Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Leverage I could use to get Dad to step back from the business. To rein in some of his more predatory behavior. I wanted to do better—for our business partners, for this town.”
“And did you find anything?” Griffen asked, his head tilted to the side.
“Not enough before time ran out, and someone shot him. I know you found my notes on the contracts related to Finn’s kidnapping. All I uncovered were more questions.”
“Do you think your research had something to do with Dad’s murder?” Griffen asked. “Cole admitted to framing you, but you don’t think he killed Dad?”
I shook my head, then asked, “What does West think?”
“West thinks he’s telling the truth. That he set you up, sent people to screw with us, but that he didn’t kill Dad.”
“I’d believe he did it,” I said, “if Dad had died right after Caro Haywood died.”
Caro had been Cole’s beloved wife. She’d died along with her baby during childbirth. After Cole had discovered the baby was Prentice’s—and so was his wife. He’d been devastated but had sat on his rage, cold and calculating, until Prentice’s fresh corpse provided an opportunity to take his vengeance. We’d learned Cole was capable of crimes of passion. He’d murdered a jewelry designer only months before for, as he’d put it, having a smart mouth. But generally, Cole Haywood was deliberate and contained.
“I think if he wanted to kill Dad,” I said, “he would have done it closer to Caro’s death. He wouldn’t have waited two whole years after she died. And he would have done it…” Images flashed through my mind, and I shook my head. “I don’t think it would have been as painless as a bullet through the forehead.”
It was the simplest way I could sum up my thoughts.
Griffen’s jaw set, and he nodded. “Agreed. Even with the bonus of pinning a murder on you,” Griffen said, “I don’t think he could have restrained himself to a single shot.” He set the pen down and sat forward, bracing his elbows on his desk. “So, who do you think is good for it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I want to go back through business associates, contracts, deals we were working on. I have my notes from before Dad was killed. Paperwork up in the attic that I was going through.”
“What do you want from me?” Griffen asked.
I shrugged. “Permission, I guess. It’s your house, your attic, and technically your storage bins full of paperwork.”
If I were any of my siblings, I was pretty sure Griffen would have said something like, It’s your house too. But he didn’t, because I wasn’t one of our siblings. I was the one who’d had him exiled. I was lucky he’d let me back in the Manor. It was too much to expect free rein of the place.
“It’s fine with me,” he said after a hesitation. “But, uh, Ford?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“Be careful. I know Cole is in jail, but if we really think he didn’t kill Dad, then someone else did. Right now, everything’s nice and quiet. Your name’s been cleared, the investigation’s technically reopened, but West doesn’t have new evidence, so it’s not going anywhere. Whoever pulled that trigger is probably feeling pretty safe right now. They’ve already killed once. They might not hesitate to do it again if they feel that safety is threatened.”
His eyes locked on mine, boring into me, and I nodded. “I know.”
“If you’re doing this because you feel like you have to prove something,” Griffen said, “think about what you’re risking.”
I shoved out of the chair, needing to move. “Don’t you want to know who killed him?” I asked.
Griffen leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, watching me pace the carpet in front of his desk. After a long pause, he said, “I do. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I want to know who killed him so we can close the door. So I can be sure my family is out of danger. That this is over. But that’s not why you want to know.”
He was right, and it irked me.
“It’s part of why I want to know,” I argued. “Of course it’s part. But yeah, I also have something to prove.”
“Not to me,” Griffen said. “Not to your family.”
I thought of the look in Paige’s eyes. The suspicion and fear.
“And if I was never planning on leaving Heartstone Manor, that would be fine,” I said. “But Griffen, you should see people’s faces when they come into the brewery. So many of them think I did it. I’m not going to put any of you in danger—” You can’t promise that, a little voice in my head whispered. I ignored it. “But I need to know who did this. I need to clear my name once and for all. I want to do better,” I admitted, my stomach rolling, uneasy with the look of compassion, of pity, on Griffen’s face. “I want to start over.”