Page 22 of Hitched

“Look, I’m telling you the truth. I’m as surprised as you are that she went through with it, but I tell you, as sure as the nose on my face, that it happened.”

Ethan snorts a laugh.

“You want me to call her up right now and prove it to you?” I say, voice raised.

Malcolm raises a hand. “Look, Caleb, whether you did or didn’t do her, is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that your da’s got plans, and Laney McAdams isn’t the most…shall we say…agreeable person.”

I nod. “I’ll give you that. But I swear it happened.”

Ethan pipes up. “You better hope it did, because da really is pissed off about you being questioned about this murder.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I say, heading towards the door.

“If you’re smart, little brother.” Ethan starts. “You’ll worry less about fucking Laney McAdams for now, and worry more about how you’re going to dig your way out of a trial. Because your problems will be ten-fold if you end up a suspect.”

“Don’t you think I fucking know that, asshole? You think Laney’s going to do conjugal visits?”

He raises a hand to stifle me, but that stupid goddamn self-righteous smile still sits on his face, mocking me. It takes everything in me not to go over and punch it off his mug. “Just…take care of it.”

“Fuck you.” I mutter, but walk away, glaring at everyone that’s staring at me, observing the show, as I do.

I head back to my office and think about my next move.

My desk phone beeps mid afternoon with notification that I have a visitor. I’m scheduled to meet with Beckett and Chas Ford today, but that was before the whole murder thing went down, so I’m surprised if it’s them. Another thought is that it’s Laney, but that’s soon quashed when I see the two Ford brothers walk through the door.

“Chas. Beckett. I’m glad you came through.” I say, giving them both a handshake.

Beckett is the first to speak, as they both sit down. “Truth is, we don’t have much of a choice in the matter, no offence.”

I frown. “None taken. What’s going on.”

“I don’t know if you heard, but both Henry and his wife were questioned on Rachel’s death as well.”

“I figured. It makes sense.”

“In fact, the whole office was, from what Henry said.” Chas adds. “But evidently her house was like a revolving door.”

“Yeah,” Beckett interrupts. “The old man shared a lot about Rachel. It’s blatantly obvious that they were lovers. We both wondered if he was going to talk about business all day or her.”

“Really? What a crazy old coot he is, huh.”

“Yeah, and the even more fucked up part is that the missus was right there, and talking about her like Rachel was a dear old friend of the family.”

“If we didn’t just sign a ten-billion-dollar contract with him, we would ditch him like Rachel’s dead body.” Chas adds, and then raises a hand. “Sorry. That was probably a bit early.”

I snort a laugh. “It was kind of funny. The slut didn’t mean shit to me.”

“Here here. I’m not sorry she’s dead but I had shit to do with it.” Chas adds. “That’s exactly what I told the cops, too.”

“The truth will set you free.” I volunteer. Then I clap my hands together. “So, what’s next? Are we looking at moving forward?”

“Invest, man. That’s what the whole point of this is, no?” Beckett states.

“Sounds good to me.” I nod, and then we get down to business. For the next three hours, we go through, page by page, my proposed plans to do with their current income stream, and the ones forecasted to come in the short-term. It’s a hefty job, but that’s what I’m cut out to do.

“Hey, how’s your family, you know, with all this murder bullshit going on?” Beckett asks conversationally.

“To be truthful, my da is more concerned with me making it or breaking it with Laney. That’s all he mentioned when I saw him a few hours ago.”

---