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“That’s up to you. Are you done with your crusade? Are you willing to go back to your precious little life with your boyfriendor brother-in-law or whatever he is to you these days and keep your mouth shut?”
Gabby refused to take the bait about Liam. Refused to respond at all.
Faith smiled. “And here’s a hint—there’s only one right answer.”
Chapter Seventy-Nine
The Foundation
The women agreed to meet on an emergency basis. Again. The rule about being careful and spreading out visits had been abandoned in favor of triage. The downward spiral of blame and fighting between the founders had the group careening toward chaos. Here, chaos looked more like practiced control, but the result was the same—something had to change.
Retta scheduled the discussion but asked Faith to arrive early. Their personal issues had spilled over into the group and threatened its existence. Both believed they were in the right. Neither would concede. They had to compromise before they lost control.
Faith walked into Retta’s home office through a flurry of household activity. A woman delivered a tray of tea to the corner of Retta’s desk before rushing out of the room again. Music played but shut off when the door closed, plunging the room into silence.
Faith being Faith, she stayed singularly focused on the womanwho had been her protector and ally for more than three years. “We have a problem.”
Retta had her own agenda for this private meeting. “Do you have any remorse for Jessa?”
The comment made Faith stop in midmarch and lift her head. “Excuse me?”
“The love and friendship didn’t only run one way. I know how much she meant to you, so explain why you gave the order to have her eliminated after the group voted to give her another chance.” Retta’s anger at being boxed in and not advised still burned white-hot, but the grief would hit. The loss, the waste, the betrayal. Retta packaged it all up and ignored it for now, but the sadness would break through, and waiting for the rush of unwanted emotion made her furious with Faith.
Not one to be brushed off or yelled into submission, Faith pulled out the chair across from Retta and sat down. “How do you think I feel?”
Retta didn’t care. “I’m not convinced you feel anything at all.”
“She was my best friend. I loved her more than anyone.”
Retta snorted. “You had an odd way of showing it.”
“I told you from the beginning Jessa didn’t belong in the Foundation. I begged you to listen to me because I feared this would happen. Not exactly this, but a bad ending.” Faith’s firm voice faltered for a second before regaining strength. “She didn’t have a strict internal code. She was a survivor but not a believer.”
“The entire group made the decision to begin the membership process, not just me.”
“I voted against her membership twice and only relented onthe third and final vote because you asked me to, as a favor.” Faith shook her head. “Lie to Earl, to yourself, but not to me. You wanted her in the group. You liked how much she worshipped you. You knew you could control her. That she would have given you a guaranteed vote. You wanted her to trust you more than she trusted me.”
“Your memory is very selective. Your vote was your choice, unless you’re saying you worshipped me and wanted to please me, too.”
“Is this really what you want to talk about?” Faith asked. “Because I can think of—”
“No.” Retta rushed on before Faith could launch into an argument that would eat up all their spare time before the other women arrived. “It’s the ease with which you ignored the vote of the group and sent Trent after Jessa.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “And, being your lapdog, Trent immediately called you to tattle on me.”
Retta was ready for that move. “But not before he killed her. On your order. You didn’t have the authority. You overstepped the will of the group.”
Faith leaned back in the chair, clearly not intimidated by Retta’s stature. “Funny you should argue that, since I got the idea to use Foundation assets and resources to solve a problem from you.”
Retta noticed Faith wouldn’t deal with her decision about Jessa head-on. She’d compartmentalized her order, separating it out from her love for her friend. Retta worried that mix of deflection and denial would backfire on Faith at some point.Sentencing a man based on his heinous acts was a very different thing from ordering a murder of someone you loved.
“You might remember we also had a vote about Baines Fielding. Months ago, but we did, and you lost. You couldn’t prove your accusations about him killing his sister and being a possible danger to Gabby and the brother-in-law,” Faith said. “The group’s decision was to watch him but do nothing.”
“I remember.”
“But then he killed himself, which we both know is not what really happened.” Faith stopped, as if waiting for a longer rebuttal that never came. “That choice started all of this, Retta.”
Retta didn’t regret that decision. Maybe that the timing had threatened Gabby’s financial future, but not that it was done. Baines needed to be stopped. No one threatened her family. She and Earl had agreed on that and cut a few corners by using group assets to make it happen.
