Her Last Letter

by Nancy C. Johnson

  We finished loading the plastic garbage bags with money, then hauled them up to the Jeep. My cell phone rang as we readied to leave. It was Sue.

  “I have news,” she said. “Craig confessed. He spilled everything. They offered him a deal and he took it.”

  “What? Why? Everything?”

  “He had a choice, confess here in Colorado to Kelly’s murder and the attempt on you and Linda, or be prosecuted in Texas for the murder of a girl there. Smart of him to take the deal. Things might not go as well for him in Texas. Part of the plea bargain was that the Colorado prosecutor won’t seek the death penalty. But Craig will still get a life sentence-without parole.

  “I need to know everything, everything he said.”

  Caroline tapped me on the shoulder, her brows furrowed in question.

  “Craig confessed.”

  “Oh my God.”

  I turned back to the phone. “Can you meet me? Can you meet me somewhere?”

  “Sure. I haven’t left town yet.”

  “Okay. Care is with me. Could … could we maybe meet at her place?”

  Caroline signaled a thumbs up.

  “Sure. I’ll be right over.”

  We gathered in Caroline’s kitchen, hunched over the table with our coffee. We’d just finished listening to Nate’s message on Caroline’s answering machine, also relaying the news about Craig. Nate had been present during the videotaped confession this morning at Valley View Hospital. Craig was under police guard, recuperating from the bullet wound he’d received to the shoulder. Though Nate had shot to kill, he’d missed as he swerved to avoid Craig’s knife.

  “Will I be able to get a copy of the tape?” I asked, anxious to know every word Craig had uttered.

  “Not until the judge accepts the plea and Craig is sentenced,” Sue said. “It’s considered evidence now. Can’t have his lawyer coming back and suggesting the evidence might have been tampered with.”

  “I see.”

  “But I talked with Nate, so I pretty much know what was said. I’m just not sure how much of this you want to hear. All the details, could be upsetting.”

  “I realize that,” I said, “but I need to know. Eventually, I’ll view the tape, so you might as well fill me in.”

  “Okay then. The story is Craig owed big money to a real lethal loan shark based in Vegas. Besides his amphetamine habit, Craig had a real love affair with the blackjack tables. Cops were aware of this before. Craig was also under suspicion for the murder of a girl in Texas. He hung with her off and on, but so did a lot of other guys. Cops found the girl, Allison, dead on the floor of her apartment after she was reported missing-heroin overdose. They suspected foul play since she didn’t appear to be a user, just a little ecstasy now and then according to her friends. She’d also made a couple large bank withdrawals within days of her death, but not a dime turned up when her place was searched. Didn’t add up.

  “Craig said he heard about Kelly from a guy he knew who lived in Glenwood. Chick inherited a bunch of money after her dad kicked off. These are Craig’s words, not mine, so-”

  “It’s okay,” I said, waving her on.

  “So Craig decides he needs to meet this girl, since his buddy says she’s a real looker, plus she has a drug habit and likes to run with wild guys. Craig sees this as a golden opportunity. He makes his move, and being a reasonably good-looking guy, wins her over. But she’s not too forthcoming with the money, and after a while he thinks she’s seeing other guys as well, and maybe plans to dump him. Plus Kelly is afraid of him now. Cops ask him, ‘Why is she afraid?’ Craig can’t come up with anything, tries to change his story, says maybe she wasn’t afraid. Finally, he admits they had a fight and he threatened her, said he knew she was fooling around with this Wolfgang character, and if she didn’t start being more generous he might have to tell her sister about it. Craig admits this wasn’t a good idea in retrospect. She turns off to him completely now. So he changes his tactics.

  “He tells her about needing money ‘cause the loan shark is after his ass, thinks she’ll be more sympathetic once she knows he might be killed. He says he wants to take her to Mexico; they’ll blow off steam, hide out. He says she agrees to take money out of her bank account, then says he’s surprised when he learns how much, three hundred and fifty thousand.” Sue shakes her head. “No one in the room believes him now, that Kelly voluntarily withdrew that much money, but Craig’s on a roll so they let him continue. He asks her to arrange to make fake IDs for the two of them, so that once they hit Mexico, he’ll be safe. She does. On the day they’re supposed to leave, she brings home the cash. They have a plan so they don’t have to worry about someone finding the money while they’re on the road. The bench seat in Kelly’s pickup truck has a hidden toolbox beneath. After some maneuvering, the seat lifts up to reveal it. No one’s likely to be aware of it since this type of bench seat is no longer manufactured. They stuff the bags of money inside. Everything’s cool. But that afternoon they get into a big row, screaming at each other. Kelly says he can go to hell and he’s not getting any of her money. Well, that’s not gonna happen according to Craig, so he smooths things over, knowing he’ll kill her that night somewhere out on the highway. They’re driving down old Freedom road, mostly a truck route, Craig at the wheel. He tells Kelly he hears a tire thumping, thinks they might be getting a flat. Says for her to get out and check. It’s late and the road’s deserted. There’s a long guardrail running along the right-hand side, a steep drop beyond. Craig knew about this before they started out. He plans to-stab her-then toss her over the side of the mountain. By now, Kelly can see the tire isn’t flat. Craig climbs out of the truck, heads around the back. Kelly gets wise and takes off running. She has a head start, plus it’s dark, and Craig realizes that once she’s out of the headlights, he could lose her. So he gets back in the truck and goes after her. He runs up behind her along the guardrail, but Kelly sees what’s happening and dodges back across the road. But by this time … it’s too …”

  Sue looked at me, saw I was shaking, stopped.

