by Lauren Carr
“I’m here visiting my father,” Debra said. “He’s a resident.”
“I thought your father had abandoned you and your mother when you were a little girl.” Nikki grit her teeth. Calling Debra out like that would surely make her defensive.
Debra stood up straight and squared her shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” Nikki apologized. “It’s none of my business.”
“You’re right,” Debra said. “My father did abandon my mother and me. He thought he’d go further in his career if he was single. I wanted nothing to do with him, until I’d become a single mother. I was on the verge of becoming homeless when, in desperation, I reached out to him. I blackmailed him into stepping up to bat. If he didn’t help me get on my feet, I was going to go public about him abandoning us. He paid for me to go to business school and put in a good word for me to get a job at WKPG-TV.”
“Sam Hill,” Nikki said in a soft voice.
Debra slowly nodded her head. “We kept our relationship a secret at WKPG. He didn’t want anyone to know about me and I was ashamed of being related to such a miserable human being.”
Nikki felt Ryan’s fingers dig into her elbow from where he stood behind her. It was a wordless warning not to accuse Debra of covering up for her father’s killer.
“Can we see him?” Nikki asked instead. “Would he like a visit from Elmo?”
Debra glanced over her shoulder into the room. “Sam was never into dogs, but you can give it a try.”
Nikki followed Debra into the room. The summer sun spilled in through the window that looked out on a courtyard where family members would take residents out for walks or to sit on benches and feed the birds.
Nikki had been telling Debra the truth about Elmo visiting nursing homes in Las Vegas. The boxer seemed to sense when someone needed his unconditional love. Once inside the room, he pulled ahead of Nikki to move alongside Debra.
She slid the overbed table containing the uneaten lunch away. Elmo planted his front paws on the bed. He licked the withered hand draped across the bony chest and slipped his broad snout underneath.
Nikki covered her mouth to muffle the gasp that wanted to escape her lips.
The Sam Hill she remembered from her childhood was an overtly handsome man. He exuded an air of sophistication as he immersed himself in the finer things in life. He performed Shakespeare in the local theater. Blue jeans were for commoners. His tailored suits fit his slender frame to perfection. Never would a strand of his silver hair stray out of place. He only drove Cadillacs and looked down his perfectly straight nose at those who spun around Pine Grove in pickup trucks.
After a lifetime of striving to rise above it all, Sam Hill had been reduced to a withered mass of flesh and bones clad in faded pajamas. Tufts of his silver hair hung loosely from his scalp. His eyes stared blankly without seeing out of deep dark craters.
“How long has he been like this?” Nikki asked.
“Over twenty years,” Debra said. “When he realized what was happening to him, he begged me not to tell anyone what had become of him. He used a few of his connections to get identification for Bernard Goldberg—he really admired Bernard Goldberg. I guess it was who he wanted to be. We checked him in here under that name. When people found out that I had worked with Sam and asked what had happened to him, I would make up stuff like that he had moved to Spain to write a novel or the government had asked him to go to work undercover—stupid stuff like that.”
Ryan squeezed Nikki’s shoulder. She turned to him. The fury had been sucked out of her. There was nothing more that she could do to the arrogant monster who had killed her father.
Elmo rested his head on Sam’s chest and gazed up at him.
The scene was broken by a knock on the door.
“Nikki?” Daniel Van Metre asked while stepping into the room. “Are we in the right place?” He peered around the privacy screen at the bed’s occupant.
Tanya was directly behind him. “What’s this I hear about you getting a real break in the Ross Bryant murder?”
Debra’s eyes bulged. Her mouth dropped open and she turned to Nikki.
“Debra, we’re sorry,” Ryan said. “But—”
“Wyatt told you,” she blurted out. “It had to be him. He was the only one who knew.”
“I made him,” Nikki said. “He was my dad. I wanted to know.”
“I know.” Debra reached out to squeeze her hand. “I know intimately what you feel. My father was a miserable narcissist. But when push came to shove, he was still my father and I did all kinds of damage to your family by protecting him.”
“Your father?” Daniel peered at the old man in the bed. “Who is this?”
“Sam Hill,” Debra said, “and he killed Ross Bryant.”
Sheriff Tanya Williams and Daniel Van Metre escorted Debra to a bench in the courtyard where she sat between the sheriff and Nikki. Ryan and Daniel flanked them on either side. Elmo rested his head in Nikki’s lap, offering what comfort he could.
“Why’d he do it?” Daniel asked. “How’d he get away with it all these years? I’d interviewed everyone who had been at the station that day. No one said anything about Sam even being there.”
“Because he belonged there,” Nikki said. “Sam had been with the station for thirty or forty years. He was there every day.” She gestured at the tree next to the bench. “He was like a tree in a park. Sure, he was retired—”
“But even after his retirement, he still came into the station all the time,” Debra said. “The station was his life. He didn’t know what else to do during the day.”
“So when you asked if anyone saw anything unusual, seeing Sam Hill would not come to mind, because that wasn’t unusual,” Ryan said.
“What happened, Debra?” Tanya asked.
