Fatal Footsteps

by Brenda Donelan

  John shook his head from side to side. “No way. We didn’t do that. She got drunk on her own.”

  Adam also shook his head, while Blake and Eddie made eye contact. The knowing glance told Marlee everything she needed to know.

  “So how did you do it?” Marlee directed her question to the half-brothers.

  “She wanted more money. She said it was to take care of the baby, but I didn’t believe she was pregnant,” Blake said. “Beth was drinking 7-Up and had poured it into a red plastic cup so that no one else at the party would know she wasn’t drinking alcohol. We were talking in my room upstairs and when she went to the bathroom, I poured vodka in her glass. It’s colorless, and she was eating cough drops all night, so she didn’t know she was drinking alcohol. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen. I thought she’d get a little tipsy, and I could talk some sense into her. Instead, she got bombed and tried to walk home. She was so blitzed, she even lost her coat with the car keys in the pocket. I suppose that’s why Beth tried to walk home.”

  Adam and John both turned to Blake, their mouths wide open. “You killed Beth?” John accused.

  “It was accidental,” Blake shouted.

  “And you killed her baby!” John accused, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

  “I didn’t think she was pregnant. I thought she was just saying that to get a bigger cut of money,” Blake said. “When I told her ‘no’ she threatened to go to the cops and tell them everything. Beth was hysterical. I thought some vodka would calm her down so we could talk reasonably.”

  “The next morning, you knew what happened to her, and you didn’t say anything!” John shouted. “Did you know about this?” John looked at Eddie.

  “Look, Beth is the one to blame here,” Eddie justified. “She got pregnant, and she was going to talk to the cops if we didn’t give her more money. We couldn’t let that happen. She got what was coming to her. If she hadn’t got greedy, none of this would’ve happened. And Tim would still be alive too.”

  Everyone in the room except for Blake looked at Eddie in disbelief. Had he really just blamed Beth for not only her own death but for Tim’s too?

  “Beth’s blood alcohol level was at a level that could have killed her even if she hadn’t fallen down and frozen. You gave her more than a little vodka to calm her down!”

  Blake let Marlee’s comments hang in the air without affirming or refuting them.

  “How much were you guys making from printing fake money?” Marlee asked. “Was it really worth killing two people over it?”

  “Two people and a baby,” Barry said, now that he’d pulled the tape free from his mouth with the one hand he’d worked loose. No one noticed that Barry was freeing himself from the confines of his chair.

  “We make about two or three hundred apiece each week if everything goes right,” Blake said.

  “Really? That much?” Marlee was incredulous. “How do you turn fake twenties into that much profit?”

  “Buy things with fake money then turn around and sell what we bought. I bought a new stereo with twenties last week and sold it to some college kid for a discount. And I use the fake money to buy things out of town, like gas, booze, and food. We’ve all been doing it and making some good money,” Eddie said, puffing out his chest.

  “Who else is involved?” Marlee asked.

  “Right now, a couple of my friends here in town, but I’m looking to expand,” Eddie said. “Now enough with the questions. Where’s Beth’s diary? Or does a diary even exist?”

  Marlee tried to give out a nonchalant laugh, but it sounded more like a sputter. “Of course, there’s a diary. We’d have to be pretty stupid to come over here and make up a story about Beth having a diary.”

  “I’ve had enough chit-chat. This isn’t social hour. Where’s the fucking diary?” Eddie asked, pulling the gun out of his coat and pointing it squarely at Marlee’s face.

  “Wait, Eddie!” yelled John. “You can’t shoot them!”

  “Sure, I can. Why do you think I let you rattle on about all the things we did? It’s because these two aren’t going to make it out of here alive.” Eddie bowed his head to light another cigarette while still holding the gun.

  “No way, Eddie. Tim’s death was an accident. And Beth shouldn’t have died either, but we never set out to intentionally kill anyone. I never signed on for anything like this,” John argued.

