Was He Guilty? Ch. 05

Darcy introduced Shauna to Brad. It wasn't a week before Brad was bragging about his new woman. When Shauna mentioned to him that she would have to move back to Denmark in four months, Brad thought he was going to lose his new girlfriend.

She told him the only way she could stay in the States was if she got married. She was working on her citizenship papers. Brad didn't want to lose this woman. He asked her to marry him and they set the wedding date. They would be married by a judge but have a large reception so Brad could show off his new bride.

It was at the reunion that he met up with Jeff. There was no doubt Jeff would show up since he was the Valedictorian of the class. Shauna made sure that Darcy would be sitting next to Jeff.

Everything went as planned. It didn't take much for Jeff, a backward sort of geek, to fall for such a beautiful woman. He had never in his dreams thought he would be with a woman like this.

I believe that most everything went as planned from then on out. All these men were pawns in a game to get even with Jeff's dad, Mr. Johnson, for what Darcy saw as killing her parents.

She and Shauna have been through similar circumstances and when they met at the Davis's became the best of friends when they heard each other's story. They met up again in Ohio and decided to carry through Darcy's revenge. Harold Johnson was the target. Darcy had found out he only had one child and she was going to take him away from his father, let him see what it feels like to lose his only son.

The plot began. Shauna was married to Brad even though she didn't care that much for him. These women were smart and it didn't take long for Shauna to know Brad was still getting it on the side. She had Darcy knowing his every move at work and when he worked over or went home.

Darcy began dating Jeff. At first she was just playing him along. After awhile I feel she began to actually have some feelings toward him. He did everything for her, he treated her like a queen and denied her nothing.

She must have been torn between the love of Jeff and the need to get revenge on his father. Part of the problem was Shauna was already in the mix. Darcy asked Jeff to marry her and all the rest of that part of the story is history.

I believe she really didn't want the honeymoon swap to happen. She had real feeling for her husband. That's why she apologized to him for letting it happen.

Shauna must have been pushing the issue of getting rid of the men since she kept bringing it up to Darcy. Finally, one day they set the plan in motion. Using Jeff's scenario it could have happened that way.

When it came down to the actual killing, I believe it could have happened just the way Jeff suggested. The only problem was Darcy fell in love with Jeff and didn't want to kill him. I believe she convinced Shauna to let him live and he could become the fall guy. That way they could act as innocents and run a lot less risk of being suspects themselves.

****

I had talked to a few male friends who were party-goers. Every weekend they would go to an exclusive club that was members-only along with invited guests. They told me that most every Saturday night Darcy and Shauna would be there. It was located in Columbus, about forty-five miles away.

They'd dance together and also with a number of men. My friends said they even danced with the two sirens. Most men didn't know that they were the ones that had some type of involvement in the murders since it was so long ago.

They said the girls were very enticing and very flirty. They would often ask them out but always got a, no thank you.

There wasn't much more that I could write about these women except they lived like queens. Beautiful condo, bought a new pink corvette convertible and according to my friends, dressed sexy as hell.

I typed up my report and my wife read it. "Joe, what if they find out you wrote this report? We could be in danger."

"Don't worry, my name isn't mentioned anywhere on this report. I'm going to give it to Harold Johnson, it might give him and Jeff a little closure. Besides, I don't know about the law but maybe it could raise a few questions in Jeff's appeal process.

"You should be happy because I will officially be finished with this story."

Julie kissed me and we went out to celebrate. We took the kids and went to the Red Lobster.

****

A couple of days later I set up an appointment with Jeff's dad, Harold Johnson, to show him my findings. I mentioned that he could show them to Jeff and possibly Jeff's lawyer. I was done checking into this case. I didn't stand around for him to read the report.

A couple of days went by and I got a call from Julie while I was at work. She really seemed upset.

"What is it, honey?" I asked.

"That Shauna woman called the house and wanted to speak to you. She said you have been checking up on her past as well as Darcy's. I told her that you haven't mentioned them for months. She said if she finds out it's been you there will be trouble. I told her to just leave us alone; she hung up on me. Joe, I'm scared. I'm scared for you and our family. I don't trust those women."

"Honey, everything will be alright. There is no way those women will harm our family." When I got home I hugged my wife and told her again that everything would be all right.

I went over to the bank to see Harold Johnson. He asked me to step into his office.

"Did you tell Darcy or Shauna that I found out information about them?" I asked.

"No, I didn't mention you personally but I did tell them I had found out about the accident that Darcy's mom was killed in. I apologized to her and told her that it wasn't my fault. It was her step father who ran a red light and hit me. I did receive a broken collar bone in the accident.

"I explained that I had no idea that it was her parents. She didn't say anything to me. She must have known all this time. I remember her telling me, 'Now you know what it's like losing someone you love. At least you can still write to him.' I was then asked to leave their house.

"They must have figured that since you wrote that story that it might have been you that found out about their backgrounds. I'm so sorry. I did give copies of your report to Jeff and his lawyer."

I left the bank but now I was worried. I didn't know how or if these women were really revengeful. Everything in their backgrounds seemed to say they were. Now I was concerned for my family.

I knew the last thing I wanted to do was call these women. I wanted them to forget about us. The following week it was really getting to me. I was finding that I wasn't able to sleep and I knew it was upsetting Julie as well.

