by Mary Bush
“If you’re under the age of fifty, getting a life insurance policy is a pretty uncomplicated thing. Fill out a form, have a visiting nurse come to your house, pee in a cup and bingo, and they’ll give you as much as you’re willing to pay for. After I became Julia DeHaviland, I bought a three-million-dollar policy. Hell, the insurance company wanted me to buy more. They expect someone with a medical degree to get a large amount of coverage. So, what do I do next? I name Molly Dolan as beneficiary on the policy, and after an appropriate amount of time, Julia’s death is staged to look like it just happened. Once she’s found dead, I get a big fat check. It was such a brilliant plan, so simple. The only problem is that my partner decided to double-cross me and screw everything up. That partner was Francine Donohue.”
Val lay still. The drug was already starting to wear off and the effects would only continue to weaken. Molly couldn’t see this happening. She had to think Val was more incapacitated than she actually was.
Lie still.
Don’t move.
Don’t blink.
“You see, about a year ago, we had this plan set with another person, Jeanne Coleman. She was killed, her teeth removed, her body dismembered, and whatever parts we thought weren’t necessary we destroyed. Those we wanted to use at a later date to stage her murder, we stored. We chose her teeth and skull for that part. Of course, we had to clean the crime scene. We couldn’t have bloody walls and floors in the apartment. Francine was going to assume Jeanne’s identity and had to live as her for a while, long enough to get an insurance policy. In the end, the money would be left to me and we would split the payout.”
Molly walked around the bed. Val listened to the sound of her voice, tracking where she was in the room. How close she was to her. She seemed further away now and Val frantically tried to tell what Molly was doing.
“I decided at the last minute not to go through with it, even though we had the insurance policy for Jeanne Coleman. I wanted to save this plan for Julia. The money was a hell, and I mean a hell, of a lot more. Francine disagreed, and we argued quite viciously about it. Her rationale was that we were all set, why change it now? My rationale was the payout with Julia would be so much higher. There couldn’t be two sets of deaths like this. It was one or the other. Francine was a bitch and so completely unreasonable. Didn’t she know whose idea this was to begin with? I couldn’t have cared less that she was a dentist and came up with the part of the plan to leave the teeth on the pillow. God, she was acting like she was the mastermind because of this. So, I broke off my partnership with her.”
The room went strangely quiet and Val couldn’t tell what was going on anymore. Her heart raced. Was this it? Was Molly going to kill her now? There was a moment before Molly continued. Val purposely made her breathing shallow.
“Francine went behind my back and changed the beneficiary on the policy to someone named Lorelei Sebastian. She staged Jeanne’s death with the teeth and then began a claim on that insurance policy as Lorelei!” Molly’s voice rose dramatically as she spoke. “She jeopardized everything I worked for! For her betrayal, well you know what happened. I thought it was ironic to rip out her teeth and leave them behind. The fact she was a dentist and had her teeth on her pillow threw a wobbler for the investigation now, didn’t it?”
Molly kept yelling. “After I killed Francine, I tore that house apart and couldn’t find the personal documents she had for her identities of Lorelei and Jeanne. I knew she’d hid them somewhere. I was desperate to find them. They had to be destroyed.”
There was almost no hesitation as Molly continued. “I was already living as Julia DeHaviland. I had to change the plan quickly and this took a little creativity. Francine and Julia’s murders were now going to be the same as Jeanne Coleman’s. It was going to look like a series of murders occurred, a serial killing, and they all were going to be pinned on some unsuspecting fool. That fool was Colin Turner. When I met him at that singles event, I knew he was the one who was going to take the fall for Julia’s death. Why not a couple more? He thought he married me for my money. Well, I married him because I needed someone to frame for murder.”
Val’s eyes blinked reflexively. Her heart pummeled as she prayed Molly hadn’t noticed.
