by Tonya Kappes
With one hand, I gripped her arm and the other had my phone.
“Did you get all that?” I asked Finn.
“I’m on my way to the Libertys’ right now.” He clicked off and I slipped the phone back in my pocket.
We headed out of the Libertys’ front door just as Manuel and his family were piling out of the family van.
“Now, I’ve got to get you down to the station.” I opened the back door of the Wagoneer and helped her inside.
“It’s only because I love you Manuel Liberty!” She screamed before I slammed the door, not caring a bit if the glass window smacked her in the nose. “I’d do anything for you!”
“What’s going on here?” Juanita Liberty strutted up to the Jeep with all her sons in tow.
“We have a confession. Leighann Graves was murdered by Beka Durst because she was jealous of their relationship and is in love with your son.” My eyes slid past her shoulder and caught Manuel’s face. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait outside until Deputy Vincent comes to clear the scene.”
Manuel’s eyes slowly closed shut as his chin fell to his chest.
“Good work, Sheriff,” was all that Juanita Liberty could muster up before she gestured for her boys to wait by the car.
“Manuel! Manuel!” Beka’s voice was distorted by the glass between her and the world as she desperately tried to get Manuel to look at her when he walked by. “Tell him how much I love him, Juanita!”
I looked around for Poppa as I walked in front of the Jeep to get inside and haul her down to the one department cell, but he wasn’t around.
“Silent night, holy night,” the radio played when I started up the Jeep.
“Turn this crap off,” Beka said snidely.
I turned it up and smiled.
“This is for you, Poppa.” I sucked in a deep breath and put the gear shift in drive.
Chapter Nineteen
“You let my baby go, Kenni Lowry!” Angela Durst had run into the sheriff’s department with Wally Lamb on her heels.
“Let me take care of this because it seems that our good sheriff here is going to arrest everyone in Cottonwood for Leighann’s death.” Wally stuck his arm out, stopping Angela from going after me. Or it appeared she was gunning for me. “Kenni, um, Sheriff, on what grounds do you believe you can arrest my client?”
“On the grounds that she is in love with Manuel Liberty and out of a crime of passion she killed Leighann Graves to get her out of the way so she, herself, could live happily ever after with Manuel.” I stated the obvious.
“Not to mention that she confessed and happened to have the missing contents from Leighann’s car in her possession,” Scott finished up.
“She’s a minor and I want her out of that jail cell right now,” Wally Lamb said with a stern voice. “And Sean too.”
“I have no clue what’s going on.” Sean sat stunned on the edge of the cot.
“Beka confessed to killing Leighann. She’s got all the details.” I grabbed the cell keys out of my drawer and went over to unlock it. Scott stepped in and took Sean by the arm. “Sean, you can come out.”
“Thank God.” He stood up and turned to face Beka. “After everything I did for you and your mother, you killed my daughter?”
“Beka, you tell her right now the truth.” Angela rushed over to the cell and gripped the bars, staring at the young girl who had replaced Sean on the cot. “Beka, I know you didn’t do this. You were home.” Angela’s jaw dropped, and she swiveled around on the balls of her feet. “She was at home watching a movie with me. She went to the dance but had to be home by curfew.”
“Mama, hush. I did it. I drugged and killed Leighann.” She bolted off the cot and stood ramrod straight with her fists to her side. “I killed her! I killed her!”
“She didn’t kill no one.” Poppa appeared cross-legged on the cot, nearly making me faint.
Why was Poppa back? What in the world was going on? Had I just hauled in a teenager for a murder she’d not committed? What was I thinking?
“Wait.” I stopped them from talking and that included Poppa. I had to have a clear head. “You said that you texted Leighann to meet you at her house.” I recalled what she’d said about how she lured Leighann that night. “But Manuel had her phone, so how did she get your text?”
“Shut up! I did it!” She screamed through gritted teeth.
“Give me a minute with her, please.” I put my hand out to everyone.
“Is she covering up for something Manuel had done?” Poppa stared at Beka who was suddenly on the floor in fetal position, repeating that she’d killed her over and over.
“Beka.” I unlocked the cell and bent down next to her. “This is a very nice jail cell, but if you killed Leighann, I promise that you won’t be in a prison anywhere near this nice. Your entire life will be over.”
I stroked her hair and tried to comfort her while she sobbed on the floor.
“Love is a very crazy and real thing. Especially at your age. I understand that you are in love with Manuel, but if you are covering up for him for something he’s done, that’s not love on his part.” I continued to talk softly with her and let everyone around me drown out. “You have your entire life ahead of you. Don’t you want to join Rachel at State and be in her sorority? Remember all the fun she was telling you about when you two were working the tree lot? If you go to jail, you won’t ever go to college. You won’t ever have another boyfriend or even get married. Your life will be over. And for what? Manuel will still carry on.”
She pushed herself up to sit side-legged on her hip.
“What about a sick person in jail? Will they get medical help then go home?” She questioned with big tears in her eyes.
“Juanita Liberty. Ummm-mmmm,” Poppa’s lips were pressed together. “She killed that girl. I know it.”
