“No way, man. Wait a second. I know Mother is a bit frozen and never one to share her affections for us, but she loved Dad at some point.”
“Stanton, I’m not talking about Mother.”
“Then… Ravina? You think she did it?”
“I know she did.” Tristian glanced at me first before he went on. “After English’s accident, she said she remembered a silver Mercedes running her off the road. Who drives a car like that?”
“Ravina! But what if she lent it to someone?” Stanton asked.
“English, did you see anyone in the car as it went by?”
“No, I was too busy trying not to die.”
“And let’s be honest. Who would Ravina lend her car to?” Tristian asked. Personally, I doubted the woman had any friends to speak of.
“Fair point. So, what should we do now?” Landry asked.
“Confront her. See what she says and gauge her reaction,” Tristian answered.
“She had motive,” I said, adding my two cents’ worth. “We had words the last time I was here. She wasn’t too pleased with me.”
“She was pissed as hell at me,” Tristian added.
“But why me, or Dad for that matter?” Stanton asked. “He spoiled her. That piece doesn’t make sense.”
I called George and had him bring Ravina in. She wasn’t too pleased about it and did nothing to hide her annoyance. Her continually pinched mouth was accompanied by crossed arms as she stood before us, refusing to sit.
“This may take a while.”
“Very well,” she huffed. Then she stomped to the nearest chair and sat.
“Ravina, we want to talk to you about Dad and English’s accidents.”
“What about them?” There was zero hesitation in her question.
“Why did you do it?” Tristian asked.
“Do what?” She frowned.
“Tamper with both cars.”
“Tamper with… you think I tampered with the cars and caused the wrecks?”
“We do.”
Her mouth slackened for a second, right before she raised her chin and flared her nostrils. “How dare you accuse me of that! I’ll admit that English and I argued when she was here. Yes, I was hostile. But I never touched her car. And Stanton? You know damn well I adored Dad. Why on earth would I do such a thing to him?” Her lower lip quivered. If she was lying, she was a damn good actress.
“Then can you explain why English was run off the road by someone driving a silver Mercedes?”
Her penetrating gaze moved to me. I was being scrutinized and feeling like she thought I had lied.
“It’s the truth, Ravina. Someone driving a silver Mercedes ran me off the road, causing the crash, and that was after my brakes failed. The brake lines had been cut.”
“I swear to God it wasn’t me. I may not like you, but it doesn’t mean I’d try to kill you. For God’s sake, someone in this room has to believe me!”
I looked over at Tristian to see him staring at his sister. Then I said, “I believe you.”
Tristian’s head whipped in my direction. “English!”
“I do. Don’t ask me why, but I believe her. We had an argument and she wasn’t very kind, and neither was I, but as she said, that doesn’t mean she’d want me dead.”
“I believe her too,” Stanton said.
“So do I.” Landry joined in.
Tristian sighed and asked, “Ravina, when was the last time you drove your car?”
She shrugged. “A couple of days ago.”
“I want it inspected to see if we find any evidence inside. Maybe we can figure out who did this that way. In the meantime, lock your cars, everyone. We can’t be taking any chances out here.”
Her car was towed away later that day. We hoped for news soon.
We went to trial the following week. I was prepared to put this behind me. Clayton assured me as long as I didn’t cave on the witness stand, it would be a slam-dunk for us.
I was fine until they escorted that rat bastard into the court room. When he saw me, a smug grin appeared on his face. A multitude of images rushed into my head, namely of his hands around my neck and me trying to breathe. I flinched when Tristian touched my arm.
“You okay?”
“Y-yeah. I had a flashback.”
“You’ve got this, starshine. Show him what you’re made of.”
I remembered my daughter and how I’d thought I was going to die when he’d been choking me. Rebar took over my spine as I sat higher in my chair. If he thought he would win, I’d show him who was the victor here.
His mother came in and I did feel sorry for her, but only for a second. She was partly to blame for his terrible behavior and should be ashamed of herself. Then again, like father, like son. Maybe she’d been at the wrong end of her husband’s hands too.
When they called me up to the stand, I took a seat after I was sworn in. Clayton questioned me about the relationship between Stuart and me when we were in college. I didn’t leave out any details, even telling Clayton about when I’d had to go to the hospital after Stuart beat me. I glanced at Tristian and he dipped his head.
Then Clayton wanted the details about the time Stuart had come over. I went through them all, beginning with him pushing his way inside to me nearly blacking out from lack of oxygen.
Stuart’s sneer flatlined. That was until the defense cross-examined. His attorney tried to make me out to be some brainless idiot who didn’t know what day it was.
“Is it true, Mrs. Baines, that you were in an accident that destroyed your memory?”
“No.”
“Is it true you lost your memory due to an accident you were in?”
“No.”
“Let me restate. Is it true that you’ve had some memory issues since your accident?”
“Some.”
“Can you explain?”
I did. Of course, he interrupted me.
“Then you don’t really remember everything before the accident. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“How can you claim to know what happened the night Mr. McLure paid a friendly visit on you?”
It was my turn to give my side of the story. “It was anything but a friendly visit? When someone has their fingers wound tightly around your neck, crushing the life out of you, and you can’t get an iota of oxygen into your lungs, you are unlikely to forget it. My memory of that night is fine. While it’s true I can’t remember some of the less important details of things, I do remember vividly feeling I was going to die. Mr. McLure did not pay me a friendly visit. He tried to murder me and had it not been for the intervention of my husband, he would be facing a murder charge instead of an aggravated battery charge.”
As I spoke, Stuart’s attorney objected to my statement, but I continued to speak. In the end, he moved to strike it, but the judge ruled against him. Oh, glory day! Tristian did a silent clap for me from where he sat.
The rest of the trial went smoothly and it didn’t take long for the jury to find him guilty. With this result, Clayton said we could expect Bill to get convicted too. I breathed easier as one big obstacle was removed from our lives.
As we drove home, I shouted, “Yes!”