Chapter 13 - Room 18
Detective Alvarez ordered me to stay at the sheriff’s office.
I agreed.
Then immediately hated myself for agreeing.
For forty minutes, I sat beneath fluorescent lights while tactical officers surrounded the Bluebird Motor Lodge.
Room 18 was empty.
The bed had been used.
Food containers were everywhere.
A police scanner sat on the nightstand.
Pinned to the wall were photographs.
Lily.
Daniel.
Rachel.
My parents.
Me.
Jason had been watching all of us.
Then Alvarez found the map.
Three addresses were circled.
My parents’ home.
Daniel’s office.
And Lily’s house.
“He’s not trying to escape anymore,” Alvarez said.
“What is he doing?”
“Cleaning up.”
The words had barely left her mouth when the alarm company called.
Motion detected.
Lily’s house.
Alvarez and I looked at each other.
“No,” she said immediately.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“That’s my sister’s house.”
“And Jason may be inside it.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
I stared at her.
“You think I’m staying here while he tears apart whatever Lily left?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t know me.”
She swore under her breath.
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in the back of an unmarked SUV a block from Lily’s house.
Alvarez made me promise not to leave the vehicle.
Police surrounded the property.
The front door was closed.
Upstairs, a light moved behind the curtains.
A flashlight.
Then a second-floor window shattered.
Jason climbed onto the porch roof.
Officers shouted.
“Jason Reed! Stop!”
He jumped.
Hit the grass.
Rolled.
Ran.
For a man who had spent most of his adult life behind a desk, he moved fast.
He reached the side fence before an officer tackled him.
I opened the SUV door.
“Stay there!” Alvarez yelled.
Jason twisted on the ground.
Then he saw me.
His face changed completely.
“EMILY!”
I froze.
He screamed my name again.
“You think she was innocent?”
Two deputies handcuffed him.
He kept shouting.
“Ask your lawyer!”
Daniel had arrived behind us.
Jason laughed when he saw him.
“There he is!”
Daniel’s face went pale.
Jason yelled, “Tell her, Hayes!”
Alvarez grabbed Jason by his jacket.
“Stop talking.”
He smiled at me.
“Lily made a deal.”
“What deal?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Emily, don’t listen.”
Jason laughed harder.
“Oh, she doesn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Lily stole from me too.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Ask him.”
I turned to Daniel.
He said nothing.
My stomach dropped.
“Daniel?”
“It isn’t what he’s making it sound like.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
Jason was pushed toward the patrol car.
He twisted around one last time.
“She moved the money!”
“What money?”
He grinned.
“Eight million dollars.”
I stared at Daniel.
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
And I knew Jason had finally said something true.