“Yes. Like Juanita Liberty?” I asked Beka. “If Juanita killed Leighann, she’d get some medical treatment for her Crohn’s and be released.” She nodded.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Poppa ghost right on up through the ceiling. My heart fell.
“I didn’t know she did it until I found Leighann’s emergency kit in their house. Juanita walked in and saw me holding it. She’s the one who told me how much she loved me and wanted me to be married to Manuel. She said that if it came down to it and I took the fall, I would get off because I’m a minor. No one was going to send a kid to jail. That’s what she said.” Beka wiped the tears from her eyes. “She said that since she had Crohn’s and in the last stages, that she didn’t care if she went to jail because she’d die knowing Leighann couldn’t hurt her son’s future anymore. But if I took the fall...” Her voice trailed off. Angela rushed to the cell bars. Beka looked up at her. “I’m sorry, Mama. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“Beka, honey, she used your lack of knowledge about the disease to get you to take the fall for her dirty work. She’s not dying.” Her mama tried to tell her daughter how Juanita had manipulated her.
There was some scurrying behind me and I knew it was Scott rushing out the door to bring Juanita Liberty to justice.
“It’s going to be okay.” I stood up and let Angela come into the cell to console her daughter while I called Finn.
“I’m about all done here,” he answered the phone.
“Don’t leave. Deputy Lee is on his way over there. Don’t say anything until you talk to him when he gets there, but Juanita Liberty is the real killer.” My words were met with silence. “Are you there?”
“Yeah. We’ll bring her in.” He clicked off.
Beka had retracted what she told me and actually had told me the truth, which wasn’t far from what she’d confessed. In fact, Juanita had faked sicker than what she was and knew that her son and Leighann had a fight. She also knew that her son would stop at nothing for Leighann and if she ended Leig
hann’s life, she’d be giving Manuel his life back.
“Juanita saw it as a win-win situation. The disease is progressing and she knew that if she was dead and gone, Manuel would marry Leighann and it’d be Leighann that’d move into her house and finish raising Manuel’s brothers while Manuel worked. It was a life she didn’t want for her boys. In the end, Juanita Liberty couldn’t find it within herself to forgive Leighann for helping Manuel make the decision not to go to college, when in fact, it was her sickness that made Manuel’s decision easy.” I told Mama over supper that night after we’d gotten Juanita placed into custody.
“Juanita had only confessed to Beka after Beka had found Leighann’s emergency kit in the Liberty house while visiting. In some sort of sick way, Juanita had told Beka that if need be, Beka should confess to killing Leighann so Juanita could spend what time she had on the earth with her boys. She also gave Beka the permission to live in her house, happily ever after with Manuel,” Finn finished up the story while I continued to eat Mama’s chicken pot pie that she’d made for me as a special I’m-sorry-for-being-so-crabby-about-Christmas make up.
“Juanita Liberty is really that ill?” Mama asked.
“Yeah, she was hauling them trees like a champion the other day,” My dad chimed in between bites.
“Not really. She only told her family that because she needed an excuse to kill Leighann. She had tricked Leighann into talking with her by telling her that Manuel was really upset and she wanted to make amends with her so they could move on.” The sadness of it all made a lump in my throat. “Can you imagine the excitement Leighann felt when she thought Manuel’s mother had finally come around and their life was going to be happy?”
“Why was Leighann driving?” Mama asked.
“Juanita had originally thought she was just going to shoot Leighann, but when she saw the sleeping pills, she’d made Leighann some water to sip because she was so upset. Then proceeded to tell Leighann that Manuel had made a special night for them down at Chimney Rock boat ramp. Alluding to the fact Manuel had gotten Leighann an engagement ring for Christmas.” Finn shrugged. “Leighann jumped in her car and headed that way thinking Manuel was there waiting for her with an engagement ring.”
“She followed Leighann to make sure she’d wreck and die, but when Leighann survived the wreck, she remembered seeing the keys to the tow trucks, so Juanita took Leighann’s keys back to the tow company, let herself in and took the keys along with Sean’s truck so she could easily slip the SUV into the river and bye-bye Leighann.” I let out a big long sigh. “Another sick thing she did was take everything out of the Leighann’s car because she didn’t want anything in there to help Leighann if she woke up.”
Everyone looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces.
“Why on earth would Beka try to say that she did it?” Mama asked.
“Beka thought that since she was a minor, that she’d not go to jail if she took the fall and her and Manuel could be happy together.”
“I heard her mama is getting her some counseling,” Mama chimed in.
“That’s good. She needs it.” I was happy to hear that.
“That seems like a lot of work to go through because you simply didn’t like someone.” My dad pushed back from the table.
“You’d be surprised.” Finn tweaked a grin. “I’ve seen so many crimes of passion killings that nothing surprises me now.”
“This might surprise you.” Dad gave Mama the look. It wasn’t a look that he gave often, but when he did, you knew he meant business.
“What?” My eyes shifted between him and Mama.
“I want to say,” ahem, Mama cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve acted over the past few months. It was immature and childish to think my one and only daughter would never leave me on Christmas.”
“Vivian,” My dad’s voice boomed over the table.
