6. Lethal Justice

by Fern Michaels

  “Now get off your skinny ass because we’re going for a walk. I didn’t come all this way to watch the weather channel. I need your help.”

  Annie started to cry.

  Myra turned another page from the Kathryn Lucas book. “Cut the crap, Annie. All you do is cry and whine. I’m sick of it. Nellie is sick of it. Annie, look at me. We’ve been friends since that first day at Miss Ambrose’s dance studio. The three of us huddled together because there was nothing graceful about any of us. Remember how scared we were when we had to go out on the dance floor with a boy. You started to cry. Nellie kicked Miss Ambrose and I turned off the Victrola. She kicked us out and we walked home swearing allegiance to each other. We’ve been friends for almost sixty years. That allows me to do what I’m doing.”

  “And you think busting up my television and throwing away my remote will make me want to help you!”

  Myra turned to page three in Kathryn’s play book and said, “I don’t give a good rat’s ass if you help me or not. I want you to get over it. And you know what it is. It’s fifteen years since you lost your family. You can’t bring them back. Not ever. They’re gone, Annie. I know what you went through. Nellie knows, too. I wanted to die when I lost Barbara and I might have if Nikki and Charles hadn’t stepped in to help me. I wallowed in my grief just the way Nellie did. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to help her get over the worst of it. You wouldn’t let us help you, Annie. You shut us out. I’m going to help you whether you like it or not. I’m not going to give up this time.”

  “Because you need my help.” Annie’s voice held a tinge of sarcasm.

  Page four of Kathryn’s play book. “Screw the help. Nellie will help me. I can’t count on you anymore. You’re useless, worthless. You exist. That’s all you do. You take up air other people need to breathe. Why haven’t you ended it all, jumped off that mountain? Because you don’t have the guts, right? I’m going to help you do that. That’s the main reason I came over here.”

  Annie leaned forward, her eyes frantic behind the tinted glasses. “Are you insane, Myra? You came here to kill me! Why?”

  Page five of Kathryn’s play book. “See! See! You don’t listen worth shit! I didn’t come here to kill you. I came here to help you do it yourself. So, let’s get with the program here.”

  Panic filled Annie’s voice. “You’re crazy!”

  Myra moved on to page six. “How in the hell would you know if someone is crazy or not? You live in la la land. If you don’t like going over the mountain, Charles can power up that yacht of yours that sits down there in the marina and we can push you overboard the way your family died. Yes, yes, that would be more fitting. I can see it now. The mountain isn’t a good idea. You’d be too broken up when they found you.”

  Annie was still crying, wiping at her eyes with the hem of her long flowing gown. “What happened to you? You sound like a street person. I thought you were my friend and now you want to drown me. Oh, God! Why?”

  Myra wasn’t sure but she suspected that Kathryn’s play book was working. She pressed on and turned to page seven. “Because.” Myra shrugged. “Give me one thing you’ve done for someone else in the last fifteen years. Just one, Annie.”

  “What business is it of yours what I do or don’t do?” Annie continued to cry.

  “I want you to come back home, Annie. I want to help you. We’re coming down the home stretch now. I hate it that you’re here alone while Nellie and I are back in the States. All we have is each other. I don’t want to see that slip away. I want to tell you something, and take it as gospel. After…after Barbara died, I went into a very deep depression. I didn’t care if I lived or died. What was there to live for? My daughter was gone, I couldn’t bring her back. When I came back to join the living—that’s how I thought of it at the time—and got involved…in…other things, Barbara started talking to me. I swear it, Annie. I can be having a cup of tea and she’ll start talking to me. I could be in a tizzy over something or other and there she is. I can’t see her, but I can talk to her. I want you to open yourself to the possibility that maybe your family will do the same thing for you. I’m not saying it will happen. I’m not crazy, Annie. I know it sounds far-fetched but it does happen. She comes to me when I need her the most. She said she’s proud of me. God, Annie, do you have any idea what that means to me? Well, do you?”

