Beth fidgeted in her seat.
“She’s a lucky girl, Arsen. I was an ass back then. I can’t tell you how many times I thought about what happened and wondered why I reacted the way I did. I still can’t tell you exactly why. I am sorry though. Not that I expect forgiveness because I don’t deserve it. And after finding out what my mother did to you, I really don’t deserve it.”
“I allowed it. I allowed it all. No one held me captive. I came back to that apartment day after day. And as far as forgiving you. I hadn’t. But I do now. I see no reason to hold hate in my heart any longer. You were a kid. I can’t hold you responsible for what your father did to me.”
Beth looked away, tears filled her eyes.
“I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
He scooted over and gave her leg a pat.
“Sure you do.” He took the glass of alcohol from her hand and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. “Let it go, Beth. I see you clutching that glass like it’s a lifeline. You don’t need it. Whatever you're holding on to, let it go. I forgive you. If you’ve done other things to hurt people, let that go to.”
Beth ran her hand over his meticulously kept beard.
“You turned into such a gorgeous man, Arsen.”
He drug his knuckles across her cheek.
“Beth, you’re more than you’re showing right now. You said you have a husband and kids. I think it’s time you step up and take charge of yourself and get it together for them and yourself. This part of your life is over. Done. You can’t go back a change a thing. But don’t let it take the rest of your life from you.”
“What’s her name?” she asked him.
His eyes sparkled. “Steele Gannon. She’s sweet, kind, and at times stubborn. And I love her with more than I knew I had in me.”
“Does she know she’s the luckiest women in the world?” Beth asked with a smile.
“I think she does.” He winked and chuckled. The sound of gravel crunching in the drive had him jumping up. “Is that her?”
Beth ran to the window.
“Yes! Quickly, go hide and make sure you have that recorder on.”
God, I hope this works!
GWEN
Lying on the mattress, barely breathing, Gwen managed to pull her eyelids open when she heard a noise near her. Allen had several bags of some clear liquid and an IV stand with another bag strung up on it.
“I’m going to get you better, Gwennie.” His voice was cheerful, and he was smiling.
She closed her eyes and wondered what the hell was happening.
Not sure how much time had passed, Gwen woke up and felt so much better she couldn’t believe it. Her arm was immobilized, and she looked at it to find it secured to a board and an IV was running into it. She moved her head to find Allen sitting there.
“Hi, sleepyhead.” He got up and came back with a bowl and a spoon. “I have some soup here, if you care for some.”
She nodded. Allen helped her sit up in the bed and gave her a bite of the soup.
It hurt to swallow, but she managed and before she knew it, she’d eaten the entire bowl of chicken soup.
“Thank you,” she managed to say.
Allen smiled and went away only to come back with something to drink. He put the straw to her lips, and she took a sip then he yanked it back.
“Not too much or you might get sick.”
She nodded.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Let you go after I get you better. See, I’m going to be leaving town after I do what I’m going to do for someone. I’ll set you free then.” He looked at her with a frown. “I’m sorry about all this. You are an innocent person in this. I should’ve never taken you. I’m sorry.”
Her head was spinning. He was going to let her go, but then she remembered his plans for Steele.
“Allen, what about Steele? She’s an innocent in this too.”
“Yeah but taking her will hurt Arsen and that’s what I want to do. Sorry about her. You’ll get over it though. If I’ve learned anything it’s that people get over stuff.” He gave her another sip of the drink which she found tasted like apples.
“It that apple juice?”
“Yes. I know it’s your favorite.” He gave her a little pat on the shoulder. “I listened to you when we were talking all those times.”
Gwen found a little shine in his eyes and thought she might be able to use any affection he had for her to her advantage.
“So I overheard some things you and that woman said to each other. Want to tell me what all happened between you two?”
“Anne Sinclair is the woman behind everything. She came to see me while I was in prison. She gave me the idea to start talking about God and using that to impress the parole board. Then when I got out she found me again. She told he how Arsen deserved to be punished for what he’d done to us both.”
Gwen nodded. “She was his master or whatever they call it, right?”
“Mistress. Yes, she was. He ran away from her or something like that. After she put him through college and made him the man he became, he left her flat.” Allen stood up and left the area then came back with a chocolate bar and another pillow.
He propped it up behind Gwen and gave her the candy.
“Thank you,” she said and took a bite of it. “Please, go one with your story, Allen.”
Taking his seat again, he said, “Since I was the only case he ever lost, I think he was punishing me for my mistake. So I think it’s perfectly acceptable for me to punish him.”
Gwen took a sip of her drink and tried to think of a way to convince Allen that Anne was using him. She took the straw from her lips and said, “I guess you’re too close to see it for what it is, but that woman is using you, Allen.”
His eyebrows cocked in surprise.
“I don’t think so.”
She nodded.
“I can see it. You should really think about it. And I heard what she did to you. Are you into that kind of thing?”
He shook his head.
“No. But she has this way of making you think you are. You know?”
“No.” Gwen looked down and tried to look as sad as she could. “I hate she hurt you like that, Allen.”
“You do?” he asked. “After all I’ve done to you?”
