Sealing Fate Read online

  Lloyd smiled at her. “Thanks. I appreciate you getting us out of there before the swarm had us cornered.”

  “My pleasure,” she said, pointing down the hallway, “but I'd get out of here as soon as possible if I were you. It won't be long before they make it to the side door.”

  They followed Lloyd down the hallway and entered an open elevator. Walking quickly, they reached the third floor of the parking structure without being discovered.

  “Thank you, Lloyd,” Barbara said, giving him a hug.

  Lloyd nodded. “Let's meet at my office on Thursday morning, and I'll come back with you. Let's say eleven thirty?”

  Barbara nodded. “Okay, I'll see you then.”

  Brian mumbled some additional thanks to Lloyd, who smiled and then turned to walk in the direction of his car.

  In silence, Brian drove Barbara a few rows away to where she was parked. She climbed out, stopping before closing the door and looking in at him.

  “Take me to lunch at Rosie's, and I'll talk to you about all this. I'm yearning for something familiar.”

  Brian smiled weakly and nodded. She closed the door and climbed into her Chrysler. Then she followed him from the parking structure. As Brian drove the familiar streets of the neighborhood he had known for years toward Rosie's Diner, everything looked the same but felt uncomfortably different.

  Brian and Barbara parked and walked into Rosie's, where the lunchtime crowd was thinning, and a young girl who wore a “hostess” badge told them that a table would be ready in just a moment.

  As they stood in the lobby, Brian asked, “When did you know about the deal?”

  “Just this morning. About fifteen minutes before you arrived.”

  Brian found himself feeling relieved for her. “Five years … maybe four,” he said, thinking aloud. He furrowed his brow. “But why were the charges dismissed in connection with one of the deaths?”

  “I don't know,” she said, shaking her head. “Lloyd didn't either. He didn't want to ask. The whole gift horse thing, I guess.”

  Brian nodded. “What about Carol Hayward? I can't figure why she was a no-show.”

  Barbara shrugged. “No idea. I think everyone was shocked.”

  The young hostess led them to a booth by the window and then disappeared. They sat silently for a few moments and then ordered burgers and Cokes from a server wearing a pink top and a poodle skirt, who received the orders with a nod but wrote nothing.

  As the server turned and walked away, Barbara's eyes were fixed on Brian. “I want you to know how grateful I am, Brian, for everything.” He started to shake his head, but she held up a hand in a halting motion. “I mean it, Brian. You don't know how close I've come …” She let the words trail off, turning her head to the window. Then she drew a deep breath and looked back at him.

  “It's all right.” Brian touched her hand. “I'm glad you made the plea agreement,” he said softly. “I can't bear to think of you spending the rest of your life …”

  She smiled and then said, “Thank you for everything.” The smile left her face. “I can't stay, Brian. I'm not going to prison.”

  “What? I figured with this result …” He let the words trail off. Brian could hardly process the information. There was a whirlwind of feeling he couldn't voice. As he sat silently with her eyes searching his, he had no idea what he wanted to tell her.

  She smiled. “Don't worry. I'll be all right.” She glanced around the restaurant before speaking further. Then her eyes returned to his. “But I need one more favor.”

  Brian nodded. “What do you need?”

  “Time. I need the next …” She checked her watch. “Sixty-five hours until we're supposed to meet at Lloyd's office. Then you can tell them I went to the grocery store and never returned or whatever you want.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked reflectively. “Maybe four or five years …”

  “I'm sure,” she said confidently. “I've been thinking about little else.”

  He nodded.

  “I'm leaving from here. I packed what I needed yesterday, and it's in the car.” She clasped her hands together and leaned toward him. “There will be lots of questions, and I'm sorry for that. But you won't know where I've gone or who I'll be, so you won't have any information to give.”

  Brian searched her face for more. They were both silent as she stood. “I'm going to the restroom.” She smiled warmly. “Did you remember this place has a backdoor near the ladies' room?”

  “Will I see you again?” Brian asked, knowing the answer.

  “Maybe a postcard. Anonymously, of course.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Take care, lover. I'll miss you.” She forced a smile and touched his cheek. “Find a way to start over.” She turned away from the table, and he watched her walk away and disappear down the hall toward the restroom.

  The poodle-skirted server returned and put the burgers on the table. “Want any more soda?”

  Brian shook his head. “No, thanks.”

  The server pointed toward the restroom. “How about your wife? You think she wants more?”

  Brian smiled at the woman. “No, I don't think she does.”

  Chapter 28

  When Brian paid the check and left Rosie's, it was just after one in the afternoon. As Brian walked out into the sunshine, his stomach was churning, and his emotions were in turmoil. He drove out of the parking lot and down the street to the freeway.

  Brian drove for almost an hour, moving from one freeway to another with no destination. His thoughts traveled through snapshots of his years with Barbara—their first kiss, passionate and wonderful, and the first house they bought together, a fixer-upper they couldn't afford. It struck him that more recent memories were fewer and lacked the same passion. He replayed the scene as Barbara walked away from the table at Rosie's and considered that he might never see her again.

