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Sal, still driving fast, flung Trina’s Bentley into the driveway of a large house in Henderson in what could only be described as a community of acreage.

Every house in that area was separated by nearly twenty acres apiece, as if the residents were living a rural life in the suburbs.

A car was already on the driveway when Sal first flung in. He parked behind it.

But Reno looked at Sal. “What’s your problem? Stop slinging my wife’s car like it’s a got damn toy.”

“It is a toy compared to my ride,” said Sal.

Reno, in the front passenger seat with Sal, gave him the evil eye.

“Who lives here?” Trina asked as they all began getting out.

“Zam used to live here. Alice lives does,” said Sal.

Gemma and Trina looked at each other. So the bitch went home.

No surprise there. But that didn’t lessen Gemma’s anxiety.

That widow insisted she had proof of a rape.

Gemma had to see it to believe it, but it still was worrisome.

What if she did have proof? She and Sal were nowhere near out of the woods yet.

Sal went in front of all of them as they walked to the door. But instead of knocking, Sal and Reno pulled out their weapons, and Sal leaned back and kicked the door in. Then the two men rushed in. They knew it was overkill, but they had their wives with them. They weren’t taking any chances.

Alice, on hearing the intrusion, ran out of a bedroom onto the upstairs landing to see who was in her house. Sal pointed his gun up in her direction. “Bring your ass down right now!” he demanded.

Alice was skimpily clad in a t-shirt, but she raised her hands and made her way downstairs.

“Anybody else in this house with you?” Sal asked her.

“Why are you here? I don’t wanna talk to you,” she said.

“Is anybody else in this bitch, bitch?” Reno asked her impatiently.

“No. Nobody,” Alice said as she made it to the bottom stair.

But Reno ran up those stairs, his gun drawn, just to make certain.

Sal grabbed Alice by the arm and rushed her until he was throwing her down onto her sofa.

Sal and Trina remained standing. But Gemma had to sit down in one of the chairs that flanked the sofa. She was just that nervous.

Reno came back down and began checking every room downstairs too.

“Why are all y’all in my house?” Alice asked them. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Like hell you didn’t,” said Sal. “How did I end up naked in that bed? How did that happen, Alice?”

“How should I know? You’re the one that drugged me.”

“Bullshit!” said Sal.

“You’re the one that raped me!”

“Bullshit!” Sal yelled again. “I was the one who woke up so groggy I could barely see straight. Your ass was wide awake.”

“Now that’s the truth,” said Trina.

“I was raped!” Alice blared out at Trina. “How could you say that? How could you defend him? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh stop with the woe is me act,” Reno said as he came back into the living room with an all-clear nod to Sal. But his focus was on Alice. “We know all about you and Chainsaw Pete. We know all about that shit. So cut the act.”

They all could see a change in Alice’s demeanor when Reno mentioned Chainsaw’s name. “What Chainsaw?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”

Reno looked at Sal. “Now I know she’s lying,” Reno said.

“I am not a liar!” Alice blared out.

“Quit lying,” said Trina.

“We know you was doing the dip with Chainsaw long before you even married Zam,” said Reno.

“We know you married Zam to have a steady paycheck coming in because Chain had fallen on hard times. His syndicate was bleeding money and men left and right and he was reduced to shaking down ma and pop grocery stores just to make a living. With Zam gone, you two needed some quick income.”

“That’s not true,” said Alice. “That is not true!”

“It is the truth!” Sal yelled back. “That was no secret. Everybody knew the state Chain was in. His ass been bleeding money for years.”

“And we know about the insurance too,” said Reno.

Even Sal and Gemma didn’t know what Reno was talking about, although their expressions remained unchanged.

But Alice looked at Reno as if she was puzzled too.

But Gemma was beginning to view that chick as one big fat actress.

She was willing to play any game she had to play to get out of whatever hotseat she got herself into.

She’d play the game even if she was caught.

“What insurance?” Alice asked Reno. “I didn’t have any insurance on Zam. ”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about that three-million-dollar insurance policy Chain’s old man had on himself. When his old man died in prison, Chain thought at least he’d have that much to live on until he could squander that too. But it didn’t work out, did it?”

Gemma couldn’t resist. The attorney in her was too inquisitive. “Why didn’t it?” she asked Reno.

“Because that insurance company knew who they were dealing with when they issued that policy to Chainsaw’s old man.

