“We’ll make her sign a legal agreement stating that there will be no next time,” Ellie said.
Abbott steepled his fingers. “Let’s focus on the bigger picture for a minute. Forget about the money and the adoption. If she murdered her husband and we don’t turn her in, who’s to stop her from killing again?”
“I hear what you’re saying, Dad. Just give me one more day to work my deal. Then we’ll call the police. Or better yet, if we can have a reasonable conversation with her, we can convince Lia to turn herself in. She claims she was framed. Maybe she could help the police in their investigation.”
Abbott slowly let out his breath. “All right, sweetheart. This is your family. I’m willing to play it your way for now. But if there’s been no resolution by this time tomorrow, I’m calling the police.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lia
Unable to sleep, Lia hit the sidewalk in the deserted streets of downtown. Ignoring the pain from the blisters on her feet, she walked for hours past boutiques and hotels and homes where families rested in anticipation of the coming week. It was nearly three in the morning when she found herself standing in front of her sister’s house. Hadn’t that been her destination all along?
The night was quiet and still, aside from the sound of a dog barking in the distance. Yellow light glowed through the living room window downstairs, but the rest of the house was pitch-dark. She gave her sister credit for turning their grandmother’s house of doom and gloom into a comfortable home full of joy and laughter. Lia wasn’t cut out for the mundane life. She understood that now. Her sister had inherited the maternal gene from their mother, and Lia had gotten . . . well, as much as she hated to admit it, she was more like their grandmother, wicked old bitch that she was. Her daughters would be safe here with Ellie and Julian. Being so close and unable to get to her children was torture. She knew if she held them in her arms, she’d never be able to let them go. She loved Bella and Mya more than life itself. She was giving her girls parents who would provide for them and nurture them. Parents they could count on.
When a fresh rush of energy flowed through her, she turned her back on the antebellum mansion and headed up East Bay Street, toward her hotel. Walking at a brisk pace, she arrived at the Waterside Inn thirty minutes later. She fell into bed and slept without moving until loud knocking on the door woke her in the early afternoon.
Tossing an arm over her head, she hollered at the closed door, “Go away! I don’t need maid service today.”
“Police! Open up!”
Police? She sat bolt upright. Has something happened to the twins? She swung her feet over the side of the bed. She stood too quickly, and the sudden surge of blood to her head made her feel dizzy. She stumbled across the room and swung the door open. Two uniformed officers, both in their midthirties and handsome despite their bald heads, stood before her.
“Are you Lia Bertram?”
It dawned on her then that they might be there about Ricky’s death. “Depends on who’s asking.”
The shorter of the two said, “I’m Officer Little, and this is Officer Owens.” He elbowed his partner. “We’re with the Charleston Police Department. We have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of your husband, Ricky Bertram.”
A warrant? Arrest?
“On what grounds?”
“I’m not privy to the details of the case,” Little said. “You can come with us of your own free will, or we can handcuff you. Your choice.”
Lia’s mind raced. She considered kneeing Little where it counts and darting past him, but she wouldn’t get far feeling so light-headed. If she slammed the door in their faces, they’d break it down and come in after her. There was no other way out of the room anyway, no bathroom window for her to sneak out of. She was screwed. Her best bet was to go peacefully with them.
I have nothing to hide. I didn’t kill Ricky. I’ll tell the truth, and then maybe I can stop running.
Her shoulders slumped. “Give me a minute.”
She left the door open while she located her purse and tied a scarf around her neck. As she slipped on her sandals, she noticed her feet were filthy from her midnight stroll around town.
After the inquisition, I’ll treat myself to a pedicure, she thought, and then remembered she was flat broke. Forget the pedicure. I’ll cut the deal with my sister, get my money, and leave this town for good.
The ride to the police station took twenty minutes due to the horse-drawn carriages slowing traffic at every turn in the downtown business district. Lia combed her fingers through her greasy hair, gathered it back into a ponytail, and secured it with an elastic band. She must look a wreck. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d showered.
