by Karen Woods
Then I’ll take off with the money which Raoul and I got from the insurance company. I can live quite well, thank you, on $1.5 million, tax free and properly invested.
Poor Raoul. Simple Raoul. God rest his soul.
Yeah, right. As if God really exists. That fiction is good for hypocrites like Sister Mary Alice. A boogeyman to scare the simple minded.
Speaking of simple minded fools, there’s no way that the authorities can disregard all of the evidence that I sent their way. The strands of her hair beneath his fingernails will be damning. Her engraved stainless letter-opener shoved through his heart was an elegant touch. The monogrammed lace edged linen handkerchief that lay beneath the body. The fact that the body was found in the trunk of her car is simply the piece de resistance.
She’s going to roast over this one. It’s past time that she was called to account for her sins. So what if they are my sins that she’s paying for. If she hadn’t started this, everything would have been just fine. But she called the tune, so it’s time for her to pay the piper. I’m just sorry I won’t be here to see it.
Chapter 39
ALICIA
I sat in the conference room at the local police station on the morning of May 27. Geoff was with me.
The clock on the wall said that the hour had just gone past ten. The St. Louis detectives were due here any minute.
I sipped the coffee which Phil had given me only a couple of minutes before.
“This will all be over soon,” Geoff told me.
“Will it?” I demanded. “I’m beginning to believe that it is never going to be over.”
“Trust me,” Geoff said.
I looked at him for the longest moment. Then, I realized I would never be able to trust him completely. That shook me. Did I have any business marrying a man whom I didn’t completely trust?
“First,” Detective Sergeant Kathryn Larson, a tall lanky brunette, said, “I want to thank you for speaking with us. I know that this has been a difficult time for you.”
I nodded tightly. “What do you need from me?”
“You know that there was a body found in the trunk of your car?”
I nodded in acknowledgment of that fact.
“Then you also know that we’ve identified him as Raoul Hernandez.”
Again, I nodded.
She produced a photograph. “Is this the man whom you know as Hernandez?”
I took the 8 x 10 glossy from her. It was a head and shoulder’s shot of a dead man lying in the trunk of my car. Somehow, seeing it made it much more real and far more horrible.
“Yes. That’s Hernandez.” The bone weariness in my voice wasn’t something that I could mask.
I returned the photo to her.
Geoff took my hand. I pulled away from him. I just wanted to be alone.
There was a hurt expression on his face. Lord knew that I didn’t want to hurt him. But, I also didn’t want to be smothered in a mantle of care.
“Why have you asked for this meeting?” I demanded somewhat harshly of the detective.
“Do you own a stainless steel letter opener with the initials AMJ engraved on it?” she asked.
“I do. It was stolen a few days ago when my business was vandalized.”
The policewoman nodded. “When was the last time that you were in St. Louis?”
“May 7.”
“And your car was stolen when?”
“April 22.”
“Doctor Jenkins, all of the circumstantial evidence surrounding our discovery of the body leads us to you. Chief Mallory and I have had detailed conversation about the times and dates in question. Your alibi for the period when the murder must have been committed is tight. While you might have had motive, and while the murder weapon and the car in which the body was discovered were both yours, you didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crime.”
“Where is this leading, Sergeant?” Geoff asked.
“Doctor Jenkins, who wants to hurt you badly enough to try to frame you for murder?”
Chapter 40
ALICIA
“Who hates you enough to want to frame you for murder?” That question echoed through my mind the rest of the morning. Until today, the only person would be Hernandez. But, there he lay dead.
At noon, I left the college and went back to Geoff’s house. There was only one thing to do. I would be gone before Geoff would be home, I thought as I began packing. Part of me wanted to be out of here before he came home. And the other part screamed that I had to face him. Yet, I didn’t want to hurt him.
My engagement ring lay on the dresser with the note explaining why I was breaking the engagement. I had never told Geoff that I loved him. And he had never asked me for that sort of declaration. If the baby had survived, it would have been a far different matter. I would have given that child a stable home with two parents. However, that was now a non-issue. No matter how badly it hurt, I needed to move on. Part of that moving on was to try to straighten out my own life. And I couldn’t do that by making another mistake.
On my way home from the college, I had stopped off at the motel downtown and had rented a two-room suite with a kitchenette. It would serve my purposes at least until I could decide what I wanted to do.
All I knew was that I couldn’t go through with this marriage. I just couldn’t. It would be wrong. I wanted more in my life than what lay before me in this marriage to Geoff. I had thought this was what I had wanted. Certainly, the trappings fit my dreams. Yet, if the last few weeks had done anything, they had taught me to look inward.
I didn’t particularly like what I saw.
So, I had called off the wedding. It was rather short notice. But, I couldn’t marry Geoff. I should have talked with him first. Instead, I had simply called Father Douglass and called off the wedding. Then I had called and canceled the reception.
I snapped shut my suitcase and left the beautiful bedroom.
“I won’t be needing your services any further,” I told the bodyguards. “You are dismissed.”
