Betrayal

Chapter 15

THE NEXT MORNING Max and Tallie got up and went out to breakfast. They ate at Café Cluny nearby. Tallie had eggs Benedict, and Max scrambled eggs. And they took their time and talked a lot. Tallie loved catching up with Max’s doings and news. The boyfriend had already faded out, and she was working hard at school and having fun hanging out with her friends, and she wanted to introduce her mother to some of them that night. Tallie had agreed to take four of them to dinner. They went to Da Silvano, which was one of Tallie’s favorite restaurants, with delicious Italian food. And they sat at a table outside on the sidewalk, where they could watch people wander by.

And for the rest of the week, they walked through SoHo and Chelsea, went to galleries, shopped, went uptown to MoMA, walked through Central Park and listened to a steel band. They went to a Broadway play one night, and did all the things they both loved doing in New York. For the entire week, Tallie kept checking her cell phone to see if there was a message from Jim Kingston, telling her that Brigitte had been arrested. But she knew it was too soon since they had to get the indictment from the grand jury and the warrant from the judge, and Brigitte was probably still in Mexico anyway, but Tallie checked her phone several times a day. She would have preferred it to happen while she was away, but suspected it probably wouldn’t.

The week went by too fast, and Tallie was getting ready to fly back to L.A. on Sunday night. She’d had almost a week there, and she and Max had had a ball. And now she had to finish the movie, starting on Monday.

When she left Max at the apartment, Tallie held her tight and thanked her for her understanding about everything that had happened.

“Of course. Next time the shit hits the fan, don’t wait to tell me,” Max admonished. She had written an e-mail to Hunt, and shown it to her mother, telling him how disappointing and dishonest he was, and she felt better after she wrote it. Tallie was touched by what she’d said. Max was totally let down by him. And she had nothing to say to Brigitte. At least Hunt hadn’t stolen anything from her mom, except her time and trust. But Max thought what he had done was terrible too, he had turned out to be a liar and a cheat and she’d told him that she never wanted to see him again, so it was a loss for her too. And she wanted nothing to do with his new girlfriend and the baby. He was fired. And she told him what he’d done to her mother was unforgivable. And in a strange way, the losses they shared had brought them closer to each other in the past week. And Max was coming home soon.

Tallie didn’t hear anything from Jim for the first few days she was back in L.A. She was working hard on the set, trying to bring the film in on time, and she was almost there. They had a heat wave, and everyone complained about the long hours she was insisting they work. And much to her surprise, she heard nothing from Brigitte after she got Greg Thomas’s e-mail, letting her go. She sent nothing to Tallie, not a text or an e-mail or a letter, no apology, no regrets, no remorse, no sadness over the friendship they had lost and the seventeen years that had gone up in smoke. Just silence. Tallie’s father said he wasn’t surprised.

“I’m not sure people like that ever feel remorse,” he said when Tallie dropped by one night on the way home. It was late, it was ten o’clock, and she had been on the set since six that morning. “I think the kind of flawed character that allows someone to lie and steal like that has no empathy for the people they hurt. They just turn the page and go on,” her father said wisely. He looked better again when she got back from New York, and he seemed to have more energy than he’d had in a while, and Tallie was relieved.

“I think you’re right, Dad,” she said sadly. She had expected to hear something from her. She also told him all about the time she’d spent with Max in New York, and he loved to hear about it. Max called him once a week, but occasionally she forgot when she was busy, and he called her. He was excited about Max coming home before summer school, and so was Tallie.

It was another week before she had a message from Jim Kingston on her phone, and she called him back as soon as she saw it.

“Anything new?” she asked anxiously, and he sounded very calm when he answered.

“Yes. Jack and I arrested her this afternoon. She’s in custody tonight, and she’s being arraigned tomorrow.” After waiting months for this, her heart fluttered when she heard it. She felt ghoulish being excited about it, but she was. She wanted closure, but that was still a long way away. This was just the beginning of all the official procedures.

