“I guess I’m not running anymore,” she said.
“Why did you stop?” Todd asked, using his plastic ties to bind her hands behind her.
“I didn’t stop. I ran out of gas. Can you imagine? All that I’ve gotten away with in my life, and I get captured because I ran out of gas. The damn guy was waiting in line to get filled up when I took his car. It’s hilarious.” She began laughing and couldn’t stop. She fell onto the highway, she was laughing so hard. She kept repeating, “I ran out of gas; I simply ran out of gas.”
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
Todd had a four hour ride back to Philly and the city jail. He would return the car to Melinda later. The speed of the brand new BMW had helped him keep up with Nancy in the highway chase.
The first half hour Nancy did not speak. Then abruptly, she said, “We could have made it together, Todd.”
“Only if I thought killing was the right thing to do.”
“Yes, I guess that would have been a problem between us. I didn’t have to kill my parents. I would have been leaving home in four or five years anyway.”
Todd kept silent. He wouldn’t have this confession taped, and Nancy knew it, but at least he could testify that he heard it. She had been keeping this secret for years, and apparently she wanted to tell someone.
She continued, “They were just so certain they were right and so dictatorial, I wanted them to wake up with the flames surrounding them and know maybe for the first time in their lives that everything was not within their control.” She took a deep breath. “And then I got away with it.”
“I talked to your brother, Levi. He seemed to know that you did it.”
“Yes, but he couldn’t prove it. Since I wasn’t punished for what I did, I guess I began to think I could do anything I wanted.” She paused again. “So maybe I wasn’t so different from my parents.”
Todd’s silent thoughts were that Nancy would have a long time to think about the self-awareness she had just come up with.
Back in the office, with Nancy safely in jail, Chief Trimble waddled up to Todd’s desk.
“You solved this case, Henson. Good job.”
“You helped by backing me up when I wanted to bring Nancy into Philly with no real evidence. We had no reason to do that. You took a risk. Also you authorized me to talk to Nathan Brumfield, a prisoner who was still awaiting trial.”
“No risk at all. I would just deny that I told you to go ahead with all that. Who would be believed, an important powerful police chief, or a peon who works for him? Hey, look at your face. I’m just pulling your chain. Of course I would admit that I authorized you to do those things. If I couldn’t help my people out, why am I their leader? It helped, though, that the whole thing succeeded, and you’re the one who made that happen.”
That night Todd called his dad to tell him he had solved the case.
“That’s fine, Todd, but I want you to know that the air conditioning job working with me is still open. At least you didn’t get killed. This time, anyway. I hope the odds don’t start turning against you.”
Todd sat there with a smile. Good old dad: consistent as the blazing sun and just as scorching if you’re out in it too long.
EPILOGUE
Yes, the girl I fell in love with turned out to be a serial killer. Talk about choosing unwisely.
Can we ever tell who will kill, and who will not? Husbands and wives kill each other, and really once upon a time they chose to marry that person. Nancy had good qualities, but there was that huge flaw of wanting everyone to like her. If you don’t like me, I’ll kill you. If you tell me what to do too often, I’ll kill you. However if you shower me with praise and always let me do what I want, we will get along fine.
Trying to imagine Nancy’s inner thoughts, I exaggerate a bit, but the truth is that a good relationship takes work and some self-sacrifice, which Nancy didn’t want to do. Before I fall in love again, I’m going to ask the girl if she happens to have killed a few people.
One person who was happier this week was Lulu. She had eventually found the person who killed her mom and her friend. She told me she still wants to leave Calypso, but doesn’t know where she’ll be heading. “Maybe I’ll just keep driving and see where the road takes me,” she said.
“You should stop to fill up when you’re running out of gas, and perhaps stay there for a time. That’s what happened to me,” I told her.
I may never get back to Calypso again, but even if I don’t I know each morning Clem will be sitting in his rocking chair on his porch at the general store smoking his pipe, and if I asked him if he was feeling all right he would say, “Yep.” His mother probably never told him to use his words. From him I’ve learned that a person should speak only when they have something to say. So I’m going to quit talking now.
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