Authors: Beth Andrews
“You put the cyanide into his whiskey,” Walker said.
Her hands were clasped together on top of the desk, her
knuckles white. “I almost didn’t. Wasn’t sure I could but when he went to the
bathroom, I…I saw myself adding it to his glass, it was like my hand belonged to
someone else.” She licked her lips. “I waited until he came back, watched him
drink it, my brain had…shut off. After he drank, he just…collapsed…and I
left.”
“But not before taking your glass—and your fingerprints—with
you.”
“I was scared,” she said. “Out of my mind. I was so afraid he’d
hurt someone in my family again, like he did to Val. What I did, I did to
protect my family.”
He noticed Tori flinch but he couldn’t comfort her, he had to
keep his head in the game. “And yet you ordered the poison weeks before Mr.
York’s return to Mystic Point. Before you were even aware that he was still
alive.”
She shut her eyes, slid her hands to her lap. “I didn’t buy it
to kill him,” she whispered. “I bought it to…to…”
“To kill yourself,” Walker said.
Tori spun on him. “That’s ridiculous,” she snapped.
“You ordered that cyanide because your secret was about to come
out,” Walker continued to Celeste relentlessly. “Dale didn’t kill Valerie
Sullivan. He was innocent and he knew there wasn’t enough evidence to charge
him. He was safe. So he came back to make some more money off Ken using
Valerie’s affair with Ken, and Nora’s paternity, as leverage.”
Tori shook her head. “What are you talking about? Of course
Dale killed my mother. Everyone knows that.”
“He was telling the truth about getting to the quarry only to
find Val wasn’t there. But her car was so he took it. He probably figured she’d
backed out of their deal and that it would be easier to ditch her car than his.
He started his new life, spent all these years thinking Valerie was still alive.
When he found she wasn’t, he may have even suspected Ken Sullivan was the
murderer. Something else he could blackmail your uncle with.”
Tori’s eyes widened. “You think Uncle Ken—”
“No,” Walker said emphatically as he pulled a photo out of the
folder. “I don’t think he’s guilty, either. This—” he shook the picture “—tells
me who really killed Valerie.” He faced the woman behind the desk. “Isn’t that
right, Miss Vitello?”
* * *
A
ROARING
SOUND
filled Tori’s head, made it difficult for her to think, to process what Walker
was saying. What he was implying.
He handed Tori the picture. It was one she’d seen before, one
of her father, her mother and Celeste. Valerie was laughing, her head thrown
back while Tim stared at her, his love for her clear on his handsome face.
But it was Celeste’s image that Tori couldn’t tear her eyes
from. Celeste who had her arm linked with Val’s, who was staring at Tim with
such…longing. Almost…obsession.
Walker took the photo from her numb fingers and handed it to
Celeste. Tori’s throat felt like it was on fire and she couldn’t stop staring at
the other woman. Couldn’t help but see the guilt in her dear friend’s dark
eyes.
“Celeste?” she asked, unable to hide the shakiness of her
voice, the plea. “What’s he talking about?”
Walker stepped forward. “Dale didn’t kill—”
“No,” Tori snapped at him. “No. I want to hear it from her.”
She walked up to the desk, met the eyes of the woman who’d been more of a mother
to her than Valerie, the woman who’d been like another grandmother to her son.
The woman who’d given her a job and helped her when she’d been a scared,
pregnant teenager, who’d held her hand when she’d told her father and sisters
she was pregnant. The woman her father had lived with, had loved, the woman
who’d been a steady presence in her life.
“I want to hear it from you,” Tori told Celeste. “Tell me.”
Celeste nodded, her eyes filled with tears. “Dale didn’t kill
Val,” Celeste whispered, her voice ragged. “I did.”
Tori wheeled back as if she’d been pushed. Walker was there to
help guide her into a chair, to lower her head when she gasped for air. He
murmured at her, told her to take it easy, to just focus on her breathing, his
large hand warm and steady on her back.
She didn’t want to breathe, didn’t want to focus. Not when that
meant she’d have to accept what Celeste had just said.
“No,” Tori said, her head still bent, her voice ragged. “No.”
She raised her head. “You didn’t…you couldn’t…”
Celeste was crying, the tears streaming silently down her face.
She looked older. Broken. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Let’s go down to the station,” Walker said in his calm cop’s
voice. “We’ll take your state—”
“I didn’t mean to,” Celeste said, her eyes pleading, but Tori’s
heart was cold, frozen. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Walker start a small tape
recorder and at that moment, she hated him. Hated him for doing his job, for
being so calm and unemotional when she wanted to run, to hide from this truth.
