Page 74 of The Perfect Divorce

I nod and say, “An eye for an eye.”

Brad sets the knife down and stands from his chair, pacing his office. “Jesus, Bob, do you realize what you’ve just told me? Do you understand the implications?”

“Of course, I do. I’ve been living with them for over a decade.”

I can see the cogs turning in his mind. Maybe this is all too much for him. “What are you thinking, man? You wanna jump ship?” I ask.

“No... no, no. I get it. She killed your brother... and I didn’t even know the girl. So what do I care? But fuck. Now it all makes sense. The shit you were saying about Sarah and how paranoid you’ve been.” He sits at his desk again, rubbing his temples as he leans back in his chair. “How?”

“How what?” I take a seat across from him.

“How can you prove that Sarah used that knife in the murder?”

“Well, there’s dried blood on it. A DNA analysis will match it to Kelly Summers, and I have an airtight alibi the night she was murdered.”

“Okay, that helps prove you weren’t the one that killed Kelly. The blood on the knife solidifies it as the murder weapon, but how do either of those things put this knife in Sarah’s hands on that night?”

“They don’t. And unless that thing”—I gesture to the knife resting on top of the bag on Brad’s desk—“is covered in her fingerprints, which I doubt it is, then all we can do is use it to put some heat on Sarah. Maybe that knife magically finds its way to the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office with an anonymous note attached.” I raise my eyebrows in quick succession while fluttering my fingers.

Brad begins stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger. “The caseisreopened, and they’ll be reexamining every piece of evidence, so the timing would be rather... advantageous.”

“Quite.”

He leans forward and gestures to the knife. “This isn’t enough to convict her, even if the blood on here is Kelly’s.”

“I know that, but I don’t need a conviction. I just need the spotlight on Sarah. Her every move would be examined under a microscope, so whatever she’s currently scheming will be ten times as hard for her to pull off. She might even slip up and ruin her whole plan with that kind of pressure.”

“What plan?” he asks.

“I’m not sure yet, but I know it involves taking me down, so I’ve gotta take her down first.”

“She’s gonna know it was you who turned this in,” Brad says, eyeing the weapon.

“Good. I want her to.” And I mean that. I want Sarah to learn to fear what she rightfully should... me.

He raps his knuckles on the desk, sucks his lips in, and breathes a short burst of air out of his nose, like a bull ready to charge. “Well, I hate to tell you this right now, but...”

“What?” I say, panic in my voice. “What is it?”

“I got wind from one of the clerks down at the county judge’s office. Sarah...” Brad pauses. “She filed a protective order against you.”

“On what grounds?”

“She’s made a claim that you threatened and physically assaulted her.”

“That’s bullshit!” I seethe.

This is a low blow, even for Sarah. Not only is she trying to set me up for whatever’s going on with Stacy, but now she’s painting me as an abusive husband, someone she doesn’t feel safe around. For God’s sake, I’m the one that shouldn’t feel safe around her.

“Sarah submitted text messages that you sent her and also provided photographs of injuries she’s claiming you gave her when you grabbed her arm at your daughter’s swim meet.”

“I barely touched her. Look what she did to me!” I hold up my hand, showing the two-inch scab across the palm of it.

“I thought you said you did that on accident.”

“I lied. I was just trying to downplay what happened, but she slashed me with a fucking knife.”

“On purpose?”

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