by Rachel Woods
“I don’t think you killed him,” said Beanie. “Listen, can Sophie and I come in so I can tell you why I’m really here.”
After a moment of reluctance, Sarah relented, stepping back to allow them inside.
Inside Kevin Cook’s attic abode, Sarah gathered up the books spread across the couch. After stacking the books on the coffee table, she extended a hand toward the couch. “Have a seat.”
“It’s okay,” Beanie said, shaking his head. “Look, I really need to talk to Kevin about Eamon’s murder.”
“You really think Kevin killed Eamon?” asked Sarah, sinking down on the couch.
“Maybe,” said Sophie.
“Did the cops tell you he’s a suspect?” asked Sarah, looking down.
“Did the police talk to you?” Sophie asked.
“They talked to all of us who were in the pharmacy school with him,” said Sarah, picking at her fingernails.
“What did the police ask you?” Sophie asked, moving to stand next to Beanie in front of the bookshelf.
Sarah sneaked a glance toward them before focusing on her nails again. Shrugging, she said, “Mostly, they wanted to know if Eamon had any enemies.”
“What did you tell the cops?”
“I told them I didn’t really know Eamon very well, which is true,” said Sarah. “So, I told them I wouldn’t know if Eamon had any enemies, but …”
“But …” Beanie prodded, sensing that Sarah had something to tell, but she was hesitant for some reason.
Frowning as she glanced at her nails, Sarah said, “But … Eamon must have had enemies, though, right? Because he was murdered. And it was vicious and horrific. He was beaten to death with a shovel. It must have been so painful. I hate to think of what he went through. Whoever killed him must have hated him.”
“But Eamon didn’t have any enemies that you know, right?” Sophie asked.
Sarah stared at them. “That’s what I told the cops.”
“Did the cops ask you if you had any beef with Eamon?” Sophie asked.
“We all got that question,” Sarah said. “The cops wanted to know what our relationship with Eamon was like. I told them we were just friendly classmates, but not especially close or anything.”
“Did the cops ask you where you were when Eamon was killed?”
Nodding, Sarah stared at her nails again. “I was at the library with Tina and Jimmy and some other classmates studying for an exam.”
“Did the police ask Kevin where he was the day Eamon was killed?” Beanie asked, growing frustrated by Sarah’s increasing caginess.
“I’m sure they did,” said Sarah. “I wasn’t with Kevin when the cops talked to him.”
“You know what Kevin told them?” Sophie asked.
“Kevin told the cops we were together the day Eamon Taylor was murdered … but that wasn’t true.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Dr. Bean …”
Glancing up from the scarred table she’d been staring at in the booth where she sat, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while waiting for Grady Palmer, Noelle glanced over her shoulder. Her heart dropped as she stared up at the two men glaring down at her.
“Come with us.”
Both were large and muscular, frowning and menacing. Neither man was Grady Palmer, but she knew he’d sent them to collect her. The meeting wasn’t going to take place at the Purple Gecko.
At three in the afternoon, there weren’t many patrons in the bar, but the few people and the two bartenders gave her a sense of security, though it may have been false. Noelle knew Grady wouldn’t try to hurt her with any witnesses around—which was why his thugs had been instructed to escort her to the real meeting spot.
Fighting dizziness, Noelle forced herself to calm down and think. So much for believing she could handle Grady Palmer by herself. She’d been away from Handweg too long. A true Handweg Ho would have anticipated and expected the change of venue. What the hell was she going to do now? Noelle felt paralyzed. She couldn’t refuse to go and yet she was terrified of being taken to some place where she would be vulnerable and completely unprotected.
“Where are we going?” She asked, trying to buy time, knowing they wouldn’t tell her.
“Mr. Palmer is waiting,” said the guy who was just a bit bigger than the other guy. “We need to go.”
