Page 54 of His Last Wife

“You don’t know if that’s why he was killed. It could’ve been anything,” Val said. “Like maybe that dude in there was his lover or something and something popped off. Who knows.”

Kerry waited a second and said, “He had a wedding band on.” She could see the gold band on his finger as it was clenching his neck.

“It’s not true, anyway. There is no they. Just stop that shit! Stop it!” All the anger Val felt toward Kerry for connecting her sudden release from jail to some conspiracy theory she’d read online and not the dark deed Val had done to make it happen, was smashed into her harsh tone. Right then she didn’t care if—as Lebowski had pointed out—Kerry was still mourning and most likely just suffering the pain of losing the love of her life.

“There is a they and you know it. Just pay attention; you’ll see. Stop trying to ignore it,” Kerry said. “That’s what they want you to do. To pretend they’re not there, controlling all of this, and we’re just down here killing each other

for no reason. How else do you explain it?” Kerry turned back to Val with tears in her eyes. “How else do you explain why anyone would want to kill Jamison?”

Val pulled over and stopped the car.

“Plenty of people wanted Jamison dead, Kerry. Plenty,” she opined with no care or regard for Kerry’s feelings. She was done with that. She was done. “People like your mother.”

“What?”

“You want to know why your mother has been acting so odd? Because she tried to have Jamison murdered.”

“No.” Kerry kind of snickered. “Stop it. What are you talking about?”

“She did. She hired a hit man to kill Jamison and the GBI was tracking her. Leaf told me.”

“No.” Kerry smiled faintly. “Not true.”

“It is. That’s why she wasn’t involved when you were in jail. Why she didn’t want to be front and center. Why she’s been acting so secretive since you’ve been out. She even admitted it to me. That day I was at the house. She admitted it to me.”

“No.” Kerry shook her head. “Not true. You don’t understand. My mother is crazy for sure, but she’s not that crazy.” Kerry laughed again. “She didn’t come to the jail so much or get involved with my case because it isn’t proper. She didn’t want to be connected with it in the eyes of her little friends and people she thinks are important. It sucks, but that’s her way.”

“Wake up, Kerry! Stop protecting that evil woman! There was no excuse in the world for her not to be there for her daughter. Not unless what Leaf told me was true.”

Kerry let that new information set in.

“No,” she said as new tears found their way to her cheeks. “She wouldn’t do that. She knows. She knows how much I love him. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t have Jamison killed.”

“She didn’t have him killed. She tried, though,” Val clarified with more caution this time. “Leaf told me all about it. You can let her tell you about it.”

Kerry wrapped her arms around her waist like she felt pain coming from her navel area, the clearest connection she had to Thirjane Jackson. Suddenly she could smell Jamison. Hear him laughing. Hear Tyrian laughing. “If she didn’t do it—if the person she hired didn’t do it—what happened, then?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping maybe Leaf knew. Now he did sound like maybe there was something going on in the inside. At least that’s how it came out,” Val said.

“The inside?”

“In the GBI. He seemed to think there were some hands in Jamison’s files and he was trying to figure out who and why,” Val added. “Guess that’s what led to this.”

Kerry looked down at her lap and said sadly, “You should’ve told me. Why didn’t you just tell me when you found out? Instead of waiting until now?”

“You know how that goes—it’s like telling your friend you caught her husband cheating,” Val answered. “You’d think the husband would be the one to get the ax—but it’s usually the friend. Not the husband. Guess I didn’t want to get the ax.”

“I would’ve listened to you, Val.”

“Yeah, but would you have believed me?”

Had Kerry and Val been standing outside of the car, they might have felt the wind kick up slightly and seen the shadows of something far off approaching. But instead, the presence of something big flying overhead was only announced when the sound was up close and the helicopter Val had sensed flew right over the top the car.

They looked up at the big blue craft and saw in bright white letters, GBI.

“Shit!” Val shrieked.

Both of their hearts went into shock.

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