Dead to Her(90)

Anderson’s second blow was her suspicion that perhaps Jason and Keisha were in it together. Jason had been to London the previous year. He’d told William the best places to go. Perhaps this had all been a long and elaborate plan. Could he have known Keisha before she arrived in Savannah?

Marcie had played her usual distraught Southern wife until Anderson left, with the final bombshell that Jason had been charged with several counts of financial fraud and embezzlement and had a bail hearing due, but given that he was also being investigated for attempted murder, getting bail was unlikely.

As soon as she’d closed the front door, her head spinning, Marcie had burst into action. Jason still had influence. Therefore as his wife, so did she. And what was the point of being married to a lawyer if you didn’t use your connections to pull a few strings? She needed to ask questions for herself. She needed to know for herself. Could Keisha and Jason be in it together?

And so now here she was, at the police station, about to have a visit with her husband, and then with Keisha, the weight of Savannah’s legal power having forced Anderson’s hand. Marcie wiped her palms on the thighs of her pants, suddenly nervous. Tread carefully, her eyes said to Jason as a guard let him into the room. They’ll all be listening.

“I didn’t do it. Poison William. You have to believe me.” Jason’s eyes were wide and scared, and Marcie thought he’d dropped some pounds as he sat down opposite her. Not even so much as a How are you honey? before going straight to his denials.

It was just the two of them in the interview room.

“Well, neither did I, but that didn’t stop you from telling the police about the yearbook and Jonny.”

“Someone told them that they thought I’d been embezzling money.”

“What?” Marcie stared at him. “You thought that was me?”

He shrugged.

“God, Jason, whether you did it or not, it’s wrecked my life. They’ve frozen the accounts. I’ve had to borrow money from Iris and I’m never going to be able to pay for the house. Not even one payment. Even if I’d known there was anything wrong”—she knew as well as he did not to admit to any wrongdoing in a visiting room—“why would I have told them?”

“Because you don’t love me anymore.”

It was another slap in the face, even if there was an element of truth in it. He sounded like a petulant boy. “Me not love you?” she snapped. “You’re the one who’s been salivating all over Keisha since she arrived.” Marcie knew the best way to get the truth out of Jason was always to be aggressive. Put him on the back foot. “You know the police think that maybe you two are in it together? Tried to make me look guilty so you could run away into the sunset together. Maybe you met her in London when you were there.”

“Jesus, Marcie.” Jason leaned back in his chair. “She’s a cheap money-grubber. I flirted with her to make you jealous. Nothing was good enough for you anymore. I could see you growing colder to me. I wanted our fire back! Our passion! When you got so testy about her it made me unhappy. Sure, it was an unhealthy way to get your attention, but it worked. Also, if I was going to conspire to murder someone—which I didn’t—it wouldn’t be with someone as flaky as her. You’ve seen what she’s like!”

“But what about the money?”

“That wasn’t me. It’s all a misunderstanding.” He stared at her, a reminder, as if she needed one, that there was no way he was going down without a fight or at least a plea deal.

“But what if it was you? That’s what the police think. If William found out and reported it, you’d be sent to jail for God knows how many years. Were you just going to sit back and let him? I can’t see that.” She sighed. “But neither can I get my head around the idea of you trying to kill him.”

“Even if it was true—which it’s not—William would never have gotten the police involved, don’t you see that?” Jason leaned forward, taking one of her hands and gripping it tight. “He wouldn’t let the company get damaged like that. He’d have made me resign, claim some ill health or something, but he would never have let what I’d done come to light. It would have wrecked the partnership and ruined his reputation. People would have thought he was a fool. He was already feeling stupid for marrying Keisha so quickly. He would never have allowed me to make a fool of him publicly as well. Yes, we’d probably have had to sell and move, but we wouldn’t be poor and it wouldn’t have been worth killing him over. Someone trying to kill him has actually made my potential situation worse. You have to believe me, Marcie.” He stared hard at her. “You know me.”

He was right. She did know him, and odious as he could be, he was right. He’d have taken his chances with William’s wrath rather than kill him and face a possible death sentence. That was too real for Jason.



Whereas Jason had been immediately on the defensive, Keisha was the opposite. Even now, when she’d been locked up for nearly the maximum four days and was more than likely about to be charged with attempted murder rather than released, her first words were concern for Marcie.

“Are you okay?” she said, as she took Marcie’s hand. “I’ve been worried about you. About Jason being charged with all that money stuff. What will you do?”