Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(83)

It wasn’t until Zach leveled off the plane for the short flight to the Winslow-Lindbergh Regional Airport, that the spell seemed to break.

Whitney pulled out a thick bunch of folders from her briefcase. “Gabe, I made you copies of some files on my Gasmerati investigation. I shouldn’t have.” She looked him in the eye. “I really shouldn’t have. Do you understand?”

Gabe nodded. “Then why are you doing this?”

“Because I want who killed Shannon to pay, and I think whoever did has killed a lot more. I thought there were a lot of victims, but I wasn’t making the connection directly to the game company until I spoke with you at my parents’ house today. I hypothesized that there was some serial killer who had met them online or something.”

Deb turned white. “Serial killer? Is that what you believe is going on?”

Whitney’s expression was sympathetic and Deb winced inside. Gabe’s sister told the truth as she saw it. She wasn’t about to pull punches.

Deb respected and feared that personality trait at the same time. With all her strength, Deb braced herself for Whitney’s judgment.

“I didn’t have any other explanation,” Whitney said, her voice cautious. “When I entered the Bureau two years ago, I started a little side project. I wanted to understand why Shannon died. Why our friends had vanished and were never found. I was in shock when the news hit that the car was finally discovered and they were obviously murdered. Until now everyone had simply vanished. Except Shannon. I thought someone must have become obsessed with good players and taken them.”

“Did you work with Dad?” Gabe asked. “From what we’ve learned he believed that the missing teens possessed unusually high IQs who were gifted in math and science.”

Whitney shook her head. “I never saw your father again after the night Shannon was murdered.”

“Hold on for one damn minute.” Zach’s voice boomed from the cockpit. “You were in Denver when Shannon Devlin got killed? That means you must have seen Gabe that night. What the hell, bro? How long have you known about her?”

“Leave him alone,” Whitney snapped.

Deb had to admire Whitney. She refused to be intimated by anyone.

“We were teenagers,” she said. “I was desperate so I contacted your father to help Shannon. When she was murdered, I was devastated. Gabe was, too, but not for the same reason. He stood up against your father. For your mother and your family.”

Gabe looked at her, really looked at her, and realized that his brothers’ lives had remained intact because of her keeping quiet all these years. Not just him.

“Why didn’t you ever contact us?” Gabe asked. “You could have showed up, or called, or put in an appearance at his funeral, which I’m sure you knew about. You seem to know a lot about us.”

“I couldn’t.” Her quiet voice filled the cabin. “You have to understand, Shannon’s mother isn’t my real mother.” A bittersweet smile tugged Whitney’s lips. “My mother’s name was Mariah Blackstone. She was a great mom, but she never wanted me to intrude on your life. When I was old enough she told me everything. It’s not like she and your father had a great romantic history together. A one-night stand that he regretted almost immediately does not a father make.”

Gabe coughed to cover his surprise.

“To put it bluntly, my mother thought of him more as a sperm donor than a love interest. I tried to do the same. After my mother passed, the Devlins asked me to live with them. Shannon had been my best friend since kindergarten. I was wanted there. It was for the best.”

Whitney turned to Gabe. “When I met you the night Shannon died, I knew you were shocked and angry about my existence. I understood. Your father never knew about me, but I had to try to save Shannon’s life, so I contacted him. I knew he was in law enforcement. It didn’t matter, though. She died anyway.”

“So my father just walked away from you?” Zach threw in. “Like you didn’t exist? Was he that big a bastard to ignore the only daughter he had?”

Whitney sighed. “Look, I don’t know the details. It wasn’t a frequent topic around the dinner table. I just know my mother never wanted me to be part of your lives.”

“But you were alone after your mother died. Dad would have taken you in,” Zach said.

“And he would have torn apart your family.” Whitney sighed. “But more importantly, it would have killed the Devlins. They’d just lost one daughter to a killer. I couldn’t tell the woman who’d become a mother to me that she might lose me, too, because I’d found my birth father. It would have devastated her. It just seemed better if Patrick never contacted me after that night, so I made him promise. I didn’t want to ruin her life, your life, or anyone else’s.”

“He just walked away,” Gabe said, barely able to take in the swarm of information. He didn’t know what he thought anymore. He looked over at Deb, and she gave his a small smile of support.

“You don’t know your father very well, do you?” Whitney said. “He kept his word about not being a part of my life, but he set up a small trust to help me get through school. I didn’t need your family to survive, no offense. I have the Devlins, and they love me like a daughter. I’m Whitney Blackstone, FBI agent, and I’m fine on my own.”