by Lauren Carr
It was a time for the family to be together.
Yet, with so much news breaking in Pine Grove, Nikki needed to be on hand to supervise the production of the entire news hour.
After wrapping up the program at seven o’clock, Becca received a round of applause and congratulations for breaking what was promising to be a huge scandal throughout the state.
She beamed with pride when she and her colleagues at WKPG-TV left to go to the local bar to celebrate. As tempted as Nikki was to accept their invitation to join them, she refused in favor of going home.
“The last time I saw you, you were only—” Meredith held out her hand to about five feet from the floor after Nikki thanked her for anchoring the broadcast. “And you had asked me to settle a bet between you and a boy about the difference between a downburst and a tornado. I believe you claimed they were the same.”
Nikki frowned. “I’ve learned not to make bets with Ryan when it comes to science.”
“Ryan Spaulding? I wasn’t aware that your friend was Harrison’s son. So your little friend is now your brother? That must be awkward.”
“He’s not my brother,” Nikki blurted out.
Meredith blinked. She opened her mouth to respond, but not before Suzanne Lipton swept in from out of the shadows of the control booth.
“Nikki, darling!” Suzanne pulled Nikki into a clumsy hug. “Is it true? Did they really arrest Debra for covering up for Sam Hill killing your father?”
“Sam Hill killed your father? That was the new development that the police are talking about in their press release?” Meredith shook her head with a frown. “I don’t believe it. Sam was a pussy cat. I can’t see him committing murder.”
Wyatt let out a pained groan as he stepped out of the control booth. “I’m afraid it’s true. Debra had taken him downstairs in the freight elevator and sneaked him out of the building. She was cleaning up the crime scene when I walked in.”
“She must have been sleeping with him,” Suzanne said.
“As a journalist, you should know that it’s dangerous to jump to conclusions without all the facts, Suzanne,” Meredith said. “People’s lives have been ruined by the media running wild with stories when they only know half the facts.”
“We have all of the facts we need,” Suzanne said with a wave of her hand. “Wyatt had met with Ross that afternoon to go over the station’s coverage of the Noah Harper hit and run.”
“Hit and run, huh?” Meredith interjected with a sly grin.
“Shut up, Meredith.”
“When I’d left Ross’s office, everything was fine,” Wyatt said. “There was no burn on Ross’s desk or smell of cherry tobacco. When I went back two hours later, there was a scar on Ross’s desk and the office smelled like Sam. Plus, Ross was dead. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure it out.”
“All that proves is that Sam was there. Not that he committed murder.” Meredith gestured at Wyatt. “You were there. So was Debra.”
“Maybe Debra did it,” Suzanne said with a giggle.
“Meredith does have a point,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t actually see Sam do it. Though, he did threaten Ross quite a bit after he forced him out.”
“Wyatt, be a man for once,” Suzanne said. “Debra wouldn’t have begged you to cover up for Sam if he hadn’t killed Ross. He’s gotten away with murder for over twenty years.”
“I wouldn’t say being trapped inside your own head with madness is exactly getting away with murder,” Nikki said.
“He killed your father,” Suzanne said.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Meredith said.
“What proof do you have that he didn’t do it?” Suzanne challenged her.
“In our country, the question to ask is what proof do you have that he did do it. It’s called innocent until proven guilty. Someone cleaning up some spilt tobacco does not prove murder—unless the murder weapon ended up being a pipe.”
“Let’s go, Wyatt.” With a growl, Suzanne grabbed her husband’s arm and dragged him toward the exit. “I don’t want to miss the party at the lounge.”
Nikki watched a slim grin work its way across Meredith’s lips.
“I’m sorry if you think I’m making excuses for Sam, but I truly believe in innocent until proven –”
Nikki shook her head. “I hate thinking that Sam did it. Or that Debra covered up for it, which she admits she did.”
