Hate wasn’t a new emotion in her world. No, it was a feeling Christina had become well versed in when she had watched her parents fight, when they had torn at one another, and the day her sister had repeated their cycle—and left her holding the strings to a life that she had never intended on leading. Yet she had never hated anyone or anything more than she hated Lisa Chase in that moment.
The woman had tried to kill one of the few people she truly loved.
She stared out the window as they pulled into William Poe’s driveway.
Why did everything always come back to this vile man? He was like a poison. First Bianca, then Monica and Alli, and now they could even tie him to Lisa. He had always proclaimed his innocence—so far, he’d even been cleared of any wrongdoing in each of the cases, but he could only run for so long before the authorities would catch him playing in the shadows. Or at least, Christina hoped.
Then again, maybe he wasn’t anything more than just a man who had the power to make women go crazy. She followed Wyatt and Waylon up to the front door of the evil man’s house. Knowing her luck, he probably wasn’t even home. He had a knack of being out of town when it came to the crimes that were rocking the community of Mystery.
Wyatt banged on the door. The sound was hollow and eerie.
A slight wheeze escaped her throat.
“What?” Waylon asked, taking her hand.
“Nothing,” she said, and as the word ghosted from her lips, the front door opened.
Standing there was William Poe. He looked a bit haggard and tired, but his suit jacket was crisp from being freshly laundered and pressed. “What is it now?” he grumbled.
“Is your friend Lisa Chase here?” Wyatt asked.
“Why would you need to see her? She’s done nothing.” William’s face contorted with rage. “I don’t know what kind of thing you have against me or why, but this has to stop. You can’t keep harassing me. This is ridiculous.”
“We’re harassing you?” Christina said, nearly hissing the words in her fury. “Ever since you entered our lives, everything has been going wrong. People have been killing each other, going missing, and stealing and hurting children.”
“You think any of this has to do with me?” William laughed, the sound low and menacing. “You are just as crazy as your sister if you think I want to have anything to do with any of that or with any of you. Have you ever stopped to think that where everything truly stops and ends is at your family’s goddamned ranch?”
“Shut your mouth,” Waylon seethed.
“No. You all need to be put out of business—you and your family have only brought trouble to this community. And once you’re gone, that cursed guest ranch will be sold to the highest bidder. I’d be doing a public service if I got to be the one to take you all down.”
“Is that a threat?” Wyatt asked, his voice even more dangerous than Poe’s.
“Ha ha ha.” William laughed, the sound as cheap and ridiculous as his suit. “I don’t make threats. When I say I’m going to do something, I won’t stop until it’s done.”
“How dare you think you can come at my family? My home?” Christina lunged toward the man, but Waylon grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back.
“Not here. Not now. Wyatt’s going to handle this,” he whispered, the sound harsh in her ear. “If you touch a hair on that man’s head, we will lose any ground we have in going after him.”
“We’re not here to pick a fight with you, Poe. We’re only here to speak to Lisa. Now, is she here or not?” Wyatt continued.
“Why in the hell would I tell you?” Poe sneered.
“If you don’t help us, I have no problem getting more police and media involved. One little call and you and your personal life will be out in the open. I’d hate it if some pictures of you and one of your many female acquaintances would make it into the hands of a reporter or two.”
“Now who’s threatening?” William growled. “How dare you come here and treat me like I’m some kind of criminal. I haven’t done a goddamned thing.”
“If it walks like a duck.” Wyatt shrugged.
Waylon leaned in close to Christina so only she could hear him speak. “What photos is Wyatt talking about?” he whispered.
She turned to him and cupped his ear. “They found a set of incriminating photos when they were investigating Bianca’s murder. There was one with Alli in a lace teddy.”
Waylon sent her a look of surprise but then turned back to his brother and Poe. “I am sure the press would love to get their hands on the information that links you to Alli. Especially after everything that’s happened.”
“If those pictures are leaked, I will come after you. I will sue you and the sheriff’s department for every penny—”
“Oh, don’t misunderstand me, Poe. I have no intention of misconduct. However, I’m sure there are more copies of those photos we found,” Wyatt continued.
It was a wonderful thing to watch the brothers work.
“That’s ridiculous. Alli and I were done a long time ago.”
Christina glanced over at Wyatt, but he didn’t give anything away.
“Do you know where Alli is?” Christina asked, unable to hold herself back any longer. “I need to find my sister.”
William turned to look at her. “Why do you think I’d give two shakes about what has come of your sister?”
The way he said the words made her unsettled. It was almost as if there was something he knew that she didn’t—something sinister.
