by C. C. Coburn
“Then why are you whiter than a sheet?”
“Because this looks really bad. I threw the articles in the trash and it was collected today!”
Chris uttered a few expletives and stood up. He ran his hands back through his hair in a gesture of frustration.
“Oh, hell!” Beth muttered and pointed mutely at the television. They were replaying earlier news items featuring interviews with a couple of her ex–blind dates. The ones she’d met on that fateful night of speed–dating with Iona.
Then there was the boring butcher saying Beth had asked him how hard it was to cut up a human body. The effeminately fastidious funeral home director saying Beth had asked him how much of the human body is left over after cremation. And the belching biochemist who she’d asked in desperation, to keep the conversation flowing, what chemicals would one use to dissolve a human body and how long it would take?
The news article was bordering on hysterical with the reporter demanding the police arrest Beth at once, claiming she was a danger to the community.
Yet more incriminating was the next item. An interview with Mimi. Beth gasped, remembering her last conversation with Mimi over her flooded kitchen floor. This wouldn’t be good!
“Oh, yes, Bess Harman my best friend in America. She say she want to kill JJ. He very bad man. She nearly kill him last week. Now he dead, this is good. Yes?”
“Oh. My. God,” Beth murmured as her knees gave out and she collapsed onto the couch as the screen changed to show the reporter interviewing the old couple who walked their dog past Beth’s house and had caught her behaving strangely on a couple of occasions.
Before they could stick their knives into Beth’s character, Tilly muted the television. “I’m calling your lawyer again.”
“You have his after–hours number?” Beth asked while Chris paced the room.
“I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into this, Chris,” she said by way of apology. I’ll explain everything to the cops and it will all be sorted out, I’m sure.” She turned to Tilly. “They’ll find those articles at the waste facility and that will prove Chris had nothing to do with this.”
Tilly looked at her as though she were a child who needed to be humored. “Beth, this isn’t CSI. They don’t really find a single hair that just happens to still have its root attached and the killer’s blood on it you know?”
Beth was devastated. “How do you know for sure? I’ll know when I start that forensics course in the fall. In fact, it’ll be the very first thing I ask my lecturer.”
Tilly patted her arm. “That’s sweet of you, Beth. But the way things are looking right now, you won’t be free to do that course. And… oh, Lord… my husband will be in jail!” Tilly wailed then dropped the phone as she collapsed onto the couch and buried her head in her hands.
Beth stared at her friend. She didn’t expect Tilly to fall to pieces like this. Tilly was her rock. Her support. Her strongest ally. Wasn’t she? Beth glanced at Chris who was trying to comfort his wife and assure her he wasn’t going to jail. But the look he gave Beth told her he wasn’t so sure about that.
Hell! What had she gotten her friends into? What comfort could she offer them apart from going home at once and then calling Deputy Stevens and telling him what was in that envelope and offering to scour every stinking inch of the waste facility herself to find it.
“I… I think I’d better go,” she said and stood up. “I’ll call Mark from home and sort it all out. I’ll make this right for you guys,” she promised. But neither Tilly nor Chris seemed to have heard her, they just clung to each other.
With a heavy heart, Beth left the room. There was a knock at the front door as she was passing it on her way to the stairs to collect her children. Without thinking she opened it.
“Beth Harman,” Deputy Stevens said, “I’m placing you under arrest for conspiring to murder Jefferson Harman junior.”
Stunned, Beth couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The deputy turned her around and clipped on the handcuffs he was holding and said, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense…”
“What the…?” Chris demanded as he came to see what the commotion was about.
Beth, already stunned into speechlessness could only watch as another of the Sheriff’s deputies stepped forward and clapped handcuffs on Chris and Mirandized him too before he could recover from the shock of seeing Beth being taken into custody.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” demanded Tilly as she too came to see what was going on. “What are you doing to my husband?”
“Your husband is under arrest for the murder of Jefferson Harman junior, and she’s under arrest for conspiracy to murder Jefferson Harman junior,” Deputy Stevens pointed at Beth.
Beth didn’t like his tone of voice; it was completely devoid of the warmth he’d displayed towards her previously. Finally she found her voice, if only to deny Chris’s involvement in any of this. She twisted out of Steven’s hold and spun round. “Leave Chris out of this! He had absolutely nothing to do with JJ, or his murder.”
“We have videotape evidence ma’am showing you handing over an envelope full of money to pay off Mr. Kendall here.”
“That envelope didn’t contain money, you fool!” Beth screamed.
“Then what did it contain?”
“It… it’s something private. I can’t discuss it.”
Tilly stepped forward. “Of course she can. It contained articles on impotency.”
Beth watched Chris blush all the way to his roots while Tilly told them about the articles Beth had clipped and downloaded. “My husband and I have been having a few problems and Beth, being the friend that she is, took matters into her own hands and met my husband at that truck stop thinking it was somewhere no–one would know them.” She looked to Beth for confirmation.
Beth nodded. “That’s right. Good lord, Deputy Stevens, Chris wouldn’t kill a fly, let alone a human being. Although JJ wasn’t really much of human being, come to think of it.”
