Forever Hers Walters, Ednah (best novels for teenagers .TXT) 📖

handed her the tablet. “In the meantime, I’m leaving a squad car behind. Once we figure out the nature of the ‘present’ Burgess left you, I’ll give you a call.”

“Thank you. Could you do me a favor, Captain Briggs?”

Amy explained as they walked outside to his car then shook his hand and waited until he drove off. The two cops smiled at her from their car. Smiling at them, she reached another decision. It was time for Raelynn to start seeing cops as friends.

***

Eddie sat back and rubbed his eyes. His watch said it was almost five o’clock and he had a headache brewing. He couldn’t stand con artists, especially computer savvy ones.

“Look, Sly. How about we call it a day, huh? I need to head home.”

“Home?”

“To the lake house.” And Amy. Funny how the word home had a new meaning.

“You sure you can’t ship the computer to us?” the younger man said, his shaggy, shoulder-length hair a mess from the countless number of times he’d run his fingers through it in frustration. “I can work on it faster on my own.”

“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see what the detective in charge of this investigation says.” Eddie left the conference room. All the desks on the floor were empty. He headed to Captain Briggs’s office. No one was there. He turned to leave and saw the captain and two cops walking toward him. “Where’s everyone?”

“Trying to stop Burgess from leaving,” the detective said. “Come into my office. I want you to see something. How did it go?”

“Sly wants us to ship the laptop to their office.”

“Nah. We’ll send it to Salt Lake City and let the Bureau work on it. Take a look at this.” He sat behind his desk and started his computer. Within a few minutes, a video started.

A tawny-haired man in his mid-thirties appeared on the screen. He was of medium height and built, hair cropped short. The brown eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses were intelligent, alert.

“William Burgess?” Eddie asked.

“Yes. A month ago when he paid for the rental house, his hair was black. About an hour ago, it was blond. Sit.”

“Hi, Ms. Kincaid,” the man said into the camera. “I’m recording this for you—”

“Whoa, stop,” Eddie snapped, leaning forward. “The recording is for Amy?”

“Yes,” Briggs said impatiently. “Let’s watch it then you can go home and discuss it with her.” Briggs pressed play.

“What you choose to do with this is up to you. I like to think of it as a lesson, so you can understand who you are dealing with.” He sat back and crossed his legs like some damn professor. “I grew up with Nolan. His family situation was crappy—an abusive, alcoholic father, a mother who abandoned him and no siblings. You could say his father turned him into his punching bag, but he rose above the abuse and when he finished high school, he never looked back. He survived because of one person, Penelope Digger. Penelope was…” His voice trailed off then he cleared it and squinted at the camera. “Penelope was an angel. There was nothing broken that she never tried to fix and she took Nolan under her wings. But she wasn’t his girlfriend. She was mine. I knew Nolan was in love with her, but I was his best friend and he never once crossed the line. A week before our wedding, Penelope broke off our engagement with no explanation. I tried to see her, talk to her, but she wouldn’t see me. The day she agreed to see me, I went to her home and it was a mess. A burglar had broken into her apartment and Penelope was…she…” The man went silent, head bowed, then he walked away from the screen and left Eddie and Briggs staring at a blank screen.

Briggs pressed fast forward until Burgess appeared again with a glass of water.

“She was dead, killed by the burglar. The evidence, unfortunately, pointed to me. It didn’t make sense. I barely got there, yet my watch, stained with blood, was clutched in her hand, my ripped shirt…” A sigh then, “Let’s just say it appeared I had killed her. Someone was determined to frame me, but Nolan got rid of the evidence and gave me an airtight alibi when they found my fingerprints.”

There was another long pause as he sipped the water.

“Penelope’s death was hard. It changed me. It changed Nolan too, until he met you, Ms. Kincaid. He told me he’d found his Penelope. I didn’t understand until I saw you. You looked exactly like her, except you were younger. Much younger.” He paused and sipped the water again. “I lost contact with Nolan for a few years, until six years ago. We were at a restaurant having dinner with friends and you were there with another guy—Charles Dunbar, the man stopping you and Nolan from being together. Nolan’s words, not mine. After we dropped off the women, Nolan called in his favor.”

Sitting through an hour long confession that chronicled everything Nolan and Burgess had put Amy through was like twisting a knife in a stab wound. That she’d survived and come out sane was a testament to the strength of her character.

“I can’t stop him because he’s keeping all the evidence he collected from Penelope’s apartment, evidence against me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who killed her.” He frowned. “I’m done with him. This time, I will disappear for good. I did my best to help the police, made sure I left the cigarette filters, the crowbar with his fingerprint, the glove, which might contain his DNA and the laptop.” He leaned forward and stared into the camera. “If you plan to go after him, Ms. Kincaid, there’s one last thing you need to know. Nolan likes to keep things, mementos. He did it when we were young and he still does even now. I don’t know where he keeps them, but if you can find them, use them