“I forgive you, Allen.” She looked up and caught his eyes. “I want to help you get out from under her. I can see the writing on the wall, Allen. She means to toss you under the bus when everything goes down. She doesn’t want to have you as a loose end.”
He looked worried.
“You might be right.”
“I think you and I should pay her a visit,” Gwen said. “Has she told you where she lives?”
With a shake of his head, he said, “No, she hasn’t.”
“Hmm. Wonder why not?” Gwen eyed him carefully. “How about you let me take a shower and freshen up a little then we go find her? We can Google the bitch and give her a surprise visit. Bet she won’t be expecting that. Then you can set her straight how you will not be her patsy.”
Allen smiled. “You know what, you might be right. I think I will pay her a visit.” He got up to help her up. “Let’s get you all cleaned up and pay her a visit. I’m done being her whipping boy!”
Thank God! Finally, a break!
STEELE
As Paul pulled up behind Detective Fontaine at the address they’d found for Beth, Steele rolled her window down to listen to what was said.
Fontaine rang the bell of the small, blue, wood-framed home with toys littering the front lawn. A tall, pot-bellied man with a large bald spot on his head and light brown hair around the bottom of his head answered the door.
Steele noticed no car was in the drive. Her hands were wringing in her lap as she listened hard to what was said.
Fontaine said, “Hello, my name is Detective Fontaine from the San Francisco police department. I’m here to talk to you about a man we have a murder investigat
ion about. An Arsen Sloan. Have you heard that name before?”
He shook his head and Steele saw a little blonde headed boy peek out from behind the man who was most likely the kid’s father. She thought he was probably about four-years-old or so.
“Who’s this lady?” the kid asked.
“Get back, Pete. Daddy’s talking grown up talk right now. Go play with Becky, she’s in her room.” The kid vanished with his father’s words. “I don’t know anybody by that name. I mean I heard about him on television and the paper, but I don’t know him. Why would you ask?”
“Your wife does. He was seen getting into a blue Camaro early this morning.”
The man looked like he was goin to be sick.
“Beth picked that man up? In our new car?”
Fontaine nodded and Steele felt just about as sick as the man looked like he did as she told him, “At five this morning, she went to his apartment building after sending him a text telling him they needed to talk. Mr. Sloan got into her car without his cellphone or telling anyone who he was with or where they were going. It’s been a little over six hours since that time and no one has seen or heard from him.”
The man staggered out the door and sat on the top step of the porch, letting the screen door slam behind him.
“My wife is with a fucking murderer?”
The detective moved to allow him some room.
“Sir, have you spoken to her? Did she tell you where she was going?”
“To visit her mother.” He put his head in his hands. “Do you know if she’d been seeing that man?”
“She had not been seeing him.” Fontaine walked down the stairs and looked up at him. “They aren’t involved like you’re thinking. She was Mr. Sloan’s first girlfriend. Later, after they’d broken up, Mr. Sloan got into a relationship with Beth’s mother.”
The man raised his head and looked at Fontaine.
“Are you shitting me?”
With a shake of her head, she said, “No, sir. Now, can you tell me what her mother’s address is? And please do not try to let her know I’m going over there. I do believe she has Mr. Sloan with her and they plan on confronting Anne Sinclair. I want to get the surprise on them.”
“You really think it’s just that? I mean, you don’t think she’s been messing with that guy?” He looked sadly at her.
Steele’s heart was pounding. She felt so sorry for the man.
“We’ve been trailing this man for a while now. I can assure you he hasn’t been talking to her at all and they haven’t been seen together at all.” Fontaine turned to leave. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help. I’ll go to Anne’s house and see what I find out. I’ll keep up updated if you like.”
“Please do,” he said as he watched her leave.
His head fell back into his hands and Steele knew he was not a happy man.
Fontaine came to her window.
“Did you hear all that?”
Steele nodded. “I did. So can we follow you to Anne’s?”
“You can. Promise me you’ll stay in the car, Steele.”
She nodded and rolled the window up. Then watched Fontaine walk up to talk to Paul.
“Hey gorgeous,” he said as he rolled his window down.
Steele watched as Fontaine’s cheeks went pink.
“I like the sound of that. Follow me, and don’t let the hell cat out, please.”
“Got ya.” Paul reached out and put his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him for a kiss.
Steele looked away, giving them some of the privacy that Paul had given her and Arsen. But looked back in time to catch Fontaine’s face as they ended their kiss.
With a dazed expression covering her face, she said, “You’re very surprising, Paul.”
“Wait till later, after our date,” he said with a grin Steele could see through the rear-view mirror.
She watched Fontaine kind of float off to her car and stifled a giggle. Paul looked back at her. “You find that amusing, Steele?”
“Sweet, too sweet,” she said as she let the giggle all out. “I have to tell you, her reaction to you is priceless.”
He pulled out to follow the detective. “I think so too.”
Now if everything else can fall into place that would be fantastic!
ARSEN
Hiding just behind a partially opened door of a small bedroom just off Anne’s living room, Arsen held a small recording device and waited for Beth to start the conversation with her mother.
