Free Assassin P.I. by Elizabeth Janette

his parents after they cut him off and froze his accounts.”
    He waited for her to continue. Offering commentary, reminding her of the deceitful part she’d played wouldn’t be anything more than self-serving. Didn’t mean it wouldn’t feel good for a split second, though.
    “His parents knew about his drug habit and that he’d quit college. Marrying me, I guess, seemed like an easy way to piss them off. So we faked a quickie wedding with the understanding that when the time was right . . .” She turned, staring out the window again.
    “You’d get a fake divorce with a fat payoff to keep silent.” He sounded harsher than he’d intended, but to her credit, Angie didn’t even flinch.
    “Something like that.”
    Jack took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Trevor was a fool.”
    Any further conversation was postponed as Glenwood Park, where the rich and famous lay their multi-million-dollar heads, loomed up ahead. A place Jack had always imagined would be filled with the stench of greed and the decay of human decency as all morality was slowly leeched away by an all-consuming yearning for fame. Instead, his olfactory senses were assaulted by the fragrant scent of the dozen or so honeysuckle shrubs lining the main thoroughfare of the famous gated community.
    Beside him, Angie gripped the armrest, her eyes focused on the road ahead. The Angie Jack knew oozed confidence, never backing down from any challenge. He hadn’t seen her so quiet and withdrawn, so paralyzed with fear, not since the first day they met years ago.
    He slowed to check the street numbers.
    “Up ahead on the right. The gaudy mini-mansion with the gargoyles and pillars.”
    Pulling in where she’d pointed, he announced their arrival at the gate and followed the brick path, noting the perfectly manicured lawn surrounding a modest pond and cascading waterfall. He parked in the middle of the circular driveway close to the massive front door.
    Impressive.
    He had half a mind to force Angie to face down her former fake in-laws, to confess her deceit, admit all the gruesome lies, but that would be far more cruel to the parents who grieved the loss of their son. No, it might be better to let her steep in her own self-loathing for the time being.
    “Why don’t you stay in the car?” he suggested. “It’s nothing I can’t handle on my own.”
    She nodded, lost in her own thoughts. A second later, her hand shot out and touched his arm.
    “Jack, wait. We didn’t . . . I mean, we never . . . I didn’t sleep with Trevor. I just thought you should know.”
    Whatever motives Angie had for sharing the information, it didn’t ease his torment, only made it worse. What was he supposed to feel? Happy that he’d screwed her up so badly that she couldn’t even bring herself to have sex with another man, a man she supposedly loved? Or was he supposed to applaud her self-restraint?
    Ascending the steps to the front door, Jack rang the bell and was immediately greeted by Trevor’s father, Senator Paul Santino.
    What, no butler?
    “Mr. Gaines, I presume?”
    After a firm handshake, Jack was ushered into the former Senator’s study, but not before he caught a glimpse of the twin spiral staircases that flanked the foyer, stretching skyward ending at the second floor catwalk. Jack could only guess at how many rooms the massive home had and couldn’t fathom ever needing that much space just for two people.
    But these were people used to getting anything, and everything, their hearts desired with a simple flick of the wrist.
    As the door shut behind them, Senator Santino took a seat behind a monstrously large desk. He motioned to an empty chair and waited for Jack to take a seat before speaking. “I have to say, Mr. Gaines, I was quite surprised by your phone call. I’m flattered by your interest in our late son’s death, but I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time. The police closed the case some months ago.”
    Straight to the point.
    “I’ve been