I nodded, encouraging her to continue. Inna took a minute to wipe her nose.
“Then I heard a car pulling into the back lot. I didn’t know what to do. I froze. The best thing would have been to give up and come back some other night, but I didn’t move fast enough. The hall was long, and the back door was opening. I saw a closet nearby, so I dove into it and shut the door.
“I heard muffled voices and recognized Dr. Bloomberg. His voice rose higher than the other person’s, and I realized he was angry. For some reason, I thought the jig was up and the police had found out, so I cracked the door a little to be sure.”
“After that I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Brandon was out there, and they were talking about the pictures. Was he confronting the doctor? If he was so worried, why didn’t he tell me before I left that he was going to do it? No, he let me cry and embarrass myself like an idiot.”
“Brandon said something like, ‘You know you’ve been found out, don’t you, Doc?’ He had this teasing tone to his voice, like it was all a big fat joke.”
“‘By one of your patients,’ he teased in his cruel way. By then Dr. Bloomberg started looking a little green around the gills. I probably looked the same way, and Brandon says, ‘Bet you recognize her name. It’s Inna Brinlee.’”
I covered my mouth in a gasp. I started to speak, not knowing what to say, but she carried on with her story. I figured she wanted to get it all out and refused to hold anything back.
“My own boyfriend was selling me out. I didn’t know if I should stay in the closet or jump out and punch him in the throat for betraying me. In the end, I just stayed there, feeling stupid, probably looking stupid.
“Brandon kept right on talking, saying, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to get me the pictures, Doc? We could make some good money.’
“Brandon wasn’t trying to expose Dr. Bloomberg. He wanted to work with him. How could I be so wrong about a guy?”
I tried to soothe her. “Don’t blame yourself, Inna. You’re not alone in finding yourself right there, your love betrayed.”
She nodded, but I doubt my words comforted her. “Right then, my love died, and I hated him. I started thinking about how I would tell the sheriff all about their little scheme and see them rot in jail—right after I got my own pictures.
“I was going to wait them out in that closet, but what I didn’t know was that Brandon already knew I was there. He’d named me on purpose, knowing I could hear him.”
I gasped.
“The doc didn’t know I was there. He was too focused on his perversion. ‘Those pictures are for me,’ he said. ‘I don’t need any extra money. I make a fine living with my practice.’ Disgusting man!”
My stomach roiled as she spoke. I put a hand up to my mouth to keep from throwing up.
“That’s when Brandon turned around to look right at the closet where I hid. He had this creepy look on his face, and I was sure he knew I was there.”
“The doc insisted he wasn’t interested and that Brandon should go away now that he had the camera, but Brandon didn’t go. I think the doc was being stupid for someone in his position. Anybody with eyes could see Brandon was going to get what he wanted or else, but Dr. Bloomberg acted like he had a choice.
“Brandon told him, ‘We should talk about this a little more, Doc. The doctor looked like he would blow his stack, but Brandon just dropped into a chair like they were discussing the lunch menu. Then Brandon suggested he go take a break. I don’t know. Maybe the doc need a breather from all Brandon’s badgering, but he went.”
“Went where?” I asked.
Inna shrugged. “To the bathroom, I guess. When he was gone, Brandon called me. I didn’t have a choice, so I came out. When I demanded to know why he had done that to me, he acted all innocent, said something like, ‘I looked out for my own business interests. Everybody does it, Inna. You’re still just a kid and don’t know how the world works.’ We’re not that far apart in age!”
I agreed with her, but I understood that she was young, and he used that youth to prey on her. “What happened next?”
“He dragged me over to the doctor’s desk and forced me to sit in Dr. Bloomberg’s chair. There was a cup of coffee there, still steaming. I hadn’t noticed it before, and I realized he must have brought it in with him, planning to pull an all-nighter.
“I was so mad at Brandon I told him you’re in just as much trouble as the doctor’s going to be when the police finds out what he did. I though Brandon was going to get scared, but he was calm as ever.”
“He had a plan?” I suggested.
Fresh tears filled her eyes. “He said, ‘Say it does come out, what the doc’s been doing here. What do you think is going to happen?’ I knew what would happen. Brandon and the doc were going to go to jail, and I told him so. I thought he would start shaking in his boots then, but he kept on taunting me, saying, ‘What about you?’ Then he flat out says, You killed Dr. Bloomberg, Inna.”
“But the doctor was in the bathroom at this point,” I blurted out, confused. She agreed.
“That’s what I told him. Then he put this small vial of suspicious liquid into my hand. He said, ‘Let’s talk about what kind of future you’ll have here or in New York once I make sure your photos are included in the bunch when this story breaks. Everyone will know. They’ll see your face as one of the victims, and if you think this will be contained in Briney Creek, think again.’”
