by Rachel Woods
“That sounds like a definite threat against Noelle.”
“Possibly,” said Octavia, a bit more circumspect. “Or, maybe a disgruntled woman seizing the opportunity to give her foe a piece of her mind. Nevertheless, I’ll look into it. My cousin Icarus is flying in tomorrow to help with some investigating. I’ll have him check out Helen Farber, but I really want more insight into Eamon Taylor.”
“You want to find the better suspect,” said Beanie. “I think that’s a good idea. Eamon Taylor is from Handweg Gardens. It’s a tough part of the island.”
“You grew up there, too, right Noelle?” Octavia tilted her head, giving Noelle a shrewd glance.
Noelle nodded. “Yeah, I grew up there,” she said, wanting to hide the fact and yet feeling ashamed for wishing she had been born anywhere else.
“But, Noelle left there a long time ago,” said Beanie, a hint of pride in his voice, as though her escape from Handweg meant she no longer carried the stigma of being from the hood and thus was more acceptable.
Octavia said, “Well, I have been thinking about how Eamon was killed, and it feels very personal to me.”
“Personal?” Noelle asked.
“The violence of it,” she said. “Crushing his skull with a shovel is excessive and angry. I know we’ve said that someone is trying to make you look guilty, and I think that’s true, but … “
Beanie asked, “But, what?”
Octavia glanced at Noelle and Beanie. “So, our theory is that someone killed Eamon to set Noelle up for a murder. That means someone wants revenge on you, Noelle. So, they decided to make you look like a cold-blooded killer. But, it also means it doesn’t matter who they kill. That person could have killed anyone and then set it up to make Noelle look guilty.”
“That’s true,” said Beanie.
“You don’t think that anymore?” Noelle asked, her apprehension growing.
“I’m wondering if someone wanted Eamon dead,” said Octavia. “Maybe this is not about revenge on Noelle. Maybe someone wanted to kill Eamon Taylor, and Noelle is just a convenient scapegoat.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I can’t believe that crazy bitch Helen set you up,” Beanie said, and then sighed, dragging a hand along his jaw.
“Maybe she didn’t set me up,” said Noelle, staring across the kitchen table at her loving, devoted husband. A compassionate man who deserved better than a wife keeping secrets from him.
Noelle took a deep breath. She wasn’t in the mood for true confessions, but the boys were asleep now, and there was secret she’d realized she needed to share with Beanie, one she couldn’t put off telling him any longer.
A secret she shouldn’t have kept from him.
After leaving Octavia’s office, she and Beanie had picked up the boys from her mother’s house.
Seeing Ethan and Evan for the first time in three days had instantly healed her broken heart. She hadn't been able to stop holding them, crying tears of joy as she kissed their beautiful little faces and promised never to leave them again. Determined to make things seem as normal as possible, they took the boys to a local park where they’d spent almost three hours enjoying time together.
For the boys’ sake, Noelle forced herself to project a happy, carefree attitude. She didn’t want the boys to pick up on the fear and panic washing over her. She tried to ignore the voices in her mind, whispering to her, telling her to enjoy the time while she could because soon she’d be locked up and unable to push Ethan on the swings or watch Evan try to crawl across a blanket.
“Then who the hell is framing you?” Beanie threw up his hands in frustration. “You don’t have any enemies except Helen.”
“So, you think Helen stole my shovel?”
“She could have,” Beanie said. “Helen knows where we live. She probably knew she would need to kill Eamon with some object that belonged to you. So, she broke into our house, found the shovel in the shed and took it. She probably figured you had used it so, of course, it would have your fingerprints on it.”
“But what if my fingerprints hadn’t been on the shovel?” Noelle asked. “What if you had used the shovel? Then her plan to get revenge on me would have gone completely left because you would have been accused of killing Eamon.”
“She might have considered that, actually,” said Beanie. “If her ultimate goal is to ruin your life then she accomplishes that if your husband is thrown in jail for murder.”
