Chapter Twenty-Four: Realization

Rick sat inside a tiny interrogation room with Rollins, McNeal and a few police detectives, nervously wiping his palms against his pants. He had no idea why he was there but he began to get an idea it had something to do with Jo. It could maybe explain why she was so secretive, he thought.

His bit his lip nervously as he stared at the men sitting across from him, all studying him very closely. Rollins rose from his seat and walked over to him.

"Mr. Bonner, do you know why you're here today?" Rollins asked him, giving him a steely gaze.

Rick's mouth felt like sandpaper. "No, not really, sir, if I'm being quite honest with you," he answered.

"Well, do the names Blair and Joanna ring any bells?"

Rick gave Rollins a slow nod. "The Joanna you speak of is my wife...or maybe was my wife and Blair is her best friend."

"What do you mean Joanna was your wife?" Rollins asked curiously.

"She wanted to separate. I guess, on a legal standpoint, she's still my wife but as of today, we've separated."

"Huh...I see...well, Mr. Bonner, you're right about your wife still being your wife. You never got an official divorce so your wife is still your wife. However, we're not here to talk about your marital status. So you say you have absolutely no clue as to why you're here?"

"No. But I do have a feeling it has something to do with my wife's evasiveness. Even when I tried to ask her what was wrong, she never wanted to tell me. And I tried! She told me she had gone fishing with Blair but she was in trouble and needed some help."

"Did your wife or Ms. Warner ever mention to you that a man was shot and killed outside a bar in upstate New York and witnesses spotted them leaving the scene?"

Rick's eyes widened in shock. "Wait...what?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He asked.

"So you didn't know? Neither your wife or Ms. Warner ever mentioned anything to you about anything?"

"No! I swear to God!" Rick exclaimed, his voice straining. "Jo wouldn't tell me one thing! Christ! You really should try to find that guy that was with them. He would probably know."

"Guy? What guy? Tell us about him," Rollins said.

Rick sighed. "He looked a little bit younger than they did, I think. Maybe around twenty or twenty-one, maybe. He had dark hair."

Rick clenched his jaw in anger, struggling hard to contain all his emotions. Jo used me, he thought dejectedly. She and Blair knew all along about this guy getting killed and didn't want to tell me because they wanted to take off with all that money and leave town!

Rick then felt heartbroken. He remembered the day he wanted to marry Jo and how he'd proposed to her. He remembered how hesitant she'd been at first and how he'd promised to take care of things once he'd start working and provide for them and the family he'd hoped to bring. However, life happened and he found himself too busy with work and not home often enough to even try to make his marriage work.

It all became crystal clear to him now. She was hesitant because she never truly wanted me. She wants to run off into the sunset somewhere with Blair. He was confused as to how the man he'd seen with Blair fit into the picture but he had an inkling he was involved with this whole situation somehow.

Rick scrunched his face in concentration as he tried to remember the face of the man he'd seen with Blair. "They said they'd picked him up along the way or something. That he was a student...but he just didn't look right to me. He left when they got to the motel."

McNeal frowned, looking bored and uninterested. "Mr. Bonner, you do understand that you may be facing an accessory charge, don't you?" he asked.

"This is serious, Mr. Bonner. A man is dead," Rollins added.

Rick groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. "I know, I know! Fuck! I know something happened otherwise she never would have left! I'm trying to remember everything! You need to find that fucking guy! He probably knows something!"

If Jo wants to separate from me, fine! Because of her, I could possibly go to jail! She and Blair can have each other, if that's what they really want!

"So what's the plan, Blair? Are ya just gonna sit and stay drunk?" Jo asked crossly as she watched Blair empty her purse of all the empty Southern Comfort bottles and toss them out the window of the car.

Blair shrugged nonchalantly. "Try to, at least," she answered. At least when I'm drunk, I don't have to feel, Blair thought, a little moodily.

"Litterbug," Jo muttered under her breath.

Blair then took out her lipstick and began applying it to her lips, looking at herself in the side mirror.

As Jo rode on, the two women found themselves next to a semi-tanker gas truck. The mud flaps with the naked women silhouettes they recognized before came into focus. The truck noticeably got slower than they were going and Blair and Jo both couldn't understand why.

"Great. This kinda thing always happens when ya in a hurry," Jo remarked irritably. "Lemme see if I can pass this guy so we can move."

She then tried to nose out to try to pass the truck. However, a car suddenly came and passed them and the driver of the truck began honking his horn.

Blair smiled appreciatively. "Aw, isn't that nice?" she asked, turning to Jo. "Truck drivers are really just so nice! The best drivers on the road!"

As the two women continued on, driving next to the driver, they both turned to look at him. He was a much older gentleman with shaggy, unkempt brown hair, scraggly beard and was wearing a faded plaid shirt and jeans and a dusty cap and sunglasses.

The trucker then waved at them, smiling. Blair and Jo both waved back and gave him matching smiles.

He then began flicking his tongue at them and acting out some obscene gesture with his hand and arm.

"UGH! GROSS! OH MY GOD!" Jo and Blair both screamed out in disgust as Jo floored it and the car finally sped past the dirty trucker.

Blair looked scandalized. "Ugh! What was wrong with that man? Why do they have to do that? Now I'm gonna be scarred for life because of that."

I'm going to be sick, she thought. I take back what I said about truckers...well, maybe just that trucker.

"They think we like it," Jo replied. "They probably think shit like that turns us on."

The two women then stared at each other, shivering with disgust.

Like you, Blair, Jo found herself thinking as she found herself glancing at Blair forlornly as Blair began looking at herself in the mirror a second time.

Like you, Jo, Blair thought, inwardly sighing as she caught Jo looking at her out of the corner of her eye.