What's Done in Darkness (37 page)

“And now,” Rowena went on, “I'm going to turn myself in. It's the only way. The only way to be free of the nightmare that has haunted me for years.”

My lips trembled, and then the tears came. I let out all of my emotions in big, heaving sobs.

The door flung open. As Rowena's eyes widened, I spun around, once again tense.

But it was Brian.

“Brian!” Dropping the shoe, I ran toward him and threw myself into his arms.

He held me. “What happened?”

I looked up at him, saw his gaze jump from Rowena to Katrina's body, then back to Rowena.

“Katrina … she attacked me. I thought they were going to kill me, but her friend … she saved me.”

Releasing me and urging my body behind his, Brian started toward Rowena. “Let me see your hands,” he said. He was in cop mode, authoritative.

Rowena raised her hands. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I couldn't let her do it again.”

“You did this?” he asked, glancing at Katrina's body.

Rowena nodded. “The killing had to stop.”

“Jade, call nine-one-one,” Brian instructed me.

“Yes, please call the police,” Rowena said. “I'm ready to turn myself in.”

I was holding Marie's phone, so I used it to place the call. As I punched in 911, I heard Brian say, “Do you have a weapon?”

“No, I'm not armed.”

“I think you better tell me what happened.”

In my ear, the phone rang once before it was answered. “Nine-one-one operator, what's your emergency?”

“I'm in the apartment above the A Book and a Cup coffee shop. And—and someone's dead. I need the police. Right away.”

“Someone's dead?” the woman on the other end of the line asked. “What happened?”

“Tell her you're with a DEA agent,” Brian was saying.

“I'm with a DEA agent right now, and the situation's under control. But someone was killed here. We need the police. And we need them as soon as possible.”

 

CHAPTER FORTY

True to her word, Rowena willingly surrendered herself to the authorities. When the cops arrived, she stood from the sofa and immediately identified herself as the person who needed to be arrested.

Before they'd arrived, she had confessed all of her sins to Brian, which started with the murder of a girl named Carmen Young while in college. Carmen, denied admittance into the Alpha Sigma Pi sorority, had lodged a complaint against Katrina with the national board, alleging discrimination. According to Rowena, when she had agreed to go with Katrina to confront Carmen, murder hadn't been the plan. Katrina had simply wanted to scare Carmen into retracting her complaint. But when she threatened to go to the police and file a harassment complaint as well, Katrina snapped. She murdered Carmen and was able to make it look like the campus rapist and killer had been the culprit.

So when Angelina, one of their sorority sisters, had gotten wind of the idea that Carmen might have met with foul play at Katrina's hands, it made sense to kill her in the dark as she'd walked the campus trails, to make it look like the Bike Path Rapist had struck yet again. Rowena had attacked Angelina on Katrina's orders, meaning to kill her while Katrina was in the sorority house with a ton of alibis. Rowena, however, hadn't been able to beat Angelina to death. But at least the attack had succeeded in scaring Angelina into silence. Unfortunately, Shemar Williams, Katrina's college boyfriend, had figured things out. Which—in Katrina's mind—meant he had to be stopped. Because Rowena feared going to jail as an accessory after the fact in Carmen's murder, she did what she had to do to protect herself and helped tamper with the brakes on Shemar's car. Apparently, she had also gone to Atlanta with Katrina when Katrina's parents had died. While Katrina had been out publicly at a nearby fast food restaurant creating an alibi, Rowena had turned on the car in the Hugheses garage and left it running—ultimately causing the carbon-monoxide poisoning that took the lives of Katrina's parents.

My next call after 911 had been to contact the authorities in Erie, let them know that my sister was in her house and tied up. They promised to head there and deal with the situation.

While I believed Rowena, I wouldn't feel entirely at ease until I heard my sister's voice. Knew without a doubt that she was okay.

