The Hotel

by Melanie Jones Brownrigg

  She kept her poker face. “Paul developed a thing for Ellen. It was like with Felicia Winslow, except Felicia’s parents didn’t find out about Felicia until Paul was already murdered. But before Paul’s murder, Darlene found out and blackmailed him to the tune of a million. Otherwise, they were going to file a report against him. Once he was dead, she threatened to make things worse for me, so I just paid the demand to get her out of my hair. I was already dealing with so much and the authorities were likely to confiscate our assets, including the Cayman account. At this point, what did I care if some of it went to Roger and Darlene?”

  She made sense. Except for one thing. “Darlene says that she called you the night Paul was in the room with Ellen. It seems Roger wanted a million from Paul, and Darlene wanted a million from you.”

  “Yes, that’s what I just said. Darlene was badgering me for the money. I paid to get her off my back.”

  “Okay, let me be more specific. Darlene said you came over to the motel and she met up with you and gave you a key to room 7. The million was to keep her mouth shut about the key. Wasn’t it?”

  “No, no, there wasn’t any key,” she denied. “It was money to keep Paul’s secret with Ellen. Darlene’s totally lying. She must’ve used a key herself and gone in and killed Paul because he had sex with Ellen.” She glared at me. “Look how upset you were over Paul simply watching Ava bathe. Imagine how mad you would’ve been if he’d diddled her. Darlene was mad. The million eased her anger.”

  “No, Molly. Once Darlene left the parking lot that night, after giving you the key, she parked down the road and watched you go into Paul’s room. She claims she saw you carrying something long. Now here’s my theory on that long object. I think it was my fireplace poker. I think the day you stayed for lunch with me, instead of going to wash your hands, you took it from my house. I think you used it to kill Paul and then you returned it to me when you brought in that box of stuff. You put it back in place, while I was getting Sarah a glass of milk. All along you knew Paul kept Greg’s investment money and you were trying to pin his murder on me. Everything was falling into place for you because, after all, I was the number one suspect. You knew the police would eventually discover the tire iron wasn’t the murder weapon. All you needed to do was plant the fireplace poker back in my house and wait for the police to search my residence and find it. I’ll be willing to bet it has Paul’s blood on it. Am I right?”

  “That’s stupid. I wouldn’t have done any such thing. Darlene’s lying,” she groaned out. “And to think I apologized to you. And now you’re accusing me of killing my own husband. You have a lot of nerve.”

  Greg took a step forward. “Molly, Darlene took pictures of you,” he told her. “She has one with you going in Paul’s room with the fireplace poker, wearing some sort of protective gear. She has another of you coming out and going in the trunk of my car. There’s one of you going back in the hotel room carrying a tire iron. And then finally one of you coming out with the poker, wearing different clothing and carrying a black trash bag. Then you left. The million wasn’t just about the key. It was blackmail money to keep Darlene quiet about those photos, wasn’t it?”

  She bit at her bottom lip. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. She never showed me any such photos. Is this another shakedown? How much money do you want?”

  “I just want to clear my name,” I said.

  “We have copies of the photos,” Greg told her. “I’ve already forwarded them to the detectives.”

  She became noticeably quiet, as if pondering her options. “I have another box for you,” she said, ignoring our confrontations about killing her husband. “I’ll get it.” She stepped inside her entry and bent down. When she stood back up and appeared in her doorway, she had a gun in her hand.

  Greg and I both tossed our hands in the air. “Molly don’t do something you’ll regret,” Greg said in a calm voice while I fought the urge to pee my pants.

  “I’ve already done something I regret ... I didn’t kill Paul soon enough.” She laughed psychotically. “I should’ve done it long ago, before he developed a craving for the younger ones. Stupid me, I thought he was having an affair with Margaret Winslow, not her daughter. Can you imagine what went through my mind when I found out it was a minor?” She sighed. “And it wasn’t just Felicia he was messing around with. He had another girl too. And, of course, he was grooming Ellen. He was playing sugar daddy in his fully furnished love pad, which was set up for his girls to have all the beautiful and expensive things they desired ... all to the point he’d spent us into oblivion, not just on his girls. In his zest to portray himself as a successful investor to attract customers, he mortgaged us up to our eyeballs. Even if the Feds take every dime we have, it probably won’t pay off all our debts, not to mention restitution to those he scammed. Paul got exactly what he deserved. Fucking prick.” Then she laughed insanely, still pointing the gun between us.

