As he gave the Miranda warning, understanding blossomed. Backup would be here soon, they needed to keep Sarah Jane talking until then. Recording her confession could be a boon for the prosecution, if the judge ruled it admissible.
“Do you understand these rights?”
“I love your optimism, Sheriff, but I'm not going to jail. Not until I break that bastard.”
“Who?” Beth prodded.
“Imagine a young secretary at a big law firm, in love with one of the partners, who's promised to leave his country club wife for her. She becomes pregnant. He swears that if the secretary gives up the baby for adoption, he'll leave his wife. The stupid, naive secretary does it. So what's he do? Ed Webster scrapes her from his life like a piece of gum from the bottom of his shoe.”
“That's horrible. I'm so sorry.” Hank said.
“I don't need your pity. I didn't then and I don't now. I waited. Watched him. Looked for weakness, all the time searching for my boy. A year ago I found him right here in Dry Creek, an attorney just like his father. Phil had always wondered about his birth parents.”
“Phil? Phil Harris was your son?” Shock rippled across her skin.
“I know, not the man I imagined my son would grow up into, but I blame myself. If I hadn't given him up, he would have been stronger, less concerned with revealing himself to his father sooner rather than later. It took me months to convince him that his father wasn't ready and that if he'd just wait a little longer, the timing would be perfect. That timing would have been after I'd crushed him. I didn't have the same outcome when persuading Phil not to worry so much about your safety.” She leveled the gun at Beth's head. “Poor little Beth Martinez. You were all that stood between me and my revenge. I'd waited so long. I couldn't let someone as insignificant as you stand in my way.”
Beth couldn't look away from the gun's barrel as cold fear snaked around her spine. “But I never did anything to you.”
“Yes, you did. You wouldn't sell. You took the spotlight from Phil at work. You fucked-up everything.” She hurled the words like projectiles. “The plan came to me after I'd found Phil. He let slip that Ed had inside information that the casino would be built on the north end of the Lakota Reservation, near Lake Alice. He'd put up every cent he had to buy the land. I couldn't let him succeed. This was my chance.” She paused as if relishing the moment all over again.
“I worked out a very lucrative deal with the Lakota tribe to relocate their new casino off Highway 28 instead. I had every piece of property leading to the reservation tied up. Every one but yours. I had to have yours! I couldn't allow the chance of him even getting one piece!” Her voice had risen to a manic scream. “I wanted him to lose everything. His money. His standing in Dry Creek. I'd make him understand, really understand, what it was like to have an entire community look down on you as ruined goods!”
Off in the distance, the high-pitched blare of police sirens sounded. Just a little longer and help would arrive. Sneaking a peak at Hank's leg, Beth’s stomach sank. The splotch of blood soaking through his jeans had grown to encompass his lower thigh, turning his jeans nearly black. His face had paled and his eyelids were nearly closed.
Unaware or unconcerned about Hank's precarious situation, Sarah Jane continued her demented monologue. “I hired those idiots to drug you and kill you. Really, how difficult should it have been? But you managed to survive. And then you got Phil killed. That thug killed him to get to you. Do you know what it's like to lose a son not once, but twice? Do you know what that does to a mother?”
Something inside Beth snapped. “No, I don't—but neither do you. Being a mother isn't about giving birth, it's about caring for someone more than you care about yourself. It's sacrifice. It's love. You're not a mother. You're a monster.”
Sarah Jane cocked her head thoughtfully and lowered the gun to her side. “I suppose you're right. I can admit that. But don't you see, Ed Webster is the one who made me into this…monster. He will be punished.” She took a step forward. “And so will you.”
Beth's stomach twisted and bile rose in her throat. It couldn't end this way, not now. “Please.”
“Shut up, girl. First you'll die, and then, after I've ruined him, so will Ed.”
Frozen to her spot by indecision, Beth tried to think of an escape as the sirens grew louder. Almost here.
“Fine, if not you then your dear love.” Sarah Jane swung the gun toward Hank's slumped figure. “On your knees, or I kill him first.”
“No!” She scrambled to her knees, blocking Sarah Jane's shot with her body.
“Ah, the stupid sacrifices we women make for the men we love. Too bad you won't live long enough to learn that they're all out for themselves. Then again, at least you don't have to worry about him leaving you for a newer model.”
Flashing red lights lit up the pine trees as patrol cars screeched to a stop on the highway above them.
Doors slammed shut and a deputy shouted clipped orders to the others. The Calvary had arrived, too late for her but hopefully in time for Hank.
Closing her eyes, Beth began to murmur the words she'd heard every day at four p.m. from her abuelita. Her grandmother had dutifully rubbed the worn, dark-blue rosary beads between her arthritic fingers and prayed for the souls of Beth's parents and the unknown drunk driver who'd killed them.
As her dry lips formed the words, a presence warmed the crisp air and she heard abuelita's voice murmur in her ear.
“Hail Mary, full of grace…”
A gunshot silenced her prayer.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hank ignored the explosive pain throbbing in his knee and fought to remain conscious. His injury wasn't important. Only keeping Beth safe mattered.