The Ex Who Hid a Deadly Past

by Sally Berneathy

  And she had doubted him, had believed he could be cheating with Jerrilee.

  “Hi.” Jake stepped inside and gave a smile that looked as forced as hers.

  “Want a glass of wine?” she asked. “I’m having one. Or two.”

  “Sure.”

  She went to the kitchen and brought back a clean glass.

  Jake sat on the edge of the chair where Charley had sat for their recent discussion. Not a good portent for this second relationship conversation of the night.

  She poured wine into the glass and handed it to him then sat down on the edge of her chair. “Well, did you get your...uh...the paperwork all done?”

  Jake’s lips thinned to a grim expression. “Yes, we got Jerrilee’s paperwork completed, and she’s currently in jail.”

  “Okay. Well, that’s good. I mean...not good that she’s in jail. Good that the paperwork is finished. And good she’s in jail because...well...you know.” Amanda stared into the contents of her glass, wondering if she could come up with anything more inane for conversation.

  Jake nodded, tapped his glass with one finger, then lifted it and emptied the contents in one gulp. “This has been an interesting day. Especially the last few hours.”

  Amanda nodded. “Yes. Interesting. Definitely interesting.”

  “I never would have thought Jerrilee would do something like that. She had in her possession a key to your apartment and one to that office you have in the back of the shop. We also found that microphone Dawson told us about. They’re in evidence right now, but we’ll get the keys back to you when this is all over.”

  “I think I’ll change my locks and keep the spare keys in a more secure place this time.”

  “Good idea.” Jake leaned back and rested his head on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “Tonight was not the first time I arrested a murderer, but it was the first time I knew the murderer personally. I understand now how friends and family can be completely fooled, can swear their husband or brother or friend could not have killed anybody.” He lifted his head and looked at Amanda. “Jerrilee signed a complete confession.”

  “Admitted that she killed a man she didn’t even know just to get me sent to prison?”

  “Pretty much. She freaked out when she heard you and I were going on vacation together. She used department resources to find you, went to your shop and conned Dawson. I hope he’s going to be okay. That was cruel of her to do that to him.”

  “Dawson’s going to be fine. He’s young.” And thrilled to have a ghost to study.

  “She pumped Dawson for information about you, and when he told her about the fight you had with Lenny, she got an idea. She bought a wig that looked like your hair, went to that bar several nights in a row and pretended to be you. She set up that thing with Bert and the drugs to upset you. She came on to Lenny. She hadn’t planned at first to kill him, but when she watched you and me together the night we got back from Padre, she lost it. She went to the bar, lured Lenny to your parking lot, and shot him. We recovered the gun equipped with a silencer from her car. She stole it from our evidence room.” Jake drew a hand across his brow. He was perspiring though the room was not warm.

  Amanda refilled his glass. He did not protest.

  “Not to make excuses for her, but Jerrilee has had a rough time. I met her when I was investigating a murder in her apartment complex. Ross was with me, and we heard a woman screaming for help. We broke into the apartment to find a man beating a woman half his size. Jerrilee. We saved her. Arrested him.”

  “She developed an attachment to you because you saved her.”

  Jake sighed and took another drink of wine. “I guess. I visited her in the hospital to get details to fill out the report and to talk to her about pressing charges against him. She seemed grateful. Said she didn’t have any friends or family, had lost her job because the guy came to her workplace and made a scene. She needed a job, and we needed a new clerk. That worked out well. Or so I thought. I swear to you, I had no idea she believed I...” He looked away and shook his head.

  “People can fool us,” Amanda agreed, “pretend to be somebody they’re not.” She knew that only too well.

  “She has some issues.”

  “She was once involved with Charley. That would give any woman issues.”

  He reached for Amanda’s hand. “You came away from Charley okay.”

  Amanda withdrew her hand. “Do you really believe that? You thought I was capable of murdering Lenny.”

  Jake frowned. “No, I did not.”

  “You questioned me as if I were a suspect.”

  “Yes, I did. I’m sorry. It wasn’t personal. It’s what I do. I’ve done it for so long, it’s automatic. I know you wouldn’t kill anybody.” He waved a hand. “Yeah, you talk tough and make interesting threats like bashing in Lenny’s head so far he’d be able to see his balls, and stapling Jerrilee’s lips together. But I know you.” His voice softened. “I know the woman who picked up a crab on the beach and carried it back into the water, the woman who slept in my arms and made funny little noises when I moved in the night and disturbed her. I never once thought you killed Lenny.”

  Amanda would like to stop there, fall into Jake’s arms and hold him tight.

  But Charley still stood between them. She set her empty glass on the table, straightened her spine, and folded her arms. “Okay. Let’s say I give you that one, but you didn’t believe me when I told you about Charley’s ghost.”

  Jake drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “That was a tough one. Most people don’t believe ghosts are real.”

  “But you aren’t most people. You were around when the spirit of Ross’ brother talked to Teresa and helped us find his body.”

  “I know. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe you. I just...” He lifted his hands and spread his fingers as if groping for words.

  “You just...what? Either you believed me or you thought I was nuts. Which was it?”

  “Neither! I would never think—”

  “Admit it. You didn’t believe me. After everything that happened tonight, have you maybe thought about changing your mind? Have you considered the possibility I might have been telling the truth all the time?”

  “I had to change my ideas about a lot of things tonight. I’m sorry I doubted you. I promise to believe anything you tell me from now on, no matter how unbelievable it may seem at the time.”

  It was Amanda’s turn to speak.

  Jake was saying all the right words.

  He wasn’t like Charley. She could trust him. He’d made a mistake, and now he was admitting it.

  All was well. Their relationship was back on track.

  Except for one tiny little thing. She’d doubted him.

