Chapter 1

I felt a profound sense of sorrow as the man I called my friend walked out of the courtroom, on his way to a life spent in prison. That he deserved it, we both knew. He had killed the man I loved without a thought for the consequences.

He felt he had done the right thing, to save me from myself.

“Mr. Black?” I heard someone say from behind me. “May I have a word with you?”

I turned to see a reporter who had been dogging me since the trial began. I shook my head, moving rapidly up the aisle and through the doors into the hallway.

“I only want your reaction to the verdict,” the reporter said when he caught up with me.

“Justice was served,” I replied, doing my best to rein in my temper. “Now leave me alone.”

I heard him sputter, obviously trying to come up with something else to ask. I turned my back on him to stride down the hallway and exit the building. There were more reporters there, holding microphones while interrogating the prosecuting attorney. One of them saw me, but it was too late. I was around the corner of the building before he could work his way through the crowd.

I reached my car where it was parked on the side street, beeped the doors open, and slid into the driver’s seat, putting the key in the ignition. For a brief second, I looked back at the courthouse, then took off.

I had things to do before leaving town for good. One of them was dealing with the person who had convinced Jason that Mick was corrupting me. Jason was a good man and a great friend. But he thought Mick had seduced me into helping him, when the rat bastard lied to him about what Mick and I were doing. Quite the contrary. I was a willing, if silent, partner, although it had nothing to do with the story that the rat had told Jason. I came up with the ‘how.’ Mick took it from there.

Anyway, Jason believed what Carl had told him, so he did his best to get me away from Mick. When that didn’t work, Jason killed him.

I’ll never forget walking into our apartment to find Jason standing over Mick’s dead body, blood pooling on the floor, a gun in Jason’s hand. He turned to me, sadly shaking his head. “If you’d listened to me.” Dropping the gun, he sank down on the sofa. “Call the police. I’ll…I’ll tell them I killed him out of jealousy. That way they won’t find out.”

Convincing the cops of that should have been a far reach. Jason was a well-known businessman in town, as straight as they come—and engaged to be married. None the less, he managed to pull it off, telling the cops, “I’ve known Zane since we were in high school. We were the best of friends. Have been forever.” That was the truth. What wasn’t, was hisadmittinghe’d been in love with me “forever,” as he put it. He told the police that he had been afraid to come out to me, as it would have jeopardized his business and, later, his engagement.

“Then Mick came along,” he said. “He wasn’t right for Zane. It made me see the light about who, what, I really am. But Zane wouldn’t listen when I told him that I loved him and was willing to let the world know. And Mick? He laughed when I begged him to get out of Zane’s life. So…I went to their place and killed him. End of story.”

The police believed him. The jury did, too. Even his attorney, who had done his best to try and make it seem as if the murder was committed on impulse, rather than being premeditated, couldn’t keep him from being found guilty of first degree murder. Hard to do, since Jason had arrived carrying a gun.

Jason wasn’t lying when he said he loved me. But not thatway. He loved me as a man he’d grown up with and respected, the same as I loved and respected him. We were, as he had said, the best of friends. That’s why he didn’t go to the cops to tell them what he thought was going on with me and Mick. He killed Mick instead, to keep me from facing the consequences of the crimes he was certain Mick had gotten me involved in.

I think he believed that, with Mick dead, I’d reform. I can only hope he keeps on believing that. It will make his life in prison somewhat more bearable.

Right now, I have to take care of the rat. He’ll be the first person I’ve ever killed—unlike Jason. And Mick. But I will do it, for both their sakes. You see, parts of what Jason told the cops weren’t just hisstory, although he didn’t know that. They were also the rat’s—A.K.A. Carl Williams.