Chapter 74

"Lisa do not call me on the phone about anything except your wedding pictures. I will eat breakfast at the restaurant. If you want to talk be there between 7 and 7:30 AM. Stop by my table and say hi. Then I will meet you at my studio. You can also just drop by the studio. Tell Robert to do the same thing."

"Yeah, I know better than to use the cell phone," Lisa said.

I went home to assess the depth of the crap in which I found myself standing. Best case scenario: The cops were going to find a pile of ashes at the catfish farm. They would definitely find the body when they sifted through the ashes. They would have a charred body in a house that burned. For a while at least they wouldn't be able to do much. The three of us had time to get our stories straight. We didn't have to start acting till the death notification was made to Lisa, which should happen sometime in the morning. There might be enough confusion to postpone the notification for a day but probably not.

Also pluses for us, no blood evidence and no fingerprint evidence were going to be available to the cops. They might or might not recover the shotgun pellets from the body. With no blood evidence there would be nothing pointing to an exact cause of death. Sure they might come up with gunshot, but no ballistics evidence was possible. The catfish farm was remote, so it wasn't likely that anyone saw what happened.

My guess was anything of value in the way of evidence burned in the fire. If Lisa and Robert kept their cool, we should all be good. If one of them got a case of remorse, we could all be screwed. I thought that Lisa was the weak link. Actually I didn't feel comfortable with either of them holding my fate in their hands. Could I kill them both just to save my ass, without a doubt.

I told you all along I am, if not a psychopath, at least a sociopath. I have very little remorse and my self preservation instinct is very strong. So yeah I could kill them both. The problem was that one clean murder was very hard to pull off, three was impossible. So even if it were preferable it was not feasible.

I would have made a better plan if I was going to kill Sam, but I did the best I could with what I had at the time.

Worst case, Robert had told someone he planned to kill Sam, if his wife was indeed fucking her father. That would pretty much put the cops on the look out for Robert, if he had made threats. I needed to talk to the two of them, but not on the phone or in their house. The restaurant was also out of the question.

Of all the available conference locations my place would be the least likely to cause any bell or whistles to go off. We could be talking about wedding pictures.

I fell asleep running more what if scenarios through my mind. The truth is I slept pretty damn well. When I awoke on Saturday morning, I wondered if anyone knew I was seeing Sam. I decided that it was likely someone has seen his truck outside my place on an afternoon and evening during the last week.

If his place burned down, I wouldn't know about it until someone told me or I went by to visit Sam. That being the case I went to breakfast at the Dairy Queen. Since neither Lisa nor Robert stopped by, I figured they were laying low.

Back in the studio after the breakfast sandwich, I gave some thought to just running away. It was a knee jerk reaction, because I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't even mention the possibility for at least a year.

I had not been able to concentrate on anything else that first morning. When Miss Sadie came by at lunch, she came into the studio. Something she never did.

"Iris honey has the Sheriff been by?" she asked while standing just inside the door.

"Why no, is something wrong?" I asked in my concerned voice. I was a very good actress. I had been forced to become one over the last couple of years.

"You asked me about Lisa and her father Sam the first of the week," she said.

"Yes that's right," I agreed.

"Were you seeing Lisa's father?" she asked.

"He had been by to see me yes," I replied. Giving too much information was just as bad as lying at times.

"Well his house burned last night," she said.

"Is Sam alright?" I asked. I hope I had the right amount of concern and surprise in my voice.

"One of the volunteer firemen is my grandson. He told me the house burned to the ground," Miss Sadie said.

"How awful, is Sam okay?" I asked again.

"My grandson says Sam may have been inside," Sadie replied.

"How awful," I said sitting down. "Does Lisa know?" I hoped she did know better than to contact me.

"I think so. It is all over town. Sam was a hard man to like, so there aren't a lot of tears," Sadie said.

"I thought he was okay. He was a little pushy, but seemed alright to me." I did not try to advance any other explanation for his visits.

"Yes he was a little pushy indeed," Sadie admitted. I had to wonder if she knew how pushy.

"I don't know what to do," I said sounding bewildered.

"I don't have any Idea," Sadie said. "I just thought you might like to know."

"I never dated anyone who died while I was seeing him. I had some die afterward, but not while it was going on.

"I'm sure the Sheriff will get around to you," Sadie said.