  “Please Molly, put the gun down,” I begged. “That stuff you dropped off at Twice Blessed—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I was there buying Sarah a shirt at a cheap price because the Feds had frozen our bank accounts and our credit cards had been cutoff for nonpayment. Yes, I was there overseeing those delivery trucks as they emptied every expensive item from his condo. I dropped Margaret’s name and mentioned divorce because I thought word would get around that she was having an affair with Paul and it would ruin her marriage with Charles. This was before I realized he was with Felicia, their underage daughter.”

  “You can have the stuff back that I bought, and most likely the items my mother purchased too. You could sell it and have money to start over with.”

  “No, it would just be seized by the Feds. Besides, I don’t want a single thing to do with any of that stuff. It’s tainted as far as I’m concerned and there’s no amount of money that can erase what it was used for. There’s no starting over for me anyway. I’m screwed.” Her face twisted into a pitiful scowl. Paul had a life insurance policy for five million. It’ll go to Sarah now after what I did to him.”

  “Molly, you can work out a plea. Claim temporary insanity,” Greg said in a promising voice.

  “I don’t think so,” she argued, waving the gun at both of us. “Stand closer. I can’t hit both of you anyway.”

  “Think of Sarah,” I reasoned in a voice cracking all over the place.

  “Yes, of course, Sarah.” She swallowed. “Staff has already left for the day. Will you please take her home with you tonight? My mother can take her as soon as I let her know what’s going on.”

  About this time, P.I. Marshall and two police cars came flying down the driveway, sirens blaring and lights flashing. They screeched to an abrupt stop behind my car. The officer in the first unit barreled out, using his car door as a shield. “Put down your weapon, ma’am.”

  Molly waved the gun at us. “Stand back. Or I’ll shoot them.”

  By then, the officers were in place and even P.I. Marshall had his gun aimed at her. “It’s over,” one of the officers shouted. “Place the gun on the ground and put your hands in the air.”

  Molly pointed the gun at her own head. My heart raced inside my chest. “Molly, please put the gun down before this situation gets even worse. You don’t want Sarah to see you like this. Please, Molly.”

  “I’m not going to jail for the rest of my life,” she resolved in a determined tone, keeping the gun pointed at her head.

  “Mama, what are you doing?” Sarah asked, appearing behind her to see what all the commotion was about.

  “Get back inside, sweetheart,” Molly warned. “Go now ... and close your eyes and hold your ears.”

  “Molly, don’t you dare. I mean it. Don’t you dare do this to Sarah,” I pleaded. “She doesn’t need to live with this memory for the rest of her life.”

  “Mama,” Sarah called from behind her. “Please, don’t.”

  Tears erupted and flooded down Molly’s face as she broke down, falling to the ground in a b
alled-up heap. An officer quickly approached and disarmed her. “Can I hold my daughter first?” she begged. The officer nodded, giving her a moment while they all stayed on full alert. “Sarah, come to Mommy,” she beckoned in a croaking voice.

  Sarah ran out the door and into her mother’s arms. Molly clung to her. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please Sarah, forgive me for what I’ve done.”

  Sarah was bawling her eyes out. My heart broke for her as she clung tight to her mother. “I don’t understand. I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” Sarah repeated over and over.

  “Mommy did something bad, sweetheart. Now I have to go be punished.”

  “No, what did you do? Please, don’t leave me. What’s going to happen to me?” Sarah looked at the officers. “Don’t take my mommy. You can’t have her.”

  While my heart ruptured for Sarah, in the back of my mind, I put things in perspective. Molly was willing for this to be me, and the little girl to be Ava.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  (A Few Hours Later)

  “Okay, it’s official,” Detective Sutton said. “All charges against you have been officially dismissed.”

