“No!” Beatrice exclaimed. “I can’t take this pressure anymore!”
“I’m assuming that you are standing by this plea counsel?”
Corretti removed his glasses before he spoke. “Yes, your honor.”
One of the prosecuting attorneys, John Norbond, quickly stood. “Your honor, Mrs. Harrington is perfectly sane! The defense is clearly trying to fool the court!”
“That’s for me to determine Mr. Norbond. Now have a seat.”
“Mrs. Harrington, with a plea of not guilty by reason insanity, you will be required to be examined by a psychiatric professional of the prosecutions choice. You will then return to this courtroom in two weeks to determine if you are in fact incompetent to stand trial. The defendant will remain in the custody of Civil Brand Correction Facility.” The judge hit her gavel again. “Court adjourned.” And that was that.
Amour couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Guilty by reason of insanity? She sat in Jason’s truck on the way home in a total state of shock. “Why the hell would they do that?” she asked.
“Pleading guilty by reason of insanity and acting up in court easily opens the door for an insanity defense. There’s too much evidence against her to get her off the old fashioned way. If that works, she’ll do her time in a mental ward instead of prison.”
“Do you really think she’s going to get away with that?”
“It’s a strong possibility. Corretti is one of the top defense attorneys in this state. He’s gotten people off on less.”
Amour’s stomach turned for what seemed like the hundredth time. “I hate her!”
He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I know sweetheart. It’s out of our hands at this point. Let’s just hope that the prosecution gets a good doctor to examine her so the judge won’t fall for that crap.”
“You know, it’s bad enough that she’s gotten away with this for twenty-seven years, now that she’s caught she wants to be let off the hook? Maybe her mind is fucked up!”
Jason quickly turned in her direction. “Whoa!”
“Sorry…”
“Don’t be. You have every right to feel that way.”
“I’m agitated. I need to have an orgasm.”
Jason laughed. “Amour…”
She looked at him. “You think I’m joking?”
“Not anymore. I’ll be sure to take care of that when we get home.”
Making love with Jason calmed her nerves a bit but not fully. Because of that, she decided to let Jason sleep and have some wine to soothe her nerves. After her third glass of White Zinfandel, she sat on Jason’s balcony and looked out into the night sky. Because of the smog in L.A., the stars weren’t as clear as they were in Nebraska but still just as relaxing. Even though it was dark out, the rubies and diamonds on her mother’s bracelet which she’d slipped on once they’d gotten home, sparkled brightly. She sat staring at it wondering where she’d gotten the strength to even put it back on after she’d found out how Carly had possibly received it. The urge to smoke a cigarette lingered through her but she resisted and instead, decided to call her father. She needed to check on him anyway and also to hear his warm fatherly voice that since she could remember, had always given her peace. She picked up her cell and dialed his number. It was very late in Nebraska so she hoped he would be awake.
He picked up after a few rings. “Hey pumpkin!”
“Hi daddy. I’m so glad you’re awake.”
Ted said nothing for a short while and then spoke. “Are you angry at me sweetheart?”
She frowned. “No, why would I be?”
She heard him let out a breath. “Oh…ok my love. Why aren’t you in bed? It’s late honey.”
That was weird. “Daddy, are you okay?”
“Yes pumpkin. Just glad to hear from you that’s all.”
“I’m ready to come home.”
“Oh pumpkin, I’m ready for you to. These two weeks aren’t going by fast enough.”
She took a gulp of her wine. “I think I’m gonna change my ticket to an earlier flight.” She didn’t see why not considering everything she and Jason had done so far was going to be in vain because Beatrice was well on her way to avoiding being punished for what she’d done.
“Good baby!”
She felt herself starting to get buzzed from the wine. “Were you and mom happy?”
“I already told you we were. Why are you asking me that again?”
“I know…I just…forget it.”
“Are you sure you’re okay pumpkin?”
“I’m fine, I just need some sleep.”
“Okay baby girl, go to bed now. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The wine started to hit her more and her words started to slur. “Okay daddy, talk to you later.”
“Alright pumpkin, goodnight.”
Feeling light-headed, she got up and stumbled her way back inside and into the bedroom. This disastrous day just needed to be over with and she was just about drunk enough to fall asleep quickly. And that’s exactly what she did.
* * *
The next morning, the two of them with some hesitation on Amour’s part, collectively decided to pay Angela Marx another visit. Jason felt it was time to confront her about her potential part in all of this. Amour made it clear that she wasn’t sure how she was going to keep her composure in Angela’s presence, but Jason hoped she managed to figure it out on the way there because he knew that as soon as she saw that woman’s face, she was going to be itching to punch her in it.
“Relax honey. It’s going to be okay,” he said to her.
“Yeah I know. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Jason smiled but kept quiet. “You don’t honestly think she’s gonna admit to what Rachel Monroe said do you?”
“Of course not. Why would she? I’ll just have to make her.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I have my ways.”
She shot him an angry look. “You’re not going to fuck her are you?”