The horror of what she could potentially face as I compared it to my own experience came through to me. Multiply that by a million in the way that teenagers’ emotions work.
“He kept taunting me, asking, how long I thought it would take to blow over and for people to forget. Then he started in on New York, saying the news would spread there and my chances for living there would be ruined.”
“Oh, Inna, sweetheart, you didn’t fall for his lies?”
She ducked her head. “I knew he was manipulating me, but all I could focus on was my face in the news and everyone knowing about what the doctor did to me. Brandon kept talking about how dirty it was and disgusting until I started crying. He said Dr. Bloomberg was a bad person and deserved death.”
My heart shattered. I saw where this was leading.
“I…I emptied the vial into the coffee, Makayla. Just when the doctor was coming out of the bathroom. I regretted it as soon as I did it, but Brandon shoved me into the closet and locked the door. I could have banged on it to get the doctor’s attention, but he was a bad guy too. What would happen if he opened the door and found me hiding? I was stuck there. Eventually I fell asleep, and when I woke up, it was morning. By then, it was too late.”
“Let me guess,” I said, my heart and head aching at this point. “The doctor did let you out.”
She nodded, tearing up for the millionth time. “Yeah, but before he could even say a word, he died. I actually had to jump to the side, or he would have fallen on me. Then I ran out the back door.”
“Why didn’t you say anything later, Inna?”
She spread my hands out before her, looking sick, scared, and confused. “How could I? I killed him, Makayla. Brandon didn’t. I did.”
A small sob escaped her, and I drew her tighter into my arms. She laid her head on my shoulder. Far down the road, a vehicle came into view over the rise, and I knew this was the end.
Chapter Twenty-One
Inna’s story tore at my heart. Not for one minute did I blame her, but I knew the law wouldn’t see it that way. Spencer wouldn’t see it that way. She might get a lesser sentence, but in essence, Inna had chosen to end the doctor’s life to stop the risk to her own. Brandon hadn’t actually threatened to kill her. We were in a terrible mess.
“Maybe you can get a reduced charge,” I suggested without certainty. “I’ll stay with you, and we’ll talk to Spencer together.”
“O-okay, thanks.” She kept her head down, turned into herself, shoulders slumped. I wondered how she would even make it to court and how s
he would fair if she were convicted. In the end, Inna wasn’t the hard young woman she tried to appear to be. No one was in the face of charges for murder.
I quaked on Inna’s behalf when a car engine drew close. Turning slowly, we both faced it and discovered it wasn’t Spencer at all. Rather, Isabelle drew alongside us. She didn’t cut her engine but kept her foot on the break.
“It seems you’ve had a bit of trouble, ladies. Are you all right?”
A bit of trouble? A bit of trouble was an engine overheating or a flat tire, not the car being wrapped around a light pole.
“We’re fine. Thank you, Isabelle.” I wasn’t especially annoyed with her, but I saw the shift in Inna’s expression and sensed the decision she had come to. “Inna?”
She gently slid her arms from around me and stepped back. I had no choice but to let her go. Her agonized gaze met mine. “I’m sorry, Makayla.”
“This isn’t right, Inna.” I watched in helplessness as she backed toward Isabelle’s car, and I knew in that instant, Isabelle would take her along. “What you said to me was true, right? You didn’t do it deliberately, I mean, you didn’t plan it?”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “My mistake was loving him.” Her hot gaze slid to the car and back to me, and the anger dissipated to be replaced by a mixture of shame, sorrow, and determination. “I was wrong, Makayla, and it might be wrong now to run, but please…”
“Inna.” I pressed a hand to my mouth.
“I have to go,” she whispered.
Anger surged in me. “You killed him because he posed a risk to you leaving Briney Creek. Now you’re expecting to get away with it?”
She shook her head, and the sheets of midnight black hair swung around her face. My heart ached. “I’m not getting away with it. I’m going to pay the rest of my life. I know it, but I am going to run. Please understand.”
I didn’t understand. Not for her to stay or for her to go. I wasn’t sure about any of it, and I didn’t stop her either. She walked around Isabelle’s car to the passenger side, opened the door, and climbed inside.
I glared at Isabelle, wanting her to refuse Inna a ride but wanting her to take her away too. “You were wrong. You said I wouldn’t lose Inna.”
Isabelle’s gaze filled with sympathy. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re not losing her. She’s here, safe.”
Here. I realized she meant alive. Diana, my real sister, was gone. Inna had been saved from a killer. To think of her following in my sister’s footsteps because of a man she loved, I couldn’t have born it. Inna running wasn’t lawful, but it was all I could live with.
