Page 58 of Memory of Murder
Preston looked at Jack. “I always carried a handgun. It had belonged to my father. Being in real estate, he’d warned me to carry it when I was just a young man. And he was right. I learned the hard way how dangerous some people who didn’t want to be evicted could be.” He shifted into a sitting position. Exhaled a heavy breath. “All those rental properties. I was in debt over my head. I don’t know what happened. Neil and I were arguing, and suddenly I had the gun in my hand. I killed him. I didn’t mean to… I only wanted to make him see what my life was like. I had protected him from that ugliness.” He shook his head. “It was an accident. I tried to make him listen, and it went off.” He started to sob. “I killed him. I killed him.”
The police poured into the house. Jack lowered his weapon to the floor and nudged it away with his foot.
Anne stood next to him and cried softly while they cuffed her grandfather.
She finally knew the truth. Her mother hadn’t killed her father.
Barrington Police Department
Northwest Highway
Sunday, July 13, 5:00 a.m.
ANNE HAD NEVERbeen so tired in her life.
Preston Reed had officially confessed to the murder of his son as well as Carin Carter Wallace. Much of what he had told her and Jack at the Wallace home had been lies. At that point he had been trying to frame Carin for the murder. But it was him. Carin never had an affair with Neil. Preston Reed had not gone to the Langston home and confronted Eve as he claimed. He’d comeup with this desperate plan to use Carin in order to lure Anne and Jack to the Fairlawn house.
None of this horrific mystery had turned out the way Anne had expected.
Senator and Eve Langston were not guilty of participating in any way in the murder of Neil Reed. The senator was only guilty of being a bad friend and trying to steal the job Neil had decided he didn’t want anyway. Carin, on the other hand, had known about the senator’s predilection for young interns. After her husband’s death, she had returned to Crystal Lake determined to glom onto the Langstons since they were rich and powerful by that point. She had enough blackmail material based on Kevin’s proclivity to cheat on his wife. It had been time, in her opinion, to cash in.
All the people who should have been there for Mary and Neil had let them down for their own selfish reasons. Eve and Kevin because they hadn’t wanted to get involved and have any sort of connection to murder on the record. Judith and Carin were guilty of the same. Each had her own problems and selfishly turned their backs on Mary when she needed them most. Even Ms. Farrell had, on some level, kept her head down to avoid the fallout. No one had really tried.
No matter that Anne had never allowed herself to care about her mother, she was glad that she was able to clear her name. To do what no one else had been willing to try. The memories would be with Anne for the rest of her life—the good and the bad. She was immensely thankful to the Colby Agency—to Jack—for helping her uncover and sort out those real memories.
“We’re free to go,” Jack announced as he walked into the tiny office.
The chief of police had given his office to Anne for some privacy. She stood, pushed all the painful thoughts out of her mind. It was time to move on. Time to tuck away all thesememories of the past and murder and look to the future. Her parents would want her to be happy. And Jack had been right—they would be proud of how far she had come despite the bumpy start she had gotten in life.
Jack smiled at her, made her feel instantly warm inside. “I’m glad this is over for you, but I’m also a little sad that you lost the only other part of your family.”
He was right. Preston Reed was the last of her biological family—at least as far as she knew.
“Frankly, I’m just glad it’s over. At this point, I don’t have it in me to forgive him.” She worked up a smile of her own. “My plan is to get on with my life and be grateful for the good memories we were able to glean from so-called friends of my parents.”
“That’s an excellent way to go forward.” He wrapped her arm around his. “How about we find a place to have breakfast and talk about your other plans for the future.”
She leaned in close. “I was thinking we could pick up something to take back to our motel and do our talking—or not—there.”
He grinned. “Much better idea.”
They drove away from the police station, and Anne realized she already had a great plan in mind. She would start her own family…with this man—eventually. Maybe it was a little early in the relationship, but if life had taught her anything, it was not to put off her dreams. She smiled at Jack. As long as he was willing, of course.
He flashed her a smile and reached for her hand.
She had a feeling he was more than willing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Chicago
Monday, July 14
The Colby Agency, 10:00 a.m.
Victoria spread theChicago Tribuneacross her desk. She smiled. Mary Morton had made the headlines. After thirty years her name had been cleared. To see this and know the agency had helped make it happen warmed her heart.
The door of her office burst open, and Jamie rushed in with her own copy of theTribune. “Have you seen it?”
