by Laura Marie
“What is it that you want me to do?”
“We want you to continue to date Collins no matter what your family says. We want you to get close to him, confide in him, make him believe you. You’re to tell him how bad things were in your family. You’ll have to lie and make it believable. If he thinks you’re out for revenge, or aren’t so loyal to your family, then he’ll confide in you, perhaps reveal the name of his secret partner.”
“I don’t know if I can do this. How can I get close to a man who is somehow responsible for killing my father, whether he pulled the trigger himself or not?”
“Because the end result is clearing your father’s name, capturing his killer, ending corruption in the department, and protecting your family. We’re close, Victoria. Can you do this?”
Victoria sat back and thought about everything the investigator told her.
“Victoria, don’t think for a minute that your father even considered an affair with the Delaney girl. He had his reasons for meeting her at this restaurant.” Warren motioned with his arm toward the building behind them.
“So why was he meeting her? You know why?” Victoria needed to know everything.
“Linda Delaney was an artist. She enjoyed creating paintings from photographs, mostly engagement or wedding pictures. She sold the idea to him, showed him other work she did. Your father hired her to paint a portrait of his and your mother’s wedding picture. The unfinished work wasn’t recovered as of yet.”
“Why was Bret there if my father hated him so much?”
“Bret and Linda did have a thing going on, but she wanted to call it quits. Your father had no idea about this. When Bret showed up that day and took the picture, he probably thought nothing of it. He disliked Bret, yes, but dealt with him while Linda finished her portrait.”
Victoria thought about it for a minute, relieved that her father had good reason for meeting the attractive young woman.
Warren proceeded to tell her no one was to know about her decision and that in the end, after hurting her family, they would understand and forgive her.
* * * *
Warren called Monroe, then pulled his car out of the parking lot.
“So do you think she’s going to help us, or what?” Monroe asked.
“My gut would say yes. She wants revenge badly.”
“You’re not kidding. Who the hell wouldn’t? I just wonder if she’ll be able to handle her family. Besides that, where the hell did you come up with the story about the painting? She may ask to see that when everything is all over,” Monroe said.
“Don’t worry about it, Monroe, just follow my lead. We are conducting this investigation for the county district attorney’s office. Do you know what kind of publicity the DA and all of us will get from this? Especially if there’s multiple murders connected. As sick as it sounds, people eat that kind of movie shit up.”
“It’s crazy when you think about how this whole investigation got started.”
“Yeah, one call from Jack ‘Flip’ Walker to his town DA,” Warren added.
“It would make a great story. A man who wanted the position as town supervisor had initiated the phone call to the district attorney’s office. That call encouraged the district attorney to take a deeper look at Bret Collins. Who would’ve known that the Highway Department supervisor was onto something this big?”
Chapter 5
Victoria’s tears threatened to escape. It would take a miracle for her to make it through the day without breaking down. The sense of foreboding, of the unknown that lay before her was enough to bring the most organized and strong person into a panic attack, but instead she reluctantly entered her office. She had debated about calling in sick, but she never did that. She did only once two years ago when she had the stomach flu and wound up dehydrated and in the hospital. That was before her father was killed.
Tears filled her eyes for the hundredth time today. She needed to gain control of that. She had another job to do, and her anger and hatred were her motivation. As she looked up toward her desk, she noticed the large bouquet of wildflowers that sat in a tall, purple vase, her favorite color. As she lay her briefcase down on the table, she heard Debbie’s voice.
“There’s no card, Victoria. Maybe it’s from that handsome Bret Collins.” Debbie took a sniff.
Victoria wanted to vomit. The show had begun, and she needed to stay in her role constantly. Flinching at the sensation of chills running through her body, she stiffened then refocused.
“Maybe they are. I’ll have to call him and thank him.” Victoria touched the flowers.
Just then, her phone rang, startling her. Debbie took notice, but didn’t seem to think anything of it as she waved good-bye and left the room, closing the office door behind her.
“Hey, gorgeous, did you sleep well?” Bret asked and Victoria held onto the receiver tightly.
“Pretty good, how about yourself?” You murderous bastard. She shook the thoughts away. She didn’t want to screw this up.
“Do you have plans for lunch today? I’d love to meet you.”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to check my book. I just got to the office. Thank you for the flowers.” It killed her to be so pleasant.
“I didn’t send you flowers. I wish I had thought of it, though. There’s no card?” Bret’s voice sounded tinged with jealousy. Her heart felt as if it sank to her toes.
“No, there isn’t. I’m sorry for assuming. Let me look at my book a minute.”
The perspiration hit her brow, and she wondered who sent her the flowers.
“Why are you late to work, oversleep or something?”
Debating about telling him the truth, she knew the faster she convinced him he could trust her, the faster she could put Bret behind bars.
“No, I had an early visitor this morning. Tod came by and had a cup of coffee. He had some upsetting news for me. I really don’t want to talk about it, Bret.”