The two men looked at one another, then at me. It was clear they thought I had lost my mind. I couldn’t argue with them. I wasn’t certain that I hadn’t. What I was about to do was profoundly dangerous and I knew it.
The taxi pulled up. I walked out of the house, without a backward glance. Until today, I had thought it was Hernandez who was behind this. Now, I wasn’t sure whom I could trust. I had to force the person’s hand. The only way to do that was to make myself vulnerable.
It would be an understatement to say I was frightened. Terrified came much closer to the truth. And that word didn’t even come close to expressing it.
I dropped the suitcase off at the motel, and walked down to the Church. A few months ago there had been started a perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, so there were always people there. I’d be as safe at the Church as I would be anywhere else.
It was an old Church, done in a true Gothic style. The parish council had wisely opted to keep its statues, stations, stained glass, and tabernacle at the main altar. The only hint of modernity was that the altar had been moved out from the wall. The air was faintly scented with incense.
Stepping into the Church was like greeting an old friend. I crossed myself with holy water, genuflected, and slid into the back pew. The ancient rhythm of the words of the rosary came unbidden by long practice even as my fingers worked the chain of beads. Yet, my mind was anywhere except on the mysteries of the faith on which I was supposed to be meditating.
Someone slid into the pew beside me. I looked over. It was Father Douglass. “Do you want to talk?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not now.”
“I’m here whenever you need me,” he said quietly.
“I know. Thank you.”
I finished one set of mysteries and moved on to the next set of fifty-four prayers. People came and went. I forced myself to appear to be paying attention to my prayers even though I was quite too aware of them as they came and went
.
Soon, I had moved on to the last set of mysteries. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you . . .”
Geoff slid into the pew beside me.
“Just what do you think you are doing?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.
Chapter 41
GEOFF
At first, I thought it had been a joke.
A tape of ‘Licia’s voice and Phil’s was in the mail drop at my office. I had played it, and wrote it off as another part of the psychological games being played with us by whoever was behind all this.
Yet, I couldn’t put the taped conversation out of my mind. Had ‘Licia slept with Phil? I couldn’t believe that, yet, the doubt ate at me. Doubt and jealousy.
The caterer called me for a confirmation that the wedding reception had been called off. Then I had gone home, the bodyguards were there with their story of ‘Licia dismissing them. Finally, I had found the note and the engagement ring.
As explanations went, this one was woefully inadequate. She had written that she was calling off the wedding. That she couldn’t marry me, and she was sorry for all the trouble that this caused. However, she couldn’t marry me because she didn’t love me.
That last part was not unexpected. She had never professed to love me.
I went to look for her. She wasn’t at her office. She wasn’t at the motel, although she had checked in. The clerk said that she had seen ‘Licia walking towards the Church.
Sure enough, there she was, on her knees with her old rosary in her hand.
“Just what do you think you are doing?” I demanded of her.
“I’m trying to pray,” she told me as she rose from her knees and took a seat in the pew.
“So, you just up and cancel the wedding without even talking to me about it,” I demanded.
She sighed tightly. “It takes two to make a marriage. You deserve better than me. I can’t be what you need, Geoff. I’m too broken.”
“We can work it out, ‘Licia,” I told her.
“No, we can’t. I tried to tell myself that we could. But, it won’t work, Geoff. We’d just end up hating one another, living our own lives, and being coldly civil to each other. We both deserve more than that.”
“Are you in love with Phil?” I demanded of her.
“That’s not an issue, Geoff,” she told me.
“I believe that it is. Are you sleeping with my best friend?” I demanded, my voice rising such that we were drawing the attention of the rest of the people in the Church. It was probably the best entertainment most of them had in some time. There was no helping it. The way gossip spread through this little town, the tale would be all over by tomorrow anyway.
“No!” she denied.
There was a time I thought I knew her. Now, I wasn’t even sure if she was telling me the truth. All I knew is that there was nothing soft about her. She was as hard and resolute as I had ever seen her. It was over. There was nothing I could say to make this right.
“It’s not you,” she said, her voice full of pain. “Geoff, I just can’t be the wife you need. I care about you too much to want you to be as miserable as you would be with me. You need a woman who loves you with all her heart. I don’t. And I never will.”
“At least, take back the bodyguards, ‘Licia,” I demanded.
She shook her head negatively. “No, Geoff. I have to face this. I have to draw this person out of hiding and make him strike at me openly. I can’t do that unless I’m standing alone,” she said. “And then it will be over. One way or another, it will be over.”
“You are going to get yourself killed,” I told her, trying to keep my horror out of my voice. She had to know how dangerous this was. She did know how dangerous this was. And it filled me with fear for her.
“That’s a possibility,” she told me, absolutely no emotion in her voice. “It’s a real possibility. But it is going to end one way or another. At this point, I don’t much care how it ends, as long as it ends.”
“You don’t mean that,” I told her, unable to reconcile this cold woman with the kind and lovely ‘Licia.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s my turn to go to confession. There’s a good chance I might not survive this. I need to get back into a state of grace.”