Tilly silenced her with a look.
“Then where’s the envelope and its contents now?” Stevens demanded. “If you can produce it and we can match it to the one shown on the security cam, then I can let Mr. Kendall go, pending further investigation.”
Tilly’s eyes went wide with terror. “I… I threw it in the trash and it was collected this morning.”
“Yeah, right. C’mon,” the deputy pulled Chris out the front door. Already a group of their neighbors were gathered on the front lawn gaping at the proceedings. Given that there were two Sheriff’s department vehicles and several from the Denver city police, Beth wasn’t surprised.
She turned to Tilly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.”
Tilly amazed her by pushing aside the deputy and embracing her. “This not your fault. Okay? You just tried to help your friends and these big idiots…” she addressed the assembled law officers, “…have put two and two together and come up with five. I’ll call Mark and have him meet you both at the station. Okay? And don’t worry about the kids, they’re fine with me.”
Beth was amazed at how Tilly could think straight in this situation. Her husband had been arrested on suspicion of killing that lousy, rotten piece of scum, JJ, and Tilly was being Mrs. Calm, Cool and Collected and thinking of everyone.
Positive that if she’d been in Tilly’s shoes, she’d have been hysterical, Beth tried to think of something to prove Chris’s innocence in all this. How awful for him to be dragged away in front of all the neighbors, accused of a crime he didn’t commit!
She wrenched herself out of Deputy Steven’s grip. “I know! I know how to prove what was in that envelope,” she gasped, delighted that her brain was finally functioning.
“How?” demanded the deputy
.
“Take me to my house. I can show you the magazines I clipped those articles from. I can show you on my computer the websites I visited and downloaded more articles from, they’re stored in there.”
“I don’t think so.”
Angered by Deputy Stevens’ reaction, Beth stamped her foot and said, “Well, I do think so! This man is innocent and you’re making fools of yourselves if you don’t follow up on this. Because… because if Chris’s lawyer hears you’ve arrested a completely innocent man on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence, then they’re going to sue the pants off you, mark my words!”
Beth wasn’t at all sure you could sue in such circumstances, but she was desperate. She felt compelled to add, “This is nothing more than trial by media. That reporter is out to get me and anyone associated with me because I refused to give her an interview on Sunday night. And she’s manipulated you into thinking the worst.”
Stevens considered her words and finally capitulated. “Okay, we’ll make a stop at your place—to gather evidence. But for the moment, Mr. Kendall is still in custody.”
“Okay, I can live with that,” she breathed. “Because I know once you see what I’ve told you is true, then Chris will be off the hook.”
“Yeah, but you won’t,” he told her with what Beth thought was a certain amount of glee.
Beth was starting to wonder if law enforcement officers got a bonus for every person they arrested. Maybe that’s why he was so pleased about her still having to prove her innocence? Judging by the news report tonight, with all those ‘true confessions’ from her ex–blind dates, she was in for an uphill battle. Beth swallowed and allowed one of the deputies to help her into his vehicle.
“This still doesn’t prove anything,” Deputy Stevens said after he’d perused her magazines and internet files. “These articles could have been on anything,” he said, throwing the magazines back on the desk.
“But they weren’t on just anything, they were on impotence. Call the magazines and they’ll tell you.”
“It’s after midnight on the east coast. I don’t think so. I’ll check it out in the morning, but meantime I’m still not satisfied with your excuse. You’ll have to do a lot more to convince me of Mr. Kendall’s innocence.”
“Then search the damned waste facility!” she yelled, completely at the end of her patience.
“Beth, it’s alright,” Chris told her. “Just try and stay calm, honey.”
The deputy caught Chris’s endearment. “Honey? So you two have a relationship? Does your best friend, Matilda Kendall, know about this?”
“Oh, for goodness sake! Chris often calls me honey. That does not constitute us having an affair behind Tilly’s back. Ask her!”
“I don’t care for your attitude, Mrs. Harman,” The deputy told her as he closed one of the magazines and added it to an evidence bag. “Your aggressive behavior suggests you have something to hide.”
“I’m becoming aggressive, as you put it,” Beth ground through her teeth, “because you’re acting like a complete horse’s ass over this. I’ve told you Chris had nothing to do with JJ’s death. I’ve told you what was in that envelope I gave him and still you continue to humiliate him like this! I’m so damned angry I could scream!”
“Beth…” Chris warned.
“What?” she snapped and rounded on him.
“I think you better not say anything else until you’ve spoken to your lawyer.”
Beth was about to say something to that, then decided maybe her outburst wasn’t helping things any. “You’re right,” she said then addressed the deputy. “I want to speak to my attorney now and you’re not getting another word out of me until then.”
