Beautiful Girls
Page 21
Then, two years later, in October 1983, she heard that Sid, Senior and his wife were dead. They had drowned while sailing in the Pacific Ocean. That story seemed odd to Carrie, but she let it go and thought nothing more about it.
Years passed. Carrie’s guilt grew as she realized that they were never adopted to the loving home she thought they would be, but juggled between foster homes and remaining a product of the State Child Welfare department. Carrie quietly kept tabs on her two daughters. She stopped teaching in the classroom and started counseling youth in the diocese. She had many regrets but each time she reviewed the events of the twins’ birth in her mind she believed she had done the correct things. Abortion was not an option for a faithful Catholic, especially one who would become a nun. Raising two daughters alone seemed wrong too. Disclosing her maternity now to the twins would only confuse them. She decided that she could help best by guiding their foster care behind the scenes. When the twins were fifteen years old she got them assigned to the Mesa orphanage and was able to be their counselor.
Meanwhile, Edie Nealy grew up and lived her life at the Gabriel mansion. Like her father and half-brother, she too began an acting career. Edie used her first and middle names as her stage name. She never knew she was Sid, Senior’s daughter. It didn’t appear that anyone knew.
That’s what Carrie thought too, until Sid, Junior was murdered nine years ago in 1995. Edie was twenty-five years old at the time. Everything changed when Rob Nealy was charged with conspiracy and as an accessory to Sid, Junior’s murder. Carrie’s suspicions were heightened when she learned about Sid, Junior’s love child, Tawny.
Months passed. Rob pled guilty and received a ten year prison sentence. Edie reached out to Sister Carrie and told her that Rob hoped she would visit him in the Chino State prison. She did. On that first visit in 1997, Carrie spoke to Rob about the murder of Sid, Junior.
The conversation took an unexpected turn. Rob knew Carrie had given birth to twins because he had eavesdropped on one of Sandra’s phone conversations. Rob said this changed his life.
Actually, he snapped. He confronted Sandra and learned the whole story about Edie and the twins. This happened over a decade earlier in 1982. Edie was twelve years old at the time. The twins were just a year and a half old. Rob and Sandra had a difficult conversation with no resolution.
Shortly afterwards, Rob began to plan his first murder. Sandra became sick with her final illness.
During the 1997 conversation with Rob, Carrie couldn’t believe what she heard. Rob had taken her question about the crime for which he had been convicted and answered it by revealing earlier events. Carrie had been a party to these acts. Her sins had triggered Rob to commit a double murder.
Rob explained to Carrie what evil he did in 1983. He said it was simple, really. He had been on-board the yacht working for the Gabriels. He pushed Sid, Senior and his wife overboard at night while they were drinking and watching the stars. They drowned quickly. Then, he moved the yacht two miles further out in the Pacific. He left the yacht adrift and took a small power boat back to shore. Once he reached land, he turned the power boat around, aimed it out to sea and jumped onto the beach.
Carrie was horrified and wanted to get away from Rob. She wanted out of the prison. But, Rob had just begun to talk. She was frozen to her seat.
Rob said Sandra didn’t live long enough to know for sure about Rob’s involvement in the Pacific Ocean murders. She also went to her grave without revealing the truth of Edie’s paternity.
Twelve years went by before Rob struck again. During that time, Rob watched as Sid, Junior inherited all of his parents’ estate. He saw young Sid divorce his wife, Lana, and live life as a playboy. Sid, Junior had an endless string of girlfriends. Sid acted like a weird Sugar Daddy setting up his conquests in the apartment complex and the condominium community he owned. After Sandra died, Sid, Junior pushed Rob out of the mansion into the manager’s job at one of his apartments. Edie remained at the mansion as Sid’s sort-of live-in girlfriend. Strangely, these actions didn’t bother Rob that much.
No, Rob snapped again for a different reason. He cracked because he believed history was repeating itself. Sid, Junior’s relationship with Bambi Deer wounded Rob.
Like his father before him, Sid, Junior fooled Rob. Rob thought they met Bambi for the first time at Modern Girls, the gentlemen’s club where she worked. For a while, the three of them had done things together, like having dinner and going to the race track. Rob had even hoped to date Bambi.
Then, Rob discovered that Sid and Bambi had begun an affair two years earlier. Bambi had become pregnant. Tawny was already born. Bambi and Sid were secretly engaged and had already planned their future together.
Rob told Carrie that one day after lunch together, he followed Sid to Bambi’s condo. He watched from his car as Sid and Bambi played with Tawny in a park. That was too hard for Rob to take. When an ugly opportunity arose, he conspired with Kathy Reese to kill Sid, Junior. This was different from the official story. Rob had previously said that Kathy Reese was the key conspirator. He had committed perjury by testifying that Reese had planned the murder of Sid, Junior.
In the Chino prison, Rob said that he knew he had done wrong. He regretted acting as he did. Carrie wasn’t fully convinced. She felt he was filled with evil thoughts. Still, she suggested that he get counseling and read the Bible. She left a copy of the good book with Rob. Carrie’s own past prevented her from revealing Rob’s secrets.
More years passed. Carrie got a new job as director of Cactus City Kitchen and the accompanying homeless shelter. From afar she watched the twins grow.