  He didn’t know she had thought he might be involved with Jerrilee. She didn’t have to admit she’d doubted him. He’d never know. No harm, no foul.

  But there would be harm if she wasn’t completely honest.

  “Dawson told me Jerrilee said you were a player, that you’d been in trouble with Internal Affairs, and that you’d even hit on her.” The words tumbled from Amanda’s mouth.

  Jakes eyes widened. “That’s not true. None of that’s true. I hope you didn’t believe it.”

  “No. Not really.” She hesitated. Complete honesty. “Maybe a tiny doubt here and there, especially when you came out from your Halloween party with lipstick on your cheek.”

  Jake lifted a hand to his cheek—the wrong cheek—even though the tell-tale mark was gone. “She hugged me at the party, but she didn’t kiss me.”

  “She knew I was coming in to bring that gun. I suspect she got some lipstick on you deliberately so I’d see it.”

  Jake took her hand. This time she didn’t pull back. He leaned toward her as if to kiss her but stopped a few inches away. His dark eyes pulled her into their bottomless depths. “What almost happened to us is scary. If you ever again doubt how I feel about you, ask me.”

  “Okay.”

 
“And I promise to believe whatever you tell me.” He looked around the room. “Is he here?”

  “He’s always...” But Amanda didn’t see him.

  He hadn’t interrupted her conversation with Jake, hadn’t made snarky comments.

  “I don’t think he’s here right now. Sometimes he goes away for a little while.” But not usually when Jake was around.

  “That’s good to know. I wouldn’t want him watching us all the time.”

  “Yeah, that could be a problem. That’s why I haven’t wanted you to spend the night with me. Teresa kept him against his will while you and I went on vacation, but most of the time, he goes wherever I go. He’s attached to me by some kind of invisible rope.”

  “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear, but we’ll figure it out. If having your husband’s—”

  “Ex-husband.”

  Jake grinned. “I guess if he’s dead, that makes him an ex. If having your ex-husband’s ghost around is the price I have to pay for being with you, it’s worth it.” He glanced around the room again. “He’s not here right now?”

  “No.”

  Jake pulled her into his arms and kissed her as if to prove his words by the power of that kiss.

  When they finally drew apart, he pressed his lips to her ear. “Can he hear us?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I want him to hear this.” He leaned away from her. “I love you, Amanda,” he shouted.

  Amanda’s heart swelled with joy. “I love you too, Jake.” She spoke a little more softly, not eager to bring this moment to Charley’s attention, to invite disaster.

  ***

  Jake had gone and Amanda was getting ready for bed when Charley appeared.

  She ignored him and slid under the covers then turned off the light. Not even Charley could dampen her happiness tonight, but he’d probably try.

  He stood beside the bed. “I need to tell you something.”

  “Can it wait until morning? This has been a really long day.” And I don’t want you to spoil this cloud of euphoria.

  “No.” Charley sat on the edge of the bed.

  Amanda turned onto her side, away from him. “You were sitting halfway in my shoulder.”

  “I’ll move. Please look at me. Don’t go to sleep yet.”

  “I can’t go to sleep until you shut up.”

  “I should have told you about Jerrilee. I should have recognized her the first time we went to that station, but I didn’t see her face. I was looking...well...”

  “You were ogling her cleavage. I noticed. You could have mentioned it when you saw her name on the ticket for the motorcycle.”

  “It took me a minute to remember where I’d heard that name, and when I did, all I could think of was how to keep you from meeting her, from finding out what I’d done. I knew she tried to call you when I dumped her. I figured she’d tell you now if she got a chance.”

  “If it was anybody but you, I’d think you were making this up. You wanted to prevent your old girlfriend...one of your old girlfriends...from telling me about your affair? Why? You’re dead. What difference would it make now?”

  “The same reason I kept her away from you when I was alive. I didn’t want you to be mad at me.”

  “Did you ever think about not doing the things you knew would make me mad if I found out?”

  He shrugged. “No. Anyway, it was too late not to do it. All I could do was try to keep you away from her. I saw her come in with Dawson yesterday morning. That’s why I didn’t want you to go down there until she left. If I’d told you the truth, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe you’d have figured it out or she’d have confessed or something. I’m sorry.”

  “You are the world’s champion at saying you’re sorry. You said that every time I caught you at something. You said it, but you never meant it. Go away and let me sleep.”

  “I do mean it this time. While I was alive, I never thought about whether I was making you happy. All I thought about was that you made me happy.”

  “Not enough so you didn’t go out with other women, like Jerrilee.”

  “Those women had nothing to do with you.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You said that about all of them.”

  “I still love you—”

  “Enough! Actions speak louder than words. If you love me, go away.”

  “I’m going to.”

  Amanda rolled over to face him. His cheerful features drooped. His glow was gone. She could barely see him in the dark. “What? You’re going away? I wish. But you can’t. Remember? We’re stuck with each other.”

  “I’ll leave like I did tonight when you want to...uh...be with Jake. I don’t want you to be with him, but I want you to be happy.”

  Amanda sat up in bed. “What’s going on? Did you figure out a way to get around the prohibition against lying?”

  “No. I’m telling the truth. I never thought about your feelings while we were married. While I was alive.” He shrugged. “I only thought about me. I’m going to do whatever I can to make you happy now.”

  Amanda blinked a couple of times. “I believe you mean that.”

  “I do.”

  “Charley, that’s amazing. That’s wonderful!”

  His sad face lifted and he smiled. His glow had returned.

  “What an incredible step you’ve taken in the right direction,” Amanda said. “Do you see a bright light? Does this mean you’re going into the light?”

  “Wait. What? The light?” His eyes darted from side to side. “I don’t want to go into that damned light! No! Can I take it all back?”

  THE END

  For more books by Sally Berneathy, check my website:

  http://www.sallyberneathy.com