They had a morals clause in it that said there will be no payout if his old man died while in the commission of a crime or while convicted of a felony and incarcerated for said felony.

Chain kept the policy active because he figured his old man would get out before he croaked and that wouldn’t be an issue.

But it didn’t work out that way. Did it, Alice? ”

Sal and Gemma could see a crack in Alice’s armor, although she still looked defiant.

“When Chain found out that he wasn’t getting paid from that insurance after all,” Sal said, “he had to come up with a new plan. That’s where me and Zam came into the picture.”

“This is all ridiculousness. This is craziness,” said Alice. But she was rubbing her forehead as if she was trying her best to think of a way out.

“It was curious to me from jump,” said Sal, “when Robby told me Zam was the only one killed. Zam was the old pro. He was careful in brawls. He was always the one who stood back to make sure no weapons were suddenly drawn. But he’s the one that got iced? That never made sense to me.”

Then Sal’s emotions began to take over. “But the idea that a good man like Zam would be used as a convenient pawn in Chainsaw’s money grab just enrages me.”

“But that’s not what happened. You saw it, Trina. You saw he was naked in my bed. He raped me and he knows it!”

“I didn’t see no rape,” said Trina. “I saw Sal in a compromising position for real for real. But your ass was a willing participant.”

“That’s not true,” Alice said.

“Then prove it,” said Gemma. “You said you had proof. Show us the proof.”

Alice’s defiance returned. “I don’t have to show you a damn thing,” she said.

“Oh you’re gonna show her,” said Sal. “You don’t drag my name in mud and expect to get out of that shit alive. You’re gonna show her. Now where’s the proof?”

“They saw you naked in my bed,” said Alice. “That’s the proof! You’re just trying to cover it all up. That’s all this is about.” Then she began crying and was real good at it, Gemma thought. Tears were dropping from her eyes and everything.

“I was so vulnerable,” Alice said. “I had just learned that the love of my life had been killed. But your husband always wanted me,” she said specially to Gemma. “Even when I was with Zam, he still wanted me and used to buy me gifts.”

“That’s a got damn lie!” Sal said forcefully.

“And that’s why he took me to his lake house and raped me!”

Sal moved closer to her with rage in his eyes. Alice, playing on that rage, stood up toe to toe to Sal. “What you gonna do, Sal Luca? You gonna hit me for telling the truth? You gonna slap me? Is that what you wanna do, Sal? You wanna slap me?”

“No,” said Gemma. “My husband is a gentleman. He won’t hit a lady.” Then Gemma gritted her pearly white teeth. “But he’ll lay out a bitch,” she added, and Sal did just that. He slapped Alice so hard that she went sideways to the floor.

Then Sal grabbed up Alice by her t-shirt and held her up to his face. “I’ll take you out with my bare hands if you don’t tell the truth. You tell my wife the truth!” he demanded and then shoved her away from him. She fell backwards onto her sofa. “Now tell her!” he demanded.

Alice was holding the side of her still stinging face. It was immediately badly bruised. And what Gemma considered as Alice’s fake tears returned. “It was never what I wanted. He made me do it!”

“Who made you do it?” Gemma asked. She wanted this record clear of any ambiguity.

“Markie made me do it,” said Alice. “Y’all call him Chainsaw but I don’t call him that.

” Then she looked at Reno as if she was playing on his sympathies too.

“You were right,” she said. “When that insurance company told him to take them to court, he knew he wasn’t going anywhere near any courts.

So he was devastated. And that’s when he cooked up this scheme.

He knew Zam was close to Sal. He knew Sal would give the death notification because that’s what he did for his men. And he wanted me to play on that.”

But Gemma had to hear it, not from Sal or even Reno’s research. She had to hear it straight from this female. “You were going to play on the fact that Sal loved Zam by doing what?” she asked her.

They could tell Alice didn’t want to go there, but she was still rubbing her face.

If she didn’t know what Sal was capable of, she knew now.

“He gave me some drug to put in Sal’s drink.

I offered him a drink while he was at my house, but he declined it and said I wasn’t safe at home and he needed to take me to another location.

So I went with him because I trusted him. ”

“And because Chain told you to go with him,” said Reno.

But Alice was shaking her head. “That wasn’t in the plan at all. When I went upstairs to get dressed, Chain was up there.”

Sal looked at her. “Chain was upstairs when I came to give you that death notification?”