Cold Case Tracker by Maggie K. Black

Author:Maggie K. Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-02-09T22:43:37+00:00

NINE

Jackson stepped around the kitchen counter holding a bowl of warmed macaroni and cheese in his hand and watched as the color drained from Amy’s face.

“What happened?” He set the bowl down on the table in front of her. “Is everything okay?”

Oh no. Had she somehow figured out that Gemma might already be dead?

But Amy’s lips curled as if she’d just tasted something wretched. She wasn’t feeling a pain like the hollow one in his chest. She was angry.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” She pushed herself up to standing. Instinctively, he stepped forward to help her but the fury that glinted in her eyes like daggers told him to stay back. “You lied to me! This whole time!” Her voice rose. “You’re Gemma’s brother, Ajay!”

He opened his mouth to respond.

But she spoke before he could get the words out. “Don’t you even dare deny it!”

“I’m not about to deny it!” Jackson said. His words flew out rapid-fire, in fear she’d run out of the room before he managed to get them all out. His heart was racing so quickly he almost felt dizzy. “You’re right! I’m Gemma’s brother. In all the chaos of the attempted kidnapping and bear spray, I momentarily forgot to tell you my name was Ajay, because everybody calls me Jackson now—”

“Ha! Jackson Finnick?” Sarcasm dripped in her tone.

“No, Jackson Locke,” he said, “and I should’ve told you that the moment I ran into you behind the store yesterday.”

“Yeah, you should have!”

“I know! But I panicked, and I’ve been winging it ever since,” he admitted. “I was afraid that if you knew who I was, you wouldn’t let me help you and you’d refuse to tell me anything about what happened to my sister. For all I knew, you might’ve bear sprayed me again and told me to get lost.”

She pressed her lips together, as if she was about to fire back a retort and had barely managed to catch herself. Whatever she had been about to say, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been good.

“Look, when I came up here to look into what happened to Gemma, I never expected to run into you,” he said. His voice rose. But not like he was yelling. More like he was drowning and begging her to throw him a lifeline. “I didn’t know you were living here and running the store for her. I paced back and forth in front of the store for ages trying to figure out what I was going to say when I walked in the door. Remember, the police officer who interviewed you initially thought you might be hiding something, and I was afraid you wouldn’t tell me what I needed to know to find her.”

“So, you lied to me because you were afraid I’d lie to you?” she asked. “You prejudged me and assumed I wouldn’t forgive you for the dumb things you did when you were young, because you can’t forgive yourself.”

No. Maybe. That wasn’t true,

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