Cloaked in Blood (7 page)

“And according to my friend at the FBI,
that’s exactly what they thought,” I said.

“Right, so Southerby was really out to get
my husband.  Danny swore up and down to him that he had no
idea what Sullivan was up to.”

“He lied.”

She shot me a look.  “Wouldn’t you,
Helen?  A ruthless killer is standing in front of you,
literally threatening your life, and a lie seems like a bad
idea?”

“Of course not.  So why was everyone
convinced that David Ireland had information against Sully
Marcos?”

“It was a tragic mistake.  Danny was
involved with some litigation involving one of the unions. 
His attorney picked up a floppy disk that Danny had used to record
information he’d spent years compiling, and it ended up on the
district attorney’s desk.  Danny told me he never knew that
Ireland figured out the code he used, until Danny approached him,
to ask that the disk be returned.  When he realized that he
decoded the information on the disk, Danny said he actually felt
relieved.  Mr. Ireland wanted to help my husband expose the
truth, Helen, I swear.”

“And Southerby figured it out.”

She nodded.  “And he was content to let
everyone believe that Danny ordered him to kill David
Ireland.  Of course he didn’t.  Danny wanted the man to
go away convinced that Sullivan’s leak didn’t come from Darkwater
Bay.  But Southerby got the scent.  He killed that
district attorney, searched his office for any evidence against
Sullivan, or anything that might incriminate Danny.  When he
didn’t find anything, he disappeared.”

“Which was when Johnny and Detective Briscoe
found him in Jersey City and brought him back here.”

She nodded.  “Then that horrible police
captain figured out something was fishy between Southerby and
Danny.”

“Did Danny know that Mitch Southerby didn’t
really die sixteen years ago?”

“Not until he came back to Darkwater Bay
last fall after Lowe’s arrest hit the national news.”

“Jesus,” I finally saw the truth that
revenge and hatred kept me from accepting.  The pieces began
to rain down into place, things that never quite added up. 
“Danny didn’t order Southerby to torture Johnny.”

“No, but Southerby called us in Hawaii after
you called with your search warrant.  Danny jumped on his jet
to come back immediately.  He wanted to stop him from killing
anyone else, Helen.”

“And the men at the medical examiner’s
office?”

“Wait,” Celeste said.  “There’s
more.  When the jet landed, those men that were with my
husband when you arrested him were waiting for him.  He wasn’t
willingly in that Escalade that morning, Helen.  Did you
bother to wonder why of all the armed men in that vehicle, Danny
was the only unarmed man?  That he was driving?  Danny
didn’t drive himself anywhere.”

“Why didn’t he tell me any of this?  I
could’ve helped him.  I could’ve protected him.”

“Protect and help?  He was convinced
you murdered Rick.”

God.  The memory of my bloody hands,
the red stain draining down the trap in the sink the day Alfred
Preston killed Danny flashed before my eyes. 
I really am
responsible for his death.  All of this is my fault.  I
came out here, I arrested Jerry Lowe.  Southerby saw his
opportunity…

“Celeste, this is important.  What was
Danny’s relationship with Jerry Lowe?”

“They hated each other.”

“Do you know why?”

“Other than the fact that Lowe and his dirty
cops tried to blame Danny for every crime in town while he himself
was responsible for most of it?”

“But did Danny know he was
responsible?  When did he know?”

“When the rest of us did.  He was sick
when the truth came out about Lowe.”

“Because he, like everybody else, believed
Salvatore Masconi got away with murder,” I said.

“He thought what he had done was right,
Helen.  I know it was wrong.  He knew it was wrong. 
He thought he was protecting people.”

“Did Danny tell you what really happened to
Salvatore Masconi?”

Celeste hesitated.  Then nodded. 
“He went out to sea on one of Danny’s ships and never made it back
to shore.”

How could I condemn him?  Masconi
was
a bad guy.  Not a murderer, but he was a
predator.  He’d simply managed to weasel out of his rape
charge.

“Helen, Rick was a bad man too,” she
said.  “Just like Sal Masconi.  Danny was conflicted
because he didn’t trust Rick anymore either.  But it bothered
him, stirred up a lot of painful memories about what happened to
his father.”

She understood. 