“How did it go? Was she freaked out?”

“No, not at all. She was very calm and extremely pissed.” He didn’t sound surprised, but Tallie was. That wasn’t the reaction she’d expected. She thought Brigitte would be scared when she was finally caught, maybe hysterical and crying.

“Do you think she expected it?”

“No. I think she thought she had gotten away with it. I think she thinks she still will. She thinks she’s very clever. Now she has to get an attorney and defend herself,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Do you think the judge will keep her in jail?” Tallie asked hopefully.

“No. She’ll be out on bail or her own recognizance tomorrow, after she pleads at the arraignment.” She was going to plead not guilty, of course. Even if she pleaded guilty later in some kind of deal with the U.S. attorney to reduce her sentence, no one ever pleaded guilty at the arraignment. “How was your trip to New York?” He hadn’t spoken to her since.

“Nice. I had a great time with my daughter.” She sounded happy when she said it.

“How did she take all this news?”

“She was shocked, and very disappointed in both of them. She loved them both, and she’s known Brig since she was a baby. At first she couldn’t believe it.” But neither could Tallie, he knew. “Then we got our minds off it and had a lot of fun.”

“I’m glad. You deserve it. I’ll let you know when she gets out after the arraignment.” But there was nothing more for Tallie to do. Now the U.S. attorney assigned to it had to build their case over the next many months and go to trial, and Tallie would be a witness, as the victim. That was her official role in the whole sordid affair.

Jim called her again the following afternoon, and told her that Brigitte had given the deed to her house as a bond in lieu of bail, and she had been released. So she hadn’t gotten off scot-free, but she was out of jail.

“Be a little bit careful,” he told Tallie. “You don’t have to be paranoid, just be alert. She probably wouldn’t do it, but you don’t want a confrontation with her at this point.”

“No, I don’t. How was she in court?”

“Cool, arrogant, and rude,” he said, which stunned Tallie, but not him. “Nature of the beast. She acted like the whole thing was an imposition, and she talked down to the judge.”

“Did he react to it?” Tallie asked in fascination.

“No, he’s used to it. It probably hasn’t sunk in yet that she’s not getting out of this. She thinks she’s still in control, and she kept saying ‘Do you know who I am?’ ” It was what Jim had suspected about her from the beginning. She thought she was the celebrity and the star. She thought she was Tallie, or who Tallie would be if she chose to act like a star, which she didn’t. Brigitte’s sense of entitlement oozed from her pores, and was offensive. “She’s being charged with four counts of embezzlement, fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion, as I suspected. She’s in deep shit now, but she hasn’t accepted that yet. She’ll be a lot less grand when she’s in prison cleaning toilets.” The image he conjured up made Tallie shudder. It was all too real, and she couldn’t imagine Brigitte there for a minute. “It’ll probably wind up in the press fairly soon,” Jim warned her, “because you’re listed as the victim. When the reporters see that, they’re going to be calling you.”

“I have nothing to say,” she said calmly.

“That won’t stop them.” They both knew that was true.

“I’m glad Max isn’t here.” Tallie called her that night, though, and told her. She wasn’t keeping secrets from her anymore now that she knew the story. And they talked about it for a while. It was still so shocking to both of them and nearly impossible to believe.

The next morning, Tallie realized that that would be the last she’d hear about it for the next many months. It wouldn’t go to trial until the following year. The wheels would move slowly, the government would build their case, and in a long, long time it would be over. It seemed to take an eternity for criminal cases to be put to rest. And she talked to Greg Thomas about it the day after. He was preparing their civil suit, which would also take about a year before it went to court. It was frustrating and like watching paint dry it was so slow. She complained to her father about how slow the process was, and he reminded her that that was the way the law worked, and Tallie wasn’t going to change that, no matter how frustrated or impatient she was.

Tallie hadn’t hired a new assistant. After everything that had happened with Brigitte, she didn’t want to, at least not yet. It made more work for her, but she was more comfortable doing it herself.

