There was no reason to stay here much longer. Margot was out of commission and the place was crawling with police and detectives searching for evidence. But Cindy had a clue no one else ever dreamt of - the photo she’d seen of Graham and Nell. She couldn’t get it out of her mind. Their faces shone out at her, pressuring her to dig deeper. She had to get out of here immediately and go speak with Nell.
“I’ve got something no one knows about yet,” Cindy finally said urgently to Mattheus. “There’s someone I’ve got to talk to immediately.”
Mattheus was taken aback. “Who?” he asked.
“Come with me to the mainland and I’ll tell you on in the car.
Mattheus hesitated. The action was here.
Cindy knew it seemed crazy to leave the scene of a crime. “If you’d rather stay here, it’s fine,” said Cindy. “I’ll call for a taxi and go back myself. Then we’ll talk later when you return.”
Once again, Mattheus hesitated. “Are you in any danger doing this alone?”
Cindy appreciated that.
“Do you need me with you, back there? The storm isn’t due to hit for another few hours.”
Cindy smiled. It felt good having the old Mattheus back. She felt cared for and appreciated. She didn’t need him to actually go with her, it was enough that he cared.
“Not at all,” she said. “It’s fine for the two of us to cover different fronts.”
Mattheus looked at her appreciatively. “Good. We’ll make best use of our time that way.” Then his eyes crinkled into a little smile for a moment, “And, our little spat is over?” he asked.
“Completely,”“ Cindy smiled, “you came back.” It was huge for him and Cindy realized it.
The taxi pulled off and Mattheus dissolved into a blur of rain. It was best this way, thought Cindy, she needed to speak to Nell alone. The story would hit the papers tomorrow, there was no way Nell could have heard yet. Cindy didn’t want her to be alone when she found out the news.
The drive was shaky in the winds and rain and seemed to take forever. Cindy had plenty of time to think everything over. There had to be a connection between the two murders, first a father, then a son. Kendra was locked up when this murder took place. This would have to create questions about her guilt. Would Margot now become a suspect? Cindy found it hard to imagine how Margot could have taken her own son’s life. Or her husband’s, either, for that matter. But Cindy knew she had to keep every possibility open. As soon as you closed your mind, the case was shut down.
When the taxi finally pulled up at Kendra’s home, Cindy got out and rushed to the front door. No answer. The door was open though and Cindy walked in, closed the umbrella, shook off the rain from her clothing. It was empty and silent again inside, but schools were closed for the storm. Cindy knew Nell had to be home. Rather than going right up to Nell’s room, Cindy called her name, in the chance that she could hear her, and would not be taken by surprise.
“Nell,” Cindy called, her voice echoing through the empty rooms.
No answer.
“Nell, it’s Cindy, are you home?”
More silence. Cindy decided to climb the stairs and knock on Nell’s door. If she wasn’t there, at the very least, Cindy could spend more time on her computer.
Cindy knocked on Nell’s door softly at first, then louder. No answer at all. She turned the knob and walked in the room. Nell was on the floor in the corner, curled up.
Cindy was horrified. “Nell?”
Nell didn’t move or look up.
Cindy went over, bent down and put her hands on Nell’s shoulders. “Are you all right?” Cindy said.
Nell grunted like a wounded animal.
She must have found out about Graham, Cindy thought. “Look at me, Nell,” Cindy said as softly as she could manage.
Very slowly, Nell looked up through unfocused eyes that were blood shot.
“It’s going to be alright,” Cindy tried to hug her, but Nell lurched away.
“Don’t touch me,” she muttered. “Nothing’s gonna be all right.”
“You heard what happened?” Cindy asked gently.
Nell threw her head back and laughed. “Of course I heard.”
Cindy was startled. “When did you find out?” she asked.
Nell laughed again, a loud, rough, raucous sound.
Cindy knew that shock manifested in all kinds of ways. Obviously, she found out that Graham was dead. Cindy had to find out how. “Tell me how you heard the news?” Cindy demanded.
“What news?” Nell said, bleary.
Cindy put her hands on Nell’s shoulders and gave her a shake. She had to break the spell Nell was under. “You’ve got to calm down and talk to me, Nell.”
