“He is too.”
“What a pair you are then.” Logan sat up and in a flash was by the one side window that looked out at the house. “The lights are blazing. They must have their man.”
Brinley hopped to her feet and then winced as she landed wrong on her still tender ankle. She was battered but much better than she had been a few days ago. She didn’t even wear the wrap on her ankle or wrist any longer, although the bruises were turning an ugly shade of green.
Logan turned and placed a hand on her shoulder, pressing her firmly back into the chair and putting his body between her and the door. “Sit down until I hear the all clear. It’s not safe yet.”
She was damn tired of all of this. Being protected might sound romantic or interesting in the movies, but mostly it was a pain in the ass. Her independent nature rebelled at the invisible chains and walls that Jason had placed around her. It was the right thing to do but it didn’t mean she had to enjoy it.
A few raps at the door and a young police officer stuck his head in. “We got him. I turned off the alarm and you’re free to move around.”
“Is it Damian Barnes?” she asked, standing more gingerly this time.
The cop gave her an apologetic smile. “I don’t know, ma’am. I haven’t heard. They’ll know inside.”
The officer disappeared and Logan held up his hand when she would have rushed out of the garage. “You don’t have to do this, you know. You’ll see who it is soon enough as you’ll probably have to testify if he doesn’t confess or plead out.”
“I can’t explain it but I just need to see him.” Brinley shrugged helplessly. “I know that sounds lame but this man tried to run me over with a car. I need him to not be some faceless bogeyman that haunts my nightmares. This way he’s just an asshole.”
“Actually that sums it up pretty well. Just remember that when we go in there you need to stay out of the way. They’ll be reading him his rights and so forth.”
Brinley nodded, taking a fortifying breath. “I will. Let’s do this.”
With Logan by her side Brinley climbed the back porch stairs and entered her kitchen. She could see Jason, West, Jared, and several police officers milling around in her dining room along with a handcuffed man with his back to her. She moved through the doorway and closer to Jason as the man turned around, giving her a full view of his face.
“Greg! What are you doing here?” Brinley grabbed Jason’s arm in panic. “This isn’t Damian Barnes—this is Greg Henry. That guy that cancelled dinner and who wouldn’t leave me alone.”
Brinley was stiff with shock at the thought that some guy she’d had coffee with had broken into her house. Greg must have lost his mind entirely to do something that stupid.
Jason’s brow shot up and his head swiveled to Greg and then back to her. “This is Damian Barnes, Brinley. I saw a picture of him in his office.”
Logan came to stand next to her, his arms crossed over his chest as her muddled brain tried to process Jason’s statement. “And he’s also Greg. I saw him the day he came visiting here, trying to get in the house. Want to tell us about that, Barnes?”
Damian Barnes or Greg or whatever the hell is name was appeared to not be a happy man. His normally handsome features were twisted into something ugly and angry, although not near as menacing as she’d imagined a killer could be.
It turned out evil looked just like everyone else.
What a frightening fact.
Damian Barnes pressed his lips together as if talking was the very last thing on his mind, but then his skin flushed a darker red and he jerked his arm away from the uniformed cop that had been standing next to him.
“I asked you out so I could get into the house. I didn’t want you. I wanted to get in here to get the gun and the jewelry. That’s why I brought you the coffee and the wine I’d drugged. I wanted you to fall asleep so I could retrieve my stuff. The gun and jewelry were safely tucked away under the floor until you moved here. Where are they?”
Barnes took a step toward her and she hastily retreated still stiff with shock at finding out Greg was Damian and Damian was Greg. Jason easily blocked the handcuffed man’s path, his wide shoulders and back filling her view. “You mean the gun and jewels I found three days ago when I figured out it was you that killed your stepmother? They’re in the crime lab and the gun is covered in fingerprints. I’m guessing they’re yours.”
The angry man’s mouth fell open. “How–how did you find them? How did you know they were there?”
A smile played around Jason’s mouth and Brinley was sure she’d never seen him look as calm and confident as he did in this moment. Solving a crime looked very good on him indeed.
“I can thank my time in captivity for that, actually. Sitting in a cell alone for weeks heightens your sense of hearing. I walked over that spot on the floor and knew something wasn’t right.”
West shook his head at Barnes who appeared to still be in shock. All this time the killer had been right there in front of her eyes and no one had known. She was elated that she’d never fallen for his bullshit line and charm act.
West was jotting notes in a notebook. “So you snuck out of the movie theatre and came back to the house to shoot your stepmother? How did you know your father wouldn’t be home?”
“They were arguing when I left. It was pretty much their pattern that they fought and then Dad went for a long drive and was gone most of the night. I knew I’d have plenty of time.”
“So you shot her and hid the gun and jewelry?” Jason asked. “Why jewelry? Were you trying to make it look like a robbery?”
Damian’s jaw jutted out and his eyes were cold. “Those belonged to my mother, not Linda. Dad would have let her keep them but that wasn’t right.”
“Why did you kill her?” Brinley heard herself asking before she could stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. “And why did you kill Roger Gaines?”
“She was spending all of Dad’s money. Money that was supposed to belong to me. It wasn’t fair. The way she was going through it there would have been nothing left by the time my father died.”
“And Roger?” West held the pencil poised on the paper. “You were the one he was meeting at the hotel, right?”
Shrugging, Damian shook his head. “He called me wanting to talk about the murder. I couldn’t have him or that other girl digging up the past.”
Jason’s mouth was a grim line. “And Brinley? Why did you try and kill her? If you were worried about being investigated why didn’t you try to kill me or West?”
“I didn’t try. At first.” The man moved restlessly on his feet. “I just wanted in the house. My plan wasn’t to kill her but drug her so she’d be asleep while I did what I needed to do. But then I saw that flooring van and I knew I couldn’t wait. I had to stop her from pulling up the floors.”
“I wasn’t going to do that. I was just going to refinish them.” Brinley glanced at the gaping hole in her dining room floor. “Of course now I’ll have to have that patched.”
“The truck said they did new floors. I couldn’t take any chances. If you were dead the renovations would stop.”
Logan had been silent the entire time but he was shaking his head and scowling. “Why in the hell didn’t you buy the house in the first place when it was for sale and save yourself all the fuss of trying to get in and worrying about the damn floors?”
“I tried,” Barnes declared, a tad too loudly. “But by the time I heard Aunt Gail had put the house on the market it had been sold. She never would have sold to me anyway. Bitch.”
It was all suddenly too much for Brinley. She fell into one of her dining room chairs with a soft groan of frustration. So many people dead or injured because of one man’s greed.
“So you killed your stepmother for money, right? Then you killed Roger Gaines and tried to kill Anita Hazlitt because you thought they were closing in on you. And finally you tried to kill me for a gun and some jewelry and to stop any renovations on the house. Do I have all this clear?”