  “I…I can’t imagine. I would give anything…”

  Myra relented and tossed away Kathryn’s play book. “Let me help you, Annie. Then if you want to help me, we’ll work on that. Let’s go for that walk, okay?”

  “Will you tell me what she said to you? You wouldn’t lie to me, would you, Myra?”

  “I would never lie to an old friend. Yes, I will tell you everything my daughter said to me. It’s all part and parcel of me coming here to enlist your help. Do you want to change your clothes before we go for that walk?”

  Annie looked down at the white gown. She frowned. “It’s so easy to pull it on in the morning. I think I have hiking boots.” She looked up at the shattered plasma TV and said, “I’m going to have to get a new television set.”

  Myra shook her head. “That’s the one thing you are not going to buy. Hurry up, I’m not as patient as I used to be. Shake it, sister!”

  Annie allowed herself a small smile. “Your vocabulary is certainly different these days. You must be leading a very interesting life back in the States.”

  “Annie, you have no idea.”

  Chapter 4

  Myra did her best not to look shocked at Annie’s appearance when she walked through the doorway dressed in shorts and hiking boots. She looked like a broom handle draped in cloth. All Myra could think of to say was, “We need to fatten you up.” Then she asked, “Do you need a walking stick, a cane or something? You don’t look like you have much stamina.”

  Annie looked off in the distance. “I’m fine, Myra. I don’t need a walking stick or a cane. Stop fretting over me. Let’s go. Do you need me to point out the perfect place to push me off the mountain or do you have a place in mind?”

  Myra yanked page eight out of Kathryn’s play book. “Cut the shit, Annie. I came here because I need your help. All I want is a yes or no. You want to go over the mountain, go ahead, I won’t stop you. Personally, I don’t think you have the guts to do something like that. My daughter would have called you a wuss. She’d say you’re trying to be a martyr. Martyrs are passé, you know.”

  Annie dug her heels into the path. “Tell me what you want,” she said. “Spit it out, stop dancing around what you perceive to be my condition. That means cut the bullshit.”

  Myra whirled around and blinked. She was delighted to see a spark of something in Annie’s eyes. Maybe this was going to work after all. “Miss Boudreau would put soap in both our mouths if she could hear us. I want you to give me the keys to your house in Manassas. I need to…we need to use your place to exact a revenge on some very nasty people. I want to pretend to be you. That means I will need access to your financial records, your signature on documents, that kind of thing. If you agree to help me you are going to have to start answering your phone, read your mail and learn how to use a computer so we can send emails. Will you do it? That means you have to join the world and stop watching it whirl by you. You have to become active again. Maybe you need to start taking vitamins.”

  Annie started to laugh and couldn’t stop. “You don’t want much, do you, Myra?”

  “Actually, Annie, I’m asking a lot and I know it. I came to you because I thought we could help each other. Let’s find a place to sit down so I can bring you up to date. God, you are bony. Do you eat anything?”

  “I take a lot of vitamins. I eat when I’m hungry. Let’s sit on this log. I hope this story you’re about to tell me is interesting or you might be the one sliding down the mountain. After I push you.”

  Myra turned around and sat down. She was almost giddy at the way Annie now focused on her. Her eyes appeared less glazed. She seemed to be compl
etely aware of her surroundings and she also appeared to be interested in what Myra had to say.

  Annie picked up a thick twig and started to dig in the dirt at her feet. “Well? I’m listening, Myra.”

  “I hope you can handle this, Annie. Nellie always said you were the toughest of the three of us, but, I’m not sure anymore. Before I tell you what I came here to say, I want you to promise you won’t ever breathe a word of this to anyone if you decide not to help. Can you do that?”

  “Of course I can do that. Who would I tell? As you can see, I live here, cut off from the world. I’ve been an island unto myself for so long, I wouldn’t know how to…whatever it is you think I might do. That’s a yes,” she said firmly.

  Myra talked for a long time. When she was finished, the hole at Annie’s feet was so deep she could have stuck both feet into it.