“And what if I don’t?” Nell’s eyes suddenly flashed and her tone turned sharp and bitter.
“How did you find out that Graham was dead?”
“An angel told me,” said Nell and laughed again.
Cindy shook her harder. “This isn’t a game. We have to find out who did it. The killer could strike again.”
That stopped Nell for a moment. Then she sprung up and shook herself off. “Graham’s dead. He’s dead,” she started shrieking.
Cindy held her face in her hands. “Stop this!” she yelled back.
Nell started crying. “You can’t tell me he isn’t dead. I heard it with my own ears.”
Cindy shuddered tremendously. “How?”
“A friend told me,” Nell yelped.
“What friend?” Cindy started closing in. “You have to tell me. You cared about Graham. The two of you were good friends.”
“We weren’t good friends, we loved each other. We were boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Cindy’s head started to swim. She’d thought that when she’d looked at the photos, but it was different hearing it from Nell.
“You saw that he loved me on the photos,” the words were now pouring out of Nell. “Don’t play your stupid head games with me.”
“I’m not playing any games,” Cindy’s voice got louder as she tried to absorb what Nell was saying. “I want to help you. I want to help your mother.”
“It’s too late for that,” said Nell.
“It’s never too late.”
“Go to hell,” Nell almost spit in Cindy’s face.
Cindy put her arm up to block her face, and moved in closer. “Did your mother know about you and Graham?”
“My mother didn’t know anything. She didn’t care either. She didn’t know who any of my friends were. But, my father knew!”
“Your father?” Cindy was stunned.
“One day, when Graham was here, my father came home early from a trip! He came up to my room to say hello, and he saw him.”
Cindy went on high alert.
Nell started talking faster now, unable to stop. “I didn’t think anything about it. Why should I? So I had a boyfriend, so what? But my father’s face got white the minute he saw Graham. He looked like he was in shock. Graham and I looked at each other. We had no idea what was going on. My father eye’s narrowed in a way I’d never seen before. He looked at Graham as if he’d seen a ghost. Graham and I got more and more frightened. Then my father suddenly starting shouting so loud, we started shaking. How did you find out about Nell? My father kept asking him. Graham didn’t know what he was talking about. He thought his father had come to visit. Find out what? he yelled back.”
Cindy’s heart started pounding.
“Once in a while, I’d seen my father in rages like that. But not too often,” Nell continued, the words tripping faster and faster over each other. “When my father started yelling at us, I thought it was because he was jealous.”
“It was more than that though,” Cindy urged her onwards.
“You can say that again,” Nell bit her lip so hard Cindy thought it would start to bleed. “Much more. All of a suddenly my father started yelling that we were half brother and sister. He yelled it so loud I thought a vein in his neck would bust and he’d drop dead of a stroke on the spot. Too bad he didn’t! It would have saved us a lot of misery and pain.”
“Half brother and sister,” Cindy repeated. “Did you believe him?”
“Of course not,” Nell whimpered, not in the beginning. I thought my dad hooked up with someone and imagined that Graham was his child. I thought he’d finally gone nuts. He was always nuts around the edges. “
Little beads of perspiration broke out on Cindy’s forehead. She felt a mixture of incredible pity and terror for Nell.
“What happened to Graham?” Cindy asked then straight forwardly. Nell was on a roll. Cindy felt she would answer any question was put to her now. She couldn’t stop.
“Things got too complicated,” Nell continued, a fierce pressure under her words. She seemed almost relieved to be talking. “It took Graham awhile to realize that he and I had the same father. When he did, Graham went nuts. His relationship with my father changed overnight. My father insisted Graham stop seeing me. Graham refused. He was crazy about me. He became enraged at the suggestion. His relationship with me changed too. He began calling all day long, coming over at strange times. It terrified me. He said he’d never let go, never listen to his father.”
“Did your father tell you that he had two wives, was married to both your mothers?”
