The Price of Justice (26 page)

C
HAPTER

46

“Y
ou’ve
got to get someone over there,” Dani urged the police sergeant on the other end of the phone. “I’m afraid someone is in real danger.”

“You haven’t really explained why, miss.”

“It’s a long story, a very long story. There’s not enough time. But I believe Max Dolan may try to harm my client, Winston Melton.”

“Whoa! You’re talking about
the
Winston Melton?”

“I am.”

“I guess when a Melton’s involved, we can’t take any chances. I’ll send a car over.”

“Good. I’ll be there in ten minutes myself. I’ll wait for them in the lobby.”

When Dani hung up, she called Tommy, but it went straight to voice mail. “Call me back, it’s urgent. I’m afraid Win may be in trouble,” was the message she left, while she silently hoped she was wrong.

Win was still in the study when he heard the apartment door open, then footsteps. He froze momentarily, then remembered what he had to do. Quickly, he took out his phone, pressed a speed-dial number, and when Tommy answered, whispered, “I found it. But he’s back now.”

“Okay, we’re set. You know what’s next.”

“I do.”

He replaced his phone in his pocket, then waited for Dolan. As soon as he noticed Win’s jacket draped over a kitchen stool, he’d realize Win hadn’t left. It took less than a minute.

“Win? You still here?”

“I’m in the study.”

As Dolan walked in, he was already speaking. “You won’t believe this. My parents—”

The blood drained from his face when he saw Win standing by the open safe, the appointment book in his hand. “What—what are you doing with that?”

Win took out the dried corsage and held it up in his hand. The steely coldness of his voice belied the rage he felt. “You killed her. You killed Carly. And you let me take the blame.”

Dolan’s eyes darted wildly about the room.

“No one else is here. It’s just you and me.”

“It’s not like it seems.”

“Really? Then tell me how it’s different.”

“It-it—” Suddenly, he stopped. “Are you wearing a wire? Are you recording this?”

Win wanted to run over to Dolan, to wrap his hands around his neck and choke the life out of him. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs to rid his body of the disgust he felt at the betrayal by his best friend. But he had a job to do. His shook his head.

“Prove it.”

“You think everyone is a liar like you?”

“Pick up your shirt.”

Win complied. “Here, I’ll even drop my pants for you.”

After he’d pulled them back up, Dolan said, “Empty your pockets.”

Win took out his cell phone and a handkerchief from one pocket, his wallet and a pen from the other, and held them up in one hand. With the other, he pulled his pockets out to show nothing was left. When Dolan nodded, he returned the items to his pockets.

“Now, tell me why you murdered Carly and let me rot on death row for seven years. Tell me why you would have let them execute me.”

“No, no, I wouldn’t. I didn’t. I went to your grandmother. I helped her get you out.”

Win laughed. “Oh, I see. You’re a hero. I should really be thanking you. I suppose now you’ll tell me you didn’t murder Carly.”

“It wasn’t murder, I swear. It was an accident.”

“Tell me.”

Dolan walked over to his desk. “I need to sit down.”

Win watched him move, but it all seemed like a dream to him. He’d humored Tommy by coming here today, looking upon it as a test of his ability to venture farther from home rather than the opportunity to expose a killer. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

“I’d always liked Carly, you know. If you hadn’t asked her out first, then I would have. When you dumped her, I figured it was my chance, but I didn’t want her on the rebound from you. I wanted her to be over you.”

“So, what? She spurned you? Is that why you murdered her?”

“No, no, I keep telling you, it wasn’t murder. After you left the gym with her, I went outside, figured I’d wait for you there. But when you came out of the woods, you were alone. You didn’t see me. I watched you walk to the car, and then wait. I figured I’d go find Carly, make my move. She was standing under a tree, crying. No, sobbing. I went over and wrapped my arms around her, tried to comfort her. After a while, she started to calm down, and I kissed her. She kissed me back. Hard.”

Win’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Dolan. “You telling me she wanted it? That you didn’t rape her?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re a liar.”

“No. It’s true. She kissed me, and the next thing we knew, we were on the ground. I took her hair ribbon out and tied her hands back, you know, made it seem like I was forcing her, but I wasn’t, she wanted me.”

Win averted his eyes from Dolan. It sickened him to look at his sweaty face, his slicked-back hair. How could he not have known, all these years, that something was wrong with him? He’d heard the rumors, of course, but dismissed them. The girls who’d said he was rough, and those who’d said even more. They were just jealous, because he wouldn’t settle down with one of them, Win had reasoned. His friend couldn’t be like that. Not the boy he’d taken his first smoke with, his first puff of weed, his first slug of beer. Not the one who’d stayed by his side all through his arrest and then the trial, and years and years afterward. Not his only friend.

“I don’t know what happened,” Dolan continued. A sob caught in his throat. “I put my hand around her neck, squeezed it, like I’d done with so many others. It heightened the experience, made it better for them. But she was squirming so much, I had to tighten my hand to keep her still. And then
 . . . 
then
 . . .
”

“What?”

