“Why?” Glenda snapped, with furious eyes. Ignoring the blood streaming from her nose, she locked eyes with Flint. “My child died... child for a child.”
“That's where you're wrong,” Flint said, staring her down. “Haley Frost will be alive long after you've rotted away in prison, sister. And your son, well, his time is short.”
“No.” Glenda grinned back at Flint. “That's where you're wrong, you pathetic cop. My son will kill you all. He could have killed you at any time. And you know that. This entire house is bugged. We've been listening to every word you say.”
Flint winked at Glenda. “I know.”
Glenda's face went blank. “What?”
“Sister,” Flint said, leaning back in his chair, “I know how deadly your son is. I know that he could have killed me and my partner last night. That was his mistake. Your son is prideful. He's a show-off. He wants to prove that he's in control and the rest of us are just little white mouse in the maze he has put us in. But there's just one little problem.”
“What?”
“This house. You see, I can wait for your son out. If he wants Haley, he's going to have to dare and break into the house and get her. But he's far too much of a coward to go one on one with me. Yeah, this Gavin Mayfield is brave when he's lurking in the shadows.”
“You think you're so smart,” Glenda said in a disgusted voice.
“Hey, sister, you're the one that came to me for help. A trap of course. The plan was I would open the back door to help the poor damsel in distress and your son would pop me in the neck with one of his poison darts.”
“That's not true,” Glenda insisted. “The blood coming from my nose is real.”
“It sure is. Sister, don't forget, I know that you directed plays. You set up the scenes and actors just right.”
Glenda, realizing that Flint wasn't going to be fooled and that the plan she created to murder him had failed, looked away from Flint. “It seems this scene failed me.”
“Seems so,” Flint agreed. Changing gears, he focused on the death of Chef Rogers and Mandy Garland. “Why did you and your son kill Chef Rogers?”
“That old man had to die. He tried to blackmail Mandy. She came to me worried. He spotted me and Mandy talking one night… the old buzzard. He overheard us talking about Haley,” Glenda confessed. “My son planted poison in the cigarette pack, but I assume you already know this.”
“Yeah, I do,” Flint agreed. “But what puzzles me is why you and your son killed Mandy Garland?”
“I didn't have anything to do with Mandy's death,” Glenda exploded. “My son killed Mandy without my knowing. I swear. And... it's because he killed Mandy that we... have come to a divide.”
“I see.”
“No, you don't,” Glenda yelled. “My son threatened to kill me if I didn't act as a decoy. That's why I'm here, you miserable worm. It was either help him kill you or die.”
Flint made a few mental notes and moved forward. “Why did your son kill Mandy Garland?”
Glenda tried to squeeze her small wrist out of the handcuffs but failed. “Mandy began having doubts about killing Haley,” she sighed miserably. “Mandy was always a very tough woman, but her one weakness was her inability to become a black widow spider. Yes, at first, Mandy was committed to establishing a cruel punishment against Haley's father for his crime against me and my child... but as the time drew near to finally kill Haley, she began to turn weak.”
“What about the death threats? Why all the smoke and mirrors?” Flint asked.
“The death threats did not come from us,” Glenda said.
“What?” Flint asked, taken back.
Glenda, realizing that she had startled Flint, calmly seized the moment. “Oh, you so you didn't know that? How very interesting.”
Flint bit down on his lower lip. “Listen, if you know who is sending the death threats, you better speak up now and make it easy for yourself.”
“Or what?” Glenda said, holding her ground. “I'm going to rot in prison remember? I doubt I will even leave this house alive. Why should I help you?”
“Will your own son really kill you?” Flint asked.
“My adopted son,” Glenda said. “And the answer to your question is: Yes. My adopted son will kill me. We were never close. I never wanted him. My father, Mr. Mayfield, he wanted Gavin. But I was the one ordered to adopt him.”
“Why?”
“Because my father wanted a son that no one knew about,” Glenda nearly spat at Flint. “The grand Mr. Mayfield regretted having daughters. After my mother died, he insisted that I adopt Gavin. I was in debt to him. What choice did I have in the matter?”
