Page 129 of Hell Hath No Fury

Ashley wasn’t looking at Emma; she wasn’t specifically looking at anything. Emma imagined she was gazing back to Saturday night or Sunday morning. Still, Emma didn’t take her eyes off the young widow. Didn’t want to risk Ashley catching her checking her phone or watching the kitchen doorway for some sign of Nell.

“From what you’ve told me,” Emma said tentatively, “you were protecting yourself and Daphne. It was self-defense. Why not call 911?”

This snapped Ashley back to the present moment and her sharp glare back to Emma. “I wasn’t taking any chances. Too many people knew about Sonny’s temper and how he treated me. Tell me, how many women do you think are in prison because theydefendedthemselves? I couldn’t risk having Daphne grow up without her mommy.”

Emma couldn’t argue the point.

Another thump came from the kitchen.

“I’m okay,” Nell called out, her voice oddly high-pitched.

What the heck had Ashley done? Was Nell tied up? Emma had to hope she was indeed “okay” and needed to keep Ashley talking. “What happened with your plan?” Emma kept her tone conversational, as if asking for a recipe. “I never could figure out why Sonny’s body was buried in such a shallow grave.”

Ashley snorted. “That’s where everything started going wrong.”

Emma could debate the actual starting point of all that went wrong, but now wasn’t the time.

“Patrick planned to bury Sonny at the construction site. Deep. But those stupid kids vandalized the heavy equipment. Put sugar in the gas tanks or something. He couldn’t get the backhoe to start. He tried digging by hand, only it was raining so hard, and the ground kept caving in. He ended up doing the best he could under the circumstances, with the intention of going back and doing it right as soon as the machinery was repaired.”

“Except Fran found Sonny’s body first.”

Ashley swore. “That bitch. She messed everything up. I mean, honestly, what are the odds?”

Emma couldn’t argue with her there. “Is that when you decided to frame Eric?”

“Patrick said we needed to find someone to pin it on. Apparently Sonny’d pissed Eric off big time in front of a restaurant full of people. Patrick overheard that he didn’t have an alibi. It made Eric the logical choice. Patrick still had the bag of broken glass, so we decided to use it. We picked through everything, removed the stuff that had my blood on it, and wiped down the piece I’d used to stab Sonny, leaving only his blood. It would’ve worked, too.” Ashley’s angry gaze bored into Emma. “Except for you.”

* * *

Matthias jammed his boot nearly through the Jeep’s floor, careening through blinding rain on roads he wasn’t familiar with. In the passenger seat, Eric braced one hand on the dash, the other clutched the grab bar, but he didn’t complain about Matthias’s driving. Not while Ashley’s narration of Sonny’s death played via Bluetooth over the Jeep’s speakers, punctuated by Emma’s soft-voiced comments.

“Ashley’s insane,” Eric whispered.

Matthias let the statement hang. He needed to focus as much of his attention as possible on the road.

Eric pointed. “Turn right up ahead.”

“How long ’til we get there?”

“Ordinarily, I’d say fifteen minutes, but at this speed, more like ten.”

Which was still too damned long.

ChapterThirty-Nine

“Me?” Emma battled to remember what part she’d played in this fiasco.

“You and your boyfriend. You came by here on Tuesday, asking a bunch of questions about Tina.” Ashley spat the name out. “I never cared that Sonny was getting in her pants. Hell, I was happy with anything or anyone that kept him from wanting to be in mine. But Tina was so damn smug about it.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see what any of this has to do with me.”

Ashley huffed. “You and Eric are friends. I knew what you were really up to. You wanted someone else to lay the blame on. As soon as you left, I called Patrick, and he told me he’d seen your boyfriend chatting up the police detective. We knew we needed a backup plan. You told me Sonny left the business to Tina, so she was the logical one to take the fall. Patrick was supposed to either get a copy of the business agreement or manufacture a document and plant it in her office.”

Emma had to admit, it was a good plan.

“Then yesterday morning, Patrick came over and got me outta bed. He’d been so calm—so in charge—except now he was freaking out. Your boyfriend was caught digging around the construction site. The cops showed up and called Patrick, asking more questions. He realized they weren’t gonna give up until they found out what really happened.” Ashley ran terrifyingly steady fingers through her blonde hair. “It would’ve been perfect if he’d only buried Sonny deep enough in the first place. I told him so, too. Patrick kept saying he’d realized this whole coverup had been a bad plan from the start, and he wanted to come clean. He said a good lawyer could get me off on self-defense.”

Emma agreed with him, but telling Ashley wouldn’t be wise.