Bagels and Betrayal, page 10
“Maybe she's not home?” Julie suggested to Bethany.
Bethany glanced toward a two-car garage attached to a lovely two-story home. The garage door was pulled open. A blue BMW sat in the garage all alone. A spot reserved for a second vehicle was empty.
“The license plate on that car has the word 'Educator' on it. I think Justine Gray is home.”
Julie looked around. A snow-covered middle-class neighborhood stood all around her. “Maybe we should start a taxi business?” she suggested, speaking through a hard falling snow. “I never realized the taxi business paid off so well.”
“It doesn't.” Bethany bit down on her lower lip and rang the glowing front doorbell button again.
“I'm coming...hold on...” Justine rushed through a large living room filled with luxurious furnishings that complemented soft cranberry-colored walls. “Hold on.”
Bethany made sure her daddy's old gun was secured in the right pocket of her coat while Julie stepped close.
“Follow my lead, honey,” she whispered.
“I will.” Julie stiffened some. She wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe a nightmare...or maybe a simple cup of hot coffee?
Justine stopped at a hardwood front door with two rectangular stained-glass windows perched on both sides of its arms. Bracing herself for the unknown, she quickly forced her heart to slow down and her mind to take firm control over every action that needed to be fulfilled.
“Do what needs to be done.” Justine reached out her right hand, disengaged a glowing alarm system pad, crippled a heavy deadbolt lock, and eased open the front door. Two snow-covered women appeared behind a glass storm door.
“Yes? Can I help you?” she asked, pretending not to know who Bethany or Julie was.
“Mrs. Gray?” Bethany called through the door.
Justine pitched an eye behind Bethany. She spotted a heavy snow falling onto a silent, sleepy neighborhood.
“Yes?”
“My name is Bethany Lights. This is my friend Julie Walsh. Perhaps you know who we are? If you do, perhaps we can help each other?” Bethany asked carefully.
“I don't know who you are.”
“Mrs. Gray, do the names Tracy Bates, Ralph Polonzio, Tiny Polonzio, Mr. Marizzo, or Walley Griffin ring a bell? Do the names Patrick Brakemyer and Brad Griffin ring a bell? Those two men are dead.” Bethany stared through the frosted glass door, struggling to see Justine. “Mrs. Gray, I have a bad feeling you're in trouble. Please, perhaps we can help each other? I know my friend and I are supposed to be dead, but maybe if we help each other, we might all live.”
Justine felt her heart hit a cold marble floor. Her hands shook and desperate tears flooded from her eyes, scarring the mascara she was wearing. Without understanding why, she unlocked the storm door and threw it open.
“Inside, hurry,” she begged.
Bethany grabbed Julie's hand and hurried into a brightly lit foyer. Justine slammed the storm door and closed the front door without wasting a second. Bethany and Julie stepped back and watched the woman reactivate an alarm system with trembling hands.
“Mrs. Gray—”
“The kitchen please.”
Justine took off toward the kitchen like a scalded cat. Bethany and Julie exchanged uneasy glances, but cautiously followed.
“It’s not what you think,” Justine spoke in a tearful voice when Bethany and Julie appeared in the kitchen. “I didn't want matters to turn out like this. Everything got out of control.” She lifted the back of a gray long-sleeve blouse, pulled out a deadly gun, and continued. “I lost control,” she told Bethany and Julie as she placed the gun she was holding down next to a silver toaster oven resting on a gray granite countertop. She stared at the gun through scared tears, and turned to face the two women standing in her kitchen. “I'm not a killer. I admit that I told myself a million times I'll kill anyone who threatens me. But I...I can't...”
Bethany reached into her right coat pocket and retrieved her daddy's old gun. She walked over to a lovely kitchen table and set the gun down.
“Mrs. Gray, we're not here to harm you or anyone else. I promise. This is the only gun my friend and I have.” Bethany pushed the gun across the kitchen table, out of reach. “Ralph Polonzio approached me while I was standing outside the Pine Lakes Diner. I don't think I've ever had the displeasure of meeting a more disgusting human being in my life. That awful man told me quite a lot, but I could sense that he was twisting many truths to fit his own agenda.”
“Ralph Polonzio is a liar!” Justine exclaimed. “Don't believe a word that filthy piece of fish bait tells you!”
