by B. Groves
Claire steadied herself on the corner of the countertop. She wiped her eyes and stood up straight. It was time for this to end. Sue kept her secrets long enough. It was time for her pay for her crimes.
“It’s over, Claire,” Sue said.
Claire noticed that Sue’s hand had moved behind her back and under her jacket.
“Those are the best words you’ve spoken all day,” Claire stammered from the bile choking her from Sue’s confession.
“I knew it would end one day. I could have run when you came back. I could have hidden from everyone, but the moment you walked into my shop, I knew my time had come around. I thought it would take months, not days.”
Claire grabbed her cell phone and pressed the off button on the recording. She swiped the screen and came to the emergency button.
She looked up again and said, “Maybe one day when I look back on this, I’ll be able to forgive you, I’ll be able to say you didn’t mean to be cruel since our family hurt you too.”
Claire went to press the emergency button. Since this was Mac’s beat, she knew he would respond first, which made her more comfortable.
Except Claire never had a chance to press the button. She never in a million years that a big woman like Sue could move lightning fast.
But, she did and before Claire could react the phone was slapped from her hand, and Claire was shoved to the tile floor.
Claire felt the pain shoot up the left side of her knee and her elbow. Black spots formed in front of her eyes from the shock of hitting the floor hard.
Claire sat up and moaned holding her sore elbow. She looked up to see the barrel of a pistol in her face and then she flinched when she heard the crack of the phone breaking beneath Sue’s foot.
Claire turned to stare at her cell phone crushed in pieces on the floor.
“By the time Mac finds you, we’ll both be dead,” Sue said. “I told you it was over, Claire but for both of us. I’m won’t be going to jail.”
“Sue, please don’t,” Claire said. “We don’t have to die for this.”
Sue pulled the gun back slightly where Claire was no longer staring down the barrel.
She moved ever so slightly. If she could talk with Sue then, she could overpower her and grab the gun.
That was her plan, she didn’t know if it’d work, but she had to try. She had no communication.
“I ain’t goin’ to jail,” Sue repeated.
“I know. I know,” Claire said softening her voice. “I know you’ve had a hard life, and jail would be the icing on the cake, but that doesn’t mean we have to die.”
“I didn’t ever touch no kid since your brother,” Sue explained.
“Okay. It was a mistake,” Claire said, trying to stand up with her eyes on the gun. “You were molested and—”
Sue shook from Claire’s words. Claire could see her eyes filling with tears. “They all hated me. I wanted love and they all hated me. Your brother hated me because I touched him. I didn’t want that.”
Sue’s demeanor became more desperate as she talked. She was desperate to make Claire understand her motives.
The gun was shaky in Sue’s hands, she was mumbling incoherently while Claire inched closer to standing on her feet.
Claire winced in pain as she got on her knees. The barrel of the gun pointed straight at her nose and she had to move to the side while Sue gathered her bearings.
“No,” she kept whispering. “This is the way it’s gonna be.”
Now was Claire’s chance to grab the gun. Sue wavered and leaned over the counter to grab something.
Claire jumped to her feet and rushed into Sue. Both women cried out as they landed on the tile floor. Claire reached for the gun still held in Sue’s hand. She tried grabbing her wrist to wrestle it from the woman’s grip, but could only lock her hand around her forearm.
Sue let out a string of expletives, her blue eyes wild with shock and fury from Claire’s surprise move.
Claire placed her other hand around Sue’s neck and tried to squeeze. Sue gurgled and gasped for air while Claire squeezed even harder.
“I won’t die with you today,” Claire said, no longer caring how she took the woman down.
Sue must have had a rush of adrenaline because she jerked to the side and Claire couldn’t hold her grasp around her throat.
Sue then took her free hand and slapped Claire across the face.
Stars formed in Claire’s eyes from the sting of the slap. She faltered her hold over Sue, and the woman pushed Claire off.
Claire landed on the floor and tried to get herself together. The gun sat on the floor and not in Sue’s hand.
She reached for it but felt a heavy body land a blow on her back.
Claire lost her breath from the pain of the blow. She heard a small crack in her midsection and thought she would black out from the pain that shot from her side all the way to her head and back down her leg.
Another elbow landed hard in the middle of her back. She felt Sue’s hot breath on her cheek and tried to crawl away, but Sue grabbed her hair and pulled her up to face her.
“A nice try, but you lose,” Sue growled between hot and heavy breaths.
Claire ignored the pain in her side and struggled to get Sue to let go of her hair, but Sue only pulled harder making Claire cry out in pain.
She thought the woman would rip her hair from her head and Claire had no choice but to stop fighting.
A knee came down hard on her back expelling the air from Claire’s lungs. She wriggled underneath trying to free her lungs from the pressure.
“Now, we go into the attic and wait,” Sue said.
“What?” Claire gasped.
“You heard me. That’s where we go to end all this because that’s where it all started,” Sue explained.
Claire felt the cool metal against the back of her neck. She heard a small click next to her ear.
