The director spoke in a more subdued tone. “I deserve to be punished. But I did not kill Savannah. I loved her.”
“One step forward, two steps back,” Israel continued. “This is an excuse we’ve heard before. Then why, when Merritt Saxe answered your call for help, did she get to the scene and find you covered in the blood of your mistress? And why do you persist in blaming Roy Starnes, or some unnamed ex-convict or everybody else but yourself, as the guilty party?”
Four picked up a hot poker from the fireplace.
“Brother, I think it’s time for more persuasive tactics.”
“Stop,” I cried, rising from my chair. “Leave him alone.”
“Miss Saxe, this line of questioning isn’t for the faint of heart,” Four said. “Maybe you’d better go into the bedroom.”
Israel looked at me through hooded eyes with a look of resignation. “Do you want to wait in another room, Merritt?”
“I won’t watch while you torture him,” I protested.
“It’s up to the director what happens to him. If he tells us the truth, we won’t have to resort to violence.” Four approached the director with the fiery poker, moving it slowly up and down, trying to decide whether to brand his face or somewhere quite lower.
Vomit rose to my throat, and I felt myself slipping out of consciousness.
“Merritt,” Israel said softly and caught me as I collapsed. I woke up in the darkness of a bedroom, covered with a quilt. I hadn’t stopped anything. I could hear their muffled words and see the scene they were staging through the open door.
“Now, where were we?”
Four raised the poker and brought the hot metal dangerously close to the director’s face.
“Okay. I’ll tell you what happened,” the director relented, jerking out of the way of the poker.
Four lowered the poker and placed it back on its stand next to the fireplace.
“We’re listening,” said Israel in a deadly calm voice.
“It was right after the barbecue, and everyone had gone home,” the director began. “I decided not to put it off any longer. I was in love with Savannah, and when she told me she was carrying my child, I promised I would leave my wife and marry her. I told Miss Julia, and she was furious. She stormed through the house screaming and threatening me. ‘You will never leave me. I will not allow it,’ she said. ‘I’ll put a bullet through your head before I let that happen.’
“I said, ‘Julia, be reasonable. I’m in love with Savannah and have been for years. She is having our child. I think it’s best that I move out of the house.’
“ ‘Best for whom? Don’t you think I know about your whore? I saw the way you looked at her at the barbecue. And my friends delight in telling me all about the way you carry on with your tramp all over town. You have humiliated me and brought your dirty business into our home. I’ve let you play around, and I never said anything, but there’s no way I’m going to let that woman take you away from me and the girls. We’re your family.’
“Miss Julia ran around the house like a madwoman, breaking dishes and smashing glass and waking the girls. She wasn’t herself. I didn’t blame her. She begged me not to leave her, but I stood firm. Then she said she was packing a bag and taking the girls to her parents’ condo on Jacksonville Beach. Before she could leave the room, she collapsed. I caught her in my arms and placed her on the couch.
“When she came to, she asked me to drive the girls to her parents. I covered her with her favorite plaid wool blanket and settled her in. I owed her that much and more. Things mean a lot to Miss Julia. Her things are much more important to her than I am. Savannah’s theory was that women go overboard decorating and accumulating because something is missing in their lives. I think she was right. And that is my fault.
“I called Savannah and told her that Miss Julia knew about us and to keep the door open and wait up for me no matter how late. That I was coming to stay with her. And that we would never be apart again. I went through the house, packing up everything I could. I wanted to be moved out by the time Miss Julia woke up.”
“Then what happened?” Israel prompted.
“I drove the girls to Jacksonville and turned right around and drove as fast as I could back to Watertown. When I got to Savannah’s apartment, the door was partially open, and the place was trashed. Picture frames were broken, clothes were strewn around the place, and Savannah was lying on the bed in a pool of her own blood. My heart stopped. At first, I was sure she was dead. How could she not be? But then she reached out her hand, and I took it between my palms. I remember how weak her pulse was and how cold her hands were. I wanted to warm them up.
“ ‘The baby, she’s killed the baby,’ Savannah said as life seeped out of her.
“ ‘Who killed the baby?’ I asked, wanting to hold her body against mine, but the knife was in the way. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I wanted to call an ambulance, but then I thought about how it would look. I wanted to pull out the knife, but I thought that would make things worse. So I held her hand in mine, and with her last breath, she said, ‘Miss Julia.’
“I was stunned. I tried to confirm what she was saying, to make sense of it, but she was already gone. For the longest time I just sat there, holding her hand, trying to soothe her, but she was gone. That’s when I called Peggy to pick me up. But Peggy was out, and Merritt answered the phone. And you know the rest of the story.”
“Are you saying that Miss Julia killed Savannah?” Israel asked.
