Deadly Valentine (40 page)

She made her way across the street, shuffling, hunched over with Jack holding her arm as if she were a hundred years old. She felt a hundred years old.

"It will take time to rebuild," she said as she made her way up the walk, the smell of her charred possessions, as few as they were, swirled in the cold air.

"You have a new place now."

"I want to go around back."

"You sure want a lot of things all of sudden," he muttered.

"You can change your mind if you think I'm too high maintenance." They slowly made their way around the yellow tape to the side of the house.

"Any minute now I'm going to pick you up and take you home."

She didn't doubt that he would.

They rounded the corner and Tess gasped as she saw her treadmill sitting mangled and melted in her back yard. She thought she could handle it, but her emotions had other thoughts. She felt herself shake as the magnitude of what had happened to her house and nearly to her sat burnt before her.

"Hey," Jack said, his arm tightening around her. It would have been comforting if it didn't hurt.

"I need a minute." She tried to loosen his grip, but she wasn't so sure her legs would hold her.

"Let's just go," he said with a gentle, but insistent tug.

"No. I just need a minute."

"What for? It will still be like this tomorrow, next week. You don't need to do this now."

"Yes I do."

He swore under his breath.

"I think I'm okay now." She moved closer to the house, trying to make out if anything was salvageable on the inside. It didn't look like her home anymore. Walls were missing. The furniture was a pile of ash. Only the brick fire place indicated she was looking in the living room. She thought about Delia, the loss of her home, her life. Could all this be connected?

"Do you think the Senator could do this? He's 80 years old."

"It's not that hard to strike a match," he said.

"He just seems too…"

"Refined?"

She nodded.

"Maybe he paid someone," Jack said.

"That would make it even harder to find out who did it."

"Not if it's linked to Delia's death. It would be reasonable to assume that he used the same person for his dirty work."

"The problem is that the fire inspector said he didn't think that Delia's fire was arson. This could be totally unrelated."

"He said there was no reason to re-open the case," Jack clarified. "But he also said there were some things about the fire that would have led him to look at it more thoroughly."

"I guess." Tess could feel her strength weakening. Not just from the physical limits of her body, but emotionally as well. Would this ordeal ever end?

"Even if Delia's fire was an accident, Asa's murder and the attempts on you and Tom could still be related to wanting to keep Delia and the baby a secret."

"Which brings us back to the Senator," Tess said. "I can't imagine him asking anyone to kill for him."

"Nothing that politicians do surprise me anymore."

Tess could hear a variety of noises coming from the house. Some she supposed were dripping water from recent rain, but the creaking had to be unstable parts of the structure.

"It's going to need some major TLC," Jack said looking at the house.

"Couldn't we all. So you really think the Senator killed his own son and did all this?" Tess asked as she pulled her coat tighter around her. The air had gotten colder and the sprinkles of rain were turning to ice.

"I think it's possible. But if he hired someone, then who came in the house to kill Asa? Especially since it seems like a crime of opportunity."

"Right," she agreed.

"Who can move around that house unnoticed? Even with all the doors that lead into and out of that office, someone would have to feel pretty comfortable in the house and know its layout."

"I got lost in it. When I found Asa, I was trying to get to the foyer, not his office," Tess said. "And it wasn't my first time there."

"Well we know it wasn't you then," he said giving her kiss on the head. "I tell you what. Let's take you home where you can clean up and get warm. Then we can look through the papers and see if anything pops out at us that we didn't notice before."

Tess nodded, but didn't move. She couldn't stop thinking about what Jack had said about the killer being able to move through the house unnoticed and having knowledge of its layout. She focused on the night of the party when she was resting in the room next to where Asa was murdered.

"I know who that is," she said more to herself than to Jack.

"Who that is what?"

Tess remembered hearing the argument between Asa and Jack, and then she must have dozed off because she was awoken again by movement.

"I know who can move the house," she answered Jack. "Who could have murdered Asa."

"Are you going to share or keep me in suspense?"

