The Last Invitation (85)
Retta stood up. “Lucky for you, right now I do.”
Chapter Seventy-Five
Gabby
The stain wouldn’t come off. Gabby stood in the shower and scrubbed until the water turned cold. She used Liam’s soap, at his house, but all she could see was Baines’s office. The bodies piling up. Jessa’s unblinking eyes, begging her to do . . . something.
Liar. Cheat. Untrustworthy. All the slams she’d made about Jessa over the years, and said directly to her face, ran through Gabby’s head on an endless cycle. The guilt ratcheted up, washing over her in a slime of filth she’d never be able to break out of again.
Tears mixed with the icy water. The spray pounded her with a thousand tiny needles. Her only thought as her body shook was about how close she’d come to being the group’s latest victim.
They all begged her to shut up and go away, but she wouldn’t let Baines’s death go. Liam told her. Detective Schone told her. Jessa told her. But she’d been so sure she knew better. She thought she could find justice for Baines as a final gesture of affection for the life they’d shared, but all she did was break her daughter and invite danger and death in for everyone around her.
God, Jessa. I’m so sorry.
Baines, Tami, Rob. So much loss.
Gabby slid down the tile wall. Wet hair covered her eyes as she gulped in air between sobs. Jessa had lied on an affidavit to make herself more important at work, and in a roundabout, messed-up way she’d died for that mistake.
Gabby sat there until the bumps on her skin shouted at her to get up and turn off the water. Strength abandoned her. All she could do was look into the rainfall and wonder what to do next. Thoughts swirled in her mind. Solutions. Options. Ways to work around the secrecy of the group and find a person not on the inside, not beholden, and not a believer in the scheme.
Minutes passed before she could finally lean forward and turn off the water.
She didn’t know how to live with what she’d started . . . except to finish it.
Twenty minutes later, Gabby sat at Liam’s dining room table. She opened her hand and stared at the memory stick Jessa had passed to her as she died. The little piece of plastic that had cost Jessa everything.
Retta had taken the papers Jessa brought to Baines’s house, but in the end, Jessa had outmaneuvered her mentor. Jessa had taken the risks and would have the last word.
Gabby vowed to make that true.
Chapter Seventy-Six
MILLIONAIRE BUSINESSMAN IN CUSTODY—Potomac, MD
Darren Bartholomew, 46, son of philanthropist Malcolm Bartholomew, was arrested late Tuesday at his uncle’s home on River Road, in Potomac, Maryland, for the murder of Jessa Hall, the court-appointed guardian ad litem for his minor son.
Bartholomew, a former high school and college lacrosse standout and the current vice president of Bartholomew Holdings, was recently incarcerated for violating a protective order in place for his estranged wife, Eleanor Bartholomew. He was released due to a technical flaw with the written order. On the day of his unexpected return to the area, Bartholomew allegedly confronted Hall in front of witnesses then fled the scene. Hall, a highly regarded domestic attorney in Montgomery County, Maryland, survived that confrontation but Bartholomew returned, and Hall died from a stab wound shortly thereafter.
A friend of Bartholomew who asked not to be named said Bartholomew had been inconsolable about the breakup of his marriage and his limited time with his son. He spoke often of his negative views of the justice system and its lack of concern for fathers in custody proceedings.
Malcolm Bartholomew has stated he believes his son’s unfair treatment caused serious harm to his mental state. The elder Bartholomew and his wife, Marian, are well known in the metro area for their charitable pursuits and sizeable donations to the arts community and to research technology at the University of Maryland.
Hall’s law partners and colleagues are in mourning for the loss of a person they call “an expert in her field,” a lawyer who was dedicated to her clients and friends.
Bartholomew has been taken into custody. His attorney could not be reached for comment. The police advise the investigation is ongoing.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Gabby
Attending Jessa’s funeral turned out to be almost as stressful as watching her die in secret. People who claimed to know and love her took turns standing up and gushing about her talent and personality, her drive and commitment to truth. Her law partners welcomed guests. Retta stood stoic and motionless at the back of the church, with her husband, Earl, by her side. Jessa’s best friend, Faith, didn’t say a word, but the tears streaming down her cheeks spoke to her pain.
Gabby didn’t want to be there, shouldn’t be there, but she felt obligated in this last moment to honor Jessa. Not like the news stories, which focused on poor Darren rather than the woman he killed. Not like the people praising her during this ceremony. The mourners’ spokespeople talked from an impersonal distance, sounding as if they were reading from sympathy cards rather than talking about the real Jessa.
Gabby knew who Jessa was. Savvy, flawed, self-focused, and desperate to be better. That last part truly defined her. It was the piece Gabby would hold on to because it showed that people could want to change and take real steps to make the shift happen.