On Saturday night I tossed and turned. I couldn't sleep. I knew I was disturbing Julie so I got up and laid on the couch. That didn't help so I decided to just take a drive. I often did that and it helped me calm my nerves.

At three in the morning I stopped at Denny's and ordered breakfast. After that I went back home, cuddled up to Julie and went to sleep.

The next morning Julie asked me where I went and told her I needed to clear my head and took a drive. It was something I did many times before when I couldn't sleep. I showed her my breakfast bill from Denny's where I had a full course breakfast.

It was early afternoon when I got a call from my friend in Columbus. He asked me if I had been watching the news? I told him I hadn't. We usually spend Sunday morning going to church and have just gotten home.

"What's so important Jim?" I asked.

"Those two women Darcy and Shaun were found dead this morning. Their pink corvette might have been run off the road. The police were talking to the people who were at the club last night wondering if they might have been followed going home. They have a tendency to piss off a lot of guys with their flirting. They just got through talking to me and my friend. We had witnesses that we stayed long after they had left."

Julie asked me who was on the phone and I told her one of my friends from Columbus. She has met Jim a few times. He runs one of the Columbus outlets. I told her to turn on the Columbus news channel. They were explaining the finding of two women whose vehicle drove or was forced off the road and over a ravine, killing both women.

They went on to describe the women. It was Darcy and Shauna. Their vehicle was found by a police cruiser coming down the road. The officer saw a break in the guardrail. The case was still under investigation.

Julie seemed stunned but yet almost grateful. She hugged me.

On Monday I received a call from Harold Johnson who told me he was also questioned about the accident. He said he was at home sleeping at the time. He had enough people working for him that he would never have gotten his hands dirty.

By Wednesday an old man around seventy-five years old came forward and said he was on that road that night. He remembered the pink corvette and two pretty women passing him on the highway. Shortly afterwards he was passed by a delivery truck, but couldn't remember anything other than it was white.

He said a couple of miles up the road he saw a hole in the guardrail and what looked like smoke or dirt coming up in the air. He was going to stop when his wife told him to keep driving, they shouldn't get involved. Besides, his wife told him he had been drinking and might get arrested.

It worked on his conscience and said he had to tell what he saw. It wasn't a great help but the large tire marks on the side of the pink corvette does prove the car was probably forced off the road. No other witnesses came forward. Unless they could find a truck where the wheel marks match, they had another unsolved case.

No one ever came to question me, but why would they? Very few people knew it was me who wrote the story/report on what I thought could have happened.

It was about three months before I had heard from anyone. I almost cringed when I got a call from Harold Johnson. He asked me if I could meet him at the bank. I was welcome to bring Julie with me. He wouldn't tell us anything over the phone.

Harold greeted us as we entered the bank. It was the first time that he had met Julie. He invited us into his spacious office and told us to have a seat. He had something to discuss with us.

"Joe, first I'll tell you the latest. After Jeff was sent to prison and Darcy got power of attorney she had control of everything. However, she made one mistake. She never went through the trouble to change her beneficiary on either her life insurance nor did she change her will.

"Needless to say everything went back to her beneficiary, which is Jeff. My wife Clair and I were contingent beneficiaries.

"We had a meeting with Jeff and he gave us the power of attorney for him. Of course we are raising his son."

"What about Shauna's estate? Who receives it?" I asked.

"It goes to her grandparents who are the next of kin. It should help them live out their remaining years."

"That's all good news but why are we here?" I asked.

"Jeff wants you to write his story. A real story, a book about the case using the evidence at the scene as well as his scenario. He would also want to include the background information that you uncovered. He is willing to pay you sixty thousand dollars to write this book."

My jaw dropped open. For an appliance salesman and part-time writer this was unbelievable. I looked over at Julie. "Honey I told you I was done with this story. I'm going to leave it up to you if you want me to write it."

All the main characters in the story have met their demise other than Jeff and Mr. Johnson. There wasn't anyone else to fear. "We'll do it!" said Julie as she gave me a big smile and a hug.

Mr. Johnson handed us a signed release agreement and he signed it also. He handed me the check for sixty thousand dollars and I gave it to Julie.

"What's this for?" she smiled. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"I've never had a sixty thousand dollar piece of ass before and I'll expect it tonight." She laughed before hitting me.

I wrote the story. Julie asked me why I thought Bob and Mark were killed? I told her they were just pawns in a game of chess. Jeff was the actual target the full time but since Darcy loved him, she let him live. It was all about revenge to get even with Mr. Johnson. Brad was the instrument that brought it all together and Shauna wanted rid of him.

I ended the book telling the readers that all the added evidence was hearsay and gut opinions. It still didn't prove that Jeff didn't murder those three men. His lawyer wasn't even sure if I'd given him enough evidence for a good appeal. The problem of course was that the women who could have changed their minds and their stories were both now dead.

I was asked to put in the book a few guesses of who might have possibly have been the killer of the women. I did list Harold Johnson, even though he had a good alibi. Maybe it was someone I never heard of, someone who owed Mr. Johnson big time. Also it might have been one of Jeff's cellmates who had recently been released from prison. Then also, maybe it was someone from the club who got tired of two great looking flirts that didn't put out. I'm sure you readers can think of other possibilities.

To be honest, I just don't know if Jeff told the truth to began with. I promised Julie that from now on I would write only fiction. My family will never be put in harm's way again.

Hope you enjoyed the story

Comments are always welcome and appreciated.

DG Hear