“Are you up for company?” Rex leaned against the door wearing a hospital gown the same as she was.
Though she hadn’t been dozing off because her doctor had advised against sleeping, Marla opened her eyes and smiled with relief. “Hi, partner. They assured me you were okay, but I haven’t relaxed until seeing you just now.”
He made his way slowly into the room, closing the door behind him. “That’s why I stumbled down that corridor, my hand holding the back together. Hate for you to see me in this, but I wanted make sure you really survived that trial by bug bomb.”
Boy, was she glad to see him! Even in recovery mode, he looked pretty great in that hospital gown. “Barely, but I’m only telling you that,” she said. “I hate that we got caught off guard by our suspect again.”
“That was my fault. I should’ve anticipated him having a gun.”
“I’m betting Grace warned him we were looking for him, although I don’t think she knew what danger that would put us in,” she said. “By the way, you look fabulous in that gown.”
He chuckled. “Better than the last time you saw me with my shirt over my head. Although that hint of skin you showed when you stripped down to your bra provided its own kind of excitement as I faced death.”
“You rogue, you!” She smiled. “Guess I lost my shyness a long time ago after all the fittings I’ve been subjected to over the years.”
“That gesture plus losing your shoe to the can probably saved our lives. So, thanks.”
“Did the chief tell you any more about Brecken than he shared with me, which was only that they tracked him down heading north and had him in jail?”
“At that point, he still hadn’t confessed. They’re holding him on pulling a gun on us, kidnapping and attempted murder. All serious charges, if not murder. Goodhue told me those actions were enough for him to expedite the warrant process. The guy may have been smart enough to get rid of the water bottles and equipment bag, if that’s how he got the poison into her, but I’m guessing he thought he could hide the poison amongst all his other chemicals.”
“At least our time in that death wagon wasn’t in vain.”
“Guess I should head back to my room and let you get some needed rest,” he said. “By the way, your opening salvo laying out his guilt was brilliant. A hotshot prosecutor couldn’t have said it better.”
“Thanks. That briefing session earlier with Goodhue helped get my thoughts in order. But it was only after that when you outlined all the ways we planned to nail him that he broke.”
“Let’s continue our attaboys tomorrow once we’re both feeling better,” he said. And he was gone.
Goodhue waited until midafternoon the next day to meet with them in Rex’s condo. “How are you both feeling today?” he asked first. “I won’t minimize how close we came to losing you last night.”
“Sorry about that,” Rex replied. “I take responsibility. I thought he was ready to come clean. Instead, he pulled that gun.”
Marla nodded. “I thought so, too. He’d been so low-key the other times we interviewed him, neither of us anticipated him going all gangster on us.”
“That gangster reaction is what will send him to prison,” Goodhue said. “Plus, I’ve saved the best until I was sure you both were okay. Our search of the storeroom at his business netted the discovery of an old can of a herbicide, rich in arsenic. And for some reason, he thought he could hide the duplicate water bottles and equipment bag amongst the items in his attic. We’ve got him!”
The day after his visit, Chief Goodhue called Marla and Rex. “I have an unusual request to make of the two of you. Chloe Reardon and Grace Adamson would like to see you. I told them I would allow it only if you both agreed, they each met with the two of you together, and this meeting takes place on my ground, at the station.”
“Have they seen Wallace already?” Marla asked.
“Yes. Within the last hour,” Goodhue answered.
“Why do they want to see us?” Rex asked.
“I don’t know. Each declined to say. They may be bringing you messages from Wallace, or they each may have her own thing to tell you. It’s up to you.”
“I’m game if Rex is,” Marla said.
“We can be there in fifteen minutes,” Rex said.
Though Marla was curious to hear what both Grace and Chloe had to say to them, her breathing had almost returned to normal after her life-threatening moments the day before. She wouldn’t let whatever they had to say rattle her. Facing death in Wallace’s van and surviving it, she felt better than she had in months. Something inside her had changed. She couldn’t explain why or how, just that the old Marla Dane was back. No, not the old one. A new Marla. A stronger Marla, especially in spirit.
She shot a sideways glance at Rex to check out how he was reacting to these requests. Typical Rex. Little in his facial expression gave away his thoughts.