  On impulse, Brian got off the freeway and found himself in a residential suburb of well-manicured homes that was entirely unfamiliar. There was comfort in the unfamiliar. He parked the car and began walking. As he walked, he thought about the early years, when he and Barbara had nothing but innocence and had been so happy. Brian wondered exactly when their love had slipped away, but he couldn't remember. He knew he had not been in love with Barbara for a long time, but even after the love was gone, they shared the remembrance of laughter, tears and fears, intimate moments, sacred feelings, and hard times. It was a bond that they could keep when everything else was gone, at least until he met Cathy and all of their lives unraveled. Brian wondered if Barbara were tormented by what she had done. Through it all, she had never expressed remorse, nor even mentioned the two people who had died at her hand, other than in the context of her own defense. He considered that she would spend her life until she was caught with no personal freedom, getting close to no one and just surviving the days. It sounded so hopeless. Then it occurred to him that his life would not be much different.

  At five o'clock, Brian arrived home after two hours of walking. He unlocked the front door of the house and walked inside. Most of Barbara's personal effects were still there, but it felt different. It was too quiet, as if the house kept a secret. He threw his suit jacket across the arm of the couch and made his way to the wet bar in the living room, poured himself a bourbon, and stared out the window to the street. Kids played football in the street with passing cars making their way home frequently interrupting the game. The sky to the west had turned golden to form the beginnings of sunset.

  He heard a sound, a squeak, the movement of a door from somewhere behind him. It had come from down the hallway. He turned, remained completely still, and listened, but he heard nothing. Slowly and silently, Brian began making his way down the hallway. He glanced in the guest room. It was empty. He opened the bathroom door and looked inside. Nothing.

  He continued walking down the hall toward the master bedroom. When he was within ten feet of the door, a figure emerged from the bedroom, stopped in the hall, and stared at him. Br
ian felt his knees buckle and give way. Then he grabbed and held tight to the wall. He closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear the impossible image. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it had not moved. It was an apparition.

  The apparition stared back at him, now smiling. “Hello, Brian.”

  He took an involuntary step backward. His ears and eyes were now deceiving him. There was no mistaking who stood before him. “Cathy?”

  She nodded. “Yes, it's really me.”

  Brian studied her, not sure what to believe. She wore jeans and a gray sweater. Her hair was as it had been the night he last saw her. Her face had the same beautiful contour he remembered, and if there were more light, he was sure her eyes would be as blue. He caught sight of an object in her right hand, a bloody towel. He looked from the towel back to her eyes, still not moving.

  She looked down and then at the blood-stained towel. “I cut myself getting into the house through your laundry room window. I came in through the backyard. It wouldn't do for anyone to see me. You've been watched, and I'm dead.”

  Brian stared in disbelief. “Is it really you?”

  The smile that he remembered and now dreamed about flooded her face. She ran to him and threw her arms around him. They each held tightly to the other, as if fending off a recurrence of her disappearance. Brian said nothing for several minutes, lost in the embrace and the sights and smells of her. It was just as it had been, just as he had prayed it would be. It was his chance to hold her and to tell her how he felt. It was an opportunity to look in those eyes again. But now there were questions that made their way into his thoughts, inquiries that had to be answered.

  He pulled back from her and looked into her eyes. Thoughts spun wildly, and he tried to figure out where to begin. There was expectation in her eyes. “You were dead. It was on the news. At first I hoped it wasn't true, but it was confirmed. Medically. And—”

  “And by positive identification of next of kin,” she said, finishing the thought.

  Brian nodded slowly, remembering. He felt a chill pass through him as his thoughts moved to the images of the death scene. He felt a surge of anger rise up in him as he momentarily relived what it had been like to live through her death.

  “So you lied. This was all some damn scam or something.”

  Her eyes filled with sadness as she spoke. “I never planned any of this. It all just happened.” She paused, and Brian saw her watching his eyes. “Can we go sit down somewhere?”

  Brian stared at her for a few moments, searching for a clue. Then he nodded. He turned and led the way to the family room. She sat down on the couch, and he fixed them a drink. He handed her the glass and then sat in the armchair across the coffee table from her.

  “So what happened? You obviously aren't dead.”

  She looked down at her lap and nodded. “I made a mistake, Brian. I want you to know that I'm not proud of what got this all started.”

  “Go on,” he said, prompting.

  “About two weeks before the night it happened, the feelings started, and within a few days after that, I knew instinctively that it was true. You were getting ready to say good-bye to me.” She forced a smile but didn't wait for confirmation from Brian. “I tried to get used to the idea. I told myself that I was quite capable of being alone. I had always been independent.”

  She closed her eyes as she reflected. Then she opened them and looked at Brian. “But I was lying to myself, and I knew it. I was madly and completely in love with you. I just couldn't watch you go. I was the stereotypical other woman, head over heels, slowly convincing myself that we were the real thing and you knew it too. That you would leave her to be with me.”

  She shook her head as she reflected. “Then I started to see it in your eyes. You were some uncomfortable combination of restrained and anxious. You were looking for a way to tell me it was over, and more than anything in the world, I didn't want that to happen. That's why, when Michael Hayward came to talk to me, I listened. At first I thought he was crazy. But between his logic and my desperation …” She let the words trail off.

