Extreme Malice

  Chapter 21

  Wednesday, November 30th 6:17 pm

  The trial was only days away, and Jack was no closer to making a decision about what he was going to do. He called Dean. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew he wanted to talk to Dean about Josh.

  Dean responded immediately, and they met on neutral ground at the Tim Horton's.

  "Thanks for coming, Dean," Jack said as Dean approached with his Timmy's coffee in hand.

  Dean sat down across from Jack and eyed him with distrust. "What's up, Jack?"

  "Not much really. It's just…there's been a lot of friction between us these past months."

  "And your point?"

  "I just wanted to know why, Dean. Do you really still believe I had something to do with this? After all this time?"

  Dean grinned. "The trial starts next week. We'll see then, won't we?"

  Jack frowned. "I'm not on trial. Josh is. I don't understand what you mean."

  "You've played everybody for a long time. You've done a great job, and I congratulate you. You will testify, and you will be asked questions. A lot of questions."

  "So? You're saying what?"

  "Why'd you call me, Jack?"

  Jack didn’t know how to respond. He was fishing really. He was just curious to see if Dean had anything to say that would influence Jack’s action plan.

  "Okay. Here it is. I don't want to see Josh go down for this."

  Dean leaned back with his eyes opened wide, and Jack could see he was clearly surprised.

  "I see. You don't want Josh, the suspect accused of killing your wife, to go to jail for this crime. This is the suspect who not only strangled your wife in your bed while you were away, but also the suspect who was supposedly having an affair with your wife. This is the same suspect who we have an abundance of evidence on and, by coincidence, the only real legitimate suspect we have in this case."

  Jack stared at Dean. He realized how stupid his revelation actually sounded.

  "It's just that Josh is just a student. You know a lot about him, right?"

  Dean ignored Jack's question. "Unfortunately, Jack, it is not up to you…unless you know someone else who may have committed this crime. You know we found other DNA evidence, but the funny thing is that it didn't match anybody we could find. Strange, wouldn't you say?"

  "It's not that. I've known Fred and Tracey for a long time…Josh too. Maybe I'm just offering forgiveness ."

  "Ha!" Dean barked. "Guilt is more like it." Dean pointed his finger at Jack. "I know exactly what this is! You are finally feeling guilty for what you did. Am I right? I told you I wasn't stupid, and I've been right about all of this. You think I changed my mind about it? No way, Jack! I haven’t changed my mind about anything. Especially where I know you’re involved. Whatever gave you the idea that I was going to change my mind about any of this?"

  Jack felt himself wavering. It was the first time he felt this way with Dean. He would have previously told Dean to "fuck off" when Dean accused Jack like this, but he couldn’t do it today.

  "Well, Jack? Talk to me!"

  Jack began to stammer. "I don't know. I don't. I don't even know what I'm doing here right now. Maybe you're right about Josh. I don't know. Maybe Josh deserves to be punished. It's been so hard…week after week after week. I just want this all to be over. It's just that Josh is..."

  Dean glared at Jack with an intense look of pressure and indignation etched on his face. What the hell was he doing talking to Dean at all?

  "I gotta go," Jack said as he suddenly realized he had already said too much. He shoved his chair back and stood. "I'm sorry, but I've gotta go." Jack turned and walked quickly out of the coffee shop, leaving Dean to frown over this sudden, strange behavior.