From what she knew was going to be a confession, one she didn’t want to hear.
Wasn’t sure she could survive.
“You spoke with Valerie Sullivan the night she disappeared?”
Walker asked. “You saw her?”
Celeste didn’t take her eyes off Tori and for the life of her,
Tori couldn’t look away. “I saw her,” Celeste said. “She stopped by my
apartment, told me she was leaving town with Dale and that she wanted to say
goodbye. I was…shocked.”
“You didn’t know she was having an affair with Dale York?”
Walker asked.
“I knew but I didn’t think she’d leave Tim or the girls for
him. There had been other men…” She shook her head as Tori realized what that
meant. Other men. Not just Ken. Not just Dale. Tori’s stomach turned. Oh, God.
“Val was never serious about any of them,” Celeste told Tori quickly as if
reassuring her. “But she said Dale had figured out a way for them to be
together, for them to escape Mystic Point. She said they came into some money
but I hadn’t realized they’d blackmailed Ken for it.”
Celeste swallowed. “She was so happy, so excited and all I
could think was, how can she be this happy knowing she’s leaving her husband?
Her children? I asked her about the girls and she just…shrugged. Said they’d be
fine with Tim…that she loved them but she wasn’t cut out to be a mother. She
needed to be free.” Celeste frowned, looked at Walker. “That’s what she said to
me.
I need to be free. I can’t be tied down, not to one
man, not to one place. I’m bigger than that. I’m more
.”
Walker nodded slowly. “What happened next?”
Celeste pressed her fingertips against her temples. “I begged
her not to go. Told her she was making a huge mistake in picking Dale over Tim
and their children but she smiled and said Tim would get over it, her girls,
too, because they’d have me, wouldn’t they? She said with her gone, the coast
would be clear for me and Tim.”
Tori gasped. “You and Dad were having an affair?”
“No. God, no. But…I loved him. Valerie knew, of course. She
could see it. She’d often tease me about the crush I had on her husband. That
night she told me that with her out of the way, I could step into the role of
Tim’s wife, as a mother to you girls. I was so angry that she’d treat us all
that way, I knew how devastated you all would be if she left so when she turned
toward the door I…God, I don’t know what happened. I don’t even remember
anything except this utter rage filling me. The next thing I knew, I was
standing over her body, holding a lamp in my hand.” Tears flowed again. “I’d hit
her. Hard. I’d killed her.”
“You hit her at your apartment?” Walker asked. “How did she
wind up at the quarry?”
“I took her there,” Celeste admitted in a hoarse whisper. “I
panicked. She wasn’t breathing, she was just so…so still and then she got so
cold…” She shook her head and when she spoke again it was as if she was far
away, her voice monotone, her eyes glazed. “She’d told me she was meeting Dale
at the quarry. I dragged her to her car and drove it out there, and put her
behind the wheel of the car and then hid in the woods.”
“You thought Dale would be blamed for her death,” Walker
said.
Celeste nodded. “He had a history of violence. I thought she’d
be discovered and he’d be arrested once word of the affair came out. I waited
for an hour and he finally showed up but when he saw Val, he dragged her body
into the woods and just…left her there. Then he took her car. I walked home and
waited for my secret to come out, waited for someone to figure out what I’d
done.”
“Except no one did,” Walker said. “Everyone thought Valerie was
with Dale.”
“I realized I’d been given a second chance,” Celeste said.
“Everyone already thought Val had just walked away and she would have, she
would’ve left you all,” Celeste told Tori as if that made what she’d done all
right. “So I kept my secret, my guilt. I buried it and I did my best to be there
for you and your sisters, to be the kind of woman Tim needed…the kind he
deserved. But it wasn’t enough, it was never enough for him,” she said hoarsely.
“He still loved her. After all this time, I’m still second best to him.”
Tori was shaking, her head spinning. “You killed her. You
killed her and you left her out there in the woods. My God, how could you?”
“I thought she’d be found. I thought for sure she’d be
found.”
Tori didn’t even realize she was crying until a tear dripped
off her chin and landed on the back of her hand. She lifted her fingers to her
cheeks, surprised to feel the wetness there, to realize she could cry when
inside she was so cold, so numb. “You were her friend. Her best friend.”
“I loved her,” Celeste said. “I loved her like a sister. I
didn’t mean to hurt her.”
