She brushes a strand of gray hair from her face. “Did you ever wonder why your parents were so adamant that you couldn’t date Shane? You probably just thought it was because he was white trash. They never told you the real reason, did they? Because if they did, you would’ve stayed away from him instead of dating him behind their backs.”

I shake my head wordlessly.

“When Shane was five years old, I fell in love with your father.” Her voice cracks slightly. “We were together for almost a year. He was supposed to leave your mother for me. He told me he would. He was supposed to save us—me and Shane. But then he decided he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave your mother and he couldn’t leave you. So he left us instead. You got to live the life that Shane and I should have had.”

“I… I had no idea…”

“Of course you didn’t!” She tightens her grip on the gun. “You were too busy living your charmed life. You had no idea what your father did to us. And your mother knew all about it, and she wouldn’t give us a red cent. My son had to work all through high school just to help pay the mortgage here.” She pauses. “Those two deserved to die. I would have done it anyway—even if I didn’t have to do it to get you to come back here.”

I clasp a hand over my mouth. My parents’ accident. I had thought it was an act of God, but apparently not. This woman killed them. She’s even crazier than I gave her credit for.

I hadn’t been close to my parents. I never forgave them for the way they shunned me after I decided to have Shane’s baby. Although now I understand it a little better. I understand why they never wanted me to come back to Raker and hid my pregnancy from everyone they knew. It wasn’t because they were ashamed of me—they didn’t want this crazy woman to find out she had a grandson.

“I told Shane what they did to me,” she says, “and we planned the whole thing together. It was all his idea. He is such a good son. He would do anything for his mother. Anything.”

“I’m sorry about what my parents did to you,” I say carefully. I’ve got to remain calm. For Josh’s sake.

“They could have at least told me about my grandchild!” she bursts out. “They took so much from me. I deserved to know about Josh. I deserved to be part of his life—not just the last six months!”