Noelle nodded. “Any separation of our family would devastate me.”
“Doesn’t matter which one of us goes down for Eamon’s murder,” Beanie said. “Helen wins as long as one of us ends up in prison for the rest of our lives.”
“But what about my car?” Noelle asked. “Helen didn’t carjack me. It was some guy wearing a mask like in that horror movie.”
“Friday the 13th?”
Shaking her head, Noelle said, “No, the other one. Halloween.”
Beanie shrugged. “Maybe she paid someone to steal your car.”
“Maybe, but …” Noelle rubbed her eyes. “I just can’t see Helen hitting Eamon in the head with a shovel.”
“Elle, why does it sound like you don’t think Helen framed you?”
“I don’t know,” said Noelle, looking away for a second and then back at Beanie. “Maybe because … Beanie, there's something I need to tell you. Something I didn’t tell Octavia.”
“Babe, you have to tell your lawyer everything.”
“I know that,” said Noelle. “And I will tell her, but I wanted to tell you first.”
Beanie took her hand and then looked at her, waiting.
“A few weeks ago,” Noelle said, “I was approached by someone who wanted me to participate in a criminal activity which would involve the pharmacy.”
“Noelle, start from the beginning and tell me everything.”
Noelle stared at their intertwined fingers, knowing she couldn’t tell him everything about Grady Palmer’s indecent proposal. She would tell him as much as she could without revealing the truth about the past of violence and mayhem she’d overcome but was too ashamed to reveal to Beanie. Lying was selfish and violated the vows she’d promised to cherish and keep, but she couldn’t risk losing Beanie, not now, when she needed him the most when her freedom and her life as she knew it was at stake.
“So this Grady Palmer asshole is PC-5?” Beanie asked once she’d finished. His voice was curt, betraying his anger but she could tell he was trying not to lose control of his temper.
“That’s what he told me,” she said, which was true. When they’d first met fifteen years ago, Grady had told her about his affiliation with the island gang.
“Why did he approach you?”
“He knows I’m from Handweg,” said Noelle. “That’s not a secret. I guess he thinks because we’re from the same neighborhood that I would be more agreeable to his request, but I told him, several times, to go to hell.”
“And I guess then he threatened you?”
Noelle hesitated as Beanie’s rage increased. “Yes, he threatened me, but—”
Beanie exploded, just as she’d expected he would. Cursing, he jumped up from the table and paced in front of the sink. Jaws clenched, he slammed his fist into his palm as he vowed to kill Grady Palmer.
“You can’t go after him,” Noelle warned.
“The son of a bitch threatened you,” said Beanie. “I’m not letting him get away with that.”
“Beanie, please, calm down and listen to me, okay?” Noelle stood, walked to Beanie and grabbed his hands, forcing his fists apart. “There’s something else you need to know.”
His expression wary, Beanie stared at her.
After clearing her throat, Noelle said, “I think the PC-5 killed Eamon to force me to work for them.”
Beanie’s wariness gave way to confusion. “What?”
Following some stammering reluctance, Noelle [told Beanie about the guard and Grady’s deal].
Beanie frowned, his expression in
credulous. “So, they set you up for murder and then they’ll get the charges dropped if you help with the pill farm?”
Part of Noelle shared her husband’s disbelief. It didn’t seem like the PC-5’s style to perpetrate a frame job to force her hand. The PC-5 she remembered was all about brute force intimidation, but she’d been out of that life for fifteen years. The gang might have changed their tactics as leadership changed.
Noelle said, “And if I refuse, they let me go to prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Beanie shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“No, it’s not,” Noelle said. “I’m going to prove the PC-5 is setting me up and I’ll need your help.
Guiding him back to the table, Noelle told him to sit, and she sank into the chair across from him. Reaching across the table, she grabbed his hands. Beanie listened to her plan without comment. Wary of his silence, Noelle asked, “What do you think? Is it a crazy idea? Can it work?”
