What Have You Done(88)
“I can’t hear any more of this,” Liam said. He wanted to put his head on the table and fade away. His mind screamed for him to get up and run, but he knew he couldn’t. He was trapped.
“In truth, I had no intention of continuing my affair with your brother after what Kerri told me,” Vanessa continued. “Once Kerri was dead and you were in jail, I was planning to collect your pension and life insurance, kill Sean, and then escape to parts unknown with a new identity and a new life to live. I took some ketamine hydrochloride from the hospital to knock you out so you’d have no memory of what had happened during the time of Kerri’s murder. It would be untraceable in your bloodstream, so there’d be no proof you were drugged. Once you were unconscious, I extracted blood and microscopic flakes of skin from you and placed them under Kerri’s fingernails. I even scratched you myself to make you think Kerri had done it during a struggle. It was all so perfect. Sean stole your phone and texted Kerri to meet him at the club. He wore your boots and clothes to the hotel so he could leave the proper boot print. You found your clothes in your trunk. He’d taken your fingerprints from a drinking glass I gave him, saved them on a slip of tape, and transported them to the crime scenes. Everything fell into place with such ease. It was important for Sean to convince you to keep your affair a secret. We needed you vulnerable, and if you thought Sean was working behind the scenes to find the real killer, he figured he could control you more. You needed to believe you were both in this together.”
“Why would Sean do that?”
“Because he loved me. More than his own brother, it turns out. I knew his secret and accepted him. That was the real bond, stronger than blood or family. It was acceptance. I was ready to take care of him, or so he thought, and that was what he needed to hear. That’s all it took.”
Vanessa pushed her hair out of her face, the gun steady in her other hand. “I had to convince him to let me help with Kerri. I wasn’t going to let him kill her alone. She took my life from me, so I was going to take hers. He drugged her at the club with the same ketamine hydrochloride, got her into the hotel room, strung her up, and tied that perfect knot of his. I wasn’t strong enough for all that. We waited until she woke up. I wanted her to look me in the eyes so she would know I was responsible for what was happening to her. I was going to kill her and that baby.”
“Vanessa, please put down the gun.”
“Things were moving along as planned, but then you got into the fight with the hotel owner, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We had to move a little quicker than we were expecting. The responding officers called Sean after they learned who you were, and Sean convinced them to let you go. Professional courtesy. Knowing we had to act then and there, we put the rest of the plan into motion. Sean got to you at our house when you were coming home and injected you with the ketamine hydrochloride before you even knew what was happening. We needed to make sure you didn’t accidentally establish an alibi, and if there was still a chance you thought you could be committing these murders, then all the better. Your confusion was our advantage. He dumped you at the shipyard and went out with Don. I killed that greasy man, and Sean had his alibi. We needed your brother safe so you’d be convinced he wasn’t part of anything, and the people trying to find you would know he was in the clear. I transferred your print from the tape to the tub like Sean showed me, and we waited for your team to find it without you there. That evidence at the hotel owner’s home launched everything.”
“Who are you?” Liam asked. “You’re completely insane. I’ve never seen this side of you before.”
“This is what revenge looks like,” Vanessa replied. “This is a woman’s scorn.”
Liam looked into his wife’s eyes and could see a void that hadn’t been present before. It was as if she were looking through him, like he was a ghost. “So what now?”
“Now,” Vanessa whispered, “we die.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no longer any point in living. In any of this. The police found the truth. Sean’s secret is exposed. Don found Kerri’s evidence on that flash dive. I didn’t even know about the flash drive. Sean kept that from me. I can’t fix what’s spun out of control. Things are too far gone. When I had that gun at Joyce’s, I had to choose who I would kill and who I would stay with. I chose you, Liam. I chose you because, deep down, I knew I still loved you. I always will. I shot Sean because he’d become a liability. I thought with him dead, maybe we could start fresh and build on that foundation I know we once had. Funny, Sean was always talking about tying up loose ends. Ironic how he became one.”
“You don’t have to do this. Please.”
“What I said to you at the hospital was the truth. I am sorry. I thought maybe we could both use this experience as a catalyst to grow closer and learn to love each other again. But Sean’s alive. My bullet missed, and when he wakes up, he’ll tell them everything. And I know you’ll never love me again. I understand. What you said made sense. Too many people have died. We could never be fixed. There’s nothing left between us. It’s all gone. I ruined it. Everything. And I can’t go to jail. I won’t. So I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to stick the barrel of this gun in my mouth and pull the trigger. The end. Suburban murder-suicide. Just like your mom tried. That will be my epitaph. My dedication to our family. No more secrets.”