The Last Invitation (70)
Out of control. There was no other way to describe Gabby’s fidgeting and rush of words. It was the best position for a nemesis or frenemy or whatever she was, but Jessa couldn’t call up any enjoyment. Seeing the usually even Gabby frenetic and desperate didn’t bring any satisfaction.
Jessa tried to wade through the words and figure out what exactly was happening in Gabby’s world. “Is Liam really Kennedy’s dad? I know I said the things about the rumors, but I was messing with you. Baines referenced getting a DNA test but then refused to talk about it. He made it clear to Covington that Kennedy was his daughter, and no one could take that from him.”
Gabby nodded. “For all his faults, he did love her.”
“Covington saw a way to score points and potentially turn a judge against you. He also wanted to eliminate Baines’s responsibility to pay child support, which would amount to a lot of money, but Baines wouldn’t agree.”
“The Liam and Baines question is . . . delicate.”
So, yes. “You, the person who drags up my past and pummels me with it every five seconds, have naughty secrets to hide about your brother-in-law? What a shock.”
“I’ve made mistakes. I thought I had good reasons, but none of them matter now.”
The honest response threw Jessa off. She had the ammunition and the power but lacked the will to use them. She’d never thought of herself as the all-talk, no-follow-through type, but that’s where she landed when it came to Gabby, and that realization had Jessa fumbling.
She tried not to let it show, but she had to ask. “Did you ever think I might feel the same about my mistakes?”
“I’m trying to figure out why you care what I think about you at all.” The comment came out more as an honest question than an accusation.
“Because you won’t shut up about things I did.”
Gabby’s shoulders fell as a bit of the dramatic tension spinning around her dropped off. “I could have spilled every sin in a motion during the divorce. You filed your false affidavit, and I didn’t come after you or your law license. My attorney begged me to write out what I knew about you and attest to it under oath, but I didn’t.”
“Why?” That’s the part Jessa never understood. Because she would have used every salty bit. She would have gathered even the most inconsequential pieces of intel and shot them right at Gabby if their positions had been reversed.
“Believe it or not, I don’t want to destroy you. I understand being raised with very little and having to fight for attention and resources. We both got to the same place—that law school—and figured out different ways not to squander the chances we had.”
Part of Jessa hated finding this common ground. Holding on to the anger and being able to insult Gabby, both in silence and to Faith, had become habit. A more comfortable and familiar choice. “You constantly judge me.”
“Maybe I do. That’s fair. I didn’t agree with your methods, and I still worry about how easy it is for you to lie, but my real problem was that you’ve always pretended your achievements were based on merit, and we both know that’s not the truth.” Gabby shrugged. “Then you abandoned me. When I said I was going to marry Baines during our last year of school, you cut me off.”
“I don’t want to be that person anymore.” That was the bottom line. The words Jessa said but didn’t act on, but she meant them. Here, she did.
“Then help me.” Gabby’s voice grew louder as she made the plea.
Jessa motioned for her to whisper, or at least not yell. “I can’t.”
“If this group is willing to frame Liam, an innocent man, what else are they capable of?”
Jessa refused to think about that. More accurately, she wanted to stop thinking about that. Since meeting with Retta, the idea of being shoved into the role of scapegoat for this group was Jessa’s biggest worry. “Do you know Liam didn’t do it? Maybe it was a heat-of-the-moment thing.”
“He’s better than both of us. And Baines didn’t use the information about Kennedy against her, or Liam, or even against me in the divorce. So why would it have been such a big issue that it resulted in his death all these years later?” Gabby glared at Jessa as she said the words. And she couldn’t have been clearer.
“Damn, Gabby. Your life is as messy as mine.”
“Liam could go to jail. Hell, I could go to jail. Detective Schone made it quite clear I should support the allegations about Liam or risk something even worse.”
“All I know is what I was told.” Jessa sucked at tiptoeing through tough topics, but she tried. “No one I know had anything to do with Baines’s death.”
“Be specific. You’re saying the group didn’t order or arrange for his murder?”
“I’m not saying there’s a group. You never heard me confirm the nonsense you’re spewing. Do you understand me? I will lie, cheat, and leave you flat if you try to say I did confirm.” Despite the carefully chosen words, Jessa blew past the point of plausible deniability. If Retta found out . . . Yeah, Jessa didn’t want to think about that. “But no hypothetical group I’ve ever hypothetically heard of killed Baines. You’re wrong about that theory.”
Instead of feeling anxious, Jessa experienced a pulse of relief. If anything awful happened to her, if she did end up being sacrificed for some greater good she still didn’t fully understand, Jessa knew the one person other than Faith who might question her end was Gabby. A woman who would fight this hard, risk this much, for an ex who’d spent most of a divorce trying to destroy her would fight for the truth no matter what.