Page 30 of The Devoted Husband

Sitting down, he eyed Jones before lifting the mug to his nose and sniffing it.

“It’s just a cup of coffee,” Jones said. “I didn’t add anything else to it.”

With a nod, Dante pushed the mug forward and waited for Jones to continue.

“I know you and Sade are together, but I was hoping that if I shared some evidence and my theory with you, you’d help me bring her to justice.”

“We’re not together anymore. If you saw us yesterday, I’m sure you know that.”

Jones gave him a barely-there smirk before continuing. “As you know, I am investigating the murders of Patrice Baker and Trina Roe, along with the missing case of Willow Frank. All these women have a connection to each other and your wife. Or ex-wife. I’m not exactly sure how that works. Because you two weren’t actually married, right? That was fake.” Dante remained silent. With a chuckle, Jones nodded his head and licked his lips.

“We found a strand of hair at Patrice’s nape that didn’t belong to her. There was blood at Trina Roe’s home that didn’t belong to her. We still have no evidence of where Willow is, but we were able to tap into Patrice’s phone, and she was talking to Willow before she came up missing. Would you like to know what they were talking about?”

“I don’t care, but I’m sure you will tell me.”

“They were talking about a missing man from Memphis they believed Sade was hiding. When we tapped Willow’s phone and tried to track her location, those messages were deleted. They weren’t, however, deleted from Patrice’s phone.”

“And?”

“You were the missing man. My theory is that Patrice tried to use Willow for information, and Sade killed her. Then she killed Patrice. And finally, she killed Trina. Because Sade’s DNA is not in our database, I can’t prove any of this, and that’s the only reason she hasn’t been arrested yet.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“Your testimony can help me put her away. If you can admit to having amnesia at the start of the year, that will line up the murders with the timing that Sade had you, and it will give her motive. I would also go as far as to suggest you file a police report and have her arrested for abduction. If we can get her convicted on the lesser charge, she’ll be put in the system, and it’ll be easier for me to get her DNA to prove she was at each scene.”

Dante shook his head as he stood, but Jones continued. “Those women lost their lives because Sade wanted to keep you for herself. Doesn’t that make you feel even the slightest bit guilty? I’m giving you the chance to do the right thing and help me get closure for their families. Help me put Sade where she belongs...in prison for the rest of her life.”

Their eyes remained locked for a few seconds before Dante walked away. It was his hurt and anger that even allowed him to briefly consider helping Jones. But he couldn’t do that...right? Despite what Sade had done, she still helped prove Imani was committing fraud and kept him out of prison, which didn’t make any sense. If she wanted to destroy Dante, why not let him stay in Memphis to face those charges?

His head began to pound as he tried to put together the pieces. Maybe he needed to hear her out himself, but at the moment, Dante didn’t trust himself to be around her. And he didn’t know when, or if, that would change.

Sade

One thing Sade wasn’t expecting was to be woken up from her nap by a Facetime request from Dante. Groggily, she sat up and cleared her throat as she looked around the suite. For a moment, she was so caught off guard by the call that she even forgot where she was. Answering the request, Sade rubbed her eyes. She had little energy these days and was always sleepy.

When she stopped rubbing her eyes and allowed them to settle on Dante, his frown made it difficult for her to smile because she was so happy to see him.

“Jones is here, and he’s following you.”

Swallowing hard, Sade nodded. “I thought I saw him at the hospital when I went to see Imani. Why? And how do you know?”

“None of that matters. Just...Don’t kill anyone or do anything illegal while he’s here.”

With a chuckle, Sade avoided his eyes. “Wow. Everything I did, I did for you, Dante.”

“Nah, don’t put that on me. How am I supposed to believe that? Now, it’s looking like you did what you did to keep your secrets. You sent Atlas after me. Maybe you killed them because you never wanted me to know.”

“First of all, if Ididkill them, I certainly wouldn’t admit to it on this phone. And second, I didn’t send Atlas after you. I can’t believe you’d think I could do something like that to you.”

“I didn’t think it, but you admitted it yourself. And I’m still trying to figure out why you asked me to come here just so I could hear it.”

“That’snotwhy I asked you to come!” she yelled louder than she intended. “I didn’t even know you were at the restaurant.”

“You told me to meet you there!”

“No, I didn’t, Dante. I asked you to meet me the next day. We were supposed to meet yesterday, not the day before.”

“Sade...You texted me and asked me to meet you there an hour after my flight landed. You’re going to lie about that too?”

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