Page 96 of Pretty Poison

Helen nodded. “Tess and I are soulmates, even though we’re not romantically involved.” She cleared her throat. “To be clear, yes, I’d happily enter a romantic relationship, but Tess doesn’t love me like that.” How lonely was her life?

“Don’t you want to find someone who will?”

“No,” she said without hesitation. “Tess isn’t happy without a man in her life for long. She dated a lot between Bob’s death and meeting Donald Trout.” Helen shook her head. “Bless her heart, she has horrible taste in men, but she’s still looking for the epic romance she reads about in her books. Bob Duncan was an awful man, and she met a string of losers afterward.”

Rocky sat up straighter in his chair. This was the first time someone expressed a negative opinion about Bob. He knew he had to take her thoughts with a grain of salt, but it felt important to him. Rather than interrupt her to ask questions, Rocky let her talk.

“So, I decided to take action by steering her toward men who were worthy of her. I met Don through some charity work I did for the hospital. I knew he was right for Tess the moment we met, so I introduced them. They were happy for a few years, but his health spiraled toward the end. Don hadn’t made any financial arrangements to care for Tess, so she moved back in with me after his passing. She grew despondent after a while, and Grant suggested we come to Savannah. He wanted to keep a closer eye on her.”

“And you introduced her to Arnold Hamilton?”

Helen nodded. “I met him while working at a facility similar to this one.” She arched a brow. “I’m sure you know the name of my previous employer. Your grandmother isn’t as discreet as she thinks she is.”

Rocky shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t ask her to look into your background. I recognized you from the trial photos and asked your name.”

“She’s a hoot.”

Rocky chuckled. “She’s something.”

“Anyway,” Helen said, “like before, I introduced Tess to Arnie. She never knew I was setting her up, and I liked it that way. Tess wanted to get caught up in the romance of her relationships. I didn’t want anything to ruin it for her.”

“And Arnie was a good guy too?”

“Yeah,” Helen said softly. “I thought he’d do better than Don and make sure Tess was taken care of. The only good thing Bob Duncan ever did for Tess was taking out that life insurance policy. Arnie and Don, the kind gentlemen who’d treated her with respect, hadn’t shown her the same courtesy.”

“You think Arnie’s beneficiary change form was forged?”

“It’s the only conclusion I can draw since we couldn’t find the witness who supposedly signed the form.” She widened her eyes suddenly. “You’re a PI. Finding people is what you do.”

“I’ve tried, believe me.” He recapped the steps he’d taken to find Rona Danielson.

“Tess didn’t forge the document, and she sure as hell didn’t kill any of her husbands.”

“Did you?” Rocky asked.

“What? Kill her husbands or forge the document?”

“Either.”

Helen’s pale eyes looked like twin blue fires. Hadn’t Rocky read somewhere that those were the hottest-burning flames? “I would never have hurt Don or Arnie. They loved and deserved Tess.”

“And Bob? I spent twelve hours yesterday hearing how wonderful he was.”

“He was a fucking son of a bitch if ever one lived,” Helen hissed. Her eyes seemed to lose focus as she stared off into space. Rocky didn’t dare say or do anything to interrupt her. “I wanted to kill him. I begged Tess to let me do it. It would’ve been so easy. The man was taking a fairly high dosage of digitalis, which is a derivative of foxglove. The right amount saves your life, and the wrong one takes it. Just an extra pill or two, and she would’ve been rid of him.” Helen continued staring off into space long after her words trailed off.

“Tess didn’t agree?”

Helen flinched like she’d forgotten his presence, then met his gaze once more. “She loved the asshole, no matter how many times he hit her or sexually assaulted her.”

Rocky tried to hide his shock, but his mouth went slack anyway.

“You don’t believe me?”

“I do,” Rocky said. And he did. “I’m just trying to figure out why no one, not friends, family, or former coworkers mentioned anything about it. Did they love him so much they’d lie to protect him all these years later?”

Helen scoffed. “They’re not protecting him, Mr. Jacobs. Hell, they might’ve even convinced themselves that they believe the lies. Every single one of them knew he was physically abusing her.”

“Even the kids?”