Page 24 of Ruthless Intent

Her lips curve up, trembling as she smiles through her tears. “Come into the house. Your dad said we should let you come inside in your own time, but when I saw you …” She shakes her head, blinking rapidly to stem the tears falling down her cheeks. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”

I curl my fingers around hers and tug them away from my cheeks so I can kiss them. “I missed you too, Mom.”

Linking my fingers with hers, I grab the suitcase with my free hand and we walk up the steps and into the house.

“Who else is here?”

“Dad, Sondra, and …”

We stop in the entrance hall.

“Tell me.”

“Marissa.”

Marissa Trumont—Jason’s mom, and a woman who took the stand at my trial to deny the charges laid against me. Her statement to the court had been impassioned, and my lawyer at the time genuinely thought that having the mother of one of the murder victims talk about the suspect so highly would sway the jury.

It hadn’t. Nothing had. I was tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion before it even got to court. Not that I knew that at the time.

It was only when Peter Longeaton contacted me, wanting to raise an appeal for a retrial that it came to light that things had happened during the trial that should never have been allowed. He was confident he could get my conviction overturned based on the things he’d discovered. I hadn’t dared hope, but gave him my agreement to work the case.

“Where is she?”

“In the lounge with everyone else.”

I stiffen my spine, straighten my shoulders, and take in a deep breath. The next couple of hours are going to be hell. I’ve been so used to my own company or that of my cellmate twenty hours a day for the past fourteen years. Now I have to remember how to socialize. How to interact. How to smile.

“Let’s go through, then. Can I leave my case here?”

“I’ll get Lucy to take it up to your room. You are staying here, aren’t you? Or are you moving straight into your house? I don’t like the thought of you being alone so soon after coming home.”

“I’ll stay here for a couple of days, if you’ll have me.”

After seeing Ashley Trumont at the cemetery, I need to re-evaluate what I want to do.

Get out of prison—done.

Find the girl who put me there—done.

Make her pay—I will put that into action soon.

I have a new idea for that, but it’s going to take some work. I need to call Peter. There’s something I want him to do before he gets here.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ASHLEY

Mom offers to cancel her Sunday brunch with her friends, and spend the day with me. It’s clear she can see that what Zain told me at the cemetery has shaken me, no matter how much I try to hide it. But I convince her to go. I need time to process what she’s told me, and I’d rather do it without her here. I don’t want to fight with her, and I can’t trust my emotions to stop me from saying something I don’t mean.

Does it affect my life that she had an affair with my dad while he was still married? No, of course not. It doesn’t change who I am, or how my parents raised me, or the fact I had a very happy childhood with two loving parents.

It does answer some questions though. Answers I didn’t realize I needed until she started talking. Things like …

It explains why I don’t remember Jason ever celebrating his birthdays with us. Even when it fell on a weekend he was supposed to be visiting. If that happened, he didn’t come over. I remember it making me sad, because I really wanted to see him open gifts from my mom and dad, and have cake, and just be there with him.

It explains why Mom was never involved with the school PTA, but Jason’s mom was. Although we were seven years apart, there’s only one school in the town and it goes from kindergarten right up to senior year. Mom didn’t get involved in any school events, or anything that wasn’t specific to whatever grade I was in. Knowing what I do now, I’m sure it was to avoid bumping into Marissa.

It explains why, once Jason turned eighteen, if I wanted to see him, I had to go to the house he shared with Zain and Louisa. They all moved in together when they decided to stay local and go to the community college instead of somewhere else. Jason once told me that because Zain had a trust fund, he didn’t need to go to college if he didn’t want to. But he’d decided he was going to wait until he was sure about what he wanted to do with his life before going away to college, so he took random courses at the community one instead.

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