  “John, you’re an idiot if you think we can let these two go. They’ll run to the cops. Hell, this one right here is a cop,” Eddie reasoned motioning his head toward Barry. “Now, let’s get the diary and finish things up.” He still held the gun just inches from Marlee’s temple. One shot, and she’d be dead.

  “Why should we give you the diary if you’re going to kill us anyway?” Marlee asked with a level of calm that she didn’t feel.

  The co-conspirators all looked at each other. Blake and Eddie might be geniuses, but they hadn’t planned this far in advance. Eddie strode over to Barry and put the barrel of the gun against his knee cap. “Because if you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to shoot him right in front of you. Except I’m not going to kill him. I’m going to make him suffer. It will be a long, painful death, and you’ll get to watch the whole thing. I’m done screwing around! Where’s the damn diary?”

  Frozen with fear, Marlee couldn’t think of one thing to say. She wasn’t sure if her voice would even work. But she had to think of something or else Barry would be tortured to death right there in Eddie Turner’s trailer while they all watched.

  Barry was not as fear-struck as Marlee and spoke out. “I have it, but it’s in my locker at work. At the police station. I’ll get it for you, but you have to let Marlee go.”

  “I don’t have to do anything!” Eddie corrected. “You’re not in a position to make demands. And don’t think I’m stupid enough to walk into the police department with you. One word from you, and I’ll be swarmed by the cops.”

  Blake pulled Eddie aside, and the two talked in low tones. “Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Eddie said. “Blake and Adam will go with the cop to the station to get the diary. If you’re not back here in an hour, I’ll know the cops were tipped off somehow. Then I’ll put a bullet in Marlee’s head, and we can all get the hell out of town before the cops move in.” Blake, Adam, and John all nodded as Marlee and Barry looked at each other wondering what they needed to do to stay alive.

  Rats always abandon a sinking ship. Every. Damn. Time.

  Chapter 31

  The minutes seemed like hours after Barry left the trailer with Blake and Adam. Marlee paced as she tried to figure out the next step to keep her and Barry alive. Once Blake and Adam saw that Barry didn’t have the diary, they might kill him before coming back to the trailer. Or they might wait until they came back and then kill Barry and Marlee at the same time. If Eddie and his thugs still believed there was a diary, they would likely result to torturing the student and the police officer.

  “Eddie, we can’t kill Marlee and the cop. We need to just tie them up and get out of town,” John reasoned.

  “Where are we gonna go, John? Do you have a mountain hideaway you haven’t told us about?” Eddie’s upper lip curled as he spoke.

  “No, but we can just grab some stuff and take off. At least it will take them awhile to get to the cops. We’ll have a few hours head start and…”

  “Shut up, John!” Eddie interrupted. “The only way out of this is to get the diary, kill these two, drag their bodies somewhere remote so they won’t be found for a few days, and then each of us take off on our own. We can meet up again in a few months in another state and set up our printing operation there.”

  “I’m not getting involved in killing anyone else. Tim’s death was an accident, and I didn’t know about Blake spiking Beth’s drink until today. But that was an accident too. Shooting Marlee and the cop is cold-blooded murder. We could get the death penalty for that,” John argued.

  “If you don’t shut up, I’m gonna shoot you to
o,” Eddie said with a glare that meant he wasn’t messing around. “You can either do as I say or get ready to meet your maker.”

  John held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay. Take a chill pill, man!”

  Marlee couldn’t think of a way out of the mess, but she thought that, with some persuasion, John might defect to her side. “Killing people who won’t do what you say is how you and Blake operate, isn’t it, Eddie?” He glared at her, but didn’t offer a response.

  “Beth wanted more money or else she was going to the cops so Blake killed her. Then Tim suspected Beth’s death was no accident and was going to reveal the whole scheme to the cops so you killed him. Now you’re planning on killing Barry and me because you think we’ll squeal. And then you threaten John because he’s not falling in line. Where does it end, Eddie? Does anyone get out of this alive besides you and Blake? Or are you going to do away with him too? You have all the printing materials and know how to make the fake money yourself, so you really don’t need all these other guys.”