“You sound upset, honey. Maybe talking to me might help. Tell me you’re free for lunch and we’ll talk then.”
Hesitating, she debated about pushing off the inevitable. Knowing she made a promise to assist in the case, she had no choice but to meet him. Perhaps she could even use this meeting to her advantage.
“Okay, I’ll meet you around noontime at Phill’s.” As the words left her lips, she acknowledged her innate ability to fall into her role. It was a big chance she was taking, but hopefully it would reap great results.
“Yeah, I love that place. Noon it is, and I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me, either.” Victoria hung up the phone.
There was no turning back now. Phill’s was the local cop hangout, and if she were to convince Bret that she was interested in him, ready to choose him over her family, then she needed to show him off, make their relationship known. And there was no better place than Phill’s.
Again her phone rang, and this time it was Celina.
“Girl, I have been trying to get you all morning. Did you sleep over at Bret’s place or what?”
Victoria felt sick again, knowing she had to lie to her best friend. But Warren had warned her, and she wasn’t one to make mistakes.
“No, I didn’t, but we did have a great time. I’m meeting him for lunch today, as well.”
“Oh, that’s fantastic! Maybe by tonight you’ll be getting some,” Celina teased.
“Listen, have you checked your voice mails? Is your cell phone working? Because your brother, cousins, and uncle have been trying to find you. They’re worried about you, and I think I may have made matters worse.”
“How so, Celina? What did you tell them?”
“That you had a hot date last night.”
“Oh no, Celina, I have to go. I’ll call you later.” Victoria placed the receiver back onto the base. The chaos had already started. She checked her cell phone. She was so upset this morning after talking to Tod, she’d left in a rush, never bothering to turn on her cell phone. She opened it and saw twenty-one mes
sages. “Shit!”
“That’s right. ‘Shit’ about sums it up.”
Startled, Victoria looked up to find her cousin Andy standing in her office door wearing his sheriff’s uniform.
“What are you doing here, Andy? Is everything all right?” She rose from her desk.
“You tell me! Don’t you check your phone messages, check in or something?”
“I just did. I hadn’t realized my phone wasn’t on. What’s the emergency?”
“Family meeting down by Uncle Jack’s boat in the marina. Eleven o’clock sharp.”
“I have a lunch date at noon. Will this take long?” She knew exactly what the meeting was about and was scared out of her mind to show up for it.
“With Bret Collins? What the hell are you thinking, Tory?” Andy rested his hand on his gun holster.
“Don’t start with me, Andy. It just happened, that’s all.” She then looked at the flowers, wondering who sent them.
“Are those from him?”
“No, they’re not. I don’t know who sent them. There’s no card.” Her phone began to ring.
“Do me a favor and tell everyone to stop calling me. I’ll be there at eleven, but this better not be just about Bret and me.”
Andy gave her a disgusted look at the way she said “Bret and me,” like they were already an item.
Her uncle and cousins were probably so pissed off right now, it wasn’t even humorous.
“Just don’t be late. I’ll see you there.” He immediately called his uncle Patrick on his way out of the building.
Victoria took a deep breath, hoping that with each one, the pain in her chest would disappear. She sat down at her desk and focused on her work the best she could until ten forty-five arrived and she headed out the door.
* * * *
“I told you never to call me. I’ll call you when I need something.”
“I know that, but I’m worried. I heard that the cops are making a connection between Linda and Danny. I don’t want to get screwed here. You promised me everything would be fine.” Bret’s palms began to sweat and he wiped some perspiration off his brow. The man on the other end of the line and his capabilities frightened him.
“Don’t bother me with your pansy bullshit. You wanted this. All of it. Now live with your part and trust me. Everything is going as planned, ‘Supervisor.’ Don’t call me again.”
Bret shook. He never should have said yes to any of this. Stealing, money laundering, roughing someone up was one thing, but murder, that was something entirely different, never mind the fact he had no idea who this guy was.
Bret thought back to a year earlier when his life seemed pretty bad and all prospects of climbing up the political ladder were dismal. He was desperate and ready to do anything to achieve the position as supervisor, but he had to get his name into the race. That’s when he received the phone call from Mr. Mysterious. The guy had it all planned out, and Bret accepted his offer of helping him achieve his political goals. He was desperate, yes, but this mystery person had a lot of information on him.
Bret smiled when he thought about his own fixation with young women. He couldn’t get enough of playing the wild, crazy sex games. He lived for it, but somehow this guy got his hands on a video and some pictures of him with an underage girl. Bret knew something like that would destroy any chances he had for a political career. It was over, the decision made, and now here he was on the way to achieving his goal. Still, he had this uneasy feeling inside. Maybe it was guilt or disgust for what he had done, and for what this man was capable of doing?
Then of course there was Linda Delaney. He had loved her, but she had to be sacrificed to destroy Danny Mardullo’s reputation.
Mardullo’s daughter, Victoria, though, was a different story. Things just kind of happened between them, well, with a little push from him. But hey, maybe she was exactly what he needed, and the bonus of extra votes didn’t hurt one bit. Now he needed to win her over completely in order to make sure he had those votes come Election Day.