At the station, after reciting her Miranda rights, the female booking officer, who identified herself as Officer Kelly, took her mug shot and fingerprinted her. After performing a strip search, she gave Lia an orange jumpsuit to wear and placed her in a holding cell.
“What’re you doing?” Lia said, her fingers gripping the metal bars. “You can’t lock me up like this, without letting me make a phone call.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get to make your call,” Officer Kelly said, but she didn’t say when.
Who would she call when she got her chance? She knew only three people in town—Ellie, Julian, and Abbott—and one of them must have ratted her out to the police. Lia had made a fatal mistake. She should have suspected they would turn her in.
Lia paced the floors for what felt like hours, although she had no idea of the time. She felt naked without her scarf and scratched at her neck until the skin around her scar was raw. The concrete walls began to cave in on her, and she found it difficult to breathe. She inhaled and exhaled deeply to calm herself and steady her mind.
The waiting was excruciating, and by the time Officer Kelly returned, Lia was ready to tear her hazel eyes out.
“Come with me, please.”
Handcuffing her, the officer led her out of the holding area and down several long hallways to a room with a table, four chairs, and a one-way mirror.
“I’m going crazy here, Officer. You can’t keep me locked up like a caged animal.”
“We can and we will.” She removed Lia’s handcuffs, and placing a hand on her shoulder, she forced her down into a chair. “Detective Lambert will be with you in a minute. He’ll explain the situation to you.”
Lia watched the seconds click off the clock. Thirty minutes passed, and then thirty more. It was four thirty before a man dressed in jeans and a knit-collared shirt entered the room and identified himself as Detective Lambert. Lia shot to her feet.
“This is BS, Detective. What grounds do you have to arrest me?”
“This is not my case, therefore I’m not privy to the details of the case.” Doubt clouded her face, and he motioned her to the table. “Have a seat, Mrs. Bertram, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
She returned to the table, and he sat down opposite her. She estimated Lambert to be in his midforties. He was probably once a looker, before his hairline started receding and his gut grew large.
“I was told that your fingerprints were taken from the crime scene, and a witness saw you fleeing the hotel around the time of the murder, which is more than enough evidence for the judge to issue a warrant for your arrest. I’ve just gotten off the phone with Detective Hamlin in Key West. He’s coming to Charleston to question you. Unfortunately, he can’t get here until tomorrow. He considers you a flight risk and asked that we keep you overnight.”
Lia’s jaw hit the table. “In jail?”
“No, in the Charleston Place Hotel,” Lambert said in a sarcastic tone. “Of course you’ll be staying in jail. You’ve been arrested on suspicion of murder.”
Lia sank lower in her chair. “In that case, give me my phone. I’m entitled to make a call.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ellie
Ellie’s nerves were like electrical currents as she race-walked to the gallery
on Monday morning. Her green eyes darted up and down the streets in search of any sign of Lia. Her stomach churned. She’d declined Maddie’s offer of breakfast and drank four cups of coffee instead. When two female joggers appeared suddenly from behind, she jumped out of their way and fell into the window box of the row house she happened to be passing at the time, scraping her elbow and bruising her shoulder.
She’d threatened to cancel her meeting with Lacey, but Julian had pleaded with her not to. “There’s nothing you can do here except worry yourself into a frenzy.” He’d already placed the call to Tyler who, according to his secretary, would be in court all day.
“But I want to be here if Lia shows up,” Ellie argued. “I’m worried for the twins’ safety.”
“I’ll stay here with them while you meet with Lacey. Trust me, Lia will not cross the threshold into this house.”
Recognizing she needed the distraction, she finally said, “Okay, but promise you’ll call me the minute you hear from Tyler. Or if Lia shows up.”
“I promise. Now stop worrying about what’s going on at home, and go hire yourself a gallery manager.” Julian had patted her fanny as she exited the back door.
