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This awful scenario I’d just created in my head was so far removed from the woman I knew her to be.
So, I did my best to push all of the discomfort I’d felt about what I’d imagined being the case and asked, “Why would your boss’s wife want to kill you?”
Sawyer hesitated to respond. In fact, she’d grown visibly uncomfortable and had been quiet for so long that some of my thoughts had started to creep back into the forefront of my mind. Maybe I hadn’t been exaggerating.
But eventually, she answered, “The club I work at was just recently shut down for employing underage girls. I’m not sure if the shutdown is temporary or permanent at this point, but I know things aren’t good. Anyway, I went in to pick up some of my things the other day, and I overheard a conversation between Adriana, who is my boss’s wife, and one of the guys who is a bartender there. They were discussing the situation, but they were saying some things that made me believe there was more going on than just what the club is currently under fire for. Ultimately, Adriana had shared with Russ that I was the one to blame. They believe I was the one who told the police about what was happening there.”
“Did you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I had no idea there was anything bad like that happening, Jesse. I had no clue.”
I nodded my understanding, hoping I was hiding my reaction to hearing her say my name. I gave myself a moment to process the relief I felt to know that Sawyer hadn’t gotten herself twisted up in something so much more complicated, like I had been imagining only moments earlier.
Then, I asked, “So, did this Adriana woman actually threaten you, or are you assuming she isn’t happy with you?”
“She didn’t threaten me directly to my face, but when Russ asked her what she was going to do about it, she told him she was going to take care of it. He pushed for more clarification on how she planned to do that, and that’s when I heard her tell him that she was going to, and I quote, ‘hire someone to take her out.’ Thathershe was referring to was me.”
A direct threat.
Maybe not made to Sawyer’s face, but that didn’t matter. This woman intended to hire someone to handle whatever problem she thought she had with Sawyer.
This was not going to happen. Not if I had anything to say about it.
Just as I was about to tell Sawyer what my plan was, she opened her mouth to speak again. “I’m not sure if it matters, but as I said, I didn’t know what was happening there. I went in and did my job. The reason Adriana wants to kill me isn’t because she believes I said something about the underage girls, though.”
Now, I was confused. If that wasn’t what she was angry about, then I could only assume there was something worse that Sawyer hadn’t shared. I braced myself, hoping I wasn’t going to have her confirm the suspicions I’d had earlier.
“What is her reason, then?” I wondered.
“She thinks that I know something,” Sawyer revealed.
When she didn’t elaborate on that, I repeated, “She thinks you know something?”
Sawyer nodded.
“I’m confused,” I admitted.
Sawyer huffed. “You and me both. I have no idea what it is that she thinks that I know, but I’m guessing that whatever it is, it isn’t good, and she wants to make sure I don’t say anything to the police about it.”
This woman wanted to silence Sawyer, but Sawyer didn’t have any secrets she was harboring. There was no option for me.
Or I guess there was, but it was the only option.
“I have to break a promise I made to you,” I told her.
Confusion washed over her face. “What?”
“At the cemetery, I told you that I wanted you to stay so we could talk and have dinner and that if you wanted to leave afterward, I wouldn’t stop you,” I started. “We’re still going to have dinner, and we’re definitely going to talk. But I can’t allow you to leave, Sawyer.”
Her eyes darted back and forth. “Uh, you can’t?”
Shaking my head, I replied, “I can’t.”
“What am I going to do?” she asked.
“Stay here.”
Sawyer’s brows shot up. “Stay here?”
