Page 23 of The Perfect Accomplice

That only made Jessie more keen to pursue it.

“Why did she like going there so much, Hayley?” Jessie pressed, leaning in even closer so that her nose and the nanny’s were only a couple of feet apart, “and please remember that you’re speaking with law enforcement.”

Hayley looked down at the carpet again before meeting Jessie’s gaze. “It might have been because of the bartender,” she said quietly.

Jessie wasn’t hugely surprised that it was something like that and immediately moved on to her next question.

“What bartender?”

“I think his name was Brian,” Hayley said uncertainly. “Mrs. Ashe never talked about him to me, but I heard her on the phone with him a few times. I know he works just down the hill at a place on Highland Avenue called The Shot.”

“I realize that this is sensitive,” Jessie began, “but from their conversations, did you get the impression that Mrs. Ashe’s relationship with Brian might be more intimate that just patron and bartender?”

Hayley sighed. “She definitely sounded flirty on the phone,” she acknowledged. “And from the way she talked to him, it sounded like they had…familiarity. At least until recently.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.

Hayley shrugged before answering. “I don’t know anything for sure, but when I was getting the kids ready for the park yesterday morning, I heard her talking to someone and she sounded upset. She said something like ‘he says I bore him now.’ The way she said it, it didn’t sound like she was talking about her husband. She seemed genuinely hurt, which was rare for her.”

“Do you think that Mr. Ashe might have known about this ‘familiarity’ with Brian?” Jessie wanted to know.

“I don’t think so,” Hayley said. “Mrs. Ashe wasn’t the most discreet person in the world, but she wouldn’t flaunt something like that. I never heard her on the phone with Brian when Mr. Ashe was home. As much as she gave him a hard time, I got the sense that she knew she couldn’t push too hard. After all, he’s the one with the money and the power.”

Just then, Marta came out from the back, holding the bawling Cammie. "She will not settle no matter what I do. You are better with her. Are you done out here?"

“Am I?” Hayley.

Ryan looked at Jessie. She couldn’t think of any more questions right now, at least not any she was comfortable asking under the current circumstances. She nodded her head.

“We’re good for now,” Ryan told her standing up. “But please give Mr. Ashe our card and remind him that we’d like him to call if he remembers anything else. And here’s another one for you, just in case something else pops up. Don’t hesitate to reach out.”

“Of course,” Hayley said, standing up and taking Cammie, who almost immediately quieted down.

Marta, looking unsurprised but a little miffed at the baby’s quick change in mood, led them back to the front of the house. Once she closed the door, Ryan asked, “thoughts?”

Jessie had one that stood out.

“My initial thought is that we should head down the hill and get a drink. There’s a bartender I’d like to talk to.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

He was late for work.

It wasn’t the end of the world. After all, his job wasn’t the standard nine to five gig and it’s not like people expected him to be at their beck and call exactly on time. But still, he tried to arrive at least close to when he was supposed to so as to not alienate the folks who put money in his pockets.

He had a legitimate reason for being behind schedule, although it wasn't one he could share with the people who paid his bills: he was doing reconnaissance. Some people might call it stalking, and technically, they might have a point.

But to him, stalking was watching someone passively without a clear motive. The stalking could lead to something more or it might just be a way to pass the time. Reconnaissance was something deeper. One didn’t do reconnaissance just for the hell of it. It indicated a sense of purpose.

And he had a purpose. Just like with the first two women, this one would be part of what he’d come to consider his personal payback tour. And just like the other two, he intended to get the satisfaction that came from watching the life fade from her eyes, a direct result of his actions, of his power.

He’d had so much power taken from him, especially recently, that it was nice to seize some back. When he’d first begun the personal payback tour, it had almost been by accident. He hadn’t intended for things to get violent with Sydney Ashe, but she’d made it difficult for him to avoid it.

The way she spoke to him, her casually dismissive tone, had at one time been something that he could put up with. But now he couldn't abide it. And when, at his most vulnerable moment, when he was in such emotional pain, she steamrolled him and swatted away his hurt as if he was a bug, he just snapped. He couldn't let it stand, so he turned the tables and showed her, for once, that she wasn't the boss.

And now that he knew how good it felt to teach her a lesson, he’d couldn’t fight off the urge to recreate that feeling. So he stopped trying and gave in to it. Suddenly a whole new world had opened up to him, one in which he could take back the power he’d lost by snatching it away from these women, who were so used to plowing through men like him.

One thing he knew for certain: he had no intention of stopping anytime soon. Not until either the need for payback subsided or they caught him. And he didn’t see either of those happening anytime soon.

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