Chapter Nineteen #2
“I expect as much,” Campbell acknowledged. “But money can only go so far.”
“You’re right. But in this instance, as far as her admission to Stefanie that Mia O’Dell was killed because of blackmail regarding Stuart Reston’s confession in a journal to murdering Lynda Boxleitner—it’s Stefanie’s word against Bella’s, who would surely deny having ever said such.
It would never hold up in court on that basis alone.
” Gloria sipped her tea and sat back. “I’m guessing that the journal in question was found by Bella or Barrientos and destroyed. ”
“That’s always a possibility,” Campbell allowed musingly.
“But since Bella is strongly invested in the Reston family history, I suspect that she would have wanted to hold on to her father’s journal—even if damaging to him and the Reston legacy—to preserve it from one generation to the next.
Especially if Bella, so full of herself, believed that she would succeed in keeping the onus for Boxleitner’s murder entirely on Wendell Braison—by adding some new homicides to the mix to further protect the family’s place in this town—and it would never come back to haunt her.
Meaning that she likely still has Reston’s journal in her possession. ”
Gloria nodded. “You make a good point.” She ate another piece of Danish. “I hope you can find it and use it as evidence to help make the case.”
“Me too.” Campbell liked his chances. But there was more to it than that.
“Beyond finally giving Lynda Boxleitner the peace in death that she deserves after all these years, Bella has more serious concerns for her attorneys to deal with. She’s on the hook—along with Juan Barrientos—for the lethal fentanyl poisonings of Mia O’Dell and Jasmine Roxburgh.
And the attempted murder of Stefanie Nguyen.
No amount of dirty family money will be enough to worm her way out of that hole. ”
“I agree,” Gloria said, tilting her face. “Bella Reston will get what she deserves, as will Juan Barrientos. Maybe then, this town—and even the Braison Family—can get back to some semblance of normalcy and move forward.”
“That’s the hope,” Campbell said, sipping his coffee contemplatively.
He particularly liked the part about moving forward—which is exactly what he hoped to do with Stefanie, now that they had gotten past life and death issues that, for a moment or two, had left things between them hanging in the balance.
* * *
IN SEPTEMBER, STEFANIE went with Campbell to visit his father and ride horses.
It was just her second time ever getting on a horse.
The first was a month earlier when they visited the ranch and she and Campbell went on a trail ride on Appaloosas.
Though a bit sore, she truly loved the experience, as the horse was gentle and it gave her an opportunity to spread her wings in further bonding—not only with Campbell, but with Mason and his lovely partner, Sally.
They made her feel welcome, as though part of the family.
Stefanie relished this, eager to have the same type of strong connection she once had with her own mother and father, whom she missed more than she could say, though feeling they were always angels on her shoulders.
Just as Edward was, in wanting her to be happy in life.
Which she was, knowing how precious each day could be, when it so easily could be taken away.
Campbell was just as thrilled that she had warmed to his father—and she was delighted to see that the two men had put aside any differences they may have had through the years and were forging stronger ties themselves.
In Stefanie’s mind, knowing that a cold case and current case between father and son had merged into one and been closed, more or less, made their relationship that much stronger.
It seemed as if Bella, on the advice of expensive lawyers, had cut a deal in confessing to her part in the deaths of Mia O’Dell and Jasmine Roxburgh.
And the intent to kill me with the same fentanyl poisoning, Stefanie thought as her horse trotted across the meadow.
As a result, instead of spending the rest of her life behind bars, Bella would still have the opportunity to one day go free.
But would still pay a very high price for the bad decisions she made.
Her family legacy—thanks in part to Stuart Reston’s journal and the testimony of his former gardener, Sidney Sedwick—was now in tatters and likely never to be fully repaired as the town’s namesake.
Juan Barrientos didn’t get off nearly as easily.
With his case transferred to federal jurisdiction and a solid case against him for serious drug-related offenses, including two drug-induced homicides—and the willingness of drug trafficker Luther Valdez to testify against him—Juan confessed.
Even with that, he would not see the light of day again with a sentence of life imprisonment.
Stefanie found solace in that, knowing Juan had tried to kill her and would never get that opportunity again.
In spite of him having been used by Bella to achieve her own objectives—with frequent phone calls and spicy text messages to Juan that were produced as evidence to illustrate the romantic nature of their relationship—it was Juan who acquired the deadly fentanyl and carfentanil from Valdez that nearly sent Stefanie to an early grave.
How can I not hold him responsible to a slightly higher degree?
she asked herself, as a part of her wanted to believe that in an alternate reality, she and Bella could have truly ended up as real friends.
“Are you all right?” Campbell asked in earnest, riding alongside her.
Stefanie gazed at him, looking every bit the cowboy with his cowboy hat on and clothing to match. She flashed a genuine, loving smile and answered, “Better than ever! Race you back?”
He laughed. “You’re on.”
She chuckled as her horse trotted off ahead of him, pretty sure he would catch her. As surely as he had captured her heart. And she had captured his.