A Justified Murder Read online

  “Fingers touching it,” Jack said.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “So you sent it skidding, the flash drive fell out, and—”

  “And I hid it,” Jack finished.

  “Now what?” Kate asked.

  “Now we go home and open it and I hope we see Sylvia’s book,” Sara said.

  “But...” Jack trailed off. He didn’t need to say what he was thinking. Sylvia’s account of all the horror Janet had done wasn’t going to clear Tayla. As Sara had said, You can’t kill people no matter how horrible they are.

  Kate clasped the flash drive in her hand. “Maybe this will satisfy Everett enough that he’ll forget about the White Lily Kidnapping.”

  “Ha!” Sara said. “He’ll write about Janet, then about Charlene. He’ll make a trilogy of it. Base a career on it. He’ll—”

  Kate put her head on her aunt’s shoulder. “We’ll do what we can.”

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “All that we can.”

  When they got home, Kate and Jack sat on each side of Sara as she put the flash drive into the side slot of her computer and brought up the contents.

  “A woman after my own heart,” Sara said. “Sylvia used WordPerfect.”

  The title page read Evil at Home.

  “Not pulling any punches, is she?” Kate said.

  Sara flipped to the first page. Janet Beeson says she wasn’t born evil but I don’t believe that. She left too many tears in her wake. Too many dead bodies. What else is the definition of evil?

  The three of them drew in their breaths.

  Sara closed her computer lid.

  “Can she do that? Use a person’s real name?” Kate asked.

  “No,” Sara said. “Not while the person is alive. No wonder Sylvia was planning to leave the country. But then, maybe she was going to change the name in the book to something fictional.”

  “Do you believe she was?” Jack asked.

  “No. I think Sylvia Alden had come to the point where there was only one thing in the world she cared about: her daughter. If she could get Lisa out of danger, I think Sylvia planned to expose Janet.”

  “To keep her from hurting others,” Kate said.

  “That would be my guess.”

  “Mind if we read more?” Jack asked.

  “I think I should print out two copies,” Sara said. “Jack and I get one, and Kate, you can read on the screen. We’ll make notes and later...”

  “We’ll share our horrors?” Kate suggested.

  “Exactly.”

  Sara ran the 321 pages off on her fast black-and-white printer, then handed Jack his copy and gave Kate the laptop.

  They went to their separate bedrooms and began to read.

  After two hours, Sara went to the kitchen. Kate heard and joined her. Jack came in behind them.

  “Where are you?” Sara asked.

  “She just killed her parents,” Jack said. “Traveled to the ski lodge under a false name, pushed them over a cliff, and watched them sink into the snow.”

  Sara looked at Kate. “She’s planning to beat the other girls at winning Carl.”

  They turned to Sara. “I skipped ahead to Charlene and Gil. I think it’s possible that they mur—”

  “Don’t say it!” Jack said. “Tayla is taking the blame. She—” He stopped. “I just need a sandwich then I’m going back to read more. Why did nobody tell anyone what this woman was doing?”

  “She was threatening them where they were most vulnerable,” Sara said. “If someone had done that to me about you or Kate, I’d pay and keep quiet.”

  “I guess,” Jack said.

  Sara handed him a fat BLT and a can of beer and he went down the hall to his bedroom.

  Kate and Sara made salads and read while they ate.

  No one turned out a light until well after midnight, which was why they were still behind closed doors at ten the next morning. Jack was just waking up; Kate was dressing; Sara was writing her thoughts about Sylvia’s book. It hadn’t been finished and Sara knew she was the one to do it.

  The doorbell went off like an explosion, the sound filling every room in the house.

  “Whatever this person has to tell, we already know it,” Jack said as he hurried to the door. Sara and Kate were close behind him. “It’s Flynn.” He opened the door.

  The sheriff didn’t wait for permission to enter but plowed ahead. At ten feet in, he turned. “Tayla is to be released.”

  “Thank heaven,” Kate said.

  “Why?” Jack and Sara asked.

  “Carl Olsen confessed to all of it. He poisoned, stabbed and shot his ex-wife.”

  “Any evidence?” Jack asked.

  “He has the gun that shot her and a detailed knowledge of every minute of that morning. And he has masses of motive. He has a box full of legal papers. The poor guy was pursued by Janet all over the world. He said he couldn’t take it anymore and ended it.”

  “So why’d he let Tayla take the blame?”

  The sheriff looked at them. “He says he was waiting for something to happen before he came forward. He wouldn’t say what it was, but I think he was waiting for you lot to find out the truth about his ex.”

  Sara led the way to the living room and sat down, Jack and Kate beside her. The sheriff took the opposite couch. “So he really has been watching us.”

  “Every minute of every day, as far as we can tell.”

  “What happens now?” Kate asked.

  Sheriff Flynn looked at his hands for a moment. “Remember that Carl Olsen used to be a really big guy? He’s thin now because he’s dying. Cancer. The doctors can’t believe he’s been able to move around for the last month. Most people would be in a hospital bed with tubes in them at this point.”

  “Hate,” Sara said. “An emotion as strong as love—you’d be surprised how either one can keep you going. Where is he now?”

  Sheriff Flynn took a breath. “That’s why I’m here. He’s in the hospital and he’s named you three as his next of kin. He’ll only talk to you. He said he wants to talk to people who can understand.”

  “This is for his trial?” Kate asked.

  The sheriff’s look answered that. Carl wasn’t going to live long enough for a trial. “My car’s outside. I’ll drive you there.”

  “But no siren,” Sara said.

  The sheriff didn’t smile.

  Sara and Jack left to get dressed, but Kate stayed. “How’s Tayla?”

  “Crying a lot. She held it together for a long time but when Carl confessed, she collapsed. And before you ask—because I don’t know anything about it—Tayla called Charlene. She’s coming home from her ‘vacation.’”

  The sheriff got up and for a while, he looked out the window, then back to Kate. “The big shots at the head office saw Carl’s papers, and heard his confession. They think he has more motive than Tayla did with her lawsuit from Janet.”

  “So they don’t need to know any more about what else Janet Beeson did? About what she knew of the kidnapping?”

  “That’s my thoughts. What about you guys?”

  “I don’t have to consult them to know that we agree with you on this.”

  “What about that reporter? Think he’ll keep the details to himself?”

  “Aunt Sara will take care of him. I have no idea how, but I’m sure she’ll fix it. The outside world won’t hear about Lachlan’s secrets.”

  The sheriff let out a sigh that seemed to deflate him. He seemed to blink back tears. Tayla and Charlene were related to him and he loved them.

  Minutes later, Sara and Jack returned and they got into the sheriff’s car and he drove them to the hospital.

  Twenty-One

  IN THE BIG white bed, Carl looked even smaller than he had the other times they’d seen him. His eyes were sunk