Noelle hesitated, unsure of her next move. Depressed and desolate, she was torn between going through with her plan and abandoning the idea to get proof that Grady Palmer had set her up. Going with the goons was more than dangerous—it could prove deadly. Grady could be luring her into a trap. He’d always been vengeful and ruthless. He could be planning to kill her for taking her time about accepting his offer.
Refusing to go could cost her the chance to prove her innocence. Who else but Grady Palmer could have framed her? Not only did he have the resources to set her up but he had a crew at his disposal, willing and eager to do his bidding. Anyone of the thugs who reported to him could have stolen her shovel, used it to kill Eamon Taylor, and then stole her car to hide the body in the trunk.
“Are you coming, Dr. Bean?” questioned the man in dark glasses. “Or should I tell Mr. Palmer that this has all been a waste of his time?”
Grabbing her purse, Noelle slid across the cracked vinyl seat and stood. Before she could change her mind or talk herself out of what she had to do, Noelle said, “Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Shocked and wary, Beanie stared at the babysitter.
“Are you saying that Kevin Cook lied to the cops?” He asked. “You weren’t with Kevin when Eamon was killed?”
Sophie asked, “How do you know that Kevin told the cops you were together?”
“Because Kevin told me,” said Sarah. “He said, I told the cops we were together when Eamon got killed so if they ask you, don’t rat me out.”
“And did you?” Sophie asked.
Sarah gave them a cryptic smile. “Did I rat on Kevin?”
“Did you tell the cops you and Kevin were together?”
“No, I didn’t,” said Sarah. “The cops didn’t talk to me about Kevin.”
“They didn’t ask you to corroborate Kevin’s story about you being his alibi?”
“Well, the thing is, the cops talked to me before they talked to Kevin and I told them I was at the library with friends,” Sarah said. “So, maybe they will ask me to prove Kevin’s alibi, but I won’t be able to do it. I don’t know where Kevin was when Eamon was killed but he sure as hell wasn’t with me.”
“You have any idea where Kevin was when Eamon was killed?” Beanie asked, noting a slight change in Sarah’s tone and demeanor. The sweet babysitter sounded more like a sinister woman scorned.
Shrugging, Sarah said, “Maybe he was killing Eamon.”
Beanie’s pulse took off. “What did you say?”
“Why would you say that?” asked Sophie.
Sarah dropped her head, as though she was ashamed. Did the babysitter regret her hasty admission? Would she expound upon it or would she take it back and claim she had just been kidding? Would she insist she should never have said something she didn’t really mean? She might realize the gravity of her accusation and how it could affect her relationship with Kevin, which Beanie thought could have been one-sided, with Kevin in control, calling the shots and Sarah staying in line, or else.
“Sarah, do you think Kevin killed Eamon?” Beanie sat on the couch next to Sarah. “Because if you do—”
“Look, I don’t know, okay?” Sarah jumped up. Sighing, she grabbed a hunk of her long blonde hair and slid her hand down to the ends. “It’s just that I’m starting to wonder because I know that Kevin doesn’t like Eamon.”
“Just because Kevin doesn’t like Eamon doesn’t mean he killed him,” said Sophie.
“It’s more than just dislike,” said Sarah, grabbing her hair again. “Kevin hates Eamon. You should hear how he talks about him. He calls Eamon an island thug because he’s from tha
t bad neighborhood. He says Eamon didn’t deserve the Palmchat Pharmacy job and he only got it because Dr. Bean liked him, or something.”
Beanie thought of Eamon’s sexual harassment claim against Noelle. He knew Eamon’s claims weren’t true. They couldn’t be. But why would Kevin think that Noelle liked Eamon? Had Kevin seen some interaction between Eamon and Noelle which led him to believe—
“And it’s what I found, too,” said Sarah. “I didn’t want to think Kevin could do something so horrible but …”
“What did you find?” Sophie asked.
“A few days ago, I was going to do Kevin’s laundry. Wife practicing, my friend Tina calls it.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “I found … can I show you?”
Sophie nodded and then glanced at Beanie. Her look of shocked excitement mirrored the emotions whirling within him.