  “Shut up! Beth and Tim’s deaths were both accidents. I already told you that. And no, I’m not going to kill anyone else other than you and the cop.”

  John looked at Eddie, the pieces clicking into place. “She’s right, isn’t she? As soon as you get the diary, you’re going to pick us off one by one, and you and Blake are leaving the area.”

  Eddie pulled the handgun from his coat and leveled it at John. “You leave the thinking to me, John. Now sit down and shut your mouth before I knock you in the head!”

  John sank into a kitchen chair and looked at Marlee. “When did you figure out that’s what he was going to do?”

  “I guessed,” Marlee said, not attempting to bluff anymore.

  “I said shut up! Both of you!” Eddie swung the gun back and forth between Marlee and John as he grabbed yet another can of beer. His eyes were glassy, and his movements were becoming unstable.

  Eddie laid the gun on the edge of the table to open his beer. John, realizing that his allegiance to Eddie wasn’t going to get him very far, lunged for the gun. Eddie was intoxicated, but not to the extent that he lost track of his firearm. He had his hand on the gun before John could reach it.

  “Go sit on the couch,” Eddie directed John in a calm tone.

  “Eddie, I wasn’t going to do anything. I just thought she might try to grab the gun,” John stammered, trying to talk Eddie out of the inevitable.

  John got up from the kitchen chair after Eddie motioned with the gun. He sat on the couch as directed and began to plead for his life. “Eddie, I’m on your side. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll shoot her right now! Just don’t kill me!”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Eddie said as he took a yellowed pillow and placed it between John’s leg and the barrel of the gun. The pillow squelched some of the sound when the gun fired. Enough of the sound was blocked so that it shouldn’t be heard by the neighbors. “Remember when I talked earlier about a slow death, John? Do you remember that? That’s what I’m going to do to you.”

  John writhed in pain, grasping his lower leg as blood oozed between his fingers. “Please, Eddie. I promise I’ll do whatever you want!”

  Eddie watched as his co-conspirator in the money scheme fell to his side on the couch, screaming in agony. With a laugh, he turned to Marlee who had followed them into the living room area. “Change in plans, bitch. Get over there on the couch next to him.”

  Marlee knew there were two options if she sat on the couch. Either Eddie would kill her dead, or he would give her the same slow death torture that John was receiving. “But the diary! Blake, Adam, and Barry should be back with it any minute!”

  “After they got the diary, Blake and Adam took the cop out into the country to put a bullet in his head. After that was done, Blake did the same to Adam and left them there. By the time Blake gets back here, I’ll have taken care of you and John, so all we have to do is dump you two out in the country, load up the printing stuff, and head out of town.”

  “But what if...” Marlee’s voice trailed off as Eddie’s plan became clearer.

  “I said SIT DOWN!” Eddie roared. As Marlee complied, weeping as she sat, he placed the pillow over the barrel again and aimed at her heart.

  At that moment, the door to the trailer was flung, open and in burst Barry and Doug followed by Jasmine and Kristie. Eddie was taken by complete surprise. Doug overtook him easily and had him on the floor and in handcuffs within seconds.

  “Barry, I thought you were dead!” Marlee shrieked running up to him and pulling him into a hug. “Eddie said Blake killed you.”

  “I’m sure he would’ve if Doug hadn’t been tipped off by Jasmine and her friend,” Barry said, motioning toward Jasmine and Kristie. “They figured out that Eddie had you at gunpoint and that you were going back to his trailer. They called Doug, and he was waiting at the edge of the trailer park when Blake, Adam, and I drove out. He pulled up beside us and pointed his gun at Blake, who was driving. Backup arrived, and they took Blake and Adam to jail. On the way there, Adam told an officer that you were still here and that Eddie had a gun,” Barry said, pulling himself away from Marlee to survey the situation.

