"And she told you this? You? Not me? Not her father? Not her mother? You?"
"That's really what you want to focus on right now? Did you miss the part where Katie said she's been playing a secret game with J.T.? You remember him, right? The guy that's supposed to be dead right now? The guy we killed?" She stepped towards him, leaning to see the screen on her phone again.
"I didn't miss it," he snapped. "I just … I find it odd that Katie chose to tell you all this when she's been with me all day."
She huffed. "I just told you, she said he told her not to tell anyone. You have no idea how hard I had to work to get her to tell me and that was only because he didn't mention me specifically. And I promised her that I would keep her secret. That's why I wanted you to take her to Hannah. I didn't want her to know that I broke her confidence. If we have any chance of her telling me …"
The sound of his short puff of breath stopped her words.
"What? What does that mean?" She stared at him, completely stunned as to why he wasn't reacting.
"That's why you told me to take Katie home? Because you didn't want her to know that you told me?" He glared at her, his eyes narrowing as he studied her face. "Right. It wouldn't possibly have anything to do with he fact that you wouldn't want to try and convince my daughter to lie to my face."
"Lie to your face?! What the hell are you talking about, Billy! I just told you that J.T. is alive, that he's been playing some kind of twisted game with your daughter and you're somehow turning this into my issue."
"I don't have to." He bit back. "You already have. You always do. Everything has to be about you. Everything you say and everything you do is for one reason and one reason only and that's to serve whatever your greater purpose is."
"You know what – if you really believe that, fine! Right now, my greater purpose is keeping your daughter safe and getting you to believe that J.T. isn't dead, so whatever you think about me is secondary. I don't have time to focus on that right now. All I want to hear from you is how we're going to handle this. I can go to Christine and I can tell her what Katie told me. I've got the picture and I can show her, but I'm afraid that she'd want Katie to come in and talk to her and that would be really difficult for …"
"The picture that she drew while she was here, in your office, with you."
"Yes. She drew the picture here. I don't see what difference that makes, Billy. Unless you're saying …" Her eyes widened as she stared at him. "You think I'm lying. You think I somehow coerced your daughter into drawing this picture?" The words escaped her at the moment, the sheer audacity of the accusations amazing her. "Why would I do that? Honestly. Why would I possibly want to do that?"
"Oh, I don't know." He chuckled sarcastically. "Maybe you don't quite like being the town pariah. It can't have been lots of fun to lose everyone and everything in the space of a few days and now, if you suddenly make J.T. alive …" He tossed his hands into the air. "Voila, no murder. Hard to charge someone with a murder if the supposed victim is walking around alive."
"So you think I manipulated Katie into drawing a picture for J.T. and into saying that she was playing a game with him so that …"
He interrupted her. "You're the only one that actually heard Katie said that."
"Oh." Her voice shook with anger now. "So now I'm lying about the entire conversation. Now, I got her to draw a picture but I've completely made up the conversation. Hell, why stop there. Maybe I drew the damn picture too."
"Maybe you did. I don't put anything past you."
"That's just great, Billy. I'm trying to keep everyone safe here. I got your daughter to open up to me, something that you and Victoria and the entire Newman clan hadn't been able to do – I did! I got her to tell me the secret she'd been keeping for weeks and then I got you to take her home instead of taking her to the ranch where I knew he could get to her. I did all that and still somehow I'm the bad one?! I'm the villain?"
"Just calling it like I see it. Being direct. Being honest. But I can see where that would be a foreign concept to someone like you."
"Damn it, Billy! Is it really that important to you to trash me? Is it more important to get digs in at me than it is to protect your daughter? To protect your family?"
"That's rich coming from you since they wouldn't need to be protected right now if it weren't for what you said and what you …."
"This isn't about me!" She screamed at him, the words echoing throughout the room. "I didn't start this. I didn't cause this. J.T. started this. He was abusing Victoria. He was hurting her and that's why Nikki did what she did. That's why we all had to do what we did and now, with what Katie told me, I think we should all be focused on finding him and making sure he gets exactly what he deserves."
Billy glared at her. "Oh believe me, I want to make sure everyone gets what they deserve."
"Okay." She let her breath out evenly, trying to quell the rage that had built up within her. "Good then maybe you can stop blaming me for this for two seconds and help me figure out what the next step needs to be. I'm not sure Christine will take my word for this, so do you think Katie would …"
"You don't actually think I believe any of this, do you?"
"What? Haven't you been listening to me? Haven't you heard a word that I've said?"
"Oh. I've heard every word. I just don't believe a damn one of them."
She stood there in front of him, her mouth slightly open as she struggled to think of something … anything she could say to get to him. The eyes that stared back at her were so different, so harsh, so cold. This wasn't the man she once knew. "Can you please just take us out of this. Just pretend this isn't coming from me. Pretend that someone else told you this. Just suppose someone else came up to you and told you that J.T. was alive. What would you think? What would you do?"
"That doesn't matter because it didn't come from someone else. It came from you. And that makes it worthless. Completely and totally worthless."
The tears that burned behind her eyes weren't any one emotion. They were a mixture of sadness, anger, despair and so many other things. "You remember," she managed, "you remember that I tried to tell you. When this all comes out, you remember that I tried to tell you the truth and you were too stubborn to listen."
For a split second, she thought he might reconsider, the look on his face softening for a mere fraction of a second but then the stony expression returned and his huff of derision filled the air. "Sure," he huffed. The sound of the door slamming behind him filled the room as she let her body fall onto the couch. She knew the truth now and it was up to her to prove it.