The director hung his head and nodded. “When I got home, Miss Julia opened the door, and she fell into my arms. She confessed what she had done. She wasn’t sorry. She said she’d do anything to keep me. So you see, I had to protect her. Because it was my fault.”
“She said she waited outside Savannah’s apartment and saw Roy Starnes leave. That’s when she went in and confronted Savannah, and she repeated their conversation to me: ‘You’re nothing but a slut, entertaining men in your bedroom in the middle of the night. Does Willard know about this?’
“ ‘Roy just came by to drop off my scarf.’
“Miss Julia checked her watch. ‘At two in the morning? What else did he come by for?’
“ ‘He told me how he felt about me.’
“ ‘Did he know you were pregnant with my husband’s child?’
“ ‘Yes, and I told him Willi and I are in love. Roy offered to marry me. But of course I said no. Willi and I are going to be married.’
“ ‘Women like you think you can have it all. Any man you want. Well, you can’t have my man. You can’t destroy my family. I’m asking you to step away. You’re a temptress; you’re the devil. If you leave, Willard will come back to me. I know he will.’
“Miss Julia told me Savannah held her palm over her stomach and said, ‘I can’t. I’m sorry, but there’s a baby now.’
“That’s when Miss Julia started to attack Savannah, taking the picture of the two of us and smashing it on the floor, grabbing everything she could out of the drawers and the closet and throwing it on the floor. Savannah didn’t have much. When Miss Julia got as far as the kitchen, that’s when she grabbed a butcher knife and…stabbed Savannah.
“If I had just gotten there a little earlier, or if I hadn’t taken the girls to their grandparents… Miss Julia sent me away on purpose so she could ambush Savannah.”
I climbed out of the four-poster bed, came out into the living room, and stood before the director. “You told me Miss Julia had taken your daughters to Jacksonville, but when I dropped you off, she was at the door,” I said. “That’s what I was trying to remember.”
“So your wife murdered Savannah Braddock in cold blood,” Israel stated. “Unbelievable.”
“I don’t think she went there with the intention of killing anyone. If she had, she would have taken her shotgun. But she gets enraged easily, and she lost it with Savannah and picked up whatever weapon was handy. She thought she was defending her family.”
Four sat on
the edge of the club chair.
Israel collapsed on the couch. “So you’re saying you really didn’t kill Savannah Braddock?”
“If I had only gotten there sooner, I could have done something. I could have stopped my wife. I pushed her too far. It was all my fault. I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Christ, what do we do now?” Israel asked.
Four shrugged.
“What are you going to do with me?” asked the director.
Israel shook his head and expelled a breath. “Let’s let him go,” Israel decided, and started uncuffing the director’s wrists.
“I think we should all forget this ever happened,” Four said.
“What about Miss Julia?” I asked. “She committed murder. Israel, you’re a lawyer. You can’t just let her get away with it.”
“Like the director said, she was driven to the edge trying to protect her family,” Israel rationalized. “She was probably temporarily insane when she picked up that knife. Let’s just keep this between the four of us and never speak of it again. Agreed?”
“Just leave the case unsolved?” I asked.
“I think that’s best,” Israel answered.
The director sighed in obvious relief and flexed his sore hands.
Four nodded, and I was in no position to disagree. How do I know what I would have done in Miss Julia’s place if I saw my husband’s baby growing in his mistress’s belly? I might have gone a little crazy, too.
Four and Israel picked up their rifles.
“Let’s go, Willard. We’ll drop you at home. You’re not going to hear anything from us, and I hope you’ll respect that.”
“Thank you,” the director said.
I had a lot to think about. I couldn’t go back to the division or see the director ever again, and I didn’t know if I could forgive Israel or look at him the same way, after the way he’d conducted himself in this mock trial. I knew he was just trying to protect me, but he’d gone too far. I couldn’t erase what I had seen.
We dropped the director off, and as Four drove the car away from his boss’s house and toward Israel’s residence, Israel put his arm around me. “Come on, baby, I think we need some rest.”
“I can’t stay here with you, Israel. Not yet, anyway. I need you to take me home.”
“But your place is trashed. You can’t stay there.”
“They’re not going to come back. I just need to get away.”
“Away from me?”
“I need time to think.” Tomorrow would be a busy day. I was going to turn in my resignation and try to get out of my lease and put Watertown in my rearview mirror.
Daniel was starting to look pretty tempting. I didn’t have room for any more drama in my life. I wiggled my ring finger. It felt naked. I was going to take another serious look at my engagement ring. The six-hour drive back to Miami would give me plenty of time to think. I hoped Daniel hadn’t returned to UVa, and we could talk, really talk, about our future.
