Death Changes Everything (21 page)

“What? He can’t do that!” She turned to her attorney. “You said he’d drop the charges.”

“He’s just grandstanding, Pam. Detective, my client is offering to tell you the truth. Stop playing games.”

“I don’t play games,” said Matt. There was a knock on the door and a policewoman entered. She stood almost six feet tall and looked like she could bench press Pam if she gave her any trouble.

“Come with me,” she said, taking Pam’s arm and pulling her up out of her chair.

“No! No, I can’t! I can’t go to jail.” She yanked her arm free and reeled on her attorney. “You said this would never happen. You said I’d get community service!”

She shoved her husband out of his chair. “This was all your idea!”

“Pam!” Matt’s voice grabbed Pam’s attention. “Truth. Now. No deals.”

Pam stood silently, staring at Matt. She looked at her husband, who was still sitting on the floor looking up at her. She started to shake. “What do I do?” she wailed, falling into her chair.

Her husband pulled himself to his feet and sat beside her, his arm around her. Matt nodded at the policewoman, who quietly left the room. Pam’s husband started to speak, his voice so low it was hard for the men in the observation room to hear him.

“It was my idea, only I wanted to take the blame. Pam wouldn’t let me. She said it wouldn’t work if it were me, but she thought you might believe her.”

“Was any part of what your wife said true?”

“The money is gone, that much is true, only it isn’t my wife’s gambling that’s the problem.” Pam buried her face in her husband’s shoulders and started to sob. “We thought we were doing the right thing, you know? Helping him out when he’d get over his head. When he told us his girlfriend was pregnant, we got them an apartment and told everybody they were getting married. We hoped it would straighten him out.”

“But it didn’t.”

“No. The more we did for him, the worse it got. He came over one night, bleeding and with his clothes all torn. Told us he owed his bookie a lot of money, but we didn’t have anything left to give him. He said they threatened to kill him, so Pam sent him over to get the jewelry. We didn’t know what to do and we didn’t have any time to think. Next thing we knew, we heard Steven was killed.”

“You thought Ryan shot him?”

Pam wailed and her husband put a hand on her face, rocking her back and forth gently. “We didn’t know. He said he didn’t have anything to do with it, but Pam,” he took a deep breath, “saw him there.”

“She saw your son at Steven Hill’s house the morning he was killed?”

Pam sat up and drew a ragged breath. “I waited until I was sure Maddie was gone and then I went over there, through the alley, like I told you.”

“And Steven let you in?”

“No, the kitchen door wasn’t locked. We don’t lock ours either. I had just walked in the door when the doorbell rang. I panicked. I don’t know why. I ducked behind the counter and waited. Steven let that girl in, the same one who came to his funeral afterward. He took her back into his office. I could hear them arguing, then he shouting at her to get out. Then I heard her run out and the screen door slammed.”

“Then you went to see Steven?”

“I got up, but I heard a car pull into the driveway. I thought it was Maddie, but I looked out the kitchen window and it was Ryan.”

“Why would Ryan go to see your brother?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.”

“You talked to him?”

“Not then. Later. After…I found out about Steven.”

“So you weren’t in the house while your son was there?”

“No. I slipped out the back door and ran all the way home.”

“Then you don’t know that Ryan killed Steven.”

“He had to. I heard a shot as I was running away.”

Matt got up to leave. “Stay here.”

He walked back to the observation room. Captain Danning had again activated the privacy switch. “Is it me,” said Matt, “or is everybody crazy?”

“Detective Brugnick, take a couple of uniforms and go pick up Ryan Young. If his girlfriend’s home, bring her in, too. If that was him, that would have been her the old woman saw driving.”

“Will do, Captain,” said Brugnick and the young detective left the room.

Watching him go, Matt wondered if he’d ever had that much energy. “What do you think? Is she telling the truth?”

“She seems to be,” said Jake. “There were no hesitations in her story this time and no obvious lies, except for only hearing one shot. Could be she only heard the wild shot, then Ryan wrestled the gun away and shot Steven after she was out of hearing. She’s adjusted her arrival to later in the morning and now the timeline fits. I don’t know how she would know the timeline except to have experienced it.”

“Why would Steven take a pot shot at Ryan?”

“Because he figured out Ryan was behind the break-in and wanted to scare him? Or maybe he confronted Ryan and the kid threatened him?”

“And why would he take Trudy’s diary?”

Jake had been staring up at the ceiling while the two policemen spoke. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. “I think I know what happened. I just don’t know how we’re going to prove it.”

***

Jake outlined his theory and when he finished, they agreed that it was the only solution that made all the pieces fit together. Since there wasn’t any proof, the only way they were going to get the charges to stick was to get someone to talk. As Detective Brugnick was so fond of suggesting, they would bring them all in and see who cracked.

There was a knock on the door and Brugnick poked his head in. “Ryan Young’s in two, Captain. His girlfriend was at work. You want I should send a car to pick her up?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Morty,” said Danning. “Bring Young in here.”

“The observation room?”

“That’s what I said, Detective.”

