Page 65 of The Devoted Husband

“We can do it together before I leave then.”

“What’re you about to do?”

“Pay Jones a visit.”

Sade’s Audio Journal

“My mind has been so scattered, I haven’t been able to process a coherent thought or even record it. I’ve never hated a person more than I hate Jones. Well, maybe my sister when we were kids, but that’s another story. This man is diabolical. What makes it so frustrating is he’s slippery. He knows the law and how to evade it. He also knows how to mess with us without actually touching us. Jones being so out of reach is driving me crazy. I can’t wait for him to be caught. This needs to be over soon.”

Dante

Several Hours Later

Dante didn’t want to mention it to Sade until he was sure it would lead to something. Because Vanzette was a small town where almost everyone knew everyone, it didn’t take much for Lathan and Veronica to ask around for information on Tonya and Terry. Dante cared less about their marriage and more about whether anyone knew where Jones currently lived. It just so happened that Lathan’s barber knew exactly where Jones lived because his brother’s landscaping company cut his grass.

As it neared midnight, Dante figured Jones wouldn’t return home soon. He probably wouldn’t come back if he were in hiding because of what he’d done. Dante headed to the front door, knocking, though he was sure no one was inside. After waiting a few minutes and not getting an answer, he prepared to pick the lock but didn’t have to. It was already unlocked.

Chuckling, Dante made his way inside. Vanzette was truly a safe place. So safe, most of the citizens didn’t feel the need to lock their doors. He was surprised Jones kept his doors unlocked, though, and a part of him wondered if it was a trap. Taking the risk, Dante figured he couldn’t be arrested for breaking and entering if the door was unlocked.

He went room by room, not finding anything unordinary—until he reached Jones’s bedroom. There, he had a wall covered with pictures of Sade, Patrice, Trina, and Willow and facts about their cases. To the side of that was a dartboard with Sade’s picture taped on it. Dante took several photos to show Agent Foster before looking in Jones’s closet.

Instead of clothes, he found pictures of him, Tonya, and Dena. There was a letter written in red, promising Dena justice. Candles lined the floor in front of pillows as if he sat there for hours. Dante took pictures of that too before leaving. Finding that had creeped him out. If he needed proof that Jones had gone off the deep end, that was it.

The Next Afternoon

Dante entered the kitchen, where he found Sade shuffling around in his T-shirt. Despite the circumstances, she looked beautiful with her puffy ponytail and glowing skin.

“Hello, Smiley.”

“Good afternoon, handsome.”

He held her waist, giving her a few pecks on the lips before pulling away.

“I missed you last night and this morning.”

Dante sat at the island as she poured him a cup of coffee. Last night, she was asleep when he got in bed and still asleep when he got up and left this morning.

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the coffee. “I need this.”

“Did you get any sleep at all?”

“Not much. What I found at Jones’s house disturbed me. I was too anxious to sleep. When Foster returned my call, I headed to his office.”

“You were at his house yesterday? What did you find?”

Sade moved the cutting board from the counter to the island so she could look at him while he talked. She eyed him as she chopped the onions for her greens as he spoke.

“Yeah. He had a shrine to his daughter and a wall dedicated to you and the shit that happened in Vanzette.” Dante pulled out his phone and handed it to her after a few swipes. “I sharedthis with Agent Foster, and he suggested we use this to get a restraining order against him. He said they weren’t able to track the money to an account that is attached to him, so that was a dead end. They tracked the phone to someone in China, which was a bust too. At this point, he thinks the restraining order, breaking and entering, and vandalizing will be the things that he can be charged with, which will stick.”

Sade had to tear her eyes away from the pictures on Dante’s phone.

With a nod, she cleared her throat. “I want to be happy because this is progress, but I can’t lie and say this isn’t bothering me.”

“Same. It really creeped me out. I didn’t want to tell you, but I felt you needed to know.”

“Thank you for not keeping this from me. If all else fails, at least we have his address now. I don’t want you to have to kill him. We have enough blood on our hands.”

“I agree, but if he does something else, I’m going back to his house, and I’m not leaving until he’s dead. I know we said he deserves to suffer, and prison will be the best place for him to do that, but this needs to end, Sade—now.”

---