The Sleeping Beauty Killer

55

Paula Carter was on her hotel bed, flipping channels on the remote control to pass the time. At the desk next to her, her niece, Angela, typed furiously on her laptop.

“It was unnecessary of you to get us a hotel room, Angela. But very thoughtful.”

“It’s nothing. I couldn’t imagine Casey wanting to get right back on the train after filming. Besides, Ladyform has a corporate rate here.”

“I was so relieved when Laurie called last night to say she didn’t need the two of us after all. And I understand why Casey decided to go alone, but why hasn’t she called us? She should be done by now. How can you even concentrate?”

“I don’t have a choice,” Angela said, continuing to type. “We have our fall show this weekend. I’m doing what I can remotely, but Charlotte and I need to go to the warehouse to check on the design work on the sets.”

Paula turned off the television. “Angela, I don’t think I’ve ever told you how proud I am of you. How proud Robin would have been-to see how much you’ve accomplished as a professional woman. To go from being just a model to having such a successful career.”

“Just a model?” Angela said, glancing from her computer screen. “I worked harder as a model than I’ve ever worked at Ladyform.”

“That’s not what I meant, Angela. You were always so beautiful-and, of course, are still stunning. But that was never your only value. Looks fade. Talent doesn’t. I’ll be honest. When you girls were little, I’d find myself comparing the two of you. Robin was always talking about how pretty you were. And, I’m sorry to say this, I would think, My Casey will come out ahead in the long run. I know how horrible that sounds now, but sisters are competitive, even about the next generation. I never would have thought that you’d be the corporate executive, and Casey would be the one who was-”

She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

Angela closed her laptop, sat next to Paula on the bed, and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, Aunt Paula. It means a lot to know you’re proud of me. I’m sure somehow Casey will find a future for herself.” Angela’s eyes began to water. She wiped away a tear and laughed to lighten the mood. “Okay, now I’m the one fretting. We should have heard from Casey by now.”

Paula was reaching for her cell phone when they heard the beep of a hotel key card in the door. Casey’s eyes were red, and her face was smeared with makeup.

“Oh no, what’s wrong?” Angela asked.

“Everything,” Casey yelled. “Everything is wrong! They ambushed me. Charlotte’s friend Laurie pretended to believe me, but then she sicced her attack-dog lawyer on me. He skewed all the facts. If they had at least given me notice, I would have had better answers. I could have explained everything.”

Paula immediately regretted not fighting Casey harder about her decision to pursue this show. “Maybe it’s not that bad,” she offered meekly.

“Mom, it was awful. I’ll end up looking awful. The whole point was to clear my name, and instead I look even guiltier than I did before. I could tell they weren’t going to believe me. Yes, Hunter and I argued, but that’s normal for a couple. We always worked it out. I shouldn’t have tried to cover anything up, but I wanted to make sure she took my case.”

Paula looked to Angela for guidance, but she seemed just as confused as Paula. “Honey, I’m not sure we’re following you.”

“When I gave my file to Laurie, I left something out. I left a lot of things out. So stupid. I should have known they’d find out.”

“What exactly did you omit?” Angela asked nervously.

“I made the defense lawyer look worse than she really was. But the main problem was a page from the police inventory, showing shards of broken glass in the garbage.”

“How could that possibly matter?” Paula scoffed.

“Because they think it’s the crystal picture frame that was missing from the nightstand. They think I was the one who broke it during an argument with Hunter, and that’s why I left the page out of the files I gave them.”

“Well, are they right?” The words left Paula’s mouth before she could stop them.

Her daughter’s eyes were filled with pain. “Of course not. It was just a broken vase. I took that sheet out because I didn’t want Laurie to assume it was the picture frame.”

“So they’re just speculating,” Angela said. “I honestly don’t see the problem.”

Paula couldn’t help but notice that Angela sounded less patient than usual. She chalked it up to Angela needing to leave for work soon.

“The problem is that I’m the one who broke the vase. A few days before the gala when I saw that photograph of Hunter and Gabrielle I was so mad that I slammed the newspaper down. It knocked the vase off the table and it shattered to smithereens.”

Paula felt a pit growing in her stomach. “And you told them this today, on camera? That was the prosecution’s theory of your motive.” She put her hands to her face. “Oh Casey-”

“I know, Mom. Please don’t start. That missing frame was the one thing I had on my side to prove that someone else was in the house that night. And now my attempt to hide that broken glass from them backfired. Not to mention, they made it sound like I was trying to manipulate them by suggesting we hold back the one detail about the picture frame. I didn’t even make that connection. And now I’m going to look horrible.”

Paula wondered whether her daughter was ever going to be honest with her-or herself-about what she’d done on that horrible night. Regardless, Paula was going to do what she always did-love her daughter and do what she could to protect her. Casey always said Hunter loved her unconditionally, but she never seemed to notice that her parents always had as well.

And because Paula always did what she could to protect her daughter, she told Casey to go into the bathroom to wash the makeup from her face. Once Casey was gone, she began pulling on her jacket.

“Where are you going?” Angela asked.

“To talk to Laurie Moran, mother to mother. There has to be some way to stop this show and let Casey live her life in peace.”