Naked Frame (17 page)

"No. Of course not. I was worried about
you."

"Then why didn't you come over to check on
me. Or call the police."

"Well, I..."

The man walked into the foyer, and the door
closed.

Rebecca turned to Gabby. "That sounded like
Wiley."

He nodded.

They ran up to the door and listened, but
couldn't hear anything. Rebecca tried the door. It was unlocked.
She opened it a couple of inches.

The distance of their voices convinced
Rebecca that Kimberly and Wiley had walked out of the foyer into
another room. She pushed the door open further and peeked in.
Looking back to Gabby, she whispered, "They won't see us. Come
on."

They slipped inside and closed the door.

Kimberly and Wiley were in the living
room.

"You keep saying you want me," said Wiley,
"but you won't ever let me come over here."

"What are talking about, Wiley? You were
here last night."

"I was here for five minutes. Once you got
the stuff you wanted from me, you pushed me out the door."

"I had a headache."

"You know what I think, Kimberly? I think
you've got another boyfriend."

"No, I don't, Honey. I promise you I
don't."

"And now you're afraid, aren't you? Afraid
I'll go to the police and tell them how you planned my dad's
murder."

Rebecca shot Gabby a raised eyebrow.

Kimberly said, "Why would
you go to the cops?
You're
the one who killed him."

A more distant-sounding female voice said,
"Baby, what's taking you so long?" Phillipa stepped into the rear
archway, and flinched when she saw Wiley.

"Phillipa!" said Wiley. "Now
I get it. So, you were telling the truth, Kimberly. You don't have
another boyfriend. You've got a
girlfriend
. You slut."

"Don't be silly. Phillipa and I are just
friends."

"Then why is she wearing a negligee?" said
Wiley. "Is this how all your female friends dress when they come
over for coffee? Or, only the ones who come after midnight?"

"Okay. I'm sorry," said Kimberly.

"You were hoping I'd blow my brains out,"
said Wiley, "now that you've got everything you wanted from me.
You're nothing but a user."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"She's probably using you too, Phillipa,"
said Wiley. "What did she talk you into doing? Did you have to kill
somebody too?"

Phillipa said, "Kimberly..."

"Phillipa, don't listen to him," said
Kimberly. "He's just jealous."

Wiley said, "You turned out to be exactly
what I thought you were when my dad married you: a manipulative
bitch."

Rebecca stepped into the doorway and began
speaking—which shocked the threesome. "That's exactly what she is.
She talked you into killing your father. Then she made a deal to
sell Café Nue to Joey Ketrousie in exchange for him having you
murdered."

Wiley stepped back, drop-jawed, shaking his
head at Kimberly.

"So, you'd better be careful, Wiley," said
Rebecca. "There's a bullet or a knife out there somewhere with your
name on it. And you won't even see it coming. But it's coming."

"Get out of my house," yelled Kimberly to
Rebecca.

Rebecca ignored her. "And, Phillipa,
Kimberly convinced you to murder Carly Cinaway with one of your
experimental TENS units, so she couldn't sue the company."

Phillipa blurted out, "I didn't kill her.
Harvey Hamstel did."

"Shut up, Phillipa," screamed Kimberly.

Phillipa said, "You talked him into it,
didn't you, Kimberly? Harvey didn't think I would ever get it
perfected anyway. He told me that. He had no respect for me or my
work. So, it was probably easy for you to convince him to steal a
unit out of my lab and use it to murder Carly Cinaway. Then you
told me what he'd done—like you had nothing to do with it."

"He was framing you for the murder," said
Kimberly. "That's why I told you about it."

Rebecca said, "Yes, Phillipa, and that's why
you talked your lover into killing Harvey."

Kimberly frowned at Phillipa. "Lover?"

Rebecca said, "Yeah. He's a guard at
Smotherburn Technologies. A big, handsome black guy."

"Mandibul?" said Kimberly.
"You've been humping that big oaf and then coming into
my
bed?"

"He didn't kill Harvey," said Phillipa.
"He's a damn coward. I had to do it myself."

"Stop talking, Phillipa," yelled
Kimberly.

"I thought you loved me, Kimberly." Phillipa
stormed out through the hallway, back toward the bedroom.

Kimberly glared at Rebecca. "You don't have
proof of anything."

"No," said Rebecca, "but I have
confessions."

"Confessions?"

"That's right," said Wiley, as though he had
just remembered. "Cameras. Dad had cameras installed all over the
house."

"And guess what, Kimberly?" said Rebecca.
"Your husband is not really dead. He and Wiley set you up."

Kimberly turned pale. "Is this true,
Wiley?"

"Yes, it's true, Bitch."

"So, he's been watching the whole time? Even
the bedroom?"

Rebecca said, "Especially the bedroom. And
now the cops will know what really happened. They'll see how you
planned everything."

"You never really loved me at all!" Phillipa
was back in the hallway, pointing a pistol at Kimberly.

Kimberly turned around. "Phillipa..."

Phillipa shot Kimberly three times,
rapid-fire, in the center of her chest, and she collapsed.

She immediately pointed her gun at
Rebecca.

"Die, Bitch!" It was Gabby's voice—coming
from somewhere across the room.

Phillipa lost focus for a moment, trying to
locate the source of the voice, giving Rebecca enough time to reach
for her gun.

Just as Phillipa's eyes returned to Rebecca,
a bullet ripped into her right shoulder. She stumbled backward,
dropping the pistol.