"Walter."

"You're kidding right? The butler did it?" Jack bit his lower lip to keep from laughing.

"I know it sounds crazy," Tess admitted trying not to be annoyed at Jack's dismissal. In her mind all the pieces were falling in place. "He didn't like Asa and would do anything for the Senator."

"Including murder?"

"And he was around when Delia was killed."

"That could be a coincidence."

Tess clutched the lapels of Jack's coat. "I don't think he was checking on me just before I found Asa. He was moving past me, through the room as if he were sneaking from Asa's office to the foyer."

Finally Jack's face showed interest.

"All the times I was talking with Helen or the Senator about the murder at the house, Walter was there. He would have heard me asking Tom about Delia. And he picked up Sarah and Agnes after they visited me yesterday."

"You met with Sarah and Agnes?"

"Yes. It's that thing I can't talk to you about. I'd asked him about the Senator and he got really irritated. He has an overly developed attachment to him."

"Are you sure about all this?"

Tess wanted to shake him. "You think I'm making this up?"

"No. But you know as well as I do that a faint recollection and coincidences aren't enough to convict a guy."

"I know," Tess started to turn away, but Jack caught her.

"On the other hand, you've got me convinced."

Tess smiled. "I wonder if Detective Johnson will be convinced."

"There's only one way to find out," Jack said pulling his phone from his coat pocket.

"You can put that away." They turned to the new voice in her backyard and found themselves looking down the barrel of a gun.

"Looks like you were right," Jack murmured.

"Right now I wish I was wrong," she responded as Walter moved towards them.

"It's unfortunate that I have to do this," he said. "The Senator is quite fond of his grandson and his grandson is quite fond of you."

"You didn't seem to have a problem trying to kill me last night," Tess said. She felt Jack give her a sharp squeeze. She supposed he was trying to tell her to not antagonize the murderer.

"On the contrary. I hoped I wouldn't have to. When you didn't put together my coming from the office into the library, I was glad that I wouldn't have to deal with you. You shouldn't have gotten involved."

"So what now?" Jack asked.

"So now we move into the house before a neighbor sees us."

"The roof is going to collapse any minute," Tess said.

Walter laughed. "That would be convenient for me."

Jack maneuvered Tess in front of him as they moved toward the house, so that he was between her and the gun pointed at his back.

"You don't have to do this," he said. "No one would believe us and there really is no proof. A good defense lawyer would say that Tess was disoriented and couldn't be sure when she saw you. Isn't that right, Tess?"

"That's what I'd do if I were your lawyer. Without an eyewitness, there is no evidence against you."

"Too late now," Walter said.

Tess stepped into the charred remains of her home. It offered refuge from the freezing rain, but that was little comfort to what was coming once they were inside. A gun was hard to defend against even when held by an older man such as Walter.

Tess glanced behind her and saw that Walter kept more than an arm's distance from Jack. She suspected he'd been thinking the same thing she was; if Jack were close and quick enough, he could overtake Walter. That's if Jack was faster than Walter's trigger finger. Apparently Walter didn't want to find out and neither did Jack who followed her into the house.

Jack maneuvered her towards the fire place where the slate roof remained intact. She couldn't be sure if that was a good thing or not. The freezing rain pelted the roof. She wondered how much it could take before burying them all.

She tried to think of something that could change Walter's mind. She still wasn't clear on why he killed Asa. Did he do it to hide the Senator's secret? Did the Senator ask him to kill Asa? His loyalty to the Senator was unquestionable; he didn't think the man could do any wrong. Perhaps that was Walter's Achilles heel.

"You know if you kill Jack, Daniel and the police will know he didn't kill Asa. They'll start looking for another suspect."

"And as you said, there is no evidence that I did it, so it won't be a problem."

"I wasn't thinking of you. I was thinking of the Senator," Tess said.

Walter's eyes grew dark. "He would never hurt anyone. He's a good man."

