by Bobbi Holmes
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” a male voice broke the silence.
Startled, Danielle turned and looked up into the face of Will Wayne, who stood over her, cowboy hat in hand.
“Will,” Danielle greeted nervously, stumbling to her feet.
With his cowboy hat, he motioned to Isabella’s grave. “A friend of yours?”
“I…I suppose I feel like she’s a friend, even though we never met.” Well, not until after she died. “I was admiring the roses someone left.”
Will cocked his brows. “Were you?”
“I was just heading back to Marlow House.” She glanced to the walkway leading back to the chapel.
“Through the cemetery? I could swear you were just at Marlow House thirty minutes ago.”
“I come down here sometimes and walk. It’s peaceful,” Danielle lied.
“How long have you known?” Will asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb, Danielle. It doesn’t suit you.”
Danielle let out a sigh. “I had no idea. Not until I had lunch with Marie Nichols today.”
“I remember Marie.” Will tapped the brim of the hat against his thigh. He stepped closer to Danielle and looked down at the grave.
“Why didn’t you just tell us? Why all the secrecy?”
“I really didn’t expect to arrive in the midst of my brother-in-law’s murder investigation.”
“So it’s just a coincidence you came now?” Danielle asked without thinking.
He looked in Danielle’s eyes. “You think I was involved in Stoddard’s murder?”
“Of course not,” Danielle said too quickly. “I just meant…” What did I mean?
“I’m a private person, Danielle. Maybe you don’t believe that, considering all the Billy Bob Wayne crap. But he wasn’t me, just a persona to help me sell cars. But you should know about that. I understand you were something of a marketing guru.”
Danielle didn’t comment. She watched Will, who stared off into the distance.
“I never met her, you know.” Will looked down at the grave.
“Isabella, your daughter?”
Will nodded.
“Why not?” Danielle continued to study Will.
“I shouldn’t have left in the first place. I was young and dumb. Karen was fragile. I had no idea how fragile. Or how easy it was for the old man to manipulate her.”
“Old man? Her father?”
“Yes.”
“The story Ian heard was that you left Karen after she was disinherited and you found out she was pregnant.”
“I didn’t leave Karen. Her father convinced her to annul the marriage. I was so devastated at the time, felt such betrayal, I went along with it. I thought she didn’t love me any more, but I was wrong.”
“Why didn’t you come back when you found out she was pregnant?” Danielle asked.
“I did. Her parents insisted the baby wasn’t mine—that she had briefly married someone name Strickland. They tried to keep me from her.”
“Did they?”
“No. I managed to see her. She was about eight months pregnant at the time. She told me she still loved me, that she had never wanted to annul our marriage, that her parents had forced her. Karen was always terrified of her parents.”
“Why didn’t she just leave with you?”
“At the time she believed there was something wrong with the baby. I realize now it was all a lie her parents told her. They convinced her if she left with me, the baby would die. They said they would only pay the medical bills if she remained with them.”
“They actually told her they would let their grandchild die if she went with you?”
“They weren’t candidates for grandparents of the year.”
“What about after the baby was born?”
“I had already moved to Phoenix when I found out about the baby. I decided to stay in Phoenix, work my butt off and make something of myself. And then after the baby was born, I’d come back to Frederickport and collect my wife and child.”
“But you never did.”
“No. Time has a way of moving along quickly. I kept track of them through my old employer. When I found out Karen’s mental state had deteriorated I began questioning how equipped I was to take care of a child, much less a mentally ill woman who was no longer my wife.”
“So you forgot about them?”
Shifting his gaze to Danielle, Will narrowed his eyes. “I never forgot them. I knew Isabella was thriving. She didn’t seem to have her mother’s mental problems.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t return after Karen’s parents were both gone.”
“Why, and have everyone think I only returned to cash in on my daughter’s inheritance? I wanted to return at a time when Isabella wouldn’t question my motives. When I had my own fortune behind me that she would one day inherit. I had no idea she wouldn’t be here when that time came.”
“You were planning to come after you sold your dealership, before she died?”
“Yes. Obviously, I was too late.” Holding his hat by its crown, he fitted it on his head.
“Can I ask you a question?” Danielle said after a moment of silence.
“Not sure I’ll answer, but go ahead.”
“What about when Isabella was supposedly in a coma? Why didn’t you come back then?”
“I didn’t know about the accident. It wasn’t in the Phoenix news.”
Danielle remembered Marie telling her about Will’s former employer, the one who Will had used to keep tabs on Isabella and Karen. According to Marie, the man had died over a decade earlier. She wondered if Will ever bothered to check on Isabella during all that time.
“Are you going to tell Chief MacDonald?” Will asked.
“Tell him what?” Danielle shifted nervously.
“Who I really am.”
“You’re still Will Wayne, aren’t you?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t know.” Danielle shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. I can’t see where you’d have a motive anyway. Not sure what you’d have to gain by seeing your ex-brother-in-law dead.”