“What has come of my sister, Poe?” she seethed.
He laughed again, the sound filled with mirth. “I told you. Your sister is of no concern to me. She’s been nothing but a thorn in my side ever since—”
“You threw her to the curb?” she interrupted. “You know, I have had a hard time understanding why my sister has done the things she has in the last few months, but now—talking to you for just a few minutes—I can almost understand why she was driven to the edges of her sanity.”
Poe stepped closer, pressing his face close to hers. “Maybe you should look to yourself before you start pointing fingers at me, little girl.”
Waylon’s hands tightened on her arms.
“Before someone—namely you—gets hurt here, Poe, where’s Lisa?” Wyatt said, motioning inside the man’s house. “For once, take a moment and make a choice that will serve you the best in the end.”
Poe took a few steps back and looked back over his shoulder, like he was looking for the woman in question.
“You know you don’t love her. You don’t love anyone but yourself. So, before you are pulled any deeper into our investigation, get out. Get her to come and talk to us,” Wyatt pressed.
Poe said something Christina couldn’t quite hear, but from the look on his face as he glanced back at them, she was glad she couldn’t. “Lisa!” William called. “Get your ass out here, woman! The little deputy and his goon squad want to ask you some questions.”
A small, dark-haired woman, the one she had seen the other day, stepped into the doorway.
“Don’t speak to them. In the meantime, I’m calling my lawyer.”
“For me?” the small woman squeaked.
William laughed, and the sound echoed off the walls of the house. “Hardly. Whatever mess you are in, you are in it by yourself. I can’t be associated with any more trouble.” He stopped and pointed toward the brothers. “And I’m sure that no pictures will go public. I’ve played your stupid game. Do we all have an understanding?”
Waylon glared at the man. “One thing we will never have, Poe, is an understanding. I don’t want you to think for one minute that we see you as anything more than the societal louse that you are.”
Wyatt laughed as Poe stormed off down the hall. “Louse? That’s the best you got for that guy?”
Waylon shrugged. “I would have called him an ass—”
“Stop,” Lisa squeaked. “William may not be a perfect man, but he doesn’t deserve to be talked about like that. Especially not by a civil servant,” she said, pointing at the badge on Wyatt’s uniform. “Your job is to protect the innocent.”
Wyatt laughed. “Poe is far from innocent.”
“Of course he is.” Lisa looked around the driveway like a trapped animal as she scratched at the welts that ran up and down her arms.
“What makes you think he’s innocent?” Wyatt asked.
“I’m the one who killed them. He never wanted me to hurt a hair on their heads. But I had to do what needed to be done. One must sacrifice for the greater good.”
“Who did you kill?” Wyatt asked, his voice as cold as the snow on the ground around them.
“Alli was first.” Lisa looked at Wyatt, but her expression was vacant—indifferent.
Christina’s ears rang with the woman’s words.
“You killed Alli?” Christina whispered, the words like weights that made her sink to her knees as they left her body.
“She had it coming. She was no innocent. The little girl, on the other hand, that was unfortunate. I didn’t want to kill her. She just wouldn’t come quietly. She kept trying to scream. Especially when I told her how I was going to sell her.”
“You were going to sell my daughter?” Waylon seethed.
Lisa nodded, like the trafficking of children was among the most normal things in the world. “I would have been set up for life.” She glanced over her shoulder and in the direction where Poe had disappeared. “I don’t want to have to depend on anyone too much. Dependence leads to disaster.” She turned back and leered at Christina. “Just ask your sister.”
“Where is she? Where’s Alli? What did you do with her?”
Lisa looked over at her. “How could you find one without the other? I went out of my way to make sure that mother and daughter could at least be together in the afterlife.”
“How could you?” Christina started to lunge toward Lisa, but Waylon stopped her.
“How could I what? Kill your sister?” Lisa looked utterly confused, the face of a monster. “Don’t worry. It was one quick bullet to the head. It was just like shooting out my tire. It was easy.” She reached behind her and pulled out a gun. “In fact, it was just like this,” she said, raising it and pointing the barrel toward Christina.
Before she had time to react, Waylon was on the woman, pushing her to the floor and pulling the weapon from her hands.
Blood streamed from Lisa’s nose as she looked up at Christina. She laughed. The sound was high and crazed. “I may not have gotten you, but your day is coming. All of your days are coming. I may not be the one pulling the trigger, but you’re all going to die.”
Waylon rolled Lisa over, pressing his knee into the center of the woman’s back as he pulled her arms behind her. “That won’t happen. I will stop at nothing to protect the ones I love.”