  More cops entered the house along with EMTs, who tended to John’s wound as they removed him on a stretcher. Eddie was led outside by two uniformed officers as they read him his rights. Jasmine and Kristie ran up to Marlee and engulfed her in a hug.

  “Dammit, I told you to stay out of trouble,” Jasmine said between sobs of joy. “If you hadn’t mentioned coming back here, I never would’ve known how to track you down.”

  “So, you told Kristie about Eddie and me coming to the room and then you called Doug and reported everything? How did you get here?” Marlee asked.

  Kristie laughed and jangled her roommate’s ring of keys. “Polly should keep these in a safe spot. Anybody could take them.”

  Marlee laughed at the thought of her roommate and next-door neighbor stealing Polly’s car to help with the investigation. “Serves her right!”

  “What’s this about a stolen vehicle?” Barry asked, his tone serious and professional.

  “Uh, Barry, have you met Kristie? This is the friend I told you about. She was just joking about taking her roommate’s car,” Marlee said as she stepped behind Kristie pushing her a little closer to Barry.

  “So, Barry, why did it take so long for the cops to clue in?” Kristie asked, unimpressed with the cop and his coworkers.

  Marlee glanced at Barry and saw that he was already irritated with Kristie. These two will make a good couple, Marlee thought as she watched them chat over the pool of blood from John’s gunshot wound. Jasmine and Marlee made eye contact and walked out of the trailer to allow Barry and Kristie some time to talk, even though the trailer was swarming with police and crime scene technicians.

  “I wanted you and Barry to get together,” Jasmine said, looking back at the trailer.

  “I always told you we were a good investigative team but that was all. Maybe Barry and Kristie will hit it off. I bet you and Doug will be an item now that he’s seen what a crime fighter you are.” Marlee smiled as she looked at her friend. If it weren’t for Jasmine and Kristie, Marlee would be shot and left for dead by now.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Jasmine said. “Yesterday, when I talked to Doug, he said his wife was going to rehab, and they were going to give their marriage another try. I don’t want to get in the middle of that.”

  “Well, Jazz, I guess that makes you President of the Lonely-Hearts Club, and I’m the Vice President,” Marlee said with a laugh as they walked toward a police cruiser that was going to take them to the station to get their statements. “You know what I’m going to do when we get back to the dorm?”

  “Make some toast?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yep, and some ramen noodles. I’ll make some for you too,” Marlee said with a smile. “By the way, thanks for saving my life.”

  AFTERWORD

  Marlee closed her eyes as sh
e remembered the deaths of Tim and Beth all those years ago. She shuddered when she thought of how close she’d come to meeting a similar fate. If Barry, Doug, and the rest of the cops hadn’t come when they did, she would’ve been shot dead.

  Even though the cases had long been solved and the perpetrators punished, Marlee still felt bad for the scrutiny Pam had been under. Imagine being accused of killing your own brother. And your own cousin, Marlee thought. She’d been cleared in Tim’s death, but the cloud of suspicion still hung over Pam for Billy’s death in the shed over twenty years ago. She was the only one who knew for sure whether Billy’s death was intentional or accidental.

  The more she thought about the crime wave that struck her university back in 1987, the more she wondered what became of those involved. Marlee stayed in touch with Jasmine, now a fashion designer in New York and Kristie, who traveled the world as an archaeologist. Once in a while, she touched base with Barry Stevens, but hadn’t heard from him in a couple years. Barry had worked his way up to Captain of the police department after years of hard work and skillful politicking.

  On a whim, Marlee called him to see how he was doing. She’d heard through the grapevine that he got a divorce last year. Barry was excited to hear from Marlee and talked over her for the first few minutes of their conversation. “I’ve been meaning to call you. We had a big development here a couple days ago. I would’ve called sooner, but the kids and I had the flu. Sometimes being a single dad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  “What’s the big news you wanted to tell me?” Marlee asked, hoping Barry didn’t delve into the details of his flu symptoms.

  “Remember Pam DeWitt and all that business at the farm outside of town?”