Murder in Georgia

by Agnes Alexander

  “Yes.”

  “Did Don know?”

  “He knew there was someone. He never knew who.”

  “Why didn’t he leave you?”

  “I’ve often asked myself that. The only answer is he just didn’t care.”

  There was a long pause then Lita asked, “Is there anything else?”

  Dora hesitated.

  “Is there?”

  “Don was sterile, Lita.”

  Lita looked as if she’d been slapped. “Are you saying...?”

  “Yes. Sal fathered both Derrick and Janice.”

  “Do they know?”

  “Derrick found out last summer. He has hated me ever since. He said he was going to kill me one day.”

  Lita couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. “I think I need to go, Dora.” She stood. “I can’t wrap my mind around all this now.”

  “Please, Lita. I must tell you something else.”

  Lita’s shoulders slumped. “No, Dora, nothing else. I can’t take any more.”

  Dora closed her eyes. “I’m the one who was harassing you, Lita. I couldn’t stand seeing you so happy as Sal’s widow. It should’ve been me.”

  “You mean?”

  “Yes, Lita. I’m the only one who knew about your fear of snakes and how it would throw you if your dead friend was accused of sending the snake charmer to you.”

  “Nicole pointed out to me my troubles ceased after your accident.” Lita shook her head. “I didn’t believe you could be so cruel.”

  “I’m sorry, Lita. Please forgive me before I die.”

  Lita stood. “I don’t know if I can, Dora. How could you do this to me? I loved Sal. I was a good wife and he had no right to...” She started out of the room.

  “Wait, Lita. I have to ask you one favor.”

  “After what you’ve done to me, how could you dare to ask a favor of me?”

  “It’s not for me, Lita. Please. I only want to ask you one thing.”

  “I must go.”

  “Please Lita, when I die, will you please watch out for Janice. She’s vulnerable. Derrick doesn’t matter. He’s already lost to me, but Janice is...”

  Lita came back to Dora’s bed. She looked down at her dying friend. Instinct made her reach out and pat Dora’s hand. “I may never be able to forgive you, but don’t worry. I’ll never let Janice know. I remember how much she loved her father.”

  “Thank you, Lita.”

  Without answering, Lita squared her shoulders and left the room. Janice was standing in the hall with tears running down her cheeks.

  “You heard?” Lita looked at her.

  Janice nodded.

  Lita put her arms around the shaking woman. “Hang in there. We’ll work through this somehow. We’ll do it together.”

  “How can I face her, knowing what I know now?” Janice clung to Lita.

  “Try, Janice. Try. She’s an old woman. Let’s let her die in peace.”

  “I’m sorry about what she did to you, Lita.”

  “It doesn’t matter now. It’s over with.” Lita looked down at her. “As I said, we’ll get through it somehow. We’ll help each other.”

  Janice nodded and continued to cling to Lita.

  * * * *

  “Where is Connor?” Elsie looked pleadingly at her sister.

  “Honey, he had to take care of some business.”

  “But I want him to take me to dinner.”

  “He’ll be back, Elsie.” Paul looked at his wife.

  “Okay.” Elsie’s eyes were no longer wild. They now took on the blank stare of someone slipping further from reality.

  “Elsie,” Erline said slowly. “There’s a nice place not far from here where I think you should go for a rest. All you have to do is sign some papers and they’ll take very good care of you.”

  “But I want to go to dinner with Connor.”

  “Honey,” Paul said softly. “Connor can come there and have a meal with you. It’s a real fancy place with tablecloths and music.”

  “Really?” She stared at Paul with glazed eyes.

  “Yes, really.”

  “Paul, maybe you’re not so bad after all. I told Erline you weren’t much to look at, but you sure are nice.”

  “Thank you, Elsie.”

  She looked at her sister. “I’m glad you married him instead of Slim. Slim liked me better than you anyway.”