Now the apartment was filled with emergency personnel. Two EMTs had just finished checking Katrina's body for vital signs and were now loading her onto a stretcher. A formality, I guessed. Two uniformed cops were here, and one was reading Rowena her rights. There were also two detectives. Brian was standing with his arm wrapped around my waist as he, I, and the detectives watched the EMTs take Katrina's body out of the apartment.

One of the detectives, a man named Thrush, turned to me once Katrina's body was gone. “Are you ready to answer some questions?”

I glanced at Brian, and he nodded. It wasn't so much a go-ahead from him as it was a way of letting me know that I had his support.

I led the way into my bedroom, and Detective Thrush, a tall, wiry man in his late fifties, closed the door behind us. Sauntering over to the window, I peered outside. I could see the side of the coffee shop above the alley, and a portion of the street. Camera crews were still out there. I could only imagine that after the arrival of the ambulance and the police the reporters were in a frenzy to know what was going on.

“What went on here today, Jade?” the detective asked me.

He'd already been briefed on the immediate situation—Katrina wanting to kill me and Rowena intervening. “Gosh, where do I start?”

“Start at the beginning.”

So I sat on the window's ledge and told him everything, starting with the trip to Mexico and Christian's murder. I told Detective Thrush about Gordon, how he had apparently been down here trying to investigate Katrina on Shawde's behalf. The whole story, wild and crazy, spilled out of me.

“You're going to have to come to the station,” the detective said to me. “Give a detailed statement.”

I nodded. Of course, it had to be done. “It's just … my sister. The police from Erie haven't called yet. Should I be worried?”

“I don't know what to say,” the detective said, opting for honesty. “All depends on whether Rowena was telling the truth.”

“Is it possible you can give them a call?” I asked. “Talk to some—”

My voice broke off at the sound of a knock at the door. Detective Thrush went to answer it.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I heard Brian say before he came into view, “but there's a call for Jade.”

I sprang from my spot at the window and was at the door in under a second. Brian was holding Marie's phone. I'd given the authorities in Erie Marie's number to contact me at, since my phone had been destroyed when Katrina had knocked it out of my hand.

My eyes locked on Brian's as I reached for the phone, searching for the answer I so craved. After a beat, the edges of his lips curled in a grin. “It's your sister.”

“Oh, thank God.” Overwhelmed with emotion, I put the phone to my ear. “Marie?”

“Jade! You're okay?”

“Yes.” A smile came over my face as happy tears filled my eyes. I moved to sit on the bed, and Detective Thrush exited the room, giving me privacy. “I am now.”

“Rowena came here yesterday, acting all concerned about you being with Katrina. We had tea. And that's the last thing I remember before waking up and finding myself tied to a chair. I was terrified. I thought…” Marie's voice cracked. “I thought at any minute she was going to come back and kill me. And I had no clue what was happening to you.”

“Oh, Marie.” I'd been through my own harrowing ordeal, but my heart still broke for her. “So much has gone down, and I hardly know where to start. Rowena went to see you because Katrina wanted you dead. Wanted me dead. We were asking too many questions. But Rowena said that she was never going to hurt you. Getting you out of the way—temporarily—was part of her plan. She needed you out of the way so that she could kill Katrina.”

“What?”

For the second time, I relayed the story of everything that had happened today. I ended with, “Rowena knew that with Katrina alive, she and her family would never be safe. She wanted to end this once and for all.”

“Holy shit.” Marie sighed audibly. “Oh, Jade. I'm so sorry. If I'd had any clue what Katrina was really like—”

“You wouldn't have sent me down here,” I finished for her. “I know.”

When she spoke again, I could hear the tears in her voice. “I just can't believe we lost Dad and I almost lost you, too.”

It was exactly the fear I'd had about her. “For a few minutes, I thought I
had
lost you. Katrina said you were dead … and I…” My voice trailed off as I relived that awful moment. I couldn't hold back the tears.

“It's over, sweetie. And we're both okay.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“When are you coming home?”

I wiped away my tears before answering, “As soon as I can get out of here.”