Walker touched Tori’s shoulder gently then stepped forward.
“Celeste Vitello, you’re under arrest for the murder of Valerie Sullivan. You
have the right to remain silent—”
“I’m sorry,” Celeste said, her eyes locked on Tori’s. “I’m so,
so sorry.”
Tori felt as if she was out of her body, somehow looking down
on the scene. The sound of Walker’s voice as he told Celeste of her rights
faded, time slowed. Walker reached for a pair of handcuffs on his hip even as
Celeste moved, bent to get something from the bottom drawer. Some memory tugged
at Tori’s brain, told her to stop Celeste. Realization had her leaping to her
feet.
“No!” she screamed.
Celeste straightened, the gun she kept locked in her desk
drawer in her hand. Walker pushed Tori aside as Celeste raised the gun, pressed
the barrel against her own temple.
“Forgive me,” she said, somehow too calm, too composed, her
eyes beseeching. “Please, forgive me.”
And she pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
W
ALKER
GAVE
T
ORI
a day,
twenty-four hours, and then he went to her. He couldn’t stay away, not any
longer than that, not after she’d been so crushed, so traumatized yesterday.
Hell, he’d been traumatized, too. When Celeste raised that gun,
his first instinct, his only thought, had been to protect Tori. Which he’d done,
he assured himself as he walked up to her house. But he hadn’t been able to
protect her from Celeste’s death.
Or from the truth of what Celeste had done.
He exhaled heavily and then knocked on the door. Cars lined the
driveway. He wasn’t the only one who’d stopped by to check on her.
The door opened and Brandon stood in the foyer. “Hi,” the kid
said solemnly. “You here to see Mom?”
“I’m here to see both of you. How are you holding up?”
Brandon lifted a shoulder, looking so much like his mother,
Walker’s stomach clenched. “I’m okay.”
Walker stepped inside, shut the door behind him. “And your
mom?”
“She keeps saying she’s all right but she’s not,” Brandon said,
sounding older than twelve. “She didn’t sleep at all last night and I heard her
crying,” he added in a low voice. “But no one else knows that,” he rushed
on.
“They won’t hear it from me,” Walker promised. He followed
Brandon into the living room to find Chief Taylor talking to Tim Sullivan.
Tori’s dad was tall with graying blond hair and blue eyes. He looked distraught,
his face weathered, his eyes weary. Astor Sullivan joined them, said something
to Tim and laid her hand on his arm. He patted her hand, nodded then walked away
with her.
His brother kept his distance, sat in a chair next to a pretty
blonde who was probably his daughter, Erin. Griffin York stood by the window,
listening to Brandon’s dad and Colleen.
“Bertrand,” Taylor said, coming up to him. “Everything in
order?”
Walker knew he was asking about the report. “All filed. I
recommended that no recourse be taken against either you or Captain
Sullivan.”
He’d found no reason for charges of misconduct to be filed
against either of them. They’d played it by the book during a difficult time.
Walker wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to have done the same.
“I appreciate that,” Taylor said, as if he meant it. Then he
held out a hand. “Thank you.”
Walker shook the chief’s hand, knew he was being thanked for
more than just his findings in the case against him and Layne. He nodded.
Taylor sipped his beer. “Tori’s in the kitchen with her
sisters.”
And how the chief knew she was the real reason he was there,
Walker had no idea. Wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
He went into the kitchen as Tori slammed down a can of coffee
and said, “I’m perfectly capable of making a pot of coffee in my own damn
house.”
“Of course you are,” Nora said in a soothing tone. “Layne was
just trying to help.”
“I don’t need her help,” Tori said as if through gritted teeth.
She peeled the top off the coffee, waved the scoop at her sisters. “And I don’t
need you two hovering over me. I’m fine.”
“Yeah,” Layne said, leaning back against the counter, her
ankles crossed. “That’s clear.” She noticed him, raised an eyebrow. “Detective
Bertrand,” she said. “What can we do for you?”
All three Sullivan sisters looked at him. He felt edgy and
restless, didn’t know what to do with his hands, wasn’t sure why he was there.
He was out of place. Tori didn’t need him there, didn’t need him at all. She had
her family, her sisters. It was them she’d turned to yesterday.
When Celeste fired that gun, the room had filled with the scent
of gunpowder and blood and he’d rushed to her, had called in the situation to
get an ambulance as soon as possible. He’d checked her pulse but it was too
late.