Jason looked back at her in total surprise. “What?”
“I know how you men are!”
“Okay first of all, Angela’s too old for me, well not really, but she’s not even my type at all and where the hell did get all of that from anyway?”
“Mack flirted with the receptionist in Downey to get information and I saw how you were all goo goo eyed over Cassidy that day!”
“Who?”
“You know who! That slutty hostess at the Eleganti Lounge.”
Jason laughed, which seemed to piss her off even more. “Okay, Mack flirts with anything with a vagina and what the hell would make you think that I wanted her?
“Why not? She sure wanted you and you certainly did your share of flirting back!”
Was she jealous? How adorable. “I don’t want Cassidy Amour. There’s no need for you to be the least bit intimidated by her.”
“I’m not!”
Clearly she was. “Alright.”
After about ten minutes she spoke again. “Really?”
He knew that she was still thinking about the Cassidy incident. He reached over and rubbed her thigh. “Really.” When she smiled, he sensed that she had gotten over whatever jealousy she was feeling. He was glad of that but at the same time it turned him on and made him want her even more. Being jealous of another woman mean in some way that she didn’t want him to be with anyone else. No one had ever expressed those particular feelings for him before and he had to admit, he was very flattered.
When they approached the hostess’s podium at the lounge, Cassidy was there again with the same seductive smile and libidinous attitude she’d had the first time they’d gone there. This time, Amour decided to plant a huge kiss on Jason’s lips right in front of her which didn’t seem to fit well with Cassidy because she frowned and her attitude quickly went from chipper to bitchy. All Jason could do was chuckle at Amour’s boldness when marking her “territory” and thank Cassidy for not giving them a hard time because of it
. When they got inside of the lounge, Angela had instructed them to take the elevator to the fifth floor and go to her office to meet. When they reached it, the door was open so the two of them walked right in.
Angela remained seated at her desk. “Hello again! Please, have a seat.”
“We’d rather not.” Amour said with an exasperated tone.
Angela looked puzzled. “Is there a problem Miss Graciette?”
Amour frowned. “How did you know my name? I never told you that.”
Angela smirked. “I know all about you, sweetie. I did when I met you.”
Jason lightly touched Amour on the arm signaling for her to let him handle it. “How exactly?”
“Oh come on, the two of you come in here looking for information about Carly. Clearly she’s her daughter because she looks just like her. I didn’t get where I am in life by being stupid you know.”
“Why didn’t you say anything then?”
“Because I didn’t want any part of a murder investigation.”
“We didn’t tell you about that.”
“You didn’t have to. It was obvious by all the questions you were asking. Once I saw that Beatrice had been arrested on the news, I knew my suspicions were correct.”
“Is that right?” Angela nodded. “You know, I’m starting to believe my suspicions about you are correct as well.”
Angela’s eyes widened and she stood, walked around to the front of her desk and leaned on the edge of it. “Now what suspicions could you possibly have about me?”
Jason gave her a half smile. “The ones of you being there when Carly was killed.”
Angela looked away but seemed unconcerned. “Oh really? What makes you think I was there?”
“We have a witness that placed you there.”
She smiled again. “And what witness is this?”
“You think I’m gonna tell you who it is so you and Beatrice can have them killed as well?” He put his index finger up. “You know, there’s no statute of limitations on murder so you’re looking at twenty years at the very least.”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about. I wasn’t anywhere near Carly when she died.”
“No, but you were across the street from her house that day. I know because the witness not only placed you there, they also knew what kind of car you drove and even described the fuzzy dice you have hanging in you glove compartment. You know the ones with your name on them?”
Her expression turned blank. “What do you want?”
“I want the truth Angela. I know you’re hiding something because judging by all the horrible things you had to say about Carly, I’m not being led to believe that you were as good a friend to her as you claimed. I ran a background check on you and not only do I have that witness, I have proof that you owned that car. It may not be enough to have you put in prison but it’s definitely enough to ruin your life so I suggest you spill it. Trust me when I tell you I’m extremely good at my job and I’ll find what I need to bust your ass.”
“We were friends. I only said those things because she’d changed. She turned into a different person. She wasn’t the Carly that I knew anymore. Believe me, she was my best friend. I loved her.”
“You’ll have to excuse me if I find that a little hard to believe because I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be friends with the woman who stole her man right from up under her.”
Both Angela and Amour looked at Jason in surprise but Amour was the one who spoke. “What?”
He turned to her. “Your mother mentioned Pierce and Angela’s relationship in the letters she wrote to him. You didn’t know about that because you didn’t want to read them and I knew that wasn’t something you would’ve cared to know about.” Amour didn’t respond to what Jason had just told her but he could tell she’d understood why he kept it from her.
Angela stood straight up. “She wasn’t supposed to know about that.”
“Well she did,” Jason said. “Why did you lie, Angela?”
“Because, I loved him and she didn’t even care! I hated her! Everything was perfectly fine until she showed up! It was bad enough that she had the attention of almost every man in this place at the time, she had to have mine too!”