Carrie also continued to visit Rob Nealy. He seemed changed. He told Carrie he had become a Christian. He read his Bible regularly. His behavior and improved attitude warranted a parole hearing for an early release. Carrie spoke to Edie and suggested that Rob could work at her homeless kitchen. Edie said Rob could live at her cabin. That was their plan and Rob agreed to it.
Bambi Gabriel also visited Rob in prison over the years. She forgave him for what he did to Sid, Junior. She welcomed him to stay in the mansion’s servants’ quarters when he was in L.A. Bambi said she could use Rob’s help from time to time. Both Carrie and Bambi were at the parole hearing.
Rob was released from prison in the summer of 2004 and all seemed good. Rob had a job, a home, friends and family who cared for him, and he could get counseling at the kitchen. Things stayed this way for only a couple of months.
Then, Rob broke into murderous rage one last time. A new, final event must have pulled the trigger. Maybe it was several events. It may have been our wedding where he was asked to act as Edie’s father. Carrie thinks it may have been Edie’s pregnancy. Rob had learned about it somehow. Maybe Bambi told him. Maybe because our baby was conceived the day we became engaged, but before we were married, was too similar to Edie’s and the twins’ and Tawny’s births. Or, maybe he simply hated all the Gabriel family. Perhaps it was all these things. We all know what happened over the past week.
***
I didn’t put the pieces together quickly enough. I never imagined Sid Gabriel, Senior would father three daughters out of wedlock. I’m not sure why I didn’t; given his son did the same with Bambi so many years later.
I didn’t make the connection between the dates of Sid, Senior’s Academy Award winning movies and the births of Edie and the twins. I also overlooked the possibility that Sid, Senior and his wife’s deaths could be murders, even though Rob kept a photo of that yacht hanging in his bedroom.
Rob got away with these murders for over twenty years. It had to make him confident. It warped him even more.
Sister Carrie lived her own lies and with the knowledge of Rob’s acts. She kept that to herself out of fear. Doing so led to the death of three innocent people. It also created more traumas for four women, and delayed the revelation of the truth.
I did put enough pieces together to end this long tragedy.
Now, Rob Nealy
is gone.
The four beautiful girls and I live. We survived silent years of deceit and vengeful days of a serial killer. These innocent women and my baby-to-be are the Gabriel family. Edie and I hope to adopt Tawny. We want Harmony and Melody to be in our lives. We believe the twins should share in their family’s fortune. There is certainly enough wealth for all of us, and to give to others in need.
After the twins are released from the hospital, we can plan our futures, including where we will live. After all, with five homes in four states for five, soon-to-be six, people, there are many choices.
Vows
Las Vegas, Nevada the Chapel at the University Medical Center, Wednesday, October 27, 2004
“Edith McCall, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”
“I will.”
“Stephen Michael, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”
“I will.”
“Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?”
“We will,” said the witnesses; Melody, Harmony, Tawny and Lieutenant Peter Lomita.
“O gracious and ever living God, you have created us male and female in your image: Look mercifully upon this man and this woman who come to you seeking your blessing, and assist them with your grace, that with true fidelity and steadfast love they may honor and keep the promises and vows they make; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
I was blessed.
I was surrounded by the most amazing women I had ever met.
Then, I, Stephen Garrett, began the rest of my life with these most beautiful girls.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary S. Griffin spent years as a business investigator which provided the rich library of experiences he used to create his private eye stories. The personalities of the performing artists and models in Gary’s life have all contributed to developing the unique characters that populate his novels.
Gary lives in Delaware with his wife and children.
Also by ireadiwrite Publishing
MODERN GIRLS - BOOK ONE
Gary S. Griffin
Stevie Garrett is a young business investigator looking forward to a short vacation. When Stevie's phone rings, he's told a Hollywood celebrity has been murdered and his ex-lover, model Andi Anderson, was found lying next to the dead body holding the smoking gun - and apparently he's Andi's only hope.
Overwhelmed by Hollywood, his inexperience and the women of a gentlemen's club named Modern Girls, Stevie tries his best to remain true to his heart and himself while sorting through the ill-fitting puzzle pieces of murder, love-affairs, kidnappings and a seemingly smoking gun.
SEXY GIRLS - BOOK TWO
Gary S. Griffin
A supermodel is missing and her girlfriend doesn't know what happened. She turns to their mutual friend, private eye, Stevie Garrett, for help. All signs point to blackmail but when the model is found murdered, a race is on with only a few clues that lead Stevie on a cross-country journey before the secrets of these Sexy Girls are revealed.
SHADOW OF A DISTANT MORNING
William Topek
Kansas City, 1934. Devlin Caine, a WWI veteran and former Pinkerton’s operative, is hired by a wealthy industrialist to check out a potential business partner. The job is simple and the money good, but for Caine, it’s a short step from checking public records to being roughed up in a back alley. Clearly there are things the client neglected to mention, such as Caine’s predecessor on the job being found in the Missouri River with a slug in his chest. When the man Caine is investigating turns up murdered as well, Caine finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between his client, a competing industrialist, and a local underworld boss – all after a coded notebook Caine found in the dead man’s hotel room. Desperate to unlock the mystery of the notebook (and to protect his client’s beautiful young daughter), Caine plays the three men against each other in an effort to buy time. He knows only one of the three rivals can win this battle, and backing the wrong side will cost lives, starting with his own.