Whatever It Takes (3 page)

Kathleen answered the rephrased question. “Alice and I drifted away from each other, as families sometimes do. It doesn’t mean I stopped loving her or thinking about her often.”

“But isn’t it true that you and she had a rift?”

“We’ve had our share of arguments. All sisters do.”

“But I want to know about the last argument you had with her. Where she told you to stay out of her life, and you told her that you were through with her reckless, irresponsible ways.” 

Sims glanced down at a piece of paper as if reading from it. “You said, and I quote, ‘Don’t come crying to me when your life turns to shit, and you screw up beyond all hope.’”

No need to wonder how he could recite the statement verbatim. When she’d hurled those ugly words at her sister, they’d been in a crowded room, at Alice’s twentieth birthday party. Alice had just informed her she was dropping out of college. Kathleen had been stunned. 

After working so hard to get Alice into a decent college that would take her with her unimpressive GPA, Kathleen, for once, hadn’t bothered to soften her words. Dozens of people had heard her. Every word condemned Kathleen, and she wanted to crawl under her chair in both regret and embarrassment. It didn’t matter that Alice had messed up time and again. She was her sister. Kathleen should never have abandoned her. 

“I spoke rashly, without thought.”

“Yet isn’t it true that you hadn’t talked to your sister in years? Until she showed up on your doorstep, after, using your own words, ‘screwing up beyond hope’?”

“Objection, Your Honor. Mr. Sims is leading the witness.”

“Since the witness has admitted that those were indeed her words, I’ll allow it. Overruled.”

“My sister came to me because she was scared. She knows I will always be there for her. No matter what.”

“Even when she screws up beyond all hope?”

“Your Honor, this is getting ridiculous,” Tony snapped.

“Continue with your questioning, Mr. Sims, and cease the editorializing.”

“My apologies, Your Honor.” The DA pinned her with those mean eyes again. “What caused the rift between you and your sister in the first place?”

This was the question she had dreaded. She had known she’d have to address it, but that didn’t make it any easier to answer. 

“Alice and I had different interests.”

“And that caused you to become angry? What exactly were your sister’s interests that you didn’t share?”

“I was too focused on myself. On my career. I—”

“And what was your sister focused on? Selling herself to the highest bidder?”

Tony jumped to his feet and sputtered, “Your Honor, that’s…that’s outrageous.”

“Overruled. Sit down, Mr. Burton. Since it’s been established that the defendant was indeed a prostitute, the question is a fair one.”

“No. My sister was not selling herself, and she most certainly was not a prostitute,” Kathleen spat the words. “Alice was a victim of a man who took advantage of her.”

“Yet she lived in his mansion. Wore designer clothes and expensive jewelry. Had her own website to show off her…um, wares, shall we say? Doesn’t sound like a victim to me. In fact, it sounds exactly like a high-priced call girl.”

“Then you’re an idiot,” Kathleen snapped.

“Mr. Sims, you’re editorializing again,” the judge said. “And I’ll remind the witness to answer the questions asked, not give her opinion on the prosecution’s intelligence.”

“Everything that happened to Alice is my fault,” Kathleen said. “She’s young and naïve. Braden took advantage of her innocence. I should have been there for her. I’m responsible.”

“
You’re
responsible? It’s your fault?”

“Yes.”

“I see. So you gave your sister the poison that killed Mr. Braden? Did you also provide the knife she used to slice his throat, gouge out his eyeballs, and sever his genitals from his body?”

Her stomach heaved. “Of course not. I—”

“Or are you confessing to the murder yourself? Are we about to have a real-life Perry Mason moment? A confession on the stand? Did you, Kathleen Callahan, kill Frank Braden?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not.”

Sims nodded knowingly, his face revealing he’d led Kathleen exactly where he wanted her to go. “Of course you aren’t confessing to murder, Miss Callahan.” He twisted round, causing all eyes, including the jurors’, to follow him as he pinned his accusing gaze on Alice. “Because we know exactly who killed Frank Braden, don’t we?”

Chapter Three

Cook County Jail

Chicago

“Thanks for the cookies. They’ll go over well with my new cellmate.”

