Lily rolled her eyes and sighed deeply as she turned back to her work table.
Clay shrugged, dumbfounded by Tabitha’s moods these days. “What a twatwaffle.”
Lily giggled and mimicked Tabitha’s snotty dismissive words. “Just sayin’.”
Clay rolled over to her and hugged her and kissed her head. Changing the subject, he said, “Sorry about your dad, Lily.”
Lily smiled at him and bit her lip as she nodded and staunchly went back to work.
* * * *
JT King wiped his hands on a greasy rag and pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his coveralls. He growled disgustedly when he realized who was calling him. Pain-in-the-ass bitch had cost him eight hours on the road last time he heard from her. He almost ignored the call but decided to take it in case she had information of value to him.
In his best Conway Twitty impression, JT said, “Hello, darlin’.” He heard the throaty giggle on the line and cringed at the croaky, put-on quality of it.
“Mr. King, Tabitha Lester here. I’m so sorry you were…evidently unable to…chat with your wife the other day. I thought you might want to know that I know exactly where she will be Friday evening.”
“You do? She has definite plans?”
“Yes. They’ll be at a nightclub here in Divine. The Dancing Pony. Their plans sound definite. They’re attending the birthday party of a friend. It would take a lot to miss it, I think, since they’re close with this particular ménage trio.”
“What?” What in the fuck was this woman rattling on about?
“A ménage trio. Well, actually I guess they’re more of a cuatro, I guess.”
“You mean a ménage a trois?” What the fuck was going on in Divine?
“Exactly. Clay, Del, and Lily are good friends with this particular group, for lack of a better term. One woman with three men. It’s sinful what they do.” One woman with three men? What kind of fucking pansies were these men that a woman needed three of them to satisfy her? Not exactly the arrangement he’d consider. It was food for thought down the road though. Once Lily was under his thumb—What the fuck? “Did you say Clay, Del, and Lily? Who the fuck is Del?”
Tabitha’s voice changed to a conspiratorial whisper. “Del is Clay’s brother. Mr. King, I have a sinking feeling they’re thinking about forming another ménage whatever…with Lily. Your wife. I thought you’d want to know she’ll be there, with them Friday evening.”
“Thank you, darlin’.” Over his dead body was Lily going to do anything besides get her ass back home to Durst. That divorce wasn’t going to happen, regardless of what he had to do to make that a reality. He had a feeling that Tabitha had no idea there was even a divorce in the works. “My Lily is just breakin’ my heart with this news you’ve given me.”
Tabitha’s tone became earnest, husky with emotion. “I would gladly serve you however I can.”
JT smiled, thinking how he’d like to test her devotion to that zealous statement.
“Well, I’m planning to retain the sanctity of our wedded vows, so I’ll be intervening with her. Just let me know if her plans change, darlin’. It’s a four-hour drive out there.”
Embarrassment colored her tone, and she giggled nervously, an unattractive sound. “Yes, sir. I know. I’m so sorry about last weekend.”
“Quite all right. I’ll be in Divine this weekend then. Thank you for your help. One thing, though. You don’t happen to have her cell phone number, would ya? And any idea what time?”
She gave him Lily’s unlisted number and promised to call back if she found out the time, and he ended the call and shoved the phone back in his coveralls. Once he had Lily back under his thumb, the divorce would go away.
If this opportunity hadn’t come along, it had looked as though he was going to need to take matters into his own hands. He’d never had a problem with Les Valentine, so this might fit into his plans after all. As it had stood, he was prepared to speed along Les’s death from cancer before she was beyond the ties of marital rights to her property. He needed that money and the guy was dying anyway. This way, he didn’t have to worry about Les’s blood on his hands. It was the perfect solution. Les could die naturally, and he could do away with Lily when he was done punishing her and enough time had passed so that there would be no suspicion on him. She’d just have a terrible accident, and no one would be the wiser. JT smiled in satisfaction as he went back to work.
* * * *
Lily sat perched on her stool eating a snack when Tabitha came back into the workroom later that afternoon. Lily cringed inwardly when Tabitha looked closely at what Lily was eating, but then remembered that she didn’t care what anyone thought about her having a snack. She could certainly afford it. For some reason it seemed to bug Tabitha that Lily was eating Girl Scout cookies. Maybe she was jealous that she couldn’t eat Clay’s cookies since she was allergic.