Updated: June 18, 2023

Clay

I headed into court to prosecute Arthur Trevino and the multiple partners of his disreputable law firm. They had consistently, and over the course of many years, embezzled money from their clients and misappropriated funds in the millions of dollars.

The trial lasted two weeks with the amount of forensic accounting evidence and witness testimony. This time I didn’t stay at the hotel in Beaufort, I commuted every night back home to my fairy tale cottage to sleep with my farm goddess. It was well worth the hour drive. I got more rest, I ate better, had nightly restorative sex and the ride helped me collect my thoughts for the day. Made me a much more proficient prosecutor, at least I thought so. We secured multiple convictions. Trevino and his cronies were going to jail for a very long time.

Once the trial ended, Aubrey met with her mother’s sister. Her and I arrived to an agreed-upon location, a small restaurant in Charleston, and found them in a private dining room. Teresa, her son Antonio, and his wife Mary.

Over the course of two hours, and a long multi-course dinner, Aubrey extracted some vague details. Oddly, my wife barely touched her food. She ate her salad, some bread, but nothing else. She was guarded, and I followed her lead. I knew her digestion was better, but she saw something I hadn’t so far.

With the translation, the information was filtering to me slowly.

In summation, Marianna Genovese was the oldest of the siblings. There was a younger brother who they lost to tuberculosis when he was around five or six. The Genovese parents, or Aubrey’s grandparents were inconsolable with the death of their son.

They had gone into great personal debt from the medical bills. In danger of losing their villa and livelihood. The local costa nostra, or mafia came calling. They would wipe the debt in exchange for their loyalty and help. Details around this were unclear as Teresa herself was only twelve and was kept from the adults and their conversation.

At some point Marianna was working as a restaurant waitress, secretly for military intelligence in the town of Taormina but it might have been in the vein of being a double agent to satisfy her parents blood oath to the chieftains of the village.  Aubrey was having trouble translating some of the words, she claimed the old woman would slip into a local dialect she couldn’t understand.

With many pieces missing, Teresa spoke about Marianna falling in love and leaving Italy with Rogan Teller, Aubrey’s father. They were married and the family never saw her again. Marianna wrote to her parents and Teresa and sent photos of Aubrey as a new born. There was never a return address or reference to where they were living. Teresa always assumed it was South Carolina, she knew Rogan was originally from there and Marianna was looking forward to living in the Lowcountry with the promise of its mild weather and farmland.

When news of Marianna’s death came to Sicily, her mother tragically took her own life. Teresa knew her father would barely hold on, he drank himself to death eventually. All Teresa was told was that Marianna and Aubrey were dead in a car wreck. They made it look like an accident, but it was vendetta for disloyalty to the Cosa Nostra. Marianna had given the military intelligence enough information to bring down three villages and their drug operation. Many of them went to jail and some killed by firing squad. The bounty on Marianna’s head was competed.

The village locked down, no one spoke of it ever. Omerta–the Italian code of silence. Yes, there was still family there, but no one would ever speak of it again. Which explained to the both of us the stonewalling we got when we visited. Teresa immigrated to America to marry her husband and eventually settled in Myrtle Beach.

Aubrey tried for more answers, but that was all Teresa claimed to know. No one knew who put the order out and more importantly who executed the hit. She was incredibly happy Aubrey was alive and went on and on how much she looked like her mother. Teresa also gifted photos to Aubrey of her family. Her grandparents, her mother, and her mother with her younger siblings and even early photos of Aubrey’s parents when they were dating.

We readied to leave, grateful for their time and the meal. Courteously promising to see each other again. Somehow I knew those were empty promises on both sides.

Once in the truck for the ride home, I drove in silence, waiting. I knew Aubrey well enough by now, to know something was perking in her mind. She wasn’t satisfied with the meeting.

I finally broke the silence. “You gonna tell me what you’re stewing about over there?” I asked softly.

Aubrey exhaled, she reached to hold my hand.

