“And what about the people at the fast food restaurant? You knew quite a bit about them.”
“I became friends with one of the employees via a social networking site. You wouldn’t believe how much people gripe about their work, co-workers, and their bosses. I was able to dig out information on almost everyone at the restaurant. When they failed to remember a Katie Pearson, I was able to use the information to prove I wasn’t lying.”
He pondered her answer. “Okay, but what about the apartment you were living at? Whose is it?”
“The apartment belongs to a professional. He travels most of the year, so he rents it out on a bed-and-breakfast site. The unit came with all the furnishings, so I didn’t have to do much to set it up except move the television and some personal items into the storage locker. A blind person has no use for a television, you know.” She lowered her voice. “At the apartment, when you had tea with me, you told me a lot about yourself and your family. I can say that was one of the times I wanted to tell you the truth. Here you were so forthcoming about your life, and I was deceptively feeding you half-truths.”
“Half-truths?” he asked.
“Not everything I told you was a lie. The story of my sister getting lost in the woods when we were young was not made up. And I do have a cousin who went blind at the age of fourteen from chicken pox. I used things from my life to create a character that was believable.”
Callaway paused and then said, “I still don’t understand how Linda Eustace played into all of this.”
“I knew a woman had gone missing, and because of her profession as an escort, the police were not making an effort to find her. I even went to the Milton PD and inquired about her case, and the response I got was, ‘She’s an adult and she can choose to go wherever she wants.’ I figured, in the course of getting close to Rocco, I might be able to help find out what happened to her.”
“Is that why you kept leading me to Rocco in our search for Linda? You were hoping I would start looking for him as a suspect in her disappearance?”
“Yes. When we were going through the box with Linda’s personal items, I snuck Rocco’s photo in there to make it look like I had found it.”
“And did you know the box belonged to Linda when we went to her landlord’s house?” Callaway asked.
She shook her head. “I had no idea Linda was a diving champion in high school. It caught me by surprise when you mentioned it. I just needed the opportunity to introduce Rocco in her story, so I took it. Unfortunately, each time I mentioned Rocco as a person of interest, you pushed him aside.”
“I could not find a link between someone with mob connections in New Jersey to the disappearance of an escort in Milton.”
They were silent again. There were a lot of facts for Callaway to digest, but there was still more he needed to know.
“What about the anxiety attacks you claimed you were suffering from? What purpose did they serve?” he asked.
“When I saw the video of the Isaiah Whitcomb shooting on the news, I knew my time was running out. Whitcomb was related to one of the detectives, which meant the police were not going to stop looking for Rocco. I feared they were going to find him before I did. I needed an excuse to get away from you and expedite my search…”
“…Because I wasn’t really looking for him.”
She nodded. “I had no idea Rocco had committed the additional murders. Had I known, I would not have involved you. I would have tailed the detectives instead.”
“But you did, and we found the person who killed Linda.”
She smiled. “I guess some good came out of me hiring you.”
He gave her no reply.
She said, “When that woman’s body was found in the lake…”
“Cassandra Stevens?”
She nodded. “When we went to the morgue to identify her, I had to shut my eyes after seeing what Rocco had done to her face. I almost threw up in my mouth, but I knew if I did, my mask would have come off. But some good did come from our visit there. When Detective Fisher showed you the photo on her cell phone from the hardware store, I knew I was close. I made some excuse to you, and I began trailing Detective Holt. To my surprise, at the Milton PD, I saw Detective Holt speaking to Agent Schaefer. If Schaefer was there, then Rocco was close by. I began following Schaefer instead, and he led me straight to him. It was at a falafel shop. I wore a burqa…”
“I saw it in the apartment.”
“No one pays attention to women in burqas. They are invisible to the general public,” she said. “I was able to get a table next to them. I overheard their entire conversation. When I was leaving, I saw a man who looked familiar.”
“Cosimo Castigiano?”
“Yes. His name had come up in my research. He worked for the Beniti Family. I knew he had come to kill Rocco like I had. I could not let that happen. At the falafel shop, he followed Rocco to his van before I cut him off in an alley. I allowed Rocco to walk away unscathed. But I knew I did not have much time. I made an anonymous call to the Milton PD. I told them Cosimo was in the city and that he was looking for Rocco. I knew where Rocco was meeting Schaefer. And when I caught up with him, I put a bullet between his eyes.”
Callaway almost shivered at how coldly she recounted the deed. She was a murderer, but he understood why she had done it. Rocco had brutally killed two innocent people in Milton. He had also killed two people in New Jersey, one of them being Elle’s sister. Elle would now spend the rest of her life as an only child to her mother. Her father had never gotten to see justice done for his youngest daughter.
Elle said, “You now know the whole truth, Lee. So where do we go from here?”
He stared at her for a long time.
He leaned closer to her and said, “Detective Holt believes Bruno Rocco killed Isaiah Whitcomb and Cassandra Stevens. He also believes Cosimo Castigiano killed Bruno Rocco. Carl Goodwin was charged with murdering Linda Eustace. I think justice has been served.”
Callaway stood up.
“Goodbye, Elle,” he said. “I hope now you can finally move on with your life.”
Elle stared at him. Her eyes moistened. She then choked up and mouthed, “Thank you.”
He walked out of the room, leaving Elle alone in the solarium.
He knew he would never see her again. He also knew her secret would go with him all the way to his grave.
THE FALLING GIRL (LEE CALLAWAY #3) IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A PRE-ORDER. CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
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www.finchambooks.com
Thomas Fincham
HYDER ALI
The Silent Reporter (Hyder Ali #1)
The Rogue Reporter (Hyder Ali #2)
The Runaway Reporter (Hyder Ali #3)
The Serial Reporter (Hyder Ali #4)
The Street Reporter (Hyder Ali #5)
The Student Reporter (Hyder Ali #0)
MARTIN RHODES
Close Your Eyes (Martin Rhodes #1)
Cross Your Heart (Martin Rhodes #2)
Say Your Prayers (Martin Rhodes #3)
Fear Your Enemy (Martin Rhodes #0)
ECHO ROSE
The Rose Garden (Echo Rose #1)
The Rose Tattoo (Echo Rose #2)
The Rose Thorn (Echo Rose #3)
The Rose Water (Echo Rose #4)
STANDALONE
The Blue Hornet
The October Five
The Paperboys Club
Killing Them Gently
The Solaire Trilogy
THOMAS FINCHAM holds a graduate degree in Economics. His travels throughout the world have given him
an appreciation for other cultures and beliefs. He has lived in Africa, Asia, and North America. An avid reader of mysteries and thrillers, he decided to give writing a try. Several novels later, he can honestly say he has found his calling. He is married and lives in a hundred-year-old house. He is the author of THE PAPERBOYS CLUB, THE OCTOBER FIVE, THE BLUE HORNET, KILLING THEM GENTLY, the HYDER ALI series, the MARTIN RHODES series, and the ECHO ROSE series.
The Gone Sister (A Private Investigator Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Lee Callaway #2) Page 24
