Mission: Colton Justice. Jennifer Morey
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given him and Tess a priceless gift. Why would she be anything but proud?
“No, not regret. I know how much Tess wanted a baby. I saw that when I met her. And the money did get me through college. It was worth it just for those two things.”
He heard the but she didn’t say. Giving up a baby would be hard but she’d gotten past that...hadn’t she?
Tess had lost her ability to have children due to polyps in her uterus. When she had found out, she had been devastated.
Catapulted back in time, he remembered certain key things about the in vitro fertilization process. Using his sperm and Adeline’s egg and implanting the fertilized embryo into Adeline, her growing stomach through the pregnancy, and then giving birth to Jamie—to all accounts, his son with Tess. He’d tried to experience it all with Tess, but there had been moments when he felt connected to Adeline in an intimate way only a man and woman who produced a life could understand. That’s why he’d kept his distance from Adeline as much as possible. Adeline had spent most of her time with Tess when visiting them during her pregnancy. Thankfully he’d had work to fall back on.
“Why don’t we talk about the reason you asked me here?” Adeline said.
“Of course.” They’d ventured a little too far into the past. He sat forward and placed his hands on the desk. “There is no easing into what I have to say. So I’ll just say it.” He watched anticipation brighten her eyes. “I think Tess was murdered.”
Adeline’s head moved back in unexpected surprise. “Murdered? She drove into a pole.”
She hadn’t injected herself into his and Tess’s lives after giving birth, but she had attended the funeral. She had also done her research before meeting him. He liked that. “Yes, and her blood alcohol level was high. But a few months ago I spoke with a local who said he saw Tess having lunch with a man the day of her accident. She left upset over whatever the two discussed. Her death always bothered me but I didn’t start thinking there might be more going on than a simple accident until then. What if she had relations with people I didn’t know about? Why did she meet this stranger and what made her upset? It’s too much of a coincidence that she died the same day.”
“Who is the man?”
“The local didn’t know. I tried to get the sheriff’s office to look into it but they haven’t. I get a brush-off every time I go there.” Renowned local criminal Livia Colton had her tentacles buried deep into the department in Shadow Creek, Texas. Jeremy knew her through his ties with other Coltons. He wouldn’t put it past Livia having something to do with the lackadaisical mindset of the sheriff’s department.
“I don’t see how Tess’s lunch could have anything to do with her accident. She may have been upset and that may have contributed, but...murder?”
Adeline clearly thought he was taking a leap. Jeremy expected her to be analytical.
“Even in prison Livia still had contact with a few of her followers. Someone I know heard one of them talking at a cocktail party, saying how she’d love to see Tess suffer somehow. ‘Like some kind of terrible accident, something to mess up her perfect, fortuitous life so she can see how the rest of the world lives,’ she said. Livia did not like Tess. She hated her youth and goodness.”
“Why do you think she had motive to kill? And from prison? Tess was young and beautiful and she married you. Maybe Livia was just jealous.”
Jealousy was enough. She didn’t know Livia well enough if she didn’t agree. “I know there has to be more and I don’t have much to go on right now, but Livia is capable of paying lackeys to do her dirty work. She could have paid someone in the sheriff’s department to cover it up. She’s a sociopath. Matthew Colton was her brother, remember, and a serial killer. Even he feared her. She worked in the highest ranks of an organized crime group, trafficked drugs—and people. She’s been convicted of murder before, so why not do it again if it made her feel better or gave her some kind of gain?”
“I agree she’s capable, I just need more of a motive.”
“I agree with that, too. That’s why I called you. I want you to find out, either way. Was Tess murdered and if so, did Livia do it? Tess’s accident report said her car swerved off the road and there were no skid marks before she hit the pole.”
“She was drunk.”
“Something Livia would capitalize on.”
Adeline seemed to ponder that awhile. “Who is she to you?”
“Livia? Wrecker of my friends’ lives.” He knew several of the Colton clan. “Destroyer of a community I love. And someone who I know for a fact hated my wife—for whatever reason.”
“You talk as though you know she’s still alive.”
“I believe she is.”
Again, she fell quiet and considered him. “Livia is dead, Jeremy.”
“Livia has escaped capture before. She was on the run for months until she was found hiding in her La Bonne Vie estate. Her kids all thought she would finally go back to jail when the vehicle crashed and went into the river. Her body was never recovered.”
“The SUV was swept downstream during a heavy storm. She’s probably buried in mud somewhere.”
He enjoyed visualizing Livia dead under several feet of gooey mud. “Right where she belongs.” Was there a more fitting demise? “Ever since Tess’s accident, I’ve had a feeling she shouldn’t have died, that the accident seemed too staged, that she wouldn’t have driven into a pole. Livia never liked her. Now I find out Tess met with a man she never told me about. I just need answers. I need someone I can trust to look into it, to make sure she wasn’t murdered.”
Her expression eased of skepticism. “All right. I can do that.” She picked up the padfolio and opened it. “What’s the local’s name? I’ll start there.”
He sat back. “Good. Why don’t you pack some things and stay at my house until this is over?”
She looked up from the padfolio. “Excuse me?”
“If Livia is involved, this could put you in danger. Besides, when you aren’t busy investigating, I thought you could help me with Jamie. Spend some time with him. I had to let his nanny go for stealing some of Tess’s jewelry. Emily Stanton seemed like a nice woman, but I had her pegged all wrong.”
“I’m not... I’m a private investigator, not a nanny.”
He suspected she might react this way. She hadn’t seen Jamie in a long time. As his biological mother, she would have to have some kind of feelings on the matter, wouldn’t she? While he didn’t want to push too hard, concern for her safety was his primary motive. If Livia was involved, he needed to know Adeline and Jamie were safe and the only way to do that was to have her close to him.
“I’ll pay you,” he said. “In addition to your investigation fee.”
She looked down with a befuddled grunt.
“Jamie would love to meet you.” His son had gone too long without a mother figure around.
She looked up with only her eyes and he saw her reluctance. Is that the reason she stayed away after giving Jamie to him and Tess? Was it too painful to be with Jamie and know the boy didn’t belong to her? He’d often wondered. Not that he would have wanted her to be a permanent fixture. That might have been awkward, but a friendly visit every now and then would have been just fine.
“Please.” He had to convince her. “You’re the only person who’s capable of helping me. I don’t trust anyone else.”
After several seconds she closed her padfolio. “I’ll think about it.”
“Then come over for dinner tonight. We can talk about strategy going forward. I’ll give you the name of the local then.”
She