William Bernhardt - Dark Justice

Christina reached out with a trembling arm and took his hand. “But, Doug, surely you knew that if you peddled drugs-”

“I didn’t know then how much damage this damn Venom could do, how many lives it could ruin.” His eye twitched. “But I sure as hell found out.”

Ben nodded. “From Dwayne Gardiner. Right?”

Sheriff Allen’s eyes darted up. “You know?”

Ben’s eyes met Allen’s. “I do.”

Allen looked away, his face filled with disgust. “Dwayne was one of the first to get hooked on the stuff. No big surprise there-the man hated his job, hated his wife, and hated himself. He knew Lu Ann was a tramp, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He was a mess-an easy target for Venom.” Allen gazed down at the carpet. “It was a habit he couldn’t afford. So I gave him a night job. I made him my main distributor. That way I could get the stuff around town without anyone but him knowing I was the one behind it. Up till then, I’d been using disguises, but this was much better. Much safer. And Dwayne liked it. Made him feel important, strong. You heard that fellow from Bunyan’s testify that Dwayne said he knew someone powerful in town. Well, I guess that was me. All in all, it worked for everyone.” His lips pressed together bitterly. “Till Dwayne got out of control. Till he got greedy.”

“What happened?”

“He wanted more money-lots more. So much I couldn’t even have paid my mother’s medical bills. Can you imagine? After making a criminal of myself, I still wouldn’t be able to pay her bills. He threatened that if I didn’t cough up the cash, he’d expose me.”

Ben stepped behind Allen and spoke in a quiet voice. “That’s why you killed him, isn’t it?”

Allen looked up suddenly. He stared at Ben, sizing him up. “This whole thing-the DEA, arresting Christina-it was a setup, wasn’t it?”

Ben nodded.

Christina’s jaw dropped. “Ben! Is that true?”

“I’m afraid so.” Ben turned back toward Allen. “I knew you killed Gardiner, but I didn’t have any way to prove it. I needed you to confess. And I couldn’t think of any way to make that happen.” He paused. “Except to make you think it was necessary to save someone you … cared about.”

Christina stared at Ben in disbelief. “You tricked him? Used him ? And me!”

Ben didn’t disagree. “I didn’t know why you killed Gardiner, but I knew you weren’t an evil person. Not in your heart. I knew it had to be eating away at you. So I thought that if I just created the right scenario-”

“I’d talk.” Allen’s head bobbed. “I’d spill out everything I’ve been wanting to say for months, but couldn’t.” He laughed bitterly. “You’re a smart man, Kincaid.”

Ben frowned. “I don’t feel like one.”

Allen jerked his thumb toward Hodges. “Is he in on it?”

“Of course. I had a … contact in the DEA. She helped me set up this sting.”

“But how did you know? How did you figure it out?”

“It was something you said, something that didn’t mean anything at the time, till Maureen reminded me of it earlier today in the infirmary. When I was at the jailhouse visiting Tess and Maureen, you made a joking reference to the Sasquatch suit and described it as having a bright red nose. Problem is, I’ve seen the suit that your deputy recovered-I had it in my office. The face is entirely black. Zak helped explain the problem; he told me there were two suits-the first one Green Rage had, and the second one which Zak bought himself but never wore. Except the one that was never used-as far as Zak knew-was the one with the red nose. So how did you know about it? I asked the Green Ragers if they’d lost it or shown it or even mentioned it to you or anyone else, but they all said they hadn’t. That’s when I realized you must’ve been there when Gardiner was killed. You must have stolen the suit and worn it yourself.”

Allen nodded his head sadly. He was beyond lying now; he didn’t have the strength-or the desire. “I swiped the suit from Zak’s tent, then put it back when I was done. As one of my deputies mentioned at trial, some campers had tipped us off to the location of the Green Rage camp. I knew your man Zak planted a bomb on a tree cutter. Got a tip from Georgie-the man at the pawnshop who sold him the ingredients-and started following him around. Saw him do it. But instead of arresting him, I removed the bomb and took it to another location, another tree cutter. Zak put a timing mechanism on the thing, but I knew enough about bombs-I got sent to that bomb school in L.A., remember-to alter it, to rig it to explode when the ignition was turned. I lured Gardiner out there, telling him I was going to give him the money he wanted. I didn’t plan to kill him-I just wanted to put on a big show, to scare him off, that was all. But he started arguing with me, yelling. Demanding money. Then he started fighting. Had a crowbar over my head ready to bash my brains in. That’s when I had to shoot him. I didn’t shoot to kill; I just wanted to stop him. And after that, I flipped out. Just ran for it. And you know the rest. Dwayne tried to follow me on the tree cutter and-”

“Boom,” Ben said. “No more Dwayne Gardiner.” He looked up. “And Tess?”

The two men exchanged a long look. Ben could see in Allen’s eyes that he was tired of lying, tired of hiding. He wanted to be clean again.

“Tess was there that night, watching us from a distance. She videotaped the whole thing. The tape wasn’t clear enough to make out my face, but I didn’t know that till after she was gone and I rummaged through her hotel room and found it. Even without the tape, though, she figured out I was the killer-probably the same way you did.”

“So you killed her, too.”

“That’s why I wasn’t around when you needed someone to break up the riot downtown, why you had to get Deputy Andrews. I was … with Tess.” He cradled his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to kill her, either. Didn’t plan to, anyway. I was chasing her. I needed to talk with her, to find out what she knew, see if we could make a deal. But she panicked, and her car swerved into a wall. She died in the crash. I took her body to the forest and nailed it up to throw suspicion off myself. Make it look like it was just part of the local war.”

His voice broke. “I don’t know what happened to me. I really don’t. I tried to do the right thing. It’s just-one mistake led to another, and before I knew what was happening-” He was crying like a baby now, without guard, without control. “Even after Dwayne and Tess were gone, I had another problem-a bigger one. Guilt. I’ve been killing myself every day of the week. I can barely sleep. I hated seeing another man accused of my crime, but what could I do? I didn’t have the guts to come forward, to do the right thing.” He held out his hand and lightly touched Christina’s hair. “But when I saw you in trouble, saw them about to take you away-I knew it was over. I knew it all had to end.”

Without speaking, Hodges removed the cuffs from Christina’s wrists. Even without being asked, Allen held out his hands. Hodges slipped the cuffs over the man’s wrists, then quietly led him out of the office.

Leaving Ben and Christina alone together.

Ben wanted desperately to say something to her, but he couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t sound contrived or fake or insincere.

“You used me,” Christina said. Her face was wet and blotchy, but her eyes were fixed and furious. “You used me to get to him.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “It was the only way.”

“You could have told me.”

“And asked you to be an accomplice in this plan to trap the man you-you were-friendly with? I couldn’t do that to you.”