The Silence (Columbia River #2)(62)

“Maybe it is fake, and this guy is in on it . . . Maybe she does it to play up sympathy at the front desk to get away with paying in cash.”

“You have a point.” Zander ran the video again. “Any luck on finding where she called from?”

“The team is working on it. The reception was bad, so I have the feeling she’s somewhere remote.”

“Maybe she’s still at the coast if this is the guy that killed David?”

Ava froze, her mind grasping at something just out of reach. Jayne at the coast. “I want to see the security footage from the bakery that the sheriff told us about. The one where a man hit a woman on the morning that David was shot.”

Zander picked up his phone. “I’ll call. And I’ll tell him about this footage.”

Exhaling, Ava sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. The bakery clerk had said the woman had been punched and then walked away with the man’s arm around her shoulders.

Would Jayne put up with that?

She would if she believed he would kill her.

Jayne had genuinely sounded scared on the call.

But how many times has she lied to me before?

Ava had stopped counting decades ago. Jayne cared about one person: herself. She’d do and say anything if she believed she could benefit, no matter whom it hurt. Ava rose out of her chair, unable to meet Zander’s questioning gaze, and headed for her formal dining room, needing space. The room was beautiful. Wide plank floors, white wainscoting, and a pale-teal paint—almost white. Tall windows let in tons of light.

Ava stopped in front of Jayne’s painting and studied it as if it would give a clue to Jayne’s location. The coastline watercolor was bleak and desolate, but Ava couldn’t look away. The first time she’d seen it, she’d been immediately pulled in by its depth and color.

She saw pieces of Jayne in the painting. And herself.

What are you up to, Jayne?

Ava closed her eyes.

The spark was still there; it wouldn’t go away. That damned spark simply wouldn’t die no matter how much Ava ignored it or suffered from the consequences of Jayne’s actions. A spark that made Ava give Jayne the benefit of the doubt. Every. Single. Time.

Call it a twin bond or sisterly bond or whatever. Ava hated that she couldn’t sever it, but at the same time she appreciated its tenacity. If she gave up on Jayne, whom would her sister have left?

Brady Shurr?

Should I tell him I heard from Jayne?

Ava immediately decided against it. Brady didn’t need to hear that Jayne was worried someone would kill her.

Still in the kitchen, Zander spoke into his phone. Ava couldn’t make out the words but assumed he was talking with the sheriff or detective on David’s case.

Ava wanted to see the bakery video. Now.

Why would Jayne be with someone who killed David?

She couldn’t think of a reason.

David’s death resembled an assassination. Why? Who would want to kill the man? Ava had thoroughly investigated David last fall when he’d first entered her life. If there were skeletons in his closet, she’d seen no hint of them.

“Ava?” Zander called.

She took one last look at Jayne’s watercolor.

So much turmoil.

She joined Zander, who was opening his email. “I talked to the lead detective. He said he would immediately send the bakery video. He hadn’t found it to be of any value in his investigation yet, but he is very interested to find out what we think. I emailed him the motel footage and gave him the name she’s been traveling under.”

Zander opened a link.

Ava watched. The angle of the video’s view was high, looking down on the bakery’s front porch and sidewalk. A few empty tables and chairs could be seen on one side. An arguing couple strolled into view.

That’s her.

Ava had no doubt.

“There she is,” Zander said quietly. It was apparent to him too.

Ava wished there were sound. Jayne was using her hands and arms to make a point. The man’s back and jaw were stiff; he wasn’t happy.

“Fucking hat again,” said Zander.

The baseball cap hid most of the man’s face due to the camera’s angle. Jayne turned and walked backward, giving a clear view of her face. A gentle wind blew her sundress against her stomach.

“Still pregnant,” Ava said, feeling oddly detached. She might have a niece or nephew. Why wasn’t she more excited?

Because Jayne can’t be trusted.

“I don’t think I’ll believe she’s pregnant until I see a baby,” she told Zander.

“I hear you.”

The man halted. Jayne stopped, too, but continued with her hand gestures.

The blow was swift, and Ava gasped as Jayne dropped to her knees, shock in her face. But the man was immediately down and taking her hands in a pleading way, holding them to his heart.

His jaw moved, and Ava knew exactly what the asshole was saying. I didn’t mean it, baby. It was an accident. It won’t happen again.

He helped Jayne to her feet, but Jayne’s face was blank. The animation from earlier, gone.

She knows he’s trouble.

The man put an arm around her and pulled her to him. Jayne rested her head against his shoulder, and they continued to walk down the sidewalk and out of camera view.

“Wow.” Zander sounded stunned. “Even though I knew it was coming, that punch surprised me. He’s fast. What kind of asshole hits a pregnant woman?”