Anne’s voice was tense as she entered the house.
“Sorry it took so long, darling. I had issues arise I had no control over. So, my surprise?”
Arsen thought how typical that was of the woman. Me, me, me. That’s all she ever thought about was herself and what others could do for her.
He was happy he was about to do something for her. Send her ass to prison where she belonged.
“Oh that,” Beth said. Some rummaging he heard then she said, “Here you go. Pete made this picture for you of our family. He wanted me to give it to you.”
The crinkling of paper he heard then Anne sighed.
“A drawing by a four-year-old. That’s it?”
“Mother, Pete worked hard on that for you,” Beth said, sternly.
“I thought it would be something good,” Anne said. “Well, if that’s what you’ve waited for hours to give me then I’ll see you later, Beth. Damn it, what a disappointment.”
Beth cleared her throat then said, “Well, I did have some things I wanted to talk to you about. When’s the last time you saw Arsen Sloan?”
“What?” Anne nearly shouted. “Arsen? The boy your father nearly killed? That guy? I don’t know why you’re asking me that. I mean unless it’s because of how it came out on the news he killed those women. Seems you dodged a bullet there with that crazy man. Guess your father was right to have beaten him.”
“Was he?” Beth asked. “Then why did you stop Dad? Why did you take Arsen to the hospital?”
“Well, I am a Christian woman, Beth. I don’t approve of violence.”
Arsen had to hold the laugh that almost got away from him back. His hand clasped over his mouth to keep it in.
What a liar!
Beth did let her laugh out.
“Really? So, I suppose that’s why you visited Allen White a number of times while he was in prison. To introduce the man to religion?”
“How do you know about him?” Anne’s tone had gone to defensive quickly. “I’ve never told a soul about that, Beth.”
“Oh! Well, I may have found a little secret diary thingy you’ve been keeping.” Beth laughed again. “A person who does the things you have done should not keep it all written down anywhere. Much less in a book which is handwritten and has elaborate writing on the front cover of a leather-bound book. The title is amazing. Sounds like a best seller, Mom.”
“How did you find it?” Anne asked with a tension to her voice Arsen knew all too well.
“The Destruction of Arsen Sloan, what a title, Mom. And the details are so intricate. Step one, find someone who wants revenge on Arsen Sloan as much as I do. That was kind of hard to find it seems. Poor Arsen had to lose a case for that to happen.”
“That’s just a little fiction story I’ve been working on. None of it is real.” Anne laughed. “Darling, you thought it was a true story. How funny.”
“Let that crap go, Mom,” Beth said. “I know about it all now. I even found the tapes. They were truly awful, Mother. I can’t tell you how many times I threw up.”
The sound of someone plopping onto a cushioned surface let Arsen know Anne had fallen to the sofa.
“The tapes too? Jesus, Beth, when did you find the time to go all through my house? I mean you have that husband and those kids to raise. When did you find the time?”
“Well, let’s see. It was when I saw Arsen on television for the first time. When they were talking about how he might be accused of the murder of three women who were his su
bmissive partners at one time. Guess who else they caught on that camera, Mom?”
Anne sighed. “Shit! Shit, I never saw that.”
“Yep, you were there in the background with your black wig on.” Beth sat down, making the springs on the sofa cushion squeak. “You had on a blue dress which made you look kind of lumpy. Which you’re not. So before I accused you of being there, I decided to come and look through your closet to see if the dress was there.”
“It was. I knew it had been moved. I knew it!” Anne said. “You came into my home and searched through my personal things! How could you, Beth? How could you?”
“Save that shit, Mom. Come clean. Tell me it all. Every sordid detail,” Beth coaxed her mother.
“What do you want to hear? How I found Arsen one fateful night in a small bar? How I made him mine in a way you never could? How he loved me?”
Arsen rolled his eyes. Love was not a thing they’d had. How she didn’t know was a mystery to him.
“So he loved you, did he?” Beth asked. “And you repaid him by framing him for murders you had committed by another man?”
“You have no idea how much Arsen Sloan deserves to be behind bars.” Anne said.
“Tell me, Mom.”
Arsen leaned forward and found he could see the two as they sat on the sofa. The back of their heads, anyway. Anne looked at Beth and said, “Look, I’ll cut you in on what I’m going to be getting once he’s in prison. How about that, darling?”
He saw one side of Beth’s mouth quirk up into a smile.
“Cut me in? On what?”
“I’ve forged Arsen’s name on quite a few things. I had his social security number, his driver’s license number, his date of birth, mother’s maiden name. You name it, I have it. So I was able to get my name in on some of his best investments. See he has so damn many he has no time to check each one out for any changes. And the ones I put my name on as an eighty percent owner, I had the address changed on.”
“Clever, Mother,” Beth said. “Who’s address?”
“A post office box in Los Angeles. All I have to do is wait for a judge to find him guilty and off he’ll go to prison and off I’ll go to the bank with my papers in hand and tell them I want to cash out.” Anne patted her daughter’s shoulders. “Millions, darling. And I’ll share with you. How about I give you ten percent to stay quiet?”
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