She was sitting in her kitchen, paying a stack of bills, when her cell phone rang on Saturday, and she answered it without looking at who it was, and her heart nearly stopped when she heard a familiar voice. It was Brigitte. She sounded matter-of-fact and ice cold.

“I want to pick up some things I left at your house,” she said to Tallie without preamble. Her voice was cold, without apology or explanation of what she’d done.

“There’s nothing of yours here,” Tallie said calmly, but her heart was pounding. She wondered if Brigitte was going to say anything about getting arrested. But she knew Brigitte couldn’t get in. Greg Thomas had had her locks changed when she was in New York, and she was glad he had.

“I left a briefcase with some papers in it, in the downstairs hall closet,” Brigitte said in a determined tone.

“I’ll send it to you,” Tallie said, sounding firm.

“I want it now,” Brigitte said, and her tone was degenerating rapidly to a high pitch.

“I’m not home,” Tallie lied, beginning to feel uncomfortable about the call, and she remembered Jim’s warning to be alert and cautious.

“Yes, you are. I’m standing outside your front door,” Brigitte said, and the word that came instantly to Tallie’s mind was evil.

“It won’t do you any good. I’m not letting you in. And I’m not alone here.” She had added that for good measure, and Brigitte just laughed.

“What bullshit. You’re always alone, and you’re going to be forever. You’re pathetic. He didn’t love you. You know that, don’t you? He loved me. That’s why he stayed with me for three years. He was just using you for his movies. He told me that many times.” Her words cut through Tallie like a knife, which was what Brigitte had intended. She wanted to get even because she’d been caught.

“He didn’t love either of us,” Tallie said quietly. “He loves the girl who’s having his baby. He told me that too, that he loves her.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Brigitte sounded furious at what she’d said, and Tallie wondered if she really was outside, but she didn’t want to look. “She trapped him. She’s a clever little whore, and she screwed both of us over and stole him from us, and got pregnant to do it. She’s a lot smarter than we are.”

“Maybe so.” And then Tallie couldn’t keep herself from asking. “How could you do that to me, Brig? After all those years, how could you do that with him, with the money, all of it. How could you look me in the eye every day, or yourself when you looked in the mirror?”

“Oh please, don’t make me laugh. Don’t give me all that morality crap. You bumble around looking like a homeless person. He didn’t want you. What man wants someone who looks like that? I carried you around for all those years, while you were making ‘great’ movies. You had his money backing you, and his name, and me keeping your head on straight and driving you around like a cripple. Without the two of us you’re nothing. And without your name, no one is going to invest in his movies. If it hadn’t been for me, no one would even know who you are. Half the time people think I am you. The only reason they even know who you are in this town is because I was out there doing PR for you, looking like a star. Tallie, you’re nothing. Hunt used to say it to me all the time. We used to laugh at you when we were in bed.” She was vicious and angry, and her voice was rising in pitch, and Tallie didn’t want to hear another word of what she was saying. She knew it wasn’t true, but what Brigitte said was sick, the product of a disturbed mind. And Tallie was shaking from what she’d heard so far.

“Stop it, Brig.”

“You realize this is his fault, don’t you,” Brigitte said in a trembling voice. “If he hadn’t gone off with that little whore, we’d still be together, and you wouldn’t know the difference, you’d be happy. And if he hadn’t confessed to you about me, I’d still be with you.” Yes, and stealing my money, came instantly to Tallie’s mind.

“He didn’t tell me,” Tallie said firmly.

“Yes, he did, he must have. No one else knew.”

“Someone else told me. You weren’t as discreet as you thought.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well, it’s true. Let it go, Brig. It doesn’t matter now, and it won’t change anything, for any of us. It’s all over.”