  “No,” I said, “tell me the rest. Tell me.”

  Caroline reached over to hug me. I broke down then, weeping, snuffling, burying my nose in Care’s shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s okay.”

  “No. I miss her. I miss her so much. It’s never going to be okay.”

  “I know. I wish I knew how to-”

  “I want her back. I want her back. Oh, God.”

  Sue got up from the table and began to pace while I fell apart, then she took off toward the bathroom. Caroline held me, giving me tissues while I tried to regain my lost composure.

  Finally, Sue returned. She looked to be drained from the telling too, and probably anxious to get back on the road. I’d seen her glance at her watch more than once.

  “I’m ready,” I said. “Please continue, Sue. I really do need to know everything.”

  She nodded, then took a seat at the table again. She turned a serious face to me. “You have to remember that all of this came out of Craig’s mouth. Chances are he lied at any point that suited him. This is his story-only. You can be certain there are some serious holes in it.” She stopped to rub her eyes. “Okay. Let’s finish this. According to Craig, his intention was to push Kelly’s body over the side of the mountain and hope nobody finds her for a while. But as he’s about to do it, he sees a semi-tracker trailer barreling down the highway. He can’t take the chance someone will spot him and get curious, so he just leaves Kelly under the guardrail in the weeds, then hightails it out of there. Later, he thinks this might be a better plan after all. Maybe the cops will think it was an accidental hit and run, that Kelly was drunk or stoned, walked out there on her own-at least until they find the crumpled truck.

  “Craig drives back to the house, hides the truck in the garage, unpacks Kelly’s duffel, tries to make everything look normal, like she wasn’t going away. He goes out to the garage to unload the cash from under the seat. Aft
er all, he can’t drive the truck now. He plans to hide the money someplace else. That’s when he finds out Kelly tricked him.

  “Earlier that day while he was out buying supplies for the trip, he says, gone for maybe an hour, Kelly replaced the money in the bags with fake. At some point, she’d hit on an alternate plan, and cut newspaper into bundles. She took the real money out, stuffed the fake money into the bags. She even replaced the fake ID in Craig’s wallet with an inferior product-misspelled, wrong dates, unusable. Chances are she planned to ditch Craig herself somewhere that night, make her airline flight the next day, get out of harm’s way.

  “Craig said he came back to Glenwood strictly to find the money. He figured it still had to be in the house, and he was determined to find it.” She stopped. “And that’s about it.”

  I sat thinking … all the questions I needed answers to. “What about the note, and the jewelry box?”

  “What note do you mean?” she asked.

  “Craig said he found a note, one that talked about T.D., and then he found the jewelry box. Oh … but he knew about the jewelry box before he killed … her. It had the negatives of Wolfgang and Kelly inside. Probably just a way of offering me something so I’d help him, take him into my confidence.”

  “Yes.”

  “And Kelly hid notes all over the house. Easy for Craig to find one if he was looking.”

  Caroline got up and began making another pot of coffee.

  Sue looked at her watch, then at me. “I have to run,” she said, “but we should meet again soon-this week. Your latest report is almost complete. I should have everything ready by late tomorrow afternoon or early the following day. Unfortunately-or maybe not so unfortunately-there’s not much new to add. I’ll call you as soon as I have it all in order.”

  “Okay.”

  Sue turned around in her chair and smiled back at Caroline, then stood and held out her hand. “It was very nice getting to know you, Caroline. Hope I get a chance to see you again sometime.”

  “Likewise. Actually, you know what? I do have a friend who might need your services. He wants to check out this guy before he goes into business with him. Would you be interested?”

  “Sure, let me know.”

  Chapter 25

  Sue and I sat inside her van, parked outside the Wild River Grill. It was close to noon. She was back to her original disguise, the western look, cowboy hat and boots, but now with a great looking cowhide jacket.

  “Everything’s in there, same as before,” she said, pointing to the shopping bag sitting between us on the floor. “Do you want me to brief you on what I found, or would you rather-?”

  “Go ahead. Please.”

  “Well, like I said, we still didn’t get anything on Trevor, and at this point, I don’t think we will. I can only guess that if something was going on between Sylvia and your husband, it’s sure not now. You will be interested to know that he has known, or knew of, Sylvia, at least three years prior to these recent real estate dealings. He wasn’t involved with her other than on a business level, but it appears she was interested in Trevor from the beginning. One of the reasons she handpicked Bob Morris to work with her, we believe, is his close association and friendship with Trevor. I’d say Trevor was her target all along. We were able to get close to a good friend of Sylvia’s-female-and she gave us many of these details. We, also, of course, checked out her information soon after that.” Sue smiled. “It never hurts to have a great looking guy on the staff. Women find him very easy to talk to, plus the ladies we question get a free meal and drinks out of it-at the very least. You’ll find all this in the report in more detail.”

