Page 33 of Ruthless Intent

“Dad asked you for a divorce. I heard him. That’s why I went to Jason’s.”

“I know.”

Her admission knocks me off-balance. I expected her to deny it.

“You know?”

“Your dad was going through a rough patch at work. It spilled over into our home life. We were arguing a lot. The afternoon of the day Jason was killed, he said he was going to file for divorce. It forced us both to sit down and talk. I thought I saw you in the hall, but I wasn’t sure. And then you didn’t mention it, so I thought that I’d imagined it. When we got the call from the police, I knew that’s why you’d gone to Jason. You’d overheard some of what we said, and went to the only other person you thought would understand.”

She picks up her purse, and walks along the hallway to the living room. “But what you remember as me not caring was the opposite. You had just gone through one of the most traumatic things imaginable. And no one was willing to give you time to deal with it, including your dad. The police kept questioning you. Your dad was no help. He had completely fallen apart, and his only focus was getting answers. Which, don’t misunderstand me, I fully understand. Keeping our family functioning was left to me. I had to take over paying the bills, along with running the house. I had to keep your dad from joining Jason. I had to make a stand when the police and lawyers pushed you to exhaustion. I couldn’t afford to break down, Ashley.”

She stops in the doorway and turns to face me.

“Jason and I didn’t have much of a relationship. He resented me, and I felt guilty for breaking up his family. But I would never wish what happened to him on anyone.”

“Zain said?—”

“Zain was in prison for fourteen years. Being imprisoned for something he didn’t do … that’s going to do something to a person. He’s had nothing but time to think up alternative explanations for what happened.”

“He’s invited me to dinner with him tonight.”

“Dinner? Why?”

Because he wants to frame you for the murders.

I can’t tell her that.

“To clear the air,” I say instead.

“That sounds reasonable,” she says slowly. “If you’re planning on staying home for a while, the last thing you need is to bump into him in town with everything unresolved between you. I have to say, I’m surprised at how well he seems to be dealing with it all, to be honest.”

There’s a slight note of hysteria in the laugh that escapes me. “You think I should go?”

“What’s the worst that could happen? I assume he’s planning on taking you somewhere public to eat? At worst, you’ll find out he’s not someone you ever want to speak to again. At best, it might go a long way to helping you both move past the tragedy of what happened. And you can walk away with some closure for a shared past.”

When she puts it like that, it sounds so plausible. So innocent.

“What are your plans for tonight?”

She smiles. “Tonight is bridge night. Margaret is hosting tonight, so I’ll be out of your hair before six.”

And before Zain comes to pick me up for dinner.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ZAIN

When I turned eighteen, I gained access to the first of three trust funds set up for me by my parents and grandparents. The second was unlocked on my twenty-first, and the third became available when I was twenty-five. I was already in prison for both of those.

The first one came from my father’s parents and came into effect when I turned eighteen. It came with a stipulation. I had to prove I could be trusted with money for twelve months before being granted the entire amount. So, for a year I received five thousand dollars a month, and I had to detail down the last cent what I used it for. When my nineteenth birthday arrived, the rest of the fund was released to me—one million dollars.

The first thing I did was buy a house, and move into it with Jason and Louisa. We wanted the college experience of living away from home, without actually leaving town. None of us were ready for that. Louisa couldn’t afford to go away to college. Jason didn’t want to leave her, even though his parents had paid into a college fund for him.

And me? I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and my parents didn’t see the point in pushing me to choose something. I was content to join my friends at the community college and try a bit of everything, in the hopes that something stuck.

The house I purchased came with three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It’s situated on the edge of town. Just far enough away from our families to give us the feeling of being alone, and close enough so that they were there if we needed them.

The large walled-in back yard gave us privacy on hot, summer days, and led out to the forest which ran the length of town. A waist high brick wall running along the smaller grassed area at the front, separated the house from the road. Having a drive large enough for two cars was also a big selling factor, as both me and Jason drove.

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