“It’s all his fault,” she repeated. Tallie could tell she wanted her to be angry at Hunt too. She was, but more than that, she was hurt. And she wasn’t going to ruin the rest of her life over him and Brigitte. She wanted to put this behind her now. She was only sorry it couldn’t happen sooner, and Brigitte couldn’t go to prison tomorrow, instead of in a year, after the trial. But there was no doubt in her mind that Brigitte would wind up behind bars, and belonged there. “He thinks he’s going to testify against me, doesn’t he?” Brigitte said in a voice of utter fury. “If he hadn’t gotten involved with that girl, you wouldn’t have known about any of this.”

“Yes, I would. I found out about the money because of the audit for the Japanese investor. You were up shit creek from then on, and it would have come out eventually anyway. Someone would have figured it out, even Victor.”

“It’s all Hunt’s fault.” It was her fault, as well as Hunt’s, but Tallie didn’t want to talk to her any longer.

“I’ll send you the briefcase.”

“I don’t want it, throw it away.” It hurt Tallie that she made no mention of how she had betrayed her and didn’t seem to care. Her dishonesty mattered nothing to her. And with that, she hung up without saying another word. Tallie sat looking at her cell phone and shaking. Brigitte’s call had given her the creeps. She thought about calling Jim, but she didn’t want to bother him on the weekend. She thought of calling Hunt too and warning him that Brig was on a rampage, but there seemed to be no point to that either. He was a big boy, he had gotten involved with her, and he could deal with her now. It wasn’t her job to protect him. The phone rang again as she sat there, and it was Max. Tallie answered immediately in a shaking voice.

“What’s wrong? You sound awful.” Max heard the tremor in her voice.

“I just had a weird, very creepy call from Brigitte. She sounds crazy. She said she was outside, but she probably isn’t. I’m going to stay home this afternoon anyway. I have work to do. It’s going to be a long year till this gets to trial,” she said glumly, but she sounded calmer again by the time they hung up, and Max reminded her to be careful.

Tallie went to look for the briefcase in the downstairs closet then, and found it where Brigitte had said it was. There were a few papers in it, some decorating articles, a bill from her doctor, and a couple of magazines. It was nothing she needed, and Tallie realized she had just wanted to get into the house and berate her, or maybe attack her. Tallie wasn’t taking any chances and made sure that all the doors were locked. But when she glanced out the windows, she couldn’t see anyone outside. She hadn’t heard a car arrive or drive away. Maybe she had never even been there and had called from somewhere else and just wanted to scare her. Tallie was sorry she hadn’t stayed in jail.

She took her stack of bills upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom and turned on the alarm, and she spent the afternoon in bed paying all her bills. She had just finished paying the last one, when Jim Kingston called her, and he sounded tense.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why? I had a weird, very unpleasant call from Brigitte today. She sounded hysterical, and she wanted to come in. I’m in my bedroom with the door locked and the alarm on, but she didn’t call me again. I hope she isn’t going to stalk me for the next year until the trial.”

“She won’t,” he said firmly. “I’m coming over,” he added quietly.

“Why?”

“I’m already in my car. I’ll be there in five minutes.” He didn’t explain further, and she thought it was nice of him to come. The doorbell rang five minutes later. She unlocked her bedroom door and turned off the alarm, and hurried down the stairs to open the front door to him. But the look on his face told her that something terrible had happened, and she was frightened as she waited to hear what it was. What if Brigitte had gone to her father’s house and done something to him? It was the only thing she could think of.

Jim didn’t waste time waiting to share what had happened. He told her as they stood in the doorway.

“Brigitte just killed Hunt. She showed up at Angela Morissey’s apartment, and fired at him, right in the chest. She told him he would never testify against her, and then she shot him.”

Tallie looked shocked, and her face went deathly pale as the room reeled around her, and she grabbed Jim’s arm to steady herself. “And Angela and the boy?”

