by Abbott, Alex
Justin had forgotten to look at his phone once they arrived at the police station and he couldn’t get a signal out at the Forestry. He looked at it now and noticed 7 messages.
He looked at Detective Winters and asked, “What’s going on?”
“We’ve released MacGregor.”
“Why?” Justin asked already knowing the answer.
“The forensics team went over the hard drive. It seems his work computer was hacked and the incriminating evidence deposited onto the hard drive.”
“How can they tell?” Ginger asked.
“I don’t know,” Detective Winters sighed. “They have their ways of figuring it out. But it looks like someone planted evidence to make it look like MacGregor murdered your sister.”
Justin thought so you’re not as good as you use to be Connor.
“I’m sorry Mr. Taylor. I wish we had better news for you.”
“I have something for you,” Justin said as he pulled out the handkerchief containing the cigarette butts.
“What’s this?” Detective Winters asked as he took possession of the handkerchief and opened it gingerly.
Justin told Detective Winters of his and Ginger’s journey to the crime scene in the Forestry. He explained finding the unusual cigarette butts and that only one person he knew of smoked this particular brand. Also, this person claimed the tobacco shop imported these Italian cigarettes only for him.
“That shouldn’t be too difficult to find out if he’s the only one purchasing them. I’ll send an officer over to the shop right away. I’m going to have these butts analyzed as top priority as well. Hopefully there’s some useful DNA on them. Since he was arrested before, his DNA will be in the database.”
Detective Winters thanked Justin and Ginger for bringing the evidence to him. He also advised them against seeing Connor. That was going to be difficult since Justin wanted to get Aaron and Lily far away from him.
After leaving the station Justin told Ginger, “I’ve got to get Aaron out of Connor‘s house. That shouldn’t be difficult, but Lily’s a different story. I don’t want to leave either of them with a killer.”
Ginger’s blood ran cold. “Maybe I can get Lily to go with me. She’s wanted me to look at some linens for the wedding reception. My God! Poor Lily…she has no idea. Why would he do this Justin? She was like a sister to him!”
“There was some trouble between them as I remember,” Justin replied. “Lily told me she was upset with Amy for telling her to delay the wedding. I didn’t know what was going on and wasn’t about to get into the middle of a cat fight so I brushed it off.”
“Lily told me the same thing,” Ginger stated. “She was upset that the last conversation they had was a fight over Connor. Do you think this was the reason? That he killed her because she was trying to turn Lily against him?”
“I don’t know what goes on in a twisted mind,” Justin said as his anger increased. “All I know is I need to keep Lily, Aaron and my club safe.”
*****
Justin and Ginger arrived at Lily and Connor’s house just as they were finishing dinner. Justin had dropped Ginger by the condo so she could get her car, then she followed him to Lily and Connor’s. Lily was stacking the dishwasher as Aaron brought her the dishes from the kitchen table. Connor had retired to the living room.
“Aaron, you ready to go?” Justin asked as soon as he and Ginger walked in the door.
“Wow, so soon. Wouldn’t you like to sit and visit a while?” Lily asked.
Justin looked at Ginger who said, “Well I wanted to see if you’d like to go look at those linens tonight.”
“Oh, I don’t know Ginger…I’m kind of tired tonight.”
“It’s just that I’m going to be busy the rest of the week and tonight would work out the best for me,” Ginger replied, attempting to coax her into leaving.
“Okay…I can go then. I really want your opinion on those linens and the cloth napkins too. Let me get my purse. Justin, Connor’s in the living room if you want to say hello.”
“That’s okay Lily. Aaron and I need to get going,” Justin said as he put an arm around Aaron’s shoulder to pull him towards the door. At that moment Connor walked into the kitchen.
“Hey bud. Why you leaving so fast…come in and have a sit with me,” Connor said motioning towards the living room. Justin could see the top of the cigarette pack in his shirt pocket. It was all he could do keep from ripping his throat out.