Sarah hurried to the galley kitchen and opened a door near the refrigerator. She took out a plastic laundry basket piled high with clothes. Walking back to the couch, she put the basket on the floor and sank to her knees.
“I know he hid it here because he didn’t expect me to find it,” said Sarah, staring at the basket of clothes. “He probably never thought I would want to do his laundry. We’re together but not like that. I’m not his wife or anything.”
Beanie had the feeling Sarah wanted to be Kevin’s wife, but Kevin wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the idea.
“What do you want to show us?” Sophie asked, her tone gentle as she forced the babysitter to focus.
Sarah began removing clothes from the basket. Slowly at first, tentative and hesitant, she removed T-shirts, pants, and boxer shorts. A sob escaped her lips, and her shoulders trembled as she pulled the articles of clothing at a quicker pace, sometimes digging her hand down into the clothes, elbow deep, and at times barely touching the fabric as she plucked items from the basket and dropped them on the floor. With a ring of dirty clothes surrounding her, she paused before snatching a pair of jeans from the bottom of the basket.
“This,” said Sarah, standing as she held the jeans in front of her. “Do you see this? Can you guess what it is?”
His heart pounding, Beanie stared at the jeans.
The bleached denim was stained with rusty smears. Beanie didn’t need to guess what the stains were. He knew.
It was blood.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Well, well, well … “ Grady Palmer’s deep, gravelly voice echoed through the cavernous space. “It seems Nobody is here.”
Bristling at his use of her loathsome former nickname, Noelle braced herself.
She’d been dreading this moment as soon as she’d been shoved into the large, empty building where she’d been ordered to wait. Alone and terrified, she’d sent a quick text to her mother, telling her she might be late picking up the boys because her errands were taking a bit longer than she’d expected. Of course, her mother had understood and was happy for more time with her grandbabies which made Noelle feel horrible for lying, but she couldn’t wallow in guilt.
Recalling the way she and Beanie had practiced with the watch, Noelle made sure she was able to operate it properly. Somewhat satisfied she could activate the watch without making Grady suspicious, she surveyed her surroundings. Light barely penetrated the row of small windows near the soaring ceilings, illuminating corrugated walls and a door which seemed to span the width of the building. The concrete floor beneath her was stained with large splotches of some dark liquid that had evaporated long ago.
Noelle had no idea where she’d been taken. Leaving the Purple Gecko with Grady’s thugs, she’d been guided to a black Mercedes sedan where she was put into the backseat. As the car sped off across the parking lot, heading away from the Purple Gecko, Noelle tried to see where she was being taken but it was impossible. The glass windows had been blacked out, and a partition between the front and back seats prevented her from seeing through the front windshield.
Turning, Noelle stared at Grady Palmer as he strode toward her, a quartet of PC-5 gang members trailing in his wake.
“Dr. Bean,” he said, stopping a few feet from her, about arm’s length. He could easily reach out and grab her by the throat if he felt it was necessary. “I must admit I was surprised to hear from you.”
“Well, you said you could make all my troubles disappear if I agreed to help you,” said Noelle, anxious to get on with getting the proof she needed.
“That was my offer,” Grady confirmed.
“And is it still on the table?” Noelle asked, crossing her arms so that her right wrist, where she wore the watch, rested in the crook of her left elbow. The face of the watch, where the mini camera was hidden, was aimed in Grady’s direction, capturing clear video and audio of him.
“You’re willing to work with me?” Grady asked.
“I need my troubles to disappear,” said Noelle, trying not to collapse even though her legs felt like jelly. “So, if you can really make that happen …”
“I don’t make promises that I don’t keep,” said Grady. “You know that.”
She also knew his promises were usually gruesome threats to kill, steal, and destroy but she tried to ignore the terror racing through her.
“So, I’m curious,” Noelle said, suddenly worried that maybe she hadn’t set the watch correctly. What if nothing was being recorded? What if Grady confessed to framing her and she didn’t record him because of some mistake she’d made? “How are you going to make my problems go away? I’m being charged with murder and the evidence against me is airtight. A jury won’t even need to deliberate to convict me.”