  Erline’s heart pounded when she looked at her sister. She hoped Elsie’s babbling wouldn’t tell too much about their background. Why hadn’t she noticed before Elsie was in trouble? Maybe she could have helped her earlier and her twin could have had a normal life. “I’m glad I married Paul, too, Elsie. I really love him.”

  Erline was relieved when Elsie didn’t say anything else about Slim. She watched as her sister closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the chair.

  “Are we going now?” Elsie asked aloud.

  “Going where, honey?” Erline asked.

  “To the pretty place. The place where Connor can come.”

  “We’ll go as soon as I can make a reservation.” Paul looked at his wife. “Honey, I’ll go into another office and call. You stay here and talk with Elsie.”

  She nodded.

  As he walked by Erline, Paul touched her shoulder. She looked up at him. “I love you, too,” he whispered.

  She smiled and squeezed his hand.

  Chapter 33

  Connor was scared when he pulled up in front of the storage units. He found 151 and ran toward it hoping against hope Nicole would be there and be alright. At the same time, two police cars pulled up with their sirens blaring. “Hold it,” an officer yelled at Connor.

  Connor stopped.

  The officer came up to him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Didn’t Detective Milo or Collins call you? They sent me here and said some officers would meet me. I’m Connor Cottingham.”

  “Just a minute,” the officer said and turned to talk on his shoulder radio. In a minute he turned back to Connor. “Okay, Mr. Cottingham. Carry on.”

  Connor rushed to the door and stuck the key in the lock. It clicked and he shoved open the door. His blood ran cold and his heart almost stopped when he saw Nicole huddled in the middle of the floor. Her hair was matted with blood and her rainbow sweater was waded up under her head. She didn’t move when the door opened. He ran to her. The officer was on his heels.

  “Nicole, darling,” he cried. “Are you alright? Are you awake?”

  The officer called for an ambulance.

  Connor held Nicole to his chest. She didn’t respond to his words for a minute then she began to groan. “Oh, Nicole! You’re alive. Can you open your eyes, darling?”

  She only moaned again. “It’s okay, honey,” he said. “Help will be here soon. You just hang on. I’m going to take care of you.”

  He was sure she nodded her head.

  It wasn’t long until the paramedics were rushing through the door. They moved Connor out of the way and began working on Nicole. They checked the wound on her head, applied a temporary bandage, and ran an IV in her arm then hoisted her to the stretcher.

  “We’re going to transport her to the hospital now,” one of the men said. He upped the stretcher and began rolling her toward the ambulance.

  “I’ll be right there, Nicole. I love you,” Connor held her hand as they rolled her toward the open doors. He looked at the driver. “I’ll follow you.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead as they paused. When he straightened they rolled her inside the vehicle and closed the doors. In only seconds they flew out of the parking lot with the siren screaming.

  Connor started toward his car, but the officer stopped him again. “Maybe you’d better wait until the detectives get—”

  “There’s no way in hell I’m staying here. If you need me, you can get me at the hospital.”

  “Yes, but...”

  Another officer walked up. “Just got a call. They said they had the search warrant a
nd to go ahead and enter the storage unit.”

  The young officer with Connor said, “Okay.”

  “Detective Milo also said not to detain Mr. Cottingham. He said he’d catch up with him later.”

  “I guess that means you’re free to go.”

  “Thanks. I sure didn’t want to get arrested for fighting with a police officer.” Connor ran to his car and headed toward the hospital.

  * * * *

  “Well, well would you look at this.” Detective Collins took some files off the top closet shelf of Jeff Bowie’s office. “Looks like Mr. Cliff Meeker has been a busy boy.”

  Detective Milo took the three files and glanced through the first one. “He sure has. Boy, he did dig up some dirt, didn’t he?”

  “Actually, it seems Bowie was the one doing the digging.”

  “Wonder what he planned to do with all this.” Milo said as he studied the first file. “There’s one on the drowning in Lake Tobesofkee, one on a Julia Carver also known as the baby of Dora Hildebrand and Salvador Mancini, and this last one is a doozey. He’s got a file on Mancini which goes back for years. Seems the man had an affair with Dora Hildebrand until he died. Looks like all her kids belonged to him.”

