2:93 F**k You

Zaiden and Raelyn sat holding hands while they listened to the testimony from Chase. He was glad she was there with him.

“It was Rowana. She planned it. She had me put the bomb inside the casket with the body. It was all for nothing though. The intended target wasn’t even there.”

“Who was the intended target?”

“The wife of the man Rowana truly loves. Raelyn Maynard.”

Zaiden felt Raelyn squeeze his hand. He looked over at her just as shocked by what they heard as she was.

“She thought that if his wife was dead, she could get him back.”

“But isn’t she already married to you?”

“Yes, but that never stopped her.” Chase sighed when he thought about it. “She was married when I met her.”

“Can you tell us about that?”

“I was 14 when I met her. She was a teacher at my school. I was a student in her English class. She would ask me to stay after school and help her grade papers. After a few months we weren’t grading papers.”

“If you weren’t grading papers, what were you doing?”

“We were having sex.”

“And you were how old again?”

“Fourteen.”

“Did anybody find out what the two of you were doing?”

“Yes. Her husband.”

“How did he find out?”

“When school was on break we would meet at her house when her husband was at work. He came home early and caught us together.”

“Then what happened?”

“She shot him.”

“She shot him?”

“Yes. While I was getting dressed to leave she called 911 and told them that she thought it was someone breaking into the house. She knew it was him.”

“If you knew she had killed her husband, why stay with her? Why not go to the police?”

“I was young and scared. She said my family would be next if I didn’t do what she said.”

“What did she say for you to do?”

“She wanted me to quit school and leave town with her.”

“And that is what you did?”

“Yes. I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”

“How did Mr. Maynard come to be involved in this?”

“Rowana found a job working as a counselor with a camp group of young children. She had just finished the job when she met Mr. Maynard at the camp. She had seen the reports of his aunt and uncle looking for him and his sisters. She used him trying to protect his sisters to get him to do what she wanted.”

“Do you know how old Mr. Maynard was at this time?”

“I believe he was two years older than me at that time so he would have been sixteen.”

“What did Mrs. Mackell tell you her plans were for Mr. Maynard?”

“She was going to take control of his bank account. She knew that he was loaded.”

“How did she plan to do that?”

“Her original plan was to seduce him into marrying her. When she realized that could take awhile, she adopted him and his sisters instead. She was immediately given access tot he account so the money could be used for the care of Mr. Maynard and his sisters. She had told the three of them that she was just acting as their guardian so they would have a safe home. When Mr. Maynard was about to turn 18, she knew that the account would go back to him. She decided that having his kid would force him to share the money with her.”

“She was sleeping with her minor adopted son hoping to have his child so she could have a share of his money. How did that work out for her?”

“Not as well as she thought it would. She got pregnant, but a paternity test showed the child was not Mr. Maynard’s son.”

“You claim that your wife made you blow up the church during a funeral because she is in love with Mr. Maynard and wants him for herself. How did she get you to do that?”

“She said that if I did it, she would give me a divorce. If I did not do it, she would kill me. I had already seen her kill one husband. I knew she was capable of killing me also.”