“Pastor Wallace said it was because you wanted a big wedding out of state.”
“Archer must have told him that. All I said was that I hadn’t decided exactly what I wanted to do. Poor Pastor Wallace. He was so nice to me.”
“Why didn’t you talk to him?” Annie asked. “Why didn’t you tell him what you were going through? He could have helped you or gotten you the help you needed.”
“I was so wrapped up in grief that I couldn’t deal with people. And after a while, Archer had me so beaten down, I didn’t think I could function on my own. I wanted out, but he had convinced me that I couldn’t make it without him.”
Annie was silent for a moment, waiting for Susan to continue, but she didn’t. Finally, while they waited at a stoplight, Annie turned to her.
“What happened in Brockton?”
There was something cynical in Susan’s low laugh. “You’d think after knowing Archer as long as I did, it wouldn’t have bothered me. I had put up with his tirades and his insults and his demands before. That time was different. I knew before I even said anything that he was going to be mad. I just hadn’t realized how bad it would be.”
“What did you say?”
Susan took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have said anything—not that night of all nights. He had agreed to meet his brother Donny at some club in Brockton, just to talk things out, he said. I don’t know why he even went. They always fought when they got together. They couldn’t even talk on the phone and be civil to each other, at least Archer couldn’t. Anyway, Archer didn’t usually drink more than he could handle, but anytime he and one of his brothers fought, his drinking got out of control. And when he drank, he talked too much. I asked him how much he’d had, and he cursed at me and told me to stay out of his business. That was when I told him maybe we should take a break.”
“And—?”
“That was it. I didn’t break off the engagement. I didn’t tell him I never wanted to see him again. I just told him we should think about taking a break.” Her breathing quickened at the memory. “I thought he was going to kill me right there. He said if I ever tried to leave, he’d make me sorry. He told me all those horrible ways he knew to get rid of someone and make it look as if he didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t know how, but I managed to stand up to him a little bit. I told him it was all talk, that he wouldn’t dare really do something like that to me or anyone.” She swallowed hard. “That only made him laugh. That nasty laugh he has when he knows you’re helpless.”
Annie nodded. It was enough to have dealt with that just once. How in the world had Susan been able to bear it all those months when she was with him?
Susan took another shaky breath. “He said he would do anything to get what he wanted. And to prove it, he told me why he had inherited the company and didn’t have to share it with his brothers. He had forged his father’s will.”
Annie could only stare at her. “What? He stole everything from his own family? That huge company? All that money?”
“Yes. And the next day, when he was sober and realized what he had said, he told me we’d have to get married so I couldn’t be forced to testify against him. He said it as if it was just a joke, but I knew then that I had to do something, and I had to do it quickly. He told me he was sorry for what had happened and that he would make it up to me. I let him think that I was OK with it, that like everything else he had done, it didn’t bother me. But I knew I had to go.”
The car behind them tapped its horn, and seeing the light had changed, Annie took her foot off the brake and pulled into the intersection.
“But the will. Nobody ever questioned it?”
“He was pretty smart about it. He didn’t cut his brothers out entirely. That would have caused too much suspicion. They still ended up with a lot of money and some of the other properties, but he got JFP Athletics all to himself. He had switched out the page in the will that mentioned the disposition of the property. All of the other pages, including the ones signed by the witnesses and notary, were originals. So if the will had been contested in court, all of those people could honestly swear they had seen Jason Prescott sign his will. There was even the appropriate notation in the notary’s register book, all perfectly legal and above board.”
“But wouldn’t the witnesses know what was in the will they saw Jason sign?”
Susan shook her head. “He told me they had witnessed the signature, but the contents of the will were kept private. Only the lawyer who had drawn it up would have known, and he was dead.”