Murder Deja Vu

I might not write it in the Regal Falls Banner , but it’ll make the front page of some newspaper. I’ll see to that. People love good, dirty gossip.”
    “I’ll discredit you. Drunk on the job. You’ll never work for another paper.”
    “No one’s ever seen me drunk during working hours. But even drunk, I can hold my own with the best. And I never slapped around my wives to keep them in line or threatened to kill one of my kids for revenge if she left me.”
    Robert tensed, his back rigid as an ironing board. “Where’d you hear that? As if I didn’t know. Do you and Dana share all your secrets?” He leaned closer. “Does she know about yours?”
    Harris turned away.
    “Does she?” When Harris didn’t answer, he said, “Hunh, thought so. You two. It’s unnatural for a man and woman to be best friends, and you couldn’t threaten to kill one of your kids because you don’t have any. All you have are three ex-wives who didn’t stay with you long enough to give you any. I’d never hurt my sons. I said it in the heat of anger. We all say things like that.” He flicked his hand, brushing off Harris as if he were a piece of lint. “I never hit Dana. A little love tap or two maybe, to keep her in line. You know what she’s like, and you know what she did.”
    “Love tap? Right. I saw the results of your love tap. Dana stayed with you out of love for her sons and to keep them from becoming like you. You’d have fought her for them, not because you wanted them, but so she couldn’t have them. She stayed so they’d know someone loved them.”
    “I love them. I’ve always loved them. Kids need discipline. That’s what fathers do. Mothers nurture. Fathers discipline.”
    “I haven’t time for this, Robert. I have a paper to put out.”
    “You’re the only one I allow to talk to me like this, and some day you’ll go too far.”
    “You let me off the hook because I know too much, and it’s on paper. Names, dates, places. That’s why I’m a good reporter.”
    Robert’s insides burned like they were on fire. “That sounds like a threat. Remember, threats work both ways, so be careful. Opening a Pandora’s Box could have drastic results.”
    “Let’s not pretend. The only way a person can do business with you is to be like you. I learned that a long time ago, God help me.”
    “God help you is right. And God help Daughtry too. He’s going to need it.”
    “Daughtry has a right to choose his clients like anyone else in business, and I’m sure he’d rather look at Dana for however long it takes to build her fireplace than to look at you. Who knows what resides underneath Daughtry’s quiet façade.”
    The thought of Dana with that ex-con got Robert hot all over again. It would be just like her to flaunt Daughtry in his face. “She wouldn’t dare. Not with a convicted murderer. Not in my county.”
    “Jesus, Robert, for an attorney, you can be awfully dense. I’m not saying there’s anything there, but who knows? We can’t help who we’re attracted to, no matter how much we try. Now, I’ve got work to do. Go bother someone else.”
    Robert stomped out of Harris’s office, mad as hell. “She won’t make a fool out of me again,” he muttered under his breath. “Not again. Once was one time too many.” Hardheaded Dana. She liked playing with fire, and inviting an ex-con murderer into her house while she lived there all alone sounded like her.
    He got into the Escalade, fuming enough to steam the windows, and drove back to his office. “Who does she think she is?” he spat out, glad his too-loud voice couldn’t be heard outside the confines of his car.
    And Daughtry. Someone ought to teach him a lesson. Building a fireplace for his wife was more than a slap in the face. It was downright…downright—well, he didn’t know how to describe it other than traitorous. He’d offered Daughtry four times the money, and the son of a bitch about told him to go fuck himself. Then Daughtry turned around and contracted to build one for Dana, all because Robert tried to stop the sale of his land. “No, no. You don’t do that to Robert Minette.”
    He thought of calling Klugh to come up from Atlanta and follow that head-severing maniac to make sure he didn’t put his tainted hands on his wife. He’d have to think about that. Klugh was a loose cannon. He could be a problem if he took things into his own hands, doing what he thought Robert wanted, without hearing the words. He’d