“The old lady is lying, she lied the entire time. The language barrier couldn’t obstruct the tells. She rarely made eye contact, her blink rate high, kept her arms close to her and the odd lilt to her voice with some words. She’s responsible in some way. It was her, she betrayed my mother, and it might not be me, it may have to be Dean, but we’re going to get to the bottom of this finally.”

I nodded in agreement, it was time to give this over to a somewhat more objective investigator.  

“What made you pick at your food? Did you think you were being set up? Maybe poison?” I asked, concerned.

“Don’t trust not a one of them, that’s what my father used to warn me. I didn’t even know there were any of them. He never told me about this woman, and obviously he knew about her. But he put that in my head from young. I got a feeling when we sat in that room. I’m glad you caught it, not that I think your food would be tainted, but I wanted nothing to do with it.” She said anxiously. “They think the sun comes up just to hear them crow,” another thing he’d mumble all the time.” She said quietly.

I started to chuckle, “Somnabitch, that’s something my Daddy would say all the time as well, I keep forgetting he’s from down here.”

She smiled over at me, that face, her sweet, beautiful smile. What I wouldn’t do to keep that light glowing from her eyes.

“You want to stop anywhere on the way home, honey. You must be hungry.” I asked, squeezing her hand.

She shook her head, “No, let’s go home. I can find something in the kitchen. I’m done with being out in public for a while,” she said sadly.

Aubrey

A homicide tells a story.

There is a beginning, a middle and an untimely end. In every case I’ve examined, there was something left behind by the perpetrator. That was my job. To find the pieces of the puzzle the victim clung to in death to proclaim from the grave who did this to them.

Along the wall in my office, hung the thirteen photos of the USC Co-Eds who went missing forty years ago. Each young woman was exactly nineteen years old when she disappeared which we had narrowed down to between 1982 and 1983. This was not the generation of cell phones or social media, no digital trail existed for these girls.

The things they had in common were blonde, shoulder length hair, blue or green eyes, pretty smiles, and some of the classes they took at USC.

The box of initial files with investigator notes, interviews and photos provided all the same things I read about in college. There were very few details that tied the victims together other than those few. Our predator had a type and had eluded law enforcement for most of my life.

I paced the office, a tepid cup of coffee in my hand, mumbling to myself. “Talk to me girls, it’s time to tell me what you saw before you died.”

Each of the burial sites at Saint Helena were similar, but the aerial pattern taken from the drone still shots told me something. Thirteen graves arranged amongst the sandy marsh land were trying to tell me a story. The killer was leaving a map, a taunt, ‘come find me’ and oh was I ever gonna find him or her. I didn’t forgo the idea it could also be a woman.

In my experience, women killed their husbands or the mistress, and occasionally to my horror, their children. One of the first things Dean Grayson taught me was to solve 90% of crime follow the woman or follow the money.

Sitting at the dining room table in our Saint George home were the team I was a part of, Travis Morrison, Forensic Anthropologist from Atlanta, SLED Senior Special Agents, Wallis North, and Judy Master.

The table appeared like one of the many war rooms I have been a part of. We sat reviewing statements and photos, with Travis and I examining the x-rays from the remains.

“Bree, they were all strangled, that’s the common injury and probably their cause of death. All of them were almost the same height, age, and similar diets. Teeth all well taken care of, but these were girls with rich parents.” Travis sighed frustrated.

“What about the toxicology panels? Did anything come back that seemed strange?” I asked.

Travis shuffled through his papers and pulled the thirteen tox results. He handed them to me, “Your turn to examine them Bree, my eyes are blurring from continuously reviewing this information.”

The SLED agents were starting to rustle about, it had been hours we were working.

“Wallis, Judy any chance the original investigators are still alive? Can we talk to those guys who caught this case forty years ago?” I asked.

Judy Master glanced up at me and stifled a yawn, “Actually three of the original four are still alive, they are retired and live in the Columbia area. Wallis and I can arrange to get them together. You want to drive up there or do it over Zoom? Whatever makes you most comfortable Aubrey, we will set it up.” She said kindly.

Wallis stood up and stretched, “Aubrey, what are you thinking so far?”

