“You went with him to Meg’s party.”
“No, I lied about that. He called Meg and said he was coming alone. She was nice, phoned me immediately, and said of course I was invited. I knew then I was out. He was serious about her. About a month ago, I got a call from a real estate friend in Tampa who said Al and some young woman were shopping for condos and had made an offer. I knew he was setting her up in a love nest. I swore to myself the deal was never going to go through. Go to hell, Al Towson and take your Latina hottie with you.”
“You wanted him dead.”
“It was just a hateful thought in the back of my mind. But then that day, he phoned and said he argued with you. Then you showed up with your crazy story. Fate was telling me I had my opportunity.”
“Your vague idea of seeing Towson dead became clear.
“I went home, got the gun, and went to his apartment thinking I’d never have the nerve to use it. I started in with all my protests.”
“What did he say?”
“He said we could talk later, he had to go out. In other words, he was too busy for me. I said no, we would talk now. Why couldn’t he have just smiled and taken me in his arms? It would not have been too late. None of this would have had to happen. But you know what he did? He laughed at me. He told me I was being silly. He laughed like that time when I made a fool of myself offering him my keys. It was that same laugh. That set me off. I lost it. I took the gun out, closed my eyes, and tried not to think about what I was doing.”
“After he buzzed you into the building, he had plenty of time to put something on before answering his door. Why did you want him found dead in his underwear? To humiliate him, the dignified man found dead with his pants off?”
“To make it look like an affair. He had on his Kaftan when he opened the door. I made him take it off, as if a husband or boyfriend had surprised the lovers. I wanted to call attention to the affair: wine glasses, unmade bed and caught undressed. I wanted a scandal. A scandal that would be a permanent footnote to his life. And I wanted confusion to divert attention from me. Maybe even get her arrested. They can’t prove any of this.”
“So it was you who Mrs. Crawford saw leaving the building not the lover.”
“I was heading for the elevator when she opened her door and came into the hall with her dog. I had to get away from there fast. My God, he was on the floor bleeding. So I went back in and found the scarf to put around my head. She was down the block a little when I left, I didn’t know whether she saw me.”
“After I was jailed you relaxed, no one suspected you. You thought you could handle all your police friends. Then Sandy showed up. You didn’t expect someone so sharp to start digging in on my behalf. So, you cozied up to me and invited me overnight, figuring you’d better get on the inside of our investigation to find out what we knew.”
“You’re mostly correct. I was attracted to you when we first met at the restaurant, until you came out with that crazy story. When I asked you up to dinner, I didn’t intend to sleep with you. I thought I’d find out about your defense and then you’d leave. But during the evening, I fell in love with you, Ray, and then I didn’t want you to leave. That was love happening in my bed, I’m not an actress. I opened up to you as never before. That night my dream of a life with you started.” Her eyes were glistening. “You don’t have to tell anyone.”
He was too angry at that moment to consider whether he had fallen in love with her. The relationship that had started beautifully was instantly laid to waste when Sandy told him Tammy was the killer. “Tammy, you put me in jail and would have left me there. I not only lost my freedom I could have been executed.”
“I was depressed, my life seemed so hopeless. Everything seemed upside down. I wouldn’t have done it if I had known how you really are. I never expected to find someone like you. We could still have a great life together. This doesn’t have to mess up everything. They think Barner did it. They arrested Loraine. It’s over. You and I can live with this since we love each other. We’ll go away somewhere. We can do it. I’m not really a bad person. You don’t have to say anything.”
“We met too late, Tammy.” He slowly shook his head and pointed up behind the booth. “That little black ball up there on that ledge—is a camera. Our conversation has been videotaped.”
She froze. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened. Then she frowned, her eyes narrowed and her face got red. She stared fiercely at him and through her clinched teeth mumbled, “You knew I loved you. I said as much to you, and I certainly showed you how much the other night. And you used that love to trick me.”
She was correct—she was here confessing because she loved and trusted him. Neither of them would ever forget that. Yet, she was guilty and he was innocent. She had put his life at risk and this deception was necessary to get out of jeopardy. He realized that he was rejecting her just as Towson had rejected her for years.
She stared down at their hands clasped tightly together. “My bastard, my sweet loving bastard, at long last I’ve found you—and it's too late. Why couldn’t it have been you that I met fifteen years ago?”
“Even a month ago would have changed everything,” he replied.
Chapter 37
Ray and Tammy were still sitting there motionless when Chip and Sandy entered the café. From the doorway, Sandy saw them and called out, “Hey!” After a second look she quickly put both hands over her mouth and stopped right where she was. “My God, she did confess.”
A uniformed officer came in behind them and told Chip the videotaping was successfuclass="underline" they got the whole confession. Chip told him, "Good, Mirandize her and put her in my unit. You know who she is don’t you? She’s a friend. Take it slow and go easy with the cuffs. Stay with her and don’t let anyone bother her. I'll be out in a minute."
Ray gave Tammy an awkward goodbye and walked over to Sandy and Chip. “I was on the wrong track. I believed it was Loraine right up until we all met last night. You were correct Sandy. When I confronted her with everything we discussed, she confessed. How did you zero in on Tammy?”
"It bothered me when she told me that she thought Loraine was the killer and at the same time was telling Chip you were guilty. But I first became suspicious when she told me that it was a shame for a great life to be snuffed out with a couple of bullets—the irony of two little bullets wiping out years of accomplishments. The way she said it I knew she didn't realize he was killed with only one bullet. She believed it was two because she knew she had fired two. She didn’t know one missed and was found in the wall.”
“We didn’t release that detail,” Chip said.
“But that wasn’t conclusive. In my mind, she gave herself away when she first met you in the restaurant,” Sandy continued. “One minute she’s threatening to sue you if you go to the police, and then she unexpectedly stopped being hostile. That’s when she realized you fit perfectly into the murder plan that had been on her mind.”
“First, she screamed don’t go to the police, then a minute later, she said it was okay, just wait a few hours. She needed me out running around at the time of the murder, and she needed time to shoot Towson and get back to her office.”