I shivered again.  Danny was right
about her.  Celeste Datello was a wise woman, certainly not
the naïve girl I’d initially assumed. 

“Was your husband blackmailing the chief of
police and police commissioner?”

Celeste was taken aback.  “Did they
claim that he was?”

“The problem was that neither of them knew
who was blackmailing them.  I suspected Jerry Lowe, but we
never found anything that proved it,” I said.  “So again, we
made another assumption, and for that I am sorry, Celeste. 
I’m sorry for everything.”

“The day that Danny died… did you try to
save his life?”

I nodded.  The blood again, strands of
it slipping down the drain in that sink… it haunted me.

“Helen?”

“I heard the gunshot.  I should’ve
never agreed to let Preston talk to Danny without me there. 
If only I’d insisted, he’d still be alive.”

“What really happened in that room?”

“Saul Becker – he was one of the officers at
the jail – he was with Preston when he talked to Danny.  He
basically threatened him so subtly that Saul didn’t realize what
was happening, and coerced Danny into admitting that he voluntarily
gave Sofia to Melissa Sherman for a legal adoption.  Preston
sent Saul out to get me because Danny said he wouldn’t say another
word unless I was there.”

She gasped softly.  “He knew.  He
knew that man was going to kill him.  Danny wanted you to stop
him.”

“Yes,” I said slowly.  “Only Saul
didn’t get to me in time.  I heard the shot, grabbed Saul’s
gun and ran.  When I got into the room, Preston turned the gun
on me, refused to drop his weapon and claimed that Danny tried to
kill him – a man shackled at the wrists and ankles.  I gave
him a warning to drop the weapon.  He took aim.  I shot
him in the leg.  He shot at me.  I shot him in the
shoulder and went to render assistance to Danny, but it was too
late.  You know the rest, that they tried to save him at the
hospital.”

“You said you killed Preston.”

“I didn’t
mean
to kill him. 
When I shot him in the leg, apparently he had a blood clot, and it
went into his lung.  That’s what killed him.”

Celeste reached for my hand.  “He
would’ve approved of a righteous kill, Helen.  You saved our
daughter.  If they hadn’t murdered Danny, he’d have told you
all of this himself.”

I nodded again.  Yes, I believed
her.  Every word.  “How did he tell you all of this?”

“How?”

“Yes.  How do you start a conversation
like that?  Wasn’t he worried that you’d run screaming for the
nearest police department?”

Celeste smiled.  “I suppose he was
terrified, but that’s the thing about trust, Helen.  When
you’re with someone that you know would do anything to protect you,
would love you no matter how bad the worst really was, you just…
feel it in your heart.  Danny knew that I loved him.  He
knew I meant what I said when we made our vows.  When I told
him I loved him, he believed it.  It wasn’t like we sat down
and had this long conversation like you and I are doing right
now.  But gradually, before he even proposed to me, he told me
enough that I understood how alone he’d been his whole life. 
So even if it was only for a little while, I had the privilege of
making him understand that it wasn’t him against the whole
world.”

Tears sprang to my eyes.  “You were
right, Celeste.”

“About what?”

“Danny and me.  We were more alike than
you could possibly imagine.”

“No, more than
you
could possibly
imagine, Helen.  I’ve known for a very long time.  What
else can I tell you about him?”

“Do you have any idea how Danny ended up
being surrounded by so many horrible people, criminals like Destiny
Gerard and Umberto Gutierrez?”

“Only one,” she said.  “For as hard as
Danny tried to escape his family’s poisonous reach, I believe his
uncle never truly allowed it.”

We all live under an illusion of
independence.  Maybe freedom too.  I thought about my
father and how he managed to reach out from behind the walls of
Attica and manipulate me, how he drove a wedge between Johnny and
me that we almost didn’t surmount. 

Yeah.  Danny and I were an awfully lot
alike.

Chapter 7

He wasn’t happy with me. 
Understandably.  I preempted the coming tirade by wrapping my
arms around Johnny’s waist and breathing out a sobbed but very
genuine apology.  I wouldn’t go so far to say his ire
evaporated, but it slid to the back burner at least. 

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“Celeste’s penthouse.”

Apparently, no further explanation was
needed.