The night turned out to be one of the longest of Beth’s life. The interrogation lasted well into the early hours of the morning. She was so spaced out with exhaustion, fear and anger that she wasn’t sure she was making much sense. At least one good thing had come out of speaking to her attorney. He’d managed to convince the police that the evidence they had against Chris was, at best, circumstantial and, by the time the magazine offices had opened in New York and Deputy Stevens had indeed confirmed that the articles Beth had clipped had been on impotence and various other male performance problems, Chris had been released, pending further investigation. At best, the police case against him was flimsy, but given all the evidence piling up against Beth, the County Sheriff had decided the footage of her handing Chris an envelope containing something at a remote truck stop on the day JJ was murdered looked mighty suspicious.
Beth arrived in court for her arraignment and bail application hearing. She felt like a wrung–out dishcloth that was about three years past its use–by date and she probably looked like one too. As she was led in to the courtroom by the bailiff she glanced up to see both Tilly and Chris sitting in the public area. Tilly gave her a tiny wave of recognition and support, Chris sat, stone–faced, his eyes not meeting hers.
Beth’s heart went out to him. Poor guy, such a sweet loving, family guy and he’d been accused of murdering a rat like JJ!
Further back in the court, a familiar face caught her eye. Gabe? Surely not? He was standing at the back of the court, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, his face unreadable. What was he doing here? She shook her head to clear it. She was hallucinating, that was it. Lack of sleep and sheer, unbridled fear had her imagining she was seeing things she wanted to see. She glanced up again, but he was gone.
Beth wondered what Tilly had told her kids. Nothing, hopefully. Trusting her bail would be set at a reasonable amount and she’d be home with her kids within the hour, she planned on taking them away somewhere quiet where she could be alone to just love them and think while the cops did their job properly and found JJ’s real murderers. She was fast reconsidering giving the loan sharks a medal for killing him, seeing as it has all caused so much trouble. Especially to Chris. She mouthed the word, “Sorry,” at them. Tilly just shook her head.
Beth’s attorney gave her elbow a gentle tug and instructed her under his breath. “We’re up.”
They stepped forward, the judge did the usual asking how she pleaded. Mark Fuentes said, “Not guilty,” in a forceful voice that impressed Beth and she was sure would impress the judge.
The Assistant District Attorney then stepped forward and had a few words to say about the severity of the crime. Beth’s attorney assured the court that Beth wasn’t a flight risk, that she had four children to care for and a permanent home and family in Denver.
Beth felt disconnected from the proceedings, like she was floating way above the courtroom, looking down. Everyone seemed to be moving in slow–motion, talking in slow–motion.
It was a surreal experience, all calmness and light and politeness and then she crashed to earth when the judge said, “Bail is set in the amount of five–hundred–thousand dollars,” and banged down her gavel.
Beth’s knees gave out from under her but her attorney caught her and held her as a murmur of voices sounded around her.
Five. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars? Where in hell was she supposed to find money like that? She turned to Tilly, tears filling her eyes. “Tilly! Take care of my kids,” she cried and then fainted.
Some hours later, Beth was back at home, her mother fussing over her and the children, Tilly brewing coffee and taking phone calls. Beth could barely remember the whirlwind of events that brought her home. Someone had posted bail for her and, after signing a batch of papers basically promising to give up her firstborn if she didn’t appear in court when required, she’d been released.
A bevy of outside broadcast vans from the various news networks were camped outside her house, stretching down the street. Tilly had protected her from them as they’d raced for the sanctuary of her home. Now Tilly was fielding phone calls from Lord knew who and her mother was doing what grandmothers did best—but actually what Ellen rarely did—spoiling Beth’s children rotten with all sorts of gifts.
“How? What?…” she asked
of Tilly as she pressed a coffee into her hands.
“Gabe. I rang him and left a message on his machine, right after I contacted our lawyer. I explained what had happened and he picked up before I’d finished saying, ‘Beth’s been arrested for JJ’s murder’. So there, he really does love you, if you had any doubts about it.”
Beth looked around. “So where is he then?”
“Gone back to the ranch. He didn’t want to be part of the media circus.”
Beth sipped her coffee and enjoyed the rush of caffeine. “Who could blame him. And, Chris; how is he?”
Tilly patted her arm. “He’s fine. He’s not mad at you or anything. I know you blame yourself, but he doesn’t, so don’t give it another thought.”
“You know that rotten Deputy Stevens tried to imply that Chris and I were having an affair, because he called me honey?”
Tilly laughed. “Yep, Chris told me about it. I think Stevens knew he didn’t have a case against Chris, but he was trying to force a confession out of you.”
“I need to get away from here. I need to get my kids away from the prying eyes of the media. I’m sure not letting them go back to school and having to face bullying or anything.” She shivered at the thought of her kids being the object of ridicule or overzealous interest from any of their classmates or their parents.
“I know, hon. But I have good news. The coroner is releasing JJ’s body so the funeral can go ahead as planned. I’ve made some calls this morning and it’s all go for Monday. How does that sound?”
“Great,” Beth said with less enthusiasm than she felt. “I just wish I wasn’t still the prime suspect. You should’ve heard some of those questions! And those rats, Peter Grenville and Douglas Fadden, told the cops and that reporter about our ‘dates’ too! Jerks! I hate to think what the news is going to say tonight—that I’ve slept with practically every man between the ages of twenty–one and fifty–five in Denver!”