Thirty Six

 

 

      Hollie stared at her sister, Jo had undergone some tests and then been released from hospital.  Hollie was driving her home.  “Where did Mark go?” she asked, Hollie shrugged.  Right now Mark Read was the last person on her mind, “He saved my life” Jo went on, Hollie looked a little confused, “Mark?” she asked, Jo shook her head, “Ingebrigtsen” Hollie sighed, “He is gonna be okay ain’t he Hol?” Hollie nodded tiredly, “Yeah” she assured as she pulled up outside her home.

 

        The car parked in the driveway told both girls that their parents were inside.  “Great, this is all I need.  You know how mom feels about the police force, this will just give her the fuel she needs to start nagging” Jo announced as she got out of the car, “They mean well” Hollie replied as the door swung open and out rushed Mabel Logan, their mother.

 

      Jo smiled as she felt her arms fold around her, “Are you okay?” she fussed, Jo nodded as she was led inside “You’re coming home with your father and I right now” she was firmly told, “I’ll be okay” she assured, both parents looked concerned, “I’d rather you ca…” her mother insisted.

“I’ll be fine, besides Ben will probably come round”

“Ben?”

“Yeah Ben, my partner”

“Oh the one who left you to go investigate on your own?”

“No he didn’t, I was stupid I shouldn’t have gone on my own”

“Well I hope you learned your lesson?”

She glanced at her Father then nodded, “I sure have” she assured but Hollie wondered if she really had, Jo loved danger.  Lived for it, she had always been the one to go off exploring when they were kids.

 

      She felt her father’s arms go around her waist; she’d made her way to the kitchen and was busy fixing coffee when he’d entered.  “So how are you?” he whispered, she turned round to face him “Okay, still a bit jumpy but Mark should be back soon, he’s gonna stay the night” her father felt a little redundant.  His girls didn’t need him anymore, “Mark?” he narrowed his eyes, “Yeah” she replied, her father drew in a deep breath. “Your boss?”

“Yeah”

“Is that wise, I mean you know what reputation he has?”

“He’s a perfect gentleman where I’m concerned Daddy”

“Yeah, well as long as he stays a perfect gentleman and doesn’t become a cad”

She couldn’t tell him, that the cad had already slept with his daughter and so she opted to keep that little piece of information to herself.

 

      Ben arrived back at FBI headquarters having apprehended Anderson, he was exhausted but happy.  Welsh met him downstairs and asked if he wanted him to interrogate Anderson.  “No I’ll do it, I’ll just go freshen up, be right there” Welsh nodded tiredly as he watched him enter the men’s room.  “Good job Adams” he heard someone say, “Thanks” he said as he turned on the taps and begun dowsing his face in water.  “Jo’s okay by the way, she’s gone home with her sister” the man added, Ben looked anxiously into the mirror, Jo suddenly filling his mind, after his wife’s departure he had vowed never to let another woman get close but had, he cared for Jo.  More than he’d let himself think he did.  It had scared the hell out of him to think he might lose her.  Was he capable of loving again?  He still wasn’t so sure, perhaps?

 

 

     Anderson stared back at Adams, a pensive look on his face.  Ben had already pieced all the evidence together but getting this man to confess was proving rather more difficult.  “Oh come on Anderson, you aren’t helping yourself” Tony Anderson merely smirked “You know your Father won’t be able to help, not this time” Welsh cut in,

Anderson simply shrugged his shoulders. “He did the last time, I’m sure he will again, my Father has friends in very high places you know” he said smugly.

“I intend to nail your father’s ass on this also” Said Adams.

“Good luck”

“Luck don’t come into it.”

“Okay Adams, what d’you wanna know?”

“Why you killed your Uncle?”

Anderson lent back on his seat and stared right through Adams chilling him to the bone.

“I didn’t kill my Uncle; I suggest you go talk to that piece of scum down the hospital, last I knew he was serving 25 to life for killing my Uncle!”

“That’s fucking bull and you know it, you better start fucking talking.”

“Or what?  What you gonna do Adams?”

“Ben, cool it huh, he ain’t worth it” Welsh interrupted, “You know Anderson, we got enough evidence to convict you.”

“Sure”

“Maybe the cops over at the precinct botched up the full investigation but we sure as hell didn’t, we got all the evidence we need, and with Geddes’s testimony you’re so gonna go down for this” Welsh continued.

“Don’t bet on it?”

“Are you really this stupid?  Do you honestly think you’re gonna get away with this?  We got cops out looking for your father right now!” said Adams, trying hard to keep his cool.

“Even if we don’t put you away for your Uncle’s murder, we’ll nail you on the attempted murder of Logan.”

“I doubt it, the department wont want the publicity.” He was so sure of himself that it made Adams feel physically sick.

 

     They suspended the interview, Adams walking outside being followed by Welsh, “God he’s such a smug son of a bitch!” Welsh agreed, “Look you take someone in and keep at him, I’m gonna talk with Geddes” Welsh nodded, then returned inside.

 

     Shelby Geddes looked up when Adams entered.  She’d been crying, “What’s gonna happen to me?  I’m I gonna go to jail?”

“I’m not sure, suppose you tell me exactly what went on that night and I’ll see what I can do”

She relaxed a little and then stared down at her shaking hands.