“They’re fine.” But Hunt was dead. Hunt, who had lied to her and betrayed her, whom Brigitte said had never loved her. And who was having a baby with someone else. It didn’t matter now. It was over. He was dead. She realized too how lucky she was that Brigitte hadn’t shot her. Maybe their years of friendship had meant something to her after all and saved Tallie. Or maybe she was just angrier at Hunt, because of Angela. Tallie was grateful she hadn’t let her in that morning. She might have shot her.

“Where’s Brigitte?” she asked in a wan voice as he led her into the living room, and they sat down.

“She’s in custody. She went back to her house and was packing a suitcase when they got there. She’s in jail. She’ll be there till the trial.” But now she was going to be tried for murder as well. Her life really was over. Tallie couldn’t imagine it, and she suddenly realized she had to call Max before she saw it on the news. She was panicked and ran upstairs to find her phone. He followed her up the stairs and she sat down on her bed to call Max, while Jim stood by to offer support. Max answered immediately and she could tell something had happened by the shaking tone of her mother’s voice.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

“I’m fine. But I wanted to tell you before you heard. Brig just killed Hunt. She shot him. She came here first, and I didn’t let her in.”

“Oh my God, Mom!” Max burst into tears immediately. “What if she’d shot you?”

“She didn’t. And it’s all over now. She’s in jail. She’s not going to hurt anyone else, but poor Hunt. He’s dead. He was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve this.”

“Did she shoot anyone else?”

“Just him.” And as she said it, Tallie picked up the remote control and turned on her TV. Hunt’s face was huge on the screen, and then it went to the scene at the apartment where he’d been living with Angela. Tallie could see her in the background with her enormous belly. She was crying, and there were police cars all around. And then they flashed a picture of Brigitte on the screen in an evening gown. It was an old picture from some Hollywood event and she looked fabulous. And then Tallie heard them mention her name. She talked to Max for a few more minutes about what had happened and then they hung up and Tallie called her father, who had just seen it on TV, and was as shocked as they all were. She promised to call him back when Jim left.

“What now?” Tallie said as she turned to look at Jim, after she ended the call to Sam.

“She’ll have to cop a plea, or claim temporary insanity, but either way she’s done. They’ll probably get her to plead to everything now. She’s going away for a long, long time. She’s crazier than I thought she was. She seemed sane when I talked to her at her house.” As he said it, his cell phone rang. It was Jack Sprague.

“Yeah, I know,” Jim said. “I’m watching it on the news. They called me as soon as it happened. I’m at Tallie Jones’s. She came over here first, but Tallie didn’t let her in. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I’ll call you later,” he said, and hung up. “How do you feel?” he asked Tallie as he looked at her.

“I don’t know.” She seemed disoriented. “Scared. Sick. Numb. I was going to call and warn him that she was furious with him, but I figured it was none of my business, so I didn’t.” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Jim. “I guess I should have. Maybe he’d still be alive if I had.”

“I don’t think so. She was out to get him, and she would have eventually.”

“She didn’t want him to testify against her. That’s what she said.”

“Did she tell you she was going to get him, or kill him, or anything like that?” He had slipped into FBI mode without even realizing it, and she shook her head.

“No, she didn’t. She was very wound up. She kept repeating that he wasn’t going to testify against her.”

“But she seemed sane?” As sane as anyone was who went out and shot someone.

“More or less. She was very angry at me too. I wasn’t even sure if she was really outside, or just saying she was to scare me.”

“What did she want?”

“She wanted to come in for her briefcase, and I said I’d send it to her. And after she insulted me for a while, she hung up and went away, I guess.”

They went back downstairs again to her kitchen, and Jim made her a cup of tea. He looked in the fridge for milk, and then he smiled at her.

“Do you ever buy groceries?” he asked.

“Not lately.” She smiled back at him. “I’m not big on domestic skills. It’s not my thing.”

“Apparently. Do you ever eat?”

“Yeah. Sometimes. Well actually, no. Not often. I haven’t been doing that much lately either.” He could tell. She was very thin. “I can’t believe Hunt is dead. It just doesn’t seem possible. I wish I’d called him.” She looked sad as she said it, and he was stern.