Isabelle’s car disappeared from sight, and I slid to the ground until I heard shuffling in the car behind me. I struggled to my feet and wiped my face. Brandon started shouting to be let go and called my name. I put distance between the car and me. A short time later, Spencer arrived and drew me into his arms.
“What happened? Are you okay?” He searched my face.
Isabelle, you were right about Inna, but could you be right about my love? In the end, it’s going to be okay?
I had a lot to share with Spencer, but when he heard Brandon shouting, he moved to the car. Soon he had Brandon loosed and cuffed. Another officer arrived who took Brandon into custody. Spencer grasped my arm and pulled me away from the other officers and the emergency crew, which had arrived. “Talk to me, Makayla.”
I hesitated, knowing where this was going. He wouldn’t approve. I recalled when he and I had first begun to see each other. I had shared my past, the mistakes I had made and how I had unwittingly been an alibi for my ex-brother-in-law. Would Spencer believe I knew nothing of Inna’s crimes? Even if he did, would he believe my delay now had nothing to do with allowing her to get as far away from Briney Creek as possible? I didn’t know if deep inside, that wasn’t my motive for vacillating.
“Spencer, please try to understand,” I began, and told him everything that Inna shared, every detail. Somewhere along the retelling, he had removed his solicitous hand from my arm and listened in silence. I shivered in the chill mid-morning air, but I knew it had nothing to do with the weather. “So, she’s gone,” I concluded.
“Gone where?” he demanded, his voice cast low and icy.
I didn’t want to incriminate Isabelle, too, so I debated back and forth, saying nothing, looking guiltier, I’m sure.
“Do you realize I can arrest you for aiding and abetting a fugitive?”
My gaze flew to his. “I didn’t aid anyone. I told you she’s gone. I didn’t help her go!”
His lips drew back from his teeth, making him look strangely predatory. I retreated a step. “You wanted to be a consultant for the police. You swore to obey the law.”
“I don’t remember that.” I didn’t recall it. “Besides, I didn’t break the law.”
He stomped away, barking orders into his radio. I remained where I stood, twisting my fingers. Glancing down the empty road as if I might see them there, I wondered if Isabelle and Inna would be caught. Would Isabelle stay with Inna, or would Inna strike it alone?
“Makayla.”
I jumped when Spencer called my name, and I walked over to him. He stood by his SUV.
“Get in.”
I froze. “Are you arresting me?”
“I said, get in.”
I did, and he climbed into the driver’s seat. I supposed if he were arresting me, I would be handcuffed, but maybe he was doing me a courtesy because we had been lovers. Had been lovers. I was convinced that was over now. Spencer’s sense of justice was too big to allow someone like me to remain in his personal life. Someone tainted by sin, swayed too much by her heart.
He drove toward town, and both of us sat in silence.
“Why did you take so long to come?” I asked when I was brave enough.
His mouth tightened, along with his hands on the wheel. “Because a few different people decided at the same time it was a good idea to claim they had captured the killer.”
I gaped at him. “Really?”
“Yes, really. All bunk, of course.”
“But I told you.”
“Told me what?” If anything the chill increased in his tone. “You said you captured him. You didn’t name anyone. In fact, Makayla, you didn’t even tell me you were in an accident. Why should I have thought your call was any more real than the last guy’s?”
He was right, of course. I had simply trusted he would come, and he had trusted me to tell him everything. How odd we were in our way. “I’m sorry.”
He said nothing, and a short while later, he pulled up to my apartment building. I looked at him, but he stared straight ahead. Given no signal or instruction, I took it to mean he wouldn’t be arresting me. I muttered my apology once more and climbed out of the vehicle. As soon as I was clear, Spencer pulled away.
The news of Brandon’s arrest for the murder of Dr. Bloomberg and Lissa Maxwell came out. Knowing that Inna had been dating Brandon, everyone assumed Brandon had killed for Inna’s sake.
The citizens of Briney Creek had no idea of Brandon’s duplicity, and Spencer left it that way. No signs of Inna had been found, although the police had put out an APB on her. In fact, Allie Kate told everyone who would listen how her sweet, innocent daughter had fallen in with the wrong boy, and she dreamed of the day Inna knew it was safe to come home. I dreamed of it too.
Spencer didn’t call, and I knew it was truly the end for us. I accepted it. I believed my pain would fade with time, and knowing it, I was able to adopt a positive outlook. The warm season would come after winter, and that would mean new clients, new pictures, and another new start. Anything was possible, and I was just the woman to make it happen.
The End
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
2 Multiple Exposures Page 16