“Finally, he told us. That made it worse for Graham, made him hate my father more. I didn’t know what to believe. It was a shock to think that my dad had two wives. I used to look at my mother and think what an idiot he was making of her. I didn’t care so much about that, though. She wasn’t good to him, ever. She never really loved him, I didn’t think It wouldn’t matter to her. But, when Graham realized that my father really had two wives, it was terrible for him. I’m not allowed to have anyone, Graham would say over and over, and dad can have whoever he wants?
“One night it was too much. They had a terrible fight. I was there when it happened. My father told us both to meet him for dinner, at the mall, behind a back alley. We went, sat there opposite him while he tapped his fingers on the table hard. You two are bringing a curse on the whole family, he said. Imagine him talking about a curse, a man married to two women at once. It really made Graham nuts. He couldn’t stand it. It was the last straw.
“My father went on and on and then, suddenly, Graham just flipped out. He jumped up, grabbed the steak knife and lurched over towards my dad. I grabbed Graham’s wrist, twisted his hand and the knife fell back down on the table. My father looked like he was going to explode. He started to call Graham rotten and smarmy.
“Like father, like son, Graham yelled as his face contorted. You cheating on two women at once. Be a man, stand up and tell the truth.
“My father jumped out of his seat and ran out the back of the restaurant. Graham wasn’t going to let him go. He grabbed the knife and ran out after him to the narrow, side street. It was just getting dark. The street was empty. I ran behind both of them, but when I got there, it was too late. Graham had caught my dad by the back of the neck and started stabbing. There was blood pouring all over. I screamed and screamed but nothing came out. My voice was frozen.
“Finally, Graham dumped my dad on the ground. I was terrified. Graham started running, but I couldn’t leave my dad alone, like that. I ran into the restaurant for help, then stopped. Who would believe me? No one. Nell’s eyes were clear now and gleaming.
“Did you catch up with him?”
“No. He was gone. I didn’t know where he went. I just knew that he took the knife with him. I went running back to the alley way, to my dad. He was laying there uncovered. I threw leaves and branches over him to cover him up. Later on, a few people walked by. They didn’t even notice. I even grabbed a piece of paper that was lying on the floor and scrawled a good bye note on it. Then I stuck it in the wall.”
That must have been the note Cindy’d found.
“Your mother’s in jail for the crime,” Cindy said breathless. “They’ve been suspecting her all along.”
“There was no way I was going to tell on Graham,” Nell was babbling. “How could I? I loved him. And it wasn’t his fault. My father asked for it, he pushed both of us right up to the edge.”
“Now, Graham’s dead too,” Cindy said, pointedly, reining her in. “Who killed him?”
Nell looked up at her scared. “Graham couldn’t live with himself after this happened. He got more and more agitated every day, had to see me constantly to tell him it was okay. It was too much for me, I couldn’t take it. He was making me crazy. Can you understand that?”
“Yes, I can,” said Cindy.
“I told him to give me some time, to stay away. He wouldn’t listen. No matter what I said, the next minute he’d call. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get a minute’s peace. I couldn’t sleep at night anymore.”
Cindy felt a long, chill go up and down her back.
“So I called a tough kid in school I know. This kid likes me. He’s tough, but he’s sweet. He wouldn’t hurt anyone. I told him Graham was bothering me and I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked him to keep Graham away, to frighten him off a little bit. That’s all I said. I thought he’d rough him up a little and that would be that.” Nell started gasping for air. “I never wanted to hurt him. The kid didn’t mean to hurt him. They fought, they wrestled. Things went wrong.”
Nell’s face was pouring with perspiration as tears started to fall. She shot up and went for the bureau drawer, pulled it open and yanked out a big, glistening, silver life.
“Was that the knife Graham used to kill your father?” Cindy asked, horrified.
“Yes,” Nell yelled, now holding it up to her own throat. “And I’m killing myself with it. I don’t want to live anymore.”
“Nell, give that to me,” Cindy yelled back. “You can’t do it. It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault. I deserve it. I want to die.”
As Nell raised the knife high, Cindy flew at her, yanked the knife out of her hand, and held her tightly as she sobbed and sobbed so loudly, it drowned out the winds, pounding rain, and wooden shutters that were banging madly against the walls.