Free Everyone's Dirty Little Secrets by Matthew Miles Page B

she’s there.
     
    Dropping into Siobhan’s chair, sh e flushes with guilt even as she relishe s the feel of being in this seat .  She fantasizes about what it would be like to be Siobhan, to have her money, her power, her husband.  B ut this isn’t the way she wants to take what’s Siob han’s.
     
    So it’s not only guilt, but confusion - and shock - that make Jaime sick . 
     
    Siobhan is dead.
     
    Dodge’s call was incoherent; she doesn’t know what happened exactly, but she knows enough. 
     
    She knows she kind of set this in motion. 
     
    But she knows too this is beyond her.  She didn’t send Dodge there to kill Siobhan, or Dressler, for that matter.  It was a prank.  Maybe more malicious than a prank.  Okay, so maybe n ot just a prank.  A scheme.  Worse.  She was conniving.   From heaven, or hell, she suspects Siobhan is already plotting to haunt her, planning her demise, determining ho w to torture the conniving bitch who threw herself a t Siobhan’s husband, teased him at every opportunity, until she had his head spinning with confusion and desire .  Filled his head with adulterous lies, and se t his horny, jealous ass up to catch his wife doing something she wasn’t really doing.
     
    Jai me knows she mess ed up, that she didn’t think things through.  She knows how men get around her, she knows what she does to them, and a lot of the time, she uses this to get things she wants. 
     
    That’s true. 
     
    But she do esn’t want people dead.  That’s not her.
     
    She’s not going to take the bullet this.  This is bigger than her.
     
    Something went wrong.
     
    Dodge should have seen Siobhan at Dressler’s; it should have broken his heart.  He should have come crawling to Jaime .  She would have consoled him.  She would have mad e thi s work to her advantage .  A reasonable enough plan.  Nobody thinks that far ahead, or through crazy possibilities like this.
     
    Now she has to save Dodge.
     
    Now she’s an accomplice to murder.
     
    So, yeah, she feels guilty.  And ashamed.  And shocked.  And sad.  And dirty.
     
    She’s done the wrong thing.
     
    She can’t make it rig ht, but she can do something.
     
    Help Dodge.
     
    She types on the computer, slowly at first, because she doesn’t know what she’s looking for , she doesn’t k now what to do.  She’s resourceful, knows that if she looks, answers will present themselves.  That, despite the cliché, if there’s a will , there’s a way.  She believes this, it is a mantra to her, especially in times like this.  The problem is, she can’t seduce a computer.  It might be the only thing on this planet that she can’t get to do whatever she wants .  The good news is, being desirable isn’t the only thing she’s got going for her.
     
    She starts with Siobhan’s email, but it’s all work.  Jaime thanks God that she didn’t send any emails to stage the rendezvous.  Finding nothing is a relief as much as a disappointment, knowing there’s no way to take them back , and she could easily implicate herself.  Especially if she deletes anything.  Police will know she’s trying to cover something up.
     
    Next stop - Siobhan’s credit card statement.  Siobhan’s credit card bill is Dodge’s credit card bill, too, of course.   This can do a lot of things.  Show patterns of activity.  Though she’s not hopeful, it could provide an alibi that at least introduces a reasonable doubt.  Anything.    She’s not a private detective, but like every other TV- overdosed American, she’s a competent sleuth by proxy.
     
    Hiding crimes can’t be much different than solving crimes.
     
    And there it is.
     
    Bingo.
     
    According to MasterCard, one of them has been in Amsterdam for two days.
     
    And booked a last minute flight out of there last night.
     
    Which isn’t true, of course.
     
    But she does know who was in Amsterdam.
     
     
     
    *****
     
     
     
    This is not the new Chuck - skulking and