“Listen, what about Chase Kingsley?” asked Odelia, who hated to admit she was starting to believe these two were innocent after all.
Veronica hesitated. “If I tell you what happened, do you promise to delete those pictures? I so don’t want them on the Internet. I’d die of shame.”
“I promise not to publish them. I’ll keep them, though. Just in case.”
“All right. Yes, I did lie about Detective Kingsley.”
“Don’t tell her that, babe. They might put me back in prison.”
“No, they won’t,” she said. “This time I’m getting you the best lawyer money can buy, whatever Mom says. And I’m going to tell her everything.”
“Why don’t you begin by telling me everything?” Odelia asked.
“You were right,” said Veronica. “I set up Detective Kingsley because Commissioner Necker made a deal. In exchange for Donny walking free, all charges dropped, I had to make up a story about Detective Kingsley harassing me. I filed those charges and that restraining order, just like he asked me to, and the next thing I knew, Donny was sprung from prison.”
“Did the Commissioner tell you what it was all about?”
She shook her head. “I never spoke with Commissioner Necker himself. Everything was arranged through Donny’s lawyer, who swore us to secrecy.”
“And a lousy lawyer he was.”
“Mom forbade me to get a decent one, so this one was all we had,” Veronica explained. “I’m pretty sure he was working for the Commissioner all along. They just needed someone to agree to do the dirty on Kingsley.”
“Will you retract your statement?”
“I will,” she said.
“Why the restraining order against Donny?” she asked.
She rolled her eyes. “That was Mother’s idea. She’d seen how easy it was to get one against Kingsley, so she told me to get one against Donny. She’d never liked him.”
“That woman hates me,” grunted Rubb, waggling his beard indignantly.
“What’s not to like?” asked Odelia. “Having a drug dealer for a son-in-law is probably every mother’s dream.”
“She’s right, you know,” said Veronica. “You have to stop with that drug business, babe. It’s going to get you killed one of these days.”
“Not to mention a bunch of other people,” said Odelia, shaking her head.
“I know,” he grumbled. “But it’s easy money. And everybody loves my product. You wouldn’t believe how popular I am amongst the celebrity set.”
“Did you move out here to be closer to Veronica?” asked Odelia.
“Yes, I did,” he said, pulling her close and planting a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I already had a few high-profile customers back in New York, so it wasn’t hard to make the move, as a lot of them had a weekend place out here. And when Veronica introduced me to her dad, I knew I had a winner.”
“I only did that to make sure Dad had the best quality drugs,” said Veronica with a shrug. “If he was going to take that stuff anyway, he might as well buy from Donny.” She tapped his nose. “But now you’re through.”
“If you say so,” he grumbled.
“Yes, I do. If Mother is ever going to accept you, you need to go legit.”
“You’re going to introduce me to your mom again?”
“I am. And this time she’s going to accept you. Just you wait and see.”
Rubb didn’t look too happy about that prospect, but Odelia had the impression that Veronica was the type of woman who liked to get her way, and she was pretty sure she was going to see this through. She didn’t like her cavalier attitude toward drugs, but at least she’d come clean about Chase.
“So we have a deal?” she asked. “You’re retracting your statement about Chase Kingsley?”
“Yes,” said Veronica. “And you promise never to publish those pictures?”
“Deal,” said Odelia, and they shook hands on it. In one fell swoop she’d rid Hampton Cove of a drug dealer, and Chase Kingsley of his pesky accuser. She’d also lost a perfectly good suspect in Johnny’s murder, but that couldn’t be helped. She believed Veronica. She hadn’t killed her father. So who had?
Chapter 25
After she’d dropped the couple off at Veronica’s place, Odelia drove to her uncle’s house to give Chase the good news. When she arrived, she found the back door open, as usual. Alec didn’t believe in locking his door, figuring nobody would be so stupid to break into the house of the chief of police.
She walked through the kitchen, which was squeaky clean. Her uncle never cooked, and neither did Chase, apparently. All she found were two cups in the sink and half a pot of cold coffee in the coffeemaker.
She went upstairs to look for Chase, taking the stairs two at a time.
“Chase? Are you up there?”
“Over here,” he bellowed, and she found him in the guest bedroom, his suitcase open on the bed, while he was seated next to it, staring at a picture frame of an older man in police uniform. He looked like Chase, but older.
“Your dad?” she guessed.
He looked up. “Yeah, this was taken when he got a commendation.” He dumped the picture frame on top of his luggage.
“I’ve got some great news for you,” she said, grabbing a chair.
“Oh? What’s that?”
She quickly told him the story of what had transpired just now, and his eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch.
“So Veronica George finally decided to come clean, huh? Well done.”
“I just thought you’d like to know she’s going to retract her statement, so you should be good to stay on here in Hampton Cove. I’m sure my uncle will take you back in a heartbeat.”
“Too late,” he said, surprising her.
“Too late? What do you mean? This is your chance, Chase.”
He gave her a weary look. “My reputation is shot to hell, Odelia. Even if Veronica retracts her statement, those rumors will never go away. Not until the whole story comes out, and even then they’ll persist. It’s like with those apologies the tabloids publish in small print on the bottom of page fifty after they’ve destroyed your reputation on the front page just days before.”
“This won’t be buried on page fifty, Chase. I’ll get you the front page.”
He shook his head. “Muds sticks, Odelia. No matter what you write.”
“Not when I reveal the truth and do the whole story, like you said.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “What are you going to write?”
“I’ll print the retraction on the front page. Clear your name entirely.”
“Like I said, mud sticks. I can’t be a cop in this town, not with half the population believing I’m dirty. I’ll never have the authority I need again.”
“But—”
He held up his hand to silence her. “Look, I appreciate what you’ve done for me, I really do, but my mind is made up. This part of my life is over.”
She stared at him, defeated. “What are you going to do?”
“A buddy of mine set up his own business in Cleveland. Private security. He’s always asked me to join him so I finally told him I would. It’s not as much fun as being a cop, but it’s a paycheck.”
She stared at the picture frame of Chase’s dad. “Is that what your dad would have wanted? You running away like this?”
For a moment, the fire returned to his eyes. “I’m not running away. I just know when it’s time to call it quits. And right now it’s time to move on.”
She remembered something Brutus said. “Wasn’t being a cop your dream?”
He stared at her. “Yes, it was. My dad was a cop, so naturally I thought being a cop was the greatest thing ever. And it was. It still is.”
She realized she didn’t know Chase all that well. In the short time he’d been here, he’d made quite an impression on her, but he’d never discussed his personal life.
“Your dad… is he retired now?”
“Retired to that big old retirement home in the sky,” said Chase.