Trust Me by Kelly Irvin

Author:Kelly Irvin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Just because Hunter had to get to work immediately, didn’t mean Delaney did. She should, but she didn’t. Instead, she’d waited until he drove away from La Villita, trotted to her SUV, and made a beeline for Michael’s house. She needed to know what Michael knew about the photos of Ellie. Hunter would not be welcome—especially if Jess was still there.

After paying quick lip service to pleasantries, she laid two photos from each location on the slick mahogany table in front of Michael.

“What’s this?” His shaking fingers brushed against the first one. Shoving it back in her direction, he squinted and raised his head to frown at her. “Where did you get these?”

“Do you know whose car this is? Have you seen these photos before?”

“Where did you get them?” Jess, who sat next to him, dragged one of the photos closer. He pulled down reading glasses from atop his head and peered more closely at the one of Ellie shaking her finger at the unidentifiable man in the car. “When were these taken and where did you get them?”

“In a filing cabinet in Ellie’s office. Hidden in a bunch of catalogs. The postmark on the envelope was a week before Ellie’s murder.”

Michael wrapped his hands around his Best Dad Ever coffee mug. His dark-brown eyes had sunk into his skull in the last two days. His suit was rumpled and he smelled of BO, coffee, and faintly of whiskey. “You said you’d go through Ellie’s stuff upstairs. You didn’t say anything about the shop.”

“We—I was trying to help. To clean up. It occurred to me that Ellie’s attacker might have been searching for something and I interrupted him.” Delaney tapped the photo. “Maybe he was searching for this. Or maybe he was planting them. I don’t know. They could be incriminating, or maybe they’re completely innocent. I know this is hurtful, but I have to ask. Is it possible Ellie was having an affair?”

“You tell me!” Michael slammed his fist on the table. His mug shook and coffee sloshed, soaking the paper napkin under it. “Ellie told you everything. When she had good news to share, she called you first. Before me. If she was sorry she married me, she would’ve come to you for advice. If she was cheating she would tell you.”

Delaney jerked back. “Ellie never confided in me about anything other than the fact that she loved you and the kids. She loved her shop and her life.”

“I can’t believe she would cheat on me. This is about something else. I’d lay odds that something had to do with Gerard Knox.” Michael flipped both photos over so they lay facedown. “He probably had her followed. Maybe his guy threatened her to get to me. Maybe he blackmailed her. With Knox anything is possible.”

It sounded so far-fetched. A newlywed essential oils shop owner and an accountant living an ordinary life, suddenly immersed in San Antonio’s criminal element. Sure Ellie had smoked pot, but that didn’t mean she was enmeshed in the city’s dark underbelly.

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