“Especially after Kincaid revealed my failed scheme. Nobody is going to believe me.” Riley frowned. “Matter of fact, the more I insisted, the more I got the distinct impression that they wanted to charge me for killing Ellis. I don’t think they took kindly to my efforts to free a man they consider a cop killer.”
“That’s your problem.”
Riley ran her tongue over her teeth, her brow pulled into a deep furrow. “No, Vivian, it’s yours. While I don’t have any proof of your connection to the killing, Ellis told me something interesting that can be proved.
“I know you’re not Vivian Elliott. Never were. You’re Julia Stanford. That would mean you’re not really married to Uncle Donald…legally, I mean. Kinda question whether Noah is Donald’s son, too. My guess is he’s Ellis’s.”
If looks could kill, Riley realized she wouldn’t be standing. A shudder ran up Riley’s spine as she truly recognized the presence of evil in the room.
“Don’t bother to deny it. I told you I had quite the talk with Ellis.” Riley pressed on. “Now, I have a quandary. Last week, I was met by Detective Brophy at the airport. You remember him? He’s frustrated. He believes Ellis had an accomplice and wants me to help him continue to investigate Helen and Olivia’s murders.
“You wouldn’t know if Ellis had a partner?” Riley laughed coldly. Her voice turned serious. “Just kidding. I know it was you.”
Sitting perfectly still, Vivian skewered her with a hard look with all the wrath of the years of pent-up hatred. She spat, “You know nothing!”
“I know enough,” Riley snapped. “But I’m willing to tell the authorities that Ellis said he took pride in working by himself, alleviating you of the worry that they will connect you to your lover…and also keeping your secret.”
“If I do what?”
“I want evidence that connects Ellis to the killing of the cop. I have faith that you can do that.”
“You choose to come to me instead of taking up Detective Brophy’s offer?” Her voice was riddled with suspicion.
Leaning back in her chair, Riley said in a low, determined voice, “I learned a long time ago that life’s not fair. Harrison is an innocent man. I’ve tried for years to go through the legal system. It has got me absolutely nowhere.
“When Detective Brophy came to me, at first I thought, yeah, I could help him…then I hesitated. I think I would be better off making a deal with you…a deal, for once, that I would have a semblance of control.”
“What makes you think I would have anything to help you?”
“Because you wouldn’t have split from Ellis without keeping some sort of security for all the god-awful things the two of you did. Just in case he accused you of helping him. My God, Vivian, you tried to kill the man with antifreeze.
“He told me. Boy, he hated you. Filling Gatorade with antifreeze. Don’t have an original bone in your body. You know, he fed it to the birds…they died. He ran.
“Ellis seemed awfully desperate, but he would have come after you eventually. You should really thank me. I did you a favor. Now, do one for me.”
“Seems I don’t have a choice.” Vivian stood up, but seemed to catch her heel on the Persian rug. Tripping, she lunged forward at Riley.
Riley saw her intent and reached for her gun, but Vivian was quicker. She sidestepped Riley, sending her onto the floor.
The next moment, Vivian had Riley’s gun in her hand and aimed straight at Riley’s head. “Now, my dear, we’ll talk.”
* * * *
“Stupid, stupid girl—now look what you’ve done.”
Crawling over to the wall, Riley inched upward. “Doesn’t change a thing. You wouldn’t dare harm me, not with the police swarming the entire family. They know your every move.”
“Really?” Vivian’s eyebrow rose. “See, my dear, you’re right. I didn’t take my car. According to Donald and Brenda, my maid, I’m at home right now sleeping. So, it seems I have nothing better to do than get rid of this annoying gnat flying around my head.”
Vivian waved the gun at Riley.
Placing both her hands in front of her, Riley shouted, “Don’t! For God’s sake!”
“Don’t grovel! Show some dignity!”
“Why? Why have you done all of this? What have I ever done to you? My family…my family loved you…why Nana…!”
“Shut up, you fool. I told you—you haven’t a clue what has gone on.” Vivian’s eyes narrowed. “Have you not guessed how much I abhorred you Ashcrofts? I swore on my brother’s grave I would make each and every one of you pay. I’ve kept my word.”
