Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2 by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online Page B

her arms over her chest. Started pacing again. “My mother wanted me to break off my engagement to Theo. She wanted me to leave and tell you the truth about Maddox.”
    Jericho didn’t cheer out loud, but he was on her mother’s side on this. “She was right.”
    â€œShe was. And I think my father eavesdropped on our conversations and arranged for her to get an overdose of painkillers. Yes, she was sick. Very sick. But the chemo was working, and she wasn’t so much out of it that she would have taken too big of a dose by accident. I think my father might have put them in her food or something.”
    That gave him a new surge of anger, too. Herschel preying on a sick woman because she wasn’t toeing the line. “Was there an autopsy?”
    â€œNo. And my father had her cremated the same day she died.”
    Jericho wanted to curse. Hell. Now they were looking at murder. Two counts of it, since he was certain Herschel had also been responsible for his father’s death.
    â€œI was grieving,” Laurel added, “and by the time I figured out what might have happened, it was already too late. Any evidence proving his guilt was cremated with my mother.”
    Which Jericho was betting wasn’t an accident.
    There was a soft knock on the door, and a moment later Jax opened it. “DeWitt’s lawyer is here.”
    Good. Maybe the lawyer would convince his scummy client to talk.
    Jax walked closer to them, and his gaze slid from Jericho to Laurel. Then to Maddox.
    â€œHe’s your son.” There wasn’t a shred of doubt in Jax’s voice. “How long have you known?”
    â€œA couple of hours.” That alone said plenty, but his brother deserved a whole lot more, especially since Jax knew the emotional wringer he’d been through over the years with Laurel and her father. “Herschel’s trying to get custody.”
    Jax didn’t look surprised, just as disgusted as Jericho was. “By trying to eliminate Laurel and you?”
    â€œIt looks that way. Herschel has dirt on Laurel to have her arrested.” Jericho handed Jax the notepad with the time line and names. “I need that faxed to Levi so he can try to help with the threat of Laurel’s arrest. But Herschel also has fake dirt to have her committed to the loony bin. Laurel wants me to marry her so she can transfer custody of Maddox to me.”
    His brother didn’t say anything for several moments. “So, you’ll marry her?”
    That question just hung in the air, and before Jericho could even attempt an answer, he heard voices in the squad room. Loud ones.
    â€œWait here with Laurel,” he told Jax, and Jericho drew his gun.
    Bracing himself for another attack, Jericho hurried out of the break room and down the short hall to the squad room. But there was no attack. Their loud-talking visitors—a tall, bulky-shouldered man and a gray-haired woman—didn’t appear to be armed. However, one of the deputies, Dexter, was frisking them, and neither seemed especially happy about that. The unhappiness went up a significant notch when the man’s gaze landed on Jericho.
    â€œSheriff Crockett,” he said like venom.
    Jericho didn’t recognize the guy, but venom like that was almost certainly personal.
    â€œTheo James.” Jericho put some venom in his voice, too.
    â€œWe want to see Laurel now,” the woman demanded. And there was no doubt that it was a demand.
    â€œAnd you are?” Jericho made sure he sounded like the sheriff when he asked that question.
    â€œDorothy James. Theo’s mother.”
    Of course.
    He didn’t see much of a resemblance. Maybe because of the woman’s slight build. She looked on the frail side, and her skin was as thin and white as paper. Unlike her son, who towered over her and had a tan despite it being the dead of winter.
    Jericho knew that Theo James was a lawyer, like Laurel, but he could