was right.”
“We know about Charley.”
Susan Burke opened the front door of her home to find Joshua Thornton leaning in the doorway. Wearing her badge and gun, Cameron was directly behind him.
“We have Ralph Ellicott sitting in a jail cell in Hancock County, West Virginia, after breaking into my home,” Joshua said. “He had a throw away gun on him. I’m thinking someone sent him to shut me and my wife up. Plus, Charley Halston’s body was found in the Allegheny Mountains, not far from where you and your sister and Linda Pryor had driven through on your way home from Syracuse.”
“We also have a recording where Rachel as much as threatened to tell the truth about Charley,” Cameron added. “Everything is on its way to coming out.”
“If you don’t want to be taken away from your son and sent to jail for being an accessory,” Joshua said, “now is the time to start talking.”
Susan regarded them both. “You say you have a recording where Rachel was wanting to tell the truth?”
Cameron nodded her head. “A journalist had accidentally recorded the fight you and Rachel and Linda had at Rachel’s Labor Day party.”
“Where Linda confronted Rachel about her affair with her husband,” Joshua clarified.
“Oh,” Susan said. “I guess it is time for the truth to come out.” She stepped back to invite them inside. “Please sit down.”
Joshua and Cameron sat on the sofa across from her.
While they waited in silence, Susan brought her hands up to her face. Tears came to her eyes. Finally, she spoke, “Charley was my best friend. She was wacky. Fun, and different from everyone else. She also believed everyone was like her. Since she would never lie, then she didn’t think other people would either. Ronald Pryor had seduced her into an affair, when he had no intention of leaving Linda. But he told her he loved her and she believed him, even when everyone told her what a fool she was. We all went up to Syracuse, New York, for a big football game, and Charley confronted Ronald in a club to tell Linda that he loved her. Linda attacked her. A fight broke out and we all got tossed out of the club. We were in the car trying to get back to the hotel and Rachel was trying to drive, when Charley went nuts because Linda was tearing her hair out in the back seat of the car. Rachel pulled over because she was going to wreck. The fight spilled out into the street, and—It was over.” She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Linda bashed in Charley’s skull with a brick she found on the side of the road.”
They were lost in their thoughts watching her.
“Everything after that was like in a fog,” she said in a soft voice. “We were just standing over Charley looking at her lying with her head in a pool of blood on the sidewalk while Linda was snapping orders at us to wrap up her body—fast—put her in the trunk of the car and for us to get out of there. The next morning, Linda called the police to say that our friend was missing. They never even offered to look in the trunk of our car. The next day, on the way home, we went to the Allegheny Forest to dump her body on the way home.”
She stopped talking to suck in a deep breath. Her eyes were glazing over.
“When I found Rachel’s body, I knew. I just knew it was Linda,” Susan said. “When she wants something ...”
“My client wants it on record that she is here voluntarily,” her lawyer tapped his finger on the table top in front of Cameron as she stepped inside.
“We are as anxious to get this misunderstanding cleared up as the media,” Senator Linda Pryor smoothed the front of her red suit and peered at her reflection in the two-way mirror. The years had not been kind to her. Her firm serious expression had frozen to give her a gaunt, unpleasant appearance.
“Ralph Ellicott is telling us that your client gave him orders to kill my husband and me for asking too many questions about Rachel Burke’s murder,” Cameron
“We know about Charley.”
Susan Burke opened the front door of her home to find Joshua Thornton leaning in the doorway. Wearing her badge and gun, Cameron was directly behind him.
“We have Ralph Ellicott sitting in a jail cell in Hancock County, West Virginia, after breaking into my home,” Joshua said. “He had a throw away gun on him. I’m thinking someone sent him to shut me and my wife up. Plus, Charley Halston’s body was found in the Allegheny Mountains, not far from where you and your sister and Linda Pryor had driven through on your way home from Syracuse.”
“We also have a recording where Rachel as much as threatened to tell the truth about Charley,” Cameron added. “Everything is on its way to coming out.”
“If you don’t want to be taken away from your son and sent to jail for being an accessory,” Joshua said, “now is the time to start talking.”
Susan regarded them both. “You say you have a recording where Rachel was wanting to tell the truth?”
Cameron nodded her head. “A journalist had accidentally recorded the fight you and Rachel and Linda had at Rachel’s Labor Day party.”
“Where Linda confronted Rachel about her affair with her husband,” Joshua clarified.
“Oh,” Susan said. “I guess it is time for the truth to come out.” She stepped back to invite them inside. “Please sit down.”
Joshua and Cameron sat on the sofa across from her.
While they waited in silence, Susan brought her hands up to her face. Tears came to her eyes. Finally, she spoke, “Charley was my best friend. She was wacky. Fun, and different from everyone else. She also believed everyone was like her. Since she would never lie, then she didn’t think other people would either. Ronald Pryor had seduced her into an affair, when he had no intention of leaving Linda. But he told her he loved her and she believed him, even when everyone told her what a fool she was. We all went up to Syracuse, New York, for a big football game, and Charley confronted Ronald in a club to tell Linda that he loved her. Linda attacked her. A fight broke out and we all got tossed out of the club. We were in the car trying to get back to the hotel and Rachel was trying to drive, when Charley went nuts because Linda was tearing her hair out in the back seat of the car. Rachel pulled over because she was going to wreck. The fight spilled out into the street, and—It was over.” She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Linda bashed in Charley’s skull with a brick she found on the side of the road.”
They were lost in their thoughts watching her.
“Everything after that was like in a fog,” she said in a soft voice. “We were just standing over Charley looking at her lying with her head in a pool of blood on the sidewalk while Linda was snapping orders at us to wrap up her body—fast—put her in the trunk of the car and for us to get out of there. The next morning, Linda called the police to say that our friend was missing. They never even offered to look in the trunk of our car. The next day, on the way home, we went to the Allegheny Forest to dump her body on the way home.”
She stopped talking to suck in a deep breath. Her eyes were glazing over.
“When I found Rachel’s body, I knew. I just knew it was Linda,” Susan said. “When she wants something ...”
“My client wants it on record that she is here voluntarily,” her lawyer tapped his finger on the table top in front of Cameron as she stepped inside.
“We are as anxious to get this misunderstanding cleared up as the media,” Senator Linda Pryor smoothed the front of her red suit and peered at her reflection in the two-way mirror. The years had not been kind to her. Her firm serious expression had frozen to give her a gaunt, unpleasant appearance.
“Ralph Ellicott is telling us that your client gave him orders to kill my husband and me for asking too many questions about Rachel Burke’s murder,” Cameron
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