“Go back a step,” Flint told Glenda. “After your mother died you adopted Gavin. Why wait until your mother died?”
Glenda looked away. Her eyes become foggy with memory. “My mother was the only woman that could keep my father from stepping off the straight path. She insisted that Mandy and I would be suitable to take off his studio someday. My mother was a very wealthy woman. It was her money that allowed my father to purchase the studio.”
“Your mother set up a Trust for you and Mandy Garland, didn't she?”
Glenda nodded. “Mandy and I began receiving monthly allowances on the day we turned twenty-one. My mother was a very loving woman. But oh, my father resented her. He resented her money. He resented the power she held over him. He resented her giving birth to two daughters instead of a son. So what does he do? After my mother dies, he has me adopt a son for him in order to hide him.”
“I'm confused. Why hide the kid?” Flint asked.
Glenda asked Flint to remove the handcuffs. “I will not try and escape,” she promised.
Flint stood up, unlocked the cuff on Glenda's right wrist, and then latched the cuff to the chair she was sitting in. “You can try, but you won't get far.”
Glenda stared at him with poison in her eyes. “Unlock me now or I will not speak another word.”
Flint sat back down on his chair. Folding his arms over his chest he looked at Glenda. “So don't speak another word, sister. I've spent hours upon hours in interrogation waiting out the best of them. We can sit here all day and night. But when you have to go to the bathroom, or get hungry or get sleepy, well, don't whine to me.”
“I will sue you for harassment and... cruelty,” Glenda said.
Flint shook his head. Listening to the heavy rain fall outside, he grew silent for a couple of minutes. “Why hide the kid?” he asked again.
Glenda growled but caved in. “He never told me why,” she answered honestly. “I never asked. My goal was to track down Haley's father and make him suffer. So my father and I made a deal. I would adopt Gavin and he would track down my rat.”
“But, somewhere in time, you and Gavin became pals?” Flint asked.
Glenda tugged on the cuff attached to her wrist. With the clear knowledge that her life was in danger and she had no chance of escape, she focused back on Flint. “When Haley's father and I began making our annual trips to Los Angeles, I would visit my father. After all, he is my father.” Glenda closed her eyes. “On one trip, last year, my father introduced me to Gavin. Oh, he was so handsome and so smart. I couldn't believe the young man standing in my father's office was the same baby I had adopted. But...”
“But what?” Flint asked.
Glenda felt a cold chill run down her spine. “His eyes... so cold... so empty. And that's when I knew.”
Flint leaned back in his chair. “I'm listening.”
Glenda kept her eyes closed. “I approached Gavin alone. I offered to take him to dinner. Gavin agreed. We went to a quiet Thai Restaurant, sat at a corner table, and talked. I remember the night very clearly. It was raining like it is now. Gavin was wearing a gray suit. There was a very cute waitress that couldn't take her eyes off of Gavin, but he ignored her.”
Flint sensed something in Glenda's tone. “You showed Gavin a photo of Haley, didn't you? That's why he ignored the waitress.”
/> Glenda slowly nodded. “When Gavin saw Haley, something in his eyes changed. I became alarmed, but my heart was set on revenge. Haley Frost had to die. Gavin and I spoke, and after dinner, we drove to the beach and took a very long walk. By the end of the walk, Gavin agreed to help me kill Haley. But first, I had to bring Haley to Los Angeles.”
“That's where Mandy came into play.”
“Haley has never liked me,” Glenda said. “The only mutual ground we shared was our passion for theatrics. I had one tool to use, and I did. I called Mandy and together we devised a plan to trap Haley and bring her to Los Angeles... where Gavin would be waiting.”
Flint studied Glenda's face. “The plan was not to kill Haley immediately, right?”
“You're very smart,” Glenda said. “Gavin was to kidnap Haley. Her father would pay ransom money... every cent he owned. Afterward, Gavin would kill Haley, and me, the stepmother, would come forward and confess to the press that the rat I so despise was behind his daughter's murder.”
“But Haley's uncle jumped onto the boat and asked for Chief Cunningham to send police protection for Haley.”
