Page 66 of Crossfire Creek Vengeance

“Old work. Same private contractor overseas. Same unit for a short window. Money transfers, too. Shade funneled cash through a shell account Haskins had access to. It’s not clean, but it’s enough.”

Apparently, enough to bring him in.

He tapped out a text, quick and decisive, and sent it off. “I just instructed my deputies to go ahead and pick up Shade. I might not have enough to charge him with assorted felonies, but it’s enough to hold him.”

She nodded, tension winding back into her bones. The moment they’d nearly had slipped away, replaced by the reality they couldn’t outrun.

This was moving fast now.

But she knew it wasn’t done costing them yet. As long as they were dealing with the SOB orchestrating the attacks, then everything personal was on the back burner. Not just her feelings for Deacon but the whole emotional processing of everything that’d come to light. Noah being her father, and her mother’s murder.

She shifted her attention and spotted the photo that Noah had given her. It was still on the counter where she’d left it before things had gone to hell in a handbasket with the attack. She reached for it and picked it up again, studying it as if maybe it would change if she looked long enough.

It didn’t.

Her mother looked young. Open. Happy in a way Jessa had rarely seen growing up. Lauren’s smile in the picture was easy, unguarded, nothing like the careful expression she’d carried most of her life.

Deacon noticed where her attention had gone. “How you holding up with all of this?” he asked gently. “With Noah being your dad?”

Jessa didn’t look up at first. “It’s sinking in,” she said. “Slowly.”

She traced the edge of the photo with her thumb. “I almost never saw her like this. Smiling without watching herself. She always seemed like she was walking on eggshells. Especially when it came to her parents.”

Deacon leaned against the counter across from her, listening.

“I keep wondering if that’s why she had the affair with Clayton,” Jessa murmured. “And her relationship with Noah. Maybe it was her way of rebelling. Something that was hers. Something secret.”

She swallowed, her throat tight now. “She spent her whole life doing what she was supposed to do. Maybe for a little while… she just stopped.”

Deacon didn’t interrupt. He just stayed there with her, giving the memories room to breathe.

She set the photo back on the counter and looked at Deacon. “Do you think my mom could’ve killed Clayton?”

The question felt heavy leaving her mouth, like it might crack something open she couldn’t close again.

Deacon didn’t dodge it. “It’s possible,” he admitted. “But Shade, Lila, and Wynn had just as strong a motive. Maybe stronger.”

That didn’t ease the knot in her chest, but it helped to hear he wasn’t fixated on one answer.

“I just want the truth,” Jessa murmured. “All of it. No more half-stories. No more guessing.” She took a slow breath. “Even if it’s ugly, I hope the truth comes out.”

Deacon met her gaze, steady and sure. “It will.”

She wanted to believe him.

More than anything, she needed to.

Deacon went to her and pulled her into his arms. She went willingly, resting her forehead against his shoulder. For a few seconds, he just held her, solid and steady, like he was anchoring them both.

Then his phone rang.

Yep, the interruptions were a given, but maybe this would be good news.

She felt him tense before he pulled back to check the screen. His brow furrowed. “It’s Sheriff Abe Martelli,” he told her. “From Lawless Canyon.”

Her pulse jumped. “Lawless Canyon?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”