Firebreak (Josie Gray Mysteries #4)(86)

Brenda glanced at her sister and then got out of the car without another word. She got into the passenger seat of Josie’s jeep and Josie got in the driver’s side and shut the door.

“Why didn’t you tell us about your relationship with Hank Wild?”

“What?”

Josie stared at her.

“I don’t know what that has to do with anything.”

Josie raised her eyebrows. “This is the man who Billy called the night he walked around drunk on the streets of Artemis. Hank gave your husband a baggie filled with pills that killed him. Hank provided the resources for your husband to commit suicide. And you’ve been sleeping with both men, and you didn’t think that was relevant to the investigation?”

She opened her mouth in shock. “I never slept with Hank. How dare you!”

“Your shoes are in his kitchen. Your pills are in his bathroom cabinet.”

“No! You’ve misunderstood! I stayed with Hank just two times, just when things got bad over Ferris. Both times were after I confronted Billy about Ferris and he refused to admit anything. I had to confide in someone. It was killing me. But Hank’s a friend. That’s it. There’s nothing between us except friendship!”

“Did you see Hank leave the Hell-Bent the day of the evacuation?”

Her face faltered. Josie wished a judge and a jury were privy to the question and response that cracked the iron resolve, the response that allowed the soft truth to finally be revealed. The momentary realization, one-half shock and one-half panic, in that order, was as reliable as any smoking gun; it just wasn’t admissible in court.

“What time did you see him leave?” Josie asked.

She shook her head, her eyes wide and innocent. “I didn’t see him leave.”

“I’ll help you then. He left at six o’clock and drove to your home where he killed Ferris Sinclair. He ended your—” The passenger-side door of the Accord parked in front of them opened. “What the hell,” Josie said, and opened her door. She motioned for Susan to watch Brenda.

“I need you back in the car, Patty.”

“I need to talk to my—”

“Back in the car. Now!” Josie pointed toward the car, her voice hard and loud.

Patty raised both hands in the air as if Josie were pointing a gun at her. She walked back to her car, and faced Josie once more before entering. Josie could see the agony in her expression. “I just want her to tell the truth. Tell her that’s what she promised me.”

Josie got back in the jeep and said nothing. Brenda had heard her sister’s pleas. Josie didn’t need to say a word.

Brenda folded her hands in her lap, sitting primly in her sensible khaki capri pants and blue polo shirt, her world completely destroyed: husband, home, and career all gone. She looked out the front window, her expression blank.

“Hank said he loved me. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve heard those words? I don’t ever remember Billy saying them. He’d sign a note, ‘Love Billy,’ but he couldn’t say it. He promised to love me in the marriage ceremony, but he never actually said the words. And, the irony is, I don’t love Hank. I didn’t want him to love me. He thought he was solving a problem, saving me by killing Ferris. Billy and I?” She looked at Josie, her expression earnest. “We didn’t know. Hank did this on his own. He called and told me this morning. He said you were asking questions about us. I just panicked. I couldn’t take one more blow. I told Patty and begged her to leave with me. She wanted me to come to you, to tell you what Hank had done, but I just couldn’t take one more drama.”

Brenda paused and stared out the window. Josie waited for her to finish.

“The craziest part of all of this?”

Josie said nothing and Brenda turned to face her.

“All of this was over love.”





TWENTY-FIVE

Hank Wild was arrested for first-degree murder later that afternoon. When Josie explained to him that Brenda had told the police everything, he stood up from his couch and said simply, “I’m ready.” Josie handcuffed him, read him his rights, and drove him to the Arroyo County Jail, where he was processed. He confessed to suffocating Ferris Sinclair, and to planting the syringe under the couch to make it look as if Ferris died from an overdose. The prosecutor stated that Billy Nix’s suicide would stand as the cause of death, and no charges would be filed in relation to his death.

Hank had offered nothing more in terms of why he had killed Ferris, but Josie thought the answer was clear. Billy had what Hank had wanted but couldn’t have. Hank destroyed his own life in the process of getting it. Sadly, the same thing had happened to Ferris, Billy, and Brenda. Josie wondered how many people ruined their lives in search of something unattainable: love, a career, a place to call home. Josie wanted a tidy family in the suburbs, but was it what she needed? It had certainly proven elusive enough, and perhaps for good reason.

At the jail, Josie talked with the prosecutor, who said no charges would be filed against Brenda at that point. She and Patty were free to go.

Josie followed Brenda and her sister out into the parking lot where Patty’s car was parked. Brenda pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slipped them over her eyes. She turned to Josie and said that she and Patty were headed back to Nashville and that Billy’s body would be transported and buried in her family’s cemetery.