Bethany detected a thick New York accent hiding under Justine's voice. Davy never told me where the rehab center his brother attended is located. Where did Richard Gray meet his wife? I do detect a New York accent. Hmmm…
Bethany pushed every distracting thought out of her mind and focused directly on Justine.
“Mrs. Gray, may I ask you where you are from? I detect a New York accent.”
“I'm from Brooklyn,” Justine cut Bethany off. “And yes, before you ask, Ralph Polonzio is my cousin, and so is Tony Polonzio. Happy?”
“No,” Bethany said honestly. “I want to know what's truly going on, Mrs. Gray. I want the truth. Please. Our lives are at stake.”
“Please,” Julie spoke up in a soft, pleading voice. “Mrs. Gray, we can help each other.”
“Can we?” Justine asked through her tears. She looked down at the gun lying next to a sleepy toaster oven. “Maybe I should just kill myself and end this misery, huh?”
“Suicide isn't the answer, Mrs. Gray.” Bethany pulled out an expensive kitchen chair and sat down. “Talk to me. Please.”
“What's to talk about? My husband was being unfaithful with Tracy Bates. I found out the truth, and I was determined to destroy Tracy Bates. I was determined to make the woman suffer.” Justine wiped her tears. “Instead of attacking Tracy, I forced myself to become her closest and dearest friend. I earned her trust. I found out her secrets...well, most of them. In time, I took Tracy to New York. My intention was to hire Ralph to…kill her. Only Ralph ruined everything!” Justine hollered. “That awful snake let his eyes fall for Tracy's evil beauty. Tracy began taking regular trips to New York, and Ralph betrayed me. The only good part of all this is that Tracy got herself in trouble with a bookie who doesn't like to be cheated, and then rubbed a very deadly man the wrong way.”
“Mr. Marizzo?” Bethany asked.
Justine nodded. “That's the man. Mr. Marizzo is a man that even the FBI backs away from, if you catch my drift. He's not associated with the mafia, but he grew up killing for the mafia in real bad ways.” Justine crossed her arms. “Tracy, Ralph, Tony...everybody started stabbing each other in the back. I had to play along because Richard—that's my no-good husband—he's a heavy drug dealer. I always look the other way. And why not? Look at my home. I drive a BMW, and Richard paid my way through college.”
“Mrs. Gray, we're not here to judge you,” Bethany promised.
“It seems like you're doing a good job of that already,” Julie pointed out.
Justine snapped her eyes at Julie. “And why shouldn't I? I know Patrick Brakemyer is dead. That poor guy...he was playing Ralph, but he was giving me factual information almost every week. He's the reason I could keep up with all the twists and turns. Patrick married my cousin. He was such a sweet guy, so smart. But he always had something to prove. That's the way of it when you live in Brooklyn.” Julie wiped at her tears. “I was the one who asked Patrick to come to Pine Lakes. He's dead because of me.”
Bethany settled back in her chair. Instead of allowing confusion to dictate her thinking, she kept her mind focused entirely on Justine. Okay, this woman's story relates to the story Ralph Polonzio told me, maybe verse per verse. But there is a connection. So now what?
“Mrs. Gray, Ralph Polonzio told me that my mother is hiding millions in cash at the lake house up on Old Wolf Mountain.”
“Oh, if only your mother hadn't left her pocketbook behind!” Justine could have clawed the air in half with her fingernails. “I like your mother, Ms. Lights. She's a very decent-hearted woman. When I saw that she had left her pocketbook behind after a meeting, I picked it up, but the strap broke. All the contents went spilling out onto the floor.”
“That's when you spotted my mother's financial ledger?” Bethany asked.
“Yes,” Justine nodded. “I'm the one who helped get Tracy Bates hired on as principal at Pine Lakes Elementary, and then I set her up for a hard fall. I hoped to destroy her reputation and force her to leave Pine Lakes. Ralph, Tony, my husband...everyone was running around in this confusing maze. I thought if I could just force Tracy Bates to leave Pine Lakes, I could get a grip on matters. But as I was picking up your mother's belongings, Tracy appeared behind me. She spotted your mother's financial ledger before I could place it back into your mother's pocketbook. Tracy snatched the ledger from my hands before I could stop her.”
