Under the Moon's Shadow (39 page)

“We have a couple of problems here. If we press on and there isn’t a mistrial declared, there’s an excellent chance of appeal. That would mean a retrial or, even though it is highly unlikely given the severity of her crimes, possibly even an overturned conviction. It’s happened before, and since we’re pushing for the death penalty, it actually makes the probability a little higher than usual.”

Dismayed, Beth just stared at her. “Okay, so what then?”

“If that were to happen, she’d have to be retried. As long as I’m in the prosecutor’s office, I guarantee she would be, but I can’t promise you I’ll still be here. You never know how the political winds are going to shift.”

As unsettling as the thought was, Beth knew Rhonda’s statement was true. “I’m guessing that you have a proposition for us.”

“I do. I’m going to talk to the other victims’ families as well, but since you’re the only survivor, I wanted to talk to you first. I feel that you should have the strongest say-so here.” She spoke bluntly. “We would like to offer Ms. Sloane a plea deal. We’ll drop the death penalty and ask for a seventy-five year sentence, no possibility of parole. The defense is going to counter, probably asking for twenty to thirty years, and we’ll settle for forty five.” She sat back and waited as Beth considered the options.

An angry flush spread across Beth’s cheeks. “I’m going to speak just as bluntly as you have. You’re a ball-breaker when it comes to criminals. You don’t back down from a challenge. I know we haven’t always seen things the same way, but I trust your judgment. What do you think is the best option?”

Rhonda didn’t disagree with Beth’s assessment. “Honestly? I’d love to see her fry. I
am
a ball-breaker, and if she hadn’t had her little outburst today, she’d be on death row in a few weeks.” She leaned forward. “Having said that, I think we’d better play it safe and make this offer. The last thing we want to do is to put ourselves in a situation where we could have had this woman locked away for what essentially is the rest of her life, and we threw it away because of some ball-busting prosecutor’s ego.” Rhonda stood, pushing her chair back. “I’ll give you a few minutes to think about what I’ve said.”

Beth stopped her with an upraised hand. “There’s no need. It’s a no-brainer, really. You don’t have a choice. Offer her the plea.”

Rhonda saw the resolution in her eyes. She nodded once. “Then that’s what I’ll do.” She shook Beth’s hand before she went to the door and opened it. “I’m glad we agree on this.” With a nod to Jackie and Richard, she headed out the door at a brisk walk.

As the tapping of her heels echoed down the hall, Jason poked his head into the room, concern written all over his face. “What the hell’s going on? Are you guys okay?”

Beth waved him out of the doorway. “They’re offering her a plea deal,” she said as she pushed past her brother. As she looked around the nearly empty hall, she frowned. “Where’s Ethan?”

“He left. Said he would see you later?”

She nodded. As their parents came out of the conference room, she spoke. “If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d really like to go home now.”

“Of course it isn’t too much trouble,” Jackie assured her. “Let’s get you home.”

Chapter Fifty Six

The bailiffs had taken Ruby to the jail’s infirmary after her outburst, where the nurse had checked her over to make sure she wasn’t injured. Her attorney came bustling in after she’d been examined, his face mottled with an angry flush.

“What the hell were you thinking in there? You can’t pull a stupid stunt like that. The judge has called a halt to the trial and wants you examined by another shrink. Do you have any idea what you did today?”

Ruby held her chin up and smirked. “I have every idea of what I accomplished today, but you don’t. I got exactly what I wanted all along. Did you see the look on the bitch’s face when I went toward her?”

She cackled, and her maniacal amusement left the public defender cold. He shook his head slowly as he took a step back away from her, stunned.

“You really are sick. My God, all this time I thought you were just playing the insanity card as a defense.” He turned on his heel and hurried out of the room, her laughter following him as he went.

As the female deputy came in to take her back to her cell, the laughter died. She went along complacently, her anger spent. As she had told her attorney, she had accomplished her goal, and now all she had to do was wait. Her plan was falling into place just as she had laid it out, and with a little more patience, her long-sought revenge on the Hudson family would be complete.

