“What does this mean?” Tessa asked. “The pieces part?”
Sam raked his hand through his mussy hair. “Just that. The bones are small, in tiny pieces. Hard to say if they’re human just yet, though the tech is pretty sure they are. They’re taking them to Harry now. I spoke with Lee, and he has spoken to Rachelle and arranged for her to meet him in his office first thing tomorrow morning.”
Tessa felt a strong surge of irritation. Rachelle’s son killed her family. Why would she be so quick to involve herself in the case again? Did she think she could get more money out of Jamison Pharmaceuticals? Or was this her way of playing the role of grieving mother as she had for a decade? Keep the investigation away from Liam.
Tessa didn’t know what to say as she had not expected Rachelle to comply so easily. But she was sure the woman had ulterior motives.
“Tess?” Sam coaxed. “Are you good with this?”
“No, I’m not. Her lousy-piece-of-garbage son ruined my life, took my family’s lives. Of course I’m not good with it. However, I know it’s necessary. I’m just surprised she agreed.”
“She’s insisted all these years she’s had no contact with him. Lee says he wants to go over her testimony, and she’s agreed. She also said she would provide a DNA sample. Usually, people who have something to hide aren’t so quick to involve themselves in a case that has supposedly been solved. So, think what you will, but again, Tess, this is all good for you. The more people who come forward, the more evidence we discover that wasn’t presented at your first trial, the more likely it is that you win this time around, either because the case is dropped or you fight through to an exoneration.”
“You believe her?”
“I need to see her. Face-to-face. Lee said she sounded as though she was encouraged by the new evidence. Again, I don’t know. Maybe she’s just a damn good actress, or maybe Liam really did fall off the face of the earth, and he hasn’t contacted her. If he’s the ass you say he is, and I’m sure you would know, he just might be the type who wouldn’t care if his mother knows whether he’s dead or alive.”
“He’d need money,” she added.
“Liam had a trust fund. Though there hasn’t been any activity, at least none that could be traced, and that’s virtually impossible in this day and age. We don’t know, but we are going to find out. I promise you, Tess. We, I, will find out what happened to your family.”
She hoped he wasn’t telling her this just to calm her. She knew what had happened to her family. She knew they were killed in such a savage manner that it defied all belief, and she knew that Liam Jamison was responsible for their deaths. Her brother-in-law, the girls’ uncle, Joel’s brother. She needed him to suffer as she had, to feel such angst, loss, the broken heart that had been her life since she walked into her home all those years ago and discovered their bodies. He had to suffer because Tessa wasn’t sure how she could move forward if he didn’t.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Tessa told him. “I don’t think I could deal with . . . life, at least a disappointment of this magnitude,” she ended flatly. And she knew that she spoke the truth. It was tough enough to get through the days and nights in prison. Now that she was on the outside, in the real world, getting through a minute was ten times harder than she had ever anticipated.
“I’m not making any promises, just so you know. I do have faith in Lee and his team. I don’t think you’d be here now if he didn’t believe in your innocence. I wouldn’t be here, either,” he added.
The room was quiet for a moment, then Tessa spoke. “Evil destroyed my family. And it’s about time I fought back.”
Chapter 17
Later, Jill, Tessa and Sam gathered around the glass coffee table in the living room. Tessa sat on the soft leather love seat, with Jill at her side.
Two of the three people who had the power to change her life were expected any moment. She had showered and changed into a pair of navy capris with a matching silk top, again, the clothes courtesy of the fabulous Darlene. The ankle monitor was irritating, but she was already starting to get used to its weight, the bulkiness of it around her ankle its own sort of prison but mild in comparison to the hellhole she had been confined to for more than ten years. Briefly, she wondered if it would ever be removed. And if so, would it be because she was a free woman or because once she was returned to prison, it would no longer be required?
The front doorbell rang, and Sam quickly stood and excused himself. They’d all agreed he would be in charge of this task as he was quite expert at handling the gentle and not-so-gentle men and women of the media, who continued to linger outside the gates and could be counted on to try to get someone in the house to speak to them.
Lee Whitlow sat opposite her. He’d dressed down, wearing faded jeans and a pale pink polo. Tessa so admired his dedication to his wife and her battle with breast cancer. Had Tessa still been actively employed at Jamison Pharmaceuticals, she, too, would have involved herself in the search for a cure. Maybe if she was released, she could involve herself in the research, but that was a distant thought, one she couldn’t pursue until she knew if she even had a chance of returning to her profession. She had been away from the pharmaceutical industry for so many years, she wasn’t sure if she could even qualify for employment in her