“What happened?” Bethany asked.
Justine struggled to calm down. “The meeting in question was one of many that was to determine if Tracy was going to get fired or not. Tracy wasn't aware that I was the person who had leaked damaging information to your mother as well as to other members of the board members. She was furious. When she began going through your mother's ledger...” Justine shook her head. “Ms. Lights, the ledger in question had evidence that your mother had been withdrawing sizeable sums of money over a period of many years and hiding the money at the lake house. Beside each financial entry, she wrote the words 'Money at Lake House.' And because your mother was the one who demanded Tracy's resignation, and because by then Tracy was in very serious financial trouble...you do the math.”
“I will, eventually. But may I ask, did you tell Patrick Brakemyer about the money?” Bethany asked.
“Of course I did. Patrick was risking his life to help me. I wouldn't dare keep anything from him. My cousin married last month .I think he rushed into the marriage because he was afraid he might end up dead and never have a wife. The situation turned intense after Tracy discovered your mother's secret.”
I still can't believe Mother would hide millions in cold cash at the lake house. Mother doesn't even have millions to hide away. Yes, I come from a wealthy family, but not that wealthy. Why in the world would mother keep such a strange financial ledger? I'll have to find out later.
“Justine, what does Ralph Polonzio really want? Why do you think he approached me and demanded I help him find the money, then threatened to kill my mother if I refused?”
“Because he's desperate,” Justine declared. “Ralph is a vicious cocaine user. He's also a vicious drinker. During his sober periods, he's able to think and wise up some. Right now, he knows Tracy and Tony want him dead, and he knows Richard has left the scene, leaving him high and dry. He knows Mr. Marizzo wants to make him eat a bullet. Ralph is desperate.”
“Where is your husband?” Bethany asked.
A disgusted scowl formed on Justine's beautiful face. “My husband ran off like the coward he is. He took our money and vanished. I'm guessing he's driving toward California as we speak. Poor Davy...he's the only decent person in this scenario. Tracy only married him because she was always attracted to Richard. Oh, it's a long, ugly story.”
“Ralph told me about a plan to kill Davy and plant the murder on your husband.” Bethany continued to question Justine, avoiding stepping off onto a side trail.
“Tracy's idea. I had to play along. Tracy still thinks I'm on her side...at least, I believe she does.” Justine hurried over to the kitchen table and sat down across from Bethany. “Ralph called me earlier. He told me to stay here at the house and threatened to kill me if I tried to leave—he meant his words. I was so stupid to take Tracy to New York. I was blinded by absolute rage. Believe it or not, I loved my husband...until I discovered the truth.” Justine wiped at another set of stinging tears. “I don't know what's going on. I don't know where Tracy is. All I know is that Richard left late last night. He cleared out the bank accounts and left, then Ralph called me. That's the truth.”
Bethany stared into a pair of terrified, panicked eyes that needed a friend, and not an enemy. “Mrs. Gray, I think everyone in question just might be up at the lake house on Old Wolf Mountain...and I fear that all the players are still determined to catch the king.” She rubbed her eyes with a tired hand. “Mrs. Gray, please make a pot of coffee because we have a lot of thinking to do.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Perfect!” Tracy Bates widened her soulless eyes. “They're in the house, Richard.”
Richard Gray nodded. “They'll join him,” he promised Tracy, tossing a thumb over his shoulder. A dead body was lying in the back of a white work van that had the words “Gray Electrical” written on the side of it in bright green letters. A little cartoon man holding two electrical wires stood smiling under the words. “Tony Polonzio is dead. I wish the killing would stop.”
Tracy turned and looked at the man who held the rough image of an ex-Green Beret. Richard Gray was handsome, rugged, and rougher than a wild grizzly—at least, in certain aspects. Deep down, the man feared Mr. Marizzo...and so did Tracy.
Richard wasn't stupid. He knew that Mr. Marizzo carried an insane, bloody mind inside his head. The man would dedicate himself to tracking down Richard no matter how long it took—and no matter the cost. The only chance Richard had to stay alive was to kill off his enemies.
Tracy knew how the playing field was set up. She was fully aware that Richard was now in attack mode—survival mode, really—and she was fully on board.
“Keep Bethany Lights alive. We need her.”