Epilogue
I left the Swirl & Curl, a beauty boutique that had just opened in town, after a color, wash, cut, and blow dry. I wanted to look nice for my anniversary dinner. I had purchased a new cocktail dress and was looking forward to a wonderful celebration at the club.
I wondered if my husband had read the obituary. That’s all anyone was talking about. The director was an experienced pilot. There was no rough weather at the time of the crash. No one could explain how the plane could have gone down.
I’d kept my word about never seeing the director again, and I’d kept his secret, although I admit I kept track of him in the news and on social media. From all accounts, he had turned into a faithful husband and a good father.
With my husband’s position in the government—he had his eye on the governor’s mansion, and I was determined to help him fulfill his ambitions—he would be expected to attend the director’s funeral, but I wouldn’t be by his side. I’d long ago reconciled my feelings about the murder and let it go.
I’d lost touch with Peggy, as well. The last time I’d seen her was at the gynecologist’s office a few years after the murder. We shared a doctor.
“Peggy, how are you?” I was surprised at how happy I was to see my former mentor.
“Great.”
“Are you still working at the Department of Corrections?” I didn’t need to ask. I knew she was. I knew she had moved up the ranks to the top position. A position she richly deserved. And I knew she had been happy to see me go so she wouldn’t have to share the director’s attention. I also knew she had never married. She was still married to the job.
“Yes, and I hear you’re heading up the new PR firm in town.”
“That’s right,” I said. I’d found my niche and was enjoying the work, helping to promote the new businesses that were sprouting up all over Watertown. “Are you here for a checkup?”
“Yes, what about you?” Then she focused on my swelling belly. “Sorry, I guess it’s obvious why you’re here. When are you due?”
“Any minute. I’m having twins.”
Peggy placed her hand on my belly like most women are compelled to do to pregnant women.
My first pregnancy, which played a huge part in my decision about what to do regarding my future, had happened soon after I left Watertown. Whether or not it was fate, I would never know. I did know that I was deliriously happy with the prospect of adding to my family.
I levered myself down on a chair next to Peggy, and we began reminiscing and eventually got to the most recent news.
“I was shocked to hear about the crash,” Peggy said. “The director was such a careful pilot. And what a tragedy to lose Miss Julia, too. Are you going to the funeral?”
“No,” I said.
The physician’s assistant called out a name. “Merritt Goodspeed!”
“That’s me. They’re calling my name. I’d better go. It was nice seeing you again.”
“You too. We should get together soon.”
“I’d like that.” But I knew I’d never get together with her again. In a matter of weeks, I’d be focused on babies and breastfeeding and all the blissful and stressful things that come with being a new mother. And my mind was a million miles away from the still unsolved Braddock murder.
Daniel Krantz had married a paralegal in his law office soon after he graduated law school. He was working hard to make partner at his firm, according to my mother, who occasionally ran into Daniel’s mother. Still no children. His fear of commitment was legendary.
I hoisted myself up from the chair and waddled over to the door where the PA was standing. “How are you feeling today, Mrs. Goodspeed?”
“Ready to meet my girls.”
Once I’d determined I was carrying Israel’s baby, I went back to him. I had to. I wanted to. I’d returned Daniel’s ring. I looked at the beautiful diamond now sparkling on my left hand. Israel and I had a short engagement and a big wedding, and we were deliriously happy.
I wouldn’t say Watertown was my favorite place on the planet, and Israel and I had traveled the globe, but the truth was I loved Israel, and anywhere he and the children were was home. I realized it wasn’t where you lived but who you lived with. It wasn’t about someone’s last name or their accent.
Love or lust or whatever magic brought together two disparate people who were meant for each other—it wasn’t rational. What made one man acceptable but another “the one”? After I met Israel, I saw Watertown through different eyes. The homey hair salon, the delicious fried chicken served at the local diner, the darling bakery down the street, even if they didn’t know how to make decent bagels. When you’re in love, who needs bagels?
A word about the author…
Marilyn Baron writes humorous coming-of-middle-age women’s fiction, historical romantic thrillers, suspense, and paranormal/fantasy. A public relations consultant in Atlanta, she’s a PAN member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) and winner of the GRW 2009 Chapter Servi
ce Award and writing awards in single title, suspense romance, paranormal/fantasy, and novel with strong romantic elements. She is the 2017 Georgia Author of the Year Award Finalist in the Romance category for Stumble Stones: A Novel. She’s also a member of the 2017-18 Roswell Reads Committee.
She graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism (Public Relations sequence) and a minor in Creative Writing. Born in Miami, Florida, Marilyn lives in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband, and they have two daughters.
To find out more about Marilyn’s books, please visit her website at http://www.marilynbaron.com.
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