Read The Ex Who Wouldn't Die for Free Online Page A

on t he day of the murder . "
     
    Amanda didn't really want to discuss her problems with the police, but she didn't want to look guilty, either. She supposed she ' d already admitted most of the sordid details anyway . What di fference did a few more make ?
     
    She clenched her hands in her lap and ignored her attorney. " That morning w e had another court date for the divorce. I thought it was finally going to happen, and I planned a motorcycle trip out of town as a celebration. Bu t his freaking lawyer got another freaking continuance. I decided to take the trip anyway, even though there was nothing to celebrate. Th en Charley called and said he needed me to bring him the gun."
     
    Daggett's eyes widened slightly. " The gun ?" he repeated.
     
    "Amanda, I advise you not to say anything else," Brian said, his tone adamant.
     
    Amanda looked at him and shook her head. "This is all going to come out. I'm not going to say anything that will make me look guilty because there isn't anything that could ."
     
    Brian and her father exchanged worried glances.
     
    Amanda rolled her eyes, then turned her attention back to Daggett. "Charley gave me a gun when we got married. Said it was for my protection. I thought that was a little strange at the time, but it made sense when I realized what he did for a living ."
     
    "And he wanted you to bring this gun to him?"
     
    "Yeah. Said he'd sign the divorce papers if I'd bring him the gun. I didn't believe him. I figured he just wanted to sell it. He persisted, of course. He's good at that." She frowned. "He sounded funny, kind of tense, stressed. I could tell he really, really wanted that gun , and I thought maybe, if he wanted it badly enough, just maybe he might sign those papers. So I went to his apartment."
     
    "You told him you were bringing him a gun? "
     
    "Yes."
     
    "But you didn't? "
     
    "No way! If he'd signed those papers, I would have taken it to him. But I know better than to give him what he wants and expect that he's going to give me what he promised. "
     
    "So you went to his place without the gun?"
     
    "Yes. My bike was already packed for the trip, so I rode over to his place. He opened the door just a crack and asked me if I had the gun. I told him he had to give me the signed papers first. He freaked out, started yelling at me, and I started yelling at him. I tried to get inside so we could yell at each other in private, but he kept me from coming in, and that made me really mad."
     
    "He kept you from coming in? Did he have company? Somebody he didn't want you to see? A girlfriend?"
     
    "I thought about that. But usually when I catch him red-handed, he gets…" She spread her hands, searching for the right word. "He turns into Super-Conman. Ultra slick. Really lays on the charm."
     
    "He didn't do that this time?"
     
    "No, he just kept shouting at me to go home and get the gun, and he was adamant that he wasn't going to let me into his apartment. So naturally I kept trying to get in."
     
    "You thought he was hiding something in his apartment?"
     
    "I wasn't really thinking rationally at that moment. He didn't want me inside his apartment so I was determined to get in."
     
    "Y ou threatened him."
     
    "I advise—" 
     
    Amanda interrupted her attorney's admonition . " Brian, there's no point in my denying it. Yes, I threatened him. I'm sure all the nosy neighbors heard me, th at time an d a hundred other times . I threat ened him on a regular basis . But I never actually threatened to kill him. It was always something like—" She waved a hand negligently, trying to call up some of her promises of bodily harm that didn't involve Charley's genitalia and a rusty serrated knife. "Like pouring hot wax in his ear while he slept or drilling a hole through his forehead, inserting a peg and ha nging a potted plant from it…stuff like that."
     
    Daggett grimaced . " And you don ' t think those things would have killed him? "
     
    Amanda shrugged. "Probably.