Chapter Fifty Seven

Ethan was so nervous that evening as he waited for Beth to show up, he thought he was going to be sick. He had gone down to the sheriff’s department after the debacle outside the courtroom, thinking to catch up on paperwork. It was busy work that kept his mind off the goings-on upstairs.

It didn’t take long for word to filter downstairs that the prosecution was going to offer Ruby a plea deal, and once it had, Ethan found himself on the receiving end of more than a few speculative glances. When Jason had come in a short time later and sat down in the guest chair at Ethan’s desk, the looks subsided. Jason hadn’t had much to say, but the fact that he had made the effort to show their co-workers a peaceful, united front had meant a lot to Ethan.

He had called it a day around five o’clock. Once home, he’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, and as he paced back and forth in his living room, the craving for a drink was nearly as bad as his anxiety. When he went to his grandparents’ house in Texas right after the shooting, he’d started attending AA meetings, something he had continued once he returned to Leroy. He hadn’t been to a meeting in a couple of weeks, and he could feel his control slipping.

Swallowing his pride, he picked up his cell phone and dialed his sponsor’s number. “It’s me. Do you have a few minutes? I’m struggling.”

~ * * * ~

When Beth arrived home after leaving the courthouse, she had excused herself and gone straight to the shower. Running the water as hot as she could stand it, she stayed in until the spray ran cold. She had then stumbled out, barely managing to dry off and set the alarm clock before falling into bed and asleep. The morning had absolutely wiped her out, leaving her more tired than she had been in months.

When the alarm went off hours later, she rolled over and slapped at the snooze button, groaning. Pushing her hair back off her face, she turned the alarm off and headed to the bathroom. She considered putting on makeup, but thinking about her tears this morning, decided to forego it. Dressed in jeans and a light sweater, she locked the door behind her. As she left the guest house, she saw her mother puttering around in the flowerbeds along the back of the main house and walked in that direction.

“Hey, honey. Headed out?”

“Yes. I’m going to meet Ethan at his house and talk.” She waited to see how her mother would take the news.

Jackie stood up slowly and pulled her gloves off, looking at Beth for a long moment without speaking. She tilted her head toward the house.

“Come inside with me.”

Beth followed her into the mudroom, glancing surreptitiously at her watch.

Jackie washed up, then dried her hands and carefully folded the hand towel and laid it on the counter. She turned to Beth. “You’re old enough to know your own mind, so I won’t bother with some ridiculous lecture about taking the time to think things through. You’ve had months to do nothing but think. I’ll say this, instead. Make a decision you can both live with, and accept the consequences of that decision, whether they’re good or bad.

“I also want you to know that whatever you decide, your father and I will support you. I’m relieved you’re trying to settle this thing with Ethan, whatever the outcome.”

Beth felt tears spring into her eyes, and she threw her arms around her mother. “Thank you so much. I love you, Mom.”

Jackie smiled. “I love you, too, honey.” She held Beth for a long moment and gave her an extra squeeze before letting go. “Not everyone is ready to forgive Ethan for hurting you.”

“You mean Chase. I know. I need to talk to him, and I will.” She glanced at her watch again and winced. “I have to go, I’m sorry.”

“Of course. Be careful, honey. I’m here if you need me.” Smiling her thanks, Beth headed out the door.

Chapter Fifty Eight

Beth pulled into Ethan’s driveway at six o’clock on the dot. She forced herself to not think too much as she headed up the front steps. Ethan was waiting for her at the front door and held the screen door open.

“Thanks for coming.”

She just smiled, trying to appear calm and not let on how nervous she actually was. As she walked into the living room, she looked around with surprise. Ethan had done quite a bit of remodeling work since she had been there last - painting, trim work, refinishing the hardwood floors - and the house looked very different.

“You’ve been busy,” she commented. Ethan just stared at her without speaking. “The remodeling?”

“Oh, that.” A slight flush spread across his cheeks. “Yeah, it’s been therapeutic. Come in, have a seat.”

