Rich Blood (Jason Rich #1)(79)

64


Waylon strode to the stand wearing a black suit, white shirt, and maroon tie. He felt ridiculous, but these were the orders of the state and his court-appointed lawyer. He’d just had a quick briefing with his attorney, Louie Taylor, who everyone seemed to call “Louie T.”

“Just tell the God’s honest truth,” Louie T had instructed. “That’s what you’ve proffered to do, and it’s the only way you get any favor when this thing is over. With any luck, they’ll give you life in prison with the chance of parole in fifteen years.”

“Great,” Pike had said.

“Don’t screw this up,” his attorney had said, his last words before the deputy had summoned him.

As he took his place at the witness stand, Waylon looked out at the courtroom. His eyes immediately latched on to Jana Waters. She wore a black dress fit for a funeral, but even though it didn’t show much skin, the woman was hot. Waylon had a flashback of what she looked like under her clothes, and he peered down at the wooden bench.

Tell the truth, he told himself. He wanted to laugh as Shay Lankford approached, but he kept his expression grave. I shouldn’t be here, he thought. I should be on a beach in Cancun. Or the mountains. Any damn where but here.

But alas, he’d been stupid. He’d blabbed his mouth, a problem he’d had his whole life.

“Please state your name for the record,” the prosecutor said.

“Waylon Pike.”

“Mr. Pike, on the night of July 4, 2018, did you kill Dr. Braxton Waters?”

As rehearsed, he didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

He looked right at Jana, again as rehearsed. “Because his wife, Jana Waters, hired me to kill him.”

“Did she pay you money to kill her husband, Mr. Pike?”

“Yes, she did.”

“How much?”

“Fifteen thousand dollars.”

“Mr. Pike, do you see Ms. Waters in this courtroom?”

“Yes, I do.” He pointed right at Jana. “She’s sitting at that table there next to the guy that’s always smiling on all the billboards.”

Snickers erupted from the gallery, and Judge Conrad banged his gavel. “Quiet!”

“Let the record reflect that the witness has identified the defendant,” Shay said. Then she looked at the jury. “Mr. Pike, where did you meet Ms. Waters?”

Pike kept his eyes on Jana. “At the bar at Fire by the Lake.”

“And tell the jury about that first encounter.”

He turned in his chair and focused on the jurors. “She was drinking vodka and soda. I ordered a beer. When I finished mine, she asked if I wanted another, and I said yes. We had several rounds together, and she told me that she was drowning her sorrows. That her husband was going to leave her. That he was having an affair.”

“Then what happened.”

“Well, one thing led to another, and we left the bar together. I asked her if she wanted to go back to my hotel room. I was only in town for a few days to do some siding work on a construction job. She said no but asked if I wanted to sit in her car and have another drink. By that time of night, the place was closing up. The streetlights were off, and there were hardly any cars in the parking lot.”

“Then what happened?”

“She pushed the seats back and . . . well . . .”

“Well what?”

“We had sex.”

“In the car in the parking lot of Fire by the Lake?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, looking at Jana. If she was embarrassed by the testimony, she didn’t look it.

“Then what happened?”

“She said she wanted to see me again, so we met at her house the next day. She hired me to do some patch work on the roof of their boathouse.”

“And did the . . . personal . . . side of your relationship continue?”

“Oh yeah,” Waylon said. “Pretty much every time I came out to Buck Island, we got together.”

“And by that you mean you had sexual relations with the defendant?”

“That’s right.”

“Who was married to Dr. Braxton Waters.”

“Correct.”

“When did you meet Dr. Waters?”

“That first time I came out there, he showed me the spots on the boathouse that needed repairing.”

“Was he friendly to you?”

“Yes, he was. He was always friendly to me.”

Shay let that sink in for a few seconds. Then she changed gears. “Did Ms. Waters ever say she wanted you to kill her husband?”

“Yes.”

“When was the first time she mentioned that?”

“She was always bringing that up, but the first time she said anything was at Fire by the Lake.”

“How did she bring it up?”

“It was after we had . . . you know . . . when we were in the car after the act. She said she wished she could get rid of her husband so she could have more time for the kind of fun we’d just had.”

“Did you think she was serious?”

Waylon cocked his head. “With Jana, it was hard to tell sometimes whether she was joking or being straight up. At that point, to be honest, I wasn’t sure.”