  Annie turned sideways on the log to stare at her friend. “You did all that? You…you’re a criminal! Charles helped you! Amazing! And, you never got caught! You of all people, Myra! This is so unbelievable! Why aren’t you a nervous wreck? Of course you can use my house in Manassas. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.” Annie leaned forward, so close their noses almost touched. “Tell me again how you got even with the man who killed your daughter. I didn’t know you could skin a person alive. I know the Indians used to do it but I thought that was just in the movies.”

  Annie’s eyes were completely focused now, bright and alert. Myra retold her story, embellishing it a little more for Annie’s benefit. When she finished, Annie clapped her hands.

  “You’re afraid you’re going to get caught, is that it?”

  “Yes. We need to have a plan in place if that happens. I want you to sell me this place on the mountain. I want to see the construction plans and Charles and I want a tour of the catacombs. I want you to return to the States as soon as the Barrington farm is completed. Even though they’re working on it round the clock it won’t be finished much before the end of the year. Maybe next year. A lot depends on the weather conditions. When I bought it, I put your name and Nellie’s on the deed.”

  Annie continued digging at the hole. “I can’t sell this place to you. Something about Spanish law. Because…I think it has something to do with the right of sanctuary. No one in authority can take you away if you are inside the wall. When we…I was renovating it all, I wanted to take down the wall but the law said it had to remain intact. The laws of sanctuary, and they are ancient, are somewhere among my husband’s papers. He told me about it once, but…I didn’t want to think about things like that back then. I will, however, deed this place to you or Charles or whomever you designate. That much I do know I can do. Very distant relatives deeded it to Armand when he was only six years old. Myra, are you asking me to join the Sisterhood?”

  Myra turned to page nine of Kathryn’s play book. “Well, hell, yes, Annie. And we’re going to need a good portion of your fortune. Like me, Annie, you have no family to leave anything to so don’t think too hard on the matter. Can you think of a better way to use all that money? Nellie doesn’t have a fortune but she’s indispensable because she’s a judge.” Myra flipped to page ten, her face flaming. “A fucking judge, Annie. Think about it!”

  Annie reared back to stare at Mya. “Can you teach me to talk like you do these days? Why don’t you blink when you use dirty words?”

  Myra fingered the pearls around her neck. “Absolutely not. Ladies do not talk like that. I was…I was trying to make my points, to shock you so you would listen. Kathryn at times is rather…spirited and extremely verbal. I picked the lingo up from her. So, are you in or not?”

  Annie stared across the mountain and then down at the sparkling blue sea. “Will I fit in, Myra? It’s been a…I don’t know if I can leave here. There is something so comforting about sanctuary. My family…died in those waters down below. I stayed because it made me feel closer to them. I don’t have a grave to visit like you and Nellie have. That’s what’s kept me here all these years. How can I leave here? Tell me how, Myra.”

  Myra’s voice was soft, gentle. She wrapped her arms around Annie’s bony shoulders. “I can’t tell you something like that. You have to find the way, the need, and do it yourself. You can come back here anytime you want. No one can ever take your memories away from you. What’s in your heart will always be there, Annie. Always.

  “I know this is a lot to throw at you at one time. I want you to think about it and give me your decision before Charles and I leave. If you opt to stay here and rot away, I’ll have to make other plans.”

  A veil dropped over Annie’s eyes. “When did you become so cruel, Myra?”

  “When I finally opened my eyes to the justice system. Plus, Nellie tells me stories of what goes on in those court houses. We, the Sisterhood, just want to make things a little better. With my money—and I don’t care one little bit if I use the whole amount—and Charles’s expertise, we are making a bit of a difference. Unfortunately, there are a few people out there who would like to see us fail. At the moment, we’re on top of it, or, at least one step ahead. That could change at any time. We could use you, Annie. You have to want to do this. There’s nothing else for me to say.”

