The Last Invitation (84)

“Don’t put this on me.” Gabby started to rock back and forth. She tried to stop, but her body refused to obey.

“Your phone number is written on her arm, not mine.” Retta touched the fading pen marks on Jessa’s skin. “That’s what the police will see.”

Gabby blocked that truth out. She had to if she wanted to keep moving. “She idolized you. She would have done anything for you, and you betrayed her.”

“I asked her to stay away from you.”

Guilt pressed in on Gabby from every direction. She hadn’t known this would happen. She’d never wanted this. She hadn’t caused this . . . but a tiny voice in her head kept saying, Liar.

“That’s why you killed her? Because she called me?” Gabby turned around and stared at the man looming behind her. His face lacked any emotion. He acted like nothing happened, like he hadn’t sliced the life out of the woman lying dead in front of him. “You can’t tell me this was an accident, that he killed the wrong person on your command.”

This was a purposeful kill. Premeditated and carried out with precision by a man who served as the trigger for a woman who couldn’t tolerate losing her public image or being bested by her former mentee.

Gabby’s breath hiccupped inside her. “This is your fault.”

“This was not supposed to happen, but it has, and we have to deal with it,” Retta said.

So bloodless.

“You do.” Gabby harnessed all her guilt and sadness and turned it into rage. Aimed it at the woman across from her. “You’re the leader of your pathetic little group. You make the rules and give the orders. You don’t get to have regret now.”

“I am the co-leader. This order didn’t come from me.”

Earl. That explained Baines and the papers she’d found. Gabby couldn’t believe a business battle had led to three dead people, but it sounded as if it had. “Then let Earl explain this. Where is he? Is he going to show up in his fancy suit and fix this?”

When Retta held up a hand, Gabby braced herself, waiting for the man behind her to grab her or plunge a knife into her. But nothing happened. Nothing physical. Instead, he spoke. “We’re out of time.”

Gabby sat back, finally breaking her hold with Jessa’s ravaged stomach. Gabby didn’t want to die, but she would not beg. She tried to figure out if she could lunge and knock Retta down, use her as a shield for whatever Retta’s bodyguard enforcer had planned.

“Stop strategizing, Gabby. I’m not going to let Trent kill you, and you’re certainly not going to touch either of us.” Retta stood up, rising like a phoenix from the ashes. “There is a relatively simple way to handle this. Darren attacked Jessa earlier.”

“What? How is he even out of jail?”

“That part was my doing, I’m afraid.” Retta’s calm assurance returned. All signs of losing it and crying disappeared. In their place, the cool, collected, scary judge. A woman every inch in control of the room. “Your brother-in-law, or boyfriend, or whatever he is to you. I don’t really care, but he is in trouble. Evidence points to him for Baines’s murder. I know because I gave approval for the planting of that evidence.”

“You bitch.”

“We’re now in Baines’s house, and this murder could easily be roped around Liam’s neck, too. You would likely be implicated as well. Unless you choose otherwise.”

Adrenaline whirled to life inside Gabby. She jumped to her feet, ready for any attack. “You’re insane.”

“Darren made plans to kill his estranged wife. He wanted to hurt Jessa. He’s not a good man, and with his family’s reach and resources he could threaten many more women in the future,” Retta explained.

“How is that relevant?”

“Those are the hard facts. I have evidence to support every statement. But there is an option where he goes to prison for Jessa’s murder. We can defuse him and clean this up at the same time.”

Jessa lay dead, and Retta only cared about how bad a guy this Darren person was. Gabby didn’t care. “Why would he be in Baines’s house? That’s ridiculous.”

“If Darren did it, Jessa didn’t die here. She died back in that parking lot where he attacked her. He threatened her earlier then came back and followed through on his threats. Under that scenario, Jessa is remembered as another tragic statistic. We will celebrate and honor her.” Retta glanced at her watch. “But time is of the essence. We need a decision from you.”

“Me?” Gabby needed Retta to say it out loud. To put her heinous plan into words so there was no confusion.

“Darren or Liam—you choose.”

“Leave Liam and Kennedy out of this.” No, more than that. “Stay away from my family, or I swear I will kill you myself.”

Retta nodded. “So you choose Darren.”

“I didn’t say—”

Retta looked past Gabby. “Make the arrangements. We need this done immediately. And take Jessa’s bag with you. Gabby won’t be needing whatever Jessa brought for her.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Gabby heard his footsteps and watched him leave the room. She turned back to Retta. “What is wrong with you? How did you go so far off track? You don’t get to decide who deserves to die.”