Page 64 of Zen's Crash

“Now tell us about Lexi’s paternal grandparents.”

“Well now, that’s a different story altogether. They heavily favored my brother because he lived with them. Her father got a sizable inheritance—all in cash. See, that side of the family was religious about insurance policies. Those insurance policies were sizable and in addition to the wealth they accumulated during their lifetimes my brother ended up with close to five million dollars. I chased him for years, trying to get my fair share of that money.”

“How did you plan on doing that?” Rigs asks.

“I tried persuasion at first,” Harris says.

“And every time you didn’t get it, you flew into a rage and a woman ended up dead.”

His head whips around to stare at Rigs. “What kind of holy man are you? Get the fuck outta my head.”

“I’m not reading your mind, numb nuts,” Rigs responds with a frown. “We already know you killed at least half a dozen women over the years. Since you have a disordered personality, heavy childhood abuse, an intrinsic hatred towards women, and a serious anger-management problem, it stands to reason you took out your rage with your brother on women. It was a lucky guess I wasn’t sure about, until you responded the way you did.”

Harris just sits there in silence.

Rigs continues, “The attack on your brother’s wife, that was you, wasn’t it? But you couldn’t bring yourself to kill her, because something stopped you. So you went after that co-ed instead, because she looked like her. Am I on the right track?”

Harris swears under his breath. “Fuck all the way off. And don’t act like you know me, because you don’t.”

“Then you discovered you liked killing, so you combined both of your sick interests into one. Trying to get the money out of your brother, and when he told you to go to hell, you went and found another woman to take it out on.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Rigs ignores him and asks, “When did your brother start to suspect that you were behind the killings? Was it after that student? Or did it take a few years?”

“Who said anything about killing?” Harris retorts.

My eyes widen in astonishment, “What? You basically admitted to it a minute ago, and now you’re changing your story already?”

“I admitted to taking out my aggression on them. I beat the shit out of more than one deserving bitch. I never killed any of them.” Pointing at Rigs, he says, “You better write that shit down, priest, ‘cause I ain’t gonna be accused of something I didn’t fucking do.”

That’s all bullshit, we know without a shadow of a doubt that he killed those women, but I steer the conversation back around to exactly what he hoped to gain from killing Lexi. “Back to the issue of money. I’m guessing that when persuasion didn’t work, you wanted to speed up the process of getting your inheritance. And if your brother was onto you, then you’d be killing two birds with one stone if he were to die.”

He clamps his mouth shut again, refusing to say anything at all.

It makes me suspect there’s more money somewhere, not just Lexi’s father’s money. “I think that in addition to her father’s inheritance, there was also money for Lexi—maybe a trust she was supposed to inherit at the age of twenty-one. That’s reason you and your son showed up when you did, looking to get your hands on her.”

“Yeah, so what? I wouldn’t hurt Lexi to share that money. Me and Terry just planned on trying out a little persuasion on her. Make her see that blood’s thicker than water. You look out for family, don’t you?”

I can’t believe how deluded he is. There are still some parts I can’t figure out though, so I ask, “Tell me about the kill bag you planted on Lexi’s father’s property. Were you trying to make it look like her father killed all those women?”

Harris turns a shade of red and brushes it off. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Siege jerks his chin at Tank. “Bring Terrance in here.”

“Leave my boy alone, you slimy fucks. He ain’t got nothing to do with this.”

When Terrance comes in, he eyes his father suspiciously. “Long time, no see, Pops.”

“Sit down and shut the hell up, Junior.”

Terrance flings himself into a chair. “You know I don’t like that nickname.”

Siege’s voice turns steely. “I want to know what’s going on with that kill bag buried on Lexi’s property. You both say you don’t know anything about it, but I call bullshit on that. Junior’s fingerprints were all over the jewelry hidden in the side pockets.”

Terrance throws his father a look of pure loathing. “How could you? I’m your fucking son. We were supposed to be a team. What happened to us sinking or swimming together?”

I swear, Harris looks guilty as hell as he protests, “I don’t know what they’re talking about, son.”

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