“I don’t understand.”
“I loved him,” She went on. “I did everything for him in college. I loved him the first moment I saw him. I gave him presents, I wrote papers for him, I did everything I could to show him how much I loved him. I did everything for him!” she screamed, spittle flying from his lips. “But nothing was ever enough for him. It was always never good enough.”
“So you accused him of raping you?”
“You spoke to my bitch of a mother.” She snarled the words, and then smiled again. “Yes, I did. Maybe I did let him, maybe I did give myself to him willingly, but there are other kinds of rape, you know. He raped my soul. He raped my heart. And they let him get away with it, and he left…even though we were meant to be together. He went to Hollywood…and I knew it was because he wanted to be a star, to make a lot of money so he could make it all up to me, make up for telling me I was crazy, for acting like I wasn’t good enough, and then he married that slut Glynis Parrish.”
“So, you killed her.”
“It was fate, you know? When I saw that he and that old whore he took up with were moving to New Orleans, I decided to come down here so I’d be here when he finally tired of that old bitch. And then Fate put Glynis into my hands, as though it were meant to be. I became her assistant, and I knew somehow I would be able to get through to him because of her.” She sniffed. “What a horrible person she was! Every day when I would listen to her, I wondered what Freddy, my precious Freddy, could have seen in her. Why did he ever want that monster? She didn’t deserve to live.”
“But why frame Freddy?” Keep her talking, I told myself. Venus and the police will be here soon, keep her talking, but don’t agitate her. If that gun goes off Paige is a dead woman. I strained my ears listening for sirens. But I heard nothing.
“He came by to see her.” She pressed the gun tighter against Paige’s head. “And he didn’t know who I was. He didn’t remember me. He looked right through me like I wasn’t there.” Her crazed eyes glistened with tears. “After everything I’d done for him, he didn’t know who I was! And that’s when I knew what I had to do. He had to be punished…and so did Glynis. She didn’t deserve to live, anyway. But how? I wondered. How could I do it? And then I saw that boy one night sitting on the stoop smoking. I thought it was Freddy at first-but then I realized it was just someone who sort of resembled him. I went out and talked to him, became his friend. And then I knew. I could pay him to do errands-get him into the habit of showing up at the same time every week. It was fate, it was meant to be.”
“So you killed Glynis, and poor Joey showed up right on time.”
She smiled. “I realized, you know, that killing Freddy wasn’t the best punishment for him. What meant more to Freddy was his damned career. It didn’t matter if he actually did it or not. That was in Fate’s hands. I didn’t care if he was tried or convicted…just the suspicion would be enough to make him notorious instead of famous.”
“And you killed Joey last night?”
“That was YOUR fault…” She shrugged. “He called me. Told me all about your little visit to the Rail, and how he now knew what the truth was. He wanted money. So I met him on the neutral ground and shot him. I wasn’t ready to be betrayed just yet. And it was all a part of the plan, you see.” Her eyes glinted at me. “You see, the just punishment for Freddy is really for me, the girl he didn’t love, the one who wasn’t good enough for him, to be even more famous than he is.” She laughed. “And I will be. Our names will be forever linked from now on. No one will ever think about Freddy Bliss without remembering Rosemary Shannon, the woman he scorned and betrayed, who killed his first wife. He’ll never be written about, without my name being linked to his. We may not be married for real, but we will forever be married in notoriety.”
“But you’ve already accomplished that. There’s no need to kill Paige,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and soothing. “The police are on their way right now. Just put the gun down, and we can wait for them, and you can tell them your story. And Paige is a reporter, you know. She can write it for you.”
She looked at me as though I were the one who was insane. “I’m not going to jail, Mr. MacLeod.” She took the gun away from Paige’s head. “And now, there’s no to kill your friend anymore. I know she’s a reporter. She’s heard the entire story now, there’s no need for me to kill her. She’s the only one who knows my story. It would be stupid of me to kill her.” She shook her head. “No, that’s not the plan.” She smiled at me. “Tell Freddy I loved him.”
She put the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.
Epilogue
It took about two weeks for my fifteen minutes of fame to come to an end.
I can’t say I was sorry to see the pack of hyenas in front of my house gone for good. I don’t know how celebrities deal with it on a daily basis.
I didn’t talk to the press, other than Paige. When her first story for Crescent City magazine hit the newsstands, the magazine sold out the first day. It was, as she said, a great debut to make as editor in chief of the magazine. That bitch Coralie even called her to congratulate her-and Paige was gracious enough not to rub her face in it.
I, of course, would have. She’s obviously a better person than I am.
Venus and Blaine got commendations from the city for their efforts in solving the case.
I never met with Freddy and Jillian again, but about five days after Rosemary Shannon killed herself, I got another check from them in the mail. This time it was for ten thousand dollars. There was no note or anything, which was fine with me. All I cared about was whether the check would clear, and it did.
According to what I read in line at the grocery store, Freddy and Jillian’s marriage is in trouble. I can’t say that comes as a big surprise.
Interestingly enough, the gun Rosemary used to kill herself-and Joey-was a match for the gun used to kill Tim Dahkle. So, the Kansas cops were able to close an open homicide.
Paige is really happy working at Crescent City. The publisher has given her carte blanche to reshape the magazine the way she wants. She and Ryan haven’t set a date yet, but there’s no question in my mind it won’t be long.
Joey’s family refused to claim his body, so I did. It seemed like the least I could do. I’ll never know what went through his mind that night. I’ll never know if the Joey I’d talked to was just pulling an act, but I prefer to think he was just a nice kid caught up in something too big for him to really handle. I had his body cremated, and on a beautiful spring morning, I dumped his ashes into the river at Wollenberg Park.
I even allowed myself to shed a tear for him.
Jephtha and Abby are both taking a private eye course. I’m sponsoring them, and am even considering making them partners in my business.
Every once in a while, I catch a rerun of Sportsdesk, and I can’t help but feel sorry for Glynis Parrish. She really was talented. Marrying Freddy had doomed her, but there was no way she could have known that at the time.
It really makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?
Author’s Note
Murder in the Rue Ursulines wasn’t supposed to be the fourth Chanse MacLeod novel; that was supposed to be Murder in the Garden District.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the publisher.