “It was supposed to be a surprise, which is why I was keeping it from you. I was trying to earn extra money to give you a special present for our anniversary.”
Jeanette stiffened. Her hand flew up to her mouth, muffling any words she might manage to say. This was obviously not what she thought he was going to say at all. At one time, Pepper would’ve said that a white lie to surprise a loved one couldn’t hurt anything. She would’ve been wrong. This surprise had gone horribly awry.
“While you were out prowling around in the dark looking for me in the arms of another woman, I was shoveling chicken shit so I could take you to Hawaii for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.”
Jeanette swallowed hard, her brows knit together. “We’re going to Hawaii?”
“No!” he shouted, waving his arms in the air in exasperation. “Now I’ve got to pay the damn lawyer’s fees and court fines. I told you we didn’t need an attorney, but you wouldn’t listen. I won’t be able to take you to McDonald’s for our anniversary now.”
“Surely Logan’s rates aren’t that stiff. He’s barely had time to represent you.”
“I’m not talking about my legal fees, Jeanette. I’m talking about yours.”
That was the last straw. Apparently through all of this, Jeanette had not quite grasped that she had publicly confessed to a crime and might go to jail for it. Pepper had no idea how serious it was and how much she could face in fines, but she imagined that it could easily eat up the couple thousand dollars Pat had squirreled away for their trip. Jeanette made the same connection, disintegrating into hysterical tears.
Even though he was angry, Pat rushed forward and pulled her into his arms. “Shhh . . . Jeannie . . .” he soothed, brushing his hand over her dark hair. “We’ll figure this out.”
“I’ve ruined everything!” she wailed.
Sheriff Todd came around the corner a moment later. Someone must have reported the disturbance, and possibly even the confession. Pepper elbowed her brother. “Do something.”
With a nod, Logan approached the sheriff and they spoke quietly for a few minutes. When it was done, Logan gestured for Pat and Jeanette to come with them back to the Sheriff’s Department.
Pepper felt awful for the two of them. A lack of communication and trust had ruined Pat’s plans and just might land Jeanette in jail. Hopefully Logan could get her a good deal, or plea-bargain her down to some community service or something. She wasn’t out there to get her jollies; she was trying to hunt down her missing husband.
Either way, it was over. There were no more weirdos prowling the streets of Rosewood at night. All things considered, Pepper was relieved that the person watching her wasn’t a creep. She didn’t particularly want Jeanette Kincaid spying on her, but she didn’t find what she was looking for, so no harm done. At least to Pepper.
It seemed plenty harm might have been done to the Kincaids’ marriage, though.
Chapter 17
Grant opened the front door of his apartment, surprised to find his sister Maddie standing there. He thought at first maybe it was just a delusion caused by his pain medication, but he could smell the sweet spice of whatever baked treat she had in the box she was carrying.
“Maddie?” he asked. “What are you doing here?” She wrinkled her nose, quickly erasing the frown lines with a dismissive smile. “I know you don’t think much of me, Grant, but you are my brother and you did almost get yourself killed the other day. I came to check on you and bring you some treats.”
Grant shrugged and took a step back so she could come inside. He couldn’t remember the last time his sister had been at his apartment.