“I saw Sam slipping away,” Debra said. “It was little things. He’d forget about assignments or deadlines. He was feeling threatened by the younger journalists coming on at WKPG. At first, I dismissed it as professional jealousy, but he’d obsess over it. Sam felt like he had to show everyone that he still had it. That’s why he decided to do that investigative report on gangs moving into Pine Grove.”
“We have gangs in Pine Grove?” Tanya asked. “I didn’t know we had gangs.”
“We don’t,” Ryan said.
“Which Sam found out rather quickly,” Debra said. “The closest thing we had to a gang was three teenagers playing Pokemon at the ice cream shop. Sam was scared to death that if he came up short that everyone would see him as a has-been. So he hired an actor from the community theater to be his anonymous source and made up this big story. Of course, he had to let his crew in on it because they helped him film the interview.” She uttered a sad sigh.
“My father realized the story was fake,” Nikki said.
“But between the time that Sam came up with the harebrained scheme and Ross discovered the truth and fired him, the dementia had advanced,” Debra said. “By then, Sam concluded that Ross was out to ruin his reputation, even though Ross had gone out of his way to keep anyone from finding out. After losing his job, it was like Sam had no reason to hold it together. Everything slipped away.”
“What slipped away?” Tanya asked.
“His emotional stability. He was so angry—especially with Ross. The day before the murder, Ross told Sam that he was not allowed at the station anymore—he was too disruptive.”
“By disruptive, do you mean violent?” Ryan asked.
Debra gazed up at him. “No. He was just loud—belligerent. Sam was crushed when Ross ordered him not to come in anymore. I had suggested that he see a doctor. He told me that he had an appointment with his doctor for the next afternoon.” She hung her head. “The next time I saw him, he was standing over Ross’s body.”
Tanya and Daniel exchanged worried glances.
“Why did you cover it up?”
Nikki asked.
“In that instant, standing before me was a pathetic old man, looking to me for help.” Debra lifted a shoulder. “He was my father. I had to do what I could to protect him.”
“What happened?” Daniel asked. “Did they have a fight?”
“I don’t know,” Debra said. “Ross had called me on the intercom and told me to go to the mailroom to check on that shipment. When I came back upstairs, his office door was open. I went inside and there was Sam, standing over his desk. The ash from his pipe was burning a hole on the desk and carpet. Sam was just staring at him. The only thing I could think of was that this man who was my father was going to be locked up. I took him down the freight elevator, out the back door, put him in the car, and sent him home. Then I ran back upstairs and cleaned up the pipe and ash. That was when Wyatt walked in. He knew immediately that Sam had been there because he could smell the pipe. I begged him not to say anything. He agreed.”
“You tampered with evidence,” Tanya said.
“It isn’t like Sam got off scot-free. He totally lost his mind and he knew it was happening. You have no idea how terrifying it is to feel yourself fading away. He transferred power of attorney and all of his accounts to me. Thirty days later, he was here—” She gestured at the nursing home before them. “—and he never left.” She uttered a sigh. “It’s been a nightmare. That man in there is completely healthy. His heart. His lungs. Only his mind is gone. He spends every day breathing in and out. His heart keeps beating. He’s alive, but he’s gone.”
“If he’d abandoned you and your mother, why did you cover up his crime? Why do you come here to visit him if he has no mind?’ Tanya asked.
“If he transferred power of attorney to you, you could have transferred him to a state-run facility and kept his money,” Nikki said.
“My mother didn’t raise me to be like that,” Debra said. “Good thing I took care of his accounts. Otherwise, they would have had to kick him out ten years ago.”
“Debra,” Ryan asked, “was your father ever violent with your mother?”
Debra shook her head.
“Have you ever seen him violent before? Has he ever attacked the staff?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Has he ever told you what happened? Did he go into that office intending to kill my father?” Nikki asked.
Debra shook her head. “Even during the few lucid times after it had happened, before I committed him, he claimed he had no memory of doing it.”
“Does Sam deny committing the murder?” Ryan asked.
Debra shook her head. “He doesn’t deny doing it. Only that he has no memory of what happened.”
“How did he end up on the third floor that day?” Ryan asked.
“After Ross had left orders for him to not be allowed in the station, Sam decided to come in through the backstage door. Many in the crew hadn’t gotten word that he wasn’t allowed in the station. Rusty, one of the sound technicians, had let him in. Sam told me that he went to the office to tell me about his doctor’s appointment. The doctor suspected that he had Alzheimer’s and that it was advancing quickly. He wanted to talk to me about getting his affairs in order. When he got to the third floor, I wasn’t at my desk. Ross’s office door was open, so he went in to see if I was in there. Everything became a blank for him after that.”
“The office door was open?” Ryan asked.
Debra nodded her head.
“And Sam even told you the name of the crew member who’d let him in the building?”
Nikki saw the question in Ryan’s eyes.
Tanya rose to her feet. “Debra, we need to take you in to give us a formal statement about Sam Hill’s murder of Ross Bryant.”
Chapter Ten
At the police station, Ryan studied Debra through the two-way mirror. Alone in the interrogation room, she waited for her lawyer to arrive to help her with the statement about the day that Ross Bryant was killed.With two breaking stories, Nikki ran back to the station. She didn’t want Kathleen and Julie to hear the news about Debra’s secret from the media.