  “In the beginning,” I said, “Trevor never mentioned Sylvia, only Bob. So when Bob said Sylvia was the one that brought Trevor onto the team, I did wonder if possibly they had been involved before. But you say they weren’t.”

  “No. Not according to my sources.”

  “God, I’m not sure what to do. I suppose there’s no reason to keep watching Trevor if it looks like nothing’s going to develop.”

  “No. Although I could keep a couple people working on it, if you’d like. But to be honest, I think you’d be wasting your money. When Sylvia and Trevor do meet up now-and that’s not too often-it’s always with Bob Morris along.”

  “Then, I think we might as well call it off. For now anyway.”

  It made me happy to hear that Trevor was only dealing with Sylvia through Bob, even though everything else indicated that something had been going on.

  “Tell me, Sue, what would you do? Would you stay with a man who cheated on you?”

  “Can’t say. Sure can’t say for you. I’d rather just collect the facts and stay out of the rest of it. But, since you asked, I’ll tell you this. A lot of men cheat on their wives. I can attest to that. And not every woman tosses the guy out, the first time, or the second. I think it’s a personal decision, and in some ways, a cultural one. A lot of women here in the States are taught that if the guy cheats, he’s a bastard, and that’s that. And if you don’t toss him out, you’ve got rocks in your head. But I don’t think it’s that simple. I’ve seen marriages revived after the guy is discovered, and others dissolve. Depends on the couple, what’s right for them. But if a man is cheating-and it’s not just men, you know-you have to consider the other issues. Health hazards are a big one.

  “It’s strange,” she said, “but the thing I’ve found to be the most perplexing, is how many guys are willing to forgive a woman who strays. Yeah, the men, they yell and they have a holy fit, but in the end a lot of them will take her back-if she wants to stay. Maybe the guys are more likely to forgive because they know how easy it is to make a mistake. Or maybe their love is just a little less conditional. I don’t know. I just know what I’ve seen.”

  I looked at her. “Thanks … for your honesty.”

  “No extra charge for my dime store psychology. So, on that note, we still have the issue of your sister and Wolfgang. Now that’s a whole different ball of wax. I did some more checking, and though Wolfgang has never been married before, your sister isn’t the first well-heeled woman he’s wined and dined. With his previous women, he either took off when trouble brewed or was tossed out. He spent a few nights in jail in one instance, on charges of abuse. I also checked out that other item you mentioned. And yes, Wolfgang’s parents did die in an avalanche. And he did live with an uncle, but not until he was eight years old. Before that, he passed through a series of foster homes. So, we’ll give him that. He had a tough time growing up. But we won’t give him a whole lot else.”

  She stopped to look over her notes. “Oh-and Josh. Of course, we know now that he didn’t have anything to do with Kelly, or her murder. The Vancouver thing-looks like Josh just wanted to get away for a while. His father lived in British Columbia when he was a young boy, used to talk about it with Josh, reminisce on how much he enjoyed his life there. Then Josh’s father moved to the States and married Josh’s mother. All in all, from everything I can see, Josh appears to be a pretty all-round nice guy.”

  “He is.”

  “There’s more videotape for you to look at, more emails, etcetera, but no new revelations, like I said. You might find some of it interesting though. You have any questions for me?”

  “Actually, I do have one-if you don’t mind. But it’s a little personal.”

  “Go ahead. Shoot.”

  “You don’t talk much about yourself. Maybe that’s a good idea in your type of business, but I am curious about the disguises you use, and how you were able to so accurately imitate my sister’s voice.”

  She shrugged. “Actually, it’s just fun for me, using a disguise, a way to make a sometimes dull business more exciting. And it can be helpful if I need to hang out at a location where I might be spotted. At least, I look like a different person each time. I think I always wanted to be an actress, play different roles … though, of course, on an amateur level. I’m not talented enough for the big time, nor would I want to pursu
e that whole Hollywood scene. And the voice? Kelly’s? I do have a gift for mimicry, been having a good time with that since I was a kid. I have what you might call a very good ear and unusually adaptable vocal cords. Plus, I practice a lot.”

  “Would you do one for me? A voice?”

  “Sure. I can do that. Umm, let me think. Okay, see if you can guess who this is. I’ll give you a hint. The actress played this particular character in a popular sexy TV series…. Without shoes, life would be dull, drab, and boring. I absolutely love my new pair of strappy sandals. I’m not quoting anything here. It’s just something I made up that sounds like something she might say.”

  “Oh, that was way too easy. Sarah Jessica Parker playing Carrie in Sex and the City.“

  “You guessed it.”

  “You’re absolutely amazing. And I didn’t need your hint at all.”

  “Thanks. I hadn’t tried her out on anyone yet. Wondered how close I was.” She glanced at her watch. “Well, Caroline’s probably wondering what in the heck’s taking us so long.”