Revenge by Debra Webb

completely honest with you, Mrs Baker,’ Jess said. ‘I can find your husband’s killer a lot faster if I know about any problems you were having. Marital or otherwise.’ Scott had sex with someone just prior to his death. And that someone was not his wife, since she had been out of town. If there were problems in the relationship, Jess could damn sure use a firsthand account.
    ‘We didn’t have any.’ The new widow lowered her head for a moment before meeting Jess’s gaze once more. ‘Other than the worry he had about something he thought he did wrong in the past and it somehow impacting our son, our lives were as close to perfect as anyone could hope for.’
    Jess absorbed the ramifications of what Trisha’s statements implied. She would come back to that in a moment. ‘Can you tell me the significance of your husband’s tattoo? The number five?’
    Trisha blinked as if she didn’t understand the question; then she pressed her hand to her chest. ‘The Five .’ She laughed. The sound was painful to hear. ‘When Scott was in high school, he and four of his friends formed a kind of secret club – the Five.’ She made quotation marks in the air. ‘They intended to rule the world. But he said they had to settle for Birmingham.’ She stared at her hands where she ripped at the wad of tissues. ‘Now it’s too late for Scott.’
    ‘I know this is very difficult, Mrs Baker, but could you give me the names of the other members of the Five?’
    ‘Kevin O’Reilly and Juliette Coleman. Those were the two Scott talked about most. There’s Elliott Carson and Aaron Taylor.’
    Only one of the names was familiar to Jess. Coleman . She wondered if Juliette was related to Birmingham’s beloved reporter Gina Coleman. ‘These other members of the Five still live in Birmingham?’
    ‘They all left for college with big dreams, except Scott and Kevin,’ she said sadly. ‘Their lives were plotted out for them right here so they all came back eventually.’
    That story sounded way too familiar to Jess. Had she been back home more than a month now? Didn’t seem possible. She’d left for college with those big dreams too.
    ‘Do you think any of those friends would have some idea why Scott was so worried about whatever it was he felt he’d done wrong in the past?’ There were a lot of things that could explain Scott Baker’s guilt. An affair? Maybe he had another child somewhere that he had ignored.
    ‘I suppose it’s possible,’ she confessed. ‘I’d never heard him talk like that until Scotty’s problems at school started.’
    Jess glanced at her notes. ‘You said that he asked you to take Scotty to Mobile and for you to stay until you heard from him or it was over. Do you believe he had a meeting planned with someone?’ Scott Baker had met with someone – his killer. And whoever killed him had known him. Maybe even intimately.
    ‘I wish I knew. While Scotty and I were in Mobile, my phone conversations with Scott were normal, as if nothing was wrong. If I asked him if everything was okay, he would suddenly need to go.’
    ‘Did he give you the impression that you and your son were in danger?’
    ‘No. He . . .’ She looked away again, her hands wringing together as if the words were far too unbearable to say aloud.
    ‘Mrs Baker, we need your help on this,’ Jess urged. ‘Whatever you know or think you know may make all the difference.’
    The grieving woman drew in a shuddering breath and met Jess’s gaze. ‘I think something very bad was about to come out – something he felt was connected to him or his family somehow. So he did what he had to do to protect our son’s future.’
    The grim certainty in the woman’s eyes had Jess’s instincts screaming. ‘What is it you think he had to do?’
    ‘The only way to protect our son’s financial future was for him to die.’
    ‘But your husband would have gained control of his trust in a few days. Wouldn’t that have achieved the same