“No, I need to get Aaron home,” Justin said trying to keep his composure. Ginger could tell he was struggling and hoped Lily would hurry. Justin practically pushed Aaron out the door as he grabbed his jacket. “Thanks for taking care of him,” Justin said as he scooted out the door. “Ginger come here I need to tell you something before you leave.”
Ginger followed him out the door. Justin motioned her over to the car, out of Aaron‘s earshot.
“You know what to do right?” Justin asked her.
“Yes,” Ginger said her heart pounding.
“I love you baby,” Justin said kissing her mouth gently.
“I love you too.”
At that moment Lily walked out the door and headed for Ginger’s car. “Let’s go,” Ginger said to Lily as Justin and Aaron took off on the bike.
******
Justin and Aaron pulled up at the clubhouse. Justin called the WWMC in for a church meeting, telling them it was urgent. He made the calls prior to visiting Lily and Connor’s home so all of them were waiting when Justin and Aaron arrived. Justin told Aaron to go play on his laptop computer in the office while they had their meeting. Aaron shuffled off as Justin threw his leather cut onto the bar.
“Is this about the police letting that fucker MacGregor go?” Trick asked as he walked up to Justin.
“No,” Justin said. “Well, it’s part of it. I’ll explain in the meeting.”
“You want to start now?” Trick asked. “Everyone’s here but Connor.”
“We’re starting without him,” Justin said as he walked to the meeting room.
Trick shrugged his shoulders and yelled to the group the meeting was starting.
Ginger drove Lily to the linen shop so she could show her the different designs. She felt bad for Lily. She was so excited about this upcoming wedding. Ginger didn’t like lying to Lily, but there was no other choice. She had to play this game until it was time for Justin to tell her the truth about Connor. Once they were finished and Lily had picked out her table linens and cloth napkins for the reception they climbed into Ginger’s car.
“Oh Lily, would you mind if we stopped by the clubhouse on the way to your house. I left my blue sweater there and I’d like to wear it to work tomorrow.”
“Sure, no problem. I’m just glad we had the chance to go pick out my linens. I can’t wait for this wedding to happen.”
Lily was so happy, like any bride to be should be. But Ginger knew that the awful truth yet to be revealed would destroy her.
*****
Before he could start the meeting Justin received a phone call from Detective Winters.
“Hold on guys, I’ve got to take this call,” Justin said as he exited the meeting room.
“Justin, I wanted to get back with you as soon as possible on the cigarette butts. I watched myself as the lab analyzed them. Unfortunately there’s no useable DNA on them. Likely washed away by the rain. I’m sorry.”
“Can’t you get him on being the one person in town that smokes these fucking blue Italian cigarettes?”
“I talked to the DA while the lab was performing the analysis on the cigarette butts. I wanted to know if we have enough to warrant an arrest even if we couldn’t get DNA confirmation. He said no. There’s just no way he believes he could convince a jury it was Connor without there being reasonable doubt. We needed that DNA. Also it’s your word the cigarettes came from the crime scene. I’m sorry Justin, but that doesn’t mean we’re stopping. We’ll keep looking for a link.”
“Thanks for letting m
e know Detective Winters. I appreciate your help and getting back with me so soon.”
After ending the call with Winters, Justin made one more phone call before entering the meeting room.
As the meeting came to order, Merlin asked if they should wait for their VP Connor.
“No,” Justin answered. “We’re here to talk about Connor.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Trigger asked.
Justin explained to the club members what happened earlier that day, visiting the place in the Forestry where Amy was found, discovering the cigarette butts, and speaking with Detective Winters about why they released MacGregor. The club members looked stunned as they too realized that a member had killed one of their own. They knew Connor smoked those damn cigarettes, even bragged how the shop special ordered them just for him. Who else in this town would smoke those idiot blue sticks?
They took a vote and it was unanimous. At that point, Ginger walked into the clubhouse with Lily. The members looked shocked to see her as they filed out of the meeting room.
