39
Lisa called Scott Gaither once we started back down the mountain. She gave him the details, and he said he would send a squad car to escort us to the hospital.
There were two squad cars coming on the highway as we turned off the dirt road. One did a u-turn, and the deputy driving signaled for us to follow him. The other was heading to the crime scene.
My shoulder was burning and numb at the same time. I thanked God when we hit the asphalt. My arm couldn't take the bumps much more. The adrenaline rush had subsided and the pain was beginning.
Scott was waiting for us at the hospital. I was escorted to a room where a Dr. James Ustice gave me a local and proceeded to extract a .38 slug from my shoulder. It only took 25 minutes to clean me up and bandage my shoulder. He cleaned the gash on my head and put a small bandage on it.
Scott had taken Lisa to another room to have her treated as well. She gave him her statement while receiving 15 stitches in her forehead. He came for my statement when he had finished talking to her.
"Feeling alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, just great."
He retorted, "I told you not to get involved."
"Don't gloat. I learned my lesson."
It was almost 11:30 a.m. This had been a long morning. I stood up, and my legs wobbled a bit. Scott steadied me.
"You might want to sit," he suggested.
"No, I need a ride."
Scott was reluctant, but he was fairly easy to convince when I explained to him what I needed to do. He and I left the hospital in his squad car.
The courthouse was only three miles from the hospital. Scott pulled into his own parking spot in front of the courthouse.
It was almost lunch. The court employees were filled with the anticipation of it. Scott led me to a small room that was used for conferences. He then delivered my message to Tom.
At ten minutes past noon, the door opened. Tom and Charlie Nichols entered first. They were immediately followed by Mandy.
"Max!" she said, "What are...What happened?"
"Austin's dead."
"What?" She stepped back.
"Yeah, it seems he killed Leigh Rosen."
"Oh my god," she exclaimed, "Did he kill Mark?"
"No, you did."
She stared at me silently.
I continued, "How long had you and Austin been...together?"
She held her stare on me as she said, "We weren't. We were just friends."
"Sorry, Austin kind of confessed to me," I lied. "Actually he was bragging. It was stupid. The kind of thing that people do in movies.
“But he did think he was going to kill me. I guess you guys were wrong about that."
She didn't speak.
"It was a beautiful trap. I walked right into it. I just have too many lives."
Charlie Nichols and Tom had been sitting there just as stunned as Mandy. Charlie suddenly regained his senses. "Mr. Sawyer, this is uncalled for. I must object."
"Go ahead and object. This isn't official yet. By the way, Charlie, I won't be paying the bill after all. It's nothing personal with you. I just don't appreciate being tricked, not to mention being shot.
"I believe Tom may be willing to accept a change of plea."
Mandy studied me and asked, "Did you kill him?"
"No, I had no idea. Lisa Day figured out he killed Leigh Rosen before he could shoot us in the back. Thankfully, Mr. Day taught his little girl not to trust anyone. I wish someone had taught me that."
I stood up. I was still shaky, but I didn't want to show it.
"I never asked for your help," Mandy declared.
"I know. In fact, you might have gotten away with it if I hadn't come. I was certain that you were innocent."
I thought I could see her eyes beginning to tear up. I turned toward the door. I put my hand on the knob. With my back facing her, I said stonily, "Confess Mandy. Tell them the whole story, or I will take the stand. I don't want to do that."
I opened the door and walked out of the room. I pulled the door closed. I walked around the corner and sat down on a wooden bench. I sat and stared at the wall for nearly twenty minutes before Tom sat beside me.
"You okay?"
"No," I answered.
"She's giving a confession right now."
"I knew she would."
Tom cleared his throat, "She asked me to tell you that she was sorry."
"Remember the other day, when I said I would find out who the killer was?
"Yes, I knew you would."
"I wish I hadn't."
Tom didn't say a thing. He put his arm around me.
40
Three days passed since Mandy made her confession. I had only seen Lisa for a few moments on Monday afternoon. She had been at her computer for two days putting the story together.
The Barnes County News had beaten the Arkansas Ledger to the punch. Lisa worked overtime to get her paper out early. The Little Rock paper did reprint her story. The story seemed to come straight from a soap opera.
Mandy and Austin had been having an affair for a while. They hatched a half-cocked plan. Austin had been involved with Leigh Rosen. He had used her connection at J.T.'s Club to embezzle nearly two million dollars. He convinced her that by marrying Mark, he could become their patsy.
Mandy had, likewise, situated Mark into the strip club and his sudden marriage. The truth was that Mark was deeply in love with Mandy. He had told her about Leigh Rosen. When Mandy told him to marry her to take advantage of her, he blindly agreed. He thought the marriage to Leigh Rosen would be short lived. It was, but so was he.
The money had been moved around until it landed in an off-shore account. Mandy had used Mark's accounts so that the paper trail would stay with him. My arrival was the only wrench in their plans.
"Here's what I don't understand," Lisa said as we sat beneath the stars on the deck of the boat, "Why bother killing us? We were helping to prove she didn't do it."
"Steve Reynolds," I answered. "The Little Rock PD found him Monday morning while we were getting closer to nature. He had been shot in the head with a .38. We were only a phone call away from connecting everything. Austin had to make a clean sweep."
Lisa took a sip of wine, "He would have killed us easily."
I agreed as I poured another glass of the 1998 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon. "He would have gotten us in the back of the head when we weren't looking. Then he would have probably hidden our bodies in the woods where we wouldn't be found for a long time. I suppose it wasn't the smartest thing we have ever done, letting him drive us deep into the woods. It's a good thing you solved it so quickly."
"Yay for me," she said gleefully. Then she asked, "But how did you figure out that Mandy was involved too?"
"While the doctor was taking the slug out of me, I started thinking about the shotgun toting she-male. Then it occurred to me that the killer had been both male and female. You were right about it being a she."
"Yay for me again."
"Besides Mandy had used Austin as her alibi. He should have never been connected. We hadn't even considered him."
Lisa took another drink. "Scott said that the Cells Etc. guy picked out his photo, and they found the cell phone he had used."
"He was cleaning up. Even killed Paul Grace just to get his heat off." I sat back and contemplated. "Still it was pretty smart to frame yourself. I knew it felt too staged."
"I guess it wasn't smart enough. Though we just got lucky."
I shook my head, "No, we would have figured out something when Steve Reynolds turned up dead."
"No," Lisa reminded me, "we would have been found dead in the woods with .38 slugs in our heads."
She was right. I tried to put the glass down, and my shoulder felt like someone had stuck me with a knife. I winced
"Are you okay?" Lisa asked as she moved over next to me and took my glass. "I feel bad that you got shot. It was my fault. I guess I owe you one."
"Not really," I said, "after all if it w
eren't for you, he probably would have gotten me in the head."
"Then I guess you owe me." She leaned toward me.
Our lips touched, and we kissed for an eternity that didn't seem to last long enough. She pulled back and looked at me. I had the biggest grin on my face.
"What is it?" she asked.
"You are right again."
"About what?"
"I want exclusivity," I demanded.
"Yay for me."
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