Of course everyone had blamed it on the dog, but later that night Jess saw Ally watching her. "Too bad about the doll," Ally had said, a small smile on her lips. “I know how much you loved it.”
Jess knew at that moment that Ally had killed the doll.
There had been other incidents as well over the years. More subtle. More sophisticated.
But could she have actually done something as horrendous as killing her own father?
Maddy turned off the steaming kettle and brought it over to fill their cups. “But why didn’t you tell me about your trip to Mexico, sooner? I would have understood."
"I know. I should have,” Jess shrugged. “I guess I was too embarrassed. After that whole thing with Zach, I just felt like an idiot. Plus I didn’t want to get you involved in anything illegal.”
Maddy sighed and steeped her tea. “Well I wish you had. Told me. I never would have let you go through with it.”
“But…”
“But I know. You promised to do Ally a favor after she helped you with Zach. Still… smuggling drugs is too much to ask.”
“Drugs or something,” Jess nodded. “The thing is… I promised I’d never tell a soul about it.”
"Well, too bad,” Maddy said, looking at her seriously. “Jess, you have no choice now. You have to go to the police. She's setting you up for murder."
"But how can I? They’ll arrest me for smuggling!”
Maddy brushed the remains of the shredded napkin off the table and tossed it in the trash. "Listen, Jess. You don’t have a choice-- smuggling's better then murder, right?"
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
The next day, Jess dressed in a hurry. The fear crowding her mind seemed to be providing her with a strange energy of its own.
She looked at her watch, calculating the time it would take her to drive to Lars’ office for the reading of the will. With luck she would beat the lunch hour traffic. And hopefully by then, her lawyer would have called her back and advised her on what to do about Maria.
She’d already called him twice that morning, and left him urgent messages--not that she expected much help from him anyway. He was a family lawyer handling her custody case, but she hoped he might be able to give her some basic advice or perhaps refer her to someone who could help if she needed it. If push came to shove.
Jess grabbed her keys and headed out the door, still mulling it over.
Part of her wanted to go to the police and tell them the truth as Maddy had suggested. But if she did that, even if she weren’t arrested, Lars would make sure she lost custody of Danny .She didn’t think she could live with that.
The only other option was to pay Maria off and keep quiet. Which didn’t sit well with her either. Paying her off would be an admission of guilt. And not only that, it would allow the real killer—Ally--to get away with it.
She tried to picture herself going in and telling the truth to Sykes, but all she could imagine were his impassive brown eyes watching her. Not responding. Not believing the whole smuggling story. Or worse...believing her and deciding to charge her.
Stopped at a red light, she checked the time on her cell and caught sight of Danny's gap-toothed smile grinning out at her from her screensaver. She looked at him with an ache in her heart. What would happen to him?
If only she hadn't gone to bed with Zach. None of this would have happened. She wouldn't have gone to Ally for the money and wouldn’t have had to do her the favor.
But it was too late now.
She pulled into the parking lot of Waterbor, Michaelson & Parks and took a deep breath. This whole situation felt like trying to swim in quicksand—the more she struggled, the deeper in she was pulled.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Jess arrived at Lars' law office not knowing what to expect. Though she'd never been to reading of a will, she assumed it would be similar to scenes she’d seen on TV or in the movies.
She looked at her reflection in the mirrored elevator and smoothed back her hair.
Since she was there for the reading, she figured her father had left her something, but that was far from certain. Since, for all she knew, she'd been cut out of the will years ago over some perceived slight and he had kept it secret in order to maintain control over her.
She pushed open the heavy, glass door and entered the modern white conference room. Lars and Simon Waterbor were sitting at the long, glass, conference table, chatting quietly.
Waterbor, her father’s longtime attorney and golf partner, was one of the founding partners of Waterbor, Michaelson & Parks and had appeared quite broken up at the funeral. He nodded to Jess as she walked towards the table.
Jess didn't recognize the two men in business suits who sat opposite him. To their left sat Maria, her posture rigid and her face expressionless. She stared straight ahead not meeting anyone's eyes.
It was all Jess could do to control of her fury as she looked at her father’s former maid. She took a seat at the end of the table, as far away from Maria as she could, then set her cell phone to vibrate so as not to miss the call from her lawyer.
She glanced over at Waterbor and considered approaching him for advice about her situation. Though she trusted him, his relationship with Lars, his protege, precluded her from doing it. She didn't think Simon would ever tell Lars anything she told him in private, but still, with Danny's custody at stake, she didn't want to take the chance.
“We’re just waiting on one more…” Lars began, then stopped. “Oh, here she is now.”
Jess turned at the sound of the door opening and was shocked to see Ally entering the room.
Dressed all in black, with subtle makeup, soft powder on her cheeks and pale pink gloss covering her lips, she looked for all the world like the loving, grieving daughter she wasn’t.
Jess couldn't believe it. Ally couldn't make it to the funeral, but she had no trouble showing up here!
Why had she even come? She'd been cut out of the will years ago. Their father had made that clear on many occasions. Was she hoping he had changed his mind?
