The detectives’ faces lit up. “You recorded the whole thing?” Detective Martin said. “Why?”
“Well, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a record of it. At first, I thought maybe he would admit to blackmailing me, or maybe we could catch him trying to extort money from Annie, or, at the very least, we would have proof that he’d left California. You know, to give to his probation officer. I doubt he’s supposed to be out of state right after being released from prison. I had no idea things would go south so quickly. No idea about the baby or that Wayne was capable of cold-blooded murder.”
Oh, God. Sam had heard everything. She knew now wasn’t the time to worry about what he thought of her, but couldn’t help it. What must he think of the fact that she’d married a psychopath? Or was it sociopath? Whichever, it didn’t look good for her judge of character. She had a lot of apologizing to do for getting him mixed up in this.
“I have no idea how good the quality of the recording is, though. We were behind a wall, so who knows what was actually captured,” Sam said.
“We’ll have to take your phone as evidence,” Officer Martin said and held out a hand.
“Of course.” Sam handed over the phone without blinking, even though his entire life was no doubt linked to it.
“Okay, so Wayne stated he was going to kill Annie. What led up to the shooting?”
“Wayne pointed the gun at Annie and put his finger on the trigger. Jake and I confronted him, but that just delayed things a little. Jake identified himself as a trooper and told Wayne to drop the weapon and that he was under arrest.”
“So, Trooper MacDonald clearly stated that he was a trooper? Clearly told him to drop the weapon?”
“Yes, to both. That should be clear on the tape. Jake told him multiple times to drop the weapon. Wayne was mulling over the odds of being able to shoot all of us and get away. He finally got mad and pointed the gun at Annie again, but at the last second swung it around to Jake. He probably thought once Jake was down, Annie and I would be easy. Jake didn’t shoot until Wayne had the gun pointed at him.”
“Anything else we need to know?”
“Not that I can think of,” Sam said. “I can’t get a new phone until tomorrow, but once I do, you can call with any other questions you have.”
They took contact information for both of them and then asked Annie if they could take a look around the house.
“Of course, whatever you need,” she said. Once they left, she turned to Sam. “Sam, I’m so sorry about all of this. I never wanted you to get mixed up in all my drama. I tried to stay away from you to protect you, but that didn’t help anything.”
“Shhh,” Sam said. “Don’t worry about any of that right now. Are you okay?” His look of concern was her undoing, and she began to cry.
“He killed her, Sam. He killed her.” The crying turned to sobbing, and she couldn’t stop. He held her tightly and rubbed a hand up and down her back.
“I know, honey. I’m so sorry.”
For a while, so caught up in her own misery, Annie forgot Sam was there. The tears just kept flowing. Her precious angel didn’t have to die. It wasn’t SIDS. It was an angry, arrogant husband. Annie didn’t know if she could ever forgive herself. She never should have let Wayne near the baby.
How could she have known, though? If she thought he was capable of murder, she never would have married him in the first place. Or had a baby with him. Of course, without him, she never would have had Avery in her life for the short time she did. It was all too much to think about right now.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Jake finally stuck his head in to let them know it was okay to come out. She translated that to mean the body had been removed.
“Come stay at my house tonight, and we’ll have this cleaned up tomorrow morning,” Sam said. “I’m sure Jake can find out who to call to clean up stuff like this.” He looked at his brother as he said it.
“I’ll have someone here first thing tomorrow,” Jake said.
“Thanks, guys, but I don’t want to impose any more than I already have. You’ve done so much. You saved my life.” She hugged Jake tightly.
Who knew what kind of toll it would take on a man to shoot and kill someone? Even someone in law enforcement who was trained for the possibility. Because of her poor decisions, Jake’s life was irrevocably changed. She would be forever grateful to him.
“I’m going to find a hotel for tonight and then put the house up for sale as soon as possible. I can’t stay here.”
Sam made a face at Jake, who then slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“Annie, please come stay with me. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Sam, you don’t know how much I appreciate what you’ve done. I can’t believe you came back from New York early to check on me and that you put yourself in harm’s way to protect me. But nothing has really changed between us. You can’t take back the things you said the other day. You don’t trust me, and I can’t be with a man who will doubt my every motive.”
“Annie, I love you. I’m sorry I said those things. I didn’t mean them. I went into your office without thinking anything through and have regretted it ever since. Please forgive me?”
“I love you too, Sam. But sometimes love isn’t enough. You don’t have to worry about me telling anyone about us. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I know that, Annie. I do. Please don’t do this.” His voice cracked, and she couldn’t take anymore.
She stood and left without looking back. After checking with the officers still left at the scene to make sure it was okay to leave, she grabbed her purse, made sure the spare key was still in her pocket, and fled. Someone would lock up. Or not. She didn’t care if the place burned to the ground overnight. She wouldn’t be coming back.