* * * *
Victoria pulled her Jeep into the marina parking lot. She immediately noticed the police cars, sheriff’s car, her uncle’s fencing company truck, unmarked police cars, and other vehicles belonging to her family. She didn’t, however, see her mom’s car.
She took a deep breath and prayed she could play her role. It was one that was completely the opposite of her true self.
“You’re late by ten minutes.”
“You’re lucky I even showed up, knowing there would be a lynch mob,” she said sarcastically as she joined the large group of men. The mere fact that she was the only female present would have normally alarmed her if they weren’t her family.
“First topic and reason for today’s meeting is you, Victoria. We understand that you are now dating Bret Collins, enemy of your father and family.” Uncle Patrick used his most serious voice as the others stared at her like she’d committed a felony. She didn’t think she would get away with this, not by a long shot. The sight of all the handsome and intimidating men in her family staring at her was difficult to ignore. Each of them individually was powerful and unique in his own way.
The fact that the majority of them were wearing some sort of community servant uniform added to the intimidation.
Her mind raced. How easy it would be to confide in the men of the family and let them take care of her and this situation. But she couldn’t. They had their chance at fixing this and attempting to find out her murdered her father, and they failed. She had no choice. She needed to do this for her mother, her family, and for herself.
“Well?” Uncle Pat insisted on getting an answer, and she held her ground.
“It’s none of your business! What’s the next subject of this family meeting?” she shot back at them, and she could tell they were shocked.
“Tory, this is serious. He’s no good for you!” Peter told her.
Then the others bombarded her, as well.
“He’s a scumbag!”
“He’s too old for you!”
“He’s using you.”
“Whoa, everybody, settle down, right now. All of you have no right to tell me whom I may or may not go out with. My personal life is my business, not any of yours. Besides, it was all of you who have been pushing me to date. Now, Bret and I happened, plain and simple. I like him, we’re dating, and it’s no big deal. Get over it!”
They tried to talk to her about it, but she wouldn’t budge. Finally, Uncle Patrick brought up the next topic, which was the new information about his brother Danny.
“There’s no way it’s true, Uncle Pat,” Peter said as the others added similar comments.
Victoria stayed silent. She knew this was already tearing her family apart, and she couldn’t tell them it was all a lie. She had to keep her mouth shut. Her uncle gave her the evil eye, and she prayed she wouldn’t crack.
They talked about it, tried to put their heads together, and hoped it wasn’t true. Then they went over the plans for the memorial service, which would only take about an hour, then a reception at the firehouse afterwards.
“The family needs to stick together. If news of this new suspicion gets out, then there’s going to be a lot of questions, accusations. They may even stop investigating Danny’s case,” Uncle Patrick said.
“How can they do that? They still don’t have a suspect in custody. It’s still a murder case.” Victoria looked at her uncle for answers.
“It will still be considered a murder case, but not one of a cop. Instead, it will be the murder of an adulterer. The manpower involved with solving the case will automatically be lessened. Taxpayers’ dollars—there’s no need to have so many good officers and detectives investigating such a case,” Connor stated.
Victoria felt herself getting more and more upset. She wanted to tell them about the secret investigation, she wanted them to console her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. Instead, the realization she needed to be strong, to handle thi
s without the family, was slowly sinking in.
“So if this information comes out, there’s a possibility that my dad’s case could go unsolved? This is ludicrous.” Victoria crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“It’s a possibility.”
“I can’t see Tod letting anything like that happen. Let’s focus on the ceremony and keep everyone together. It’s important that the family comes together and shows how close and how strong we are,” Uncle Patrick said, and everyone agreed.
She remained silent, deep in thought about the new information and the harm it could cause.
“Victoria, I’ll pick you and Mom up at her house and drive you both to the ceremony,” Peter told her as the others began leaving.
“I’ll meet you there.” She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.
Everyone seemed to pause and watch her. She needed to maintain control and stick to her act.
“Don’t you dare show up with him at Dad’s memorial,” he scolded. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“I wouldn’t do that, Peter. Besides, he will be there, but as a town board member, for political and personal reasons. Now, let go of my arm.” She pulled away then, abruptly leaving.
* * * *
Peter was shocked. His sister would never act like this, and he didn’t know what was wrong with her.
“Something’s up, Uncle Pat. Did you see that? Her whole attitude today is wrong.” Peter watched Victoria get into her blue Jeep and leave.
“I can see that, too, and I hope Collins doesn’t have a hold of her already.”
“How could he? They’ve only been seeing one another.” Peter shook his head as he placed his hands into his pockets.
“It makes me sick just thinking about it. I know the guy is attractive. Women get turned on by him, but…Tory? It just doesn’t fit.”
“I agree with you, but remember she’s been through a lot and has been dealing with it all head-on and without assistance. Perhaps this is just a fling she needs to forget about Steven.”