Dirty Devil Read online

  I scrambled the eggs and let the bread soak in the yolks before I remembered I’d forgotten the butter and I hadn’t turned on the pan. There was something in my gut that was stirring, and worry set in when my phone started buzzing again. I heard Jack’s footsteps on the stairs at the same time I heard a car door slam from the driveway. And then another door slammed. I looked out the window in time to see Carrie Colson check her hair once in the side-view mirror and grab a microphone.

  “Why are there reporters in our driveway?” I asked Jack when he came in the kitchen. I’d never seen the look on his face before. His skin color was ashen and there was a banked fury inside of him that made his black eyes glitter with rage. He was holding on to his temper by a thread.

  My phone buzzed again. “It keeps doing that,” I said. “What’s going on? Jack, you’re scaring me. Is someone hurt?”

  “No, no one is hurt,” he said. His voice was different. It was thin and raspy.

  “One of the guys emailed me the paper’s headline this morning,” he said, putting his phone on the counter so I could read it.

  My blood ran cold.

  Sheriff’s Affair Results In Child He Abandoned

  My gaze went to the author of the article and saw Floyd Parker’s name, and then I quickly read the story. A story I knew to be true, down to the very last detail. Floyd hadn’t missed a thing.

  It’s not something I’d thought about in a long time. There was no reason to. We’d all been young and stupid once upon a time, and everyone had a past. It’s just that some pasts were better kept secrets than others. I knew this from experience.

  Jack had been nineteen and a sophomore in college. He’d been infatuated with this woman—Amber something—who’d been twenty-three and newly married. She’d been a kindergarten teacher of all things.

  One thing had led to another and they’d had a fast and furious affair that had lasted a few weeks before it had fizzled. She’d been scared her husband was going to find out and put a stop to things, and Jack had never let himself get attached to a woman because, in those days, he’d been bound and determined to try them all to see which one fit the best. So he’d shrugged her off and gone his own way with no love lost either way.

  Until she’d let him know she was pregnant. I remember the night he showed up at my dorm room, his face pale and showing all the symptoms of shock. He’d been scared to death, and there’d been no plans in his life to start a family that young. He was even more scared that his dad was going to kill him. Mr. Lawson was a good man, but boy, could he put the fear of God in a person.

  I’d held him when he’d cried, and supported him when he’d decided he’d do whatever it took to be a good father. And he would’ve been a good father. Will be a good father. Someday. But Amber had come back after her initial panic had subsided and told Jack she wanted him out of her life completely. She didn’t want him to be part of the baby’s life. She wanted her husband to think the baby was his, and had lied about the baby’s due date so it coincided with the last time they’d been together. And she begged Jack not to make trouble for them. She told him her husband would make all their lives miserable if he did.

  Jack hadn’t really had much choice in the matter. So he’d agreed, and then he’d sworn me to secrecy. I knew he’d regretted coming to my dorm room and letting me see him at his most vulnerable. But he also knew he could trust me. He’d decided the whole thing had never happened, and he suggested I forget about it too. It was the only thing we could do.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “Why? How?”

  “You’re the only person who knows the truth that’s written in that paper. I never told another person.”

  I shook my head involuntarily, trying to get my brain to understand what he was implying.

  “What are you saying? You think I told Floyd about this?”

  “You two used to be involved,” he said. His cop face was firmly in place, and his posture was so stiff I thought he might break.

  “We didn’t used to be involved,” I said, the blood rushing in my ears. My skin was on fire with dread. “We had one night of lousy sex. Discussing my best friend’s secrets over pillow talk isn’t exactly my MO.”

  “The proof is in black and white,” he said. “There’s nothing that can be done about it now. I’ve already gotten calls asking for my resignation.”

  “There’s nothing to be done?” I asked, my voice getting louder. “You’re going to stand there and accuse me of betraying you when you know I’d rather die than hurt you in any way, and you say there’s nothing to be done?”

  Jack shrugged. “Floyd bided his time. He’s held on to this information for years until he could use it at the right moment. It’s game, set, and match for him.”

  “I don’t give a damn about the election or Floyd Parker. All I care about right here, right now, is whether or not you believe me when I tell you I was not the person who gave Floyd Parker that story.”

  Jack looked at me, and I saw the disappointment in his eyes along with the acceptance. “I think you’d never do anything purposely to hurt me.”

  “But by accident?” I asked, wanting to make sure I was crystal clear in my understanding.

  “I think things happen in the heat of the moment. Even inadvertently. Maybe you didn’t even realize how much information you gave him. It could’ve been just enough for him to start digging.”

  My eyes burned, but I didn’t think I could cry. It felt as if something was pressing against my chest, and I was having trouble catching a breath.

  “You don’t believe me,” I said, feeling hollow inside.

