Walk the Wire

Chapter 84

Southern placed herself between Dawson and Decker. “You can’t come in here and threaten us. I’m calling the police.”

“Not to worry, I already called them” was Decker’s surprising reply.

A moment later there was a noise from outside. “And there they are. Keep them covered,” Decker said to Jamison.

He went to the door and opened it. “Come on in.”

A few moments later Joe Kelly walked through the doorway. He looked at Decker questioningly. “Why’d you want me to come out here?” But when he saw Southern and Dawson, he said, “I saw the Porsche outside. What is going on?”

Decker said, “I thought you’d like to be in on the end of this case.”

Kelly looked even more confused. “What do they have to do with any of it?”

“You mean what does she have to do with it. Well, for starters, Liz killed Maddie Dawson and Alice Pritchard.”

Kelly exclaimed, “What? No, that can’t be right. It was an accident.”

Southern snapped, “I had no cause to kill Maddie or Alice.”

“You love Caroline, and you didn’t want her to move to France. I don’t know how you managed it, but you did.”

Dawson cried out, “What the hell are you talking about?” She shot Southern a glance. “Liz, what is he talking about?”

“I wish I knew, Caroline. These allegations are ludicrous.”

“And, Caroline, with your mother gone, and your brother already dead, Liz only had your father to worry about. But then Liz had another problem.”

“What?” snapped Southern.

“Someone found out about your relationship with Caroline.”

“Your relationship?” said a shocked-looking Kelly.

Dawson shot Kelly a glance. “Yes, Joe. Liz and I have been together.”

Kelly gaped but said nothing.

“But your father didn’t know?” said Decker.

“It was none of his business. I did want to be open about my sexuality, but Liz thought we should keep it secret.”

“But you said someone found out. Who?” asked Kelly.

“Irene Cramer,” replied Decker.

“What are you talking about? How?” said Kelly, his gaze holding on Dawson.

“Liz told me that she and Caroline would sometimes hook up in the apartment above the bar. She and Caroline would leave very late at night, after the bar had closed, and go out the rear entrance. I’m betting that Cramer — who kept late hours, as we know — saw them together. And Cramer lived for a while at Dawson Towers, where Caroline has a condo. Cramer probably saw them there, too.”

Jamison said, “And that might be the reason Cramer moved. Liz might have threatened her.”

Dawson glanced sharply at Southern. “That woman at the condo building who saw us together? That was Irene Cramer? She never told us her name.”

“Maybe it was, so what?” said Southern.

Dawson looked at Decker. “We were sharing a kiss in the doorway of my condo when, I guess, this Cramer person came by. She apologized for intruding. It was no big deal.” She looked at Southern again. “I mean, it was no big deal, Liz.”

“I don’t think Cramer had a problem with it. I think the problem was all Liz’s.”

“What do you mean?” said Dawson.

Decker continued. “Cramer had gotten a note that had disturbed her. That’s what Alex was referring to: a threat from Liz. She was planning to leave town. But before she could get away Cramer was abducted. And she was held out in the barn here. But she must’ve gotten free and found something incriminating and swallowed it.” He turned to Southern. “But you saw her do that because you knew you had to get it back.” He stopped and eyed both her and Dawson’s hands where sat the pinky rings he had seen on each of them before. However, he was seeing them for the first time together.

“Your rings are identical. You two exchanged them, right?”

Dawson rubbed at the ring. “Liz got them both. There are inscriptions inside each.”

“An inscription inside them that would identify you as being a couple?”

“Something like that,” said a perplexed Dawson, while Southern remained quiet.

“If so, Liz had to get that back. And performing an autopsy on Cramer would have been easy for you, Liz, since your hubby did it for a living, and you no doubt picked up a lot of the techniques and knowledge. You also told us you were a licensed mortician. You can embalm bodies.”

Dawson had taken a step away from Southern. “Liz, this is crazy. You couldn’t do anything like that.”

“You really cut her open?” said a disgusted Kelly.

Southern still said nothing. Her cool gaze remained on Decker.

“And you’re responsible for Walt’s death, too,” said Decker.

“He shot himself,” said Southern quietly. “We all know that.”

“I believe you were telling the truth about his stealing. But you found out a lot sooner than you told us you had. And you used that against him.”

“Then why didn’t he point the finger at me?” retorted Southern.

“Because he didn’t know it was you. All he got were anonymous letters. The threat of losing his business and going to prison was enough to get him to go along with the scheme. I doubt he ever suspected you of being involved in killing Cramer. And his note was entirely sincere. He did feel guilt and he did hate himself for what he’d done.”

“This is all speculation.”

“No, it’s not. Now, next up are Hal Parker and Pamela Ames.”

“Why would Liz do anything to them?” said Dawson.

