mind was
“It won’t do you any good. I’m not letting you in. And I’m not alone here.” She had added that for good measure, and Brigitte just laughed.
“What bullshit. You’re always alone, and you’re going to be forever. You’re pathetic. He didn’t love you. You know that, don’t you? He loved me. That’s why he stayed with me for three years. He was just using you for his movies. He told me that many times.” Her words cut through Tallie like a knife, which was what Brigitte had intended. She wanted to get even because she’d been caught.
“He didn’t love either of us,” Tallie said quietly. “He loves the girl who’s having his baby. He told me that too, that he loves her.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Brigitte sounded furious at what she’d said, and Tallie wondered if she really was outside, but she didn’t want to look. “She trapped him. She’s a clever little whore, and she screwed both of us over and stole him from us, and got pregnant to do it. She’s a lot smarter than we are.”
“Maybe so.” And then Tallie couldn’t keep herself from asking. “How could you do that to me, Brig? After all those years, how could you do that with him, with the money, all of it. How could you look me in the eye every day, or yourself when you looked in the mirror?”
“Oh please, don’t make me laugh. Don’t give me all that morality crap. You bumble around looking like a homeless person. He didn’t want you. What man wants someone who looks like that? I carried you around for all those years, while you were making ‘great’ movies. You had his money backing you, and his name, and me keeping your head on straight and driving you around like a cripple. Without the two of us you’re nothing. And without your name, no one is going to invest in his movies. If it hadn’t been for me, no one would even know who you are. Half the time people think I am you. The only reason they even know who you are in this town is because I was out there doing PR for you, looking like a star. Tallie, you’re nothing. Hunt used to say it to me all the time. We used to laugh at you when we were in bed.” She was vicious and angry, and her voice was rising in pitch, and Tallie didn’t want to hear another word of what she was saying. She knew it wasn’t true, but what Brigitte said was sick, the product of a disturbed mind. And Tallie was shaking from what she’d heard so far.
“Stop it, Brig.”
“You realize this is his fault, don’t you,” Brigitte said in a trembling voice. “If he hadn’t gone off with that little whore, we’d still be together, and you wouldn’t know the difference, you’d be happy. And if he hadn’t confessed to you about me, I’d still be with you.”
“He didn’t tell me,” Tallie said firmly.
“Yes, he did, he must have. No one else knew.”
“Someone else told me. You weren’t as discreet as you thought.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well, it’s true. Let it go, Brig. It doesn’t matter now, and it won’t change anything, for any of us. It’s all over.”
“It’s all his fault,” she repeated. Tallie could tell she wanted her to be angry at Hunt too. She was, but more than that, she was hurt. And she wasn’t going to ruin the rest of her life over him and Brigitte. She wanted to put this behind her now. She was only sorry it couldn’t happen sooner, and Brigitte couldn’t go to prison tomorrow, instead of in a year, after the trial. But there was no doubt in her mind that Brigitte would wind up behind bars, and belonged there. “He thinks he’s going to testify against me, doesn’t he?” Brigitte said in a voice of utter fury. “If he hadn’t gotten involved with that girl, you wouldn’t have known about any of this.”
“Yes, I would. I found out about the money because of the audit for the Japanese investor. You were up shit creek from then on, and it would have come out eventually anyway. Someone would have figured it out, even Victor.”
“It’s all Hunt’s fault.” It was her fault, as well as Hunt’s, but Tallie didn’t want to talk to her any longer.
“I’ll send you the briefcase.”
“I don’t want it, throw it away.” It hurt Tallie that she made no mention of how she had betrayed her and didn’t seem to care. Her dishonesty mattered nothing to her. And with that, she hung up without saying another word. Tallie sat looking at her cell phone and shaking. Brigitte’s call had given her the creeps. She thought about calling Jim, but she didn’t want to bother him on the weekend. She thought of calling Hunt too and warning him that Brig was on a rampage, but there seemed to be no point to that either. He was a big boy, he had gotten involved with her, and he could deal with her now. It wasn’t her job to protect him. The phone rang again as she sat there, and it was Max. Tallie answered immediately in a shaking voice.
“What’s wrong? You sound awful.” Max heard the tremor in her voice.
“I just had a weird, very creepy call from Brigitte. She sounds crazy. She said she was outside, but she probably isn’t. I’m going to stay home this afternoon anyway. I have work to do. It’s going to be a long year till this gets to trial,” she said glumly, but she sounded calmer again by the time they hung up, and Max reminded her to be careful.
Tallie went to look for the briefcase in the downstairs closet then, and found it where Brigitte had said it was. There were a few papers in it, some decorating articles, a bill from her doctor, and a couple of magazines. It was nothing she needed, and Tallie realized she had just wanted to get into the house and berate her, or maybe attack her. Tallie wasn’t taking any chances and made sure that all the doors were locked. But when she glanced out the windows, she couldn’t see anyone outside. She hadn’t heard a car arrive or drive away. Maybe she had never even been there and had called from somewhere else and just wanted to scare her. Tallie was sorry she hadn’t stayed in jail.
She took her stack of bills upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom and turned on the alarm, and she spent the afternoon in bed paying all her bills. She had just finished paying the last one, when Jim Kingston called her, and he sounded tense.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why? I had a weird, very unpleasant call from Brigitte today. She sounded hysterical, and she wanted to come in. I’m in my bedroom with the door locked and the alarm on, but she didn’t call me again. I hope she isn’t going to stalk me for the next year until the trial.”
“She won’t,” he said firmly. “I’m coming over,” he added quietly.
“Why?”
“I’m already in my car. I’ll be there in five minutes.” He didn’t explain further, and she thought it was nice of him to come. The doorbell rang five minutes later. She unlocked her bedroom door and turned off the alarm, and hurried down the stairs to open the front door to him. But the look on his face told her that something terrible had happened, and she was frightened as she waited to hear what it was. What if Brigitte had gone to her father’s house and done something to him? It was the only thing she could think of.
Jim didn’t waste time waiting to share what had happened. He told her as they stood in the doorway.
“Brigitte just killed Hunt. She showed up at Angela Morissey’s apartment, and fired at him, right in the chest. She told him he would never testify against her, and then she shot him.”
Tallie looked shocked, and her face went deathly pale as the room reeled around her, and she grabbed Jim’s arm to steady herself. “And Angela and the boy?”
“They’re fine.” But Hunt was dead. Hunt, who had lied to her and betrayed her, whom Brigitte said had never loved her. And who was having a baby with someone else. It didn’t matter now. It was over. He was dead. She realized too how lucky she was that Brigitte hadn’t shot her. Maybe their years of friendship had meant something to her after all and saved Tallie. Or maybe she was just angrier at Hunt, because of Angela. Tallie was grateful she hadn’t let her in that morning. She might have shot her.
“Where’s Brigitte?” she asked in a wan voice as he led her into the living room, and they sat down.
“She’s in custody. She went back to her house and was packing a suitcase when they got there. She’s in jail. She’ll be there till the trial.” But now she was going to be tried for murder as well. Her life really was over. Tallie couldn’t imagine it, and she suddenly realized she had to call Max before she saw it on the news. She was panicked and ran upstairs to find her phone. He followed her up the stairs and she sat down on her bed to call Max, while Jim stood by to offer support. Max answered immediately and she could tell something had happened by the shaking tone of her mother’s voice.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“I’m fine. But I wanted to tell you before you heard. Brig just killed Hunt. She shot him. She came here first,