Maybe he had, Jess thought. Maybe Ally had been reinstated in the will and knew about it--that would certainly give her a motive for murder. Money. Ally always needed more of it. No matter how much she had. She always lived above her means.
Ally smiled demurely at Jess as she took a seat to her left.
"This should be interesting" she whispered.
Jess turned away from her without replying.
At just that moment Simon Waterbor stood. He expressed his condolences to the gathering and stated how sorry he was to lose such an old, dear friend as Randolph. Jess's eyes watered when she saw how deeply affected the old man was. Though their relationship was mostly based on business, in a sense, he had been her father's best friend.
"If you don't mind, we'll skip the formalities and get right to the bequests,” he said looking around at each of them, one by one. “However, as the executor of the estate, I will delay distribution until after the murder investigation is closed. Let's begin.”
He cleared his throat, and flipped through the pages of the will. "Item number one.” Randolph Banks left $100,000 to the American Heart Association."
The two men in suits nodded, obviously expecting this.
Waterbor then looked over at Maria. "Mrs.Maria Perez. For your many years of service, I leave you $15,000 dollars."
Maria gave a curt nod, her expression impassive. Even Jess had to admit that after thirty years of service, it was less than generous. She was beginning to feel a little sorry for her when the older lady turned slowly to meet her gaze and gave Jess a meaningful nod.
Jess looked away in rage. Angry at Maria for blackmailing her, angrier at herself for not having immediately told her to go screw herself.
Now what? Would she give in to Maria's blackmail? Could she live with herself if she did? And if she didn’t give her what she wanted, what then?
Waterbor continued reading the will, "A trust in the amount of three and a ha
lf million dollars has been set up for Daniel H. Parks, which his parents and legal guardians, Jessica and Lars Parks will oversee until he reaches the age of twenty one."
Jess nodded, relieved. At least Danny would be taken care of for the rest of his life. She would forever be grateful to her father for that. Whether he’d cut her out of the will or not, at least he'd remembered Danny.
"Allesandra..." Mr. Waterbor began,
"Don't tell me the old bastard actually included me," Ally said under her breath.
"He leaves you your mother's pearl necklace, which he states you've already taken possession of. Plus the sum of five dollars."
Ally smirked as though having expected the insult.
“That’s so you don’t contest the will,” Lars explained..
"And the bulk of the estate," Simon continued, "including various properties and securities, as well as the rest and residual of the estate goes to Jessica Parks. Which amounts to something in excess of 15 million dollars."
Jess gasped, her hand flew to her mouth. She waited a moment to hear the terms her father had attached to the inheritance, before she could receive the money, and was even more surprised to learn that it was being given to her with no restrictions whatsoever.
She looked around the table and saw that everyone was watching her. She struggled to keep her composure. All her money worries would now be gone.
It seemed too easy, like a dream. Or some kind of trick.
Her father had used his money as a means of controlling and bending people to his will so many times over the years that it seemed odd that he'd just hand it to her outright, without any kind of strings or provisions.
Jess immediately felt guilty for the thought, her father had been nothing but generous to her at the end, and here she was questioning it.
She remembered again the last words she'd spoken to him. She didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself for such cruelty.
Standing up, somewhat dazed, Jess looked up as Lars came over to congratulate her.
"Lars." She interrupted him before he could say anything. "Could you keep Danny again today? There're some things I have to take care of."
"With that kind of money, Jess, I'd think you could afford a babysitter," Ally said, over her shoulder.
"Don't talk to me," Jess said. She glared at her sister then grabbed her purse from the conference table and stormed out of the room.
In the hallway she almost bumped into Maria who’d obviously been waiting for her. "Miss Jessica, I think the price for my silence went up." Maria smiled at her.
Jess stared at her.
"I'm not going to pay you anything, Maria." Jess didn't know where the words had come from but once she started she couldn’t stop herself. "After all the years of knowing you, it's nice to finally see who you really are."
Maria's smile quickly faded from her lips.
"Well then, Miss Jessica" she said, recovering quickly. "I guess I'll have to tell the police what I saw. And what I found.. "
"Go ahead," Jess said not even trying to control her rage. Or her frustration. Or the feeling of being used and jerked around by everyone.
"Go tell what you want to whoever you want. But I wasn’t there that night and I don’t care what you think you know."
Jess turned and walked off leaving Maria standing speechless in the hall, an angry look on her face.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Jess hurried into the elevator unable to control her shaking. She didn’t know what she had just done but she had to admit it felt good. Finally letting out all that bottled up emotion. Finally standing up for herself.
She hadn’t planned to go to the police––at least not until she'd spoken to her lawyer and made sure it was the right thing to do––but in her rage, the decision had been made for her. She had no choice now. She would tell Sykes the truth. And whatever happened would happen.
Feeling calmer, she stepped out of the elevator and into the parking garage. She was tired of lying and besides, she wasn’t good at it anyway. She would tell Sykes that she’d been in Mexico the day of her father's murder. And that Ally had killed him. She just had get to him before Maria did.