“Well, it’s so crazy it just might work, but—”
“It has to work,” Noelle said. “If it doesn’t, then …”
Beanie said, “I’ll start getting together everything I think we’ll need.”
Encouraged by his endorsement of her idea, Noelle said, “Beanie …”
Beanie reached across the table and took her hand.
Noelle asked, “You believe me, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t believe I killed Eamon Taylor, do you?”
Beanie frowned. “Dr. Noelle Chartres Bean. Did you really just ask me that? How could you think that I would ever think you could kill someone—”
“But the evidence is—”
“I don’t give a damn about the evidence,” Beanie said. “Look, even if you confessed to me right now that you killed Eamon Taylor, I wouldn’t believe you because I know you. You could never hurt anyone.”
Tears pricked Noelle’s eyes. The love and compassion in his luminous brown eyes was so sincere, she felt it in the core of her soul … and yet she knew she didn’t deserve his heartfelt sentiment because she was keeping so many secrets from him … but the truth might rip them apart, something she couldn’t bear.
“I know you would never hurt anyone,” said Beanie.
“Even though I’m from Handweg,” Noelle said.
“Yeah, but you’re different,” said Beanie. “You didn’t let that bad environment turn you into one of those Handweg Ho girls.”
Something hard dropped into her stomach as her heart raced.
She should be honest with Beanie. His perception of her was completely wrong. The moment of honesty was upon her, bearing down like the heaviest, most oppressive weight. She should come clean with Beanie. Tell him everything he didn’t know about her. Tell him the things he could never imagine. The things he might not accept.
Beanie stood. “I’m going to call Stevie Bishop. I think he can help with some of the things we need.”
Nodding, Noelle watched Beanie leave the kitchen.
The moment of honesty trailed behind him, leaving increased guilt in its wake, but she resolved to ignore it. She would have to find a way to deal with the guilty feelings. Beanie couldn’t know the truth about her. If he ever found out about the awful things she’d done, he would be convinced that she was absolutely capable of murder.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Okay, Octavia, thanks for calling,” said Noelle, her heart sinking, trying not to cry as she listened to the woman’s words of encouragement and determination. “Okay, I will. Talk to you soon.”
A few feet away, Beanie stood near the T.V. armoire in the living room, watching her intently, waiting for her to hang up the phone and relay the news her lawyer had called to give them.
Reluctant to share grim tidings, Noelle replaced the cordless receiver in its base on the end table and took a deep breath as she faced Beanie.
“What’s the matter?” Beanie walked toward her, his face a mirror of the emotions she couldn’t contain. “What did Octavia say?”
“Wasn’t good news,” Noelle said, slowly sinking down onto the couch.
Beanie sat next to her. “Tell me.”
Shaking her head, Noelle said, “Helen Farber couldn’t have killed Eamon to frame me. Octavia found out that Helen has an airtight alibi for the day of Eamon’s murder.”
Beanie exhaled. “Is Octavia sure?”
Noelle nodded, wringing her hands. “Apparently, the day Helen confronted me after my lecture at the university, she went on a bender and overdosed. A security guard found her passed out in her car in the faculty parking lot. The next day, her family took her to the Aerie Islands where she was checked into the Rakestraw-Blake Center, which has a 90-day drug treatment program.”
“The day after that lecture,” said Beanie. “That’s more than a month ago.”
“Which means Helen didn’t kill Eamon and frame me for his murder,” Noelle said. “As upset as I am, I had a feeling Helen hadn’t done it.”
“It’s got to be the PC-5,” said Beanie. “Grady Palmer.”
“That’s what I have to prove,” Noelle said. “Speaking of that, is Stevie Bishop going to be able to help us?”
“He said he’s got exactly what we need,” Beanie said. “I’m going to talk to him at work today. Speaking of that, I need to get going.”
“I’m going to get the boys ready to drop off at my mom’s,” Noelle said, standing.