She took a step toward the couch, but stopped. With a slight hesitation, she turned to face him, her eyes not meeting his. “This may sound strange, and please feel free to tell me no, but would it be okay if I went upstairs?” She felt Ethan’s shock, but after a second he stepped back, moving out from between her and the stairs.

“Whatever you’d like.”

Still avoiding his gaze, she walked past him and put her hand on the newel post at the bottom of the stairs. She started climbing, steady and determined, with Ethan following behind her much as he had that fateful day back in the fall. When she reached the landing at the top, she paused before she walked into his bedroom. She expelled a long breath to try and calm her nerves.

Moving to stand beside the bed, she looked around the large room. The bed itself was neatly made, covered in a faded quilt, and aside from a pile of folded laundry in a basket, the room was in order.

Ethan stopped in the door and leaned against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest, an inscrutable look on his face.

She turned to him. “You probably think I’m the rudest person to walk the face of the earth, but I needed to come up here. I needed to see this room again, face this demon.” She turned to face the bed again and touched its surface lightly, running her fingers over a seam in the old quilt. “Sometimes in our minds, we make things out to be bigger or scarier than they really are, and I’ve found that the best way to deal with that is to just confront whatever it is that’s causing the problem.”

He moved to stand beside her, not touching, but close enough that she could feel the heat coming off his body. “I understand. You don’t owe me any explanations, Beth.”

“Oh, but I do,” she disagreed. “I think Jason was right when he said you were hurt almost as badly as I was.” She fell silent for a few seconds before she continued in a voice so quiet Ethan had to strain to hear her. “Do you think about that night?”

“You mean the night we were together? Yes, I do. Every time I come to bed, I think about it. It’s a blessing and a curse. Do you think about it?”

“Yes. Like you said, it’s a blessing and a curse. After everything happened between us last fall, I really blamed you for most of what I went through.” She turned and sat down on the bed. When she saw the devastated look on his face, she hurried on. “Not the kidnapping, Ethan. I know you didn’t have anything to do with that, not in any way that mattered. But everything else? For that, I was only too happy place the blame on your shoulders.”

Ethan sat beside her, bracing his arms on his knees. He was shaking his head adamantly. “A lot of what happened was my fault. You know that as well as I do. Don’t try to absolve me of all guilt, because that’s just not how it was.”

“I’m not. You still have plenty to be held accountable for. I suppose what I’m trying to say, and not doing a very good job of,” she said as she leaned her shoulder into his for a moment, “is that I owe you an apology. I assumed things I had no business assuming, and we both paid the price for my arrogance.”

He was staring at her with a hard frown on his face. “Why the hell would you think you owe me an apology? After the way I treated you, it’s nothing short of a miracle that you’re even willing to sit here talking to me. If your brothers had decided to take me out into a field somewhere and leave me staked out there, I’d deserve it. You owe me an apology? Not bloody likely.” He snorted, incredulous.

Beth shook her head with sadness. “You may not think so, but I do. I owe you a big apology. God, this is so hard to say.” She drew in a shaky breath, getting ready to lay all her cards on the table. “Ever since you and Chase became friends when you were teenagers, we’ve been close, you and I. You never treated me like a tag-along, and you always listened to me. From the first time you came home with him, you’ve been a member of the family. I’m not sure when it changed for me, but somewhere along the line, it did. At some point, I stopped looking at you like an older brother, and started seeing you…” Her voice trailed off as a flush of embarrassment washed over her. The fact that his gaze had locked onto her didn’t help. Drawing herself up straight, she continued.

“I started seeing you as a man, damn it. I pretended for so long that everything was the same, but it wasn’t. I told myself over and over again to move on, to stop mooning over you, but I just couldn’t do it. Everyone teases me because I’ve dated so many men over the years. Just one or two dates, and I move on to the next hapless victim. Do you know why I’ve done that? Why so many guys never made it past a second date or a kiss? Aside from the idiots, I mean?”