“Well, my original gut is still in the circle of suspicion, nothing I’ve read so far excludes him. I need to deep dive on the graves. I called in a crime scene reconstruction expert to review the soil samples and other evidence you folks gathered up on the scene.  Our perp had to leave something behind.”

Wallis smiled brightly at me, “If we crack this, we are movie stars in South Carolina,” he huffed proudly.

I stood up and started to gather files together to bring back to my office. “Wallis, we are turtles, not hares, it’s something my stepson has been telling me since I was shot. Slow and steady is gonna win this race.”

We were interrupted by the arrival of my husband, I heard his truck pull up and checked my watch, “Shit, it got late, I’m so sorry guys,” I blurted wide-eyed.

They all spoke at once that it was no trouble at all and began to pack up their things.

Strolling into the house was its king, Clayton Hoover, in all his prosecutorial glory. Wearing a navy-blue suit and pale grey dress shirt and tie. His eyes were the same blue color. He looked tired to me and was carrying an invisible weight on his strong wide shoulders.

“How are y’all doing? Find me someone to award the death penalty to?” he teased the group, heading directly for me to kiss hello.

Not waiting for their answer, he cupped my chin and kissed me sweetly. “Hi Sugar, did you miss me?”

I laughed coyly, “I always do, Counselor.” I stared up into his eyes. I was right, something was bothering him, I could sense it in his body and his gaze.

I said goodbye to the team and confirmed our next pow-wow for a week from today on Zoom. Wallis and Judy assured me they would organize a meeting with the initial investigators.

After I closed the door, I went back to our bedroom where Clay was getting changed. He was sitting on the edge of the bed removing his socks, his suit already in the dry-cleaning bag. I handed him his sweatpants and teeshirt.

“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked quietly.

He was silent and angry. I waited. He stood to put his comfortable clothes on and took off his watch, placing it on the dresser.

“SLED got the complete download back on Adam’s phone, finally.” He sighed, sitting back down on the bed.

I sat beside him. “How bad?” I ran my hand through his hair, scratching the back of his neck lightly. I felt some of his tension dissipate. He turned to me and kissed me.

“I need a drink, Sugar and we can order a pizza or something for dinner. I’m too tired to go out and I don’t want you to cook tonight.” He stood up and placed the order for the pizza on his cell phone and I left for the kitchen to pour him a glass of whiskey.

He was quiet as we sat in front of the fireplace having our pizza picnic.

“Baby, are you going to tell me? Or should I just wait until you process this?” I asked gently.

He finished his dinner and took another sip of whiskey.

“Come sit with me,” he whispered. He was tucked into the corner of the sectional with the ottoman in front of him.

I stood to clean up our paper plates and napkins and washed my hands. I returned to the sofa and sat between his legs. He wrapped them around me along with his arms.

“Tell me honey, nothing can be as bad as him showing up in our doorway and trying to kill me.” I tried to assure him.

He was stoic and trying very hard to repress his anger.

“Clay, if you need to erupt over this, you go ahead baby. Get it all out, I know you feel helpless with this situation, but it was brewing long before you met me. This wasn’t your circus or your monkeys until recently.” I said humbly.

He took a deep breath and exhaled holding my head to his chest and stroking my hair gently.

“SLED briefed Jimmy Lee and me this afternoon. They have the complete download off Adam’s cell phone. There are emails and texts between Adam and his mother, they are vague, but they plotted it all out. The kicker is the video. Adam either on purpose or inadvertently recorded a live conversation with his mother and someone else is sitting at the table with them. His mother hatched the entire plan, purchase of the gun, buying the plane ticket and the rental car. Of course his own suicide was not a part of it. She is vicious and evil, her statements cold and calculating. And he captured it all covertly on the video….” Clay’s eyes were filled with tears. His jaw locked tight.

I sat up and turned to face him.

“Clay, who is the other person in the room with them?” I asked hesitantly.

He shook his head with disbelief. “You can’t see her, but I recognized her voice. She gives them the address to our Port Royal home and my schedule for the week.” He rubbed the tears from his eyes.

