Cloaked in Blood by LS Sygnet Page B

condemn him?  Masconi was a bad guy.  Not a murderer, but he was a
predator.  He’d simply managed to weasel out of his rape
charge.
    “Helen, Rick was a bad man too,” she
said.  “Just like Sal Masconi.  Danny was conflicted
because he didn’t trust Rick anymore either.  But it bothered
him, stirred up a lot of painful memories about what happened to
his father.”
    She understood. 
    I shivered again.  Danny was right
about her.  Celeste Datello was a wise woman, certainly not
the naïve girl I’d initially assumed. 
    “Was your husband blackmailing the chief of
police and police commissioner?”
    Celeste was taken aback.  “Did they
claim that he was?”
    “The problem was that neither of them knew
who was blackmailing them.  I suspected Jerry Lowe, but we
never found anything that proved it,” I said.  “So again, we
made another assumption, and for that I am sorry, Celeste. 
I’m sorry for everything.”
    “The day that Danny died… did you try to
save his life?”
    I nodded.  The blood again, strands of
it slipping down the drain in that sink… it haunted me.
    “Helen?”
    “I heard the gunshot.  I should’ve
never agreed to let Preston talk to Danny without me there. 
If only I’d insisted, he’d still be alive.”
    “What really happened in that room?”
    “Saul Becker – he was one of the officers at
the jail – he was with Preston when he talked to Danny.  He
basically threatened him so subtly that Saul didn’t realize what
was happening, and coerced Danny into admitting that he voluntarily
gave Sofia to Melissa Sherman for a legal adoption.  Preston
sent Saul out to get me because Danny said he wouldn’t say another
word unless I was there.”
    She gasped softly.  “He knew.  He
knew that man was going to kill him.  Danny wanted you to stop
him.”
    “Yes,” I said slowly.  “Only Saul
didn’t get to me in time.  I heard the shot, grabbed Saul’s
gun and ran.  When I got into the room, Preston turned the gun
on me, refused to drop his weapon and claimed that Danny tried to
kill him – a man shackled at the wrists and ankles.  I gave
him a warning to drop the weapon.  He took aim.  I shot
him in the leg.  He shot at me.  I shot him in the
shoulder and went to render assistance to Danny, but it was too
late.  You know the rest, that they tried to save him at the
hospital.”
    “You said you killed Preston.”
    “I didn’t mean to kill him. 
When I shot him in the leg, apparently he had a blood clot, and it
went into his lung.  That’s what killed him.”
    Celeste reached for my hand.  “He
would’ve approved of a righteous kill, Helen.  You saved our
daughter.  If they hadn’t murdered Danny, he’d have told you
all of this himself.”
    I nodded again.  Yes, I believed
her.  Every word.  “How did he tell you all of this?”
    “How?”
    “Yes.  How do you start a conversation
like that?  Wasn’t he worried that you’d run screaming for the
nearest police department?”
    Celeste smiled.  “I suppose he was
terrified, but that’s the thing about trust, Helen.  When
you’re with someone that you know would do anything to protect you,
would love you no matter how bad the worst really was, you just…
feel it in your heart.  Danny knew that I loved him.  He
knew I meant what I said when we made our vows.  When I told
him I loved him, he believed it.  It wasn’t like we sat down
and had this long conversation like you and I are doing right
now.  But gradually, before he even proposed to me, he told me
enough that I understood how alone he’d been his whole life. 
So even if it was only for a little while, I had the privilege of
making him understand that it wasn’t him against the whole
world.”
    Tears sprang to my eyes.  “You were
right, Celeste.”
    “About what?”
    “Danny and me.  We were more alike than
you could possibly imagine.”
    “No, more than you could possibly
imagine, Helen.  I’ve known for a very