Page 77 of The Next Mrs. Parrish

Daisy Ann interrupted him. “I want to see it.”

“Are you sure?” Mason said to her.

“Yes. Show me.”

The sheriff plugged the card reader into his computer and turned it so that all three of them could view the screen, then pressed play.

Daisy Ann sat transfixed, her eyes filling as the video showed her father coming into view. Amber was walking next to him. Thetwo of them stopped and Amber said something to Jake. He nodded and began walking alone. The time stamp at this point was 6:45:03. Amber walked to a clump of sage and stopped, watching Jake as he walked away from her. At 6:46:11 she picked up the muzzle loader and brought it to her shoulder. The gun bucked and a cloud of smoke erupted from the end of the barrel. At 6:46:14 Jake’s body dropped to the ground.

Daisy Ann’s chest constricted, her body shaking as she watched her father fall. “Stop the tape,” she sobbed.

Mason put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, weeping.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Briscoe. I know this is extremely difficult to see. I’ll tell you the rest.”

She raised her head and looked at him, wiping her eyes. “No. I need to see it to the end.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He started the video again and they watched Amber lower the gun and stand still for a long five minutes, then walk slowly to Jake’s body. She looked down at him, then rolled his body over onto its back, continuing to stand next to him. She took a cell phone from her pocket but put it right back, making no attempt to place a call. Then turning, she began to slowly walk away until she was out of the frame, and the video, detecting no movement, ended. At this point the time stamp read 7:01:34.

The sheriff closed his computer. “There is a fifteen-minute interval between the time of the shot and her leaving the scene. The call to the police came in at 7:40a.m., almost an hour later. She took her sweet old time getting to the house to call for help. If this tape isn’t proof enough that she shot him on purpose, the fact that she waited an hour to call it in should convince any jury of her guilt.”

“I knew it,” Daisy Ann said. “I knew that bitch killed him, and this proves it.”

“We’ve issued a warrant for her arrest. Any jury looking at that video is going to hand back a verdict of first-degree murder.”

“She’s in Dallas. Staying at Rosewood Mansion.” Daisy Ann stood. “Thank you, Sheriff, for seeing that justice will be served.”

“You’ll let us know if there’s anything we can do to help,” Mason said, extending his hand.

“I sure will. We’ve already alerted the FBI since she’s no longer in Colorado.”

Mason and Daisy Ann walked hand in hand from the building. Before they reached the car she said, “I think I’d like to go straight back to the airport.”

“I understand,” Mason said.

It was just a five-minute drive and when they got there, Daisy Ann asked Brian to apologize to Brenda for her. “Please tell her I’ll call her when I get home.” She didn’t have the energy right now to divulge all that they’d learned.

An hour later they were in the air on their way back to Dallas. Daisy Ann put her seat back and closed her eyes, replaying the video in her head. Her father must have been so lonely, so longing for someone to love him. She’d assumed that it was enough that he had her and his grandsons, and after all, he was sixty-five and past the romance stage. How foolish she’d been to believe that the desire for someone to love and love you back ended at a certain age. It made her sad to think that her father wanted that so badly that he’d been taken in by a woman like Amber, a woman who’d lied to him and used him. How many lonely people did that happen to, she wondered, good people who just wanted to be loved. There was a special place in hell for the ones, like Amber, who took advantage of them. And Daisy Ann was going to make sure that Amber ended up in that very special place. But right now, her tears were for a good man who didn’t deserve to die the way he did.

– 48 –

DAPHNE

I wait for the waitress to continue, the car in reverse, ready to bolt if necessary.

“You forgot your wallet.”

I exhale, put it in park, and get out of the car. “Thank you so much.” I take it from her and return to the car. It takes everything I have not to tear out of the parking lot. I take deep breaths and drive away, wondering if my heartbeat is ever going to return to normal.

When we get back to the house, I look around to make sure no one is outside before we exit the car and go in. After locking the door and pulling down the shades, I sit the girls down.

“We have to stay inside until we leave. I know I said we’d leave in the morning, but now it’s too risky to drive during the day. I’m going to sleep now and we’re going to get back on the road as soon as night falls. We’ve got another thirteen-hour drive ahead of us, and we can only stop for gas and bathroom breaks.”

“Are we going to get arrested?” Bella’s eyes are huge, and she looks at me with raised brows.

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