Ross Hampton smiled when Maude Drayton walked into that diner with Edmund walking beside her. Don stayed at the entrance to guard the door. Wyatt was released from the hospital with what doctors said was only a superficial wound, and was able to get back on duty later that day. He sat behind the wheel of their new rental: another borrowed Tahoe from the dealership in town after their first one was totaled in that crash. He and Don joked that money talked around Dillon because had either one of them totaled a brand-new Tahoe straight off the showroom floor, that dealership would have told them to keep on walking if they went back for another one.
But as Maude and Edmund approached the table where the husky white man was seated, he was smiling too. But not at anybody’s joke. He was smiling as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “That’s Maude Drayton for you,” he said as they stopped at his table inside the empty diner. “I knew you wouldn’t have the balls to show up alone.”
But Maude didn’t skip a beat. “I’m surprised you have the balls to show up at all. After what you did.”
“I haven’t done shit,” Hampton said. “That’s why I’m here. You’ve been scandalizing my name, young lady. I’m here to clear my name.”
Edmund pulled out a chair for Maude. She sat down. He sat down beside her.
“So you’re Tasha’s brother,” Hampton said to Edmund. “You’re the one who treats her like she’s a piece of trash.”
Edmund didn’t dignify that comment with a response.
But Maude did. “I’m sure that’s what she told you. But it’s not true. But when did truth matter to you? Right, Hamp?”
“Let’s get on with it,” Edmund said. “What do you want?” he asked Hampton.
“First of all, I didn’t frame Tasha. That’s the first lie I wanna clear up. She was arrested because the evidence the police collected at the scene tied her to that murder.”
“That’s bullshit, Hamp.”
“How is it bullshit?”
“Because it’s the same thing you said about that lady you accused of murdering your first wife. The police had no evidence. Just your so-called eyewitness testimony. And because you’re supposedly this big, ethical businessman, they believed you. But Natasha’s arrest was just a smokescreen anyway. Wasn’t it?”
“A smokescreen? How could it be a smokescreen? What are you talking about, Maude?”
“Why did you ask her to come here?” said Edmund. “Answer that.”
“I told you. To clear my name.”
“Isn’t it my sister’s name that needs to be cleared?”
“I might have told the police I saw Tasha do it. Yes, I might have said that. And I didn’t exactly see her do it, that’s true. But the Police found her DNA at the crime scene. That’s why she was arrested. She wasn’t arrested because of what I said. She was arrested because of what they found.”
Edmund looked at Maude. “That’s true?” he asked her.
Maude didn’t get a chance to investigate the case. She found out about the arrest after she was already fired. She no longer had press credentials. “Because of my investigative reporting into all of the corruption in Dillon, I had just been fired from the Post-Dispatch when she was arrested. Thanks toHamp, I couldn’t access information about that case. I didn’t get a chance to find out the details.”
Edmund frowned. “Then why were you so certain she was framed?”
“Because I investigated the first case. That lady serving time for killing his first wife was framed. She was his first wife’s best friend. They found out about his shady business dealings and suddenly his first wife was dead and her friend was arrested? And she was accused of killing her even though she had no motive to do so? All the cops had on her was Hamp’s eyewitness testimony. Now suddenly he’s an eyewitness in this case too?”
“I told you they have her DNA. They don’t have to just take my word for it.”
“Let’s cut the bullshit,” Edmund said. “Where’s Natasha?”
Hampton frowned. “How the hell should I know? You’re the one who got her off.”
“And you’re the one who had one of your goons to pick her up after your other goons failed to kill us off,” said Maude.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Hampton leaned back and said with a smile. “That wasn’t me or any of my guys.”
“Sure Hamp.”
“It wasn’t me!”
“Then why was that BMW that my sister got into registered in your name?” Edmund asked.