“I don't see why we're wasting our time with her. Why don't we grab Rachel Lights and make her talk?” Richard grumbled. His body was hungering for a line of white powder. He turned his head and looked at a black widow spider who appeared in the form of a very attractive blond-haired woman. She was wearing a bright pink snow suit, pink lip stick, and pink nail polish. Richard didn't mind all the pink. As a matter of fact, he thought the pink flattered Tracy's features. Davy, his rotten brother, hated the pink. But what did Davy know?
“How are you doing back there, Davy, huh?”
Davy couldn't answer. A mountain of gray duct tape was wrapped around his mouth. His arms and legs were also duct-taped to a flimsy wooden chair sitting beside a dead body.
“Richard, I know Mrs. Lights. The old woman is very stubborn. I don't believe she would talk. You should have seen the way she decimated my character at the school board meeting. No, it would be smarter to go for the daughter. Bethany Lights is weak.”
“Bethany Lights is a smart dame,” Ralph called out from the back of the van.
Davy moved his eyes and saw Ralph sitting on a box filled with old wires. Ralph had his right hand wrapped around a sour liquor bottle. “Maybe she fell for my act, and maybe she didn't?” he said to Richard and Tracy, and then took a deep swig of whiskey.
“I don't see why you even talked to her.” Richard folded a pair of large arms over a black coat. “I would have killed her and went for the old lady.”
“Well, you're not us, are you, smart-mouth?” Ralph snapped at Richard. “Tracy and me put a plan together. We wanted the dame to chase her tail some and follow her. She might know more than we think she knows. And lo and behold, stupid, the dame ran right to your wife. Now we'll see where they go. To the cops? Maybe, maybe not. All we know is that Mr. Marizzo is out to kill us all, and that's not going to happen. Mr. Marizzo has gone invisible, and that's not good.”
“I still don't understand why you just didn't kill Bethany Lights and her friend. I could have killed Julie—”
“Honey.” Tracy reached over an icy hand and touched Richard's shoulder. “Walley Griffin is still alive. Mr. Marizzo is missing...well, he's not letting himself be seen. Your wife is a liability—that awful traitor. I assumed she was my friend.”
“Hey, no one is your friend, Tracy. How many times do I have to tell you that? If it wasn't for me, Justine Gray would have swallowed you whole,” Ralph spat at Tracy. “Now listen, the both of you, we don't need a bunch of dead bodies in this town! You hear me! I plugged Tony, but that was personal because no one stabs Ralph Polonzio in the back and gets away with it. But Tony is the only one that dies today. As for you”—Ralph raised a hard foot and kicked Davy—“you'll be taken care of later…out of town. Right now, we need to see what everyone knows. I done told you that Bethany Lights is a smart dame. I found the book she wrote, and way up there in the frozen land, she's done been involved with some serious murders. There's no telling what she knows or don't know, or who she might have talked to. We need to be smart and watch! You hear me?”
“Ralph is right,” Tracy spoke to Richard in a sleazy voice that was supposed to sound supportive and caring. “This situation has spiraled out of control, Richard, but we still have a chance to make it.”
Richard shook his head. “Tracy, you must be insane to think we can win this fight. We need to make a run for it. There's too many loose ends, I'm telling you.” He unfolded his arms and ran an angry hand through a head of graying black hair. “Walley Griffin messed everything up. I told you not to trust that guy. If he and his brother would have done what they were told—”
“Hey, stop barking your mouth and shut up!” Ralph roared. “What's done is done. Tracy hired two clowns by mistake. It happens.”
“Richard, my plan was perfect,” Tracy insisted. “Davy's death was going to be blamed on Tracy. Julie Walsh was going to be the tool that cracked Bethany Lights’s mouth open for us. I'm sorry Walley betrayed us. I honestly thought I had him under my control. I was only trying to keep the scene private. That's why I wanted everything to take place up on the mountain. We were going to ditch the bodies in the lake after everything was said and done.”
“If I had been there—”
“Well, you weren't there were you, smart-mouth?” Ralph asked. “Tracy made everyone think she was in Raleigh, but she was in New York with you and me because we had a meeting with Mr. Marizzo. We got delayed and missed our flight back down here to the woods...it happens. What can you do? We got to the scene later than we wanted to. Now we have to deal with a jar of spilled pennies.”
