“By the time we’re done, it won’t matter, anyway,” he retorted.
A second flashlight clicked on. Marley’s eyes confirmed what her ears had already told her. Dale Blake. At his feet lay a prone body.
“I can’t get over how much you look like her,” Diana Blake said. “It’s like déjà vu.”
Marley tore her gaze from the body to discover Diana now angled her flashlight toward the floor. Between not having the beam directly in her eyes and Dale’s light, she could make out half of the older woman’s face—and promptly wished she couldn’t.
Then Diana’s words sunk in. “What are you talking about?”
“Even your voice is like hers. Is that what it is? Do you find it sexy?”
Marley was confused until she realized Diana’s questions were for Dale.
“It’s better than your high-pitched bitchiness,” he muttered.
Diana turned back to Marley. “I remember your mother’s voice like I’d only heard it yesterday. She begged for her life in that voice.”
Marley’s numb mind didn’t want to believe what she heard. “My mother was killed in a robbery.”
Diana laughed. “Like there was anything of value in that dump of a house. Even back then, Marley, your family was nothing more than useless working class. If my husband could’ve kept it in his pants, I never would’ve had to deal with any of you. Twenty-five years ago, or now.”
****
Justin reached the construction site at a dead-run. At the first sound of his father’s voice, he’d leapt from the unmarked police car, uncaring that Detective Powell ordered him back inside. He’d dodged Turner, too, desperate to get to the site and—oh, God, he didn’t know what he would do.
What was his father doing there? What was his mother doing there? And he sure as hell hoped Marley didn’t do anything stupid with the gun. He knew she had it. He’d deliberately avoided speaking to her about it, because the truth was he’d wanted her to have that extra bit of protection. Now it scared the shit out of him. He reached the building and was about to enter when he heard Marley’s anguished voice.
“You killed my mother?”
His step faltered.
“She got pregnant on purpose,” he heard his mother say. “She threatened to ruin the Hunter name unless we paid her. If she hadn’t been so greedy and vindictive, she might still be alive today.”
Shock paralyzed him for a moment. He shook it off and stepped into the building behind Marley. A quick glance confirmed his father behind his mother, to the left. He strode forward, determined to put an end to whatever the hell was happening.
“Justin,” his mother exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
He saw the gun she held, and stopped halfway between his parents and Marl
ey. Fear for Marley’s safety increased his tension, even as his mind argued that his mother wouldn’t actually pull the trigger. “I came with Marley.”
His mother’s face twisted, her rage evident as her gaze shifted back to Marley. “You stupid slut. You’re no better than your mother.”
Fierce protectiveness seized Justin. “That’s enough. Don’t say another word.”
“No, let her talk,” Marley said softly.
Justin looked over to see that in the split second his mother had been distracted, Marley had pulled her gun. Her rock-steady hands extended toward his mother as she raised her weapon a few inches and took a step closer to Diana.
“Go ahead, tell us what you did when my mother begged for her life.” Her gaze shifted to Dale, just for a second, as she asked, “Were you there, too?”
Justin caught the guilt and unease in his father’s expression. Worse, when he looked back to his mother, her lips curled in a malicious little smile as she and Marley faced off.
“Go ahead, say it,” Marley demanded.
“You really want to hear the details?” his mother gloated.
Justin knew what Marley was doing; it was for the tape. He felt sick to his stomach. Despite what they might have done, an inborn instinct to protect his family had him wanting to warn his mother to not incriminate herself any further.