Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

herself."
    Rachel tried to absorb the cold finality of Erica's words. "You can't push me out of your life this easily, Erica. I swear, if you don't come to me today, I'm going to give them some answers to their questions."
    "You can't threaten me anymore, Rachel," Erica stated in a diamond-hard voice. "You just had your power stripped, and without it you're nothing but a big lez with a drinking problem. It's your word against mine, and I'll deny everything. Who do you think the authorities will believe? A civil servant who used her position for personal gain and put an innocent men in jail by creating a crime that didn't exist? Or a leader of industry with millions in taxable dollars behind her? Good luck, Rachel. And goodbye."
    Rachel stared at the phone receiver, unable to believe Erica had hung up on her and unwilling to accept the fact that Erica really didn't care. She dropped the phone and staggered to the kitchen.
    Her power had been stripped. She would soon lose her badge, the first love in her life—she might even end up in prison—and the second love had just hung up on her.
    Erica didn't love her. She had been with a man all weekend. Rachel's brain slowly analyzed what else that meant.
    Erica didn't kill Frampton. Which meant she probably didn't kill Ziegler or O'Day either. Rachel had been certain it was Erica, since Ziegler was drugged, then cut and left to bleed to death, the same way Erica's second husband had died. Also, right after they had talked of coming up with a special punishment for O'Day, he was killed. She had been positive Erica had done it for her—a unique, very private gift. Then, when she heard about Frampton, she recalled April saying Erica was in Florida, and she had no doubts left at all. But she'd been wrong about everything.
    Knowing all the facts, Rachel had initially deduced that it was one of two women. If the murderess wasn't Erica, it had to be the other.
    She was about to pour herself another drink, but took a long swallow straight from the bottle instead.
    Erica thought she didn't need her anymore, but she didn't know about the tape Rachel had hidden in her wall safe. The night Erica became drunk enough to brag about how she'd gotten rid of her first two husbands, Rachel had had a tape recorder running under the bed.
    It had been clear to Rachel that Erica was pulling away and she planned to keep the tape as insurance that Erica would never abandon her. However, she also knew Erica would be furious if she found out, so she simply held on to it as a last-ditch measure. It had never been necessary to tell Erica about the tape.
    The necessity had now arrived, but Rachel hadn't had the guts to use her insurance. The pitiful truth was that she couldn't blackmail Erica, because she loved her too much to hold her against her will. Nor could she turn her and the tape over to the police.
    Carrying the half-empty bottle of bourbon with her, she went to the safe and extracted the tape. For a moment she considered listening to it one last time, but when she remembered the sounds of lovemaking and erotic dialogue that flowed through the confession, she changed her mind. Her heart was hurting too badly for that.
    She unwound the ribbon of tape from its plastic case, dropped it all in a steel saucepan, then lit a match. In seconds, her insurance against Erica's abandoning her was gone.
    There was only one thing left to do, she thought, taking another swig from the bottle. The real perpetrator had to be protected. Rachel owed April too much to let her suffer for such worthwhile deeds.
    She composed her thoughts as she found paper and pen to write out her confession. In perfect agency format, Rachel described how and why she had killed Ziegler and O'Day. She couldn't claim to be in Florida when Frampton was hit, but she knew who had been there besides Erica and the real murderess.
    Holly Kaufman. Rachel laughed aloud as she realized there was a way she could save April and get revenge against Holly at the same time. How ingenious of April to convince Holly to go flying to her reporter's bedside! Unfortunately, Rachel didn't have specific details of how Frampton had been lured to his death, but she figured the rest of the confession would make the last part believable.
    She claimed that the two of them had planned the murders together and that, with Holly's reporter friend getting shot, she had the perfect excuse for being in the vicinity. Rachel knew Wells was under guard and not