  Anna’s head jerked forward. “Yes, there is one more thing. Tell me about Barbara talking to you. I want to hear every word. Tell me how you feel when that happens. That’s if you don’t mind sharing your daughter with me.”

  Tears gathered in Myra’s eyes. “Oh, Annie, I don’t mind at all. It all started with Nikki. She and Barbara were so close. She told me that Barbara visited her, talked to her. Always when she was stressed, at her wits’ end. She comes to her old room and rocks on her chair with Willie. You remember Willie, her stuffed bear?”

  “I remember, Myra.”

  “One day I was standing by the sink, worrying. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Charles or the girls; I did. I guess I’m just a natural born worrier. I heard this voice saying, ‘Go for it, Mom.’ I whirled around and no one was there. Then she started to talk to me. All I could do was cry. I was so happy. It was almost like I had her back for just a few seconds. It doesn’t happen often, Annie. I can’t summon her. She seems to know when I need her the most. That’s when it happens. Maybe it won’t happen for you. Maybe it won’t happen for Nellie either. It might, though.”

  Then Myra told a lie, something she wasn’t proud of, but she did it anyway. She knew Barbara would forgive her. “Annie, before I came here, I had…I wasn’t sure if I should or not. It seemed like such a monstrous thing to ask of you. In the end, I decided to come because I thought I could help you. Barbara said I should give you a kiss and a hug and I should tell you things on the other side are fine. So, here is the kiss and hug.”

  The two women hugged one another, tears rolling down their cheeks. It was just a small lie and if it helped Annie, then it was worth it.

  “Mom, you are something else. I guess I can’t make a liar out of you. You told her the truth when you said things were fine on this side. Give her another kiss and hug.”

  Myra leaped to her feet and looked around. Her eyes were wild and yet full of hope. “I will, I will,” she whispered.

  “Okay, enjoy your vacation. By the way, one of those tunnels goes all the way down to a cave at the bottom and on out to the sea. There’s only one, Mom. Perfect getaway. Nikki and I found it when we came here the summer after graduation. Ask her about it. Aunt Annie knows about it, too. Talk to you later.”

  “What? What’s wrong with you, Myra?” Annie asked. “Are you all right? Are you having a heart attack?”

  Myra sat down on the fallen log. “No, no, nothing like that. It was an attack of the heart. It was Barbara. She said I was to give you another hug and kiss. Let me do that, Annie. I can deny that child nothing. She said…she said when she was here with Nikki after graduation they found the tunnel in the catacombs that leads down to a cave and out to the sea. She said it was a perfect getaway. She said that, Annie. You know how the girls used to like
to play in the tunnels at Pinewood and how I hung bells at the different entrances so they wouldn’t get lost. She said to ask Nikki about it. She said you knew about it, too. I’m not crazy, Annie. Oh, this is so wonderful. Do you realize what it means? It means no matter where I go, my daughter is with me. I truly, truly believe she watches over me.”

  Annie held out her skinny arms to embrace her friend. They cried together for their losses.

  It was Annie who broke the spell. “Okay, I’m all yours.”

  Myra opened her own play book to page one to make her first entry. “Well, hot damn!”

  Annie started to laugh.

  “Oh, Annie, how good it is to hear you laugh. When was the last time you laughed? Really laughed?” Annie just shook her head and kept on laughing.

  Arms linked together, the women started back up the mountain.

  “You’re sure, Annie?”

  Annie’s head bobbed up and down. “Just tell me what to do. I’ll get you the keys to the house in Manassas.”

  When they approached the converted monastery, Myra asked. “How big is this piece of property?”

  Annie shrugged. “Big enough to have its own helicopter pad, an Olympic size pool, tennis courts, seven outbuildings and acres of lawn. Perhaps Charles will know. Is it important, Myra?”

  “I think so. We’ll leave it up to Charles. We’ve done our part.”

  Charles stood at the window looking at the two women. He smiled. His sigh was so loud, it startled him. He didn’t realize how tense he was until he watched the two women start to laugh about something.