“I got to know Sam pretty well during the short time that we worked together,” Meredith said. “He was quite arrogant and did not have patience for fools. But he was a gentle man. He considered violence to be the crass act of uneducated heathens.”
“Maybe the violent side lies beneath the surface,” Nikki said, “and came out when his sanity slipped away.”
Meredith lifted a shoulder. “I guess it’s possible.” She went to a chair on which she had rested her purse and briefcase. After giving Elmo a pat on the head, she extracted her cell phone and proceeded to send a text to her children that she was on her way home.
Watching the sophisticated woman, Nikki was reminded of an earlier altercation that her mother had told her of between Meredith and Suzanne. “You like getting under Suzanne’s skin, don’t you?”
“A girl’s got to have some fun,” Meredith said with a wicked grin. “It’s just so easy. Besides, I consider it to be payback.”
“Payback for what?”
Meredith tucked her purse under her arm and turned to her. “Professionally, it’s not a good idea to reveal your childish side to your boss.” She winked at her.
“Don’t think of me as the boss.” Nikki picked up her own valise and slung it over her shoulder. She attached the leash to Elmo’s collar.
“I’m going to trust you not to spread it around,” Meredith said as they made their way to the door leading out to the reception area. “Most everyone who was here back then have gone. Nor do I want you to hold it against me.”
Nikki held up her fingers in a pledge. “Scout’s honor.”
“It all started with a hit and run.”
“I noticed you jumped in there with that when Suzanne mentioned it.”
“It’s a sore point for her, for sure,” Meredith said as they stopped at the security check point to sign out. “I came to WKPG-TV right out of college. I had my first apartment in the old town section of Pine Grove and bought this beautiful blue Ford Mustang convertible.” She held up her hands to illustrate. “It was my dream car all through college. I loved that car.”
Elmo gazed up at Meredith’s elegant hands, ornamented with a sparkling diamond wedding ring, waving above his broad head.
“I have a feeling something bad is going to happen,” Nikki said.
Meredith escorted them out the front door into the parking lot. The sun had set during the newscast. “One day, I walked out into the parking lot and there was a big dent in the back fender on the driver’s side of my car. It wasn’t there when I had gone in that morning.”
“And you believe Suzanne did it.”
“I know Suzanne did it.” Meredith gestured at the row of reserved parking spaces next to the main doors. Each space was marked with signs listing the on-air personalities for whom the slot was reserved. “Her reserved space was directly across from mine. She drove a red sports car. The next morning when I came in, that red car had a crumpled rear bumper on the passenger side with blue paint on it. My dent had red paint in it.”
“Paint transfer proving that the two vehicles had collided,” Nikki said. “I assume Suzanne denied hitting your car.”
“Of course.” Meredith pressed the button on her key fob. There was a beep and the headlights of a shiny gold Mercedes Benz SUV parked in the first reserved space flashed.
“I was just starting back then,” she explained as she opened the rear door and deposited her belongings. “Since it had happened in
a parking lot, the police wanted nothing to do with it. If I had put in a claim with my insurance company, they would have raised my deductible, even though it wasn’t my fault. I mean, I was at work when it happened. I was parked where I was supposed to be parked.” She closed the rear door and opened the driver’s door. “After weeks of fighting with Suzanne about it, I went to Wyatt. He was reasonable. He told me to fix my car and send the bill to him. He’d cover it.” She rolled her eyes. “When Suzanne heard about that, she went through the roof. Oh yeah! She can fix her Beemer’s crumpled bumper, but I can’t have my dented fender fixed when she was the one who did it. That bitch actually slapped me.”
Aware that she was getting worked up, she raised her arms over her head and took in a deep breath. “That’s all in the past. Just let it go,” she told herself in a soothing tone.
“Was that at Sam Hill’s retirement party by any chance?” Nikki asked.