“It’s even easier to frame someone than to steal their identity. Isn’t that a scary thought? You could spend the rest of your life behind bars, or worse yet be sentenced to death, because someone is smart enough to frame you. When I killed Julia, in addition to her sheets, I saved a towel soaked in her blood and a few items that had spatter on it. The blood dried out but that didn’t matter, in fact it was a good thing. Dry blood is a good source of DNA evidence, and items like this worked very well in staging a crime. I kept bloody items from all of the victims for this reason. Jesus, you never know what strange courses an investigation will take. The sheet thing eventually was thought of as a signature of the killer. It was never planned as that. Taking the sheets was just a necessity.”
Val’s thoughts flashed to that day she was in Julia’s bedroom, nearly collapsing when she saw blood on the spattered lamp, feeling devastated that Julia was dead. She choked on that memory now.
“The night I staged Julia’s death, I had the bloody towel wrapped around my arm, running it under the faucet, soaking it. I told Colin I’d slit my wrist. The water mixed with Julia’s blood and hence her DNA. He grabbed the towel to check what I did, to make sure I was okay.
“He’s a real prince, isn’t he?” Molly said sarcastically. “Anyway, the bloody water was running all over the place. I made sure plenty got on him. Later that night I washed his clothes with the bloody sheet I kept from Francine’s apartment. Now, Francine’s DNA is on him too. Oh, after I killed Francine, I threw a chewing gum wrapper with Colin’s DNA under her bed. It all worked like a charm.”
Val’s arms felt lighter and she thought if she tried, she could move her hands. Molly’s voice was to the left of her. Now was her chance. She quickly tried to wiggle the fingers on her right hand. They moved.
“I kept Francine’s skull and arm, stripping the skin on the skull but baking the arm. I thought hell, why not. Honestly it was just meant to be a red herring. I actually got the idea from Phillip Blythe. He thought the first skull found, the one he claimed belonged to Jeanne Coleman, was baked because the post-mortem interval was too long. The post-mortem interval was too long!” Molly walked closer to Val and stopped talking for a second. Val wondered if Molly was assessing her for any movement and she remained as still as she could.
“I held my breath during the analysis. It could have killed my entire plan. And when he explained it away for this cause, I nearly peed my pants. What an idiot. This skull belonged to the real Julia DeHaviland and she was dead way before I placed it in Chestnut Ridge Park. I had no choice but to use Julia’s. I had no idea what Francine did with Jeanne’s actual skull. Well, not until after it was found in Devil’s Hole Park. For the DNA comparison, I substituted a piece of the bone surrounding one of Jeanne Coleman’s teeth. They were all in autopsy room one.”
Suddenly Val felt her entire body tingling, feeling like it was becoming her own again but she continued to be as still as she could.
Molly was right next to the bed. “It was all going well. I thought my new plan was back on track until Francine’s sister Samantha bumped into me. She came into the medical examiner’s office to find out about getting Francine’s teeth released for burial—this was before her other remains were found. She recognized me and asked what the hell I was doing. Why was I calling myself Julia DeHaviland? I gave her a hundred bucks and told her she’d get more if she kept her mouth shut. God, what a drug addict. She was pretty out of it the day she came in. I managed to steal her cell phone when she wasn’t looking. I don’t even think she knew I took it. I called Colin from it, making it seem like she was corresponding with him, incriminating him further. I also did the same thing with Francine’s phone.”
Val fought the urge to blink, the urge to move, to
test how much mobility she had regained. Right now, she knew she had control of her fingers. Nothing else was confirmed. Unless she could jump out of this bed, she wasn’t risking anything.
“Samantha had to die after that meeting. She promised me she wouldn’t tell anyone who I really was, but do you think I was going to believe that junkie bitch? I could just see her trying to blackmail me. When I injected her with pancuronium, I never expected she would have an allergic reaction to the stuff. It wasn’t my plan to have her die that way.”
Lying still, Val listened. Molly’s psychopathic and narcissistic personality was evident. She only cared about herself and was only paying attention to herself. This is why she wasn’t noticing that the drug was wearing off. Val needed her to keep doing this for a little longer.