“You have a new roommate? When did that happen?”

Alice’s eyes flickered with sadness, but she didn’t bother to correct Kathleen’s terminology. 

“Came back from the trial yesterday to find her sleeping…in my bed. Not that it matters. One cot is just as uncomfortable as the other. So far we’ve gotten along fine. She snores a lot, but other than that, we stay out of each other’s way.” Alice scrunched her nose in distaste. “As much as you can stay out of someone’s way when they’re within two feet of you at all times.”

“What is she in for?”

“What else but murder? Don’t you know they put all the badasses together?”

“Who did she murder?”

“We haven’t exactly gotten that close.”

The knowledge that her little sister had to share a cell with a murderer sent shudders through her. Even though Kathleen knew that Alice was no longer the innocent girl she’d once been, she was no hardened criminal either.

Wanting to give her sister some hope, Kathleen said, “I talked to Tony. He says the trial’s going well and he’s really optimistic.”

Alice gave another tired little smile, and Kathleen wanted to cry because she knew she hadn’t convinced her sister of anything. The hope that had once been in Alice’s eyes was gone. All that remained was grim acceptance.

“We’ll get you out of here. I promise.”

“Oh, Kathleen, I wish you’d go live your life. Forget about me.”

“Forget about you? Hell and damnation, Alice. How am I supposed to go about my life and forget that my baby sister—my only family—is on trial for a crime she didn’t commit? No way in hell, Alice. No. Way. In. Hell.”

“Your loyalty is one of the many reasons I love you.” Tears glistened in her sister’s eyes. “Have I ever thanked you for taking care of me?”

“No thanks are necessary. You know that. The moment Daddy brought you home, you were my baby doll.”

 A small smile tugged at Alice’s mouth. “You did love to dress me up.”

“That’s because you were so tiny all of my doll clothes fit you perfectly.”

A wistful look appeared on her face. “We did have some good times, didn’t we? Before—”

Alice broke off, unwilling to add the obvious, but Kathleen knew exactly what she hadn’t said. Before it had all gone so horribly wrong. Before their father had been convicted and imprisoned. Before she and Alice had been separated. Before the nightmare had begun.

It was useless to dwell on the past. It got you nowhere fast. The future was all that mattered.

“We’ll have good times again, Alice. I promise.” She took the small notebook from her pocket, picked up the pitiful excuse for a pen attached to the table. “Okay. Let’s get to work.”

“What’s the point? We’ve gone over it and over it. I’ve told you everything.”

“Then you’ll tell me one more time. Dammit, Alice. I need you to fight. You can’t give up. You understand me?”

Alice laughed softly. “Okay, Wildcat.”

Kathleen grinned at the nickname their father had given her when she refused to give up on something she believed was right. 

“Damn straight I’m a wildcat. Especially for people I believe in. I believe in you, Alice Callahan. Always have.”

Grateful tears shimmered in her sister’s eyes. Refusing to allow her own tears to gather, Kathleen said determinedly, “Now, tell me again about Braden. You met him at a party.”

Even though they’d gone through the story numerous times before, Alice answered, “Yes. I was sharing an apartment with Renee Stokes at the time. She told me about this party. Said all sorts of sophisticated, wealthy men would be there.”

Alice went on to describe how Frank had charmed her, bought her pretty things, romanced her. Her sister thought she’d found her knight in shining armor and had met the devil instead.

Kathleen blamed herself for her sister’s naïveté. She had protected Alice from the harsher parts of life. Though they’d never had much money, if Alice had wanted something and it had been within Kathleen’s ability, she’d done her best to see that her sister got it. She hadn’t prepared Alice for how to cope with disappointment or rejection. Hadn’t sufficiently warned her about the people who would take advantage of her innocence.

“And then you moved in with him a few weeks later?”

“No…I…” Alice trailed off, and Kathleen realized once again that there were more secrets yet to be revealed.

“What, Alice?” Kathleen leaned forward, whispered, “Sweetie, you can’t keep things from me if we’re going to prove your innocence. What haven’t you told me?”

