“She told Ben you have someone watching Aubrey? Why?”
“Hank was sent Paul’s case in late June, then went to see him soon after. He told Ben about his conversation with Paul at Angola. Paul said ‘the guy’ who had evidence from that night was trying to get it to the ‘right person.’ Dad put a tail on Foster, since we all knew he’s the only person it could have been. He went to that bar where Aubrey works a couple of times, but Foster never talked to her. We think he was trying to decide whether or not to pass it along to her. Ben bought that old car so he could get close to her.” He adds quietly, “If Dad knew you had her parading around this town as you, he would lose his shit.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.” I’m proud of the firmness in my voice.
Silas is still leaning back but his head turns toward me. “I don’t either, Camille. And I’ve been working to save her ass while also saving my own. I knew Ben was lurking around her house. That’s why I’ve got someone watching her. You have no idea what it’s been like having this hanging over my head all these years. That she’s an orphan because of me.”
“It’s my fault Aubrey’s been drug into this mess. I should never have gone to confront her that night.”
Silas shakes his head. “If anyone is to blame for pulling Aubrey in, it’s Kevin Foster. He had one foot in the grave and felt the flames of hell licking up his leg and stirred all this shit up. He could have turned what he had over to the Feds. Or sent it to the local news stations. But he didn’t. He went crying to Paul and dangled it over his head like a carrot on the end of a stick.”
My stomach twists at his words. “Do you feel bad Paul is serving time at Angola?”
His face falls. “Do I feel bad Paul is serving a sentence for a crime he didn’t commit? Yes. Do I know for a fact that Paul has done a dozenthings that would have landed him in the same prison for the same amount of time, also yes. So honestly, my feelings toward Paul are a bit more complicated.”
“What do you think Ben is going to do? I don’t want him to turn on you and say he was forced to give you that alibi or something.”
He lets out a soft laugh. “Ben’s no Boy Scout. He may not like getting his hands dirty but all his success hasn’t just come from that big brain of his and pure fucking luck. Very few of his clients are innocent. And who does he call when he needs evidence to disappear or witnesses to have a sudden bout of amnesia? He calls Dad. Dad calls Foster…or used to. Ben gets what he wants in the end.”
“Ben made it sound like Dad makes him take those cases. Like he didn’t really want to do it.”
“And Ben is lying his ass off. Every case he took on his own, he asked for help.” Silas rests his head against the back of his seat. “And don’t worry about him going to the cops if he gets what Foster has. He’ll just try to find some other way to use it against me, but that won’t be as easy to do as he thinks.”
“You wanted to get away from Corbeau and Dad as much as I did,” I say, changing the subject, since Ben may be getting that evidence right now.
He gives me a grim smile. “Well, I lost the right to choose after I took Paul Granger’s truck. My position was set after that.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to turn into Dad,” I whisper. “More than you already have.”
Silas lets out a ragged breath. “Lord knows, I’ve made mistakes I wish I could take back and done things I’m not proud of, but ever since I graduated and came back home, all I’ve done is try to rein him in where I can and mitigate the damage if I can’t. I may not have gone to jail for what Idid to Aubrey Price’s parents, but I’m behind a different set of bars, serving a different kind of time.”
“You could have told me all this years ago. You could have trusted me.”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
I’m about to say something else but he holds a hand up. “Don’t go back to Baton Rouge. Promise me you’ll come to my house tomorrow after the thing at church Mom wants us at. We’ll get it figured out.”
I nod and then he’s out of the car. He walks across the parking lot and into the bar, while I think about my options. I could be a coward and avoid Ben, go hide out at Silas’s and let him fight my battles for me.
But if I don’t stand up for myself now, I never will. I’ll be the same ole Camille who does what she’s told and lets the men in her life control things.
Everything’s changed now.
I know enough that neither Ben nor Dad will be able to hold that prenup clause against me. I’m going back to Baton Rouge first thing in the morning and telling Ben I want a divorce.
Chapter 28
Hank
AFTER THE ALIBI
Wednesday, October 14
The phone on my desk buzzes and Lila picks it up since she’s closer. “Hey.” She starts to straighten my desk while listening to Julie, the receptionist. “Okay, thanks.” She hangs the phone up and looks at me. “Camille is here. I’ll go get her.”
We were going over the calendar again, juggling things around since I met with Judge Whittaker about the trial Ben had kept postponing. He’s given me twenty-four hours to give him a date I’m available.
The door shuts quietly and I look up and find Camille in front of my desk, her eyes red and watery. I wonder if they will ever be dry again.