Molly leaned on the bed and slowly crawled in, curling up next to Val. She was inches from her face as she spoke, practically whispering in her ear. She reached a hand to Val and softly stroked her hair. Val forced her eyes to stay open. Under no circumstances could she blink now.
Her hand hesitated on Val’s head. “I knew as soon as I saw you on the day of your interview I was going to kill you. That’s why I hired you. I needed your identity. You’d be a pretty easy one to assume.” She let go of Val’s hair. “I do have a question. How on earth did you make it this long without getting fired? You getting fired was pivotal to the next phase of my plan. I thought for sure Blythe would have gotten rid of you after Julia died. He resented you so much. I made sure of that. What the hell was taking him so long to do so? Phil can be such a putz.”
She resumed petting Val’s hair, twirling strands between her fingers. Val’s eyes ached to blink and she didn’t know how much longer she could hold them open.
“After you got fired, the story would be you were so distraught you moved back to Florida. Only in reality, you were dead and I was you living in Florida. But you are a nasty girl. You lied to me about your Florida license. I’ve had a devil of a time trying to renew it because it’s expired. But that’s not the worst thing you did. What did you think you were doing showing up at my house with that bitch Gwen? She saw me and I’m sure you told her about me. Were you screwing with me?”
There was a moment of silence. Like she was expecting Val to actually answer.
“I don’t tolerate people who screw with me.” Molly laughed, tugging hard on the hair in her grasp, jerking Val’s head towards her. “Just ask Lauren Fitzgibbons how I take care of those who want to screw with me.”
She pulled Val’s hair harder.
“I know what you’re thinking! Oh, don’t you feel sorry for her. She’s not innocent at all. I believe one hundred percent she tried to befriend me on purpose, to check me out after she stole my sorry excuse for a husband. So, I got my revenge my way. If she had just stayed away from me, she’d be fine.”
Molly stretched out on the bed and let go of Val’s hair. She stayed close though. “I had to come out in the open because of that. I was going to be sued and I wasn’t ready to stage Julia’s death yet. I had to buy a lawyer so that I could drag this out a little more.” Molly sounded angry again and she took a few deep breaths.
Val resisted every urge to blink. It was unbearable now. She didn’t think she could hold out much longer.
“Why did I do it? Why infect her? Why would I jeopardize my plan, bring the Julia DeHaviland alias out in the open, and have some link to the real me?” she yelled. “Do you think I was going to let that silly bitch get away with trying to screw with me? Lauren’s punishment was that she lost her face. There’s a lesson to be learned for trying to screw with me. Unfortunately, it’s a lesson you’re going to learn too, the hard way.”
Val couldn’t control it anymore. As Molly lunged at her, Val finally blinked. Molly saw the movement.
“You’re beginning to come around.”
Val felt her arms being poked, her ability to move being assessed.
“We still have some time. But really I should get started.”
Val knew Molly miscalculated how much time she had.
In the kitchen, Molly rummaged through drawers looking for a knife that would do the best job. After killing Val, she would put Gwen’s fingerprints all over it. Some of Val’s blood would be placed on Gwen too so that Gwen would be the obvious suspect. The majority of the evidence will incriminate her. She’ll never be able to prove that she didn’t do it. She can plead until she’s blue in the face that she’s innocent. Molly laughed when she thought, Gwen can write to Colin in jail and the two of them can bitch over being set up.
Molly was ready to return upstairs, but a knock at the back door made her jump. She turned her head towards the sound but remained still, hoping the person would just go away.
The person knocked again and then yelled, “Molly. I know you’re in there. Let me in.”
She recognized the voice but was really surprised to hear it. How could he have known to find her here? She wasn’t prepared for this. The man knocked for a third time, louder.
Before the neighbors could hear the commotion, Molly placed the knife on the counter next to her chloroformed rag and opened the door. She didn’t say anything when she saw Howie standing in the open doorway. He walked in and shut the door behind him.
