“What should we do?” I said. “Call the police?”
He was already on his cell phone with a call to 911 when Graham ran into the kitchen, frantically looking around. “What the hell is going on? Who’s screaming?”
“Your wife,” I said, pointing him to the pantry. “You might want to go help out. But be prepared for what you’re about to see. It ain’t pretty.”
As Graham flew past us toward the pantry, Carter and I got the hell out of there. We promptly returned to our room and started packing.
“No way am I spending another night in this nuthouse,” I said, stuffing my toiletries into the suitcase. “But at least Zoe basically confessed. Too bad I didn’t have the forethought to record it.”
Carter grabbed his shirts from the closet. “Zoe must have hated Nina, knowing she was carrying Glenn’s baby. I wonder if Graham had any clue his wife was in love with his father.”
“Twisted. That’s all I have to say about this scenario. Twis-ted”
Carter chuckled as he punched in a number on his cell phone. “Bernice is going to flip when we tell her everything. I’ll have her contact the detective who was in charge of Nina’s case and see if he’ll meet with us tonight.”
“What are we gonna do about Jason?”
“We’ll let the police deal with him. I’m sure they’ll be very interested in the photos he’s been coveting in his bedroom and, with any luck, he’ll break down and confess to the part he played in Nina’s murder. Perhaps he’ll throw his cousin under the bus in return for a plea bargain.”
As Carter and I descended the stairs to make our hasty escape, the sound of shouting could still be heard coming from the kitchen. Several guests were milling around the lobby as if trying to figure out what was going on.
Just as we exited the front doors, Perry came running outside waving his arms. “You guys aren’t leaving me here with these crazy people. I’m going with you.”
Carter gestured to him. “Come on. We’ll need you to give your testimony to the detective.”
“Fine,” he said, rushing over to join us. “I’ll let Graham deal with this mess. I don’t want to be here when the police show up.”
Chapter 25
Zoe was arrested and taken away in handcuffs as the guests of The Silver Beech Inn gathered around to watch.
I wish I could have seen the look of shame on Mary Garcia’s face as the uniformed officers escorted her husband and son to the county jail for questioning.
After several hours of intense interrogation and Zoe refusing to say a word until she spoke with a lawyer, Graham – her husband - got in touch with the best defense attorney in town.
Perry gave his testimony. He explained how he and his father had convinced Nina to keep the truth about her pregnancy a secret, even from her own mother, in return for a portion of the trust fund. He expressed sadness and regret at the decision, but never imagined that it would ultimately lead to her death.
As for Chef Glenn, he claimed to have had no knowledge of Zoe’s plan to murder Nina.
When the officers went to Buster’s Comics to arrest Jason for conspiracy to commit murder, they found him still tied up to the chair where Carter and I had left him earlier in the day. Because of his injuries, he was whisked away in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. As it turned out, Carter had done quite a number on him. He had a broken nose, two fractured ribs, two missing teeth and a half-severed toe. Two hours later, he was released from the doctor’s care and escorted to the county police department. With the pictures of Nina in his bedroom as evidence and Zoe’s inadvertent confession in the pantry, it wasn’t long until Jason spilled his guts to the police. He told them that his cousin Zoe asked him to “take care” of Nina Chapman. In return she promised to give him a portion of the million dollars she would inherit when Graham turned thirty. Jason was going to commit the murder himself but then decided to recruit the Perez brothers at the last minute. The lack of planning certainly worked against the boys, along with the fact that rape and torture was not part of the original plan. They got greedy and therefore sloppy, leaving a trail of clues leading right back to them. The only thing the boys did right was to keep their mouths shut after they were arrested: miracle considering how ill equipped they’d been to perpetrate such a crime.
As the evening came to a close, Bernice thanked us many times for putting our lives at risk to help her. Even though the pain would never go away, she told us she’d sleep a little better at night knowing the truth about her daughter’s death. We received a check for five thousand dollars plus another two thousand for expenses. She even reimbursed us for the exorbitant bar tab we’d accrued.
It was after midnight by the time Carter and I left the police station. I had never felt so tired and so exhilarated at the same time. Part of me wanted to go celebrate while the other part of me just wanted to find a bed and go to sleep.
Carter drove us to a new hotel and got us a room. It may not have been as fancy as The Silver Beech Inn but it was clean and affordable and, most importantly, no drama.
We stripped down to our underwear and climbed under the covers of the king sized bed. It felt so good to lay next to his warm body, our arms wrapped around each other. It was enough just to be close to him. To know that we were both safe. There was no pressure or expectations at this point and a sense of relief washed over me. My feelings for Carter have nothing to do with sex or attraction, it goes much deeper. I know this man has a good heart and I admire his sense of duty. He is the kind of man you want on your side because you know he will never let you down. I feel proud to call him my partner.
The End
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