"I'm sure he is. But he'll be at the top of the list." Tess wasn't sure that was true. But if Walter believed it, and his devotion to the Senator was bigger than his desire to murder her and Jack, it was worth the bluff.

"That's ridiculous."

"Someone in that house killed Asa and the suspects are diminishing with each one you hurt or kill," Jack added. "When you account for those who have alibis, there aren't many people left."

"They won't accuse him!" Walter spat. "I won't allow it."

"Are you going to kill Daniel too?" Tess asked. "You can't get rid of everyone, Walter."

"And if the Senator put you up to it, maybe the Commonwealth's Attorney will give you a deal," Jack said.

"NO!" Tess thought Walter was going to shoot them both right there. "Don’t you ever say that. The Senator would never hurt anyone."

"Why would you want to kill Asa?" Tess couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Because he was going to tell about Delia."

"About her and the Senator's affair?" Tess asked.

"Yes, and about the boy," he waggled his gun towards Jack.

"I don't think that would have hurt the Senator," Tess said. "Politicians today are able to get away with a bit of scandal."

Walter rolled his eyes and then pointed his gun at Jack again. "His living would draw attention to Delia and the fire. People would start asking questions."

"What fire?" Jack asked.

"The fire that killed Delia, idiot."

"So you set that fire too?" Tess said. "You killed Delia."

"She was going to ruin him. He was going to take care of her, but she was going to leave and take the baby. It was a matter of time before the truth was exposed."

"What truth?" Tess asked.

"Today a politician can get away with infidelity and illegitimate children, but not then. Not in this state. He's a great Senator and I wasn't going to let her ruin it."

"So you killed Asa because you were afraid his news about Delia's baby would reveal that you killed her?" Jack asked.

Tess looked up at Jack. Didn't he get that he was the baby? Or was he still in denial. Or maybe he was being brilliant by trying to separate himself from the baby.

"He was going to give you the company," Walter said with a snort. "Can you believe it? As the Senator's son you're technically family. And as family you can run the company."

"I don't want the company," Jack said.

"Doesn't matter anymore." He lifted his gun again.

"Why didn't you just kill me in the beginning?" Jack asked. "Why kill Asa or try to kill Tess and Tom."

"I didn't want to kill them... well, except Asa. They were poking their heads into business that was better left dead." He cackled at his play on words.

"So why not kill me?" Jack asked.

"You didn't know about Delia. There was no reason to kill you, until now."

"This is going to come back on the Senator," Tess said, her voice sounding as desperate as she felt. What could they do? Was Jack trying to come up with a plan? Would the police show up? Was Daniel looking for her since she didn't tell him she was leaving with Jack?

"No. I'll kill you first," he said pointing to Tess, "And then you. I'll make it look like a murder suicide. It means you still could have killed Asa. Maybe you killed her because she figured it out."

"No one will believe that," Tess said.

"She's right. Everyone one who knows me knows I'd die for her, not kill her."

Except Daniel, Tess thought. Walter could possibly get away with murder…again.

"Then I'll kill you first and make it look like she killed you." He pondered it for a moment. "No, I think it would be better if it looked like you killed her and then in your remorse you kill yourself. It's very romantic…perfect for someone named Valentine. Oh and even better," he said, the glee in his voice taking on a disturbing tone. "It is Valentine's day. I wonder if this will be known as the Valentine's Day murder."

Jack shifted, stepping in front of her. "I have money and a plane. You can leave here. No more answering doors and driving people around-"

"But I like answering doors and driving people around. Look at it this way; at least you'll be able to be together in the afterlife."

 Tess always wondered about murderers who seemed to believe in God and an afterlife, but weren't worried about going to Hell for killing people. With a determined look on his face, Walter pointed the gun towards her chest.

Chapter Forty-Four

I'm going to die.
It was clear to Tess ever since Walter showed up with the gun, she and Jack were doomed to die. But it wasn't until this moment that the outcome felt real. She was going to die. The realization pitched from surreal to full blown terror. She wouldn't even be spared the pain of being shot since her medication was wearing off.