“Your brother? I thought you had no family.”
Vivian laughed, a long, harsh laugh that cut through Riley like a knife.
“Darling Riley, so naïve…so crassly obvious! I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from an Ashcroft.” Vivian lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. “I…I have brought down the mighty Ashcrofts…and all that will be left will be my son running their empire. A Stanford will be the head of WSA. Witt Ashcroft would roll over in his grave.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t know that your father and uncle killed a man when they were students at Washington Ridge Academy and blamed it on my brother. Oh…there was no conviction. The Ashcrofts are so good at covering their tracks, but my brother was expelled.
“He was never the same…couldn’t get into a good university…couldn’t get a job. The Ashcrofts destroyed him.” She paused, with a sadistic smirk on her face. “And I destroyed the Ashcrofts.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Every move I made, every breath I took, I did so with revenge racing through my veins.” She circled around Riley. “At first, I thought I would just ruin them…Walter, Jack, and Donald. I will admit I tried to get close to Jack at first. Jack was the handsomest of the brothers, the one the other two looked up to.
“Walter was already married to Cora. Not that I couldn’t get Walter in bed. Being he was the pudgy one of the brothers, Walter was always trying to vie for the attention women gave Jack. So, he went to bed with anyone who would spread their legs for him. But I had no intention of being another fling…not for what I had planned.
“At first, it was easy enough integrating into the lives of the Ashcroft brothers. I took a job as a legal assistant at Lincoln and Sullivan, but Jack wouldn’t have anything to do with me. Not his style, I suppose. Got to the point he avoided me. He tried to hide his aversion to me, but I felt it.
“I wasn’t pretty enough for him…especially when poor Miss Anne Carver showed up with that godforsaken booger-nose brat with her. The idiot fell for her ploy…pure and innocent…such a lovely thing…such a brave soul traveling all the way up to Boston to confront the mogul Witt Ashcroft about his bastard.
“I had to switch my attention to that shy introvert, Donald, but to my joy, he was exactly what I needed for my intent. The youngest. The most insecure. Couldn’t make a move without Jack’s permission. I changed all that.
“We were engaged in less than three months. Jack cautioned Donald, more than once. Pressed him to break up with me. I taught him…I called Jack over to our apartment on the pretense that Donald wanted to see him.”
She laughed, almost giggled. “Oh, you should have seen his face when he saw me in a negligee. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough…except I had already arranged for Donald to come home.
“I had called him, all distressed, when Jack rang the buzzer. I told Donald that Jack was trying to rape me. When Donald walked in, I had Jack by the arm with my negligee ripped. Donald thought Jack was trying to hurt me…Donald was enraged.
“It broke the brothers apart,” she said proudly. Then her expression altered; her eyes hardened. “But it didn’t stop Jack from eloping with Anne…that little trollop. She convinced him to move to Charleston and leave it all behind. He did!”
“Daddy loved Momma.” Riley said the words before she thought. She
had only angered Vivian more.
“He did? It didn’t last, did it?” Vivian aimed the gun straight at Riley. Lowering it slightly, she pressed her lips tightly together, as if considering her words carefully. “Ellis came into my life after Jack left Boston. He was so angry at Jack for leaving. After all Ellis had done for Jack…to have Jack up and desert him. His anger simmered into hate.”
Which I’m sure you encouraged! Riley left the words unspoken and slowly eased along the wall. A cold knot settled in the pit of her stomach.
“Hatred toward Jack gave us a connection…strange… Things I had only dreamed about—he taught me they were a means to an end.” Vivian’s eyes brightened as she remembered.
Riley said nothing. The woman was mad as a rabid dog. She was talking of Ellis as if he were the love of her life…a man she had tried to kill.
Undaunted, Vivian continued, basking in the glory of her past. “After Jack left Boston, the family splintered. Outwardly, they showed a bond of unity, but there was a crack in the foundation. A cascading effect.
