“If that’s the truth, then the cops will figure it out. They’ll go to that apartment and arrest Phil. They’ll listen to your story; I know they will.”
“You’re free to leave. I won’t tell the cops who you really are, or that you ever came here tonight. Just please let me figure out how to hide these bodies until the search is through and I have a little more time to think,” I pleaded.
I didn’t wait for her answer. I trudged back to the bedroom, determined to squeeze the bodies into those bags this time …
“Stop.” I felt something hard press down between my shoulder blades. Then I heard an eerie click.
Pam just flipped the safety off. She has a gun …
I took a chance, slowly turning to face her. If I could just see her, just look into my friend’s face, maybe I could reason with her.
But she had that look in her eyes – the pure steel of determination. I’d seen it a thousand times: when she was determined to close a sale, when someone had pissed her off … and that night in the bathroom right before the showdown with Mandy and Tamara …
“They’re from Sam,” I said the words loudly and slowly. I thought about that day in the driveway, watching my only daughter pull away with her dad.
I taught you how to tie your shoes.
But that wasn’t what she thought she heard …
“She was pissed off at Sam. And when she’s angry she doesn’t call her Sam, she calls her Samantha. What she said that night was ‘They’re from Pam’. Isn’t that, right?”
Pam gave a slight shrug.
“You drugged us. Why? So, you could bring those bodies inside? Try to frame me for murder? Why would you do that?”
Despite the hard mask, Pam’s hands were shaking. She still didn’t lower the gun.
“Look, it’s not how I wanted to do things. But I couldn’t let her have the money.”
Money. This is about money?!
“You know as well as I do that I don’t have any money.” I begged.
“Yet,” Pam said, bitterly. “Well, not you, exactly. But Delaney was about to get a windfall when she turns eighteen. You never even realized, did you? That Granny was rich. She’s the reason Mom and Dad had so much and lived the way they did. She’s the one who bought my father his company. She squirreled it all away, living modestly in that shitty little house in the middle of nowhere. And when she died, I just assumed she’d leave it all to Mom and Dad and they’d give it to me. But no, of course not, Granny could never just make things simple …”
“What are you talking about?”
Pam’s grandmother had been dead for nearly a decade. I hadn’t heard a word about any money … not while we were staying there, and not after she died.
“She didn’t leave her money to Mom and Dad, or to me. Instead, she left a trust for both of us, for you and for me. But here’s the kicker. It’s not for us, per se, but for our children. ‘Children are the future’, she used to say.”
I did remember hearing her say that several times. She was an old-fashioned lady who often encouraged both Pam and me to be on the lookout for a good husband, good father material.
“Why would she leave it to our children? I don’t understand. I wasn’t her blood.”
“Because she adored you and she wanted to make sure that our children wouldn’t struggle when it came time to go to college. And she didn’t want us struggling to send them off into the world.”
“Okay …”
The Skilsaw is on the other side of the room. If I ran for it, could I grab it in time?
“Who was in the black truck, then? You?” I asked, incredulously.
Pam snorted. “I thought if I pressured Delaney into thinking she was being stalked by that stupid boy, she might tell you sooner. I needed it to be convincing. A clear motive. But that girl is stubborn. Then, when you came to me and told me about the bullying, it was like handing me Delaney on a silver platter. I told all the ladies in the office and the principal, too. I wanted the whole town to know Delaney had a reason to kill him.”
Clenching my teeth so hard together they threatened to crack, I asked, “Where did you get the truck?”
“It’s Jerry’s. His mom left it to him when she died, but he never drives it. If you paid attention to your friends, anyone other than your precious little self and your bratty daughter, you already would have known that,” Pam snapped, arrogantly.
“Does Jerry know what you’re doing?”
For the first time, I saw a flicker of guilt on her face. “No, Jerry’s a good guy. He’s not interested in dating, but I think I’ll talk him into it when I’m filthy rich. We can both quit that shithole job and go somewhere new to start our life together.”
I sighed. “Pam, I’m sure Delaney would have shared the money. Do you really think we’re that selfish? We have always considered you family.”
“One can never be too certain, and she’s turned into quite a little bitch these days.”
I flinched at the word, my fury rising …
“And I can never have children. I went to the doctor several years ago, and he told me I was sterile. So, it’s not like I would have benefited at all from the money. It wasn’t fair for my family’s money to go to some trailer-park trash like you. We took you in and helped you out … and then my stupid grandma snubs my mom by leaving everything to the children of the future. She knew damn well I didn’t want kids.”
“I’m sorry.” Strangely, I did feel sorry.
When had Pam become this sad, manipulative, evil person? Or had she always been this way and I was just blind to it?
“Don’t be. All that money will be mine. The will stipulated that our children would receive it when they turned eighteen, granted they’re not in prison or incapacitated.”
The hairs on my arms stood up. So, this is why. She does want to frame my daughter.
There was no way out of this room but through – and Pam was standing in the doorway, gun aimed straight for my heart.
I’m going to have to take a chance and rush at her, or either run back, or get that saw …
“How is Phil involved? Has he been helping you?” my voice quivered.
Pam threw her head back and laughed, startling me. For the first time in a long time, she had become completely unrecognizable to me.
“No. Phil is in prison, just as he should be. Just as he always will be.”
“No, that’s not true. I saw his name on those prescription bottles …”
“Just like I knew you would,” Pam said haughtily. “Your prints are all over Robin Regal’s apartment. I didn’t plan to kill him, at first, just the boy. But it helps that your prints are there as a back-up plan. Maybe the cops will think you helped Delaney with the murders.”
Before I could even ask, she went on: “We were dating for a while, me and Robin. I met him on that same stupid site you were on. I told him about my plan, offered to cut him in if he agreed to help me. Moving bodies is a tough business, let me tell you! But then that asshole went and got greedy. I should have known better, honestly. He threatened to go to the cops and tell him who I was and what I planned to do, if I didn’t give him ten thousand dollars within twenty-four hours. You and I both know that wasn’t an option. He helped me bring in the boy and then he became my next victim. Stupid prick. You slept through it all, like a little baby.” Pam giggled, as though we were talking about something as nonchalant as workplace gossip.