Murder Ink

by Betty Hechtman

  ‘I thought they weren’t going to let me go,’ I said. ‘And then all of a sudden they did. What did you say to them?’

  Evan appeared a little drained himself, but he brightened. ‘It wasn’t what I said to them. It was what I showed them. Remember I wanted to meet you for coffee to show you something?’ he said. I nodded. ‘I wanted to show you the cruise. So you could see if you thought Sally was having a good time.’ He pointed to the lapel of his jacket. ‘I bought one of those little cameras.’ He looked sheepish. ‘In hindsight, it was probably a little creepy. Except it saved both of us from being blamed for what happened to that woman. The camera went on as soon as it sensed voices. It taped the whole thing on the El platform. The police kept it as evidence. But I guess it taped over the river cruise anyway.’

  ‘What’s done is done,’ I said. ‘It’s water under the bridge.’ I cringed at my double cliché. ‘More important, you’re my hero times two,’ I said. ‘Once for saving me from Darcy and again for saving me from being accused of pushing her.’

  Evan seemed to beam. ‘This is better than when you said it before. This time it really was life and death.’ Then he ducked his head in his usual self-deprecating way. ‘Do you think you could tell Sally? It might get me some points.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Sally finds out you were a superhero.’ I shivered. The temperature had dropped and my jacket along with all my other things was still down the street at Dance with Me. Evan walked with me. The place was still open, though there were no students and a detective was talking to the teacher and the person on reception. Another detective started to stop me from coming in, but recognized me and got my things for me.

  When we got back outside, I asked Evan how he’d ended up on the platform. ‘It’s simple,’ he began. ‘I saw you going down the street and I thought you forgot we were supposed to meet for coffee, so I went after you to remind you. I saw you go over the turnstile, so I paid for both of us.’

  ‘That would have been the least of our problems, but thank you.’ Just then I saw a bunch of news vans pulling up. Evan saw them, too. ‘We better get out of here.’ I thanked him again for everything and gave him a hug before we went our separate ways.

  It seemed rather anticlimactic, but I joined the rest of the commuters heading for the Metra. I was operating on sheer nerve by then and when I finally got into my place, I kind of fell apart. I even considered having a shot of my cooking wine, but I had a feeling I was going to need to have my mind clear. So, I opted for a cup of coffee with cream and sugar instead.

  I turned on the TV, sure that this time there wouldn’t be any channel flipping. The local news was just starting. I was shocked to see what had happened to Darcy was the lead story. There were shots of the platform, the command post and the coroner’s van. The reporter said that details were just coming in, but that it was a complicated story involving one of the most prominent families in the city. Suddenly I saw my face on the screen. It was a picture from my website along with information about who I was and what I did. They mentioned The Girl with the Golden Throat and even showed the cover of my book. Evan’s picture was shown as well, and he was lauded as a hero, though he was referred to as a passerby who’d stepped in.

  The reporter had reached out to the Parker family and there’d been no comment other than to say that I’d been hired to put together a celebration of life book for Rachel’s memorial service.

  There was a vague mention of the tape and that it had offered enough information that would likely lead to reinvestigate Rachel’s death as a homicide.

  It was the first time that I actually acknowledged that Darcy was dead. It felt strange and upsetting. Even though I knew she was ready to kill me with no second thoughts, the idea that I’d played a part in her death was devastating.

  There wasn’t much time to think about it. Both my landline and cell phone started ringing, texts came in with a burst of pings and my computer boinged as emails filled my inbox.

  I skipped most of the calls until I saw Ben’s name come up on the caller ID.

  ‘Are you OK?’ he asked. His voice was back to being monotone and I was almost going to comment on it, but he explained he was working. ‘My partner and I were on our dinner break and I looked up at the TV on the wall and there you were. The sound was off, so I missed most of the details.’ I started to try to tell him what happened, but by now I was a little overwrought and I heard something on his radio about a call, so we tabled it.

  Sara wanted to come up, but I put her off. For now, I needed to let everything settle.