She rose and walked to the now available confessional. I just watched her go. I put my head down on the pew and sighed. Then, I said a prayer for her safety and for her sanity.
With no other option, I left the Church. She had made her decision. She would have to live with it, or die with it.
I felt about a thousand years old.
Leaving the Church, I walked took off walking. I needed to clear my head and work off this anger. I walked past Glenna’s clinic. She was just coming out.
She looked at me shyly. “Hello, Geoff,” she said.
“Glenna,” I acknowledged.
She was uneasy, clearly wanting to say something. “Geoff,” she began.
“Just spit it out, Glenna,” I told her.
She smiled at me and sighed. “Oh, Geoffrey! I heard about the wedding. Come on, I’ll buy you a coffee. Haven’t I always been a sympathetic ear?”
“Yes,” I said. “You have always been here for me. And I’ve always taken you for granted.”
“Now, that’s an improvement. Don’t be too humble, Geoffrey, or I won’t know what to do with you,” she replied. “I still make a fine cup of coffee. Do you want to talk?”
“Do you want to listen?” I asked her.
She smiled at me. “I have broad, strong, shoulders, Geoff. Let me help you through this.”
“A cup of coffee would be nice.”
Chapter 42
ALICIA
I tried to meditate on the psalms Father had assigned me for my penance. But, the words kept swimming before my eyes.
I sank to my knees and buried my face in my hands as my forehead rested on the pew in front of me. I didn’t want to die. When I made the decision to make myself this vulnerable, I had made it with my emotions frozen. Now, I was beginning to feel the fear again.
I heard someone slid into the pew beside me. The click of pistol being cocked brought my head up and around.
The woman beside me appeared to be quite elderly, until I looked at her eyes. My breath caught in my throat. “Sarah?” I asked in a tone little over a whisper.
She reached into my waistband and removed my Walther and holster. With an economy of movements, she dropped the weapon into her own handbag. “You will come with me, now,” she said lowly. “Do not call attention to yourself or you will die right here.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway,” I told her lowly. “Where doesn’t make a difference.”
“Ah, but if you come with me quietly, I’ll let the brat live,” Sarah replied on a whisper.
“Joanie?”
“If you don’t come with me right now and do exactly as I tell you, I will see that she dies. If I don’t make a telephone call in the next two minutes, telling them that I have you, and that we are on our way, the brat dies. Now are you coming with me?” Sarah replied at a level which was not loud enough to draw attention.
I sighed. “I’ll come.” What choice did I have; certain death for at least one of either Joanie or I, or a chance that she might slip up enough to give me an advantage?
“My car is parked just outside. When we get there, you will drive. Any false move and I’ll shoot you. And then the brat will get it between the eyes. Understand?” Sarah asked.
“Absolutely.”
The car had been a driver-training vehicle. Sarah had dual controls for the brake and the ignition.
The only thing that I was grateful for was we had been seen. Sister Mary Clare had seen us. Realizing that she had seen us, I dropped my purse and bent over. Hopefully, Sister would have seen the gun in Sarah’s hand when my body was out of the way. I only hoped that the good Sister had enough of her wits about her to report it.
Inside the car, Sarah star
ted the car and turned on the air conditioning.
“Drive. Down Main Street, stay within the posted speed limits, do not draw attention to yourself, and then make a left onto Oak and drive out of town,” she instructed, never taking either her eyes or her weapon from me.
I pulled up to a stop sign in front of the courthouse as Phil crossed from the probation office over to the courthouse. I knew that he had seen me. But, he gave no sign of that. I only hoped he understood something was very wrong.
The drive seemed as though it took forever. In reality it was only something more than about fifteen minutes from town, down winding country roads, to a run-down farm house.
It was a small house, probably originally a house for a hired hand. Most of the paint on the walls had long since perished. It was a lonely looking place. Rows of Osage Orange trees flanked the property. A scraggly overgrown stand of cherry and apple trees was on the Northeast. A garage leaned in on itself to the Southeast.
An ultralight plane put-putted overhead.
“Get inside,” Sarah ordered as she waved the gun.
I decided to wait until I had a good opportunity to overpower her. If I could get the gun away from her, I knew that I would stand a decent chance. If she would get within striking range again, I would take the chance.
The interior of the little house was no better than the exterior. We went in through the back porch into a bare-bones kitchen. The cracks in the plaster had given way to great gapping holes all the way down to the lathe.
“Sit down, Sister,” Sarah instructed.
A rickety wooden table and a pair of old chairs with nearly half the caning gone on the seats was the only furniture in the room. There wasn’t even a refrigerator or stove.
“Eat out a lot?” I asked.
“Sit down!” she ordered. “It’s time to die, Sister.”
Sitting was the last thing I wanted. I needed the possibility of moving. “You don’t want to do that, Sarah.”
Sarah Quinn laughed, deep and rich. “Oh, I definitely do. I’ve lived for this moment for a very long time.”