She pressed the remote on her keychain and her car door unlocked with a beep.
"Jeeze, Jess, you have to learn relax.”
She spun around to find Ally standing behind her. "Seriously, you look like you're about to have a heart attack. Chill out and enjoy things for once. You did well for yourself,” Ally smiled, cool as ever, and took a drag on her cigarette. "I told you the old man was prick, leaving me that necklace and five dollars..."
"I can’t believe you hated him enough to kill him!" Jess exploded.
"What are you talking about? I didn’t kill daddy.”
Jess could feel the rage building within her. The last thing she needed was to hear more of Ally’s lies. "You’re not going to get away with it, Ally. I'm going to the police and I'm going to tell them everything.” She opened the door of her SUV and climbed in.
“Do what you want Jess. But remember you made me a promise and it’s very bad karma to break a promise."
Jess reached out to pull her car door shut but Ally grabbed it first. "Listen to me, Jess, they may suspect you now, but if you really didn’t do it you have nothing to worry about."
"Of course I didn’t do it! You did!"
"Don’t be silly. Of course I didn’t kill daddy. And if you go to the cops and change your story, you’re a fool."
"Then I’m a fool!" Jess pulled the door shut. As she screeched away she caught sight of Ally in the rear view mirror. Her sister didn’t look worried in the least. In fact, she almost seemed to be smiling.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Jess drove directly over to the Beverly Hills police station. Parking her car in the large parking structure adjacent to the main building, she turned off her engine and sat, thinking. What if she was making a mistake? Maybe she was being too rash. Perhaps the smart thing to do was to keep quiet and not put herself at risk.
It wasn’t too late to turn right around and go back home, pay off Maria and hope the whole thing went away.
No. She couldn’t live with herself if she did that. She couldn’t let Ally get away with murder.
She got out of her car and slammed the door harder then she’d intended, then walked out onto the large complex that housed the library and police station. Her heart pounded as she walked up the stairs of the thirties deco structure.
Once inside the glass doors of the police station, she paused at the front desk and spoke to an officer sitting inside a booth of glass. "I need to talk to detective Sykes.”
“What about?" he asked, looking up from the real estate book he was studying.
“It’s...a case he’s working on. The investigation of my father’s murder. Raymond Banks.”
He picked up the phone and pressed a button. “There’s someone here about the Banks murder,” he said into the receiver, then nodded to Jess. ““He’ll be with you a minute. Have a seat.”
A few minutes later Sykes walked out, coffee cup in hand. "What can I do for you, Mrs. Parks?”
"I need to talk to you,” she said, steeling herself.
He nodded and led her through a door that opened onto a large room, full of desks. Jess was surprised by how quiet it was, not at all like what she was used to on TV. It was clean with teal carpets that matched the teal trim on the walls. Leave it to Beverly Hills, she thought, where the biggest crime was probably jaywalking. Or celebrity shoplifting.
Sykes pulled a steel chair up to the side of his desk and motioned for Jess to take a seat. Then he went to the coffee machine on the windowsill. “Coffee?” he asked as he refilled his cup. She nodded. “We got some milk here and..."
"Black is fine, thanks."
He handed her the cup and she took a long sip, grateful for the excuse to gather her thoughts, acutely aware that he was watching her.
“So, Mrs Parks, what’s on your mind. I’m
sure you didn’t come here for our wonderful house blend.”
Jess took a deep breath. “I lied to you before. I wasn’t at home sick the night my father died.”
She waited for a response. When there wasn’t any, she looked down into her lap. “I should probably start from the beginning,” she said.
Over the course of the next hour, she told Sykes about meeting Zach in Texas. And about the tape he'd made for Lars to use against her in court. When she touched on the nature of the tape itself she glanced at Sykes who was looking at her impassively. For once she was glad for those emotionless brown eyes.
"So that was why you wanted the eighty thousand? To pay off the blackmailer?”
Jess nodded. Sykes took down some notes the notepad in front of him.
Jess continued on with her story, describing how Ally had helped her get the tape back from Zach. And that she’d gone to Mexico as a favor to her in return.
Sykes paused at her description of smuggling across the border and questioned her in more detail than she could answer, about the exact nature of the exchange.
“What made you think there were drugs in the hat?”
Jess shrugged. “It was just a natural assumption.”
When she told him about Maria finding the tie on her coat, he sat up and began taking more detailed notes. “She saw you there that night. What time was that?”
Jess thought about it. “I’m not sure. But Maria usually leaves my father’s at around seven forty five–––just before his walk, so it was probably around then. She said she saw my car parked across the street when she left his house.”
Sykes tapped his pen on his desk. “That would be right around the time of the murder.”
Jess nodded nervously. “She said she saw me there too, getting out of the car...wearing my trench coat. The coat I’d worn to Ally’s that day. And that’s...” She shook her head, sadly. “…that’s how I know it had to be Ally that killed my father. Because I was in Mexico at that time, dressed in her clothes and driving her car, while she had my coat and car that I’d left at her house.”
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