“Tony had planned the whole thing, he was angry that his uncle planned to change his will, you see he’d won a lot of money and had told Tony that when he died it would be his.  Tony had a lot of debts and wanted it straight away but Larry wouldn’t give it to him, Tony went mad told him that he was a useless bastard.  Anyway the next time they met Larry told him that he intended to change his will and was gonna leave everything to Jessica.”

“Jessica?”

“Yeah Chris’s little girl, Well Tony had a fight with him in the bar; he told him that Chris wouldn’t have anything to do with him.  But Larry thought different, he said that he had changed, he was sober now and wanted to make up with Chris, I said that he could maybe come round and talk to him”

“And did he?”

“No, not right away but he did intend to, that’s when Tony devised the plan, he had it all worked out, I’d to keep the two of them apart.”

“What Larry and Chris?”

“Yeah but I kind of felt sorry for Larry, he was trying so hard, anyway I invited him to Chris’s party, I’d no idea Chris would have acted like that.  After he’d gone to bed I called Tony and told him what happened, he told me that it couldn’t have worked out any better, he sounded really excited, frenzied almost, he told me to bring Chris’s clothes, the ones he was wearing that night, and his gun, I swear when I left the house that night I didn’t know what Tony was planning to do”

Adams stared intently at her.  “Go on” he urged gently.

“Well I picked him up in Chris’s car, he told me to move over and he got in behind the wheel, we drove to Tony’s apartment and it was there he changed, he was the same height and build as Chris so the clothes fitted easily.  I didn’t want to be any party to it but he insisted I come along.  We drove to Larry’s place and Tony went inside, I stayed in the car, I could see them arguing and then Tony fired the gun and Larry fell to the floor, I wanted to run but I couldn’t I just froze, a few more shots rang out….

 

“God he’s dead, he’s actually dead!” Tony panicked.

“Christ Tony, what did you go and do that for?”

“It was the only way hon, look I need you to do something for me”

“No, no way Tony I ain’t getting involved in this!”

“You already are babe, just by being here”

Shelby tried to start the car but he seized the keys.

“Tony let me go” she sobbed.

“I can’t, look everything will be cool, all you need to do is sit tight, okay?”

She nodded then sat watching as Tony loaded the body onto the back of a pickup truck, she couldn’t believe she’d allowed herself to be party to a murder.  Tony was one cool customer, it was as if he was working on auto pilot, he gave her the keys and instructed her to follow.

“Don’t even think of doing anything stupid, coz I can easily break that little neck of yours” his threat was real and had Shelby in fear of her life.

 

      She followed him to Hanson’s Ridge and sat silently watching him.  He knew exactly what he was doing, there was nothing frantic or rushed, he’d had the plan all worked out, a tear rolled down her cheek as she watched him torch the truck then push it over the edge, burning himself in the process but that didn’t stop him, he quickly threw the gun over the edge, the one thing he hadn’t banked on was all the blood, Larry had put up a fight, a fight which had resulted in Tony bleeding badly.  He wiped his face on his sleeve then cursed loudly.

“Fuck, this is all going wrong”

“What?  I thought you said it would be a piece of cake?”

“Well I hadn’t figured in the son of a bitch would put up such a fight, look we gotta think about this, we can’t afford to screw up”

“Tony, I’m not sure about this”

“Well it’s a bit darn late for you not to be fucking sure, you’re an accessory babe, if I go down you go down”

 

 

     Ben glanced at the young woman, she was another victim of Tony Anderson’s, “I will go to jail wont I?” she sobbed; he felt a little sympathy for her, “Be honest with me Mr Adams?”  Ben frowned across to where she sat, “Okay, yeah I believe you’re looking at some jail time, but please I need you to continue”

“Okay, well when we got back to Tony’s he showered then changed, I just wanted to go home but Tony said we weren’t finished yet…”

 

“Let’s go” he said.

“Where?”

“We gotta go clean up Larry’s”

“No, I ain’t gonna go clean up anywhere!”

“You’ll do exactly as your fucking told”

“No, Tony I wanna go home”

“You ain’t going fucking home.”

Shelby began to cry, she couldn’t help herself, this couldn’t get any worse. “Come on babe, we’re almost home and dry, just hang on in there.”

 

      Shelby entered Larry Anderson’s home full of trepidation, blood lay splattered around the lounge room.  Tony immediately went to work, scrubbing and scrubbing.  “Come on Shelb, don’t just stand there” he yelled out in panic.  “I can’t, I’m going home, I’m going home Ton!” he sprang to his feet and seized her by the arms, “Calm down, please babe, its okay, you don’t have to do anything, I’ll do it all.”

 

 

     Once clean, they left.  It was almost 6am by the time they reached Hanson’s Ridge.  Shelby shivered as she watched Tony dispose of Chris’s clothes.  “There, told you it’d be a piece of cake babe” Shelby closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat.  “Can we go now?” she asked, “Course”

 

      Shelby never went back home that morning.  Instead she got Tony to drop her off at Happy Jacks all night café.  After purchasing some strong coffee she sat at a quiet corner table drinking it, but couldn’t get the nights events out of her head.  She wanted to go to the police and tell them everything but was too much of a coward and so after finishing her coffee, she headed home to Christian.

      Adams sat trying to take it all in, there were however a few lose ends but everything was falling into place.  Now all he needed to do was find out just how the cops botched the investigation, only Anderson held that information, but he wouldn’t interrogate him tonight, he was exhausted and just wanted to go and take care of Jo.