“Stoddard was a jerk. He was the one who told his parents about our elopement. If it wasn’t for him, we would have been able to get out of Frederickport without his father manipulating Karen into going for an annulment.”
“Gee Will, are you trying to get hauled in for questioning?”
“Why would they haul me in for questioning if they don’t know I was Stoddard’s brother-in-law?”
“What time are you leaving tomorrow?”
“Changing the subject?” Will laughed.
“No…I was just wondering.” Danielle glanced at Karen’s grave. “I thought you were bringing them both flowers.”
“I did.”
Danielle glanced from the roses on Isabella’s grave to Will. “You left them all on Isabella’s grave.”
“No. I took Karen her flowers.”
Confused, Danielle looked back to Karen’s grave, void of flowers.
“Karen’s not buried there, Danielle. She’s not dead.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Danielle sat in her car at the cemetery parking lot, the engine running. She replayed Will’s parting comment back in her mind, before he had turned and headed back to his car. She had stood there like an idiot, saying nothing.
“Why didn’t I ask him what he meant?” she said aloud. Annoyed with herself for not asking him to explain, she put her car in reverse and backed out of the parking space. When she got home, she would have some questions for Will Wayne.
Turning down her street a few minutes later, she didn’t see Will’s car. He hadn’t returned to Marlow House. Earlier he had mentioned going out to dinner. This was probably better, she told herself. It would give her time to discuss the situation with Ian and Lily before talking to Will again.
The gate was closed, so she decided to park in front of the house. Just as she
turned off the ignition, a police car pulled in behind her. Looking up into the rearview mirror, she saw it was Chief MacDonald. Snatching her purse off the passenger seat, Danielle got out of her vehicle and walked to the patrol car.
“Hey Chief. Just saw your grandma,” Danielle greeted.
“I take it you were at the cemetery.” MacDonald remained in the driver’s seat, the window down, engine running.
“Yeah. She’s still holding onto hope that you and I will get together,” she teased.
“Who has time for romance?” MacDonald grumbled. “I need your help, Danielle.”
“What’s wrong?” She stood by his open window.
He nodded toward the passenger side. “Get in.”
“Are you arresting me?”
“Not today.”
Danielle walked to the passenger side of the car and opened the door.
Peeking inside she asked, “Are you sure you aren’t arresting me?”
Not turning to look at Danielle, MacDonald stared down the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel. “Get in.”
With a sigh, Danielle climbed into the car, closing the door behind her. “What do you need?”
“I was hoping you could talk to Darlene.”
“Excuse me?”
MacDonald turned to look at Danielle. “As we speak, Brian is being arrested for Darlene’s murder.”
“Brian?” Danielle almost laughed, but she caught herself in time and stifled the urge. After all the times Brian had delighted in her unfortunate situations, she couldn’t help but think it was karma. However, she genuinely liked Chief MacDonald—he had always been fair with her. Arresting one of his officers, someone he considered a friend, was obviously painful for the police chief.
“This is between you and me. Agreed?” he asked.
“Certainly, Chief. What’s going on?”
“Remember when I told you about that woman Brian dated after his divorce?”
“The one that left him a little bitter?”
“It was Darlene.”
“Darlene? Stoddard’s Darlene?” Danielle choked out.
“The very one.” MacDonald glanced over to Danielle.
“I did not see that coming.”
“Brian insists they ended it long ago. But after Stoddard was killed Darlene wanted his help making sure you were arrested.”
“Now that, I could see coming.”
“Brian and Darlene ran into each other at Pearl Cove last night. After Smith’s attempt on your life, Brian started wondering if Darlene was involved in the murder. They argued. It was heated. There were witnesses.”
“So? Brian gets in heated arguments with me all the time, and he hasn’t killed me yet. Of course, he wouldn’t be opposed to letting the state do the job for him.”
“Chuck Christiansen, CEO of DCL, believes Brian and Darlene conspired to kill Stoddard. They both claimed to hear Stoddard name you as his killer, when in fact you have an iron clad alibi. He believes their deadly alliance to kill Stoddard and frame you went off the rails and Brian ended up killing his co-conspirator.”
“But we know Stoddard did tell Brian I was the shooter.”
“I know. But Brian found Darlene’s body, and his finger prints were all over the murder weapon.”
“What murder weapon?”
“Someone crushed her skull with a paperweight before pushing her over the cliff.”
Danielle winced. “Ouch.”
“Brian claims he arrived on the scene, her car was there and her purse was sitting on the side of the road, with a paperweight sitting on it.”
“Don’t tell me; he picked it up without knowing what it was.”
“Yes. He didn’t see the blood on the paperweight, just tossed it aside. Later, when we were processing the crime scene, they found it with Brian’s fingerprints.”
“But that should be easy enough to explain.”
“The thing is...” MacDonald removed his cap and wiped his brow with his wrist. He tossed the cap on the dashboard. “It looks like Darlene killed Stoddard.”
“While that doesn’t particularly surprise me, how do you know?”