  I went over the whole episode with Darcy again in my head, trying to make sense of it. It was all because Darcy couldn’t let go of Luke. She’d directed her rage at Rachel, stalking her and then playing mental games to make her think she was losing her mind so she would think there was no way out. But when she couldn’t convince Rachel to jump off the balcony, she pushed her. Darcy had gone after me because I’d helped with their wedding vows and maybe too because she thought I was interested in Luke. I stopped for a moment, remembering how I’d thought it was Luke doing the gaslighting. I was just grateful I hadn’t said anything.

  If I thought things were weird then, they were only going to get stranger. Richard Parker called me himself. He’d viewed the whole tape and wanted to thank me personally for uncovering what had really happened to his daughter. I took the opportunity to apologize to him. ‘Your wife told me that you were upset that I’d contacted you. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought you were OK with it. I’m very sorry if I created a problem. It wasn’t my intention.’

  He waited until I finished, and I heard him take a breath. ‘I think there is a misunderstanding. I wasn’t upset with you. I was upset with Camille.’ He stopped and I knew he was measuring his words. ‘She said she was trying to protect me, but it was a mistake. I’d like to apologize to you for her behavior. Needless to say, we’ll want to change the book to reflect what really happened. I want you to deal directly with me from now on.’ He paused again and seemed to clear his throat. ‘She stiffed you, didn’t she?’ he said finally.

  ‘Well, yes, but—’

  ‘I’m sorry for that, too. It will be more than taken care of.’ I heard someone in the background and knew the call was about to end. Before he hung up, he spoke kindly to me, almost like a father. ‘Take care of yourself this evening, won’t you, after all you’ve been through today.’

  I sat holding the phone for a moment, thinking about the call. I was startled when it rang in my hands. I saw Luke Ross in the caller ID, and I answered.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, before he’d even said hello. ‘I don’t know where to begin. I had no idea that Darcy would do anything like what she did. I never would have guessed that she’d use her skills for such evil. She used to be a therapist, she used hypnosis in her practice. She was burned out and going through a lot when we broke up, but I thought she was dealing with it. She seemed grateful for the money I gave her to try something new. I feel so terrible that I let this happen.’ His voice cracked and I knew he was swallowing back tears. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.’

  He’d called to make things right with me, but he needed it more than I did. I reassured him that he’d get through this. I told him about my own losses and that I’d gotten through them. I knew it was a cliché, but I said that time healed all wounds. We ended it agreeing that we’d talk again, maybe at the bar over orange juice. So Darcy had been a therapist who’d gone rogue. No wonder she’d seemed so easy to talk to. It had been her profession. And she’d talked about exercise aiding mental health.

  I’d been holding myself together through all the phone calls, but I finally let go and this time when I fell apart, a cup of coffee with cream and sugar couldn’t help. I took a hot bath and called it a night. It was reassuring when Rocky took his spot on the pillow and I fell asleep listening to the rhythm of his breath.

  Tuesday morning, the phone calls, emails and texts starte
d again. I wanted to shut down and back away from it all, but I wouldn’t let myself. Evan called first. Sally had seen the news reports and been confused about what he was doing on the El platform with his neighbor who wrote mysteries. He finally told her the truth about how we knew each other and what exactly I’d done. Instead of being upset, she’d melted at the idea that he wanted to impress her so badly. ‘I’m really sorry,’ Evan said, ‘but I don’t think I’ll need your services anymore.’ He paused for a moment. ‘But maybe when it’s the right time you can help me plan a proposal.’

  ‘I’ve never been so glad to lose a gig,’ I said. ‘Of course, if you need help with a proposal, you know where to find me. You know, I never did know how it was that you found me in the first place.’

  ‘Luke,’ he said. ‘He knew I liked Sally and how much trouble I was having knowing what to say. He told me that you’d helped with his wedding vows.’

  The next call was from Debbie. She was stunned by what had happened and said she’d closed Dance with Me for the day, but she didn’t know what she was going to do going forward. She’d been contacted by all the news stations and magazine TV shows. ‘You know about publicity,’ she said, sounding hopeful. I promised I’d come down to the dance spot the next day and help her deal with it all. There was no reason for Darcy to kill Dance with Me, too.

  And the calls and emails kept coming. I was astonished by who was contacting me and how my life had changed in an instant.

  By evening I was ready for a little normalcy and looked forward to the writers’ group. Tizzy was the first to arrive. ‘Tell me everything. The news stories were incomplete. None of them said gaslighting but that’s what it was, wasn’t it?’