“Irene Cramer was a tall woman, about a hundred and thirty pounds or so. She was found in the middle of nowhere. You couldn’t carry her all the way there, Liz. So you drove the body there. After you killed her you kept her in the barn to screw up the time of death, and then you dumped her in a place where you knew a wolf was prowling around. The animal would be attracted to a dead body by the scent. You might have been hoping that the wolf would get to the body and tear it apart, further hiding what you did to get back the object Cramer swallowed. But the body hadn’t been there all that long before Parker showed up. The condition of the body told us that. I guess you didn’t know he was even in the area. You didn’t figure on that complication. And in addition to finding the body, he found something else, didn’t he?”

“Tire tracks,” answered Jamison.

Decker nodded. “Ones he knew very well because, as you told us, he gave those tires to you in exchange for your doing his wife’s funeral service. The rain would have washed the tracks away, but not before Parker saw them. Did he threaten to expose you?”

Southern put her hands in her pockets and said nothing.

“And Pamela Ames?” asked Kelly.

“She knew Cramer from the Colony. It would make sense that she would ask Cramer for help when she left there. Hell, for all I know, Cramer might have encouraged her to leave. So if Cramer mentioned to Ames that she had seen Liz and Caroline in an intimate embrace? And then she turns up dead?” Decker turned to Caroline. “Ames needed money to get out of town. Did she try to get some from you?”

“No, she never contacted me.”

He turned to Southern. “How about you? Or was she going to go to the police with her suspicions? Either way, you had to get rid of her and Parker. I think the clothes you dressed her in came from your own closet. Your clothes size is the same as the ones found on Ames. And your shoe size, too. I checked.”

“Liz?” said Dawson nervously.

Decker said, “That only left Hugh Dawson.”

“What did my father have to do with anything? And why would Liz hurt him?”

“For the money, of course,” answered Jamison.

“The money?”

“Your inheritance,” said Decker. He looked at Southern. “You wanted Caroline and her fortune. But there was no way you were getting that if Hugh found out about you two. That’s why you wanted to keep it secret. You knew what happened to Junior. You needed Hugh gone. So you fed us a bullshit story about Stuart McClellan lusting after Maddie Dawson and your theory that he had killed her. And that her husband suspected and picked now to exact his revenge. The puffer fish toxin was a neat touch. If we check the records, I think it will show that you obtained it somehow. Once he ingested that, it would have been easy for you to drive him out to where he was found and set up the carbon monoxide death trap.”

“But why kill Stuart?” asked Kelly.

“To give a motive for Hugh to kill himself,” replied Decker.

“But what about his suicide note?” said Dawson. “People said it was his handwriting.”

“We had an expert examine it. It was forged. By Liz. She’d known Hugh a long time. She’s probably seen many examples of his handwriting.”

“You have no proof, Decker,” said Southern. “Not a shred of it. But I have proof, of being slandered by you.”

“Well, in addition to Cramer’s car in your outbuilding, here’s some evidence that will knock your socks off.”

He pulled an evidence pack from his jacket pocket. Inside was a blouse. “We got a warrant to search your house in town. We found this and your slacks in your dry cleaning bag. This is the blouse you wore to the hospital when you came to check on Caroline, the same day her father was killed. You really should have gotten it cleaned right away.”

Southern looked nervously at the blouse, while Dawson looked on in confusion.

Decker said, “Caroline, I explained to you already my theory of how your father was murdered using the extra-long twine. Well, I had the FBI medical examiner analyze this blouse today. Do you know what he found?” When she didn’t answer, Decker said, “Your father’s blood. Perfect match.” He paused to let this sink in with the woman before glancing at Southern. “Even if you were a forensics expert, there’s never a way to really perfectly predict how blood and DNA spatters are going to fall with a shotgun in play, even if you were kneeling on the other side of the desk. You probably didn’t even notice the drops hit you. But the bottom line is, there is no way that trace would have been on your blouse unless you had been in the room when the shotgun was fired, Liz. So there’s your proof.”

“My God, Liz,” said Kelly, shaking his head in disbelief.

Caroline looked at the other woman. “My father, Liz. You did that to my father.”

Southern’s expression turned contemptuous. “A man who would have loathed you if he knew you had been with me. And look what he did to your dear brother. So was it really that big a loss?”

“I... I can’t believe you’re even saying that. You killed him!”

Southern shook her head, smiled, and said, “But, Decker, you’re not quite as smart as you think you are.”

“How’s that?” he asked.

“My neighbor told me about your visit to my house. And how you came out carrying some of my clothes.”

Decker looked warily at her.

“It’s why I told you we needed to get away to Canada, Caroline,” said Southern. “I thought Decker might be showing up soon.” She looked at Decker. “Remember when I told you my dad fought in Vietnam, and brought back some curiosities?”

“What about it?” said Decker.

“Here’s one of them.” Southern withdrew her hand from her pocket. In it was a grenade.

“No, Liz, don’t!” screamed Dawson.

Southern pulled the pin and threw it at Decker.