She put the bottle down and pursed her lips in an effort to keep the tears from spilling onto her face. She took out the lipstick and other makeup and threw them into the pail. She would only keep the perfume. Although it had unpleasant and sad memories associated with it—Josh had given this particular bottle to her, and it was also her mother’s signature scent—she realized it was part of her, and those memories, like so many wonderful memories the perfume evoked, were the memories and experiences that made up a life, her life. It identified her too much to dismiss it outright; a woman’s signature scent was her own, and no matter how many other women wore it, it always bore a unique take on each person.
Sifting through the unmarked box, Lori found a small note. It was from Geoffrey Holmes.
Dear Lori,
I hope this letter finds you in good health, as I have been wishing you a speedy recovery.
Due to an oversight on the part of Scotland Yard, your cosmetics bag was left behind and is now being returned to you with our apologies. This was the only item not returned along with your personal items taken from the hotel room. I thought you would like to have it.
I am so very glad we were able to spend some time getting to know one another. You are a strong and remarkable woman, and I do regret our missed opportunity to enjoy the theater together here in London. Perhaps, upon my retirement, I can take a trip to the States and you can show me the marvels of Arizona?
It would be lovely to see you again.
With warm regards,
Geoffrey Holmes
Lori smiled as she folded the note and slipped it into her shorts’ pocket. Geoffrey Holmes was a bright light in the whole sordid ordeal. Perhaps something good always did come from a bad experience. Her heart grew light as she thought on his sweet, awkward ways, the warmth of his voice and his smooth English accent, and the kindness in his eyes. She looked forward to the possibility of seeing him again.
“All right, Lori, you hopeless romantic,” she admonished herself as she flipped through her mail pile. “Lots to get through here, so keep moving.”
Next was a padded manila envelope about the size of a wallet. With the edge of a scissors, Lori sliced open the top and looked inside. There, in the corner, she spotted metal keys. She tipped the envelope and caught two tiny silver metal keys in the palm of her hand. Upon inspection, she noted the keys had tiny numbers etched upon them. She knew they weren’t hers. She never saw them before. The envelope, she noted, was processed in California.
Who in California would send me keys? Why? Then her mind sharpened. Could they be the missing Swiss bank keys? Her stomach tightened. No. No more mysteries, please. She was just easing into the groove of calm, uneventful days, recovering back at home. Now the mail service had brought in the bad energy from her experience, opening up wounds barely healed over.
She sat back and closed her eyes for a moment. In her hands were the very objects five people, Josh being one of them, had been killed for, and for which two others were sitting in jail. The fate of Suzi Brill was likely to be one of another fatality in this tragedy, and, all the while, the world still wondered where Josh Wheeler had hidden the money. Who had sent her these keys? She irrationally thought it might have been Josh, afraid of the Chinese and using her as a decoy.
Still, if Josh hid the keys he couldn’t have sent it. Josh was dead. Her pulse raced, and her head throbbed. Josh and this terrible mess had followed her home, and this envelope was the awful tangible proof. What was he up to? Lori’s mind, still churning with this new, confusing discovery, came to the sad conclusion that Josh may have been using her all along. Although he had feelings for her, they were of the sentimental kind, perhaps feelings from a long-lost innocence of youth he tried to relive and recapture in those few hours in the hotel room. His life was definitely in chaos when Lori encountered him at the airport, and he acted as though he hadn’t a care in the world. He didn’t have to take her to the luxurious hotel and sleep with her; he could have simply slipped these keys into her purse while she was in the restroom at dinner.
She turned the envelope around. There was no address, just a postage stamp cancelled somewhere in California. Lori rubbed her temples, weary of the questions in her head. She knew she could call Jordan Gould, and he would figure out this mess. After all, Josh Wheeler’s money issues were not a concern for Scotland Yard; this was in the hands of the FBI. She could hand over the keys and be done with this, once and for all. She slipped the keys into the pocket that held Geoffrey’s letter.
Lori felt bemused as she sifted through the box and found another piece of mail, this time an envelope, with overseas postage from Britain. She quickly ripped open the envelope and unfolded a letter.
Dear Mrs. Brill,
I hope you are doing well, and I am truly sorry for the terrible inconvenience and horror you have been put through. You seem like such a nice lady, and I have suffered terribly, wondering your fate. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me and move on with your life and put this terrible tragedy behind you. I guess this letter is a confession of sorts.
I have heard via the newspapers and the news programs that the murder of Josh Wheeler has been solved, and Scotland Yard has closed the case. I have followed this case quite closely, and its connection to me shall be revealed now without further delay.
My beloved husband Peter was the one who murdered Josh Wheeler. It was not planned. We were in London on holiday, staying at the Palace when we recognized Wheeler as he entered the suite next door to us. Peter did not even know you were in the room until he heard the shower going, and by then, it was too late. The deed was already done.
Twenty years ago, Josh Wheeler had broken our only daughter’s heart. Celia had been a beautiful twenty-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her, working in Harrods’s perfume department, when Wheeler swept her off her feet. He wined and dined her for four months while in London on business. When he left her without a word, she was heartsick and pregnant. And he knew it. My darling Celia committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.
When my husband, a retired Palace Hotel guard, recognized Josh Wheeler as the man staying next door to us at the Palace he fell apart, lost his senses. He took out the gun he always traveled with and, knowing his way around the rooms, picked the lock of the door in the closet between our suites, slipped through, and shot Wheeler. Peter knew the layout of the suites before this latest renovation, and no one was the wiser. I feel I should confess to someone, and it may as well be you, as you are as much a victim of Mr. Wheeler’s shenanigans as the rest of us.
Last week, driven by sorrow and guilt, Peter shot himself. It killed him instantly. I feel I may follow suit, as the two loves of my life are gone. I cannot say that I am proud of my culpability in this tragic situation, as much as I feel Josh Wheeler needed to be put down before he irretrievably damaged anyone else’s life. I am comforted by the thought that my Peter has found our Celia and her child, and that they have found peace.
I wish you peace and ask for your forgiveness.
Cordially,
Margaret Putnam
EPILOG
ALL MANKIND IS CONNECTED
SUZI WU will die after weeks in a coma. No one will know that she had the keys in her possession, and Josh had the codes in his head. Their meeting and planned disappearance never took place due to his murder. Wu Industries summoned her to China immediately after Josh arrived in London. She quickly mailed the keys to Lori before her Wu Industry escorts arrived. Her infant daughter will someday learn of the family connection to Lori.
JOSEPH LUNT will have a prominent place in British politics. He and his father will have a strained relationship. He will someday learn of his family connection to Lori.
CATE AND JORDAN will have successful careers and a chaotic relationship with each other for years to come.
ROLAND will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Bly and Suzi. He will be deprived of the publicity attached to the murder of W
heeler once Margaret Putnam’s letter becomes public.
GEOFFREY HOLMES will retire early, traveling to Australia and Arizona. He and Lori will stay friends for years to come.
LORI BRILL will live a long life, finally at peace with her mother and daughter. She will tie all her family history together before dying. She and Cate will continue to have a very special relationship.
WHEELER MONEY: Only a small amount of Wheeler’s stolen fifty million will be recovered.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charlene Wexler is the author of the award-winning murder mystery Murder on Skid Row and of Milk and Oranges. Her short stories and essays have appeared in several magazines and on websites based in the United States and in Great Britain. She lives with her husband in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
Table of Contents
Books by Charlene Wexler
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
EPILOG
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Table of Contents
Books by Charlene Wexler
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
EPILOG
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Murder Across The Ocean Page 23