  I waited for her to take a breath and sent her to the dining room saying we’d talk about it when everybody got there.

  Ed came in next. There was a new self-important swagger. ‘They posted it and so many comments.’ He looked skyward and smiled. As an afterthought, he said, ‘My wife said she saw you on the news.’

  Ben came up from his sister’s with a plate of food. He leaned in. ‘She said it’s enough to share. She’s relentless.’ He dropped his voice even lower. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but when I’m here with the group, I’ll stick to cop mode.’

  Daryl came in at the end. Dressed in a trendy outfit, she had her usual worried look and rushed to the back to join the others.

  I let Ed tell about his triumph first. And then he waved a pile of papers. ‘Everybody loves what I posted, but someone commented that it would be nice if I put in a little more relationship stuff. I’m sure you guys can help me with that.’

  Tizzy turned to me. ‘OK, now tell us everything.’

  The news story had only told parts of it. I explained how I’d started off believing that Rachel had had some kind of a breakdown caused by something, but then began to think the breakdown was caused by someone.

  ‘I helped,’ Tizzy said, interrupting. ‘I told her about gaslighting and Gaslight the movie.’

  The rest of them told her to be quiet and let me talk. ‘What really made me believe someone was behind it was when things started happening to me that were meant to throw me off balance.’

  ‘I was there when it happened,’ Tizzy said. ‘I said someone was trying to gaslight her.’

  ‘I suspected her husband first,’ I said.

  ‘He was the most likely suspect,’ Tizzy said. ‘Just like in the movie.’

  ‘But when I found out that Rachel wasn’t alone when she went off the balcony, everything got more sinister. When I was at that last dance class, all of a sudden I realized that someone could have accessed my phone and Rachel’s at the gym. All along I’d thought that Rachel was close with the main dance teacher and that she’d barely known Darcy. It was a comment from one of my new friends there that set me right. She said that Rachel and Darcy had been, excuse the cliché, thick as thieves. It seems stupid now, but I got it in my head I had to confront Darcy. She’d just left, and I knew she took the El. It didn’t occur to me that she’d try to push me onto the third rail.’ I shrugged. ‘Thank heavens for my guardian angel.’

  ‘You mean the guy who was with you?’ Tizzy asked. I told them all about Evan, along with his happy ending. I got to the end and hesitated.

  ‘And?’ Tizzy said. ‘You made it sound like there’s something more.’

  This was the part I felt guilty about. ‘The story has everything: romance, jealous rage, fabulously wealthy people who are well-known philanthropists, a sort of wicked stepmother, creepy manipulation and finally murder. So I’ve heard from all the local news shows and every national magazine-type show, wanting to interview me. A Hollywood production company is trying to buy the rights to the whole thing and in the meantime wants to buy my story. I don’t know if any of you noticed but 57th Street Books put a display of my books in the window.

  ‘Does that mean you’re not going to work with us anymore,’ Daryl said, looking upset.

  ‘No. I mean yes, I am going to keep on with the group,’ I said. What I didn’t say was that I’d gotten a call from the publisher asking about another book. I thought of the stack of pages on the shelf. Maybe I’d give it another shot.

  As Ben said he would, he stayed in the flat tone, expressionless cop mode he’d always been in, but once when I looked in his direction, his eyes warmed for a moment and he gave me a thumbs up.

  After they’d all left, I went to my computer and saw that a bunch of people had contacted me about writing projects. I took a deep breath. There was so much going on, my head was spinning. There was nothing to do but keep putting one foot in front of the other, taking it one step at a time, and forgive myself for thinking in clichés.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  It was great working with my editor, Carl Smith. His fun comments made the editing process particularly enjoyable. This book wouldn’t have happened without my agent, Jessica Faust. She helped with the concept and finding it a home.

  Penny Fisher Sanborn is the one who introduced me to the Lakeshore East neighborhood where parts of the book take place. She also offered details of our old neighborhood and the building we both lived in.

  I like books with lots of details about the setting. I tried to do that when writing about Veronica’s neighborhood and her apartment. It was enjoyable to me because it gave me a chance to see everything with a fresh eye.

  And of course, thanks to my family, Burl, Max, Samantha and Jakey.