“Did you have a church meeting without Connor?” Lily asked with surprise on her face.
The club avoided her, not sure what to say. “What’s going on?” She asked looking from one member to the next.
Justin walked out of the meeting room and up to Lily. Ginger went to the office where Aaron was playing World of Warcraft and shut the door.
“I have to tell you something and I need you to sit down and listen.”
Lily had been around the club long enough to know this was important shit. She sat down at one of the tables.
“You’re scaring me Justin.”
“I don’t mean to Lily, but this has to happen tonight.”
“What has to happen?” Lily started to shake.
Justin squatted down beside her chair and took her hand. “Nothing’s going to happen to you Lily, but Connor…” His voice trailed off as he cast his eyes to the floor.
“What about Connor?” Lily exclaimed with fear in her voice.
Justin looked up at Lily and said, “He killed Amy.”
Lily jerked her hand away from Justin. “What! You’re crazy! There’s no way he’d ever harm Amy.”
“We have proof Lily.”
“What kind of proof? Did you take it to the police?”
“Yes I did, but they couldn’t get any DNA off of it.”
“Well then,” Lily stammered. “How can you have proof without any DNA? What the hell were they testing?”
“I found his cigarettes at the crime scene in the Forestry Lily.”
Lily’s face turned pale. She knew he was the only person who smoked those cigarettes in the city. And to find them at the crime scene was too much of a coincidence.
“He never went there after we found Amy because I told the police not to give out directions to anyone but me.”
Lily’s world was crumbling around her. She knew what Justin was saying was true, but she didn’t want to believe it. Yet, certain things were starting to make sense. He was very angry with Amy when Lily told him about their conversations and how Amy wanted her to break it off with Connor. But could he actually kill her? Surely she would have known. How could she not? Lily cried, her sobs reverberating throughout the clubhouse. Ginger could hear her back in the office and was glad Aaron was wearing headphones while he played his game.
At that instant Connor walked into the clubhouse. He immediately saw Lily sitting at a table crying. Then he saw Justin looking straight at him. He turned to flee but the club caught him and wrestled him to the ground.
“Whatever they’ve told you Lily it isn’t true!” Connor yelled.
Lily rose from her chair and walked over to where Connor lay pinned.
“And just what do you think they’ve told me?” Lily asked as tears streamed down her face.
“I--I don’t know…but from the way you’re crying it has to be bad,” Connor said as he tried to lift his head from the floor to look at Lily.
“Yeah, it’s bad,” Lily said right before she launched herself at him screaming and clawing at his face. Justin ran up and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away.
“How could you? How could you kill my friend, Justin’s sister?! You monster! I hate you! I hate you!” Lily screamed then collapsed in Justin’s arms. He motioned Merlin over to take her to the meeting room and close the door.
Once they were gone, he turned his attention to Connor.
Trigger, Trick and other club members pulled Connor from the floor, but remained holding his arms.
Connor looked at Justin and said, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s wrong. I didn’t do anything to Amy. I loved her.”
“Bring him to the auto body shop,” Justin said to the club members holding Connor. “I don’t want Aaron or the girls to hear any of this.”
They pulled Connor to the shop where they threw him into a chair in the waiting area. Trigger tied his hands behind the chair to prevent Connor from moving. Justin dragged a chair over and parked it in front of Connor. He sat down, leaned forward and said, “I found your cigarette butts at the crime scene.”
A look of surprise came over Connor’s face. He forgot about smoking at the crime scene as he thought about how he’d cover up the scene. He was so careful with wiping down the vehicle, even remembering to wipe any prints off the rear view mirror. He walked quite a bit away from the car when he smoked and tossed the butts. He never thought anyone would find them in all the leaves and yards away from the scene. Hell, he thought the wind that day would deposit them miles away. But it hadn’t.
“How do you know those are mine?” Connor managed to squeak out.
