Essence of Path by Neviah Wohl

Author:Neviah Wohl [Wohl, Neviah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-21T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

Kelly Hogan had bleach blonde hair, a nice average face, and thin figure, and she knew how to play up her assets with dramatic makeup and expensive clothes. She sat across from Diana in an elegant Upper West Side cafe. Diana could sense barely hidden hostility in her brown eyes as she was talking about Kari.

“Jim was my good friend,” Kelly explained with a sad smile. “He was a great guy, funny, charming, handsome, there were always girls who went after him, but Kari Williams was desperate. I spotted it right away when Jim introduced her to his friends. I was confident she was more interested in Jim’s money than in Jim himself, but I didn’t say a word, since he seemed so delighted. Then weeks went by and I saw how right I was.”

“You had this bad vibe about her at the beginning?”

“You bet I did, I could tell she was entitled, you know the type, girls who want attention all the time, they’re possessive as hell. She always tried to get on Jim’s radar, she showed up at places where Jim was hanging out. She called him at night, saying she had an accident and she was in a hospital, of course she was fine and she was laughing that Jim believed her.”

“She played cruel jokes on Jim?”

“Not really, she tried to manipulate him. She was obsessed. She didn’t want to lose him. She had to be perfect, at college, at work, in her private life, I guess it was pathological, her competitiveness. She just couldn’t let Jim Walker get away from her. Once Jim told me she’d followed him home, and she’d been waiting in front of his building for three hours until one a.m. Jim found it flattering, but I thought it was creepy.”

“Did you warn him that something was off with her?”

“No, no, I didn’t. I didn’t want to seem bitchy. In the end, he was considering a restraining order against her.”

“He told you so?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Did he say he was afraid of her? He thought she was unstable?”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. I didn’t ask questions, and he didn’t discuss his problems, any problems, work-related or girlfriend issues. He was an optimistic guy, he hoped he could deal with everything alone.”

Diana felt her temper rising, she felt some subconscious anger against Kelly Hogan. Hogan was a longtime, close friend to Jim Walker, the prosecution would use her testimony, and she would harm Kari’s case. Diana worried about the case, plus, she felt unexpected, inappropriate, unethical excitement. Kari had a dark and secretive side, she was manipulative and obsessive. Diana liked her more and more.

***

Soft, humming murmurs of the distinctive nightly sounds of Manhattan barely entered Diana’s home. She was still working, comparing similar cases to Kari’s case. She had worked as a criminal attorney for more than two decades, she knew how the system worked, but cold hard numbers still surprised her, she was appalled to find how criminal justice system neglected female victims of violence, especially African American women.

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