Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (psychology books to read .TXT) 📗

"I was adopted into the family," Jenna replied, watching his expression. "There's no blood relation between Lori and I."

And absolutely no resemblance either. Jenna didn't look a bit like her sister.

Cal's face fell, just for the briefest of moments, but then he was smiling again. He'd realized Jenna wasn't going to be a pushover.

"I know you must be in so much pain, missing your sister. I cannot imagine what you've been going through–"

"You lied to the police about seeing Lori that last day. Why?"

Jenna simply didn't have the patience. When she looked at this man, she could see his resemblance to Knox but it was only superficial. She didn't get the same vibes from him - integrity, security, honesty. If anything, she felt a little dirty just sitting next to him on the couch.

"I'm sure you can understand my position. I knew that I wouldn't be any help in finding her–"

"How could you possibly know that?" Jenna broke in, irritated as hell. "It looks like you lied because you didn't care if anything had happened to her."

"Did Knox tell you that? Because that's not what I said."

Cal wasn't bothering to keep up the facade. He didn't look happy, handsome, or charming at the moment.

"I'm telling you how it looks from my perspective. It looks like you were protecting your own ass. Like maybe you had something to do with it and you didn't want anyone to find out."

"I didn't have anything to do with Lori disappearing," Cal protested, hopping to his feet. His red cheeks indicated his displeasure with her words. "I cared about Lori. I would never have hurt her. She disappeared, but it wasn't me."

"Then who was it?" Jenna asked, keeping her tone even. She didn't want to get too emotional. Cal would surely point that out. "Did you ever see anyone bothering her? Did she complain about a friend or co-worker? That last day did you see anyone on the street watching you?"

Cal shook his head. "No. No, I didn't. There were a few people but no one stood out. As for people she complained about there was this one guy at work. Hell, I don't even remember his name but she said that he had a creepy crush on her. She was always trying to avoid him without hurting his feelings."

Now Jenna was simply plain mad. Angry. Furious.

"And you didn't think to tell any of that to the police? Not once did it cross your mind that this person might be important? That maybe he had something to do with Lori's disappearance? You just didn't think it was worth telling the police?" Jenna stood, her legs eating up the space between herself and Cal. He was far taller but she got as close as she dared, poking her finger into his chest. "We now know about that guy and we're investigating him. But damn, it sure would have been nice to know about him months ago. Then maybe there might be a chance of finding my sister alive. But hey, you don't really care, do you?"

So much for not getting emotional. Too late. She was pissed as hell and Cal Owens was one of the reasons. Just one of them, though. She was also angry about the unfairness of the world. Lori should be living a long and happy life right now. It wasn't right that her life had probably been cut short like this. Lori was a good person and she'd deserved a hell of a lot better.

Cal threw up his hands, his frustration evident. "There was nothing I could do to help. Why can't you see that?"

"Because I don't believe it," Jenna stated firmly. "Maybe you could have helped, maybe not. But you didn't care to find out. You just wanted to sweep everything about Lori under the rug like it didn't happen. Let me ask you a question...does it still bother you that Lori dumped you? That she dug through all the bullshit and saw you for what you really are?"

It looked like Cal wanted to say a whole lot to Jenna, but he didn't. Instead, he swept past her and stomped out of the room.

That went well.

Cal had asked to talk to her thinking that he could lay on some smarmy charm and get her to think that everything he said was true. Frankly, she'd seen his type more times than she could count. She worked in politics, after all. They weren't known for being the most truthful and transparent people. She'd worked with men and women far worse than Cal Owens.

Knox was probably right that his brother didn't have anything to with Lori's disappearance. But he was definitely guilty of being a jerk. How he and Knox shared DNA she didn't know. Other than the same coloring, they shared nothing else.

So they were back to Brett Hedgcock. Hopefully, they'd get that warrant to search his home. If they didn't? Jenna didn't know what Plan B was, but she was sure that Knox did.

"It's good to see you, son. You look well."

Knox bit back a retort. It was not good to see Ben Owens. He could have gone the rest of his life peacefully and serenely, never missing his father.

"Thanks. I didn't know you were going to be here."

Ben gave Knox a smug smile. "If you did, you wouldn't have come."

Why deny what was absolutely true?

"Yes, Randy told me you were coming later."

"And you were planning to be gone by then."

"I was. But I have a feeling that what Randy told me