“When was the last time you saw Cedric Hawkins?”
“Saturday night,” she said quickly. “He and Annie came over. I didn’t want to be alone after…”
“Mrs. Hawkins told us that she and her husband have an open marriage. Do you know if that’s true?”
Her eyebrows lowered. “Why? Do you think his girlfriend killed him?”
“Is he dead?” Brantley countered.
Mrs. Jacobs’s gaze bounced back and forth between them. “I … I … No. I mean, I hope not. He’s—”
Her cell phone rang, and Brantley was positive she exhaled in relief, snatching the phone from a nearby table.
“Hello?” Her voice shook only slightly. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
Brantley looked at Reese, knew this conversation was now over. More than likely that was Annie Hawkins or the gigolo lawyer telling her she should not speak to them.
Probably a good idea, he figured, since Mallory Jacobs was definitely hiding something.
*
Mallory Jacobs held the phone pressed toher ear while her heart pounded unnaturally in her chest. She watched the two tall men as they strolled toward their vehicle, the guns on their hips not helping her panic. She’d done her best to play off their presence, but from the moment they stepped up to her garage, her heart had started pounding so hard she could hear the blood rushing in her ears.
Was that pain she felt? Was she having an anxiety attack? Or was this a heart attack?
“Oh, God,” she muttered under her breath.
“You need to keep it together, Mallory,” Annie insisted when Mallory began rambling incessantly on the phone, doing her best to relay what they’d asked her. “Are they still there?”
“No,” she confirmed as she glanced out through the open garage door to see a black Chevrolet truck pulling away from the curb. “No, they’re leaving now.”
“Good. I’ll be there in five minutes. Do not move.”
Like she had anywhere to go. Mallory couldn’t even think about getting behind the wheel of a car. She’d probably drive into someone’s yard with how shaky her hands were. Plus her chest felt tight, like she was having an episode.
An episode.
Hurrying into the house, Mallory raced to her bathroom, rummaged in the medicine cabinet for the nitroglycerin she’d been prescribed for her angina. She stared at the bottle for a moment, remembering what the two detectives had told her. How had they figured out Brian had overdosed? Annie had told her there was no way to trace it.
“Oh, God,” she whimpered. Should she throw it out? What if they traced it back to her? What if they found out she was the one who’d given it to Brian?
This was not going the way Annie had said it would. Brian, Seth, and Cedric should’ve all been dead by now. And there shouldn’t have been any way to trace it back to them. It was supposed to look like the real estate deal had gone bad and one of those crazies out to get them had snapped. That was supposed to draw the attention away from them. Plus, their alibis were solid. For their own husbands’ deaths, anyway.
Only now Cedric was missing and Nancy was nowhere to be found, either. Mallory should’ve known Nancy would be the weak link. She’d doubted the woman had the guts to roofie someone, much less do what was necessary to get rid of them completely. And now Nancy’s incompetency was bringing suspicion on all of them.
Setting the pill bottle down, Mallory took a deep breath.
Annie would know what to do. She always knew what to do, which was why Mallory had agreed to this plan in the first place. Ever since Annie told her Seth was cheating … Mallory’s heart thumped painfully. How could her husband have done that to her? How could he have been with other women? She’d been livid when Annie told her she’d seen him at the club, drinking with some blond bimbo.
Mallory took a deep, cleansing breath. Seth had deserved what he got. So had Brian.
Yes, she would stay calm, keep it together. They could still get out of this and if not…
Well, she had enough money to buy the best lawyer.
Chapter Eleven
Reese stared out the window, processing everythingthey’d learned while he waited for Brantley to advise where they would be stopping for lunch.
