Jail Bird Read Online Free PDF Page B

do you think about that? Do you think that’s fair?’
    ‘But you…’ Adrienne’s voice faltered. She bit her lip and lowered her eyes.
    ‘But I what? ’ Lily leaned in close and Adrienne flinched and jerked back. ‘What, Adrienne? Come on. Finish the sentence.’
    ‘But you…you were found guilty. You…’ Adrienne’s voice trailed away again. She gulped convulsively. ‘You…you killed Leo. They said so at the trial. That he knocked you about and…and had an affair with me…and that night, that same night he’d been with me, he went home, and then…you killed him.’
    ‘And you believe that?’ said Lily.
    Adrienne nodded slowly. ‘You were convicted. You did it.’
    Lily nodded. ‘And poor bloody Matt. The poor sod’s still with you, after all that ?’
    ‘We talked it through. I said maybe we ought to split, but he didn’t want to. So we made a go of things.’
    ‘And you never did anything like that again, after Leo?’
    Adrienne shook her head. She’d gone almost pale under her fake tan; it was giving her a jaundiced look.
    ‘Pardon me if I fucking well laugh,’ said Lily. ‘Bet you’ve had more men than I’ve had hot dinners. You always were the gang bike.’
    ‘Look, you’ve got no right coming in here, barging into my home saying things like that to me,’ said Adrienne, and her eyes were fiercer now, although bright with unshed tears. ‘Your husband wasn’t exactly fucking perfect, you know. And you couldn’t have been all that, judging from how keen he was to bed me. ’
    ‘You bitch, ’ spat Lily, and slapped Adrienne, hard.
    Adrienne grabbed at her burning cheek, and suddenly she looked frightened.
    She didn’t recognize this person. This wasn’t the Lily she’d known years back. This Lily looked as though she really could kill someone in cold blood.
    ‘You know, you ought to watch your step,’ said Lily, pushing in even closer. ‘You think I’m a murderess, remember? I do things to people, ain’t that what the judge said? I’m a danger to society! You ought to remember that, next time you feel like reminding me of you and my old man dancing the horizontal tango.’
    Now Adrienne was sweating. ‘Look, I didn’t mean…’ she backtracked hastily.
    ‘Yes you did. You meant every word. And to think he tried to deny it. Did you like the flowers, and – oh yeah – the Tiffany bracelet, the one he never gave me ?’
    Adrienne looked blank. ‘What Tiffany bracelet?’ she asked.
    ‘Oh, don’t give me all that old pony.’
    ‘Leo never gave me anything like that.’
    ‘Bollocks!’
    ‘He didn’t! What would have been the point? I couldn’t wear it, could I? Matt would have spotted it straight away and asked where it came from, and I never wanted to upset Matt, not really, he was so good to me.’
    ‘He was a bloody fool. Turning a blind eye to all your goings-on because he liked a nice, quiet, cosy domestic life.’
    ‘Matt’s a good man, ’ retorted Adrienne.
    ‘Yeah, but boring as fuck. Or else why were you crawling into my bed and shagging my husband, Adrienne? With Leo constantly denying everything, telling me I was going nuts, and you know what? After a while I actually started to think he was right, I was just going crazy, I was paranoid, just like he said I was. When all the time I was right. Him and you were getting cosy, and all the time there I was being made a fool of. You and him. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it.’
    ‘It wasn’t like that,’ blurted Adrienne, tears spilling over and streaming down her face, making ugly tracks in her foundation. ‘I loved Leo. I’d have left Matt for him, I told Leo I would, but he didn’t want that.’
    ‘And what about me in all this?’ shouted Lily in rage. ‘Leo was married. To me. And he had two little kids. How the hell could you have done that, split up my marriage?’
    ‘For God’s sake!’ Adrienne erupted, throwing her arms wide. ‘You didn’t even love him! You never got over