  “Accidents happen, and facts are facts. You and I are the only people who knew about this.”

  “Right,” I said, pushing his phone back across the counter. I didn’t want to see any more. My phone was buzzing again, but now I knew why. “Well, at least I know where I stand.”

  “All we can do is damage control at this point,” he said. “A place like King George County still cares about the morality of its leaders.” His voice was even and empty, and I knew he was hurting. But I didn’t care at the moment.

  My own hurt was so consuming I wanted to curl up into a ball on the floor and rock the pain away. I wanted to scream.

  I looked around the kitchen as if I were seeing it for the first time, and then I looked once more at Jack. He was staring out the window into the trees, lost in his own pain. I walked out of the kitchen and upstairs to the third-floor bedroom we’d shared for the last few months of our marriage.

  I tried not to breathe in the scent of him as I went into the closet and started pulling clothes from the hangers. It didn’t matter. None of it had ever mattered. I shoved everything I could fit into the old gray suitcase that had been mine before we’d married, and then I picked it up with a strength I hadn’t realized I possessed and carried it down the stairs.

  I didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t stop to get my phone. I just walked out. I walked through the reporters gathered on our lawn and to the Suburban, and I didn’t care if I backed over anyone who got in my way as I sped down the driveway.

  I realized my father had only ever told one truth my entire life, and I didn’t know why I was thinking of him now, here in this moment, when my life was crumbling at my feet. But his only truth had been to say that the only person you could ever count on in life was yourself.

  Even the people you’d die for could turn on you in an instant.

  J.J. Graves and her husband, Sheriff Jack Lawson, are sworn to protect and serve. But with a secret out in the open and the election all but lost, J.J. and Jack have to figure out how to work together while their marriage is torn apart. Because death doesn’t stop for anyone.

  * * *

  Coming December 1, 2020! Preorder Today!

  About the Author

  Liliana Hart is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of more than sixty titles. After starting her first novel her freshman year of college, s
he immediately became addicted to writing and knew she’d found what she was meant to do with her life. She has no idea why she majored in music.

  Since publishing in June 2011, Liliana has sold more than six-million books. All three of her series have made multiple appearances on the New York Times list.

  Liliana can almost always be found at her computer writing, hauling five kids to various activities, or spending time with her husband. She calls Texas home.

  If you enjoyed reading this, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too.

  Recommend it. Please help other readers find this book by recommending it to friends, readers’ groups and discussion boards.

  Review it. Please tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing.

  Connect with me online:

  www.lilianahart.com

  Also by Liliana Hart

  JJ Graves Mystery Series

  Dirty Little Secrets

  A Dirty Shame

  Dirty Rotten Scoundrel

  Down and Dirty

  Dirty Deeds

  Dirty Laundry

  Dirty Money

  A Dirty Job

  Dirty Devil

  Playing Dirty

  * * *

  The MacKenzies of Montana

  Dane’s Return

  Thomas’s Vow

  Riley’s Sanctuary

  Cooper’s Promise

  Grant’s Christmas Wish

  Jayden’s Hope

  The MacKenzies Boxset

  * * *

  MacKenzie Security Series

  Seduction and Sapphires

  Shadows and Silk

  Secrets and Satin

  Sins and Scarlet Lace

  Sizzle

  Crave

  Scorch

  MacKenzie Security Omnibus 1

  MacKenzie Security Omnibus 2

  * * *

  Lawmen of Surrender (MacKenzies-1001 Dark Nights)

  1001 Dark Nights: Captured in Surrender

  1001 Dark Nights: The Promise of Surrender

  1001 Dark Nights: Sweet Surrender

  1001 Dark Nights: Dawn of Surrender

  * * *

  The MacKenzie World (read in any order)

  Trouble Maker

  Bullet Proof

  Deep Trouble

  Delta Rescue

  Desire and Ice

  Rush

  Spies and Stilettos

  Wicked Hot

  Hot Witness

  Avenged

  Never Surrender

  * * *

  Addison Holmes Mystery Series

  Whiskey Rebellion

  Whiskey Sour

  Whiskey For Breakfast

  Whiskey, You’re The Devil

  Whiskey on the Rocks

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  Whiskey and Gunpowder

  * * *

  The Gravediggers

  The Darkest Corner

  Gone to Dust

  Say No More

  * * *

  Stand Alone Titles

  Breath of Fire

  Kill Shot

  Catch Me If You Can

  All About Eve

  Paradise Disguised

  Island Home

  The Witching Hour

  * * *

  Books by Liliana Hart and Scott Silverii

  The Harley and Davidson Mystery Series

  The Farmer’s Slaughter

  A Tisket a Casket

  I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus

  Get Your Murder Running

  Deceased and Desist

  Malice In Wonderland

  Tequila Mockingbird

  Gone With the Sin