Page 12 of Secrets on Sapphire

Parker finally got the door open and walked inside of her house. The music grew louder as she walked toward the living room. She threw her purse on the ground and almost fell over as she pulled off her thigh high boots. She finally made it to where the music was playing at its loudest. Sitting on her couch were two women; one with a mop of brown hair thrown on top of her head and one with curly brown hair flowing down her back. The curly haired girl turned around.

“How was the party Mom?”

“It was pretty good Cara.” Parker plopped down on the couch and let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, did you get any information on Calista or Tim?” Sarah stood up and walked toward the kitchen.

“I mean it wasn’t really a good time to go digging any of that up.”

“How was Brielle?” Sarah joined Cara and Parker back in the living room and handed Parker a glass of water.

“Just as crazy looking as ever. That husband of hers though. Lawd have mercy! He is a fine piece of man meat. Bless his heart for having to be married to that woman. She needs to seriously pull that stick out of her ass.” Parker took a large gulp of water out of the glass Sarah had handed her. “I might need to show him a good time if you know what I mean.” Her eyebrows raised multiple times in jest.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sarah said curtly.

“And just why not?” Parker asked.

“Brielle not only looks crazy Mom, she is crazy,” Cara said. “And as disgusting as it is to think about you screwing anyone, Tucker is definitely not the one.”

“What do you mean she is crazy?”

“She killed Calista.” Sarah’s answer was blunt.

Parker’s eyes grew big and she spit the water that was in her mouth back into the glass.

“Yes, shocking I know,” Sarah continued. “Look, when I left town, I knew Calista would start hooking up with Tucker. I knew Tucker was the same as Ben. Hell, Brielle and I met them both doing the same thing. Tim loved Calista, but he was all business and she was the ever ‘lonely housewife’. I warned Brielle to keep an eye on her. Inevitably, Calista fell for Tucker and I thought with my warning, Brielle would scare her, threaten her, something. I thought it would be perfect to distract Calista from noticing Cara and me. We were still trying to figure out what exactly happened to Miles.”

“Anyway . . .” Cara continued where Sarah left off. “One night Aunt Sarah and I were going to sneak back into Calista’s house; she was alone. Tim was out of town again and we figured she would be drunk and asleep. We were sitting in a car near the house waiting for the opportune time to enter when we saw Tucker and Brielle walking toward the house. Tucker was walking in front and Brielle was behind him. She had a gun in her hand. They were in there for awhile and not too long after, they were hauling something heavy back toward their house. Calista was never seen or heard from again.”

There was momentary silence when finally Parker spoke up. “Okay, I knew something had happened to Calista from you and the news and all of that, but you mean to tell me, Brielle killed Calista. And the reason was because she was sleeping with her husband. Also, why didn’t you tell me any of this before I hung around crazy?”

Cara and Sarah just stared at Parker with pained looks on their faces. “We never wanted anyone dead. We already knew how terrible losing someone feels after losing Dad.” Cara looked down at her hands in her lap.

“Why didn’t she just tell Calista off or, I don’t know, divorce Tucker.” Parker had a look on her face that read duh.

“Like I said . . . crazy.” Cara never lifted her head from between her shoulders.

“I didn’t tell you because I know how scared you can get and I needed you to get close to her. And before you ask, I didn’t tell the cops because I don’t trust their work. Not after they gave up on Miles. Anyway, I’ve known Brielle for years. She’s always been very possessive of what she thinks belongs to her.” Sarah sat in silence and then brought her hand up to her open mouth.

This made Cara lift her head. “What is it Aunt Sarah?”

“Tucker was married before. Grace. I always wondered what really happened to her . . .”

The three women sat in the quiet for the rest of the night.

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