Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

“Then who’s Avery?”

There was a long pause before she went from dejected to livid in seconds. She advanced on him, furious. “How do you know about Avery? Did Wayne tell you about her?”

“No. I found that out after wondering why you had a locked door at your place when I’m the only one who visits.” He had the decency to seem a bit chagrined.

“You broke into my spare bedroom?”

“I used the key,” he said defensively.

“You think I’m pregnant and hiding it from you? I suppose you think I want to cash in on it somehow too?”

He stared straight ahead, and her heart broke completely. He didn’t trust her at all. He believed she purposely lied about her husband and that she was pregnant with his baby and planning a lawsuit as they spoke. She couldn’t take it.

“Avery is my baby. My dead baby,” she screamed. She ripped off her watch to show him the tattoo. “My precious, sweet angel who died four years ago.” She choked back a sob, and her eyes flooded. “No one is having your baby, Sam. And no one’s going to sue you. Are you happy now, you asshole?”

He was speechless, frozen in place, hand on the doorknob.

She turned away from him to hide the tears. “I said, get out.”

Thankfully, he left without a word. She crumpled into her chair, letting the tears fall freely. Beckie came running in, closing the door behind her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Annie rested her elbows on the desk and put her head in her hands. There were several alarming things to rehash about what had just happened, but the most important was that Wayne was here. Like, apparently, in the building, here. Damn it.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Beckie handed her a tissue that she used to blow her nose and wipe her eyes.

“Thanks, Beckie. I’m sorry you had to hear all that. It was very unprofessional.”

“I didn’t hear much,” she lied.

“Right.” Annie chuckled. “People in the next building over probably heard.”

“I’m sorry about your baby,” Beckie whispered.

“Thank you,” Annie said as a few more tears found their way down her cheeks.

“And I’m sorry you had a fight with Mr. MacDonald.”

Annie let that go without comment. She’d deal with the fallout of people finding out she’d been dating the boss later.

“I get how Wayne could find me. Someone from the San Fran office probably passed the info along like it was no big deal. What I don’t understand is why he would confront Sam and not me. How did he even find out about Sam and me? No one knows about that.” There was a long pause.

“I sort of knew,” Beckie confessed. “But I haven’t told anyone from the office. I swear,” she added quickly.

Annie had a bad feeling about the clarification. “What about outside the office?”

Beckie lowered her head and admitted in a timid voice, “I may have hinted to John that it was possible, that you might have a relationship beyond work with Mr. MacDonald. I don’t know why I said it. He was asking about you because I mentioned you, and it just came out.”

“That’s all right, Beckie.” A sick feeling took root in her stomach. “What does John look like?”

Beckie’s head snapped up as she realized what Annie was implying. “You don’t think? Oh my God. What if?” She panicked. “You think John is your ex-husband? Or husband? Or whatever.”

Annie woke her computer and searched “Wayne O’Neill California manslaughter.” She clicked on the first news article that popped up, which showed a mug shot of Wayne alongside the story. A man with mussed hair, dark, heavy eyes, and a look of disgust stared directly at them from the computer.

Beckie jumped up, eyes popping out of her head. “He’s a murderer?” she exclaimed in a panic. “Oh, my God!”

The look of horror on her face might have been comical if the whole situation wasn’t so not funny. So Beckie had spilled the beans about Sam. That explained Wayne confronting him, but not why he told him they were getting back together. He didn’t actually think there was any hope of that, did he? Wayne was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Then it dawned on her.

Sam hadn’t mentioned Wayne asking for money, but Annie would bet her left arm that it had come up. Wayne confronting Sam about their relationship to blackmail him into a payoff sounded exactly like something he would do. He had no shame and was most likely broke.

She knew Sam wouldn’t give in to any demands, so maybe Wayne had gotten pissed about that and made up the getting back together story. Or maybe the story was just to spite Annie. Wayne was a very bitter person, and she wouldn’t put that past him.

It wasn’t that he actually wanted to get back together, or even that he thought they would. He just wanted to make sure she wasn’t happy. Yeah, that made sense.

“Annie, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” Now Beckie was in tears too. “I had no idea. I thought he liked me. Oh, I’m so stupid!”

“No, you are not stupid. Don’t say that or even think it. Wayne is a master at manipulation. He probably saw us having lunch together or getting coffee or something and figured that was his way to get to me.”

“Why didn’t he just talk to you then? Why’d he have to involve me?”

“That’s an excellent question. Maybe he was trying to get information to use against me. I don’t know. That reminds me, you didn’t tell him anything else about me, did you?”

Beckie gasped and started crying in earnest. “Oh, Annie,” she choked out between sobs. “He knows what kind of car you drive. I told him that too. Shit, I’m like a sieve. Is he going to kill you?”

“No, no. Beckie, don’t worry about that. He’s a jerk, but he’s harmless.”

“He was in prison for murder!”

“I know, but it was an accident. He’s not really