Without a phone, she couldn’t put much effort in to finding a place to stay. She pulled into the first hotel she saw, walked to the lobby, and booked a room for the next couple of nights. As soon as she closed the door, she flung herself onto the bed. It was late, and she was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.
She thought she’d be awake half the night, reliving the whole thing over and over again, thinking about what she could have done differently, but mercifully, she fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t wake till morning.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The next morning, Annie woke groggy as hell. She was disoriented for a minute before realizing she was in a hotel and not her bedroom. The events of the previous three days came rushing back. Rather than face that, she undressed, crawled under the covers, and closed her eyes again. When she woke the second time, she glanced at the bedside clock and noted she’d slept for almost twelve hours.
Thank God it was Sunday. She could stay in bed all day if she wanted to.
Annie didn’t consider herself a vengeful person, but it was hard not to see Wayne being shot as him earning his comeuppance. He’d made some horrible decisions in life and, in the end, was forced to pay for them.
From all her self-help research, she knew it would be better for her, if someday she could forgive him. But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Maybe she’d spare him a thought later, but right now, she felt like she was grieving Avery’s death all over again. She cried for all she had lost and all that could have been. When there were no more tears to shed, she pulled herself out of bed.
She had no overnight bag and no clean clothes but desperately wanted a shower, so she made do with the hotel’s amenities.
Hair smelling like sandalwood, she sat at the desk and used the tiny notepad and hotel pen to make a to-do list. Get a new phone was at the top, followed closely by contact her real estate agent. She wondered if this would be a record for the shortest time anyone had ever owned a home.
She loved her place but couldn’t see ever living there again. To get through the next few days, she would walk o
ver to the mall and buy a few things, but unless she wanted to buy a whole new wardrobe, she’d have to go back eventually to get some clothes. She would pay someone to pack up the rest of the stuff.
Just as she was about to boot up her laptop, there was a knock at the door. Probably housekeeping, as she hadn’t taken the time to put out the Privacy sign.
She opened the door until the deadbolt chain caught and politely told the woman she didn’t need anything.
“Oh, ma’am. I’m not housekeeping. I have a delivery for you,” she said with a smile, holding up one of two mammoth, black duffel bags.
“I didn’t order anything. You must have the wrong room.”
“Are you Annie O’Neill?” the woman asked.
“Well, yes,” replied Annie. “Just a second.” She closed the door to undo the deadbolt and then opened it properly.
“A man brought these to the lobby and asked that we deliver them to you. Actually, he paid us rather nicely to make sure you got them.” The grin on the woman’s face said she didn’t get tips like his often.
This had Sam written all over it. She took one bag from the woman and opened it. Her clothes!
“Oh, this is fantastic,” Annie exclaimed. She took the other bag from the woman and lugged them both over to the bed. Sweet Sam. He must have driven to every nearby hotel to find her. He’d also just saved her a trip to the mall and from having to go back to the house.
“Thank you so much,” she said to the woman before shutting the door. Wayne had taken all her cash, so she had nothing to tip the woman, but she had a feeling Sam had taken care of that.
She went back to the bed and opened the bags. In the second bag, she found a handwritten note taped to a box.
Thought you might need this. Please call if you need anything else. S
Inside the box was a new cell phone. She plopped onto the bed and traced her fingers around the edges. Never had anyone taken care of her so well. Been there for her to count on. She flashed back to the night before, when he’d said he loved her.
She thought he’d just been trying to soothe her and make her feel better with the comment, but what if he’d meant it? They’d only known each other for a short time, but she already knew she was in love with him. Could he feel the same way?
If he loved her, though, he would trust her. They couldn’t have any sort of intimate relationship if every two seconds he was thinking she was out to get him. She couldn’t live in a cycle of accusations and apologies.
She turned on the phone, and a picture of Sam greeted her. He’d already charged it and made his face the screen saver. God, he was handsome. She stared at him for a long minute and then shook her head. Focus, Annie.
After a surprisingly short call to the cell phone company, all of her information was transferred to the new phone, and she felt whole again. It was scary to think about how much she relied on the small device. She thought about calling Pops early, but then had an even better idea.
She texted Phil and asked for permission to take the week off. She assured him she was all caught up and was actually waiting on tech to get her the new specs before she could go any further. After a little back and forth, he agreed. She could just as easily have asked Sam, but wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
She rummaged through the bags to find some clean clothes and put them on. Then she called the hotel front desk to let them know she was checking out early. Lugging the bags out to her car, one by one, had her huffing and puffing. This had to be every article of clothing she owned.
Running through the Starbucks drive-thru for a venti mocha and a scone only took a few minutes, and within the hour, she was on I-405 heading south. It was only a thirteen-hour drive to California.
It was way past time to visit Pops. And probably her family as well.
Sam texted, asking if she was okay, but she was driving and couldn’t reply. When she finally stopped for gas, she saw he’d called twice and texted again. She gave great thought about what to say. I love you, but we can’t be together because of your trust issues wasn’t really a conversation to have over text.
