Page 79 of Lead Me On
“I know that Jessie couldn’t have done it. The police act as if they don’t believe me, so I’m coming to you for help. You said that you genuinely cared about me….”
His mouth twisted with impatience. “I said Ihadfeelings for you. Past tense. Regardless, what possible interest could you have in Jessie MacKenzie?”
For a moment she considered blaming Chase.The guy in the car is Chase. I work with him. Jessie is a friend of his and he needs help.It would be an easier connection to admit, but the lie wouldn’t last through one inquiring phone call to police. And it wouldn’t be the truth. The last thing Jessie needed was lies piled on top of his situation.
Jane wanted to look down, but she met Greg’s gaze straight on and spoke over the mad pounding of her heart. “Jessie’s my brother.”
That knocked the impatience off his face. “Excuse me?”
“He’s my brother.”
“JessieMacKenzie?”
“Yes. So I wanted to know if—”
“Jessie MacKenzie is yourbrother?”Now his lips were drawn so tightly down that white showed at the edges. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“No,” she bit out.
“You weren’t friends with Michelle Brown. You were calling for your brother.”
“Yes,” she admitted, her pulse pounding faster.
His gaze swept up and down her body. “This has got to be a fucking joke, right? Your dad’s an ex-con? A murderer?”
“My stepfather,” she muttered. “And that murder conviction was overturned. He was never charged again. He didn’t do it.”
“That’swhat you want to talk about?” he growled. “You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me for months.”
“I’m sorry, Greg. I never… I don’t really like to talk about my family—”
“No wonder!”
“I didn’t lie about them. I just—”
“You let me think you were from a decent family! And you’re nothing but garbage.”
Jane’s chest burned with anger, but she couldn’t let it out. She needed his help.
“And you proved it by trying to coerce information out of me for a murderer.”
“He didn’t do it.”
“I really… I can’t believe I almost took a piece of trash home to meet my parents.”
Shock sang through her body at his words. She should have expected them, but she hadn’t. No one had called her trash in a decade. No one except her, anyway.
The shock broke quickly into old pain. Jane stuffed it down where it belonged. “I wanted to speak with you about Jessie’s case. I know what the police suspect him of. And I just want you to take a closer look at the evidence. For me.”
“Foryou?”Greg had never struck her as anything other than a decent person. Aggressive and short-tempered yes, but decent. But now…now he looked ugly and cruel, cheeks flushed and eyes bright with rage. “You broke it off withme,Jane. Now you’re standing in my doorway with your nose still in the air and asking me for help?” The bitter sneer in his voice was not a good sign. If he wanted her to grovel, she would grovel.
“I’m sorry I broke up with you, Greg. It wasn’t working.” Her brain offered up an excuse. “We’re from two different worlds.”
He cocked his head. “Now, that’s something you might be right about.Mybrother’s not a killer.”
“Neither is mine! I swear to you, Greg, he didn’t do it. Iknowthat. That latest girl, she was killed the day before she was found, wasn’t she?”
“Where did you hear that?”
