Page 106 of Start With A Slap

Ivy stepped backward. “What is this?”

“It’s what she’s been helping me with. Only Ellison Cole has this kind of access.”

“To a coroner’s report? Anyone can access that.”

“To the real one. Before he had it doctored.”

“He...?” Her eyes met Jason’s, and she barely whispered the name as a chill ran over her skin: “Sever.”

“Remember that hunch I told you about?”

A metallic taste in her mouth, she swallowed, too queasy to answer.

“I didn’t have the evidence then,” he said. “Now I do.”

“What are you saying, that Sever...?”

“Murdered my mother.”

Hands shaking, she opened the folder, and was relieved to find immediate evidence to the contrary. “‘Cause of death’,” she read aloud, “‘smoke inhalation resulting from fire in motor vehicle’, how?—?”

“That’s the fake. The coroner was paid off. Turn the page.”

She turned it and read the highlighted words.

MANNER OF DEATH: HOMICIDE

CAUSE OF DEATH: ASPHYXIATION from strap measuring

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM - THROAT STRUCTURES: Trace amounts of semen are present

The folder fell out of her trembling hands to the floor. “You sent me to Paris with him. You sent me to Paris with a murderer?”

“I didn’t... I didn’t know then. Not for sure, but when I mentioned it to Kara, it’s just... she started to make it come together?—”

“You told Kara before you told yourwife?”

“You were friendly with him! Chatting him up in French, with your modern art and your expensive fucking tastes and all that other shit you have in common! You pretend to hate him for my sake, but Iseeyou when he’s around... he bringssomething out in you, this little fire thatIdidn’t even know you had! What am I supposed say to that?”

She stared at him agog. “How about ‘Don’t go, Ivy! Don’t go to Paris because he just might strangle you!’”

“He’s not aserialkiller — it was a crime of passion, okay? You couldn’t know what they were like together. They’d fight like fuckin’ dogs, then they’d fuck for days, then they’d fight again and my mom would storm out. You could hear her raising hell from one wing of the house to the other, every single time. Only this time? She left quietly. In the middle of the night. My mother never did anything quietly.”

“Oh my god,” Ivy said, eyes watering as she gulped for air. “Oh my god!”

“Hey. Hey.” He appeared at her side and pulled her close. “Oh, babe. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

Was there a better way to find out your secret lover snuffed out the love of his life and was reenacting the crime on hired sex workers toget himself off?“I am so sorry, Jason. I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry about? You didn’t know.”

“Everything,” she said, head on his shoulder. “I pulled him back into your life, I...”

“Shh, shh.” He smoothed down her still-damp hair. “It’s not your fault. He’smyfather, okay? I’m the son and heir. It was just a matter of time before this blew up. It is what it is, Ivy. It is what it is.”

Jason parkedthe car in their building’s garage. Neither had spoken since they’d left the office, and neither hurried to get out of the car.

“How far are you going with this?” Ivy asked.

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