“Because you’ve told all of us for the last three years how the tobacco shop order these fucking cigs from Italy just for you. Were you lying?” Justin bored holes into Connor with his eyes.
“No…I mean yes! Fuck!” Connor blurted.
“Don’t worry. I sent one of the prospects down to the tobacco shop to make sure only one guy purchases these cigarettes and they confirmed it.”
Connor felt like a caged animal. It was all Amy’s fault. If only she had backed off, but no, she had to keep pestering Lily about calling off the wedding. Lily was the only good thing in Connor’s life, or that’s what he believed. But actually she was only a possession he could show off. It didn’t matter if it was Amy or Justin or anyone else. Connor would kill anyone who came between him and Lily.
“Why?” Justin asked in a calm voice. “Why did you do it? If you tell me the truth I might let you live.”
Connor looked from Justin to Merlin and Trigger who stood behind Justin. He’d been around these men long enough to know they meant business. Although the club was legit, it didn’t mean they didn’t live by a biker code. He knew if they voted and it was unanimous, he could die. If Justin was offering him a deal, he’d be stupid not to take it.
“You promise you won’t kill me if I tell the truth?” Connor asked.
Justin leaned back in his chair and said, “Yes.”
Connor proceeded to tell Justin and the club how Amy was harassing Lily about calling off the wedding. “I couldn’t understand it…why would Amy be doing this?” Connor wondered to the group.
“Lily was getting upset about Amy’s insistence to cancel the wedding, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to her house that morning. I waited until Aaron left for school then I knocked on the door. We got into an argument. I tried to talk to Amy calmly about how her behavior was upsetting Lily but she’d have none of it. She started screaming at me. I can’t even remember what it was she was screaming…only that she became belligerent.”
Justin wanted to bash his head in right then, but he remained sitting in his chair listening.
“She grabbed a knife out of the butcher block of knives sitting on the counter and swung it at me. I tried to calm her down and take the knife from her but she got me a few times with it. I finally wrestled the knife out of her hand, but s
he went back to the kitchen drawer and drew out another knife. She was so angry and crazy. I fought for my life!”
Justin didn’t know how much more of this trash he could take.
“After she cut me a few times I just lost it and started swinging the knife. Before I knew what was happening she was on the floor motionless. I accidentally cut the artery in her neck and I knew it was too late. Blood gushed out of the wound on her neck. I panicked and just wrapped her up and put her in the car and drove out to the Forestry. I’m so sorry Justin. It was an accident, I swear. I never wanted to hurt Amy; she was like a sister to me! But I had to protect myself. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you, but like I said, I was scared and wasn’t thinking.”
Justin stood up from his chair. Connor looked at him pleadingly. Connor had been like a brother to him. They’d grown up together with Connor spending most of his time at the Taylor house. His family, especially Big Red, welcomed him into their home. Justin didn’t understand how Connor could have done this. Maybe weird wiring in his brain or perhaps an evil lurking below the surface that eventually unearthed itself. It didn’t matter. Connor was dealt his cards in life and he decided to play them a certain way. Now he’d have to pay for that choice.
Justin took the .38 out of his back pocket.
“You said if I told the truth I’d live!” Connor pleaded.
“But you didn’t tell the truth,” Justin said in an unusually calm voice.
“Yes I did. You don’t know…you weren’t there,” Connor blurted as he struggled against the rope holding him fast.
“No, I wasn’t there,” Justin replied. “But I know my sister and what you claim happened is pure fabrication. Maybe you’ve invented this story in order to live with what you did, or maybe you don’t give a shit about anything but yourself and you came up with it on the fly. Whatever the case, I know my sister and she would never attempt to harm anyone, not even you. In fact, I believe she was trying to help Lily and keep her from harm. Amy could read people, and she had your number. I don’t know what it was she knew, but she believed in it so much she sacrificed losing a good friend like Lily over it. Then she ultimately died to protect Lily from you.”