How long had she been watching me?
Seriously.
“Are you saying that you purposefully targeted me and my father-in-law because of your ex-husband selling your land?” I asked.
God, I was confused. She was all over the place, and I really couldn’t catch up.
“Well, my sister and I. Yes. My car was in the shop.” She shrugged. “She hit you. I took out the old biker. Obviously, you can see that I did better than she did.”
I blinked.
Her car was in the shop, so she had to have her sister do it. She had to have her sister pull out in front of me in my cruiser to get what she wanted—which was me dead.
It hadn’t worked out well, and the woman had fought it tooth and nail ever since.
Hell, she was still fighting it. Last I heard, she was trying to sue the city for negligence.
“Why my father-in-law?” I asked. “I never even knew him that well before I met his daughter.”
She switched the gun to the other hand again. Now she was holding it near her hip, still aimed at me.
“I saw you talking to him before you left. After the accident. I know what he does,” she sneered. “He was getting information for you. You found out what was here, and you wanted to see how much it’d get you.”
She knew what he did?
I highly doubted that.
And what was this ‘it’ that she was talking about?
“I was talking to him about working on my bike,” I told her honestly. “And it wasn’t even him. It was another man that works there. His name is Jack. He sold a bike similar to mine last month, and I wanted to see if he’d be willing to work on mine.”
She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, how stupid do you think I am?”
Honestly? Very.
Yet I didn’t say that.
“You think I’m dumb, don’t you?” she asked. “You think that I’m just some crazy bitch that has no idea what she’s talking about, don’t you?”
Well, yes. Yes, I did.
I was having a hard time following what she was talking about.
All that I got so far was that she nearly killed Sam. Her sister was the one responsible for me almost losing my job at the police department. And the woman had also targeted Piper and me a second time.
Oh, and apparently, she had something on this land that would net me a lot of money if I ever found it…‘if’ being the operative word.
“Ma’am,” I tried.
But before I could say anymore, the wood beside my face exploded, causing me to curse and drop.
She’d tried to shift the gun from one hand to another, and like the dumbass that she was, she’d kept her finger on the trigger while doing it. And she’d accidentally shot at me just like I knew she would.
***
Piper
“This is a mess,” my father said as he drove his truck into the high grass that encompassed Jonah’s ‘back’ entrance.
“I’m sure he doesn’t use it very often,” I said. “I didn’t even know it was here, to be honest.”
My dad made a noncommittal sound as he pulled even further into the overgrown path.
“Do you think that it just circles around to his house?” he asked. “Or should I just forge my own path?”
I looked at the lights at the back of the house, then shrugged. “I guess just try to make your way over there. Go slow.”
So my father did, taking it slow, and coming to a stop behind the fence that encircled the back yard.
“You can’t even see the headlights the grass is so tall,” I snickered. “I doubt he would’ve told us to take this way if he thought it was this high.”
“Probably not,” my father admitted, staring at the back of the house. “Let me walk you out.”
I snorted.
“Ummm, no,” I said. “You stay here.”
Dad ignored my order as he got out of the truck.
I just sighed and rounded the hood of the truck, going to the gate that was at the back of the fence that I knew was there.
Turning my phone light on, I managed to locate it, then push inside.
“This is prime snake hanging area,” my father grumbled as he followed behind me.
I silently agreed and kept my eyes on the ground as we moved through the knee-deep grass.
“He needs to mow,” my father grumbled.
“I asked him if I could a few days ago, and he told me no.” I smiled at the memory. “He said he’d do it tonight, but then we made plans with the family. He has to work tomorrow, so I might see about getting that ride-on lawnmower to start.”
“Don’t,” my father chuckled. “You might very well see your husband’s head explode.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know how to mow.”
“I never said you didn’t,” Dad said. “What I am saying is that he doesn’t want you to, otherwise he would’ve agreed when you offered the first time. I…”