  “And Lita Mancini is such a nice lady.”

  “Yep. Looks like we need to try to protect her if we can.” Milo closed the files.

  “Since Meeker told us Derrick Hildebrand hired him to rough up Dora I don’t see a way to avoid it. Did you call the Michigan police about him?”

  “I did. They’ve got a warrant out for his arrest.”

  “If he confesses too, maybe we can keep this quiet.”

  “Unless he pleads innocent or Meeker changes his mind and pleads innocent too, I don’t see any reason this couldn’t be stashed in a file then wait and see if we close it right away.” He smiled at his partner. “Let’s hope it turns out that way. I don’t like hurting old people when it isn’t necessary.” He chuckled. “I’m getting too close to being old myself.”

  “Don’t tell me that shit.” Trudy glanced at her partner and grinned. “I saw the way you kept eying Nicole Lynch every time we had to talk with her. Which, by the way, I think you made up some of those reasons just to get to look at her.”

  “Why, Trudy? How can you say such a thing? I’ve only been a single man for two years. I don’t look at suspects in any way except...”

  “This is Trudy you’re talking to. You might be getting older, but you ain’t near dead yet.”

  “Girl, did you skip English class a lot in high school?”

  She laughed. “Come on. Let’s go see what’s going on at the storage unit, then I think we should go by the hospital and check on Miss Lynch.”

  “Have they transported her there?”

  “Said they had. You may not get to talk with her, though. The officer said she was still unconscious when they left with her.”

  He grinned at his partner as they headed toward the car. “Maybe we’d better wait until she wakes up.”

  She shot him a look. “Why do that? Connor Cottingham is no slouch. I’ll do the talking to him.”

  William laughed as he got into the passenger side of the car. “Trudy, you’re incorrigible.”

  * * * *

  Paul and Erline headed out the gates of the impressive private hospital. She snuffed back tears. He reached over and took her hand.

  “I know it’s hard to leave your sister here, darling, but it’s really the best thing for her.”

  “I know, Paul. I wish...”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Erline. Nobody knew Elsie was so messed up. Like everyone else, I just thought she was man crazy and promiscuous.”

  “But honey, I’ve known she was different. She was when we were young. Since she’s gotten older, I wondered about her at times, but I closed my eyes. I didn’t want her to be mentally ill.” She looked at her husband. “I should’ve admitted she needed help all along.”

  “Erline, please don’t replay what has been or what might have been. We’ve got this day and the future. We’ll do all we can for Elsie and just hope and pray she finds peace within herself.”

  “I’ve always loved you, Paul, but I don’t think I realized how much until today.” She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. “I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with everything and everyone at the club, I’m afraid I’ve neglected you.”

  “No, you haven’t. You’ve always been there for me, Erline.” He kind of chuckled. “Of course, sometimes I did think you were trying too hard to be one of the, shall we say, correct people.” He squeezed her hand. “But, I’m the lucky man who knows the real you.”

  “Thank you, Paul.” She squeezed back. “I promise you, I’m going to concentrate more on you and Mattie than I am the right schools or the right clubs.”

  He dropped her hand when his cell phone rang.

  “Paul,” Connor said. “I’m at the hospital. We found Nicole.”

  “Is she alright?”

  “She will be. They’re working on her now.”

  “Where was she, Connor?”

  “He stashed her in a storage unit.” Connor paused then added, “He intended to leave her there.”

  “You mean, not release her. She could’ve...”

  “Yes, she could’ve, and that’s just what he planned.”

  “Does Dad know?” Paul asked.

  “Yes, I’ve called him and Mom. I also called Lita.” Connor paused again. “Could I ask a favor of you, Paul?”

  “Oh, course.”

  “Lita wants to come to the hospital. She was too shook up to drive. I told her I’d come get her, but I really don’t want to leave in case Nicole wakes up.”