Beanie stood and pulled her into his arms. “Let’s meet for lunch, okay? Around one o’clock. We can work out the details of your plan.”
Noelle stood on her toes to kiss him.
“Don’t worry, Elle,” he said, wrapping her in his strong arms. “Everything is going to be okay. Trust me. I will not let you go to jail for something you didn’t do.”
After Beanie left for work, Noelle hustled the boys into the car and took them to her mother’s house in Handweg Gardens. While the boys played with the dogs in the backyard, Noelle and her mom sat in the kitchen and discussed her terrible ordeal. After hours of tears, prayers, and words of encouragement from her mother, Noelle left to pick Beanie up from the newspaper, and they went to a park near the marina for lunch.
It was a gorgeous afternoon. Ocean breezes, sun dancing on the water and dancing off the chrome of boats parked in slips along the dock …
Noelle had grabbed salads and sandwiches from a popular local deli before she picked up Beanie from the Palmchat Gazette offices. At the park across from the marina, she and Beanie found a bench beneath a tall Queen Palm for their working lunch.
“Okay, let’s go over the plan again,” Beanie said after they’d finished eating.
Noelle sighed. “Roland, we have gone over the plan a dozen times already.”
Beanie said, “And we’ll go over it a dozen more until I’m convinced that nothing can go wrong.”
Using the empty paper bag as a makeshift trash receptacle for their food wrappers and used napkins, Noelle said, “I really don’t think—”
Beanie rubbed his chin. “Humor me, Elle. Please.”
Sighing, Noelle said, “Okay, I’m going to text Grady Palmer and request a meeting with him. During the meeting, I will agree to work for him if he will admit to having Eamon Taylor killed so he could frame me. I will be making an audiovisual recording while wearing a covert spy camera which looks like a watch.”
“Stevie’s going to give me the watch later today,” said Beanie. “He’s going to show me how to use it, and I’ll show you. We’ll practice with the watch until you’re comfortable operating it.”
Noelle went on. “While I’m getting Grady Palmer on tape incriminating himself, you’ll be in the car watching and waiting.”
“If anything goes wrong,” Beanie said, “I’ll be there.”
“If anything goes wrong,” Noelle said, “They’ll …”
Looking away, Noelle stared at the boats, bobbing gently in the buoyant aqua water. She couldn’t bring herself to
finish the sentence. Things going wrong meant Grady Palmer had figured out she was wearing undercover surveillance. If that happened, Grady would kill her.
“The PC-5 is not going to hurt you,” Beanie said, caressing her cheek as he gazed at her. “I won’t let them. I promise.”
“I know,” she said, though she hated putting Beanie in the position of having to defend her against a ruthless bastard who wouldn’t think twice about killing him.
“So, you have a way to get in touch with Grady Palmer, right?”
“Some way, he found my phone number and sent me a text,” she said. “So, I can text him.”
“Might as well do it now,” Beanie said.
“Before I do,” Noelle said, staring at the blades of grass surrounding her toes. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Not more bad news,” said Beanie, lifting her chin.
“Something you should know,” she said, gazing at him. “Something I should have told you about Eamon Taylor.”
Beanie frowned. “What about him?”
“It’s about the argument I had with him,” Noelle said.
“The argument your co-workers told the cops about,” said Beanie.
“The argument we had could cause problems for me,” Noelle said, reaching for Beanie’s hand. “If the cops find out what Eamon and I were arguing about, they might think that the reason behind the argument is my motive for killing Eamon.”
“Babe, what do you mean?” Beanie took both of her hands in his. “What were you arguing about?”
“Eamon Taylor was trying to ruin my career and my reputation and everything I’d worked for,” she said, determined to continue despite the apprehension in Beanie’s stare. “I told Eamon that if he tried to dig a grave for me, I would bury him in it.”
“Why would you say that to him?”
After a deep breath, Noelle said, “Because Eamon Taylor accused me of sexually harassing him.”
