“I’m sorry, but it is what it is,” Burns replied.
“Don’t apologize. I’m grateful you’re letting me talk with you. I can’t get to Pike. His attorney won’t let me touch him with a ten-foot pole.”
“I got nothing to hide.”
“So, just to go over the bad stuff. On the night of July the 3, you saw Jana sitting out on her dock having a drink. Slurring her words pretty bad. Clearly drunk.”
“Right.”
“You asked her how she was doing, and she said, ‘Just fine for someone who’s about to lose everything . . .’ or something like that.”
Burns nodded.
“You asked her what she meant, and she got angry and said you knew damn well what she meant. That Braxton was going to divorce her, cut her off from the bank accounts, and, because of that, she’d taken fifteen grand out of their joint account that afternoon.”
“Exactamundo,” Burns said, belching softly.
Jason took in a breath and finished with the closer. “Then she said she would kill the bastard before she’d let Braxton ruin her life.”
Burns gave his head a jerk and finished off his bottle. “I’ll never forget it.”
“Here’s my question, Burns.”
“Shoot.”
“If you’d thought Jana was being serious, you would’ve called the police, correct?”
“Ah, I see where you’re going.”
“Well, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, of course. I also would have warned Braxton.” He walked to the minifridge he had on the deck and opened it, then took out another beer and cracked it.
“Exactly,” Jason said. “That’s all I want to accomplish in my cross of you. That you thought Jana was ranting and that she wasn’t being serious.”
“Well, I’ll agree to all of that. Jana was always making wild threats to leave Braxton or that she was going to cuss some socialite in the Gothic Guild out. She gave everyone a lot of diarrhea, but I don’t remember her ever carrying out any of her threats.” He looked at Jason with dead eyes. “Until she killed Braxton.”
Jason leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Burns, you knew Pike as well as anyone. Did you ever see him talking with Trey Cowan?”
Burns sank down on the couch cushion. “Not that I remember.”
60
“I can’t believe this,” Jana said, slamming her fist on the table and wincing in pain. “Damnit.” It was Sunday late afternoon, their last consult before trial.
They’d gone over the conversation with Burns a million times, and the conclusion was always the same. She couldn’t contradict the car dealer’s testimony because everything he said was true. And even if she could rebut his testimony, she wasn’t taking the stand.
“I was ranting. I mean, you know me, Jason. Burns knew me. That’s what I do. Plus, I was hammered.” She stared at her brother. “I mean, how stupid would I have to be to tell Burns all that and then instruct Pike to kill Braxton the next night?”
She had a point. Of course, on the flip side, a drunk person with a cocaine habit and a Xanax addiction probably wasn’t exercising the best of judgment.
“There’s a lot of things you can say about me,” Jana said. “I’m a bitch. I’m psycho. But I ain’t stupid.”
“No, you’re not,” Jason said. He squeezed her hand. “I’ve gotta go, sis.” He turned for the door, but before he could knock, she said something that made his knees buckle.
“Dad would be so proud of you.”
Jason gathered himself and looked down at the concrete floor. “Why do you say that? He never was while he was alive.” He turned. “Remember what you said after the funeral? When we were standing out in the boathouse?”
“J. J.—”
“You said I destroyed him. That the shame he had over my billboards and the agitation and disappointment he suffered when I turned down his offer to work for him led to his demise.” Jason stared at the cinder block wall, trying hard to keep his composure. “How could you say something like that to me?”
“Because I was mad at you,” Jana said, sobbing. “And devastated over Dad’s death. And . . . jealous.”
“Jealous? Of me? You were the apple of Dad’s eye your whole life. You got everything. A new car. Money for college. All those beauty contests you won that he financed. You married someone he approved of. I was an embarrassment, always less than, and you were the golden child.”