Beach Wedding(69)

“The gun was briefly planted in the house with the intent for the maid to see it,” Courtney said. “And the hoodie was stolen from her closet. The hit man had the hoodie draped on his chest when he did the shooting to catch the splatter. Then it was planted in the neighbor’s garbage.”

“So, Henry wasn’t just content to kill his brother? He wanted Hailey in prison for it, too?” I said.

“Yes. Think of the perfection of it. Framing Hailey for it not only was the cherry on top of paying Noah back, it totally diverted all suspicion off himself at the same time.”

“But wait. If he wanted Hailey framed, then why have Tapley steal the evidence? The bullets and the hoodie?”

She stared at me.

“Pay attention, Terry. Henry Sutton had nothing to do with that. That was a twist no one saw coming. No one had any idea what happened to the evidence until you uncovered that it was Tapley.”

“Tapley stole the evidence on his own?”

Courtney nodded.

“Turns out he did it for DA Wheaton, his buddy. Wheaton was an up-and-comer in the Suffolk County DA’s office at the time of the Sutton trial. He would have been a shoo-in to take the top slot when it came up except there was a better lawyer there. Much better. Sean Rourke.”

My eyes went wide.

“Your father was a bit of a drunk, but he was a nice-looking one. Telegenic. Better looking than that gnomish-looking weasel Wheaton, that’s for damn sure.

“And he was about to win one of the highest-profile cases of all time. He was on his way to the bigs. That’s why Wheaton had Tapley steal the evidence in order to throw a monkey wrench into the works to make your father look like a loser. Which happened. In spades. Losing that case obliterated him.”

What complete pieces of shit, I thought. That made sense. That actually made sense.

My father was double-teamed. Sabotaged by his own coworkers, and then murdered by Henry Sutton once he found out that Philip Oster had seen the hit man.

“Not just him,” I finally said.

“But then you came along and stole Tapley’s ace in the hole,” Courtney said. “What the hell did you hit him with, anyway? A lead pipe? You really crushed his ear.”

“Wait, Courtney. How the hell do you know all this? About why Tapley did it and about how I took the evidence from him.”

“From the horse’s mouth.”

“From Tapley?” I said. “He told you? You’ve been talking to Tapley? You know where he is, then? Where is he?”

“Terry,” she said, squeezing my wrist. “Don’t worry about Tapley. You have far more important things to think about right now.”

I couldn’t believe it. The whole time I’d been trying to blame Hailey, but I was wrong.

I looked over at Courtney.

There were multiple scumbags on the periphery, multiple factions, all working their own angles.

“You offed Tapley, huh. How about Hailey? Is she still breathing? You kill her, too? Or is she next on the hit list? How many people dead is this worth?”

“Exactly how many it takes,” Courtney said. “Don’t you get it? Hailey doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters now if you want to save your family is you telling us everything there is to tell. This guy doesn’t mess around. He will peel you apart, Terry. Real slow. He likes burning people. With chemicals and other weird experimental stuff. Cold Springs’ storehouses are at his disposal. That’s his real kick. His experiments. Gets off on it. He’s sicker than you can even imagine. Just tell everything you know now, and it’ll be quick, okay? Even painless. I promise.”

She stood then and turned for the door.

“How come you’re mixed up in this, Courtney?” I said. “Did Henry Sutton get his claws into you while you were investigating the Suffolk County DA’s office? How are you involved?”

“Grow up, would you, you naive asshole,” she said, suddenly angry. “How do you think I got involved? Where in any part of the Hamptons that matters does the Family Sutton not hold sway? Where did I get the five million for my restaurant, huh? Lifeguarding? My government paycheck?

“Henry Sutton’s newest wife was my roommate at Georgetown is how. You know, instead of pissing off people who have literally unlimited amounts of money, you should try doing favors for them instead. It can actually be very rewarding.”

“Take off these restraints, Courtney,” I said. “You can still get out of this if you cut a deal. It’s not too late.”

Now it was her turn to crack up.

“I hate to burst your bubble, Terry, but that’s not going to happen. You lost again. This time in completely straight sets.”

“Last chance, Courtney,” I said.

But she didn’t take it.

Instead, she gave me a nice long look at her perfectly tanned country club legs as she turned and left, closing the door behind her.



95

I sat there. After another minute or two, I heard the sound of Courtney’s car as she drove away.

Staring up at the bus ceiling, I suddenly realized if they had been tapping my phone, Marvin was probably in trouble now, too. As well as the forensics cop who had run the NIBIN search.

Was that where we were? I thought as I looked out the window again. Near the Southampton police department to get at the forensics clerk?