by J. D. Griffo
“Don’t forget all the drug-smuggling charges,” Denise said, reminding her of his other offense.
“Well, yes, there’s that, but selling drugs is nothing compared to committing murder,” Alberta rationalized.
“The drug lab and storage facility set up in the fake computer room could be emptied very quickly,” Marion reasoned. “It was designed that way, of course, so with enough lead time it could be turned back into some sort of file room and no one would know the difference.”
Relying totally on instinct, Alberta wasn’t sure if she could reach Marion by talking about his own life and the redemption of his own soul, but she knew of someone he wouldn’t want to disappoint. “What would Helga think?”
“Shut up!” Denise cried. Incensed, she lunged for Alberta and would have slapped her across the face, if Marion hadn’t grabbed her arm in the air. The way he practically snarled at Denise, Alberta knew that her instincts were right.
He pushed Denise so hard that she stumbled backward, her shoulder slamming into the wall. Marion loosened his tie and tried to undo the top button of his dress shirt, but had a bit of trouble, so he started pulling at the cloth as if it were strangling him. Finally, he tugged on his collar with such force that he ripped the button right off the shirt. “Mother was always right, you know.”
“I know that, Marion,” Alberta said, “She was a very smart woman.”
“She was the best!” Marion screamed. “No one was as good as she was! Or as wise! She always told me to beware of women! She always told me that women were no good and they were nothing but trouble, and she was right! Every single woman that I have ever known has been nothing but trouble. Starting with that lying whore in college who tried to ruin me.”
“You mean the girl from Rutgers who accused you of date rape?”
Astounded that Alberta was aware of his past indiscretion, his face grew white. “You know about that?”
“Yes, and I also know that you were innocent.”
Marion’s face softened and tears formed in his eyes. Alberta could tell that he was reliving the long-ago incident. She had no idea if he was guilty or innocent of the crime, but he was damaged and humiliated by it, and he still felt ashamed all these years later.
“You have to believe me, Alberta. I would never do that to a woman.”
“I know that and so did your mother,” Alberta placated. “You’re a good man, and that’s why I know you aren’t going to hurt us or let Denise do anything that you’ll regret.”
Slapping away his tears, Marion let out a guttural cry that frightened all three women. “I don’t know what to do! And it’s all your fault! All of you!”
“Let me help you, Marion!” Denise sobbed. “If you would just listen to me, we could have everything. Your mother would be so happy for us.”
“Don’t you talk about my mother! You have no idea what she would want!”
“I know that she wouldn’t want you to give up your life because of an unworthy woman,” Alberta said. “And if you give in to Denise’s demands, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.”
“Stop talking! All of you stop talking and let me think for a minute!”
Denise grabbed Alberta by the shoulders and started to shake her, “Do you see what you’ve done? Why couldn’t you just mind your own business? If it weren’t for you, Marion and I would be getting married and planning the rest of our lives by now.”
“Oh, for Crise sake!” Beverly shouted. “Just because Marion refused to marry me doesn’t mean he was going to marry you. Face it, we both fell in love with a man incapable of loving any other woman except his mother!”
Marion flipped the table over, and if one of its legs hadn’t broken, it would’ve careened right into Alberta and Beverly. “Shut up! You’ve all left me with no other choice,” Marion said. If his voice wasn’t frightening enough, the gun he pulled out of his jacket pocket was worse. “Mother was right, women only get in the way, so it’s time I got rid of all of you.”
The door to the cabin swung open, and the only reason Marion didn’t shoot was because his hand was shaking so hard.
“Looks like you’re going to have to get rid of a few more women.”
“What the hell are the antiques dealer and the nun doing here?” Marion asked, confused as to why Joyce and Jinx were standing in the doorway.
“Don’t forget about the crotchety older sister,” Helen said, entering the cabin and standing between them. “We kind of work as a team.”
Marion looked at the six female faces staring at him—Denise, Beverly, Alberta, Jinx, Joyce, and Helen—and felt like he was living his worst nightmare. Everything his mother had warned him about—the fury of women, their unpredictability, and their desire to make a man’s life a living hell—was all coming true. He had only one choice: get rid of them all.
“Then prepare to die as a team,” Marion said.
CHAPTER 23
Crepi il lupo.
“Grandma!” Jinx squealed. “Thank God you’re all right!”
“Yes, I’m fine, lovey,” Alberta reassured. “Despite, you know, being tied up.”
“Your forehead! You’ve been cut.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Alberta said, already having forgotten that Denise threw a rock at her head and knocked her unconscious. “Hazard of the job.”
“Hold on for just one second,” Marion ordered. “Sister Maria is your granddaughter?”
Ignoring Marion’s command, Alberta wanted to make sure that Jinx was also unharmed after their scuba-diving expedition was so rudely interrupted. “You’re okay too?” she asked. “And don’t lie to me.”
Jinx placed her right hand over her heart and swore, “I’m perfectly fine, I swear. I’ve just been so worried about you. What happened?”
“I asked you a question!”
“Lovey, you wouldn’t believe it in a million years.”