“I feel so bad for Shawde. It's one thing to lose a family member, but knowing her brother was murdered…”

“Oh shit,” I uttered, wandering to the window. “Shawde. I have to call her, let her know what's going on. Marie, I'll talk to you later, okay? I want to call Shawde; then I'll have to go to the police station to give a formal statement.” I glanced outside. “And I'm sure I'll have to speak to the media as well.”

“I suppose you will. This story is going to be even bigger now. If you don't give them a statement, they'll hound you.”

“No doubt.”

“Call me when you're on your way home,” Marie said.

“Will do.”

As I ended the call with my sister, I remembered that Shawde's number was on my busted phone. Damn, how was I going to reach her?

But then I remembered that Shawde's number was also on my laptop. Which was in the living-room area.

Detective Thrush made eye contact with me when I exited the bedroom. “My sister's fine,” I told him, beaming.

“That's great.”

“Do you mind if I make another call?” I asked.

“Go ahead.”

I meandered past the living room to the foyer, where I found the bag with my laptop. I'd used it as a weapon, and prayed that it would turn on.

It did. Quickly I opened my Facebook account and then opened the string of messages from Shawde. Seeing her number, I began to punch it into my sister's iPhone.

Shawde answered after the third ring. “Hello?” she asked, sounding tentative.

“Hey, it's Jade.”

“Oh. Hi.” She paused. “You heard? About Gordon?”

“I heard that a man's body was discovered in the water.”

“It's Gordon. I know it is. I've been able to reach his father, and he's on his way down here.”

“Well, that's good. Someone who can positively identify him.”

“Yeah,” Shawde said, and I could hear guilt in her tone.

“I have some news, too,” I said, and I hoped that learning the whole ugly ordeal was over would give her some closure.

“What?”

“Katrina's dead.”

A few beats passed. “Are you sure?”

“I am. She's definitely dead.”

I heard a whimper and what sounded like a sob. “Thank God.”

I told Shawde everything that had transpired. “I think she saw her world unraveling. I mean, she had Rowena go after my sister; then the plan was for both of them to kill me.” I shuddered, the reality of what I'd gone through and how close I'd come to being murdered hitting me anew. “Her house of cards was finally falling apart.”

“I can't believe it,” Shawde said. “After all these years of wanting justice for my brother … suddenly, she's just gone.”

“She won't hurt anyone ever again,” I assured Shawde. “That is justice.”

“Oh, I agree. It's the best justice. The only justice good enough for someone like her. Allowing her to live in prison would be unconscionable. She needed to be gone, and now she is. And I know this may seem shallow or just plain mean, but I'm glad she knew she was going to die.”

I totally understood the sentiment. To think that Katrina had inflicted horror and pain on so many and had been gleeful about it … she'd gotten what she'd deserved.

“I hope this news helps you give some closure,” I said. “Rowena admitted that they tampered with your brother's car the night before he was heading for Albany. That's irrefutable proof. Your efforts, they weren't in vain.”

Shawde started to cry. “Finally. I've gotten justice for my brother. Shemar can now rest in peace.”

And I hoped she could find peace now as well. She'd lost more than her brother because of what Katrina had done.

“I want to see Rowena,” Shawde said. “Ask her about that night.”

I wasn't sure that was the best idea, but Shawde had already invested so much in getting answers that I supposed she needed to hear every detail. “Well, she's cooperating. I'm sure she'll talk to you.”

Shawde sighed, and it was filled with anguish. “I feel awful. I wish I hadn't gotten Gordon involved. But I had to know.”

“I'm sorry. That everything had to come to this.”

“I always knew that with Katrina going unpunished, other people would die. I feel good knowing that she'll never hurt anyone else. Oh, and I have to let Angelina know. There was a girl who left UB because—”

“Because she was assaulted,” I finished. “Yeah, Rowena told me. She confessed everything.”

“Angelina's lived the past five and half years in fear because of Katrina,” Shawde said. “She'll be relieved to know that Katrina is dead.”

“I'm sure she will.”

“I'm really glad your sister's okay,” Shawde said after a moment, her voice soft now, wistful.