"I guess I should go see the Sheriff," I said it but there was no chance. I was a new comer with an ID that wouldn't hold up. I planned to be as cooperative as it took to keep them from investigating me, but not enough to trap myself. I wished I had time to kill Sam myself. I could have done a better job.

I had wondered since I got home, how I would be told about poor Sam. So now I knew it was up to me to decide how much I would volunteer. After Miss Sadie left for her lunch I decided it was believable that he and I had talked about Lisa's pictures after the wedding. He came by the studio on Monday afternoon so I fixed dinner for him and we talked a while. He told me he was lonely. He left before 9 PM. Tuesday I did not see him. That was my story because no one could prove otherwise. Wednesday and Thursday he came by for dinner and yes we had sex. Friday I rode my bike to Lisa and Robert's house for dinner as payment for taking their wedding pictures. Sam did not show up. The three of us had steaks and some kind of vegetable I didn't recognize.

After Sadie left I went to Lisa's House to comfort her. "Has the Sheriff been by," I asked on the porch.

"Yes," she said.

"Did they ask you about your dad?" I asked.

"Of course, I told them Robert and I planned to go by tonight to see him. We hadn't seen him since the Wedding, but I had called him. I couldn't remember exactly when since I was very upset." she explained.

"Did you tell them I came for dinner last night," I asked

"Yes Robert cooked venison for us," she said.

"Good I'll change my story to match that one. What time did you tell them I left?" I asked.

"I thought 10 PM was about right," she said.

"Good, remember what you told them be sure to stick to the same story. Also if they want you to come to the courthouse for an interview take a lawyer or ask them to appoint one for you," I said. We went into the house where I spent just enough time to make it look good. She had other friends who were comforting her as well. Robert was at the restaurant.

I was back in the studio by 6 PM. I heated a Beef Pot Pie for dinner. After supper I sat around with a glass of wine and remembered Sam. It wasn't hard to remember him, I still had pain. In a small town with nothing to do 10 PM was late, so I didn't mind killing my lights and opening the drapes. I lay on my sofa bed while I looked out at the night. It was a beautiful winter night even if it was over fifty degrees at midnight. Nothing moved outside my window but somehow it wasn't peaceful. I was working on helping a man get away with the murder of a man I had been obsessed with.

What really gave me pause was how easily I had committed the crime of accessory after the fact. I would like to think I did it for Lisa and the abuse she suffered at the hands of Sam. I would like to think I did it because the man who loved her wanted to set her free. I would even like to think I did it because Robert also set me free and that Sam was a despicable predator. The truth was less noble, I did it to protect my cover. Not an acceptable reason for helping a man get away with murder, I know.

I lay awake trying to come to terms with what I had done. I fell asleep still trying to justify it. I had no regrets but I needed to be able to tell myself there was some good in what we did. If I was still with Swamp Dog I would ask their computer geek to check for missing persons cases in the state of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, or Georgia. I remember that I once had that nagging thought. Fuck it that geek asshole owed me.

After breakfast and before my morning shower I rode to Williamston. I bought a burner phone from a convenience store. I wore my hair under a knit cap and wore clothes two sizes too big with two more layers underneath. Just for the CCTV I also looked away from the camera.

Once I activated the phone I called Sylvia's personal number. I left a message on her voice mail. "It's me flower, return this," I said nothing else.

In less than five minutes she was on the phone. "What do you want," she asked not at all angry.

"I want a favor from the bastard that owes me one. I need to know the names and case files of all white girls under thirty who went missing between 2008 and 2011 in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. It's important to keep me out of prison," I said. "I would rather you not be involved."

"I'll pass it on. He will be more likely to do it, if he knows I am involved," Sylvia said. "Do you have a dead email?"

"Petunia401, you know where," I said then hung up. We had been on the line long enough.

For some reason just being proactive made it easier for me to clear my mind. I was even able to work on the drawings again after a while. Since I could work, I passed the day working on pen and ink drawings from the old farm.

I awoke Monday and fell back into my usual routine. My body no longer had the sharp pains. It had moved to a more manageable pain. I worked on the drawings from the old farm right through lunch, which wasn't unusual.

It was well into the afternoon when the car pulled up in front of the studio. I had no doubt that the man and woman who stepped to the curb in front of my studio were cops. No all cops do not look alike, but these two looked like cops.