Damn. Jayden was guessing Bill still didn’t consider the boy his own, which was why he hadn’t told Jayden about him.
But...
“So did Camden Harris confirm that Bill was hitting Suzie four years ago? Or not? He’d let a guy go on beating up his wife just so that he didn’t have to tell his own wife he’d screwed around on her?”
“Suzie never admitted it to him. He figured, without her testimony, there was no way he could prove it...”
“Detective?” The female officer who’d led Suzie out walked up.
“Yes?” Chantel faced her.
“I just thought you’d want to know.” The uniformed woman included Jayden and Emma in her look. “She gave us a full confession...said she’d testify to all of it. She’s got proof that Bill hit her and killed their baby. Kyle was at their house at the time. He got roughed up pretty bad, too, trying to help her. But he got video on his cell phone of at least part of it...”
That, if Suzie had shared with them, would have been what Emma had needed to win her conviction. But then Suzie would have exposed Kyle...
“She was already half in love with the kid, though she wasn’t acting on it,” the officer said. “Bill guessed that she had feelings for Kyle, but other than that one time with Harris, she wasn’t unfaithful to her husband. She and Kyle didn’t start anything until after she divorced Bill and Kyle had turned nineteen.”
Jayden had heard enough. He’d been had. Emma had been right. He’d refused to turn his back on Bill, had insisted on being there for the guy...because he hadn’t been there for Emory?
Or just because the older man had been that good at seeming sincere? He’d really believed Bill had changed. That the man had been honoring his second chance.
Not sure to do with that, Jayden had never felt more lost. Emma could have died because he’d been wrong...“And when Bill got out from prison, and found out they were still together, he started in again,” Emma said. The conclusion was obvious.
“No.” Chantel’s words yanked Jayden’s steely gaze straight to her. He couldn’t look away. “Bill left them alone. Except that he started sending Suzie cash every week. Turns out the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, even though they hardly knew each other. She didn’t tell Kyle about the money. Said she knew he wouldn’t want them to have it, but they needed it so badly. Of course, he found out and couldn’t stand that Suzie was taking money from his father, her ex-husband, and he got it in his head that she still loved Bill. He was as jealous of his dad as his dad was of him. The night he found out about the money was the first time he hit her.”
Wait. “So Bill hasn’t been near Suzie since he got out?”
“She says she hasn’t seen him since he went to prison.”
He’d been right about Bill.
Dear God, he’d been right. Weak with relief, and sad, too, Jayden stood there, allowing himself to give himself a little credit.
“But the lipstick...?” Emma said, frowning.
“Bill admitted that he left that threat on your back door,” Chantel said as a flash from a news crew’s camera went off, not far from them.
Jayden stepped closer to Emma, keeping her out of sight, as officers moved in the yard, and police cars, many with their lights still flashing, continued to block the road.
“When Jayden started questioning him,” Chantel continued, “he thought you were gunning for him. After I got off the phone with the neighbor, I went in and told him what I knew. He let me know that he was protected by double jeopardy for whatever happened four years ago, at which time I told him that if we tied him to the current crimes, and we could, you could use the past to make his sentence more severe. I wasn’t sure you could—” she looked at Emma “—but at that point I didn’t care a whole lot about telling him the truth. That’s when he told me that all he’d done was write that note on your back door. He didn’t know Suzie was being beat up again. He was really shook up when he heard that.”
Because he’d really changed? Because the second chance mattered? Or because he thought he was the only one allowed to punish his woman? The whole thing left Jayden feeling like he needed to puke.
“So the truck running me off the road...?”
“That was Kyle.” The female officer—Jayden couldn’t make out her name badge—spoke up. “He’d gotten home before Suzie on Monday night and was threatening to beat some sense into her if she didn’t tell him where she’d been. She told him that she’d talked to you—” the officer nodded at Emma “—about Bill, thinking that that would appease him, but he knew how you’d gone after his dad and was certain that you were now gunning for him...”
“So...wait a minute,” Emma said. “None of this explains how you all came to be outside when—”
“Bill swore to us that he hadn’t seen his ex-wife since he got out and said that if anyone was hurting Suzie, it was Kyle. Said the kid had a vile temper. I’m guessing he inherited his father’s temper,” Chantel told them, “and depending on how much he witnessed between Suzie and Bill, or how much Suzie told him, he learned it at the hands of his father. He wasn’t violent with her until Bill was released and Kyle found out about the money. Bill is the one who told us Kyle and Suzie lived together. We knew the two of you were heading over to tell Suzie that Bill was locked up. I tried to call to warn you. When you didn’t pick up, I brought a backup team just to be safe. When we first arrived, Kyle had the three of you on the couch. Protocol said we had to call in a hostage team to try to talk him down, but before the team got here, he had Suzie by the neck. I made the call to shoot at first opportunity...”
Emma shook her head. Frowning.
“But the baseball caps...”
“Suzie works at a printing shop,” Chantel said. “They do promotional items for businesses.”
“Like hats,” Emma said.