“Yep. Everything Meredith said he’d done, he fessed up without prompting. Threw her under the bus just as hard. She’s not at fault here.”
“Come on, Ford,” he said. “He was fucking cheating on her under her nose for months. Then came home after she found out and wanted to have sex with her. Did he tell you that?”
Ford snorted. “No.”
“He wouldn’t. She wouldn’t either, but she told me. She’d found out and he came in acting like he missed her and wanted to get naked with her for round two. For someone who wears her emotions on her face, she somehow kept it in until she could figure out what she was going to do.”
“I’m not sure I could do that. Reenie could have. I think women are stronger than we give them credit for.”
“That’s right. Meredith is emotional, but she can be rational.” He thought for a moment. “Yeah, no, what she did wasn’t rational, but I think she was justified and plenty of women would applaud her for it.”
“He probably deserved it. What he shouldn’t have done was continue it for weeks after when it was a one-day thing for her.”
“Exactly,” he said. “What about Lana? The woman Fredrick was sleeping with.”
“She didn’t return my call yesterday. I’ll reach out again and let her know if she doesn’t, I’ll be paying her a visit at work.”
Clay smirked. “That gets people talking. My guess is she was trying to figure out what was going on and worried she’d be in trouble over the letter that she lied about.”
“There is no proof who wrote it, but I’ll find out if she admits it. Even if Fredrick hadn’t had an alibi all day, why admit to everything else he’s done so freely and not this? I wouldn’t have put it on him. Other than the dead fish, everything was just as petty. In his mind, that was too. He bought a fish and tossed it on the front porch for flies. He could have easily thrown any rotten food there. He said the only reason he got the fish was because it was the first thing he could think of that stunk to attract the flies.”
His shoulders dropped. “I don’t like this. If it’s not Lana, then Meredith is right and there is someone else out there doing this.”
“She has no idea who?” Ford asked.
“We didn’t talk much about it last night. I think she needed a break.”
“How was she this morning?”
“Fine,” he said. “But she thinks she’s better at hiding her emotions than me. She was going to meet her mother forbreakfast. Guess her parents know nothing that is going on. Until the window is fixed, I don’t want her going back there.”
“So she’s going to stay with her parents?”
“We haven’t gotten that far. I’ll talk to her after school today. She’ll need clothes regardless for the weekend and I’ll meet her to get them with her.”
“Is she afraid to go back to her place alone?”
“No. She didn’t seem it.” She wasn’t acting that way, but he saw through it. “I’m torn between wanting her to not be afraid so she isn’t upset and wanting her to be a little afraid so she’s aware.”
“You can’t control those things,” Ford said.
He didn’t need the reminder.
“I’ll control what I can. Don’t you have to get to work?”
“I’m going.”
“Let me know what you find out from Lana,” he said.
“I will. I’ll follow up with Meredith after. You can let her know about Fredrick. She told me yesterday I can keep you informed.”
He narrowed his eyes. “So if she hadn’t said that, you wouldn’t tell me?”
“No,” Ford said. “I play by the rules, unlike you.”
He grabbed his keys to leave with Ford.
His brother drove by the gates to get out. He’d unlocked them from his phone for Meredith to leave, then had them shut and locked again.