  “Thank goodness,” I said, hoping to hurry up and get the paperwork completed. Greg and I had gone to the police station to give our statements. My mother had taken Sarah to my house and I was anxious to get home because I knew Molly’s daughter needed someone to comfort her right now.

  “You did good,” P.I. Marshall congratulated me. “You figured out all the pieces before I had a chance to, and long before these two bozos would’ve ever figured it out.” He gestured toward Detectives Sutton and Andrews. He turned back to me. “I’m going to feel bad about sending you a bill.”

  “Then don’t,” I challenged.

  He grinned. “Well, not that bad.”

  “Would you be interested in a Rolex watch in exchange for your services?” Greg offered.

  “Oh no, I couldn’t. A Rolex is worth far more than I intended to charge Emily. I really didn’t do very much.”

  “How about a David Yurman forged carbon money clip instead,” I bartered.

  “Are we talking the fifteen-hundred-dollar kind?”

  “Of course, if not more,” Greg told him.

  “Now you’re talking. I think we can work that out,” he agreed.

  As for Lucas, he refused to charge me a dime for his representation, but we agreed to take them out for a nice dinner next weekend.

  When we were leaving the station, Roger and Darlene were being brought in for questioning. A few hours later, P.I. Marshall called to update me. “The police believe that Roger didn’t know anything about Darlene giving Molly the key. She claims she didn’t disclose the photos to him. However, he was charged with endangering a minor, namely his own daughter.”

  “What about Darlene?” I asked.

  “Upon realizing she was facing charges for being an accomplice to the murder, she pled guilty to concealing evidence, hindering prosecution, giving false statements, and endangering a minor. She’ll probably work out a plea bargain. But until they make bail, she and Roger are both locked up, along with Molly.”

  “What a day,” I said with a sigh.

  “Yeah, you know, you might want to choose better friends,” he joked.

  I laughed. “You have a point there,” I agreed. Hopefully, Greg’s friendship with Roger and Darlene had run its course. If so, it was one positive thing to come of this tragedy.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  (Several Days Later)

  “I suppose we can try it,” I pondered on the phone with Kay.

  “I think I’d like to,” she replied in a hopeful tone.

  “So, I’ll be working at the bank on Tuesday and Thursday. You’ll be picking up Monday and Wednesday and we’ll alternate Friday and Saturdays.”

  “Yes, at least until the baby comes,” Kay agreed.

  Kay was wanting some extra money and Mr. Jenkins was willing to work with us on sharing the teller position at the bank. It meant I’d be working more hours, but Mr. Jenkins also agreed we could work out our shifts between the two of us. So, for now, the plan was for me to work one full week and take off the next, so that Greg and I could go on our summer vacation.

  “Hey, I need to let you go,” I told Kay. “I hear Greg’s car.”

  “Guess what,” Greg said as soon as he came through the garage door.

  “What?” I squeaked running to him and throwing myself in his arms. He paused long enough to kiss me and then shed his tie.

  “Molly confessed everything today,” he said, leading me to a dining room chair. “You were right about her taking our fireplace poker. She hid it in a bush outside the house and came back for it later. She planned to kill Paul with it and frame you for his murder. She knew about the money Paul scammed from me. She even knew about the bathtub ordeal with Ava, admitting she saw Paul coming out with an erection.”

  “You’re kidding,” I interrupted. “No wonder she seemed unfazed when I told her what Ava said. She already knew and kept her mouth shut.”

  “That’s what she admitted to,” Greg confirmed. “She intended to use both as motives for you killing Paul. She thought she’d get away with pinning everything on you and she’d be able to collect on the five-million-dollar life insurance policy and start over anew somewhere with Sarah.”

  “It’s true then,” I grumbled. “She was just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.”