“Witt was infuriated, not that Donald was claiming that Jack tried to rape me, but that Jack had left the fold. Jack was no longer under his control…and he blamed Jack for Walter’s problems.
“Witt’s golden boy, Walter, faltered. With Jack not there to handle and correct Walter’s business mistakes, Walter made one terrible business decision after another. Walter lost millions, to the point where Witt threatened to cut him off without a dime if Walter didn’t rein in his recklessness.
“Then, behind Witt’s back, Walter—determined to show he was competent—lost ten million in a fiasco of a real estate deal. Walter got swindled into making an investment where the company didn’t even have the permits or variances needed to begin.
“Walter was desperate to get the money back before Witt discovered what he had done. That was when I introduced him to some acquaintances of mine from Chicago.”
“So Walter does have mob connections,” Riley said, more as a confirmation than a question. Keep her talking. Keep her talking. “You reeled him in deep.”
Vivian’s smile broadened. “It wasn’t even our best work. Do you want to know the exact moment that connected Ellis and I together forever?”
Suddenly, Riley wanted her to stop. Something in Vivian’s eyes, her voice told Riley she didn’t want to hear the next words Vivian spoke.
“Your mother…God rest her soul…reached out to your nana. Florence wanted to mend fences. After poor Anne suffered a miscarriage, she wasn’t in good health. Diabetic complications.
“Witt wasn’t stupid. He had begun to suspect that I was the culprit who had driven a wedge between Jack, Donald, and Walter. He used the news of Anne’s poor health to encourage Florence to go to Charleston.
“I wasn’t going to allow that! Not after everything I went through to get to where I was. Ellis and I followed Florence down South. I had to see Anne, tell her the sordid tale of Jack’s attack on me.
“I talked Florence into allowing me to come with her, offering the need to repair the gulf between the brothers over the misunderstanding. Along with Ellis, I drove out to your home, telling your nana that I wanted to reach out first.
“We waited only until after Jack left. Then we went up to the door and talked that stupid housekeeper into letting us in to the house. She was finishing up breakfast for the children…you and that mongrel, Harrison.
“Ellis and I told her we would wait, but we didn’t. As soon as she disappeared, we ran upstairs. I was all prepared to cry and recite my pain…I didn’t have to. Your mother lay on the bed, mumbling incoherently. She didn’t even recognize me.
“At first, we didn’t know what was happening, but then Ellis whispered that she was hypoglycemic. Anne nodded, uttering she needed sugar… My first instinct was to oblige; then Ellis caught my arm.
“His grandmother had been a diabetic and understood what was happening. He nodded toward a small refrigerator they kept in her room. Looking in it, he took out an insulin pen…”
Riley didn’t want to hear it. Her mother. No…no…no… Vivian continued. Her words seemed so distant, yet so clear. Injected the pen. Waited. When we heard footsteps, I ran out the door, screaming Anne needed help. Ellis called 911, but of course, it was too late…no one was ever the wiser.
With her head in her hands, Riley tried to make the words stop. Vivian had been responsible for her mother’s death! She collapsed on the floor. Oh, good Lord, I’m going to get sick. She threw up.
Wiping her mouth, she heard a god-awful laugh behind her. Vivian was reveling in the control she wielded.
“I found the feeling exhilarating…freeing taking the life out of someone…but it was nothing like…like your daddy.”
“Shut up,” Riley uttered in a low, firm voice. Climbing up on her knee, she looked directly into the cold, dark eyes of a psychopath. Her voice rose. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
“I’m not finished.” Vivian waved the gun in the air. “I wasn’t finished and won’t be until every one of you Ashcrofts are destroyed!”
“I don’t want to know. You’re a sick…sick woman!”
“I am a powerful woman who will see her son—a Stanford—head of all that was the Ashcrofts.” Vivian crossed over in front of Riley. “And you will hear every last detail of what I have done. I…have done.
“I want you to know it is I who had Walter groveling at my feet. The stupid idiot. Deeper and deeper he fell into an abyss. There was no escape. The fool embezzled from his own father. Tricked him into giving him his power of attorney on the deception that it was for Jack.