“We found the other red Flex, parked in the garage of a rental house owned by Darlene. A brown braid and ski mask were in the car.”
“Stoddard said the shooter was wearing a ski mask.”
“There was also a red purse,” he said nodding to Danielle’s handbag. “Like yours. Darlene’s fingerprints were all over the car, the handbag.”
“So why arrest Brian?”
“A few hours ago we got a search warrant for the Gusarov Estate. Joe went over there with several officers. In her desk were some…umm…compromising photographs of Darlene and Brian. Her computer was turned on and a document open, as if she was in the middle of writing a letter to Brian.”
“What kind of letter?”
“Part love letter, part confession. She wrote how they had everyone believing Stoddard named you as the killer, and it would have worked had Joe not interfered.”
“But Stoddard did name me.”
“That’s why I don’t believe Darlene wrote that letter. I’m sure she killed Stoddard, and probably had a partner, but I don’t think it was Brian.”
“So why did you arrest Brian if you don’t believe he did it?”
“The same reason I arrested you for murdering Stoddard. I had no choice, considering the evidence.”
“What do you need from me?”
“I want to see if you can contact Darlene. See if she’ll tell you who helped her kill Stoddard, who killed her.”
“It doesn’t work that way, I told you before. I don’t do séances. And I can’t choose who I see and hear.”
“But it might be possible. Maybe you’ll find her where she was killed, or at her house.”
Danielle closed her eyes and tossed her head back on the car seat. “Uggg…I don’t even like Brian.”
“But you can’t let an innocent man go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“He was prepared to let me go to jail for a crime I didn’t commit…multiple times.”
“Yeah, but in all fairness to Brian, he actually thought you did those crimes.”
Lifting her head and opening her eyes, Danielle glared at MacDonald.
“Ahh, come on Danielle, please. You don’t want the people who tried to frame you—who tried to have you and Joe killed—go free…do you?”
Danielle considered his request for a moment. Finally, she said, “You know what really irritates me?”
“What?”
“If this works and I do help you…help Brian…he won’t even know I saved his sorry butt.”
“Danielle, you don’t seem the type of woman who does things just for a pat on the back. You’re better than that.”
“Oh pfff…stop trying to flatter me Chief. I’ll try to help you. Because you’re right, I do want to see the people who tried to kill me arrested.”
“So where should we go, to the beach where we found Darlene’s body or her house?”
“I don’t see Darlene lingering on the beach. It’s possible. But if she didn’t realize she was dead, she might have gone home. Of course, she might have already moved on.”
“Moved on where?”
“I’m not sure exactly. In Darlene’s case, probably somewhere with a warmer climate.”
“But she has the choice to stay? Stoddard hasn’t moved on.”
“It seems some spirits can linger for a while. But I don’t think indefinitely.” She glanced at Marlow House and thought about Walt. He seemed to be lingering indefinitely, yet from what she understood, once he was weary of his confinement to Marlow House, he would move on.
Danielle pulled out her cellphone.
“Who are you calling?”
“I’m going to let Lily know I’ll be gone for a while. I don’t want her looking outside and seeing my car and wonder where I went.”
MacDonald put the car in gear and pulled out into the street a
s Danielle called Lily. Driving away from Marlow House, they passed Will Wayne’s car, going in the opposite direction.
“That was your guest?” MacDonald asked when Danielle got off the phone.
“Yeah.” Danielle shoved her phone in her purse and stared out the side window.
“What’s wrong?” MacDonald asked after several minutes of silence.
“I discovered something today. I don’t think it has anything to do with Stoddard’s murder, but it’s a strange coincidence.”
“There are no coincidences.”
Danielle turned to look at MacDonald. “Do you really believe that?”
“Pretty much. So what did you learn? Let me be the judge of it has anything to do with the murder.”
“If I have to vote who gets nailed for Stoddard’s murder, Brian or Will, I vote Brian.”
“Will? Your guest? The cowboy car dealer?”
“He used to be known as Bobby Wayne. Moved to Frederickport after he turned eighteen. Married Karen Gusarov.”
“Stoddard’s sister?”
“Yep. He’s Isabella’s father.”
“I thought Isabella’s father’s name was Strickland.”
“No. Actually, it was Marie that told me about it. I guess the story about Isabella’s father taking off after her mother was disinherited was a fiction created by Stoddard’s father. After they got Karen to have the marriage annulled and they found out she was pregnant, they had her take another surname.”
“Why?”
Danielle shrugged. “Stoddard’s dad was a jerk.”
“What reason does Wayne give for being in Frederickport?”
“He’s retired now. Sold his dealership a few months back. Initially the plan was to finally meet his daughter, and then he found out she had died.”
“Why did he wait so long? Even if his in-laws broke up the marriage, they’ve been dead for years.”
“Who knows?” Danielle leaned back in the seat and looked ahead. “He’s not the first man who made excuses for abandoning his child.”
“You think he abandoned her?”
“I don’t think he wanted to at first. But as time went by, I think he made excuses for why he didn’t come back to see her.”