The Happiest Day by Sandy Huth

but said that he wanted compensation.”
    “Money?”
    “I assumed so.  I
told him that we couldn’t talk there and asked him to follow me out to the
house after the reception was over.”
    “Oh, Norris…”
    “It was the only
way.  I saw Bert and Maryanne to their room at the Sinton for the night then
told the boys that they were going to stay at Bert’s house.  They asked why and
I told them that I was going to spend the night at the club and was too tired
to drive all the way back to the estate.  I dropped them at Bert’s house.  I
had already given the entire staff the night off, so I knew the house would be
empty except for you.”
    Rachel felt a
blush working its way up her neck but didn’t say anything.  She would be
mortified for Norris to know what had transpired between her and Peter. 
Obviously, Norris didn’t know that she hadn’t been in her room until five in
the morning. 
    “It was going on
two o’clock when we arrived here.  Helen got out of Stern’s car and that’s when
I knew that she was involved in this blackmail.  I invited them into my study
and gave them a drink.  Stern started telling me that in order to keep quiet,
he wanted a stake in the newspaper.  If he had just asked for money, I probably
would have given it to him.  But the newspaper?  That’s mine.  I’ll never give
up what I’ve worked so hard for.  Helen sat there so smug, so knowing, I knew
she had a hand in planning this.  We argued back and forth and then…then they
fell asleep.
    Rachel shook her
head.  “They…fell asleep?  I don’t understand.”
    “I had drugged
their drinks.”  He looked up from his cup to gauge her reaction.  “I put
crushed sleeping pills in their drinks.”
    Rachel felt as if
she was in a dream and nothing was real any longer.  “Norris, what happened
then?”
    “It took a long
time but I dragged them upstairs and got them into my bed.  I unclothed them
and put them in each other’s arms.  Then I just sat there and stared.  I don’t
even know how long I sat there.  All I could think of was how they were going
to ruin everything, take away everything I had worked for…I couldn’t let it
happen.
    Rachel’s hands
were now cold and shaking.  “Did you kill them, Norris?”
    He looked up at
her.   “I put my hands over Stern’s and held them to Helen’s neck and squeezed
and squeezed until she stopped breathing.”
    Rachel covered her
mouth in horror.  Norris was relaying the story so calmly, that she felt goose
bumps break out over her skin.  “And what did you do to Frederick?
    “I took a letter
opener and slit his wrists.  I left it in his hand.  It will look like a murder-suicide,
Rachel.  A lover’s quarrel gone wrong. “  He squeezed her hands.  “It’s all
over.  They’re gone and the secret goes with them.  No one can hurt us ever
again.”  He looked deeply into her eyes.  “I did it for you, too, my dear.  I
couldn’t let you marry that man and I didn’t know how else to stop him.”
    Her mouth worked
convulsively, no sound coming out at first.  “Wh-What will you tell the
police?”
    “That I fell
asleep at the club in the men’s lounge and just got home an hour ago to find
the scene.  I checked on you…you left the reception early because of a headache. 
You took a sleeping pill when you came home and never heard a thing all night. 
After I checked on you, I went to my bedroom to change and that’s when I found
Stern and Helen.  I woke you up and we called the police.”
    She had a
terrifying thought.  “What if the police think I have something to do with it?”
    “There’s no reason
to.  You and Stern were to be married.  You had no idea that they were having
an illicit affair.  Only you and I know the truth.”
    “I’ll have to lie
to the police.”
    “Rachel, we’re in
this together,” he said intensely.  “I did this to protect you, to save you
from that man.  He was an evil man.  The things he