“When I was talking to Colin on the phone, I heard your voice in the background.”
Both of her hands were in her lap now. She looked suddenly anxious, making him wonder if she could be the one who’d murdered Colin and framed him. She had a key to his house, easy access to his kitchen knives. She’d been frustrated with Dirk back then, seemed reluctant to leave him. But kill him?
A tear slid down the side of her face. “After you were convicted, I was alone. My boyfriend had killed a man and yet I had nobody to confide in or to talk to.” Her hand shot up to her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“You believe I killed Dirk?”
“No, of course not.”
“Oh, come on, Sophie. You just said as much. Quit lying to me. You can’t even look me in the eye.”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “After you were locked up, there were so many stories being told about you that painted a different picture of the man I knew. It got to the point that I didn’t know what to believe any longer.”
A ripple of fresh pain swept through him. It was one thing to think she might not believe in him, but something else altogether to hear her say the words. “You didn’t answer my question. How long have you been seeing Colin?”
“Does it really matter?”
“It does to me.”
She remained silent.
“The two of you have been together since the moment they took me away,” he stated aloud, as if he could see things clearly for the first time.
She didn’t have the courage to look him in the eye, but she nodded.
“In those first few years, you and Colin came to see me fairly often, and yet neither of you had the decency to tell me the truth. Why did you do it, Sophie?”
“Because I’m weak. I couldn’t stand to be alone. I needed him.”
“No,” Jason said. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
She looked at him, confusion lining her face.
“Why did you kill Dirk?” he prodded.
Her eyes brightened with indignation. “I did no such thing. What’s wrong with you?”
He wagged a finger at her. “Ah, why didn’t I see it all before?” He struggled to sit up taller. “For years you had your little finger wrapped around all three of us, didn’t you?”
She continued to stare at him as if he were the crazy one.
“It was Colin,” he said. “You had Colin do the dirty work and then the two of you set me up. The two of you must have gotten in a few good laughs at my expense.”
She jumped to her feet, every muscle tense as she shuffled through her purse and pulled out a wad of cash. “I’m not going to listen to any more of your crazy talk. I came here because I wanted to help. Colin said you needed a change of clothes and I thought you might need some cash.” She tossed the bills on the coffee table. “Three hundred dollars. Any more than that would have raised a red flag.”
“I don’t need or want your money.”
She ignored him and headed for the entryway. “Use the house as long as you need it.”
“Yeah, sure. The police should be here any minute, isn’t that right?”
She turned about, her face lined with anger. “I told the neighbors that my cousin was using the house for a while.” She lifted her chin. “Colin adores you. He thinks of you as a brother. He wanted to tell you the truth right from the beginning, hated the lies, but—”
“You can both go to hell.”
A few seconds after the door slammed shut, he heard it open again. Angela had stepped outside to talk to Sophie. He could hear voices, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. A moment later, Angela was by his side, asking him what had happened to make Sophie rush off like that.
He did his best to rein in his bitterness. “Turns out that the moment I was thrown into prison, she moved in with Colin. Although she hasn’t been to visit me in a long while, I can’t say the same for Colin. And yet he never thought to mention they were living together.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t appreciate being lied to.”
“I understand.”
And he knew she did.
After a quick trip to the kitchen, Angela returned with a cloth napkin, a spoon, and a bowl of tomato soup. While he ate, she sat on the chair across from him, the computer in her lap.
“What were you talking to Sophie about?” he asked.
“I wanted to know if she remembered the names of any of the women Dirk was seeing when she was with him.”
“And?”
“She gave me two names, along with the cities where they used to live.”
“Eight years later and she still remembers their names and the city where they lived?”
Angela met his gaze. “You don’t know women at all, do you?”
Silence.
“You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?”
He thought about it for a moment before he said, “No. I’m not in love Sophie. I’m in love with a distant memory, a past life I no longer have.”