After a brief tour of the warehouse, Ellie offered Lacey the part-time position, and she agreed to start immediately.
She bummed a ride home from Lacey, and then ate lunch in the kitchen with the twins and Becca. The twins barely touched their ham sandwiches, so eager were they to return to the mountain of birthday gifts waiting for them in their playroom upstairs.
Ellie passed the long hours of the afternoon in her studio trying, and failing, to summon inspiration for her blank canvas. She was helping Katie with a math problem when her cell phone rang—from an unknown number. She considered ignoring the call, and then thought better of it. When she heard her sister’s voice, she took the call outside to the garden.
Her sister’s tone was both reckless and desperate as she launched into her diatribe. “I’m at the police department. I’ve been arrested for murdering my husband, which should come as no surprise to you since you’re undoubtedly the one who turned me in. You need to get me a lawyer. I’ll lose my mind if I have to spend more than five minutes in a jail cell.”
“Back up a minute, Lia. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why do you assume I’m the one who turned you in?”
“Duh! Isn’t it obvious? You won’t have to share your inheritance with me when the jury sentences me to death by electrocution.”
Dread crawled down Ellie’s spine. “Lia, I swear, it wasn’t me. I’m not the one who called them.”
“Liar! They arrested me this afternoon at my motel. They knew right where to find me. No one else knew I was staying at the Waterside Inn except Daddy Dearest. And I’m sure he told his darling princess, Ellie.”
And Julian, Ellie thought.
Only the three of them knew Lia was staying at the Waterside Inn. Would Julian or Abbott turn her sister in without telling her? “Look, Lia, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I intend to find out. Sit tight. Help is on the way.”
She ended the call and placed another one to her father. When Abbott answered on the first ring, she said, “Guess where Lia is.”
“I have no idea. Please tell me she’s gone back to Key West.”
“She’s in jail,” Ellie said, and listened carefully for the tone of his response.
“In jail?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “How’d that happen?”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“If you’re suggesting I told the police where to find her, you’re mistaken. I would never go against your wishes, Ellie. I think you know me better than that.”
“I believe you, Dad.” If it wasn’t her father, then her husband must have been the one who told the police where to find Lia. “Can you come over?”
“I’m on my way.”
Ellie was waiting for him on the sidewalk outside the garden gate when he arrived ten minutes later. Abbott engulfed her in a hug and, over his shoulder, she spotted Julian walking toward them from the opposite direction.
“Uh-oh,” Julian said when he saw her concerned expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Lia’s been arrested for murdering her husband.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s not good.” He held the garden gate open for them. “Let’s go in here and talk.”
They filed through the gate and stood huddled together in the garden while Ellie explained the situation. “I understand why you turned her in, Julian. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me.”
He shook his head. “Hold on, Ellie. It wasn’t me. I wouldn’t do something like that without discussing it with you first.”
They heard a sob from the vicinity of the terrace and turned at once to see Maddie, her face pinched in pain and her fist clenching the front of her dress. “It was me, Miss Ellie. I’m the one who called the police. I don’t blame you if you fire me, but I did what I thought right. Miss Lia’s pure evil, just like your gramma. I couldn’t let her destroy those precious chil’run the way your gramma destroyed you.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks, she started for the table but stumbled, catching herself before she fell. Ellie rushed to her side and helped her into a chair. “Get her some water please, Julian.”
“I’m on it,” Julian said, and disappeared inside.
Ellie pulled up a chair close to Maddie and stroked her arm while she cried. Abbott locked eyes with Ellie from across the table, and she interpreted his grave expression. Her housekeeper had taken it upon herself to call the police on Lia, and they, in turn, needed to take heed to her warning.
