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Hammer grinned again. He loved this girl!

And although Diana and Arthur were inwardly pissed by her little jab at Diana’s character, they couldn’t agree with her more. They all looked at William.

William exhaled. He still was inclined toward no. “I’ll see,” he said. And then he knocked on the door for Max to open it.

When Max opened it and he and Joy were getting ready to get out, Joy looked at Arthur. “Why are you standing by your wife so easily,” she asked him, “even though she humiliated you by cheating on you?”

Arthur knew it was coming from her own concerns about William and if he was going to cheat on her. And in that moment, she seemed so young. And so sweet. “Sometimes blood is thicker than water and you therefore do whatever you need to do for blood. But sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the heart drives everything. The simple answer, young lady, is that I love my wife.”

“And the not-so-simple answer?” Joy asked.

“The not-so-simple answer is that I love my wife,” Arthur said again, as tears appeared in Diana’s eyes.

Joy nodded. She could relate to that.

And then she and William got out of that limousine.

But as soon as they got back into their own limo and were heading back to their airplane, Joy was troubled once again. “We still don’t have any answers. Because if Arthur Davenport isn’t behind those attacks, and even Hammer Reese says there’s no way he is, then who is?”

“It’s got to be a benefits game,” said William. “If it isn’t revenge, then who stands to benefit the most if we’re out of the picture?”

“You left everything to me, so killing you won’t make any difference on your side of the family aisle. And on my side . . .”

William looked at her when she didn’t finish. “What is it, Joynetta?”

Joy’s already large eyes were stretched even larger. She looked at William. “I know who did it. I know who did it!”

William’s heart began to pound. But because he could tell she was still working out the logistics of it, he dared not ask who. “Where?” he asked her.

“Bridell,” she said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

It felt like déjà vu for everybody involved as another convoy of SUVs arrived at Gramps house in Bridell, Indiana. Max got out, waited for the bodyguards to get in place for coverage, and then he opened the back passenger door.

When William and Joy stepped out, a sense of purpose filled Joy’s heart. She was scared, she was anxious, but she determined. They landed at a different airfield and took an entirely different route to get to Gramps house, but the memories of that ambush was still raw in their minds. It was still a treacherous trip. But now that they had arrived, Joy was ready. And William was by her side as they made their way up the steps and onto the front porch.

Joy didn’t knock. She walked on in. She was followed closely by William and Max, while their contingent of bodyguards remained outside guarding the front and the back of the house.

As soon as they walked in, they saw Joy’s mother Juanita slouched down on Gramps’s couch, filing her nails and watching Tami Roman on Caught in the Act: Unfaithful on Gramps’ TV. She stopped and looked up when they walked in.

“What y’all doing here?” Juanita had the nerve to ask.

“This Gramps’ house,” said Joy. “What you doing here?”

Juanita jumped defensive. “I can come here any time I good-and-gotdamn please. He ain’t just yo’ Gramps. He’s my Gramps too. I knew his ass way before you did. What you want anyway?”

“We need to talk,” Joy said as she grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

“Talk about what?” Juanita asked just as Elise, Gramps’ granddaughter, came into the living room.

“Netta, what you doing here?” Elise asked as she hurried to her and they hugged. “I heard all about that shootout over there on Airport Road. I just thank God y’all alright.”

“Have you been able to see Gramps?” Joy asked her.

She shook her head. “I tried to, but he won’t let me come. He’ll barely let me talk to him on the telephone.”

Joy nodded. “That’s how he is with me too.”