“Any idea what we may hear from them?” she asked to break the silence.
“Hopefully they’ll have new details to add to those we’ve already assembled.”
“Aren’t you the optimist,” she replied.
“No sense wasting my mental energy worrying about it until we get there.”
Goodhue had set aside a conference room for them to use and had stationed two of his officers at safe distances in the hallway outside as a precaution.
Grace was the first to appear. Marla and Rex sat together across the table from her. Goodhue took a seat at one end.
“I just learned this morning that Breck had been charged with Eloise’s murder. I had no clue he was about to be arrested when he and I met with you yesterday. Nor have I ever suspected he was her killer.
“Thank you, Chief Goodhue, for letting me see him, because I had to know why. I thought we were doing fine, even though I no longer owned Essy and he was deep in debt to Eloise.
“When I met with him, he didn’t tell me one way or the other if he did it. He’s already met with an attorney, who advised him not to say anything further about the case. I didn’t ask to speak with you to plead his case nor to exonerate myself. I just want to tell you that despite the fact he may have done this horrible act, the Brecken Wallace I’ve always known is a good man. At one time he really did love Eloise. I saw that when she first came to work for me.
“But something changed in her over time. And as she changed, so did he. She emasculated him at the same time she betrayed me. If he did indeed murder her, I can understand although not condone it.
“I wanted you two to know that I appreciate the way you treated me throughout your investigation. You were fair and gave me ample opportunity to answer your questions.”
“Do either of you want to respond to Ms. Adamson’s comments?” Goodhue asked when Grace finished.
“Thank you for your comments,” Rex told her. “I’m sure you can understand that we can’t say much of anything about a pending case.”
She nodded but didn’t reply.
“I wish you well,” Marla said. She hoped now that both Wallaces were out of her life, providing Brecken was convicted, that Grace would take that money she’d been saving from the sale of Essy and do something new and exciting with it.
Goodhue led her out, leaving Marla and Rex alone to absorb what they just heard.
“What did you get from that discourse?” Rex asked her.
“I’m not sure. I think she was attempting to put distance between herself and Brecken.”
A few minutes later, Goodhue ushered a red-eyed Chloe into the room. She took the seat Grace had vacated and focused on her clasped hands in her lap, never once looking at them.
“Okay, Ms. Reardon. You asked to talk to my two investigators, so the table is yours,” Goodhue said.
Chloe lifted her eyes and faced Marla and Rex. “I had no idea he was my father. He told me he wanted to be the one to tell me, before the news gets out. He didn’t want me to be caught off guard. He also said he’d wanted to tell me many times during the last few years but first had gone along with my mother’s wishes not to reveal who he was and more recently because Eloise found out and used it against him.
“There wasn’t time to go into everything he wanted to say. He begged me not to judge him too harshly and to give him a chance to be my father, even if it’s from prison.
“I hate that I found out this way, but I think I’m happy to finally know. When I was younger, my mother told me my father had died in a car accident. When I was old enough to understand, she told me I was the result of a short affair. She had chosen not to tell the father, and then he had been killed before I was old enough to meet him. It angered me that I hadn’t had that chance, but otherwise, she was a wonderful mother.
“Thank you both for making this happen even though it came out of a murder investigation. You must have figured out his relationship to me, but you let him be the one to tell me. I don’t know what all convinced you he was the one who murdered Eloise, but if he did, he must have had his reasons. Knowing Eloise, I can understand even though I can’t excuse it.
“Despite my new understanding of Eloise, I agreed to follow through on the arrangements he’s been making for her. It won’t be easy, because it hasn’t been that long since I made final arrangements for my mother. But I guess I’m the logical one to finish what he started, since she named me her beneficiary. Plus, he’s already taken care of most of it.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?” Goodhue asked after she stopped speaking.
“Yes, thank you, Chief. I’m still trying to take in everything I’ve learned today. I have more questions only my father can answer.”
“Ms. Dane, Mr. Alcorn, anything you want to say to Ms. Reardon?” Goodhue asked.
Marla’s heart went out to the young woman. Even if she was ambitious and had willingly gone along with Eloise’s plans, no one should have to discover the identity of a parent in the midst of a murder investigation. “Have you spoken with Grace since learning about your father?”
