“I know!” Verna yelled back. “And please lower your voice. You’re upsetting my baby.” She rubbed her belly with her free hand. “That night? I actually saw him slip the concoction into your beer.”
Millie almost took a step back out of shock but forced herself to remain in place. Her knees trembled and the cat stopped purring. She loosened her hold on him, not wanting to strangle him. “You said you saw me get into Clay’s truck and scoot over.”
“Yeah, that was kind of a lie,” Verna said, her teeth gleaming in the meager light from a hanging bulb. “He got you outside and pretty much had to lift you into the truck and shove you over. And he saw me.” For the first time, hurt echoed in her tone.
“He saw you?” Millie repeated. “What do you mean?”
Red burst across Verna’s face. “He turned and saw me, looked right at me, then got into the truck like I didn’t matter.” Tears gathered in Verna’s eyes. “So I followed you.”
“That’s what was on the VCR tapes?” Millie asked. “Just you following us?”
“Well, and you passed out in the front seat of Clay’s truck,” Verna said. “You slept against the window, I think. Anyway, yes, I followed you, and I’m sure those cameras recorded my vehicle behind yours. I had to get the tapes from the chief, and he wasn’t expecting to be shot by poor little ole pregnant me.”
Fury whipped through Millie and she calculated the distance between them. “Then what?”
“Clay carried you inside through the garage door. He always left his back sliding glass door open, so I walked around the house and entered that way.”
“Where was I?” Millie asked.
“He hefted you into the bedroom and had already taken off his clothes,” Verna said, “and I just couldn’t believe it. I mean, how dare he choose you over me?”
“You were jealous?” Millie spat out. “Are you insane?”
Verna wiped off her mouth with one hand. “No. But I had my future set. I went into the room. I even offered to share you.”
Millie gagged as bile rose into her throat.
“And he laughed,” Verna finished. “He said no, that he wasn’t interested, that he wanted you. So, I don’t know. The world went dark and I stabbed him over and over and over again. He fell onto the bed, and when I came back to myself, he was dead.”
“Where did you get my knife?”
Verna grinned. “I took that months ago. Thought I’d sell it, but I don’t know.”
Oh, she knew. “You planned his murder.”
Verna shrugged. “Not really, but you know. Just in case he went south, I needed an insurance policy. Now this baby will get everything she should have had if he’d lived. You’ll be dead, though.”
Millie took a deep breath and faced the cold truth. Verna wanted to kill her. “So then what? You took off my clothes and put me in bed with him?”
“Yep, and I wrapped your hand around the knife,” Verna said. “He deserved it.”
Millie just looked at her old friend. How had she missed the insanity in the woman? “You pretty much had me framed for Clay’s murder. Why hire a hit squad to take me out?”
Verna sneered. “I don’t know how well those drugs work long-term. You saw me when I argued with Clay in his bedroom, and I thought you might remember at some point.” Pride filled her voice now. “Plus, once you were dead, I could come forward as the star witness and say that I saw you and Clay fight. That you later confessed to me you had killed him.”
“So you served as the county prosecutor’s secret witness.”
Verna snorted. “I surely did.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Ha. I’m brilliant. Now you’ll die, and I’ll tearfully admit that you confessed to killing Clay.” She looked down at her swollen abdomen. “Everyone believes the pregnant chick.”
“I don’t deserve to die.”
“Nobody will really miss you,” Verna said. With that, she took a deep breath and steadied her aim.
Kat let out a shrieking squeal, dug his claws into Millie’s neck, and launched himself into the air.