  “Say no more. Erline and I are not that far from town. We’ll be happy to pick her up and bring her to the hospital.”

  “Are you sure Erline won’t mind?”

  “I’m sure, Connor. See you soon. Give Nicole our love.” He hung up and turned to his wife. “I need to pick up Lita Mancini and take her to the hospital. Do you want to go with me, or do you want me to drop you at Mom’s?”

  Without further explanation she said, “I want to go with you.”

  Paul reached for her hand again.

  Chapter 34

  Nicole opened her eyes and Conner jumped from his chair and rushed to her.

  “Nicole,” Connor leaned over the bed and whispered. “Honey, you opened your eyes. I saw you. Please do it again.”

  But Nicole was asleep.

  Connor sat back down. She looked at me. I know she did, he thought to himself. Why didn’t she speak to me? She didn’t seem to know who I was. Oh, God, please don’t let her forget what we have.

  Of course, now he knew she’d been running away from Cliff Meeker. The detectives told him this though they didn’t know her connection to Meeker. Connor didn’t care what it was. He may have been her lover. He may be a relative. He may be anything to her, but Connor still didn’t care. He loved Nicole, and he knew she loved him. Whatever her relationship to Cliff Meeker had been, he was now a part of her past.

  “I love you, Nicole,” he whispered as he stood again and leaned over her. He kissed her forehead. “You sleep, and I’ll be back.”

  He slipped out of the room and went down the hall to the waiting room. Lita jumped up. “Is she awake, Connor?”

  He shook his head. “She opened her eyes, but she went right back to sleep.” He looked at the older woman. “Lita, I think you should go home before it gets any later. You know I’ll be here.”

  “I don’t want to leave her either, Connor.”

  “I know, but you’ll do her more good if you get a good night’s sleep and come back tomorrow.”

  “Connor is right, Lita.” Erline took the older woman’s arm. “Why don’t you go in and tell Nicole good-night and let us take you home?”

  “If you really think I should.”

  “Yes, we think so.” Paul smiled at her. “I’ll get you back to the hospital early tomo
rrow.”

  Lita finally agreed and Connor walked with her back to Nicole’s room “Son, you’d better try to get some sleep too.”

  “I will, Lita. I promise. I can sleep anywhere.”

  “You need to go home and go to bed.”

  He shook his head. “You know I can’t do that.” He pushed the door to the room open.

  Lita walked up to the bed and put her hand on Nicole’s cheek. “Nicole, you must get well for us, dear. We love you, you know.”

  * * * *

  Nicole opened her eyes and looked around the room. A dim light burned in the corner and a man sat by her bed. She didn’t know him, but he looked nice and for some reason she didn’t mind him sitting there. Her head hurt so she closed her eyes.

  She wondered it Katrina and Cliff were on the way to meet her for lunch. She frowned. How could she meet them? She was in a bed. What was she doing in a bed? And why did her head hurt so? She couldn’t answer any of these questions so she let her mind drift away into blackness again.

  The next time Nicole woke up, an older woman stood beside her. She expected to see her Grandma, but she didn’t know who this was. The lady seemed nice, but it was Grandma Mildred she wanted. Besides, that strange man stood behind this little woman. Nicole closed her eyes, hoping they’d go away. She went back to sleep.

  When she opened her eyes again, a nurse was taking her vital signs. “Well, well. There are those pretty blue eyes. How’re you feeling?”

  “My head hurts.”

  “I’m sure it does, honey. You hang in there. It’ll get better.” The nurse smiled at her. “Your boyfriend will be back shortly.”

  “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Of course you do. He’s hardly left your side since bringing you in here yesterday. I finally made him go get some breakfast.” She patted Nicole’s shoulder. “I sure wish I had someone who loved me as much as he loves you.”

  Nicole started to protest, but the nurse went on, “Do you think you could eat anything? The doctor said we could put you on a liquid diet if you were awake enough this morning.”