“The coward that Walter was allowed me my greatest revenge. Witt was beside himself, finally believing that Jack had crossed him. Witt wrote off his only…truly loyal son. Then, Ellis and I set in motion Jack’s end…framing that bastard, Harrison…”
Anger replaced any fear she felt. Riley stood. Forgetting everything around her, she lunged at the woman.
Vivian sidestepped her. Catching herself with her hands, Riley fell against the couch. Slowly, she turned back to face the epitome of evil.
A sneer greeted Riley. “Yes, you little sniveling bitch, I killed your precious daddy. Oh, no, I didn’t drive him to kill himself. I shot him…it was me. Me.
“He had figured out Ellis was involved in framing Harrison. I had to silence him. When I stole into your house, I found him at his desk. For a moment, he was startled. When he saw who it was, he dismissed me. Told me to leave.
“As if a flick of his hand would stop me. He didn’t even see it coming. He had gone back to his work and I took the pistol from my purse. I raised it in silence to the side of his head…like I’m doing now to you.”
Riley flinched at the cold steel against her temple. She heard Vivian’s fingernails play against the trigger, knowing the woman was itching to pull it. Riley took a deep breath.
“Die, you bitch, die!”
The gun clicked, but no shot was fired. Click…click…click.
Riley rounded her hand on the gun and jerked it out of Vivian’s. She slapped Vivian hard across the face. “Now who’s the stupid bitch!”
Suddenly, the lights went on and out stepped an entourage of men and one woman.
Smiling broadly at Riley, Detective John Brophy walked toward Vivian. He pulled out his cuffs. “Mrs. Vivian Elliot Ashcroft—or should I say Julia Stanford—you are under arrest for murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
Stunned, Vivian took a step back. “You can’t…” One of the uniformed officers reached out to her. She hit at him. “Don’t you dare touch me! You don’t know who I am! I will have your badge!”
“We shall see.” Brophy walked behind her. A moment later, he had her in cuffs and gave her off to the waiting officers.
Riley moved back, but couldn’t take her eyes off Vivian. The words the woman had uttered were already becoming dull and fuzzy, but the meani
ng…the atrocities…sunk deep into Riley’s consciousness.
Then, as quickly as her heart stilled with melancholy, she saw Kincaid walk toward her. He crossed over and she fell into his strong arms. She couldn’t move; she didn’t want to.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered.
“Never,” he vowed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Brophy had anxiously watched the monitors. He hadn’t been this nervous for a long time. So much rode on Riley Ashcroft pulling off the impossible—getting Vivian Ashcroft to confess to murder.
After tracking down Ellis at his safe house, Brophy had been on a mission to find the woman Ellis had been involved with. The fingerprints led to Vivian Elliot, but he had to have a motive, which he was certain was connected to Russell Stanford. Putting together the information that Ellis had used Russell Stanford’s identity, he investigated the man.
He was able to match up the Social Security number used to buy the house with the Russell Stanford who had been expelled from Washington Ridge. The one who had died at nineteen in a jail fight.
In newspaper reports, Stanford was survived by his fifteen-year-old sister—Julia Stanford.
Further digging revealed a young girl shuffled from one foster home to another until she finished high school. Then she disappeared…vanished from the face of the earth. Only to reemerge again, this time as Vivian Elliot.
Cooperation with the FBI helped confirm Brophy’s suspicion. Vivian had taken over an identity of a young girl who was killed in a car wreck along with her family. In all probability, it was where she made her mob connection.
At first, he was certain Vivian’s quest began as revenge, but greed and power ignited in her. Arrogance convinced her that she would never be caught.
“Wait until my attorneys get hold of you!” Vivian screamed at Brophy. “You’ll be stripped of your badge!”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Donald Ashcroft emerged from behind a barrage of officers and confronted his wife. Looking at Brophy, he smiled bitterly. “I can have my minute?”
Framed: A Psychological Thriller (Boston's Crimes of Passion Book 2) Page 24