Marion and Alberta spoke at the same time and even though he was brandishing a gun, Alberta still garnered all the attention.
“Try me!” Jinx demanded.
“I was attacked underwater!” Alberta cried.
“Because of the malocchio!” Jinx shouted, “You see, Aunt Helen, Grandma was right, all of this is because of Lucy and the malocchio!”
“Lucy isn’t the only one who has an evil eye,” Alberta said. “My attacker isn’t all that innocent either.”
Turning to face Marion, Jinx screamed, “Marion, how could you?”
“Not him, lovey,” Alberta corrected.
“Then who?”
“Me!”
Everyone turned to face Denise and slowly, but surely, the shock of her announcement settled in. But since Denise was the only other person in the cabin wearing a wet suit other than Alberta and Jinx, it made total sense that if there was a nautical altercation, Denise would have instigated it. Still it was hard to comprehend that someone who looked so sweet, wasn’t.
“I’ve known some duplicitous, cutthroat HR executives in my day,” Joyce shared. “But one that would stage an undersea attack on an employee? That’s a new one.”
Dismissing Joyce’s comment with a wave of her hand, Denise obviously didn’t care what Joyce thought about her. She was more interested in why and how she was here. “Why don’t you keep your opinions to yourself and tell us who you really are?” Denise said. “You’re not an antiques dealer, are you?”
Marion stomped his foot on the floor several times to try to regain control of the room, but everyone was more interested in hearing Joyce’s explanation.
“Officially, no,” Joyce said. “However, I have traded stocks on Wall Street and currently I’m a landscape painter. Also too, I’m Alberta’s sister-in-law.”
“I knew it!” Denise hollered, pointing a finger at the Ferrara women. “You’re all related! And all four of you have been working together to solve the mystery of Lucy’s murder. I hope it was worth dying over.”
“I hope it was worth spending the rest of your life in jai
l!” Jinx spat back.
“Enough!”
This time Marion didn’t rely on the stern tone of his voice to assure that the bickering would come to an end and he would control any further conversation, he took matters into his own hand and fired a warning shot that went right through the ceiling. A few of them shrieked and several cowered, not knowing exactly where the shot was fired because they weren’t looking at Marion when he pulled the trigger. However, after hearing the gunshot, the women in the room did finally take notice that there was a man in their presence, a man who no longer wished to be ignored.
“Nobody talk!” Marion shouted, his hand holding the gun shaking a little bit less than it was when the unexpected company arrived. “Nobody say a word until I say you can.”
He surveyed the group of women staring at him and smiled when he realized that, at last, he was being taken seriously. Now, maybe he would get some answers. Pointing the gun at Jinx, he asked, “So you’re not a real nun?”
“No,” Jinx replied. “Neither am I a messenger.”
“A messenger?”
Throwing her hands up in the air in disbelief, Denise yelled, “She was the messenger this afternoon in your office! Don’t you recognize her? Don’t you get it? They’re all working with Alberta! And they’re here to bring you to the police so they can destroy you.”
Looking wounded and self-righteous, Marion faced Alberta. “Is this true?”
Alberta opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it. Facing Marion on her own was one thing, but now that the rest of her family was in tow, she needed to choose her words carefully. Marion was definitely a loose cannon, and if she said the wrong thing there was no telling how he might react. Maybe it was naïveté or narcissism, but she still believed that Marion wouldn’t hurt her. She wasn’t as confident, however, that the rest of the women in the room were equally as safe.
“Yes and no,” Alberta finally replied. “Yes, they’re with me, but no, they don’t want to destroy you.”
Turning to face the three intruders, Marion asked, “Then why are you here?”
“To make sure my grandmother is okay.”
“To close that deal I offered to buy Lucy’s TV Guide collection.”
“I had a couple of free hours, so I’m just along for the ride,” Helen added.
After the first two comments, Marion just nodded his head in agreement to show that he understood. The final comment, however, made him burst out laughing. “Helen Ferrara!” Marion exclaimed. “You are still as funny as you were in high school. I can’t believe you didn’t become a comedienne, you would’ve been more famous than Totie Fields.”
Jinx turned to Joyce and whispered, “Who?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Helen replied, “I was the laughingstock of my family for a while after I announced that I was joining a convent, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
Once again Marion nodded in agreement. “The same holds true for some of us boys.”
Alberta looked around the room and knew that everyone was thinking the same question, even Denise, but no one wanted to ask the only boy present what it was that he had to do. When Marion pointed the gun at Joyce and spoke, his intentions became clear.
“Are you serious about wanting to buy the TV Guide collection?” Marion asked. “Or were you just trying to set a trap to capture me?”
“As serious as Robin Leach was about maintaining a lifestyle of the rich and famous,” Joyce remarked. “And to prove it, I have the briefcase full of cash in the trunk of my Mercedes.”
“Then you, ma’am, have got yourself a deal.”
Just as Marion was walking toward Joyce, Denise jumped in front of him to block him from sealing the deal. “Not so fast!”