Meredith paused to recall. “Yes, we were at a party at the Bedford Elks Country Club. Your father was still around. I remember him helping to pick me up off the floor after Suzanne and I knocked over a table filled with food.” She shuddered. “It was the most embarrassing moment in my life.”
“It sounds like Suzanne has a horrible temper,” Nikki said. “And she’s violent, too.”
“That is true. You don’t want to get on her bad side.” Meredith said over the roof of her car. “If you do, then make sure you never turn your back to her.” With a wave, she climbed into the Mercedes and drove away.
“Yes, I heard all about Ashleigh Addison claiming that she had a big news story that she was going to break on Monday,” Debra said even as her lawyer told her to say nothing, “but I just assumed she was lying.”
Across the table in the interrogation room, Sheriff Tanya Williams was doubtful. “Isn’t it true that Ashleigh’s grandmother died in the same nursing home where your father is residing? Maybe she saw you, found out about Sam being there instead of in Spain—”
“Yes, Ashleigh discovered that Sam was at Shady Pines.” Debra paused to lick her lips. She rubbed her forehead. “He happened to be down the hall from her grandmother. Her grandmother was dying. Ashleigh had spent a lot of time sitting with her. This was several years ago. Sam still had some lucid moments and … I guess Ashleigh stopped in to talk to him. She gained his trust and …” She took in a shuddering breath. “He told her.”
“She knew that Sam Hill, local celebrity, award-winning journalist, had committed murder,” Daniel said.
“And that I, his daughter, had covered it up,” Debra said.
“I can imagine what Ashleigh did with that information,” Tanya said.
“She did nothing,” Debra said.
“I knew Ashleigh,” Tanya said. “That’s why I’m finding that hard to believe.”
“Believe it or not,” Debra said. “Look at when her grandmother died. She’d left Ashleigh a lot of money, at which point, Conner came swooping back. They had been separated at the time. They went on some big trip. Ashleigh came back and never said a word about it. This is the truth about Ashleigh. She was lazy. She knew that she could not go with the story of Sam Hill killing Ross Bryant without any proof. All she has were the ramblings of a demented old man. No one had seen Sam at the station at the time of the murder.”
“The guy who had let Sam in through the stage door did,” Daniel said.
“He died five years after the murder,” Debra said. “Lung cancer. Ashleigh knew nothing about Wyatt. I said nothing to her about him, and Sam didn’t know about him seeing me clean up the ash.”
“Are you claiming that you didn’t feel threatened when Ashleigh Addison announced the other night that she was going to break a major news story today at six o’clock?” Tanya asked. “Do you really expect us to believe that?”
Debra waved her hands in a sign of acceptance. “There was nothing I could have done about it if she did,”
“What time was Ashleigh Addison murdered?” the defense attorney asked them.
“Between eleven o’clock and noon,” Tanya said.
The defense attorney turned to Debra for her response.
“I was at church in the morning. After the service, we had our monthly potluck luncheon. I took my world-famous macaroni and cheese. There were about sixty people there, including our church pastor. I helped clean up afterwards. My family and I didn’t leave until two-thirty.”
In the back seat of Nikki’s SUV, Elmo sat up. His tongue hung out of the side of his mouth. His tail wagged when he saw Ryan’s SUV pull into the garage next to them.
Nikki tried to contain the rapid beating of her heart upon seeing his handsome face. How could I ever walk away from him? Man! What was I thinking?
Ryan waved his hand at her—or was it them? Elmo was convinced he was waving at him. His tail wagged harder. He uttered a low bark and glanced over his shoulder at Nikki as if to order her to let him out to be with his new best friend.
Nikki slid out of the driver’s seat and opened the rear door to release Elmo. Ryan greeted Elmo with an enthusiastic rub. His long tongue hanging out of his mouth, the dog twisted and turned with such excitement, his body was U-shaped.
“How’s Debra?” she asked.
“Tanya had to release her. She’ll make a report to the county prosecutor, but I doubt if she’s going to see any jail time. She tampered with potential evidence and we have accessory to murder after the fact.”