Brugnick disappeared and Danning nodded to Matt, who followed him out of the room. Jake positioned himself in the far corner of the room and leaned against the wall. Another knock and Brugnick escorted Ryan Young into the room. He introduced him to Captain Danning and took a few steps back, a puzzled look on his face.

“Mr. Young,” said Danning, “Why don’t you tell me what you were doing at your uncle’s house the day he was shot?”

“I weren’t never there.”

“Detective Brugnick, has Mr. Young been informed of his rights?”

“Yes sir.”

“And this included his right to counsel?”

“Yes, sir.” Brugnick stepped forward and handed him a form.

“Mr. Young, do you understand these rights?”

“I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”

“Do you understand that by signing this,” he held up the form Brugnick had given him, “you waive your right to counsel and agree to speak to the police?”

“I don’t need no lawyer. I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”

Danning looked at Jake, who nodded. He turned back to Ryan. “Mr. Young, I’m going to ask you again and I want you to tell me the truth. What were you doing at your uncle’s house on the day he died?”

“I weren’t there. You deaf or somethin’?”

“What if I told you I have a witness, who saw you entering your uncle’s house shortly before he was shot?”

“I’d say somebody’s yanking your chain.”

Danning reached over and flipped the switch. Ryan sat forward, watching his parents through the glass. Matt was making them repeat their story, while a uniformed officer typed into a notebook computer. When Pam reached the point in her story where she saw her son arrive and slipped out the back door, Danning cut the sound, though he left the glass clear.

Pam was more relaxed than she’d been when she’d first told her story. She had composed herself, even laughing at something Matt said to her. Ryan sat watching her, his face dark as a thundercloud. Danning nodded at Jake.

“She told us about the gambling, Ryan,” Jake said softly. “She told us you kept wanting more and more money to pay off your gambling debts.”

Ryan ran his hands through his hair, clasping them behind his head and rocking in his seat. “She always helped you, didn’t she, Ryan?” asked Danning.

“She even helped you steal from your grandparents when that bookie had you beaten. How’d a kid like you end up over your head like that? Gonna be a pity, your kid growing up not knowing you.”

“Whaddya mean, not knowin’ me?”

“You’ll be in prison, Ryan. For murdering your uncle. Might even get the death penalty.”

“I didn’t,” moaned Ryan, still rocking with his hands behind his head. “I didn’t do it. I ain’t no murderer.”

“Just a thief?” Captain Danning reached over to the control panel and flipped a switch. The mirror in their room frosted but in the interview room, it cleared. “Mom would tell me what she wanted and I would go get it and give it to her.”

Matt watched Pam closely as she realized what she was hearing. Her face paled, then became a wall of solid steel. In the observation room, he heard Jake ask Ryan why he’d gone to his uncle’s house on the day he died. Pam gripped the back of the chair in front of her as her son answered.

“I went to ask him for a job,” said Ryan, apparently forgetting he’d just insisted he hadn’t been there.

“At Hill Energy?”

“Yes.” Ryan looked up, saw that the mirror had frosted, and looked at Danning. “I have a baby comin’ and my girl, doctor says she has to stay off her feet, but we don’t have no money.”

“Did your mother know you were going to talk to Steven that day?” asked Jake.

“Nah, Mom woulda been mad. She hated Uncle Steven.”

“So you went to see him. What happened when you got there?”

“He was weird, man. He was walkin’ around, wavin’ his gun around. Said it must be his day for leeches. I told him I didn’t know what he was talkin’ about. I just wanted to work and take care of my kid, you know?”

“Were you talking to Steven in his office?” asked Jake.

“Nah, I knocked on the kitchen door and he came and let me in. We talked in there for a while, then he told me to go home.”

“Did you?”

“I really needed the job,” Ryan’s voice shook and he put his head in his hands again. “I wish I had gone home.”

“Stop it!” Pam pounded her hand on the table, causing both her husband and attorney, who had been riveted to the scene playing out in the observation room, to jump.

“Didn’t you?” asked Danning.

“I went out but I saw my girl sittin’ in the car and I just couldn’t tell her my own uncle wouldn’t hire me. I went back in. I thought if I just tried harder, maybe I’d convince him.”

Before anyone could stop her, Pam jumped up and started hammering on the glass. Ryan bolted out of his seat and ran for the door, tackling Detective Brugnick, who’d stepped up to stop him. Jake and Captain Danning subdued the young man, Brugnick recovering enough to slap a pair of handcuffs on Ryan’s wrists. They pulled him to his feet and the young man’s shoulders sagged, defeated.

In the interview room, Matt pushed a silent alarm button under the table and went to subdue Pam, but her husband got to her first. Wrapping his arms around his wife, he pinned her arms to her side and held her tightly as she struggled, screaming obscenities at him and the room in general.

The same uniformed policewoman who’d come in earlier appeared with reinforcements. Together, they managed to control Pam, though it took both wrist and ankle restraints. This time, Pam listened to the advice of her attorney and refused to answer any more questions.

With Pam in custody in the other room, Jake turned a chair around and sat down in front of her son. “Ryan, what happened when you went back in?”

Ryan stared vacantly in Jake’s direction. “She shot him, man. I was comin’ down the hall and she was just standing there, lookin’ into his office. She looked at me for a minute, then she lifted her hand and shot him.”

