Dead By Dawn (24 page)

A smile crossed Edmunds face. “That’s great news,” he said.

“We are not out of the woods yet. The detective is floating the idea that you were an accomplice,” Alberts said.

“No way,” Edmunds said.

The call that came from Jim Alberts wasn’t a complete surprise but it left Lindsay wondering what to do next. When she was investigating the trail of who Ellen Collins really was, she had stumbled over Gerry Michaels accidently. Now it seemed that Gerry Michaels wasn’t who he said he was. Even worse was the fact that his fingerprints were at the crime scene. She needed to know how they got there and how he had been identified as Tim Herron.

The decision to approach Ellen Collins again was the most likely solution. She decided that would be her plan of attack. She drove to Valencia and knocked on Ellen Collins door. No one answered. She walked to her Range Rover and sat for a while. Ten minutes later, Ellen Collins pulled into her driveway. Lindsay approached her near the garage.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Ellen said defensively.

“I’m not here about your brother.”

Ellen froze. “What are you here about?”

“Gerry Michaels,” Lindsay said flatly. “You knew him before Vegas didn’t you?”

Ellen said stared at Lindsay. Lindsay could see the fear in her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you do,” Lindsay said. “You can talk to me or I can go to the police.”

A woman walking her dog passed them on the sidewalk. “Good morning Ellen,” The woman said cheerfully.

Ellen plastered a smile on her face and waved. “Hi Megan. How are you?”

Ellen looked back at Lindsay. “Which is it going to be?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes, I knew Gerry before Las Vegas,” she said.

Ellen needed to find out how much this woman knew. “I am not explaining. Ask me a question and I will answer,” she said.

“Gerry Michaels was Tim Herron before you got to Las Vegas. Just like you were Ellen McCarthy before you got there,” Lindsay said.

“Was there a question in there?” Ellen asked smugly.

Lindsay was starting to get annoyed with her. If she had still been a detective, she would have hauled her uncooperative ass in. “Did you know him as Tim Herron?”

“Yes, I did,” Ellen said with a poker face.

“Did you know that his fingerprints were found at a thirty-yearold murder scene?” Lindsay asked.

The poker face cracked. It was just a little bit, but Lindsay could read it. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“You knew Tim back then, didn’t you?” Lindsay asked.

“I don’t know what to answer,” Ellen said.

“You knew him?” Lindsay asked again.

“Yes, I knew him,” Ellen shouted.

“You knew Bing Taylor?” Lindsay asked.

“Do I need a lawyer?” Ellen asked.

“Why would you need a lawyer?” Lindsay asked surprised that Ellen would go there.

Ellen started to cry. “You can’t do this to me.”

“Can’t do what Ellen?” Lindsay asked.

“I spent my whole life trying to be a good person. I changed. I cleaned up my act,” she sobbed.

“Can’t do what Ellen?” Lindsay repeated forcefully.

“You can’t take my kids and my life. I knew Tim a long time ago. I was young and stupid,” she said.

Suddenly it hit Lindsay. “Were you there?”

“Yes, I was there,” Ellen said. She dropped down to her knees and sobbed, “Yes, I was there.”

“You killed those people?” Lindsay asked.

“I didn’t. Tim and Bing did.”

“What happened to Bing?” Lindsay asked.

“Tim killed Bing. He was going to kill the last little girl,” Ellen said. “He had to kill him.”

Lindsay was stunned by the revelation. “Tracy is Kelly?” her voice trailed off.

Ellen looked up at her. Tears were mixed with the black mascara running down her face. “I didn’t know what else to do. We were told not to hurt the kids. Bing was going to kill her,” she wailed.

Lindsay lifted Ellen up from her knees and looked her in the eyes. “This is important Ellen,” she said firmly. “Was Barton Edmunds involved?”

Ellen wiped her eyes and nose with the sleeve from her blouse. “I don’t know who that is,” she said.

“He didn’t go to Shandon with you?” she asked.

“No, it was me, Bing, and Tim,” she said.

Ellen called her husband at work and told him that she was in trouble. He came home to find Lindsay and Ellen sitting in the kitchen. Ellen had been crying. She sat at the granite island on a dark wood barstool. He hugged his wife and asked her what was wrong. It was then that he noticed that he knew the woman sitting with her.

“I met you at the volleyball tournament, right?”

“Yes, I was there as a private investigator for Dan McCarthy.”

“Investigating what?” he asked defensively.

“I think your wife needs to explain that,” she said and looked at Ellen.

Gabe looked at her, waiting for an explanation. “You need to sit down,” she said.

Gabe sat at the bar stool next to her. She took his hands in hers. “What I am going to tell you happened before I met you,” she said.

Ellen continued, “Just remember that I love you and the kids.” She started to cry again.

Gabe tried to soothe her. “It’s okay. Just tell me.”

“I’m going to need a lawyer,” she sobbed.

“If that’s what you need, we’ll get you one,” he said calmly.

“I helped kill some people,” she blurted out. “I’m going to jail.”

Gabe was startled. “Just tell me what happened,” he said firmly.

“I was dating this guy. He had an opportunity to make some money,” she said.

Gabe stopped her and looked at Lindsay. “Should you be here?” he asked. 215

“I already know everything,” she said.

“Tim was hanging around with Bing Taylor and he approached us about killing this guy and his wife,” Ellen said.