“Actually he didn’t belong to either one of you, he was Beatrice’s. She was his wife and neither one of you seemed to care anything about that.”
“He didn’t love her. That was and still is a marriage of convince. He knocked her up when she was nineteen and he knew back then that if he wanted to succeed in politics he had to marry her and raise his family the “right” way so he’d look good in public.” She laughed softly. “He still doesn’t want her because he still doesn’t love her.”
“But he did love Carly. Is that what the problem was?”
“Of course, she was competition. Up until she came along I didn’t have any. I was his main woman, not any of those other ones.”
“Other ones?”
“Oh yes sweetheart. The Eleganti was full of whores. You ought to know that Jason you’re a member here. Pierce definitely had his pick of the litter but they usually didn’t last that long. Once I told Beatrice about them, she would just pay them off and they’d go away.”
Jason scowled. “So now you’re gonna tell me that you and Beatrice were friends?”
“Actually yes, she didn’t know about me and Pierce so I decided to use that to my advantage by making sure those whores didn’t stick around that long.”
“Did you tell her about Carly?” Angela nodded. “So let me guess, the two of you weren’t all that happy about Pierce being in love with her so you decided to get rid of her. Am I right?”
“No! I had nothing to do with her death. That was all Beatrice. Pierce had promised her that he would stop seeing Carly once she’d found out about their affair.”
“I take it Pierce didn’t keep his promise.”
“Not at all. He kept on sleeping with that bitch. I don’t know why because she was nothing but a slut!”
Jason turned to Amour to make sure she was okay and she was surprisingly keeping her cool. “Well if that’s not the pot calling the kettle black. You were sleeping with the same married man that she was.”
“Whatever! She didn’t even love him. She was just using him.”
“You still haven’t told me what you were doing at her house that day.”
“I went there to watch.”
“Watch what exactly? Your plan unfold?”
“I told you I had nothing to do with her death. I hated her but I didn’t want her dead. I only told Beatrice that they were still seeing each other. After that, she told me that she was going to Carly’s house that day to confront her and to see if she could pay her off like she did the others. I just wanted to make sure she was holding up her end of the bargain. When I saw her running out of Carly’s house in tears I knew she’d screwed the whole thing up so I left, that’s it. I haven’t talked to her since.”
Jason rubbed his knuckled against his chin. “You seem to still be angry at her.”
“As a matter of fact I am. Because of her stupidity, she’s completely exposed Pierce and now he might lose his seat over this.”
“Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on him after all these years.”
Angela smiled. “We’re still together.”
Jason glanced away briefly and then looked at her again. “You are one incredibly stupid woman. This man has been stringing you along for years. You wasted all of your youth chasing after a man that doesn’t want you. For god’s sake Angela, he loved Carly back then and he’s still married to Beatrice. You’ll never have him.”
“He does love me! I wouldn’t have had to chase after him if Carly hadn’t come here flipping her blonde hair around and winking her blue eyes at him! Maybe if she’d stayed where she was, I would’ve been the one in that house not her! She already had a man that loved her at home anyway, but I guess she didn’t care about him either.”
“You leave my father o
ut of this!” Amour said angrily.
Angela smiled. “Poor Ted. He was so infatuated with Carly he had blinders on the whole time they were together. I’ve never known a man to accept so much crap from a woman. He turned a blind eye to everything. The men constantly coming on to her at work; her being in love with someone else; going out on private dates with Pierce while he was at work all day.” She looked Amour directly in the eye. “Right down to having to raise a kid.”
Every muscle in Jason’s body became tense because he knew exactly what this conversation was going to lead to. He tried to quickly change the subject but Amour spoke before he was able to.
“He didn’t find raising his daughter to be a problem. Maybe that’s how your father must’ve treated you but mine loved me.”
Angela remained quiet for a short while before speaking again. “Oh, he never told you. I guess he must’ve been protecting you. How cute.”
Jason took a couple steps towards her. “Shut the hell up Angela!”
She smiled and turned to Jason. “Well, well, well, looks like I’m not the only one keeping secrets. You knew about this and didn’t even tell her.” She waved her finger. “Tisk, tisk, tisk…You have been a very naughty boyfriend have you?”
Jason spoke through gritted teeth. “Angela, I swear to god!”
Amour turned to face him. “What is she talking about Jason?”
“You know she’s crazy Amour, don’t even listen to her.”
Amour’s face turned red and he could tell she was very angry. “Stop treating me like a child and tell me what the hell the two of you are talking about! If my mother did something illegal I want to know. I’m not the fragile doll you apparently think that I am!”
He held her hands. “I didn’t say you were Amour.”
Angela raked her fingers through her hair. “If you don’t tell her, I will and believe me, nothing would give me more pleasure.”
Amour snatched her hands away from Jason and turned to Angela. “What…the…hell…are…you…talking…about?
“I gotta hand it to Ted. He’s a very good and noble man. As I said, there aren’t many men who would be willing to put up with Carly’s crap and also raise her child.”
Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel Page 27