She didn’t know much about guns, but she knew enough to hear the bullet entering the chamber.
“It’s loaded. Just in case you were wondering,” Sue commented.
“I never doubted it,” Claire said between gasps of breath.
“Get up. Real slow. Don’t want to blow those pretty brains out,” Sue said. “I ain’t ready to kill you yet.”
Sue ordered Claire to raise her hands, and Claire did as she was told. The pain she was feeling made her stumble three times trying to stand.
Claire tried keeping her cool. She had no choice but to follow Sue’s orders, especially with the gun against the back of her head.
“We’re goin’ up the servant’s stairs and into the attic,” Sue said.
Claire nodded and made sure she kept her head straight. She didn’t dare to try to escape. The gun was too close, and Sue emotions were running high. It was a dangerous combination, and Claire didn’t want to test her fate with either.
Sue ordered her to open the door and Claire gazed into the dark staircase looking for anything as a means of escape but found nothing she could use as a weapon.
Sue then told her to turn on the light and Claire did as she was told, regretting that she didn’t listen to Mac, regretting that she lied to him for her own selfish reasons.
She had no communication. No way of telling Mac she was in serious trouble and she felt defeated knowing this could be her last day on Earth.
Claire glanced up and saw her brother at the top of the stairs.
He practically glowed from the backdrop of the light shining inside the tiny staircase.
“I’m sorry, David,” Claire whispered.
Sue told Claire to stop where she was. Claire did as she was told and heard Sue curse behind her.
“Where the fuck did my phone go?” Sue asked.
Claire placed her hands on each side of the wooden paneling. Maybe with Sue distracted she could make a run for it.
Claire glanced at the top of the stairs again and did not see her brother.
“Don’t think about it, Claire,” Sue said,
reading her mind.
Claire lowered her head in defeat when she felt Sue walk up the stairs and lean against her.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sue said after a minute.
Claire heard her turn and walk down a few steps. She didn’t dare turn around, and she didn’t dare run up the steps.
“I still have the gun pointed at you,” Sue said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Claire answered.
Claire thought about running again but knew these steps were small and narrow. She’d never make it to the top alive.
A scrape of metal and a clicking noise caught Claire’s attention. She sucked in a breath knowing what that sound was, and her heart hammered against her chest.
She turned ever so slightly to see Sue throw a lit rag to her right. Claire gasped when she realized that full-length curtains were hanging in that area near the dining room.
“No,” Claire cried out.
“Shut up,” Sue said turning back to Claire with the gun pointed at her.
Sue watched the fire catch the curtains and nodded satisfied when the room took on a soft orange glow.
“No, please,” Claire pleaded, turning around to her aunt. “Don’t do this. I’m sorry for what happened to you, but why burn the house down?”
Claire was desperate. She could already smell the smoke wafting through the air as the fire spread.
This house was a tinderbox. It was big, but still a tinderbox and the flames could consume it in less than an hour. There was no way she could survive this fire from the attic and even if someone called the fire department they’d never get to them in time.
Claire had to escape. She would take one last chance to overpower Sue and get the hell out of the house before it burnt to the ground.
Her eyes were tearing up from the smoke already, and it was making her throat constrict. She could hear the whoosh of the flames as they spread through the kitchen.
Claire didn’t know what to make of Sue’s facial expressions. Her eyes showed insanity, but the rest of her face only showed sadness and regret.
“This house has been nothing more to me than hell and I can’t wait for it to burn,” Sue explained. “I already told you I’m not going to jail, so we’ll be joining the rest of the family real soon. I’ll be right there in hell burning next to Mama.”
Claire tried not to sob. Her breaths came out quick and shallow. “He’s in the basement.”
“What?”
“David’s body is in the basement,” Claire said hoping this would trigger Sue to change her mind. “You said he was beautiful. Do you want to see him burned to a crisp?”
Sue took a step stepped towards Claire and shrugged. “He’s not beautiful anymore. He’s a skeleton now. He can’t be hurt.”
Sue then smirked. “So, that’s where she put him. Damn. Jack had him hidden away for months before he was buried there.” Sue shook her head, disgusted by her mother. “I told her if she turned me in then I’d put her in jail right next to me for murdering Arthur, but my poor daddy. All Rose ever did was use him.”
Claire took that moment while Sue was distracted and tried to push the woman down the stairs. She used every ounce of her strength, but the woman was rock solid and very agile for her age and weight.
Sue lost her balance and stumbled backward, but somehow, she steadied herself without even losing her gun.
Shocked, Claire decided she had no other choice but to run up the staircase and hope she could close Sue off and make her escape.
She turned around inside the tight staircase and climbed the stairs while Sue sputtered and cursed her.
Claire took a few more steps and was within reach of the door handle when she heard the first gunshot and felt the bullet whiz by her shoulder. The wood right above her splintered and shattered where the bullet penetrated the wall.
She froze, but only for a second, and turned the knob. She flinched from Sue’s words and heard the other gunshot go off. This time, the wood shattered on her side.