“Then nothing. She stopped moving. I finished up and told her to get up. She just lay there, her eyes wide open.”

“How come the cops didn’t find your DNA in her?”

“Come on. You know. We always carried condoms with us back then. We’d joke about being Boy Scouts, always prepared.”

“Why didn’t you get help for her? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“It was too late,” Dolan said, his voice soft.

Win screamed, “It wasn’t too late for me, you bastard!” He lunged toward Dolan.

Perhaps if he hadn’t been so consumed with hatred, perhaps if his rage hadn’t clouded his eyes, he might have seen Dolan’s hand move toward the second drawer, quickly open it, and pull out the pistol. Then he might have run from the room, out of the apartment, to safety. Instead, he drew up short at the sight of the gun pointed at his forehead.

“Stay.”

Win did as instructed.

“Damn!” Dani shouted to herself. She had only a short distance to get to Max’s building, but the traffic on the George Washington Bridge was just creeping along, bit by agonizing bit. She thought about calling Win’s cell phone, but if Win had already confronted Max, she didn’t want to make Max panic. She tried Tommy once more, but again it went to voice mail.

Finally, the cars began to move more quickly. She passed a car stalled on the side of the bridge, no doubt the cause of the jam. She’d be at the apartment in a few minutes now. She hoped it was in time.

“Needless to say, I’ll deny everything if you’re foolish enough to repeat what I told you,” Max told Win, still holding the gun on him. “For the record, I never expected it to be pinned on you. And even after you were arrested, I never dreamed you’d be convicted.”

“What about the corsage?”

“What corsage?” Dolan said, as he motioned for Win to hand it over.

“Tell me, why did you keep it?”

Dolan looked away from Win, then turned back. With a pensive look on his face, he said, “I guess I’m a sentimentalist at heart. I really did like Carly.”

“And Stacy Pinkerton? You killed her, too, didn’t you?”

Max looked at him with a blank stare. “Who?”

“She saw you outside the gym, going after Carly. She would have identified you, so you ran her down.”

Max’s mouth turned up in a small smile. “You give me too much credit.”

Win’s lip curled up, and he averted his eyes from Dolan. Maybe it was just an accident after all. Or, maybe it was . . . It didn’t matter to him. The man standing opposite Win, once his closest friend, was now a stranger to him. Win knew he should say nothing more, just promise his silence, grab his jacket, and leave. But he couldn’t. He turned back toward Dolan. “It’s over, you know.”

The pensiveness was gone. Dolan sneered at Win. “No one will believe you. You’re a convicted felon. If people didn’t have their doubts about Sanders’s confession before, they’ll know it was a sham once I release the confession your grandmother signed, and the documents transferring funds from her account to Letitia Sanders. You’ll look like a guy desperate to place the blame on anyone else, even your most loyal friend.”

“It’s over,” he repeated.

Dolan looked at him quizzically, and then it hit him. “You recorded this?”

Win nodded.

“Show me.”

Win took the pen from his pants pocket and held it up.

“Give it to me.”

“It won’t matter.”

“Do you have a death wish? I said, hand it over.”

“I didn’t just record you.” He pulled his phone from his other pants pocket. “It’s been on this whole time. Tommy Noorland has been listening in and recording it at his end. He’s down in the lobby right now.”

Dolan sneered at him. “It can’t be used. I never consented to being recorded.”

“I guess you should have gone to law school. New Jersey only requires one person to consent. And I did.”

At that moment, both turned their heads as they heard a key turn the lock of the front door. In the seconds it took for the door to burst open, Dolan ran in front of the desk and grabbed Win, keeping the pistol pointed at his head. Win jammed his hands into his armpits, squeezing his body tightly to control its shaking. Dani had been right. He never should have come here. He’d needed to know the truth, and now he did. But it didn’t change anything. Carly was still dead, and he’d still spent seven years in hell. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as Dolan tightened his grip.

“Stay out of here!” Dolan shouted. “I have a gun pointed at Win, and trust me, I’ll shoot!”

“Win, it’s Dani. I have the police with me. And Tommy is here, too. Are you all right?”

“He won’t be if you don’t leave,” Max called out.

“Max, this is Lt. James McCaffrey. I don’t want you to do anything rash. We won’t come inside until you tell us it’s okay. But if we hear one gunshot, it’s over for you.”

Keeping one arm around Win’s neck, with the gun pointed at his temple, Dolan pushed Win toward the study door and slammed it shut. He shoved Win back to his desk, then pushed him down on the chair.

“Max, what’s the point of this? Even if you kill me, there’s no escape for you.”

Dolan paced furiously back and forth along the length of the desk, never taking the gun off Win.

“Max.”

“Shut up!” he screamed.

A minute later, Dolan’s cell phone rang. He ignored the call until it went into voice mail, then the ringing began again. Once more, he ignored it, and once again, the ringing started over. By the fourth time, he picked up the phone and pressed “Answer.”