Instead, she typed in I’m headed to Cali for a few days. See you when I get back. Not knowing what else to say, she added a happy face emoji and hit send.
She got to Medford before she had to stop and get some sleep. In the morning, she grabbed a coffee and some gas and headed off again. Wanting to surprise Pops, she went straight to his nursing home, arriving in the early evening, which she figured would be right around nursing home dinnertime. Sure enough, she found him in the cafeteria, staring at something that resembled pudding.
“Anna Banana!” he exclaimed when he saw her. No one else called her Anna, and she was pretty sure the only reason Pops did it was so he could rhyme it with banana.
He moved as quickly as his tired, old body would allow, stood, and engulfed her in a bear hug. “It’s so good to see you, honey.” When he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes, and she was stricken with guilt. She should never have left him here.
“Oh, Pops. I’ve missed you so much. How have you been? Have you eaten, or can I get you out of here for a proper dinner?” she asked, nodding to his “pudding.”
“Let’s get out of here,” he said under his breath, grabbing her arm and heading for the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Once they were settled at his favorite barbecue place and had given the waitress their orders, he looked at her, perplexed.
“Why’d you drive all this way when I’ll be seeing you next week?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” Crap, was he getting dementia?
“Well, a nice young man came to visit me yesterday and convinced me to move to Bellevue, Washington, to be closer to my favorite grandbaby.” He winked at her. “I thought you knew. Oh, my God. Have I been scammed?” he asked, suddenly alarmed.
She held up a palm. “Was this nice, young man devastatingly handsome and surprisingly humble?”
“Now that you mention it, yeah. He was a pretty good-lookin’ fella. Said his name was Sam and that he was a friend of yours. I thought you put him up to it. I said no at first—told him I was a tired old man that needn’t be bothered with, but he was persistent. Said he’d take care of all the details and the cost, and I finally gave in.”
“That’s Sam all right,” she mumbled. “Wait. Where are you going to stay? I’m sort-of between houses right now. That reminds me, I have a lot to tell you. Wayne came to Bellevue.”
“Sam told me everything,” he said just as the drinks arrived. “Oooh, Coke. Yum.” He licked his lips. “Come here, you sweet poison.” She laughed at his delight over a soda.
“Define ‘everything,’” she said.
“Wayne came to find you, held you against your will, admitted to killing Avery, and then threatened to kill you. A state trooper shot him in your house to save your life. It was quite a story. He wasn’t telling it to gossip or anything. He said you probably wouldn’t want to relive it and was sparing you from having to tell it again. Rather gallant, no?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, very,” she admitted.
“Honey, I’m so sorry about Avery. I could tell that man was no good from the first moment I met him. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”
“I wouldn’t have listened. Which is probably why you didn’t say anything.” She gave him a sad smile. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I always had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that maybe something like that had happened. There was never any way to prove anything, and the doctors told us it was SIDS, so I just went with that. Maybe I should have pushed harder at the time.”
“You were grief stricken. You did what you had to do to survive. I’m sorry you had to go through all that up in Bellevue. Sounds like a terrible ordeal. Are you okay?”
“I will be,” she said. She needed to get back to her Brody Robinson books and CDs and give herself a refresher on surviving trauma and overcoming hardships. She just had to give herself a little
time to adjust and then figure out how she could learn, maybe even grow, from the situation.
She was lost in thought when the waitress arrived with their food. Annie thought she saw Pops drool a little over his plate of ribs and smiled.
“What? They don’t feed you ribs at Ruby Garden?” she asked.
“Ah, no.” He said it like a teenager, dragging out the words, and she laughed.
“What else did Sam tell you?” she asked nonchalantly, picking at her brisket. She’d mentioned to Pops that she and Sam had “gone out” a few times, but not much more about their relationship.
“He said he loves you and that even though you’re being stubborn, he’s going to make you see that he trusts you too,” he said pointedly.
She choked on the meat she was chewing and had to cough several times to clear her throat. “He did not!”
“That’s almost word for word what he said,” Pops stated as if offended. “Why are you being stubborn? You should let him take you to dinner.”
“It’s a long story.” She took a drink of her soda. “We still need to figure out where you’re going to stay. I’m not going back to my old house, and it will take at least a month to buy a new one. I guess I could rent something for us in the meantime,” she mused, talking more to herself.
“Don’t worry about it. Sam says he knows a great place near yours and already got me a spot there. It’s called Home Away from Home. They have all sorts of cool amenities—private rooms, on-call nurses, a pool, and a garden with walking trails. The food is even supposed to be good, but I’ll believe that when I taste it,” he muttered. “It sounds great. When I told him I didn’t like planes, he said he’d rent an RV and have a friend of his drive me up there. I won’t have to stop anywhere to go to the bathroom and can sleep or eat whenever I want. Can you believe that?”
“I can. That all sounds fantastic. I’m sure Sam found the best. He doesn’t half-ass things.”
Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers Page 21
