“Of course.” She was already out of her seat when her father opened the door and walked in.
“Dad, this is a surprise. Were you in the area or something?”
Ben shook his head as he sat in the chair opposite her desk. “No. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay,” she said, moving to sit back in her chair. Her father seemed intense for some reason. “Is everything okay with Mona?”
He lifted a brow. “Yes, why do you ask?”
“Because you seem bothered by something, and you rushed off quickly yesterday after you got her call.”
Ben heaved a deep sigh. “That call I got yesterday wasn’t from Mona.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No. It was from Sheppard Granger.”
Jules’s mouth fell open. “Sheppard Granger called you from prison?”
“Yes, and he wanted me to come see him.”
“Why?”
“To tell me he didn’t kill his wife and to explain why he’d hired those bodyguards.”
“Why did he feel the need to confess that he didn’t kill his wife to you? And as far as those bodyguards go, we already know why he hired them. He thinks his sons’ lives are in danger.”
Instead of answering her inquiry just yet, Ben added, “He also showed me the actual email he received. It was traced to a public computer in the Wesconnett Library. Under the circumstances, if I had gotten that email, I would have reacted the same way he did.”
Jules nodded. “But why did he request a meeting with you? He could have told you all that over the phone.”
“Yes, but it was more a man-to-man sort of meeting. We have a lot in common.”
“I doubt that.”
“You’ve never met Sheppard Granger. If you ever get the chance, I think you’d be surprised.”
She decided to move on instead of disagreeing with her father. “There has to be more.”
“Yes, and I think you know where we’re headed with this.”
Jules shifted in her seat. “Possibly, but why don’t you tell me, anyway?”
“Since Sheppard Granger didn’t kill his wife, that opens up a lot of questions about who did.”
“I’m listening,” she said but really wished she didn’t have to. There was no reason to tell her dad that she’d been dissecting what little information she had in her mind already, ever since that night at Dalton’s house.
“Whoever actually killed Sylvia Granger is still out there and doesn’t want to be exposed. And Sheppard believes it has nothing to do with his wife’s affairs.”
“Then what does it have to do with?”
“Not sure if he even knows, but he doesn’t want to take any chances. He’s meeting with his sons this morning and will try to convince them to back off from reopening his case.”
“Do you think they will do that?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
Jules pulled in a deep breath. “They were pretty adamant about reopening his case the other night, although Carson Boyett told them their father would be against it.”
Ben didn’t say anything for a minute. “My main concern is Shana. She’s married to Jace, so anything that concerns him concerns her.”
“True,” Jules said, not liking that thought. “Have you talked to her?”
“No, she went into the office today. Besides, I’d rather talk to her and Jace together. But I’ll wait to see what Sheppard’s sons decide to do. They might go along with his suggestion to back off.”
Jules couldn’t see that happening and had a feeling her father couldn’t see it, either. “And if they don’t?”
“He’s asked me to talk to them.”
Jules snickered. “If he thinks you might have a chance to succeed where he’s failed, then he doesn’t know his sons. I think their minds are made up, and nothing and no one is going to stop them.”