“Who shot him, Ryan?” said Danning, standing behind Jake.

“My mom.”

19

“How did you know it really was Pam and not Ryan, who shot Steven?” asked Emma when Jake got home. Matt had driven out with him to pick up Kristy and the four were sharing a bottle of wine by the fire in the living room.

“It had to be Pam. Like Matt said, all roads were leading to her. I just didn’t know how she made it happen. I kept thinking about what Grace said about the crime being impulsive and that didn’t seem like Pam, but nobody hated Steven as much as she did. Once Lewiston said he’d gone to see her the day before Steven died, I knew that had to be what set her off. She couldn’t afford to lose the money from that fund and she had just read Roger’s will, which Ryan delivered to her that day, leaving everything to her if Steven died first. It had to be her.”

“So Morty was right. She knew you’d suspect her so she made a bogus confession.”

“Exactly. I sat there, trying to put myself in the house that morning and it hit me. Pam was there when Steven took out his gun and threatened Valerie. She had to have heard every word they said, including the random shot Steven fired at Valerie, but she said she only heard them arguing. Why would she leave that out?”

“Because she didn’t want to call attention to the fact that she knew about the gun.” Four sets of eyes turned to see Grace, dressed in a nightgown, bathrobe, and slippers, standing in the hallway.

Emma jumped up and helped Grace to her favorite chair. “I’m so sorry, Grace. Did we wake you?”

“I’m fine, Emma, don’t fuss. I wanted to hear what Jacob and Matthew had to say.” She turned to Jake. “So I was wrong. It was Pamela after all.”

“She’s lawyered up now so we may never know but I could tell you what I think happened, for what it’s worth.”

“Please do, Jacob.”

“Pam went there to do whatever she had to do in order to stop Steven. She initially said she took her own gun with her and she may have, fully intending to kill him, though she’ll never admit it now because that would prove premeditation.”

“Then she heard Steven’s argument with Valerie,” said Emma.

“And when Steven left his office to speak with Ryan in the kitchen, she snuck into the office and took the gun. Using Steven’s own gun to kill him would have appealed to Pam and then she could reasonably throw suspicion onto Valerie. She took the diary, by the way. We found it when we searched the house, along with a few pieces of Della’s jewelry she hadn’t managed to sell yet.”

“Pam just stood there and shot him, with her own son right there watching her?” Emma shuddered.

“She would be reasonably sure she wouldn’t turn her in,” said Grace. Emma was glad to see the color coming back into her face. Every attack of fever seemed more severe than the last, but it appeared the worst was over for now.

“But she was trying to throw her own son under the bus,” said Kristy. “What kind of mother does that?”

“I’m not entirely sure she was trying to do that,” said Matt. “She might have thought her son would get off because there was no evidence against him.”

“Obviously, she forgot to tell Ryan.”

“Ryan was always the weak link in the chain,” said Jake. “He wasn’t a smart kid. He really believed his mother was just borrowing the things she asked him to steal. I was betting she wouldn’t have risked telling him, regardless of what her plan was.”

“So did either of them actually have a gambling problem?”

“I have no idea,” Matt admitted. “The money’s gone, that’s true, but whether anybody gambled it away or Pam stashed it in an off-shore account, it really isn’t police business. It was her money, at least most of it was and Della’s not going to prosecute for the thefts.”

“What about her husband?” asked Kristy. “Was he in on it?”

“As furious as he is with her right now, I don’t think so. He says Pam told him the same story she told us about seeing Ryan go in, then hearing the shot. She convinced him their son was a murderer. Together, they came up with the story they would tell if the police ever got close to the truth.”

“Do you think you’ll get a conviction? I can’t see Pam accepting a plea.” Emma looked at Jake.

“Hey, I’m only running for CA, I’m not making those calls yet. Even if I get elected, I’ll have to recuse myself.”

“What about Pam’s husband?” asked Kristy. “Will he go to jail?”

Matt stretched and yawned and put his arm around Kristy. “It’s late. Don’t you think we’d better be going home?”

“Oh for goodness sake, Matthew! Just ask her to marry you.”

“Grace!”

“Don’t shush me, Emma! I’d like to be able to dance at their wedding before I die.”

***

“I’m mortified,” said Emma, as Kristy walked into the office the next morning. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what gets into Grace sometimes.”

“It’s fine. In fact, I’m really glad she said it. You remember, I promised myself I wouldn’t tell Matt I loved him before he told me because I didn’t want him to think I was only saying it because of his accident?”

“I remember.”

“Well, it turns out he promised himself he wouldn’t say it first because he didn’t want to pressure me. I don’t know how long we would have gone on like that if Grace hadn’t blurted it out like that.”

“So, everything’s good then?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“You’re killing me! Did he ask you?”

The door chimed and Emma’s first client of the day walked in. Mondays were usually reserved for paperwork, but Emma had missed so many days, she’d asked Kristy to fill her schedule. She forced a smile onto her face and turned to greet her client, showing her into her office. As she turned to close the door, she caught a glimpse of something sparkling from Kristy’s finger.