“It’s good to see you, Julia,” Howie said. “I’d have thought you would have been long gone by now.”
“I’m doing what I always have to do, Howie. Fix problems.”
“You told me we were going to let Val live.”
“Don’t be a fool. We can’t let her live. She knows too much.”
“Not about me.”
“Since when was this ever about you? I think it’s almost sad how you care about her.”
“So what if I care about her.”
“What did you think? The two of you were going to ride off into the sunset together? God, that’s pathetic.”
Molly eyed the knife sitting on the counter. She wasn’t sure what Howie had in mind with this visit. The more he talked the angrier she became. He was wasting time. Val was only going to be incapacitated for so long.
“I can’t let you do it. You’re not going to kill her.”
Molly hissed, “What a complete idiot you are. This is my game and I make the rules. Your stupidity isn’t only dangerous to you, it’s dangerous to me too.”
“Don’t call me stupid! You would’ve never been able to carry this off without me. I’m the one who got you the job at the medical examiner’s office and I’m the one who helped you do the job. You never could have done it without me!”
He was right and she needed to calm down, think clearly. She knew what she needed to do to control this situation. There was only one option. “Howie, we shouldn’t be arguing over such things. We’re in this together. If you want Val to live, we can do that. We just have to figure out a way to make it work for both of us.” She patted the kitchen chair and motioned for him to sit. “Let’s talk about this.”
He did as he was told and sat down at the table. When his back was turned, Molly grabbed the rag from the counter and reached around Howie’s head and put it across his face. It only took seconds before the chloroform took effect and he slumped at the table. Then he slid to the floor.
“This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”
Molly picked up the knife and stabbed him in the stomach. She pulled the knife out and stabbed him again.
“You see, Howie, you became one of my loose ends when you decided to screw with me. This has to be done.”
She held the knife up, ready to plunge again, when a loud thud came from upstairs causing her to divert her attention away from Howie. She took the bloody knife and walked towards the stairs. “My, my, sleeping beauty’s awake.”
Val, still wobbly and dizzy from being drugged, knew she was trapped. There was nowhere to run. The only way out was down the stairs and at that moment, Molly was coming up them.
As fast as she could, Val staggered to the bedroom window. Her hand
s grabbed the sash, pulling upwards, opening it as far as it would go, hoping to make it look like she escaped out the window.
She heard Molly approaching the top of the stairs. With no time to lose, Val ran to the closet and hid, keeping the door ajar so she could see what was going on. Shaking, breathing hard, she sat curled on the floor of the closet feeling around for any type of weapon she could find. Her hand searched frantically. It froze as soon as she saw Molly enter the room.
Molly walked straight to the window and looked out. It took a second before she slammed the sash down and turned her attention to the room.
“Please, do you think I’m stupid? Jesus Christ. Are you under the bed or in the closet?”
It was a matter time before she would be found. In the closet, she was a sitting duck. As Molly bent down to look under the bed, Val stumbled out, hoping to get to the door and down the stairs. She made it about five feet into the bedroom before she lost her balance and fell to the floor. The effect of the pancuronium still overpowered her. After a few more stumbles, she managed to get up.
The two women stared at each other. Julia held a large butcher’s knife. Val stood defenseless.
“Honestly, Val, I must admit that what I’ll cherish about the time we’ve spent together is how much you amused me. You really are precious, in a pedestrian kind of way.”
“You were my friend,” Val cried out.
“You weren’t mine,” Molly responded, matter-of-factly. Unfeeling.
“I shared things about myself with you! I trusted you!” Val screamed.
“I know, and in return I gave you back your life by hiring you. You showed up on my doorstep, pathetic as you were and I helped you out, and this is how you repay me! And you want to say we were friends. Is this how you treat your friends? Because maybe this is why you didn’t have any.”
“You only hired me because you wanted to kill me.”
Molly tilted her head, and pursed her lips, thinking about Val’s comment. “True.”