“On the very night Gavin was going to kidnap Haley, you arrived,” Glenda said in a sick voice.
“What about Matt and Dave?”
“The Hardy Boys?” Glenda laughed to herself. “Mandy hired them because they are worthless. Their business is failing. Those two are no good as bodyguards. But... you know this, right? No, I can see that you didn't.”
“Matt and Dave are good guys,” Flint said. “I look at who a man is for what he stands for, got it, sister.”
“Don't play cowboy with me. Your code of conduct sickens me. You serve a law that is soulless. Just because you wear a badge doesn't make you a White Knight, either. Cops are criminals. Very few of you actually become cops because you care to serve and protect… that is your motto, right?”
“Sister,” Flint said, “the law I serve isn't perfect. I'll be the first one to admit that. I will also admit that there are criminals who hide behind their badges. But, when the fire hits the fan, we're the first ones to take the heat. Good cops die in this country at the hands of the bad guys, and those good cops who die outweigh the bad anyway.”
“What a very heartwarming, sickening, speech,” Glenda said. “Listen you slug, Mandy hired the Hardy Boys because they're both idiots. Need I remind you that Haley escaped from this house unheard and unseen?”
Flint shrugged. “Lady, there was only one man who was perfect.”
Glenda sighed. “Okay, I won't argue any longer.”
Flint nodded. “On the night my partner and I arrived, Gavin Mayfield was going to kidnap Haley... kill Matt and Dave I assume… and kill Chef Rogers, too. But my partner and I put a dent in that plan. So what next? Ah, Gavin puts the arsenic in the stew to frame Chef Rogers in order to get the old guy out of the way. But just in case that didn't work, he poisons the guy's cigarettes, too.”
“Haley was never meant to eat the soup. The soup was meant for the Hardy Boys, cop. Gavin didn't put the arsenic in the soup to frame Uncle Rogers.”
“Hey, you can't hit a home run all the time, but you sure bunted the ball for me,” Flint said, and winked at her.
Glenda balled her hands into two tight fists. “You and your partner disrupted everything. Gavin had to kill Uncle Rogers. What if he talked? I pleaded with Gavin to let him live, but Gavin insisted that Uncle Rogers had to die. I suppose he was right.”
“Murder is never justified,” Flint said. Rubbing his chin, he thought about the hole in the basement leading into the cave. “Gavin was going to take Haley out through the cave, wasn't he?”
“That damp little cave is now out of operation, thanks to you,” Glenda said. “If only Haley's uncle wouldn't have intervened. That man... oh, how I despised him. I laughed when Haley presented evidence that cost him his job. I despise cops, all of the cops, good and bad.”
“I guess stock brokers are a lot better, huh?” Flint said.
As if Flint had slapped Glenda in the face, the woman stared at Flint in shock. “How dare you!” she yelled. “You have no understanding of the pain I have suffered at the hands of a man who used me as if I were nothing but a piece of trash to be tossed to the curb. I loved my baby, and my baby died! Where is the justice in that, cop? Where!”
“I'm not going to deny that losing child hurts. I can only imagine the pain that you must have felt. I don't have any children. But let me say this: Women lose their babies every day in this cold world. Across seas women are violated, beaten, enslaved, their children killed. It's a cold world out there, sister. I'm sorry your child died, I really am. But if you really loved your child, you would live on in that child's memory. No one forced you to be with a scum bag who used you and then tossed you to the side. You made that choice alone. You face the consequences of your actions, too. What, do you think you're the first woman in history who was used by a sewer rat?”
“Shut up,” Glenda growled.
“Yeah, sure, when the truth hits home, you want me to shut up. Sister, let me tell you, your reason for murder sickens me. You were going to murder an innocent girl to get revenge on some guy who treated you like yesterday's news. That doesn't paint the wall with me. The truth is, you are a low down, no good, cowardly, sewer rat yourself. If you got a bone to pick with someone, you pick that bone and leave the innocent out of it.”
“Shut up!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Flint waved his hand at Glenda. “Keep saying that after I send you to prison. Your game is over. Now what I want to know is why Gavin wants you dead? But I have a feeling I know. Gavin wants you out of the picture. He wants everyone out of the picture, doesn't he? Even Mr. Mayfield.”