“Stop it. If she wanted to kill him, she was going to, no matter what you did. You couldn’t change that.” She nodded, trying to believe him, but she didn’t, and she started to cry. The whole thing had been such a nightmare for the past few months. But it was over, Jim knew, more than Tallie realized or was able to understand right now. Brigitte was gone forever, or for a very, very long time.

Jim sat with her for an hour, and talked to her in her kitchen, and then he got up to leave. He knew she was no longer in any danger, and when he opened the front door, he saw news trucks outside. There were four of them, and a flock of photographers on foot. The press had arrived to lay siege. He closed the door again and spoke to her.

“The press are outside. Keep the door closed. Close the curtains. Don’t go out. Don’t talk to them, unless you want to.” She looked horrified and shook her head. “I’ll bring you something to eat later, or you’ll starve to death.” He smiled at her. “It’ll be all right. Can you stay somewhere else for a few days?”

“At my dad’s, but I’d rather be here.”

“Then just stay here, and stay out of sight.” Her phone started ringing then in the house. He disconnected it, sure that it was the press. Anyone close to her would call on her cell phone. “It will all be over soon.” She nodded and wanted to believe him. He stepped outside then and walked toward the cluster of press with a determined look. He held his FBI badge up so they could see it.

“Ms. Jones has no statement to make. She knows about what happened. She is deeply sorry and extends her sympathy to the family. She’s not going to speak to you so it’s pointless staying out here. If she has anything to say, we’ll contact you.” They looked disappointed, but they didn’t move. And with that, Jim walked past them, got in his car, and drove away.

In the house, Tallie saw a TV news flash of Jim outside her house making his statement to the press. They were still out there, and they weren’t leaving. Her father called her on her cell phone then, and she told him again that she was fine. She watched the news all night, and at nine o’clock Jim came back, with a bag full of hamburgers and Mexican food. She let him in, and they went back to the kitchen. A full fleet of press was still outside, hoping for a glimpse of her. They had announced several times on the news that night that she had lived with Hunter Lloyd for a number of years until recently. And then they showed shots of Angela crying with her huge pregnant belly. And they explained that she was having his baby. And they had shown footage of Brigitte as she was led into the jail with her head down. It didn’t even look like her. The glamorous still shot of her in the evening gown did. That was the Brigitte Parker everyone knew. The one who looked like a star. And Tallie laughed when they ran a still shot of her that they’d taken on some movie set somewhere. She looked like she’d been shipwrecked for a year.

“Which one is the star?” she said, as Jim unpacked the food, and she got out plates. He had even brought a six-pack of Cokes and another one of beer.

“You’re the star. That’s what she hated about you. She wanted to be you. But it didn’t matter what she stole from you-she still couldn’t be you. She didn’t have your talent or your looks or all the things that make you you. It takes more than evening gowns and furs and jewelry to make someone a star,” he said, smiling at her, and she was touched by how kind he was. She had become a prisoner in her own home, and she was actually starving.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I combed my hair once in a while,” she said sheepishly, and he laughed.

“No one would recognize you if you did. It might be a pretty good disguise though. You could go out looking like that, and people wouldn’t know it was you.” They both laughed, and sat down to the dinner he had brought her. His son called as they were eating and he said he’d be home soon.

“I’m sorry to screw up your Saturday night,” Tallie said apologetically, haunted by the fact that Hunt was dead. It just didn’t seem possible. And it was so wrong despite how dishonest he’d been to her. And she felt sorry for Angela now. Her baby would have no father. By ten o’clock they said that the interment would be private and later that week. Tallie knew when she heard it that she wasn’t going. It would have been hypocritical of her. He belonged to Angela now, and their baby. She had no place in his life or at his graveside, and she didn’t want to be there. She’d rather remember the good times, for what they were worth. Not much, after the way he’d behaved. Their whole relationship had turned out to be a lie.