He’d turned in time to see Tori—her face and chest splattered
with blood—sway, her eyes wide, her pupils dilated.
Then all hell had broken loose. People had come running, a
waitress had burst into the office and he’d barked at them all to get the hell
out as he’d gone to Tori, had led her out into the hall where she’d crumpled
against him. He’d kept the gawkers at bay. Joe, the cook, had helped calm the
waitresses and the customers and, fifteen minutes later, the ambulance had come
and Celeste’s body had been taken away.
Layne and Nora had arrived within minutes of each other. He’d
filled Layne in on what had happened and while she’d seemed as shocked as her
sisters, she’d taken control. Had helped Tori to the ambulance where she could
be treated for her shock. Nora stood by silently crying.
Walker had left Tori with her sisters, had done his job to make
sure Taylor knew exactly what had happened. He’d given his statement, filled out
the reports and hadn’t made it back to his room until late. Though he’d been
exhausted, he hadn’t slept. Couldn’t stop thinking about Tori.
She’d gotten under his skin. If he wasn’t careful, she’d worm
her way into his heart.
“I came for Tori,” he said, then his neck heated as he realized
how that sounded. He cleared his throat. “I came to see you,” he told Tori.
“I swear to God,” she told him, “if you ask me if I’m fine or
if you can do anything for me, I’ll shove this scoop so far up your—”
“Hey, now,” Layne said, taking the coffee measuring spoon away
from her sister. “I’ll take over. Why don’t you take the detective out back? Get
some fresh air?”
Tori stomped out the back door and Walker followed. Found her
sitting at the end of a picnic table in a small backyard, her head on her bent
arms. He sat next to her. Lightly touched her wrist.
She raised her head. “I’m being a bitch.”
He scratched his cheek. “I’m not sure what the proper response
is to that.”
Her lips twitched. “The proper response is for you to assure me
that I’m being no such thing. The honest response is to agree.”
“You’ve been through a lot,” he said.
She snorted and leaned back, crossed her arms. “I think my
pissy mood has more to do with the fact that they won’t leave me alone,” she
said with a nod toward the house. “The only time I have any privacy is in the
bathroom. I took a forty-five-minute shower just to escape them for a little
while and Layne broke the lock. Said she was worried I’d drowned. In the
freaking shower.”
“They care about you,” he said, wishing he’d been there for
her. Wishing she wanted him there. “They just want to make sure you’re okay.
Plus, they need you just as much. I imagine this isn’t easy for any of you.”
Tori tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re right. I just…”
She exhaled heavily. “I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ll forget for a few
minutes and then suddenly I’m back in that room watching Celeste pull the
trigger. Every time I close my eyes I see her lying there…”
“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, fisting his hands on his thighs.
“I shouldn’t have let her lead us to the office. I suspected she was guilty. I
never should have let her get a hold of that gun.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Tori said gently, touching him for the
first time since they’d made love. “I knew she kept a gun there. It had been her
father’s and she kept it there for security. We’d all told her it was dangerous
to have one in the restaurant but she’d said it made her feel more secure.”
“I’m still sorry I didn’t stop her.”
“Maybe it’s for the best. Maybe this way we can finally put the
past to rest.” As if realizing she was still holding his hand, she slowly pulled
away. “So, I guess this means your work here is done?”
“It is,” he said, watching her carefully. “I’m leaving
today.”
She blinked. “Oh.” She smiled, one of her practiced smiles that
didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, I’m glad you stopped to say goodbye before you
left.”
“I could come back,” he heard himself say. Nerves tightened his
stomach, had sweat forming at the base of his back. But he held her eyes, saw
the question in the brown depths, the unease. “I’d come back for you, Tori.”
* * *
T
ORI
’
S
HEART
stopped, her mouth
went dry. Walker watched her, his gaze intense, the sun catching the gold in his
hair. He was strong and honorable and honest. He was a good man. Dependable and
capable.
But the only person she could truly depend on was herself.
She smiled and shook her hair back. “Now, Walker, our night
together was lovely and it meant so much to me, but let’s not get greedy.”
Hurt flashed in his eyes, pain she’d caused but better for him
to hurt a little now, she assured herself, than to think there could be
something between them.
“So that’s all it was to you?” he asked. “Just a one-night
thing?”
“It’s what it was to both of us,” she said firmly, hoping that
it was true. “We both knew going into this—”
“This?”
