Chapter 4: What Marcus Knew
The coffee shop on Renner Street was quiet at six.
Marcus was already there when she arrived, sitting at a corner table with his hands wrapped around a mug he hadn't touched.
He looked older than the last time she'd seen him.
There were lines around his eyes that hadn't been there at Christmas.
Jasmine sat down across from him.
"Talk," she said.
He looked at the door.
Then back at her.
"About three years ago, Jessica was involved with a man named Gary Flint.
You don't know him.
He was a contractor — small jobs, renovation work.
She was helping him run quotes through clients, taking a cut when they overcharged.
Nothing enormous, but consistent."
"What does that have to do with you?"
"Gary Flint was a friend of mine.
We grew up together." Marcus set down the mug.
"When I found out what they were doing, I told him to stop.
He told Jessica I knew.
She came to me and asked me to stay quiet.
Told me it was already over, that she was done with the whole thing."
"And you believed her?"
"I wanted to.
He was my friend." His jaw tightened.
"Three months later, Gary got caught.
The client reported it.
There was an investigation.
Gary gave a statement that didn't mention Jessica at all.
Took the full blame himself."
Jasmine watched his face.
"And she let him," she said.
"She let him." He nodded once.
"Gary lost his license.
Lost his business.
He moved out of state.
And Jessica — she walked away clean.
I was the only one who knew what she'd actually done.
She made sure I understood that if I said anything, she'd tell people I was in on it too.
That I helped cover it up when she came to me."
"Which you technically did."
Marcus looked at his hands.
"Which I technically did."
Jasmine sat back in her chair.
"So when you found out she was with my dad—"
"I panicked," he said.
"I didn't know how to tell him without explaining the whole thing.
Without it looking like I'd been sitting on information for two years.
And your dad — Jasmine, your dad isn't easy to talk to about Jessica.
You know that."
She did know that.
"He defends her," she said.
"Every time.
The man is in love.
Or he thinks he is.
And she knows exactly how to work that." Marcus finally picked up the mug, then put it down again.
"What happened this morning — the rent thing — that wasn't random.
Jessica knows your dad would never let her actually kick you out.
So why do it?"
Jasmine frowned.
"I don't know."
"Because she wanted to see how he'd respond.
She's mapping him.
Testing where his limits are, what she can get away with, how much she can push before he actually gets angry." He looked at her directly.
"You're not the target, Jasmine.
The house is."
The words landed quietly.
The house that had been her mother's.
The house her father had owned outright for eleven years.
The house Jessica had moved into twenty-two months ago.
"She wants the house," Jasmine said.
Marcus didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Jasmine's hands were cold.
"I need to tell Dad."
"Not yet," Marcus said quickly.
"Not without something solid.
She's careful.
She's been careful her whole life.
If you go to him right now with nothing but my word and a name on a phone screen, she will have an explanation ready before you finish your sentence.
And then it'll be you and me who look like the problem."
"Then what do we do?"
Marcus reached into his jacket pocket and put a folded piece of paper on the table.
"Gary Flint moved to Raleigh.
He's still angry.
He's been angry for two years." He slid the paper toward her.
"He'll talk.
I already called him this afternoon."
Jasmine looked at the paper.
"What exactly did he say?"
"He said," Marcus answered slowly, "that Jessica was the one who came up with the whole scheme.
That it was her idea from the beginning.
That she kept records — her own records — in case she ever needed them.
And that she used those records once before, on someone else, to get what she wanted."
The coffee shop felt very still.
"Someone else," Jasmine repeated.
Marcus nodded.
"Who?"
May you like
He looked at her with an expression that was very careful and very tired.
"Her first husband," he said.
