Chapter 6 - Ruby’s Two Suitcases
Ruby packed only two suitcases.
One held Lily’s clothes, medications, favorite books and the stuffed rabbit she could not sleep without.
The second held Ruby’s laptop, financial records and enough clothing for one week.
She left everything else.
Jameson stood at the bottom of the stairs as she carried the first suitcase down.
“That didn’t take long,” he said.
“You wanted me gone.”
“I want this to be respectful.”
Ruby handed the suitcase to her father, who had arrived after receiving her text.
Daniel Hale was sixty-four, broad-shouldered and usually patient. When he saw Jameson standing beside Celeste, patience disappeared from his face.
“You used my daughter to pay your debt,” Daniel said.
Jameson raised his hands. “This is between Ruby and me.”
“No. The moment you frightened my granddaughter, it became a family matter.”
Ruby’s mother, Helen, took Lily into her arms.
Evelyn entered from the kitchen. “Your daughter is not a victim. She has controlled Jameson for years.”
Helen looked at the cream robe Celeste had discarded over the staircase railing.
“Controlled him?” Helen asked. “By paying his bills?”
“By humiliating him.”
Ruby almost responded, but Rachel had told her not to reveal what she knew.
“Dad,” Ruby said, “take Lily to the car.”
Lily reached toward Ruby. “You’re coming too?”
“I’ll be there in two minutes.”
After her parents walked outside, Ruby returned to the office.
The safe stood open behind the desk.
Jameson had left it that way deliberately, another attempt to show that nothing in Ruby’s house remained private.
Inside, the passport and jewelry were gone.
The repayment agreement was also missing.
Ruby looked toward the camera beneath the bookshelf.
It had recorded everything.
Jameson appeared behind her.
“Looking for something?”
“My grandmother’s bracelet.”
“Maybe you misplaced it.”
“And my passport?”
“You’re making accusations without proof.”
Ruby turned toward him.
He looked confident.
Too confident.
“What exactly did you promise Celeste?” she asked.
“That’s none of your business.”
“You brought her into my home. It became my business.”
Jameson leaned against the doorframe. “Celeste understands me.”
“No. She admires the version of you financed by my money.”
His face tightened.
Ruby continued, “Does she know you borrowed almost three hundred thousand dollars? Does she know the hotels and jewelry were purchased with debt?”
“I told you, the debt is finished.”
“Because I paid it.”
“That was your decision.”
There it was.
The sentence he had been preparing since the night before.
Ruby had chosen to save him, so he believed he owed her nothing.
“Did you ever love me?” she asked.
Jameson’s expression softened briefly.
“I did.”
“Until when?”
“Until I realized you would never see me as an equal.”
Ruby nodded.
“You’re right. I don’t see us as equals anymore.”
Jameson looked almost satisfied.
Then Ruby finished.
“An equal partner doesn’t steal, lie and ask his mother to forge his wife’s signature.”
For a fraction of a second, pure terror crossed his face.
Then he recovered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ruby walked past him.
“You will.”
At the front door, Celeste held up Ruby’s diamond bracelet.
“This was on the bathroom counter,” she said. “I thought it was pretty.”
Ruby looked at the bracelet, then at Jameson.
“Keep holding it,” she said.
Celeste frowned. “Why?”
May you like
Ruby opened the door.
“It will make the evidence easier to photograph.”