I knew, I knew without him saying her name. Of course it could only be one person who accessed that information easily.

“Shania Greene?” I whispered with horror.

He held my face in his hands. “Sugar, the warrants are all signed. They will both be arrested tonight. New Jersey has agreed to extradite Natalie Vergamo. I, however, cannot prosecute her, or Shania. Alan is overseeing this and Jax himself will take it to trial.”

I was relieved to hear our friend and the Assistant Attorney General, Jasper Moody was on board.

He took another long breath, “Sugar, you might have to testify, I’m certain of it. We are going to try like hell to keep you off the stand, honey. But…I don’t know. Unless they reach a plea deal.” He said sadly.

I touched his face and stroked his goatee. “You don’t have to keep me off the stand, I’ll be happy to testify against the both of them,” I said bravely. “I don’t know about you, but having Jax on this is like putting a tiger on their tails and that makes me feel better.”

“I agree, Jasper is a pit bull and he volunteered quickly. But about you getting on the stand, I’m not on board with that.” He shook his head unhappily. “Honey, you can be cross examined, it opens you up to any question they want to ask. They can dig up whatever they want on you and reveal it.” He said angrily.

“Clay, they can only cross on the direct testimony right? I mean what else are they going to dig up? I have a property with thirteen skeletons that have been discovered. That’s public knowledge. I have nothing else to hide. Who I am, what I do for a living, this is all now out in the open. I don’t have any more secrets. I promise.”

He reached for me and kissed me, he was still angry and frustrated.

“I’m so in love with you and every time I turn around I can’t protect you from harm. I feel useless and a poor excuse for a man. You deserve a better husband than I’ve been.” He lowered his head to his chest, trying to hide his tears from me.

“No, no, baby.” I lifted his chin to look at me. I wiped his tears with my thumbs.

            “A poor excuse for a man? Are you out of your mind? I’m madly in love with you. You are my hero, my rock, my anchor. You keep me safe and protected all the time. I never slept as sound as I can beside you. You are my home, my rest. My whole world. Are you going to allow Shania Greene and Natalie Vergamo to take your manhood from you? Those two worthless cunts? I warned you long ago, no one threatens my family. I will chew those two bitches up and spit them out before the first objection from the defense.” I kissed him softly.

            “Honey,” he whispered. “Natalie Vergamo might be your past, but Shania is mine. And she is the ring leader of this circus.” He said shaking his head.

I sat back and gave us some distance. I looked him over carefully.

“Clay? You did sleep with her didn’t you?” I asked wearily.

He shook his head adamantly. “No honey, it wasn’t me. She thinks it was…” he was shook up, I could tell the next thing out of his mouth was a secret he had carried for a long time.

“….It was Jimmy Lee, and I covered for him. I was newly divorced and couldn’t be hurt by it, he could ruin his life, his marriage and he would never see his kids again. I fell on the sword for him. She always assumed it was me and neither one of us ever corrected her.”

I believed him, I know he wouldn’t and probably couldn’t lie to me.

            “What does he think of all this now? Is he going to take this secret to the grave and let you hang for this until you go to yours?” I asked sternly.

Clay sat up and reached for me again, “Please baby, sit in my arms?” he pleaded. I complied and tucked up against his chest.

            “Jimmy Lee just spent an hour sobbing in my office, he’s sick about it, he wants to confront her, the fallout be damned. He’s devastated thinking he put your life in danger. Aubrey, honey, he’s my best friend. The only brother I’ve ever had. There are things between us that can never be spoken of. We’ve known each other since grade school football. I can’t out him on this. It was a mistake, too much drinking and the press shouldn’t have even been at this conference we were attending. It was dark and she was hanging all over me, I was too miserable and never attracted to her. Jimmy Lee and I went back to our rooms, but we had switched them earlier in the week and she bribed the desk clerk for the wrong room key. He was half passed out when she came looking for me and she climbed into bed with him. Jimmy Lee was barely conscious, and she left when it was done.  He scarcely remembered any of it until the next morning.”

He was stroking my hair and he sounded so sad and pathetic. I sighed heavily.

