Page 25 of Ride the Lightning

“I have a feeling the hits didn’t stop there,” Felix said.

Jonah shook his head. “Not even close. Thank God tomorrow is Friday, and we beat our deadline to submit test results to Dickface a day early. At least I should be ending the week on a bright spot,” Jonah said.

“So, you spent a lot of time locked in your office with the adorable Avery this week?” Felix asked.

“How do you know he’s adorable?” Jonah asked. “You haven’t even met him.”

Rocky snorted. “Dude, you talk about him all the time. The guy has you wrapped around his finger, so he must be irresistible.”

Jonah could only stare at his friends for a few moments. “I wasn’t aware I spoke about him so much.”

Felix and Rocky just grinned.

“I sense there’s something bigger going on that you haven’t shared with us,” Felix said.

“Marla was waiting on my front porch when I got home Monday night. She has terminal cancer and has decided not to get treatment,” Jonah said.

“Oh, man. That’s rough. I’m really sorry,” Felix said.

“Me too,” Rocky added.

“Thanks, guys. I’m having a hard time processing it all,” Jonah admitted.

“We can skip the podcast production meeting if you want to go home and get some rest,” Rocky suggested.

“I appreciate it,” Jonah said, “but sleep has been elusive this week, and I don’t expect tonight will be any different. I’d rather not sit home and stew over things I can’t change.”

“If you’re sure,” Felix said. Jonah nodded. “Then let’s choose the subject of our next podcast episode.”

“I think the Tess Hamilton case is interesting,” Rocky said. “She’s suspected of killing all three of her husbands for their insurance money. They could never prove it before she died last year.”

“New evidence has come to light recently though,” Felix added. “We can focus on how law enforcement officers were fooled by her June Cleaver looks.”

“It would be easy to credit Tess’s appearance for her success, but there had to be more to it. She was forty-two when her first husband died, so her demeanor and looks probably played a significant role,” Jonah said. “What about later when she was sixty-five and eighty? She had to have made it nearly impossible for them to detect the poison in her husbands’ systems.”

“Or was some of her success due to luck?” Rocky asked. “All of the men had pre-existing health conditions, so the coroners weren’t going to spend a lot of time looking for causes of death.”

“None of them had the same health issue either,” Jonah pointed out. “If all three men had heart issues, for example, it would make the pattern stand out more. Was that luck or part of her plan?”

“I don’t think it was luck,” Felix countered. “I think she was an evil genius. Hamilton moved around the state of Georgia so the deaths wouldn’t be easily connected. She seemed to take her time remarrying and executing her plans. She poisoned them slowly, so their decline was gradual and not obvious.”

“The only person who raised a red flag was the life insurance adjuster for her last husband,” Jonah said. “If not for her, we wouldn’t have known about Tess Hamilton’s string of victims.”

“True,” Rocky said. “Maybe we could get the insurance adjuster to join the podcast for an interview.”

“That’s a good idea,” Felix said, making a note. “I think this has excellent potential.”

“What else do we want to consider?” Rocky asked.

They continued discussing some of Savannah’s most sinister crimes for another hour. Being one of the oldest and most colorful cities in the United States, they wouldn’t run out of unique stories to share on their podcast for years.

“I still think Tess is the most interesting,” Felix said after they narrowed it down to their top five favorites. “What do you think?”

“Yeah, I agree,” Rocky said. “Jonah?”

Both men looked at him. “Yes”was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t pull the trigger. As intriguing as this case was, he couldn’t forget the pleading in Marla’s voice. He couldn’t ignore the tension in his gut when he’d discovered Bo Cahill was incarcerated the night someone killed Earl Ison.

“Lola the Ice Queen,” Jonah finally said. Maybe he should’ve found another way to reopen the investigation that didn’t involve his friends, but Jonah trusted them.