  Brian was incredulous. “Michael Hayward came to you? With what?”

  “With a plan. I disappear for a while without explanation. No ransom. No contact. Hayward spearheads a company-sponsored search for the missing executive. And you miss me and worry about me. When the time is right, he gets an anonymous tip as to my whereabouts and gives it to you. You come find me, and we find each other forever.” She shook her head. “I know it sounds crazy now. In retrospect, it does to me too. Then it actually sounded like it might work.”

  Brian's head was pounding. “And what was Hayward going to get out of all this?”

  She took a deep breath. “Jason Ross. I had the goods on Jason Ross. A little insider trading. I was supposed to let out that information through an anonymous source when I came back. That's why I thought this was on the up and up. I knew that Hayward really wanted Jason Ross.”

  She put her elbows on her knees and cupped her face in her hands. When she looked back at Brian, there was a tear in her eye. “You have to know, Brian. I had no idea he meant to blackmail you to kill Jason.”

  Brian nodded. “I believe you, but you didn't disappear. You died, or we all thought you did.”

  “Believe me, I was as surprised as anybody. I saw the whole thing on the news. My death. Reports of my funeral. It was unbelievable.”

  Brian felt the anger rising. “Then why didn't you come forward? Why didn't you do something about it? Why didn't you put a stop to Hayward's insanity? You were the only one who could have.”

  Cathy took a deep breath. “Can we get out of this hallway?”

  Brian was slow to respond. Then he nodded and led the way into the family room. In the greater light of the room, her eyes shone as they always had.

  Cathy walked to the picture window that looked out to the backyard. “I've wondered for so long how I would tell you when the day came. I've practiced a thousand times and had nightmares about your reaction a thousand more.”

  Both were quiet. Then with her back to Brian, she spoke again, “I couldn't come forward because he made me stay dead.” She pivoted and looked at him with pained eyes. “He had my family too. You remember how they identified the body? I mean, confirmed it was me who had been beaten to a pulp?”

  Brian thought for a moment. “Your sister identified the body. Linda?”

  “That's right.”

  “Yes,” Brian reflected, “but why would she do that?”

  “Hayward did his homework. Linda was the beneficiary of my life insurance policy, and somehow he knew it. Half a million dollars. People have been killed for a lot less. And someone purporting to be me died in my place that day, remember? I left my apartment in the middle of the night to become missing for a while, as Hayward had planned. Next thing I know, the police are hauling a dead body they think is me out of my apartment. And why wouldn't they? She meets the description, although there's not much left of her face. She's in my apartment, wearing my clothes and has a couple of my wisdom teeth in her mouth. My dentist's records would confirm that he took only two of the four. Linda confirms the identification, and I'm pronounced dead.”

  Brian watched the distress on her face as she relived the story.

  “Then Hayward contacted me. He said that, if I appeared or if I said anything to anybody, my sister would be identified as perpetrating an insurance fraud. And to make sure he had my attention, he told me that, before the dust settled from her criminal activities, she would suddenly die.” The glass she held began to shake in her hand.

  “As he put it, it would be a real family tragedy with both sisters dead.”

  “Jesus,” Brian said. Brian walked over and took the glass from her. She hugged herself, as if she were chilled. Then he wrapped his arms around her.

  “I don't know,” she said softly. “I haven't really felt okay since all this began.”

  Brian helped her sit on the couch. Then he sat dow
n next to her. He looked at her questioningly. “Dental records,” he said suddenly. “They matched your dental records to the victim. I remember because that news extinguished my last hope that it wasn't you.”

  She nodded. “You're right. He was so fucking smart,” she responded with anger in her voice. “I had told him that I was having problems with my two remaining wisdom teeth and I wanted to go to the dentist. He told me that he had a dentist friend who would do it right away. I didn't want to change dentists, but he convinced me that his man was good and we had to act fast. His dentist friend took both wisdom teeth the day I disappeared. They wound up in her mouth.”

  Brian felt nauseated. He looked at Cathy solemnly and asked, “Who died that day?”

  “Jackie Carlisle. She was a secretary who worked at the company and was thought to have had a long-term affair with Michael Hayward. He had broken it off, and she was unhappy. Starting to say things around the company about him. About going to his wife. I even heard a few rumblings about him having plans for vengeance against Jason Ross. So she died as me, after leaving a note to friends and family that she was depressed and planned to start over somewhere else. I don't know how he got her to write that note, but the man could get people to do anything. When he was done, it was the perfect murder. The supposed victim had left town, and Michael Hayward had no motive to kill the person everyone believed was dead. Then he takes it even further by blackmailing you. He would send you to jail for killing me unless you killed someone else. It was all brilliantly insane.”

  Cathy stared at the wall behind Brian, immersed in thought. She spoke with fear in her voice. “He even convinced Barbara that she was a party to killing me. The only thing he never planned was that his arrogance would anger her enough to point a gun at him and pull the trigger.” Cathy looked at Brian empathetically. “I'm so sorry you had to go through all this. You were so innocent and didn't deserve any of this.”

  “What?” Brian responded. The shock was evident. “Innocent? My straying caused all of this.”