Glenda could only stare at Flint. The truth was... the truth was... Flint was right. “He's obsessed with Haley Frost.”
“Talk to me.”
Glenda ran her free hand through her damp hair. “A few years ago Gavin tracked down his real mother. The woman was dying of breast cancer. Gavin only had a few weeks with her before she died. My father said Gavin changed after his mother died. He became cold, bitter, withdrawn.”
“Keep going,” Flint pressed.
“Last night my father finally showed me a photo of Gavin's mother. The woman looks identical to Haley. I believe this is why Gavin is obsessed with Haley. A bit of bad luck on my side, I suppose.”
“There is no such thing as good and bad luck,” Flint said. “Is Mayfield dead?”
Glenda slowly nodded. “Gavin killed him last night.”
“Where is Gavin now?” Flint demanded.
“He probably went back to the studio? Or maybe he didn't? Detective, I believe that Gavin thinks Haley is somehow connected to his mother. And now he's showing Haley, the way a son would show off in front of his mother, that he's in control.”
“You don't seem so sure.”
“How can I be? I'm telling you what I feel deep inside of my heart,” Glenda answered.
“Yeah,” Flint said, then stood up. “Dave!”
Dave came jogging into the dining room. “What's up, Flint?”
“Watch her,” he ordered, then walked into the kitchen and called the station. “I want some black and whites over here ASAP. Want constant patrols. But keep away from the studio, is that clear?” he told a woman dispatcher.
“Should I contact Chief Cunningham at his home?” the woman dispatcher asked.
“Nah, let him sleep. I'm about to wrap up this case.” Hanging up the phone, Flint looked at Dave. “Hey, what that woman said, it's not true. You and Matt are good guys.”
Matt shrugged. “We're the best in the business. I was thinking maybe Mandy Garland hired us because she really did want us to protect Haley. Maybe she lied to that woman and made her think my brother and I were worthless? A lot of questions, huh?”
“There will always be questions,” Flint said, “but by the time night falls, this case will be over. It's time to go catch a killer, Matt.”
&nb
sp; An hour later, Flint was riding in a black and white cop car with Haley sitting at his right side in the back seat. “Where to?” Tori asked, aiming the cop car down the canyon road at a cautious speed.
“Back the house,” Flint said. “But take your time, Arnold. Haley and I need to talk.”
*****
Chapter 7
Stormy End
Tori parked beside the studio building holding the spooky house in its womb.
“Okay,” Flint said, hearing the hard falling rain pound the top of the car, “here's how we're going to do this.” Pulling out a pair of handcuffs from the inside of his overcoat, he handcuffed his left wrist to Haley's right wrist.
“What are you doing?” Haley asked worriedly.
Flint smiled. “Don't worry.”
Tori looked in the rear view mirror. “My, Flint, she looks just like Glenda Frost with that wig. And the clothes size, very close.”
“Are you sure he will fall for this?” Haley asked.
“I'm sure,” Flint said, pulling out his gun. “Let's go. Arnold, circle around and sneak back in.” After getting out of the car, Flint walked Haley through the rain toward the back studio door. “Where's the body?” he yelled.
“What... what body?” Haley stuttered, watching Tori pull away.
Flint kicked the studio door. “Sister, I'm tired of playing games. Tell me where Mayfield is and make it easy for yourself.”
“Inside... at the house,” Haley answered in a scared voice.
Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Flint saw a shadow flash behind a building. Fishing a set of keys out from his right pocket, he unlocked the studio door. It was a good thing the new security company was as timid as the old one, bowing down to Flint's threat of arrest if anyone dared to interfere with his investigation. Money may talk, but the threat of jail time yelled the loudest.
Pulling Haley into the dark studio, Flint hurried toward the spooky house. “Okay,” he whispered, “here's where things get very serious. I saw Gavin outside. We have to hurry.”
“Are you sure?” Haley asked Flint, terrified. “Detective Flint, I don't want to die.”
Detective Flint Box Set: A Detective Story Box Set Books 1-3 Page 24