“What the hell are you doing, Denise?” Marion hissed. “Isn’t this what you wanted? For us to get the money for the collection and pay off the smugglers?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Denise confirmed. “But first I want to know how Nancy Drew and her two elderly sidekicks found us here. This cabin is isolated, and it isn’t public knowledge that it’s owned by your family.”
Stepping around Denise, Marion aimed his gun directly at Jinx and this time his hand was no longer shaking. “That’s a very good question, and there really is only one good answer,” he said. “You contacted the police and they’re waiting for you outside.”
The vision of seeing a gun pointed at her granddaughter was almost too much for Alberta to bear. She twisted her body and tugged at her ropes desperately trying to free herself. What she was going to do once she got free she had no idea, but she would have a much better chance at protecting Jinx if she had full use of her body. In this instance, however, Jinx didn’t need her grandmother’s help; she was surrounded by other family members who didn’t hesitate to be Alberta’s backup.
“I would come to the same conclusion if I were in your position, but I’d be wrong,” Joyce said. “We didn’t need the police to track you down here, we just needed my business card.”
“What are you talking about?” Marion asked.
“I assume you have the card I left with Alberta at your office.”
“You assume wrong.”
“That’s . . . that’s impossible,” Joyce stammered. “You must have it.”
“No, I don’t,” Marion replied. “But Denise does.”
Turning to look at Denise, Joyce looked both surprised and impressed as Denise took the card out of her wet suit. “See that little embossed logo on the upper right-hand corner of the card?”
“The picture of the owl?” she replied, examining the card.
“It’s really a GPS device,” Joyce replied. “I have a friend who still works in the tech industry and he was able to put in a little tracker that led us right to your cabin door.”
“How many friends do you have?” Helen snapped.
Ignoring the comment, Denise replied, “Remind me to thank your friend, because now you’re going to lead us straight to your hundred grand.”
“Well, well, well, cutthroat and money hungry.”
“Also too, she’s the one who killed Lucy,” Alberta announced.
Cries of “What?” “Are you serious?” and “I thought for sure the mammone did it!” rang through the cabin as Joyce, Jinx, and Helen came to terms with the fact that Denise and not Marion, their prime suspect, killed the woman whose murder they were trying to solve. They shouted even louder and with more enthusiasm when Alberta announced that she figured it out before Denise actually confessed.
They had done it! They solved Lucy’s murder. They couldn’t believe Denise was the murderer, she wasn’t even on their short list of suspects, she was supposed to help people, not kill them. They’d contemplate the details later, now all that was left was to inform Vinny of the news so he could take over and arrest the guilty parties. But first, they had to find a way out of the clutches of a psycho wielding a pistol. Fortunately for them, the psycho was more interested in Joyce’s money than he was in detaining his prisoners any longer.
“Let’s go,” Marion said, waving his gun in Joyce’s direction. “The TV Guide collection is at the bottom of Memory Lake. Give me the cash and it’s all yours.”
“Don’t you mean ‘give us the cash’?” Denise corrected.
Moving quickly, Marion positioned himself in front of the cabin door facing the women. Jinx had moved to stand next to her grandmother, while Helen and Joyce were standing on the opposite side of the door. Since Beverly had no choice but to remain seated next to Alberta, that left Denise standing directly in front of Marion. Right in the line of fire.
“I’ve made a decision to live the way my mother always dreamed I would—without a worthy woman by my side,” Marion announced. “Which means, Denise, there’s no place for you in my life any longer. I’d like to say that I’m pained by this resolution and that I’ll miss your company, but I can’t, because I have never been happier in my entire life and it’s all because I’m going t
o be rid of you.”
Watching Denise react to Marion’s callous kiss-off and the sudden demise of all her hopes and fantasies of becoming his wife was like watching a volcano erupt. First, her shoulders started to heave, then, her body began to shake, followed by tears falling from her eyes, and culminating in her dropping to her knees and unleashing a cry that was more primitive and painful than any that the women in the room had ever heard or uttered themselves. What was even more devastating was that each of the women felt sorry for her. Because despite knowing that Denise had taken a life and was willing to take even more lives in order to fulfill her romantic and delusional quest to wed the man of her dreams, watching her crumble so completely because of unrequited love reminded them that she was human and, most disturbing, that they were all similar. They each had emotional scars from the men in their lives and carried with them the baggage from previous relationships so they understood Denise’s pain. They, of course, didn’t agree with or condone how she used her scars as an excuse to wound others, but they could sympathize, which made it all the harder to despise her. Especially when she got a taste of her own medicine.
“You can’t do this to me! I won’t let you!” Denise screamed. “Not after everything I’ve done for you!”
Running forward, Denise leaped in the air toward Marion. The only reason her hands never reached his throat was because Marion pulled the trigger while she was in midair. It wasn’t clear if he was a poor shot or was just taken by surprise, but when Denise rolled over and blood started to race down her wet suit from the inside of her left thigh, it was obvious that she wasn’t mortally wounded. What was clear was that Marion had made the decision to use brutal force if necessary.
“You son of a bitch, you shot me!”
“Keep shouting and I’ll shoot you again to put you out of your misery and get you completely out of my life!”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Joyce said, “Isn’t that an Erika?”