  “Yes, she was,” Greg went on. “After Paul took me and Taylor to the airport, he went by their house to pick up a few of his things. So, Molly knew Paul was in my car. While Paul was inside, Molly placed a tracker device on my car so she could keep track of his location. Then, low and behold, she received a call from Darlene who, at the time, was demanding money from her to keep Paul’s relationship with Ellen quiet. Molly knew Paul’s condo was void of furniture and his credit cards had been cut off. Flat broke, she knew he’d stay in that hotel simply because it had a bed for the night. She asked for a key to Paul’s room, telling Darlene she wanted to confront him. Darlene didn’t know she was intending to kill Paul. But Molly took the fireplace poker, got the key and then quietly entered the room while Paul was sleeping. And then she beat Paul to death. Thank God, Darlene took those pictures. It was absolute proof of what Molly did. Of course, it was absolute proof that you didn’t do it.” He breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “So, what happens now?” I asked.

  “We’ll try to work out a decent plea bargain. After all, Paul was a scumbag. There are a lot of people who think Molly deserves an award for killing the son of a bitch.” His hand flew to his mouth. “Oops, where are the girls?” he asked, looking around for Ava and Sarah.

  “Playing, upstairs in Ava’s room.”

  “No doubt putting the final touches on our family vacation,” Greg said with a chuckle.

  School was out for summer vacation and Granny Marsh, Molly’s mother, had agreed Sarah could stay with us for the time being. Sarah was excited about going with us on our family vacation. Ava, as promised, had mapped out the whole thing. Unable to decide whether she favored interesting rocks or dinosaurs more, she wanted to explore Big Rocks Park in Glen Rose, along with Dinosaur Valley State Park in the same area. “I’m either going to be a geologist or a paleontologist,” she’d told me.

  “Well, both study rocks and fossils,” I’d told her, explaining the difference between studying earth forms such as landslides, floods, volcanic eruptions and gaseous matters versus examining extinct life forms remaining in the form of fossils from plants, animals, fungi and other single-celled organisms.

  “Hmm, well, I just like rocks and dinosaurs. That other stuff sounds boring.”

  “Well, you have plenty of time to decide,” I’d told her.

  When Greg said we could have a bigger vacation than Glen Rose, she and Sarah went back to the drawing board and added the State Capitol, Natural Bridge Caverns, and taking in the Alamo and the San Anto
nio River Walk.

  “This looks great, baby girl,” Greg approved when Ava had presented him with the plan.

  Since Sarah had been staying with us, she hadn’t acted snobby as she had in the past. We weren’t sure whether she was simply a decent kid without her parents’ influence, or if it was the result of her father’s murder by her mother and the family’s financial downfall, or a combination thereof. Either way, she and Ava were getting along well.

  “I’m not sure I want to let go of Sarah,” Greg said. “I'm enjoy having her here. After losing her dad, and her Mom being in jail, she’s been uprooted from everything she knows. I wonder if her moving to live with her grandmother is the right decision. I feel sorry for her.”

  “As do I. But we don’t have any claim to her. And, on the plus side, her grandmother lives only a couple hours south of us. The girls will still be able to visit regularly. And too, Sarah will be making new friends, ones who won’t know all about her parents’ troubles. And don’t forget, Sarah is going with us on our vacation.”

  “True,” Greg said softly. “It’s just, well, I’ve always wanted an addition to our little family ... you know.”

  “I might be able to help out there,” I said coyly.

  Greg didn’t say anything, just gave me a puzzled look.

  “I’m pregnant. I guess all of that romping did the trick.” I grinned. “Or maybe it was that move you did that one night.”

  Greg blinked several times and then swallowed hard. “Really? Are you really?” I nodded, watching tears suddenly form in his eyes. “Oh honey, I’m so happy.” He flew out of his chair and kissed me. Then he dropped down on his knees and placed his head against my tummy. “I can’t believe it. After all these years. Are you sure?”

  “Not officially, but I took three pregnancy tests.” I paused. “Let’s keep this between us until after the first trimester. I’m scared to death right now.” We had tried to get pregnant since right after Ava turned a year old. All these years later, I couldn’t believe it myself and was afraid I might lose the baby.