Maddie had lived through the horrors that happened in this house. She knew their history better than Lia or Ellie. Her knowledge of the past enabled her to view the situation with more experienced eyes. Ignoring Maddie’s comparison of Lia to her grandmother would be foolish and dangerous. Was Lia pure evil? Ellie didn’t know. But her sister’s behavior suggested some type of psychological disorder. She’d abandoned her children for seven months and blown through a small fortune. If Ellie let her sister have her way, she would keep coming back for more money. Why had she been so worried about being fair to Lia when Lia had not been fair to her since the day they met? Lia wasn’t her problem. The twins were her priority. The seven months that Bella and Mya had been in her care was a long time in the life of a four-year-old. For every day of those seven months, memories of their mother had grown dimmer and dimmer for them. Bella and Mya still called them aunt and uncle, but in every way that mattered, Ellie and Julian were their parents. Those sweet little girls had placed all their trust in them, and Ellie planned to honor that trust by doing everything in her power to protect them.
Julian returned with a glass of water, two aspirin, and a handful of tissues. He handed all three to Maddie and sat down next to Abbott.
Ellie rubbed her back while Maddie swallowed her aspirin and blew her nose. “You did the right thing in calling the police. I should’ve done it myself, but I was too busy worrying about Lia’s well-being when my primary concern should’ve been the twins’ safety.” She squeezed her shoulder. “And for the record, there is absolutely nothing you could do that would ever make me fire you. You’re like family to me, just as Abbott is my father. You’re the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had.”
More tears filled Maddie’s eyes, and she dabbed at them with a tissue. “That means the world to me.”
“I hate to see you so upset. We need to get you home. Who drove today, you or Cilla?” Ellie asked.
“We came in my car, but I’ll get Cilla to drive me home. All this stress is making me feel my age.” Maddie gripped the arms of her chair as she hoisted herself up.
Ellie jumped to her feet and grabbed hold of the old woman’s arm to help her up. Placing a hand at her waist for support, she walked Maddie inside to the kitchen.
“You be kind to yourself tonight,” she said to Maddie. “Have Alfred cook dinner f
or you for a change.”
That brought a smile to her face. “Oh lawd, Miss Ellie. Old Alfred is useless in the kitchen. I’d rather eat cat food than anything he make.”
Ellie laughed. “Order out, then. Whatever you do, get some rest. If you need to take the day off tomorrow, just let me know.”
Cilla retrieved their purses from the utility room and helped her friend out to the car.
Ellie watched them go, and then went upstairs to check on the children. Ruby and Katie were in their respective rooms doing homework, and the twins were in their playroom with Becca watching Winnie the Pooh.
She found her father and husband deep in conversation when she returned to the terrace. “What’re you two scheming?” she asked, reclaiming her chair.
“We’re trying to figure out where we go from here,” Julian said.
Abbott said, “I hope you realize, honey, that you don’t owe Lia a thing. If anything, she owes you for taking care of her children all this time. Julian and I agree that I should be the one to hire the attorney for Lia.”
“You don’t owe her anything either, Dad. She hasn’t exactly been nice to you.”
“Maybe not, but I wasn’t around when she was young. I feel obligated to find Lia good representation so that she can have a fair trial.”
“Do we even know who to hire?” Ellie asked. “Maybe there’s a criminal attorney in Tyler’s group.”
Her husband flashed his mischievous smile. “I do know of someone—but not in Tyler’s firm.”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “Of course you do. So who is he, your poker partner?”
“You know I don’t play poker.” Julian picked his phone up from the table. “I designed his beach house on Isle of Palms several years ago. His name is Gary Bates, and he’s one of the best criminal attorneys on the East Coast.” His thumbs flew across the screen as he typed. “I’m texting him now, asking him to call me as soon as he can.”
While her husband typed his message, Ellie turned her attention to her father. “Thanks, Dad. Considering the custody situation with the twins, I think it’s best if I stayed out of it. The estate can reimburse you for the attorney’s fees.”
Beyond the Garden (Magnolia Series Book 2) Page 15
