Chapter 15 #2
"Good people don't go around planning on harming innocent people," Angelo told him grimly. "You want to help your wife? Go in there and get her talking."
"Detective." His partner, Louise, sent him a warning glance.
"Right. Mr. Bell, we promise to get your wife the help she needs. Just go in there and do your best. Now run it by me again. What will you tell her about your absence from home?"
"I disappear every now and then when I'm trying to get clean," he admitted.
"Great," Angelo muttered. "So, this kind of behavior is expected of you."
"I'm trying my best."
"Sure you are. All right. Show time. Don't fidget, and make sure she buys your story."
"What do you think?" he asked as soon as the man stumbled from the nondescript utility van they were using.
"I think you were making him feel like shit and making him more nervous."
"He's a prince among men."
"At least he came forward. That has to count for something," Louise pointed out.
"You're right. Now let's hope to God that he comes through."
*****
"What're you doing here?" The strident tone of Maxy Brown-Bell's voice had Angelo tensing.
"She doesn't seem too welcoming," he muttered.
"What do you expect?" Louise snorted. "That she would welcome him home with open arms? The guy spent two nights out; I'd have booted him out as soon as he cleared the threshold."
"I live here," Frank responded in a wheedling tone.
"You can just turn around and go back where you're coming from. I have no time to deal with the likes of you."
"Oh, come on, Max. Give your husband a break, would you?" He proceeded to tell her where he was and the fact that he was trying to get clean. "Something smells mighty delicious."
"It's oatmeal."
"Can't be that good," Angelo muttered, shrugging when Louise cast him an exasperated glance.
"With your special sweetened milk, honey and nutmeg?" he asked eagerly.
"And a touch of vanilla," she told him proudly. "You look hungry."
"Starving."
They listened as the couple moved toward the kitchen.
"Hey, Max, I need to talk to you."
"About what?"
"What you said the other day." From the way the words sounded, the detectives surmised that Frank was busy chowing down on the oatmeal.
"I'm hungry," Angelo muttered. "Should have stopped for breakfast."
"I did," Louise told him smugly, earning herself a dirty look.
"I cannot discuss my plans with you."
"You were right," Frank continued. "It's not fair that that bitch of an actress should have such a lucky break and you don't. You're a good Christian woman and deserve the best of everything. So, I'm in."
"You are?" she cried gratefully. "Really?"
"Yes. What's the plan?"
"He's good," Angelo muttered.
"I have a disguise that I'm going to be using.
Bought it off the internet. I'll wait a few weeks and let them think that I'm no longer interested in doing that bitch any harm, and then I'll waylay those no-good nannies in the park.
The so-called mother accompanies them sometimes, that worthless bitch, pretending that she's such a good mother, when we all know that those nannies do all the work.
Anyway, I'm going to wait on them, use some sort of distraction in case they have those guards with them, shoot the mother, and make off with those lovely babies.
"I bought a motor home. No one will suspect a couple driving a motor home.
We could end up in Canada. I have some money stored away.
With no children to spend it on, I've been saving.
I even bought some outfits for the babies.
Oh, Frank!" she gushed. "We're going to be a family.
They won't be looking for us in Canada, and no one would suspect that a woman like me had anything to do with the incident.
Besides, that Eliza Bell-Copeland-Bell deserves every rotten thing coming her way. "
There was a pause, and both detectives waited tensely, wondering why Frank was silent.
Then he spoke quietly and with sincere regret. "I really love you, Max. And I apologize for all the grief I've put you through."
"That's quite all right, Frank," she assured him. "We can start over. You've proven yourself to me by coming back and getting on board. I forgive you."
"I'm really sorry."
"Stop apologizing. The Good Book says we're to forgive and forget."
"That's our cue. She really has a way of picking and choosing what to take from the Good Book," Angelo said dryly as he made sure his ankle piece was secure before making the call.
"Let's go and get her, boys."
*****
Maxy Brown-Bell did not go down easy and resisted arrest by trying to deck the officer. It took three of them to restrain her, and even so, she screamed vile accusations at her 'spineless, sorry excuse of a husband.'
