Midnight Sins (71 page)

long, then she would see the same lack of emotion

that she had seen in the eyes of the man who had

called himself her father.

For the first time, Cami felt loved.

She felt wanted.

And for the first time the love she had carried so

carefully inside her heart, kept wrapped and hidden

away from harm, could emerge, be free, and she did

not have to worry that the emotions that drew it free

would turn on her and destroy her.

She’d lived her life in the shadow of Mark’s

hatred, her mother’s inability to deal with reality, and

her sister’s death. Still, Cami had held that dream

inside her, that hope, and an endless well of love for

one man. That love had always remained steadfast,

living, breathing, and waiting for the day it could

emerge.

But there was also the knowledge that there was

no true security, not yet.

There was still that unseen threat that made no

sense and the shadow that haunted her, no matter

how she trusted in Rafe’s ability to protect her. As she

had said, even the Callahan cousins had to blink

eventually. Returning from the grocery store that

evening, she couldn’t help but fear the day the other

shoe would drop.

When that unseen threat would make its move

and destroy the life she had dreamed of having.

If that threat hadn’t reared its head, then neither

had Amelia. That was another worry that followed

Cami through the day, as she wondered why her

friend hadn’t slipped into the house yet and why she

hadn’t found a way to contact Cami and let her know

what was going on.

It had to be important or Amelia wouldn’t have

taken the risk she took the day before.

“I’m going to go shower,” Cami told Rafe as he

put away the bacon, eggs, and other items his

cousins seemed to thrive on.

It was growing dark, and Cami knew if she didn’t

try to keep her nerves at bay, and her fears from

taking over, then she would end up going after Amelia

herself.

Making her way up the stairs, Cami wished she’d

been smarter, perhaps not so willing to ignore the fact

that Sorenson was such an asshole.

She simply hadn’t expected him to search

through her things, though. Even more, she hadn’t

expected him to read that particular journal. It was

almost as though he had known exactly where to look

for it.

Sighing at the futility of her thoughts, she pushed

her bedroom door open, stepped in, then as the door

cracked closed whirled around in shock and fear.

Dark brown eyes that watched her carefully, short

brown hair, a tattoo on the back of his hand, and

extending from the grip he had on it a weapon lifted

and aimed for her heart.

Lowry Berry.

“Didn’t expect to see me, did you, Cami?”

That was the voice. Low, evil, rasping with

dangerous intent as he stepped from the wall,

reached over, and locked the door securely. Cami

stared at the weapon.

“How did you get in?” She could feel terror rising

inside her.

“I have my ways.” His smile was soft, hesitant.

That boyish, apologetic charm that had fooled so

many for so long.

“Don’t do this, Lowry,” she whispered as the

teacher stared back at her, the dark brown of his eyes

heavy with remorse. “Why did you even come here?

Whatever you’re involved in, I didn’t know anything

about it and I don’t care.”

“And you wouldn’t have recognized my voice

either, would you?” he asked regretfully, the little

Texas twang in his voice sounding dark and sinister

now rather than friendly and a bit shy as it had the

night he had asked her to dance at the Spring Fling

Social.

“You were calling?” She knew it was him. The

minute she had swung around and seen him, she had

known.

“Your sister knew too.” His voice dropped further

as Cami felt her heart fall to her stomach.

She could see it in his eyes. That silent

admission that he was the reason Thomas Jones had

managed to take Jaymi.

“What did you say?” No, this couldn’t be true.

Lowry had been Jaymi’s friend. She would have

trusted him. She would have felt safe with him.“I didn’t

have a choice, Cami, just as I don’t have a choice

now.” He took a step toward her as she stepped

back.

“You’ll never get me out of this house, Lowry,” she

warned him roughly, tears thickening her voice. “Rafe

will be up here any minute. And even if he isn’t—”

“I got into the house, didn’t I? I got in, and I

slipped right up the stairs while y’all sat in the kitchen

chitchattin’ about your whys and your whens. And all

these years, those boys never figured Jaymi was

given to Thomas for the sole purpose of framin’ them

just enough to get their asses thrown in prison.”

She was going to throw up.

She could feel it roiling in her stomach,

thickening in her throat.

“How did you get in?” Her entire body was

shaking, trembling in fear and in anger.

His smile was gentle as he looked around her

bedroom.

“I like your room,” he said, staring around. “The

soft cream and smoke color of the walls with the

heavy, dark brown winter curtains.” He tilted his head

and looked at the furnishings, the bedcovering.

“Feminine softness without the prissiness,” he sighed.