“Ah hell, baby,” Johnny soothed.  “Did
she upset you?”

I shook my head.  How did I tell him
that I was responsible now for the deaths of two innocent
men?  While Rick wasn’t as lily white as Danny probably was,
if I’d bothered to do a proper investigation instead of jumping to
conclusions, I’d have known that the real guilty party was already
in custody, that all we needed to do was mop up Southerby and his
accomplices – which we’d almost done before Danny even returned to
Darkwater Bay.

And if I was so wrong about that case, how
many other people’s lives had I ruined because I simply
knew
I was right?

Johnny’s hand spanned my jaw and lifted it
until I couldn’t avoid his probing gaze.  Yeah, his eyes were
filled with suspicion.  I deserved at least that much.

“Tell me.”

“He was innocent.  Of all of it. 
Danny didn’t order a hit on anyone.  He was forced to
participate in what happened at the medical examiner’s office,
Johnny.”

“Because his wife said so?”

“He didn’t have a gun.  He was driving
the Escalade.  In all the years you’ve been watching Danny,
how many times did you see him personally drive himself
anywhere?”

Johnny frowned.

“See?  It was Southerby all along,
Johnny, and Marcos.  He
does
know that Danny was
probably the leak to the FBI.  But he wanted proof.  Just
like we wanted proof that Marcos is a cold blooded killer, a
criminal of the worst kind.”

“Helen…”

“No, don’t argue with me.  I knew
something was odd when he got out of that vehicle, when it turned
out that Danny was driving.  When Southerby had me locked away
in the treatment room at Dunhaven, do you know what he said to
me?  He talked about my father, Johnny.  Celeste said
that Danny had no idea who my father was until after he was
approached by Seleeby.”

“Your
husband
didn’t know Wendell was
still alive?”

“I’ve been telling people he’s dead for
years, Johnny.  It was easier that way, than answering all the
questions.”

Johnny manacled my bicep and half dragged me
into the house.  “Sit,” one index finger extended to a chair
at the kitchen table.

“Please don’t be angry with me.  I
don’t want you to interrogate me, Johnny.”

“Well too bad.”

“No, I want to tell you everything, not
because I’m backed into a corner, but because I finally get it,
Johnny.  I know you love me.  I know that I’m not alone
anymore.”

He was the one who sat.  “Well all
right then,” he said.

There wasn’t a single interruption when I
told Johnny everything Celeste said.  It was eerie how her
information explained the seeming dichotomies we’d uncovered in
years of investigations Johnny compiled.  He’d never found a
single illegal act in any business practice, in any of Danny’s
personal actions – except for his suspicions that were confirmed
now by both Celeste and Dennis Bennett regarding the fate of
Salvatore Masconi.

Johnny cursed.  “It’d be pretty
hypocritical of me to condemn the man for what he did, Helen,
particularly since I could’ve done something about it at the time,
but believed Masconi evaded justice and got away with murdering a
fifteen year old girl.”

“Celeste said Danny was literally sick when
the truth came out.  I should’ve seen it when I interviewed
him after Gwen Foster’s murder.  He really was surprised when
he realized what happened to her.  In fact, he said it wasn’t
possible.  I found it compelling, that it indicated he knew
what really happened to Masconi when he disappeared.”

“Because he did,” Johnny said.

I shook my head.  “I was blinded by
thoughts of vengeance.  I thought I knew everything.  I
knew nothing.  I feel like I know less now than ever.”

“So we’re certain that Datello wasn’t
involved in anything, not the murder of Ireland, or the human
trafficking, none of it.”

I nodded.  “Of course, he’s such a
convenient patsy.  I think that’s probably the only aspect of
any of this that we got right.”  I sighed heavily and buried
my face in my hands.  “God, I feel so guilty.”

“You didn’t kill Datello, Helen, and if any
of this had come out at the trial, don’t you think Zack would’ve
moved to dismiss the case against him?  Wouldn’t we have
immediately seen that he was as much a victim of Sully Marcos as
anyone else?”

“But that’s not how it happened.  He
was murdered by an FBI agent who I inadvertently killed.  Same
with Andy Gillette.  He’s dead because I got angry, because I
didn’t think anybody would find me.  All of our avenues for
answers are gone – because of me.”