“Before I moved in with him…I was at his mansion for a party. I walked into a bedroom…saw him with a couple of women.” She grimaced her disgust. “They were…you know…doing things. Anyway, it pissed me off. I was going to leave and never see him again. But I was so mad. So I—”

“What? What did you do?”

“Well…I had seen him in his study a few times before, when he’d gotten money out of his safe to give me for shopping and stuff.”

“Oh, Alice,” Kathleen whispered.

“It was only ten thousand dollars, Kathleen. After the way he’d treated me, lying and telling me I was the only woman in his life, I figured I deserved it.”

“And you got caught?”

“No, not then. About a week later, he showed up at my apartment with a cop who arrested me for theft.”

Kathleen shook her head, confused. “There’s no record of an arrest.”

“That’s because it wasn’t really an arrest. Frank had one of his friends dress up like a cop. I thought it was the real thing… I didn’t find out until later that it was just another lie.

“Anyway, instead of taking me to jail, they took me back to Frank’s house. The fake cop left, and Frank gave me a choice. Said I could stay with him, work for him to pay him back, or he’d call the cops, for real this time. He said he’d see to it that I served time in prison. I believed him. I’d already spent most of the money on rent and food and stuff. So I agreed to work for him. I didn’t know what kind of work he was talking about until later.” 

Berating her sister for her choices would be pointless. Serving time in jail for theft would have been a walk in the park compared to what Braden had made her do. Alice had learned her lesson in the harshest way possible.

“So you moved in with him then. And you lived with him for how long before he brought in the first man?”

“A week or so.” Alice closed her eyes as she described what happened next and the numerous men Frank had forced her to have sex with, all in the guise of paying a debt.

Kathleen made herself listen to each one. Though she knew the details by heart, and they sickened her every time she heard them, she was convinced that in this mass of horrific events, something would stand out that would reveal Braden’s killer. 

Even now, after having heard the horror stories of each encounter, Kathleen wished with all her might that Braden were alive so she could take care of him herself. Whoever had killed the bastard deserved a medal for the deed, but damned if she’d allow Alice to take the blame.

“Wait.” Kathleen held up her hand, looking down at the notepad. “That’s the first time you’ve mentioned Edward.”

Her brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Tell me about him.”

“He was different than the others.”

“Different, how?”

“All the others were forceful, sometimes to the point of cruelty. But Edward…I don’t know. He seemed more amused than anything. And he didn’t want to do anything other than talk.”

“No sex?”

“No. He was in a wheelchair, so I’m not sure exactly if he was impaired sexually or not. We didn’t talk about that. We might’ve kissed a little. I don’t know, you kind of lose count after a while. But I do remember that we mostly just talked.”

“About what?”

“About me. He wanted to know where I grew up. If I had family. Where they were. Why I stayed with Frank. Things like that.”

“He didn’t talk about himself?”

“No. I learned early not to ask questions.”

“But you didn’t get his last name either?”

“No. Last names were strictly forbidden. I’m not even sure any of them used their real first names.”

That was one of the biggest problems. Frank Braden’s records were as sketchy as his life. He used first names only and sometimes only descriptions or certain acts to describe the business transactions between the women and their “clients.”

“Did you ever see Edward again?”

“No. Just that one time.”

“Okay. Let’s talk about the other women that Frank used this way.”

“Kathleen, I promise. I’ve told you about them. He didn’t let me associate with them other than a few times when he had parties. But even then, we didn’t get to talk. We were there for only one reason. I don’t even know where he kept them.”

Refusing to back down, Kathleen forged on. “You’ve told me about five of them.” She glanced down at her list, reciting the names of the girls Alice had given her.

Alice gave a weary nod. “Those are the only names I know.”

“But there were others?”

“Yes, but I don’t know their names. What do you want me to do, Kathleen? Draw their pictures? You think that’s going to help you find them? I only know the first names of any of them. And even if you do find them, do you really think any of them would admit to killing Frank? Face it. I’m screwed.”

“No, you’re not. But we have to keep trying, Alice. We can’t just give up. I won’t give up.”

Alice looked down at her hands, picked nervously at her nails. “You need to know something,” she whispered. “It’s not something I ever planned to tell you, but I think, for both of us to move forward, face what we have to face, you need to know the truth.”