Claire turned the handle and yelled, “Fuck!” The wood had swollen again, and Claire was having a hard time opening it.
She tried moving the door with her body, but she couldn’t get it to budge.
Claire stopped when she heard laughter behind her and then a fit of coughing from the smoke filling up the room inside the staircase.
“That door was always a pain in the ass. Why do you think I made you come up through here?”
Claire turned to see Sue right behind her with the barrel of the gun in her face.
“Don’t worry, Claire,” Sue said with a grin. “I promise neither of us will feel a thing.”
Claire looked at Sue confused and didn’t see her raise her hand with the butt of the gun sticking out from her fist.
Claire opened her mouth to speak when she saw stars forming in front of her eyes, a pain shot down from the top of her head, and then the sweet darkness took all her worries away.
35.
M ac left his meeting with Joe, the detectives and his captain hopeful about the Westcott situation. He didn’t think he’d get anywhere with the personal stake he had set down with the case because he had to admit he was seeing Claire.
They responded well to reopening the David Westcott case and re-examining it. He knew it might a long shot, but at least he could give Claire some good news.
He’d been in the office most of the morning with the detectives so he was running late with his patrol duties.
He didn’t want relay the news to Claire the news over the phone. He thought it’d be better to tell her in person.
He could only hope she listened to him and canceled her lunch with Sue but seeing those strawberries and other ingredients in her hand the day before had him concerned.
He drove by Kinsey House late in the morning, it was part of his patrol anyway and saw nothing suspicious from the road.
Claire answered his text and said she was doing well that morning.
He hoped she canceled.
Mac caught up on his duties and stopped by the Sweet Spot Bakery and Coffee Company to check up on Sue.
He pulled into the parking lot and found Jack Carpenter standing by his vehicle with a concerned look on his face.
Mac’s heart sank into his stomach. His gut flared because deep down he knew Claire didn’t cancel. She wanted proof that her aunt murdered her brother and she wanted it now.
Mac got out of the car and immediately Jack made his way over to Mac. His steps half-limping and half-running as he kept losing control of his cane.
“Mac, I need to talk to you,” Jack said with urgency in his voice.
“I can’t right now, Jack, but you can tell me where your daughter is,” Mac said. “I don’t see her car here.”
Jack stopped his trek against the pavement. He held onto his cane until his knuckles turned white.
He rubbed his face. “You know where she went. But, it was me, Mac. I have to tell you that I helped.”
Mac’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You helped with what, Jack?”
The man’s eyes welled up with tears while he tried to form words about something he’d done. Mac didn’t want to be cruel, but he had to leave.
His body was tensing because he didn’t know what he would find when he arrived there. Rose’s body flashed through his mind and this time he imagined Claire in the same spot waiting to be discovered.
Mac shook his head, his breathing becoming labored as the old man in front of him mumbled on covering up a crime.
“What?”
“I set up the sneaker. I held onto David Westcott’s body for months,” Jack kept repeating. “Rose had to do it, or Shirley would tell the world what she did to Arthur.”
Mac had no clue what the old man was referring to with Claire’s grandfather, but him admitting to hiding David’s body for those months while everyone looked for the boy made Mac step back in disbelief.
He never thought it would be Jack who would help in covering up a crime, but
he knew from experience that love did strange things to people. Jack had been a decorated officer his whole career. He was the kind that followed the rules to the last letter. Hearing this news was shocking, but Mac couldn’t hang around and listen to him right now.
“Jack, if you have something to confess then go to the station,” Mac said, opening his patrol door and hopping in. “I need to make sure Claire is safe.”
Mac tore out of the parking lot and sped down the street leaving Jack muttering incoherently in the dust.
He would have to deal with Jack later because right now his main concern was Claire.
This could be a whole lot of nothing or it could be everything. He silently cursed Claire for not listening to him as he turned down each road that led to Kinsey House trying not to cause an accident because he was driving illegally. He passed cars on the narrow two-lane streets, careful to watch for other vehicles passing or for pedestrians.
He didn’t dare put his sirens on because he didn’t know if this was an emergency or not.
He thanked God the radio was quiet and no calls came through, but every time someone spoke, Mac felt his heart jump into his throat.
One more mile. Mac rushed past the home with the fancy landscaping, the wrought-iron gates, and the brick walls and wondered what secrets they held within them.
It was funny because no matter how much money one had, they were still human and not above committing crimes.
Mac sped past another vehicle and swerved into Claire’s driveway. He thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t hit that vehicle or he’d look forward to a lawsuit.
Mac ignored what the potholes would be doing to his suspension and slammed on his brakes in front of the house.
Fuck…
Shirley’s Mercedes sat behind Claire’s SUV.
Mac jumped out of his patrol unit and that’s when he finally saw it.
The black smoke rising from the back of the house.
Mac’s heart jumped his throat and it took a few swallows to find his voice. He needed to act quickly. Mac rushed past the homes with the fancy landscaping, the wrought-iron gates, and the brick walls and wondered what secrets they held within them.