The Sleeping Beauty Killer

73

When Paula had returned to the hotel and told Casey that Laurie was going forward with the show, she finished with the anguished cry “I begged you not to do this to yourself, do this to us. I warned you not to do this. I told you-”

“ALL RIGHT! Stop it. Don’t you think I know I made a mistake? Now everybody will think that even though I served fifteen years in prison, I got off easy. I should be serving a life sentence. And that’s probably what you think.”

They drove back to Connecticut in stony silence. Paula’s few attempts at conversation went nowhere. It was six o’clock. She went into the living room and turned on the news. She heard the anchor say, “This just in. There has been a stunning new development in the case of the fifteen-year-old murder of philanthropist Hunter Raleigh. We’re going to our reporter on the scene, Jaclyn Kimball.”

Oh God, Paula thought. What now?

Stunned, she watched as Angela was led out of the warehouse in handcuffs, a police officer on each arm.

“Casey,” she shrieked. “Come here. Come here.”

Casey rushed in. “What’s going on?”

Then she heard Angela’s voice. Her eyes froze on the screen.

Reporters were pushing microphones toward Angela as she was hustled toward a squad car. One could be heard shouting, “Angela, why did you kill Hunter Raleigh?”

Angela’s face was twisted with rage. “Because he deserved it,” she snarled. “He was supposed to be mine and Casey stole him. She deserved to go to prison.” A police officer pushed her into the backseat of a squad car and slammed the door shut.

Several seconds passed before either of them could speak.

“How could she have done this to you?” Paula cried. “Oh, Casey, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for not believing you.” Tears streaming down her face, she turned to her daughter. “Can you ever, ever forgive me?”

As Casey felt an immense burden fall from her shoulders, she reached out and enveloped her mother in her arms. “Even if you didn’t believe me, you always stood by me. Yes, I forgive you. It’s over. It’s over for both of us.”