With two breaking stories, Nikki ran back to the station. She didn’t want Kathleen and Julie to hear the news about Debra’s secret from the media.
“Well, I guess it’s finally over.” Daniel Van Metre patted Ryan on the shoulder. “Thank you very much for your help.”
“I didn’t do anything. It was Nikki. She figured out that Sam Hill had to have been in the office that day because of the tobacco and ash in the carpet. After she figured out that there had to be a connection between Sam and Debra, she tracked him down.”
“She is her father’s daughter,” Daniel said. “Ross was the station owner, a businessman, but I think he had a secret desire to be a detective.”
Ryan turned to him. “I never knew that.”
Daniel nodded his head. “More than once, I used him as a sounding board for a case.”
Ryan turned back to where Debra sat at the table with her face buried in her hands. “Do you want to hear my theory?”
“What theory is that?”
“I don’t think Sam Hill killed him.”
Daniel laughed. “She says she walked in on him—”
“Standing over his body. She didn’t actually see him stab Ross.”
“The man was insane. He’d spent the last—” Exasperated, Daniel waved his hand at the witness in the next room. “He burnt Ross’s desk and dropped ash and tobacco were all over the carpet while killing him. She cleaned it up before calling the police.”
“Because she thought he did it,” Ryan said. “Sam was mentally fragile. He walked into an office and found a dead body—a man he had worked with for years. He dropped his pipe in shock. Debra walked in. She knew he was losing it. She assumed he’d killed Ross. Probably because of her assumption, Sam believed it himself. Even though he has no memory of killing Ross. The trauma from believing that he’d committed murder could have been enough to destroy his already fragile mental and emotional stability.”
“What evidence do you see that proves he didn’t do it?” Daniel asked.
“Sam Hill was never violent before or after the murder,” Ryan said in a firm tone. “I’ve seen cases where mentally unstable people became violent. They’re never isolated incidents. Usually, they build up and once they reach the point of violence, they remain there. It’s their go-to when triggered. Now, Debra saw signs that Sam was losing it mentally.”
“Age on-set dementia,” Daniel said. “I’ve heard of it. If Sam’s dementia was brought on by old age, then it’s entirely possible that he would become violent because of his dementia when he hadn’t been violent before.”
“True,” Ryan said. “But then, why wouldn’t he become violent again after the murder? Like in the nursing home. Why wouldn’t he attack the staff or Debra or others?” He held up his finger. “Why did Sam Hill only become homicidal once, one time, in twenty-three years?”
Daniel struggled to come up with an answer.
“In my professional opinion, Ross was already dead before Sam walked in.”
It was a big news day at WKPG-TV.
Meredith Norris led off the top of the news about the latest developments in Ashleigh Addison’s death. The camera operators had to adjust to record from the other end of the anchor desk because Meredith refused to sit in the Ashleigh’s chair.
“The sheriff’s department has announced that they are investigating Ashleigh Addison’s death as a suspicious death,” Meredith Norris announced in a tone that was serious, but with just the right amount of compassion for her colleague.
After a few minor details about memorial services and such, Meredith turned the reins of the broadcast over to Becca Cambridge, who was able to bring herself to sit in the same chair that Ashleigh Addison normally occupied.
“When running for school supe
rintendent, Bob Wheeler promised voters that he would do things a lot differently at the board of education,” Becca said. “Since he took office, staff and teachers have noticed that Mr. Wheeler certainly does do things differently.”
As Becca dove deeper into her report about how the school board superintendent had made multiple long trips to places like Las Vegas and resorts in Brazil—all at taxpayer expense—with the excuse of doing research into new educational programs, she exuded confidence and professionalism that went beyond her youth.
“She’s a natural,” Nikki told Wyatt in a low voice from where they had been watching in the control room.
Wyatt agreed. “The camera loves her.”
Nikki studied the journalist’s light long-sleeved blue suit with a beige tank top. “She just needs to loosen up a little bit, but she’ll be fine.”
“It would be nice to have an anchor who can do some real journalism,” Wyatt said.
Nikki could see Wyatt looking at her for her opinion about offering Becca the anchor slot. After all, she didn’t seem to have a problem sitting in Ashleigh’s chair. “She’s still pretty green. Let’s see how this story goes.”
In her mid-forties, Meredith Norris had an air of compassion and wholesomeness that made her a favorite to viewers. The former meteorologist had worked her way up from the weather to hosting her own live show from noon to one o’clock on weekdays. The rest of the time, she was the wife of a neurosurgeon and mother to three children.
Her sincerity spilled through the camera to viewers to make everyone believe that everyone in Pine Grove and at WKPG-TV was devastated by the loss of Ashleigh Addison.
Nikki wanted to be home with her mother and sister. After years of wishing and not knowing, even accepting that they would never know the truth, suddenly having her father’s murder mystery come to a conclusion was like having the scab ripped off a wound. It made everything fresh again.
Upon learning the news, Julie rushed over to the house to be with their mother. Since her children did not know their late grandfather, Julie had left them with her husband Clint.