“Funny you should say that,” said Grady.
“Say what?”
“That a jury will convict you.”
“Grady, the cops have my fingerprints on a shovel which was used to kill Eamon Taylor,” she said, praying she would come up with the right words to coax Grady into confessing that he’d framed her. “They found his body in my car.”
“Yeah, a jury probably would think you killed him,” said Grady. “But, lucky for you, they won’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that when you go on trial for the murder of this guy,” said Grady, “I’ll make sure the jury finds you not guilty.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“You need your problems to disappear? I’m gonna make it happen,” he said, his expression smug. “You won’t be convicted.”
“Are you out of your mind? I can’t go on trial for murder,” Noelle said, her heart pounding, feeling as though things were unraveling. “Are you seriously saying that your idea of helping me is tampering with a jury?”
“Trust me, you will get off,” he said, frowning. “You help me get my pharmacy started, and you won’t end up in jail for the rest of your life.”
“Why don’t you admit the truth, Grady?”
“The truth?”
“You set me up,” Noelle said. “You are framing me. You had Eamon Taylor killed, and you got one of your crew to plant evidence against me to put me in a position where I would have to help you set up your pill farm.”
“What are you talking about, Nobody?” Grady asked. “I’m not trying to frame you. I’m trying to help you. Obviously, for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter to me, you got pissed at this guy, and you forgot that you were supposed to be the kind, caring wife and mother of two, and you killed the motherfu—”
“I did not kill Eamon Taylor,” Noelle insisted.
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” Grady said. “I know who you really are and what you’re really capable of and—”
“You’re wrong!” Noelle said. “I did not kill him. I could never—“
“Nobody, it’s okay,” said Grady, his patronizing tone placating. “I understand. You had to handle your business. I would have done the same thing if I had beef with—”
“Mr. Palmer, sir, excuse me,” said one of the PC-5 hoods, holding an iPad. “I think you need to see this …”
&
nbsp; Confused, Noelle tried not to lose her mind as Grady turned from her to confer with his minions. As the five of them huddled together whispering furiously, heads bent toward the iPad, Noelle used their preoccupation to take several deep breaths and focus. Jumping to the worse conclusions was nearly impossible, but she had to calm down. She couldn’t blow this chance to prove her innocence. Obviously, Grady wasn’t just going to spill his guts. She had to trick him into admitting he’d framed her. She would have to be sly and stealth, appealing to his arrogance. If she could get him to boast about what he’d done to her, then—
“You lying, scheming bitch …”
Noelle flinched at the raw hate in Grady’s gaze as he stalked toward her.
Confused, she stammered. “W-what did—”
Grady’s hand crashed against Noelle’s face. The stinging blow sent her stumbling as a sharp, metallic taste spread over her tongue. Cowering, she glanced at Grady. His sudden rage confused her and yet one thing was crystal clear—she’d been a damn fool to think she could handle the situation with Grady Palmer on her own. Why had she agreed to meet him alone? Why had she agreed to leave the Purple Gecko with those Handweg Hoods?
“Should have known I couldn’t trust you!” Grady thundered. “All that talk about wanting to work with me and needing my help was bullshit!”
Noelle shook her head. What the hell was happening? Her plan was falling apart right before her eyes, but why? How had she messed it all up? Why was Grady accusing her of lying? Had he found out she was trying to trick him into confessing? No one except Beanie knew about her plan, and he wouldn’t have told anyone.
As she stepped back, Noelle glanced at the watch. Beanie had borrowed it from Stevie Bishop. Had Beanie told Stevie about her plan? Maybe, but Stevie wouldn’t snitch to Grady Palmer or the PC-5, would he?
Desperate to calm Grady down, Noelle asked, “What are you talking about?”
Grady grabbed her forearm and yanked her toward him, gripping her so hard she thought he might break her arm.
