Page 49 of Ruthless Regret

“Is she okay?”

“She went home soon after it happened. I didn’t see her, but Sherry said she looked sick.”

“I’m not surprised. I wonder how they know each other.”

Karla and Jessa trade glances. “I searched for them both after I heard about it. Turns out Harper was engaged to him a couple of years ago.”

“Harper was engaged to arock star?” I find that hard to believe. In the time I’ve known her, the blonde nurse has always been sweet and quiet. “Wait … she’s dating Dr. Marshall, isn’t she?”

“I doubt it. Not if she hooked up with the bad boy who had her panties,” Karla says around a mouthful of pizza.

“That’s crazy. I hope she’s alright.” I take my own slice of pizza and sit back, tucking my feet beneath me.

“I’m sure she will be. But … arock star, Ash. Can you just imagine the stories she must have from that time?”

“And what went wrong for her to split with him. I saw the guy. He’s hot as fuck,” Jessa adds.

“Rock star and bad boy isn’t a good combination, I guess.”

“Walking red flags are always attractive.” Jessa hikes one eyebrow.

I will myself not to turn red. She doesn’t know I slept with Zain, but Karla does. I refuse to look in her direction, because I know my face will give it away, and Jessa will notice.

“I’m not a fan of them personally,” I say.

She snorts. “Which is why you were dating Scott.”

“We were hooking up, not dating.”

“You don’t hook up with someone exclusively for three years, Ash. That’s not how it works.” She waves her pizza in my direction. “Are you going to reach out to him now you’re back home?”

I think about it for a minute, then shake my head. “It wouldn’t be fair to him. I didn’t know he had expectations beyond what we were doing. I was happy with things the way they were. He wants more.”

“He’s a good man.”

“I know. But the last few days have made me realize a few things about myself.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’ve just been going through the motions for years. Taking whatever the easiest path was for things. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want … more.”

“Does that more include a certain dark haired psychopath, with a bad attitude?” Karla grins at me.

“No, but it includes getting answers to what really happened.” I stand up, and go into the kitchen to pick up the articles. “There were some weird things going on during the investigation of Jason and Louisa’s murders. I found some articles that raised questions.”

My friends look at me with matching expressions. I don’t need to be a genius to figure out what they’re thinking.

“What kind of questions?” It’s Karla who breaks the silence.

I sit back down, and spread the printed articles out on the coffee table.

“These are the ones that mention things that all the mainstream sites didn’t. They talk about witnesses who saw someone else at the scene, and how the forensics are inconsistent. But neither of those came up at the trial.”

“So what does that mean?” Karla asks. “Didn’t you say you believe Zainisinnocent now?”

“Yes. I’m positive he is. And if Zain didn’t kill them, then someone else did. Whoever that is, they’ve been hiding for years. Did someone on the police force know who it was? Were they trying to convict Zain so no one would look deeper? Or was it just a case of it being an easy win? They had a suspect who ticked all the boxes, so why bother looking any further?”

Jessa sets her pizza down. “You think they knew someone else was involved, and buried it?”

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