            “Baby, I would never ask you to do anything to hurt Jimmy Lee and absolutely I would not want to hurt Livvie. It doesn’t have to come out, why would it? But I told you this was a woman scorned. Shit, I hate it when I’m right.” I sighed.

            “Aubrey,” he whispered with dread.

I turned again in his arms to look at him,

            “There is something else you should know, in running the background check on Natalie Vergamo, I found out her maiden name…”

I froze, somewhere in my gut I knew what was coming, my former mother-in-law was born of Italian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. For the love of God, could she be a part of this ancient mystery?

            “Clay? Which? Genovese or Carpino?” I gasped.

            “Carpino,” he said with trepidation.

            “Christ on a bike!,” I gasped, using my husband’s favorite exclamation.

            “What do you think?” he asked.

            “Oh I know what to think, that everything was a set-up, meeting Adam, getting married. They were hunting me, her father or someone in her family messed up the hit on my mother and me. Natalie took it upon herself to finish her families business. And certainly this ties back to Teresa’s in-laws…..What I can’t rationalize is the obsession to get me pregnant, what would be the game plan if I had a child? Kill us both as well?”

My whole chest was breaking out into hives with the anxiety coming over me.

Clay gathered me back to him again,

            “Breathe Sugar, all the pieces are here, they just need to be fit together. I called Dean on the way home tonight. He’s flying down here this weekend. It’s time, honey. Time to hand this over to him.”

            “And Shania?” I asked wearily.

            “She’s not going to rest until she takes me down, and the only way to do that is to hurt you.  I won’t have it, not anymore.” He said adamantly.

Somehow, someway, sitting in his arms, listening to his voice, again, my peace was restored, and it occurred to me we had options.

             “Clay, there might be another way.” I said quietly.

He turned me around to look at me, “What are you thinkin’ Sugar?”

            I smiled gently, “Not yet, let me have this perk a spell. I’ll read you in when I’m sure about it, but I will tell you this, I do know it’s time to consult with the fireflies and butterflies and most especially their Queen.” I said smugly.

Clay looked at me wondrously, as if I shockingly took weight off his shoulders, he kissed me gently.

            “There is something my Daddy used to say,” I leaned in to kiss him again, “You come at the King, you best not miss.” I smiled slyly.

Clay

“Are they both in custody?” I asked as Jimmy Lee walked into my office.

“Yeah Son, lawyered up and waiting on arraignment. I just got off the phone with Jax, he’s playing the soundtrack to Gladiator in his office-that raging fool. I guess he thinks he’s going into the Coliseum instead of court. He said, the judge is going to ask for both them crows to surrender their passports.” Jimmy Lee slumped into the chair in front of me. “He approved the protection orders for Aubrey and the house, they can’t come within 100 yards of her at any time.”

“What’s with you?” I asked my best friend, he looked like a missed a week of sleep.

“I told her Clay, I told Livvie everything last night.” He exhaled with defeat. “Came clean with Jasper just now as well, wanted him to be read in on the background.”

“What???? Christ on a bike, Jimmy Lee! What made you do it, Son? I told you Aubrey would never spill that tea,”

Jimmy Lee sat up in the chair and leaned closer to my desk.

“Clay I swear to you, I barely remember the entire act. I was drunker than Cooter Brown that night, I don’t even know how I got it up. Matter of fact, I’m sure I didn’t even give a good fuck, literally. Funny thing is, Livvie is who pointed it out to me. She knows how alcohol affects my performance, she doesn’t think there was any real consummation due to the level of drunk I proclaimed to be that night.”

I stared at him amazed at his courage.

“How bad is the fallout?” I asked sadly. “You need a place to stay for a spell?”

He shook his head and smiled gently.

“Believe it or not, my crazy wife is on my side and yours, and would sell the both of us down a creek to defend Aubrey. Can you imagine? She almost applied war paint to her face and arms last night to take Shania out. The idea I slept with another woman–she fluffed off. She said she understood I was a victim and not proactively trying to be unfaithful and she is sure I couldn’t have actually done anything, she’s slept beside me for almost thirty years and knows I have whiskey dick.”