Gabby ran across the hallway and picked up
the gun.

Wiley rushed to Kimberly's side, and held
her in his arms. "I'm sorry, Kimberly. I'm so sorry."

Phillipa said, "She never loved you,
Idiot."

Wiley screamed, "Why did you have to kill
her?"

Rebecca holstered her pistol, and took out
her phone. "Good job, Gabby. I'm calling the cops."

Gabby looked at Phillipa's bloody shoulder.
"Better ask for an ambulance too."

CHAPTER 41 - Wednesday, 1:59 a.m.

"I hope this doesn't take too long, because
I am so hungry," said Gabby, driving away from the Smotherburn
home, following the caravan of police cars to the station.

"Yeah, me too," said Rebecca. "But we'll
have to hang around until they run out of questions."

"I know. But first,
I've
got some
questions."

"Like what?"

"Like when you accused Phillipa of killing
Carly. Did you really think she did it?"

"I wasn't sure. But I was hoping her
reaction would give me a clue."

"You got a lot more than a clue," said
Gabby.

"No kidding. But Harvey
Hamstel
was
on our
suspect list."

"Yeah, but I loved the way you tricked her
into admitting she murdered Harvey."

"That wasn't a trick," said Rebecca. "I
really thought the guard had killed Harvey. Sometimes you just get
lucky. She was so angry with Kimberly, she didn't care what she
said. Clearly, Kimberly was using Phillipa. Whether she also was in
love with her...we'll never know."

"I'm not sure Kimberly
was
capable
of
loving anyone other than herself."

"But she was very good at
making people
think
she loved them," said Rebecca. "I guess even Big Bill believed
it when they first got married."

"What about Joey and Bobby? If Big Bill
deleted the video of Calvin's murder, we don't have anything on
them."

"Yes, we do. I can give the cops a detailed
description of the Impala that was chasing us."

"The one we torpedoed with a piece of
lumber?"

"Yeah. They should be able to track down the
owner, who is probably dead. But hopefully, that will lead them to
his two buddies."

Gabby hesitated. "And you think they'll give
up Bobby?"

"Oh, yeah. And Bobby will give up Joey."

"But why did they want Calvin dead?"

"I suspect he was blackmailing Joey. He may
have threatened to hit Café Nue with a civil suit for Big Bill's
rape of his daughter. Because, remember—Big Bill required Megan to
have sex with him in order to get a job at Café Nue."

"But you're just guessing, right? You don't
have anything to base that theory on."

"Actually, I do," said Rebecca. "Remember
that brochure on Calvin's workbench?"

"Sure. The Porche brochure."

"Well, Calvin got very nervous when you
found it."

"Yeah, I remember that," said Gabby. "So,
you think he was planning on buying a Porche with his blackmail
money?"

"Maybe. But he didn't know who he was
messing with. Joey is not the kind of guy you want to be
threatening."

"I'm glad the police are going to pick up
Megan at the airport. She may need protection for a while."

"And she's gonna need a lot of
counseling."

They rode in silence for a few moments.

Gabby smiled. "Wiley thought he was home
free. He hadn't killed anyone. But when you told the detective you
suspected he had burned down my shop, the expression on Wiley's
face was priceless."

"Yeah. I feel sure they'll find some
evidence to link him to the fire. I really didn't think he had done
it at the time, since he was drunk when I left him at his house. I
guess he's a pretty good actor after all. But I'm still not sure
why he did it. Unless he was afraid we were about to discover the
truth—that Big Bill was alive."

"We weren't even close to figuring that
out," said Gabby.

"Wiley's not very bright. And I'll bet he
didn't consult his dad before he did it."

"What makes me sick is that Big Bill is
gonna get off scot-free. Once he realized Kimberly was plotting to
kill him, he used Wiley against her, and then watched while she
manipulated everybody else."

"Yeah, Big Bill was smart. He didn't kill
anybody. He didn't even frame anybody. And I'll bet Wiley was the
one who pulled out some of my hair and removed the pistol charm
from my bracelet. Then he gave them to Kimberly. Harvey planted my
hairs in Carly's hotel room, and Phillipa left my pistol charm at
Harvey's house."

"Big Bill had you right where he wanted
you—until we went to his house, and you used his own surveillance
system to clear yourself."

"Yeah, that was fun." Rebecca thought for a
moment. "I wonder if Big Bill has pissed himself yet?"

They laughed.

Gabby said, "The cops should get there
soon."

"Big Bill thinks he's free and clear. And
I'm gonna let him think it for a few days."

"And then what? Are you going to file
charges against him for breaking into your office?"

"No. I've got something much better than
that," said Rebecca.

"What?"

"The video of Big Bill having sex with
Megan."

"But you don't have the video. You said you
were sure Big Bill stole it from your office while you were passed
out."

"True. And he probably
searched my car and my house, looking for copies. But what the big
bastard didn't consider...is that I might have stored one at
my
bank
—in a
safety deposit box."

Gabby started laughing his head off.

Rebecca joined him. It felt like high
school.

"So, once the police are done with us," said
Gabby, "where do you want to go eat?"

"IHop. I want a tall, tall stack of
pancakes—lathered with butter and maple syrup. I'm starving."

"You couldn't be as hungry as I am," said
Gabby.

"I'll bet I can eat more pancakes than you
can."

"Not this time, Baby."

"Ten bucks!"

"You're on!"

THE END

 
###

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RobertBurtonRobinson.com