She waved her hand uselessly while searching for the right
words. “This…friendship…that it had an expiration date. You have your life, your
career back in Boston, and I have my life here.”
“And you don’t want to see if there’s a way for us to combine
the two.”
It wasn’t a question, but she treated it like one. “What good
would it do? Look, you’re a good guy but—”
“Don’t,” he said, whipping his hand out and grabbing her wrist.
“I’m the guy you slept with two nights ago. The only guy you’ve been with other
than your ex-husband so don’t you try to tell me it was because I’m a good
guy.”
“I choose who touches me and when,” she said stiffly, “and I
chose you the other night. And now, I’d like you to unhand me.”
He stared at her, then slowly opened his fingers, releasing
her. Her hands shook and she tucked them into her lap. “As I said, the other
night was great, but don’t make more of it than there was. I had to get back
into the pool at some time.”
“So I was, what, your inaugural single-woman screw?”
She flinched, ducked her head so he couldn’t see that he’d hurt
her. But that’s what happened when you loved someone, when you let someone get
close to you. They hurt you. You hurt them back. She wouldn’t put herself in
that position. Look what love had done to her family. Her father had loved her
mother to distraction, to the detriment of himself and his pride. Celeste had
loved Tim only to always be his second choice.
Tori got to her feet. “This conversation is over. Have a nice
life.”
She made it to the door before his voice stopped her, the words
whipping over her like a brutal wind.
“I’m in love with you.”
She froze. Grew dizzy. Locking her knees, she steadied herself
and faced him. “Then you’re a fool. I’m not interested in love. I don’t want to
love anyone other than my son.” And how dare Walker put her in this position?
Love? God, it was the last thing she wanted, to be tied to another man, one who
claimed he loved her. No. No, she repeated to herself firmly. Never again.
“Go back to Boston, Walker,” she told him. “And don’t bother
ever coming back. There’s nothing for you here.”
* * *
A
NTHONY
TOOK
A
deep
breath and then knocked on the door. His hands were sweating and he felt sick to
his stomach. But he had to do this, had to make things right. A moment later,
Jess opened the door. She frowned. “Layne’s not here.”
“I know,” he said quickly, sticking his foot in between the
door and the jamb when she tried to shut it in his face. “I came to see
you.”
She pushed harder against the door. “Too bad.”
“Please,” he said, knowing he sounded desperate but not able to
care. “Please, Jess. Just give me a few minutes, then I’ll go and you’ll never
have to see me again.”
He heard her sigh and then the pressure eased on his foot as
she opened the door. “Fine.”
He looked behind her into his cousin’s house. Bobby O, Layne’s
dog, barked, stood behind Jess, his tail wagging. “Can I come in?”
She crossed her arms. “No.”
“Okay, fair enough.” But that meant he had to grovel on the
doorstep. He guessed he deserved that and worse. “I’m sorry,” he said slowly,
trying to remember the words he’d chosen, the apology he’d practiced on his way
over here. “I’m really sorry about the other night. I… God…I can’t believe I
treated you that way, with such disrespect. That I said those things to
you.”
Just remembering what had happened made him feel sick inside.
He’d never, not once treated a girl so badly and while he had been drinking, he
wasn’t about to blame his bad behavior on alcohol. He was a man. An adult. It
was time to act like one.
“I have no excuse,” he continued when she remained silent,
giving him one of her sneering looks. “And I’m truly sorry. A few months ago,
you asked me if I could forgive you. Well, I’m asking the same thing. Can you
forgive me?”
She twisted the bracelet on her wrist. “I don’t know. Besides,
what does it matter? I mean, just because Uncle Ross is with Layne doesn’t mean
you and me ever have to see each other.”
“It matters to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said quietly.
“Because I miss talking to you. Because I still care about you.”
She stepped back. “It doesn’t matter. I’m with Tanner now.”
“I know, and I respect that. It’s just…I’m leaving and I really
want to know that you don’t hate me before I go.”
“Leaving? You mean you’re going back to school?”
“No, I…I joined the Marines.”
She blinked, her mouth dropping. “What? Anthony… God. Why?”
“You were right. I need to grow up and I can’t go back to
school and follow in my father’s footsteps. Not now. I never wanted to be a
lawyer anyway.”
“I know that, it’s just…the Marines? Are you sure about
this?”
No, he was terrified. But despite that terror, he was also
determined for the first time in his life to make something of himself on his
own. In his own way. “I’m sure.” His heart raced and he tried to smile. “If I
write to you, will you write back?”