I laughed out loud, “Well smack my ass and call me Sally, we got our ole Livvie back sure enough,” I sat back in my chair and fiddled with my tie.

“Clay I tell you, she looked like she did in college last night, hands on her hips, pacing around the room and the amount of ‘oh hell no’s’ that she roared through the house were a damn inspiration. She still has nightmares about what Aubrey suffered. She can’t get the sight of her incision that first week outta her head.”

I nodded my head in understanding. “She should see it now, a thin pink line all healed up,” I said proudly. “So how did y’all end up last night?” I asked, worried it might have made a turn once Livvie had a chance to absorb it.

Jimmy Lee flushed red, “Clay, I’m not ashamed to brag, Son, I had the best sex of my marriage last night, that woman is fired up and I tell you, I’m fixin’ to send your wife some flowers and chocolates, them two being friends has changed something in my wife that is nothing short of a goddamn Christmas miracle,” he laughed, and I caught up into it with him.

“Yeah, she is something else,” I smiled. “I tell you what, I never would have bet on those two being close friends, but you know my Aubrey, the girl is some kinda magic.” I grinned happily.

“Clay, we gonna do whatever we can to protect her, Miss Aubrey, there is all levels of shit gonna float to the surface with this here case. You said something last night about it could even trace back to her Momma’s death? That right?” Jimmy Lee sat back in the chair and sipped his coffee.

“It’s a cluster fuck, but we have reinforcements on the way. Dean Grayson is coming in and will work directly with the Attorney General’s office. We have to step back, all of us. Dean is going to sit with Aubrey and Jasper to gather everything she has on Marianna’s death. Aubrey has to wash her hands now. The US Attorney is going to get involved if there are RICO testimonies from New York that can help. Now, how we hang Shania is a horse of a different color.” I sighed with frustration.

Jimmy Lee was leaning back in the chair and stroking his chin, “It’s a thin case on her Clay, she is sitting at a table, only her voice is heard, and she gives your address and schedule to them. She never engages in the discussion about planning to shoot Aubrey. True she is aiding and abetting a conspiracy, but we need more on her.”

We sat quietly with our thoughts. Collectively we couldn’t come up with a way without planting evidence and that was never going to happen.

I reached for my now cold cup of coffee and took the last swig.

“….unless” Jimmy Lee began.

I perked up, did he have something?

“….we let the women do what they do. Shania won’t find a place to rest her head in the Lowcountry once my Livvie gets to the sisterhood with her gum flappin’. I heard her on the phone with, hold on to your ass now Crocodile, she was clucking on the phone with Tessa this morning. Fixin’ to get the whole band back together, I reckon. Those hens collectively will have Shania run outta town by sundown, if we let them be who they are.” He laughed happily.

I sat quietly fiddling with the pens on my desk.

“Maybe we call in some reinforcements for that team? Help the ladies out a bit?” I smirked.

Jimmy Lee stared at me, and it came to him, his smile spread across his face.

“Kelly Parks?” he whispered conspiratorially.

I grinned back and nodded my head. “Got to be your call Jimmy Lee. I pulled that card the last time. And you know our women, they’re better investigators than Kelly Parks will ever be,”

Jimmy Lee nodded happily. “It would be my pleasure to make that connection, Clayton. I won’t never feel right about putting Aubrey in this position.” He said contritely.

I shook my head, “Redneck this ain’t on you. My poor wife moved to the Lowcountry with that baggage on her back.”

“No Clay, true enough her in-laws came with her, but that viper Shania is my doin’. I should have nipped that shit in the bud from the beginning. She out there carrying a torch for you like a spurned woman, and it was me could have stopped this Greek tragedy. No Son I’m all about settling this score and I can’t imagine Kelly Parks wouldn’t love to help.” He snickered.

I laughed with joy, “I tell you what, I’d hate to be Shania tryin’ to get a blow out at Miss Patti’s Salon after she makes bail.”

We both broke out into silly giggles, and we sounded like we did way back on the sidelines at Clemson.