She ate a cheeseburger and a taco and downed two Cokes. And she looked gratefully at Jim. “Thank you. That was delicious.” She had needed it more than she knew and felt better after she’d eaten.

“I enjoyed it too, and you’re not screwing up my Saturday night by the way. The alternative was pizza and root beer with a bunch of fifteen-year-old boys. Besides, I wanted to be here.” He had brought her some pastry for the morning too. “Are you going to be okay here tonight?” She nodded. There was no danger. Brigitte was in jail, and the press were locked outside. The only problem would be if she decided to go somewhere eventually. She could tell that they were camped out for the duration, probably till after his funeral. She wouldn’t go, but she also realized suddenly that she was currently working on the last Hunter Lloyd film that would ever be made. It was a strange feeling. She wanted to make it as good as she could as a suitable last tribute to Hunt. It was all she could do for him now.

She and Jim talked for a while about everything that had happened, and then he left again, and said he’d be back in the morning. She was a hostage in her own house. She thanked Jim again for dinner before he left, locked the door behind him, and left the TV on in her bedroom all night. There were bulletins and news flashes and commentaries about Hunt. And occasional mentions of her, Angela, and Brigitte. An unidentified source at the Sunset Marquis had volunteered that Hunt had been involved with Brigitte for several years, and a reporter questioned if the fatal shooting had been the result of a lovers’ quarrel, or a love triangle with the woman carrying his child. Tallie was awake for most of the night.

She was up and dressed when Jim came back the next morning, and she was wearing jeans without holes in them for a change. Her hair was pulled back, and her face was clean and fresh. She looked wholesome and young and more relaxed. He had brought her an egg sandwich from McDonald’s, and they ate the pastry he’d brought her the night before.

“It’s going to be a long week,” she said, referring to the press still camped outside.

“They’ll give up eventually. Someone will shoot someone else, and they’ll move on.”

“That’s a cheering thought.” At least it wasn’t going to be her, and she realized more than ever that she had narrowly escaped it, and it might have been her if she had let Brigitte in. But she had known not to. Brigitte had sounded so crazy on the phone.

Jim stayed until he had to pick up his son for a ball game, and then he left her for the afternoon. He came back that night with more food, but he couldn’t stay. He said he had to go somewhere with his son, but he was worried about her alone in the house, ruminating over Hunt’s death.

“I had no idea that the FBI provided catering service too,” she teased him with a tired smile.

“Absolutely. I’ll have to make dinner for you sometime. We take culinary classes during our training.” He was smiling, and he had made the weekend more bearable for her, in the face of a bad situation.

“Thank you, Jim. It would have been a terrible weekend without you.” He had eased the pain of Hunt’s death, her guilt over not calling him, and her regrets about how his life and their relationship had ended.

By Monday morning, she felt sad but at peace with it, and the press had finally given up and left.

They came back again the day of Hunt’s funeral, but she hid out at her father’s for the day, and they talked about him. It felt better being with her father than standing at Hunt’s grave, and they talked to Max several times. Tallie went back to her own house late that night. The next day in the mail, she had a letter from Angela Morissey. She had meant to write to her, but hadn’t done it yet.

“Dear Ms. Jones,” it said politely, “I know that I caused a great deal of unhappiness in your life, and Hunt did too. But he truly loved you. He got caught in a difficult situation, and he didn’t handle it well, but he always told me how wonderful you are and how much he loved you. I’ll miss him so much, and I know you will too. I’m sorry for any pain we caused you. I hope everything comes out all right for you. Respectfully, Angela Morissey.” It was a sweet gesture, and Tallie appreciated it. It put balm on the wound Brigitte had tried to make worse when she told her Hunt had never loved her. He was a foolish man, Tallie knew, and a weak one, but also in some ways a good one, despite the mistakes he had made. She folded the letter and put it away, and silently wished Angela well too, and hoped that Hunt’s soul had found peace.