“I told you I wasn’t a nice guy, but if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t make a move until after she left him. And, like I said, the kid was Dirk’s from another relationship. Still, Sophie worried about the boy. She’s one of the most caring people I’ve ever known.”
“Did your other partner know about your relationship with Sophie?”
“Our company had gotten a lot of media attention over the years. The bigger we got, the easier rumors spread. Anyhow, Colin said he suspected, but didn’t know for sure until after Dirk was killed and the media got wind of the fact that Sophie and I were spending time together.”
“What about Dirk? Did he know when he was alive?”
“According to Sophie, he had no idea. She didn’t leave Dirk because of me. She broke up with him because their relationship had run its course. If not for the kid, she would have left long before.”
“It must have bothered you that Dirk was trying to win Sophie back.”
“She met him for coffee every once in a while, just to get him off her back. She also spent a fair share of time talking to him on the phone, doing her best to calm him down whenever he called her after trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol. But I trusted her.”
“It sounds to me as if you had motive to do away with the guy,” Angela said.
“That seems to be the consensus. I’ve been truthful from the beginning. I was in love with Sophie. But I’m a patient man. I would have waited as long as it took for her to get things in order.”
“But are you a jealous man, too?”
He shook his head. “I can’t say I loved the idea of Sophie spending time with Dirk. Overall, I was more upset about the way he had treated Sophie while they were together. He was a player. Being in sales, he had a different woman in every city he visited.”
“Hmm.”
It was quiet for a moment while she mulled things over. He caught a glimpse of her profile—high cheekbones and long lashes. He couldn’t remember the last time it felt this good to talk to someone. His mom and sister had visited him in prison every few months, at least in the beginning, but there had never been enough time to get past the small talk. And there was certainly no reason to talk about his innocence, especially since he’d seen the truth in their eyes, at least in his sister’s eyes. She thought he’d killed Dirk; it was written all over her face. She must have noticed that it pained him to talk to her, since she hadn’t come to visit him in the past two years.
“Why did Colin want to sell the business?” she asked, breaking into the silence.
“Once I had time to think about it, his eagerness to sell didn’t surprise me. Colin and I were friends long before college. He always said he wanted to retire at a young age, park himself on a beach and drink pi?a coladas. I told him if he was serious about retiring, I would buy him out. No motivation there.”
“So, did he sell the business after you went to prison?”
“He did.”
“You signed the papers?”
He nodded. “By the time the business sold, I had already been in prison for a few years. I signed power of attorney over to my mother.”
“What happens if they find you before you learn anything new?”
“I can’t think about that. The only thing I know for sure is that I won’t be going back to prison.”
“What are you saying?”
“Just that I’m not going back without a fight,” he said. “I can’t live like that. Freedom is everything. It’s all I have left.”
She tapped a finger against the dashboard. “So, if there are no suspects, other than you, where do you start?”
“With Mike Gabaldon, my defense lawyer. He knows something. As far as I’m concerned, someone paid him off to make sure I stayed in prison for good. I was na?ve back then. I didn’t see the truth until it was too late.”
They pulled in to a rest stop near Rochester, had a bite to eat and stretched their legs. After that, he taped her ankles and her seatbelt connection again. He didn’t like to do it, but he couldn’t take any chances either.
Angela spent another hour trying to pry his life story out of him, but finally drifted off to sleep. About four hours after that, driving through Ohio, his eyelids felt heavy. He got off at the next exit. Now that it was dark enough, he needed to find a bank.
It didn’t take him long to find a Bank of America sign. He pulled over and parked the car.
He hated to wake Angela up, but it had to be done. He couldn’t help but admire her long, slender neck and creamy skin before gently shaking her shoulder.
Startled, she looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. A few seconds passed before recognition settled within her sleepy green eyes. “Where are we?”
“The bank. I need to borrow some money.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I hate to do it, but clearly, there are no other options. When this is all over, I’ll pay you back the full amount borrowed, plus interest.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
He made quick work of cutting her ties, then grabbed her purse, found her wallet and handed it to her. If there weren’t cameras all over the place, he would go with her.
She looked from the wallet to him. “Are you coming with me?”
“No.”