“I’m getting there,” she told my dad. “Finn, you are a very nice young man. If Kendrick is dating someone and has to visit his family, I couldn’t think of a nicer boy we’d like to have her date. With that, I’m asking for your forgiveness.”
“Oh, Mama,” I gasped and jumped up, running around the family table to give her a hug. “This makes it so much easier on me. Thank you.”
“I love you and I want you to go and have a wonderful time.” She returned the hug and held it for a long time.
Deep in my soul, I knew everything was going to be okay and the excitement was building up.
“Don’t forget to come pick me up,” I reminded her that she was going to pick me up in a couple of days to take me to the airport.
Chapter Twenty
“Get up, get up!” Mama ripped my warm covers right off me. “We’re going to be late.”
Beep, beep, beep.
My alarm sounded just in the knick of time. I was happy to see that Mama was there on time to take me and Finn to the airport. And she was in a very good mood, which made me much happier. Duke was snuggled up next to me. The excitement of leaving to meet Finn’s parents was building up in my stomach. I was surprised at the little giggle that escaped my body.
“I have to admit that when the weathermen get it wrong,” DJ Nelly chirped through my alarm clock radio, “they get it wrong. But not this winter wonderland.”
“Winter wonderland?” My head jerked to the side and I bolted out of bed.
“Stay safe out there and bundle up if you’re headed out to the fair grounds.” The radio played “Let It Snow”.
“No. No. No,” I begged and ran across my cold bedroom floor, jerking open my curtains. “No.” My heart sank into my gut when the thick blanket of snow made me realize my worst nightmare.
“Honey, don’t forget to make your bed. You never know if the fire department is called and they have to come in while we’re gone to the pageant since you can’t get to Chicago because the airport is closed.”
No wonder she was so chipper. She’d gotten her way. Vivian Lowry had gotten her way, again.
“Come on, Duke,” my voice was flat. My phone was on the counter in the kitchen and I wondered what Finn thought.
The murmur down the hall told me she wasn’t alone. I grabbed my robe off the chair and threw it on, tying it as I walked down the hall.
“Ah oh, you look mad. When you get mad, you get ugly.” Mama had on a full face of makeup and bright red lipstick. “God don’t like ugly, Kendrick.”
“I’m sorry.” Finn stood up from the chair at the table and put his arms out. “Last night you fell asleep and it’d started to snow. I knew it was going to come pouring down overnight. So I went ahead and called the airport to exchange our tickets for after the new year.”
“It’s all worked out.” Mama clasped her hands together.
I melted into Finn’s arms and cried not only for me and him, but all the pain and suffering Cottonwood had felt for the loss of Leighann Graves, plus the fact I didn’t get to say goodbye to Poppa. I’d been keeping it all inside.
“I’ll just be going. Your daddy is waiting for me in the car,” Mama whispered. “I’ll see you at the pageant.”
I felt Finn give a nod and heard the door open, the click of Duke’s nails across the kitchen linoleum floor, and the door shut.
“Is she gone?” I asked.
“Yes.” Finn took his finger and lifted my chin up so our eyes met. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal. I really wanted to meet your family.” I took a step back and wiped my face. “I needed to get out of Cottonwood and let this whole Leighann thing get behind me.” I gestured between us. “We need to get out of Cottonwood and take a break.”
“And we will.” He walked over to the coffee pot and poured a couple of cups. “I promise. Besides, I’m looking forwards to watching your mom do that wave thing on stage this morning.”
“I’m going to get a ki
ck out of her trying to keep that crown on her head when she’s serving the annual Christmas lunch at the undercroft.” Both of us laughed. “You get Duke in and feed him while I go get ready.”
While getting ready, I’d gotten to the point where I’d accepted the fact the plans had changed back to my old plans. There was some joy knowing that Finn was going to get to experience Christmas with me and my family along with the great town we protected. When Vivian Lowry was involved it was an experience like no other.
Keeping with the spirit, I turned up the radio and listened to DJ Nelly play the Christmas music while I got ready. With my jeans tucked into my snow boots, I headed down the hall. There was a note on the table alongside my coat that said to come outside when I was finished getting ready.
I locked the back door, figuring Duke was with Finn because he wasn’t darting around the snow in the backyard and walked through the gate up to the front of my house.
“Merry Christmas.” Finn was standing up in a red sleigh that was attached to two horses and a driver. Poppa was sitting next to the driver in his most glorious of ghost forms with Duke sitting next to him.
“Ding, ding,” Poppa said and grinned from ear-to-ear, making fun of me. “What’s that saying about when you hear a bell ring an angel gets his wings?”
Ding, ding, ding.
The driver tugged on the string that was attached to a bell on the sleigh.
“Merry Christmas, Kenni-Bug,” Poppa waved and disappeared.
“Merry Christmas, Poppa,” I whispered looking up into the sky as the big snowflakes tumbled to the ground.
“Ready?” Finn put his hand out. “I wanted you to have that experience you had with your Poppa the first time they had the Christmas Festival at the fairgrounds. I can’t drive or even ride a horse, so this’ll have to do.”
He stuck his hand out and helped me into the sled.
“You did good, Finn Vincent.” I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him before the driver said it was time to go.