“Jaymi wasn’t like that, was she?”

Cami shook her head. The delay would give her

more time, and it would give Rafe more time to get

upstairs.

“She was girly to the bone.” Lowry smiled in

reminiscence.

“What did you do, Lowry?” Cami whispered

tearfully.

She couldn’t believe he had done something so

cruel. That he could have been involved in Jaymi’s

death. He had been her friend. She had dated him a few

times. They had always laughed that he was the

brother fate had taken from her.

“What do you think I did?” he asked Cami softly.

A sob jerked at her body, stealing her breath for

a precious moment. “You helped Thomas Jones kill

her, didn’t you?”

There was no hiding from it. And there was no

denying it.

He nodded slowly. “I picked her up. Jones was

waiting for me. I was to take her to him, just like I did

the other girl. The one Crowe was fucking. That

lobbyist’s daughter that he met at a party the week

she died.”

“I didn’t know about her.” Keep him talking. She

had to keep him talking.

“Not many people did know about her. But once

they were on trial for murder, then she would have

been brought up.”

“By who?” And why? There were so many

questions, but she wanted to keep him talking, right

here, right now. She was not leaving the house with

him.

“Now see, I don’t know that.” He shook his head

as he moved to the dresser next to the door and

leaned casually against it, as though it were simply a

casual conversation as he kept the weapon trained on

her. “I get a picture and my orders and I do what I’m

told.”

“But why, Lowry?” she whispered again, this time

desperation shadowing her voice. “Why would you

betray your friends this way? Who could possibly

make you hurt the people who care about you?”

“The person who knows that even though I can’t

kill my friends, I won’t take the chance of going to

prison if the cops find out that I’m the one that raped

those three teenagers in Aspen the year Jaymi died,

and at least two a year ever since. And I can tell you,

Cami, I wouldn’t survive prison.” He straightened and

waved the gun toward the door before coming back to

her. “Now, you be quiet. Real quiet. There’s this little

bug in the kitchen, and I listen through here.” He pulled

an earbud free before tucking it back into his ear.

“Your friends are still in there, but I’m not betting they’ll

stay for long and we need to get out of here.”

“Why?” Her breathing hitched. “Where are you

taking me, Lowry?”

“Because I don’t have a choice,” he sighed. “It’s

what I was ordered to do, and I can’t ignore the order.”

“Why?” she whispered desperately. “Who has

such a hold on you that you would do something so

evil?”

Sorrow darkened his eyes. “I don’t know who he

is,” he said regretfully. “I just know he was Jones’

partner. He’s the man that’s going to kill you, Cami.”

Like hell he was.

Did he think she was going to give in without a

fight? That she would just lie down and die for him

with a warning like that?

“Was Jaymi that easy, Lowry?” Cami asked,

confused by his demeanor and the fact that he had

managed to kidnap her sister.

“She missed her husband an awful lot, you know,”

Lowry commented softly. “I think she knew. And I think

preferred dying to living without him. But she didn’t

know who would kill her until we arrived at the clearing

and I had to help Thomas tie her down.”

He blinked quickly.

“Tears from a murderer?” Cami sneered

suddenly. “From a child rapist without a conscience?”

His lips trembled. “I lose sleep.” It was a whine. It

was a childish attempt to make himself look better,

though he knew that wasn’t possible. “I feel guilt,

Cami. I hear her telling me, though, that she was

happier in his arms. In her husband’s arms.”

“You’re hearing your own demented wishes,”

Cami cried out as he flinched, then looked around

wildly as though expecting Rafe to suddenly

materialize.

“Shut up,” he hissed, fury blazing in his eyes.

“Shut up?” She laughed, a broken, hollow sound.

“Why, Lowry? Why should I shut up? Why should I

obey you when you’re going to kill me anyway?”

Her lips parted to scream.

“Lowry?” Cami swung around as Amelia stepped

from the bathroom.

There were tears on Amelia’s cheeks; her

emerald eyes were filled with pain and with betrayal.

Lowry hadn’t been just Cami and Jaymi’s friend.

He had been Amelia’s as well. He had helped her and

Cami evade curfews when they were younger and slip

out when they were grounded.

Since Jaymi’s death, he had been too distant to

aid in anything. He’d withdrawn, and now Cami knew

why.

Lowry stepped back, shocked, as Cami watched

the gun in his hand carefully.

He didn’t know whether to aim it at Amelia or aim

it at Cami. It swung wildly between the two of them as

his dark brown eyes grew even wilder and a sense of