“The statute of limitations is long gone with that,” Nikki said. “What about Sam Hill?”
Ryan slowly rose to his feet.
“Ryan?”
“I have to be honest with you, Nikki.”
“You don’t think he killed my dad.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Ryan shook his head. He was surprised when she threw both arms around him and took him into a hug.
“I don’t think he did it, either,” she whispered into his ear.
Chapter Eleven
“Let me get this straight. You don’t believe Sam Hill killed Ross just because he hasn’t tried to kill anyone since—even though two people have not only said he did it, but they covered up for him all these years.” Harrison made his way around the kitchen table and poured burgundy wine into each of their goblets. There was a total of five.
“Yes,” Ryan said over the top of his wine glass before taking a sip.
“Wyatt admits he did not see Sam stab Dad,” Nikki said from her seat next to his.
“In Debra’s statement, she says she assumed Sam did it because she walked in and found him standing over the body. He had dropped his pipe and it burnt the desk and the ash was on the floor,” Ryan said.
“He could have dropped the pipe because he was so shocked about finding Ross dead.” Kathleen took Harrison’s hand as he lowered himself into the chair next to her.
“If he was mentally unstable, he could have thought he did it,” Julie said with a sigh. “I felt like this was the big breakthrough that we’ve all been hoping for.”
“It is a breakthrough,” Nikki said. “We’re a lot closer than we were last week. Now we know things about Dad’s murder that we didn’t know before. Debra said that the office door was closed when she went downstairs to check on that shipment. Sam had told her that the door was open when he got there, and he went into the office looking for her.”
“Can we believe that?” Harrison asked. “She’s lied all these years about Sam being there.”
“I believe her,” Nikki said. “Sam had given her power of attorney when he realized his mind was going. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t trust her. She was the one he had come to the office to see. He blamed Dad for forcing him to retire, but I don’t think he would have walked into Dad’s office unless the door was open. I think the murder happened in the few minutes between when Debra went to the mailroom and Sam had wandered in.”
“But why was Dad killed?” Julie asked.
“If we can figure out the who, then we can figure out the why,” Nikki said. “Was Suzanne there that day?”
“Of course,” Kathleen said. “She was the evening news co-anchor with Sam, until he was forced to retire. She was there every day.”
“You told me yesterday that Wyatt had talked Dad out of firing Suzanne after she had gotten into that fight with Meredith,” Nikki said. “Where did you get that information?”
Kathleen’s eyes glazed over. “I have no idea. Why do you ask?”
“Wyatt has been covering up for Suzanne for years,” Nikki said. “Suppose during their meeting, Dad told Wyatt that Suzanne was out. Wyatt told her and she decided to confront Dad about it. She killed Dad. Wyatt came running in to cover up for her, but found Debra covering up for Sam instead.”
All eyes turned to Kathleen for her assessment. After all, she had known Ross Bryant the best. As she examined the scenario in her mind, her head slowly began to shake. “Ross had decided the Friday before his murder that he was going to fire Suzanne. He was furious after she had gotten into that terrible fight with Meredith at the country club. He had ordered Wyatt to take her home.”
“Do you know what the fight was over?” Nikki asked. “Suzanne had smashed her car into Meredith Norris’s blue Mustang and refused to pay for the damage. After weeks of fighting over it, Wyatt agreed to pay for the repairs to Meredith’s Mustang. When Suzanne found out about it, she slapped Meredith.”
“Most likely, Suzanne was drunk when she did it,” Kathleen said.
“Did what? Smashed into Meredith’s Mustang or slapped Meredith?” Julie asked.
“Both,” Kathleen said.
“My point is, Suzanne has proven to be violent,” Nikki said. “She got into a physical fight with Meredith just because she wanted Suzanne to take responsibility for her actions. Is it that far of a stretch to consider her stabbing Dad a week later?”