“Why would you kill someone?” Gabe asked astonished.

“The deal was that I would drive. They would kill the guy and his wife. The kids weren’t supposed to get hurt,” she said. “We got a hundred grand to do it. Bing got fifty up front and we were supposed to get the rest when the job was done.”

Gabe sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. “We need a good lawyer,” he said. “What are we going to tell the kids?”

“I don’t know. Let’s see how bad it is before we tell them anything,” she said.

Lindsay commented, “There is more to the story. Get an attorney and have her turn herself in.”

Gabe said, “Can you get her a deal if she tells you who paid them?”

“She is going to tell who paid them but, between being an accomplice in a murder-for-hire and kidnapping, there’s not much chance she is going to get much of a deal.” Lindsay said frankly.

“Kidnapping?” Gabe said confused.

“There’s more,” Ellen said. “Tim and I kidnapped one of the children so Bing wouldn’t kill her,” she said.

Gabe looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. “What did you do with her?” he asked.

“We dropped her off with my parents and told them she was mine,” she said.

“Your parents are dead,” he said. His head was reeling with the confusion from the story.

“No, my parents were alive when we met. You’ve already met my brother,” she said.

“I know your brother,” he said in disbelief.

“Dan McCarthy,” she said.

Lindsay remarked, “Go in and start calling attorneys. I am going to call detective Magon and explain everything to him.”

Magon called the newly elected District Attorney, Penny Royce.

“And my predecessor decided that you needed new evidence,” she said. “So now you have new evidence and this mess is mine.”

“Ellen Collins and her attorney will be here in a half hour and I think you need to hear what they have to say.” Magon said. “There is an innocent man in prison.”

Penny Royce rose from her desk and poured them a cup of coffee. “My career is going to be over before it started. A jury convicted this man.”

“None of the evidence was processed. The detective lied to the parole board. Now we have a witness who not only claims to be involved but, has no idea who this man in prison is,” Magon said.

Avery Walters, Ellen’s attorney arrived with Ellen a few minutes later. They all sat down. Ellen started at the beginning. “Bing and Tim were drinking buddies. One night Bing came to us and asked if we wanted to make some big money. We said yes.”

Avery interrupted Ellen. “How long was this before the murders?”

“About two weeks,” she answered.

“What was the job?” Avery asked, trying to keep her focused.

“We were supposed to kill David Davenport and his wife Shelly. There were papers that we were supposed to find,” she answered.

Magon said to Avery, “Do you mind if I ask questions?”

“I’ll let you know after I hear them,” Avery said.

Magon asked Ellen, “Do you know what was in the papers?”

“There was a letter that accused Martin Van Buren of killing two people,” she said. “He was a judge.”

“You weren’t there to rob them?” Magon asked.

“No, we were supposed to kill them, leave the bag of pot, and find the letter.”

“Go on,” Avery said.

“I was in the car up the road and Bing and Tim went up to the house. I heard shots and drove up to the house,” she said.

“Did you go in the house?” Avery asked.

“I wasn’t supposed to but I did.”

“What happened?” Avery prodded.

“The older girl got loose from Bing and he chased her around the house. Tim was looking for the papers and couldn’t find them,” she said. “Bing told me to get back in the car and he gave Kelly to me.”

“Where were you supposed to take the kids?” Avery asked.

“We weren’t supposed to take them at all. We were supposed to leave them tied up,” she said.

“What happened next?” Avery said.

“Bing found the older girl and she pulled his mask off. She knew who he was. We all got in the car and Bing said we were going to have to kill the girls,” she said.

“Did you find the letters?” Magon asked.

“No, everything went wrong quickly,” she said. “We took the girls and we were supposed to be headed to San Francisco.”

“How did Dayna end up dead?” Magon asked.

“Bing told us that we were going to have to kill the girls because Dayna saw Bing’s face. He wanted to kill them in Kettleman City, so we drove there,” she said. “Tim and I stopped on the way to go bathroom. We made up a plan. But when we got back to the car, Bing had already killed Dayna.”

Ellen started to sob again. “The kids were not supposed to get hurt. I would never have agreed to kill a child.”

Avery handed her a box of Kleenex. She took one and wiped the tears from her face. “What happened after that?”

“We got to the Aqueduct in Kettleman City and Bing took Dayna out of the car. Tim shot and killed him,” she said. “We left Dayna there and put Bing in the trunk of the car.”

“Did Kelly see all of this?” Magon asked aghast.

“It was dark. I don’t think Kelly saw it,” she answered. “We went out to the boonies and dumped Bing. We thought the coyotes would probably get him.”

Avery said, “And then you drove to L.A. and left Kelly with your parents.”

“Yes, Tim and I stayed for a few days. I told my mom that I couldn’t handle the responsibility of being a mother and asked her and my dad to take her,” she said.

“What about a birth certificate?” Magon asked.

“We got one in downtown L.A. for a couple of bucks,” she said.

“Then you took off for Vegas?” Avery asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you get paid for the rest of the job?” he asked.

“No, we tried to contact the person who hired us, but we never heard back,” she said.

“Who hired you?”

“Elizabeth Davenport.”

Penny Royce and Steve Magon let out a gasp at the same time. “I thought that Marty Van Buren paid you,” Magon said.

“No, we met with her. She was adamant that we not hurt her grandchildren,” she said.