“Grace? No. They’ve kept us separated the whole time we’ve been here at the station today.”
“Although you both appear to be in shock right now, in time, you might want to talk to her,” Marla said. Goodhue might not approve of her suggesting the action, but right now, both women needed a friend.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Rex said, “but it couldn’t be helped.”
Chloe didn’t respond but mainly because she seemed to still be absorbing the news.
“Thanks for coming in,” Goodhue told them after returning from showing Chloe out. “I would normally say no to such follow-ups, but they both needed to process what they learned this morning.”
“Have you completely dismissed Grace as an accomplice?” Rex asked.
“For now. With Brecken not talking at all, there are still a few questions remaining about her part in this, so we’ll keep digging. Maybe even obtain a warrant for her place. The county attorney and I will have to bat that one around.”
“You don’t think that was the purpose behind her wanting to talk to us?” Rex asked. “Don’t forget her years spent in her grandparents’ pharmacy and her minor in chemistry. She could’ve been the brains behind administering the arsenic.”
“Good point, Alcorn. But for now, my gut tells me she’s more hurt than anything else. Not that Brecken spared her knowing any of this but that he was capable of murder in the first place.” He turned to Marla. “I’m glad you suggested Ms. Reardon get in touch with Grace Adamson. I couldn’t in my official capacity.”
“With the funding Grace still has available and with Chloe inheriting Essy from Eloise, there’s a chance the two could team up and create something really fabulous, if Chloe is able to shed some of the bad habits she learned from her former boss,” Marla said, hoping the two women were smart enough to see that.
“Interesting idea,” Rex said, “but since we now have to step back from this case, we’ll have to leave it up to them.”
The next day, Marla and Rex received a text from Goodhue reporting that following Brecken’s visits with Grace and Chloe, Brecken had changed his plea to guilty, indicating both women had assured him they’d support him if he really had killed Eloise. He’d been close to confessing to the crime when Marla and Rex showed up and accused him of the murder. Realizing his chance to come forth on his own was gone, he panicked, forced them into the van at gunpoint and attempted to overcome them with the bug bomb. Having made the situation all the worse with those actions, he followed his attorney’s advice to remain silent.
Goodhue and company already had the arsenic and duplicate water bottles to nail him with. But now, after talking to the two women, he supplied the background story, indicating he’d done pretty much as Marla had speculated when they confronted him. A little over six years ago he’d learned from an old acquaintance who knew Chloe’s mother and him during that short time they were together that, before he met Eloise, a child had been the result of that liaison. Since then, he’d tried to connect with her. At first, her mother begged him to stay away from her because learning her father had not died in a car accident would only confuse the girl.
He’d told Eloise about the child, thinking it might appease her since she’d lost two babies of her own to miscarriages. Instead, the fact that he had a child and she didn’t only added more fuel to the fire of their already deteriorating marriage. She made life miserable for him after that but only agreed to the divorce after he promised not to contact the girl. Then Eloise had made it her business to befriend Chloe on her own, never telling Brecken what she was doing. That was how Eloise became her intern and then was hired onto the staff.
By the time Brecken learned of Eloise’s efforts, she and Chloe were already close. That was why he continued to drop by the Essy office when there was no apparent reason for him to be there. He was attempting to get to know Chloe better and protect her from Eloise’s mentorship. Then he learned about the setup with the apartment and was frantic to save his daughter from prostituting herself any way he could.
He’d already decided to poison his ex-wife that day by the time Nell confronted her on the pickleball court. He’d gotten the idea weeks back when he’d discovered the old can of herbicide when inventorying his supplies. Though he hadn’t orchestrated that blowup, it offered the chance to switch her water bottles with his contaminated ones. Although he’d been reading up on arsenic, evidence of which they found on his personal computer, he hadn’t been sure how long it would take to act. He’d played his match, gone home and waited. He hadn’t been sure until the police visited him Monday morning that it had worked.
He thought he’d gotten away with it, even after his first interview with Marla and Rex. But then they’d learned about his recent visits to Essy, and he began to fear his free days were numbered.
He didn’t apologize for killing Eloise. He was just sorry he’d had to take such drastic steps to protect Chloe.