“Yes, something like that,” she told him. “Apparently, Bella became paranoid by my talking to Jasmine and any type of rippling effect that might expose her. Then there was also her determination to make the Braison Family wrongfully culpable for past and present sins in the poisonings. She hoped to use my death to set up Kenneth Braison—short of tattooing his initials on my arm—by planting evidence at his house and making sure it was found. All to protect her family’s good name. Though just how good it is, is questionable.”
“Yeah, quite.” Campbell rolled his eyes. “And what would Barrientos get for his trouble?”
“Control of the Braison Family and all that comes with being the cult’s leader,” Stefanie told him.
“I thought as much, when trying to piece it all together.” Campbell ran hand across his jawline. “But they failed to achieve their goals, with both now in custody and facing years behind bars.”
“Good.” Stefanie adjusted herself in the bed and looked up at him, while thinking about them and their own future prospects. “So, when will I be released?”
“As far as I’m aware, the process is already in the works for you to be discharged,” Campbell answered equably. He sat on the side of the bed, and held one of her hands affectionately. “But before they let you out of here, there’s something I’ve been dying to say to you…”
“Oh?” She met his gaze, interest piqued. “What might that be?”
“Just that I’ve fallen in love with you, Stefanie Nguyen,” he expressed soulfully.
Stefanie beamed. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, definitely so.” He kissed her hand. “When I feared that I might never have gotten the opportunity to say that—had Bella and Barrientos gotten their way—I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow myself to miss the chance again as soon as it presented itself to express my true feelings in living color. And any other way to say I love you, Stefanie.”
She blushed, squeezing his fingers. “Well, I’m in love with you, too, Campbell,” she cadenced.
He grinned crookedly. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Stefanie was filled with happiness. “I also feared that I might have lost that window to tell you how I felt,” she said tearfully “But now that the windowhas reopened, I won’t wait for it to nearly shut again before putting my heart on the line, forever and a day.” She drew a breath and fixed his eyes. “I do love you and always will—whatever our destiny is…”
Campbell’s face lit up with raw emotion. “In that case, we can’t go wrong, as I’m with you all the way!”
He leaned over and gave her a hard kiss on the mouth that Stefanie embraced for all the strength she could muster. In time, she hoped to be able to show him just how much she cared for him through long, tender kisses and otherwise. But for now, this was more than enough for her to hang onto and relish to her heart’s content, while knowing that Campbell felt the same way, through and through.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING,in Harriette’s Café, Campbell sat with Gloria at a table, going over the case and its unexpected twists and turns. He knew she had more than a passing interest, given her time with the department, dating back to the murder of Lynda Boxleitner. And how that managed to work its way to the present drug-related homicides.
While nibbling on a Danish pastry, Gloria batted her lashes and said, as if still trying to come to terms with it, “Bella Reston and Juan Barrientos…who would have thunk it?”
“True.” Campbell bit into a cinnamon roll, then took a sip of his coffee. “I guess power and privilege—not necessarily in that order—makes for strange bedfellows.”
“I suppose.” She tasted her green tea. “The important thing is that you figured out many of the sordid details and stopped them from adding another victim to the madness.”
“Yeah.” He took a breath. The thought that he hadcome so close to losing Stefanie made Campbell almost nauseous. Being deprived of expressing his love and receiving the same in return was almost too much to bear. But they had come out on the other end, stronger than ever. In spite of Bella’s and Barrientos’s efforts to the contrary. “Now we just need to put them away for good. Or at least for the better part of the life they have left.”
“That would be nice,” Gloria agreed before taking another bite of the Danish. “But you can be sure that Bella Reston—at least—will have the best lawyers that money can buy to try and worm her way out of this.”
“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 nevercome 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.
* * *