"I was planning on poisoning you!" she screamed. "I was going to put rat poison in your bottle of cheap whiskey and be rid of you. You made me do this. You're not a man, and I should have killed you a long time ago."
"I'm sorry, Max." Frank stood by, wringing his hands in acute misery. "I just could not let you hurt those innocent people."
"Innocent!" She struggled when the handcuffs were placed on her wrists. "Those people are what's wrong with the world today. They have too much money and not enough sense to serve God. I wanted to right the wrongs of the world."
"Maxy Brown-Bell, you have the right to remain silent..." Louise read the Miranda rights while the woman continued to scream.
"Anything you say might be held against you in a court of law."
"Go to hell, you lesbian bitch." Louise was not quick enough to avoid the full-on spittle as the woman spat right in her face.
"Aw hell, take her out." Shaking her head, she accepted the handkerchief the amused Angelo handed her.
"I am so sorry." Frank looked positively pale and was even shaking. "I've never seen her like this before. She's right, you know."
"About what?"
"I caused all of this."
"No, you didn't," Angelo told him firmly. "And even if you were the root cause, you stepped up and did the right thing."
"And lost my wife."
"You lost your wife some time ago, Frank."
*****
"I want to see her."
"Like hell!"
Eliza turned to face her husband, her expression pleading.
"I want to confront her and force her to see that I'm a living, breathing human being whose life she was willing to destroy."
"You're not facing that woman."
"Angelo?" She turned to face the detective who had stopped by to personally give them the news.
"I have to agree with your husband, Eliza. It would serve no purpose to see her. Maxy Brown-Bell is a writhing mass of pure insanity. The doctor had to be called in to give her a shot."
"So what? She will be going for an insanity plea? Not a bloody chance. I want that woman in jail where she belongs."
"She's sick, Samuel," Angelo told him soberly.
"That's no excuse..."
"It's a reason." Both men turned to stare at her. Eliza lowered herself in the rocker and felt decidedly weary. "I'm not excusing her actions, but in her mind, she felt like she was doing the right thing."
"You'll have to excuse my wife, Angelo. She's tired," Samuel said grimly.
"I just might be." She smiled at Angelo. "Thank you very much."
"My pleasure."
"I'll see you out." Samuel rose and accompanied him from the living room.
*****
"They look so happy." Without turning around, Eliza sensed him behind her. She had told the nannies to leave her alone with them for a few minutes.
"They should be." He came closer and wrapped his arms around her waist as he gazed at his children.
They were in their swing sets, fidgeting with the mobiles as if that was the most important thing in the world, and to them it was.
And they were thriving. The boys were already crawling and getting into everything, smashing at the building blocks, and putting the stuffed toys into their mouths.
"What's wrong, darling?" He turned her to face him.
"I feel sorry for her."
"Eliza..."
"Please hear me out," she pleaded.
"I'm listening."
Ignoring his ominous expression, she plunged on. "When I was trying to get pregnant and nothing was happening, I was depressed. Oh, I would hide it, and being the excellent actress I am, I would pull it off."
"Not quite," he told her quietly. "I knew you were depressed; I just didn't know what to do about it."
She nodded. "We were distant, losing each other, and I had no idea what to do." She lifted a hand to touch his face gently. "I would have done anything to give you children, anything. That was how far I'd gone. So, I can relate."
"You wouldn't have taken it that far. She was planning on killing you and taking our children, and I cannot be tolerant of that type of far-out thinking." His hand cupped the back of her neck, his fingers massaging the skin.
"And we would have found our way back to each other. The love we share would have taken care of that. I love you," he added huskily. "I always will. Even when I feel like strangling you, I love you." Tipping her chin up, he brushed his lips on hers. "I have a suggestion."
"What?"
"When all of this is over, we go somewhere. We've been through one ordeal after another without a break in between. I want to spend time alone with my wife and children."
Her eyes brightened, her lips parting. "I would love that very much."
"Good. We wrap everything up and take a trip. You choose the place."
He turned her around, and they continued to watch their children, smiles on their faces.