Spontaneous - Brenda Jackson [30]
“If you were to tell her now, would she believe you? How do you know he hasn’t already told her that he’s had two wives run off and made it seem it was their choice? And would knowing that about him make your mother leery of him? In Wynona’s mind, he’s a good man, so unless you can present concrete evidence to the contrary, she’ll take anything you say as an attempt to keep them apart.”
Kim was silent for a while because what Duan had said was the truth. Her mother could very well know about Edward’s two wives. She certainly hadn’t reacted when he’d answered Duan’s question earlier about whether he’d ever been married. He hadn’t hesitated to admit to two divorces, so chances were he’d told her mother about his wives’ disappearances, as well. Kim knew her mother wouldn’t suspect Edward of any foul play.
“I can’t let her marry him until I know for sure he’s innocent, Duan,” she said, glancing over at him.
He nodded. “And like I said earlier, with all five of us working the case, not to mention the detective with the Atlanta police department, I feel we should come up with something—even if nothing more than a motive.”
“And then what?”
“And then we present what we have to the police, and to your mother. Until then, she won’t believe mere speculation on our part.” He leaned back in his chair. “There is no doubt in my mind that Villarosas is a manipulator. I watched your mother while he was talking. He’s convinced her that he’s the best thing since sliced bread.”
Kim felt that was a pretty good assessment, one she’d made herself. “So what can we do?”
“Right now, nothing. My partners know how important it is that we determine once and for all what happened to those women, and if that means starting back at square one, then that’s what we’ll do.”
His words didn’t give Kim much comfort. What he was anticipating doing could take time, and time was something they didn’t have, not when her mother intended to marry Edward in a few weeks.
“There has to be something we can do now,” she said in a frustrated tone.
“There is. I need you to act as if he’s winning you over. That’s going to be important to him. I’m sure he’s already figured out that he’s rubbed me the wrong way, and he either doesn’t give a damn or he’s going to do his best to get on my good side, if for no other reason than to try to figure out what I know.”
“Won’t he become suspicious if he finds out the cases have been reopened?”
“Possibly. But he won’t connect me to anything. In fact I’m going to make him believe I know nothing about it. I was up front with him about being a former police officer, and he’s probably thinking I wouldn’t have done so had I recognized his name.”
He stood up and crossed over to her, reaching out his hand. She stared at it for a moment before placing her own hand in his. He tugged her to her feet, and when he wrapped his arms around her waist she made a feeble attempt to pull away. He tightened his hold, not letting her go.
“You should have told me,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.
He lifted her chin to connect their gazes. He couldn’t help but see the hurt in the depths of her dark brown eyes and it was like a kick in the gut. He’d never meant to hurt her.
“Things had to be done this way, Kim. Any false move could blow up in our face—cause potential evidence to be thrown out. I can’t risk him wiggling through any loopholes. Would you want that, especially if he’s guilty?”
“No.”
“Had I told you any sooner you would have caught the first plane here to confront both Villarosas and your mother, without any proof. That would only have pushed them closer together. They would have eloped before you could have stopped them. This way we both know what we have to do and we’ll work together to nail him.” He paused to let his words sink in.
“So, are we a team or not?” he asked after a few moments.
A part of Kim wanted to go somewhere and cry her eyes out. Finding out that the one man her mother believed could make her happy was a fake and possible murderer was