Free How Secrets Die by Marta Perry Page A

away, and this time he didn’t try to stop her. “I don’t need help. Not from him. Not from you.”
    â€œWell, now, that’s too bad.” The country-boy casualness was back in his voice again. “Because Phil thinks you found out something that made you suspicious about how your brother died, and I can’t leave it alone. If I made a mistake, I have to fix it.”
    Kate hadn’t expected that, and the admission jolted her. “You mean that?”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “Do you have any reason to think I don’t?”
    â€œNo, I suppose not,” she admitted. Even Tom, as much as they’d fought, had always meant exactly what he’d said.
    â€œOkay.” He made it sound as if they’d taken a giant step forward. “Let’s start over. What makes you think there’s something I didn’t find out about how Jason died?”
    She tried to arrange her thoughts. Her instinct was to tell him nothing, but that had become impossible. But she didn’t have to say she suspected suicide. “It’s not a question of how he died. But why he died.”
    Mac seemed to process the difference instantly. “An overdose...” he began, his voice gentle.
    â€œAn overdose, yes.” Her throat tightened. “I don’t imagine any coroner could miss that. But why? He’d been clean for nearly three years. He’d graduated with honors. He had a bright future. Why would he throw all that away?”
    â€œAddiction is a day-by-day battle.” Mac rubbed the back of his neck, and frustration threaded his words. “Twenty years ago the worst thing Laurel Ridge cops had to deal with was a Saturday night drunk. Now we fight drugs like every other place in the country.”
    â€œDo you think I don’t know that? I helped him through a couple of relapses. But he was doing so well. Something happened to him while he was here in Laurel Ridge that summer. Something that ended with him lying dead in that cemetery.” What? A breakup? A fresh battle with his father? Trouble at his job? There had to be something. Each time he’d relapsed, something had triggered it.
    And if she never found that trigger? Either way, the responsibility came back to her. Her throat closed entirely, and she fought to hold back tears, shaking her head as she turned away from him.
    He touched her arm in mute sympathy and guided her to the sofa. He drew the armchair closer and sat like a man prepared to wait as long as it took.
    Kate sucked in a breath and swallowed hard. “All right,” she muttered.
    â€œThe coroner did confirm that there hadn’t been drugs in his system for some time before the overdose.” Mac’s tone was carefully neutral, as if he understood she needed that to hang on to her precarious control. “But what makes you think it was something that happened here that pushed him into it? Did he say anything to you about dealing?”
    His attention seemed to sharpen on the question. Naturally that would be his first thought—that someone was bringing drugs into his town.
    â€œIf you’re thinking it was Jason, you’re wrong,” she said flatly. “He wouldn’t. And he hadn’t left here all summer, anyway.”
    That had been part of Jason’s determination to make it on his own this time, without leaning on his big sister. He’d stay here for the duration of his internship. Phone calls only—no visits. And Jason never had expressed himself well on the phone. She needed to see his face to know what was happening with him.
    â€œI know that. Obviously we looked into it—the drugs had to come from somewhere. Since he didn’t go anywhere to get them, someone brought them in. We never found out who.”
    That had frustrated him. She could see it in his suddenly taut face.
    â€œYou don’t know who. But you must have some idea.” She leaned toward him, suddenly urgent.