Page 106 of Third Time is the Charm
“Oh, no, ma’am,” John replied, shaking his head. “I mean I can’t say for certain that no one heard the gunshots, but thankfully they were fired off just as the Dempseys finished their speech so the applause and subsequent music from the band drowned out most of the noise.”
“Oh, thank God.” Beth sighed in relief. “I should let Colin know… he’s probably wondering what happened–”
“Mr. Dempsey has been informed of the situation,” John interjected, reassuringly. “He’s just glad that you are ok and he doesn’t expect you back down there tonight.”
“Ok,” Beth replied; her anxieties finally beginning to wither. “Thank you, John.”
“Of course,” he said with a smile.
Darcy followed him over to the door, shaking his hand with a ‘thank you’ of his own before he and Beth were finally left alone again. He turned back to face her, his eyes darkening with the need to hold her again, to keep her close and physically remind himself that she was still there.
He exhaled harshly. “Shit, I need to call Charles.” He too realized all of the implications of tonight. “He needs to hear this from me.”
Beth ached for him, but agreed that certain things needed to be handled first. “Make sure he knows that I’m ok – and to tell Jane that I’ll call her in the morning.” Darcy nodded, reaching into his pocket for his phone and dialing Charles’ number.
As she heard him begin to talk, Beth looked around the room for her purse. John had brought it up with him from the ballroom. Opening it up, she pulled out her cell, thinking that maybe she should text Jane. When she tapped the home button she saw she had two missed calls from Anne. Hearing Darcy still on the phone, Beth decided to call her back and let her know what had happened.
She didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts right now. She wanted to tell the world – scream it from the rooftops – that ‘Caroline was finally gone.’
“Beth! Thank God,” Anne answered hysterically.
“Anne, what’s wrong?” Beth asked, concern immediately flooding her.
“It’s Caroline. I know I told you she was coming up there, but I just finally talked to my mom earlier today. She cut Caroline off a few days ago – right after I heard their conversation,” Anne blurted out. “She finally saw how crazy Caroline was and refused to support her, especially once she realized that Caroline was only using her to try to get Darcy for herself. She cut her off and kicked her out. And she said that Caroline was insanely calm about it – the kind of calm that means that someone is about to do something terrible.”
“Anne—” Beth tried to interject, but her friend kept going.
“I was ignoring her calls for days, but she finally showed up at my apartment and told me all of this a few hours ago and I’ve been trying to call you ever since. Caroline has lost it, Beth, and you know that she will blame all of this on you. You have to go to the police, you have to get security—”
“Anne!” Beth exclaimed, stopping the other’s frantic rambling. “Caroline is gone. But, she was here tonight. She came to my event and when I followed her, she pulled a gun on me – I’m fine; everyone is fine. I managed to knock her down just as Darcy and the police got there and they took her away. The officers just left and they assured us that Caroline would not be getting out of jail for a very long time.” Beth took in a deep inhale after spitting out her story for the second time; she hadn’t stopped to breathe lest Anne have a chance to interject before she heard the entire story.
“Oh my God, Beth… Oh my God…” Anne replied, stunned into silence. “I can’t believe she tried to kill you. I can’t… And she’s been arrested?”
“Yes – being held without bail.”
“Oh my God, Beth, I’m so sorry.”
Beth had to laugh. “Why are you sorry? This isn’t your fault.”
“I know, but maybe if I had talked to my mom sooner… I would have been able to warn you or something… I don’t know.”
“Anne, don’t be ridiculous,” Beth scoffed. “This is in no way your fault and even if you had warned me, who knows if we would have been able to do anything to prevent this and yet still get the same result.” She broke off, seeing Darcy walk back into the room, no longer on the phone with Charles. “Hey, I have to go. Thanks for calling. Everything is fine. We are both fine. I’ll talk to you later, ok?”
“Ok, glad you’re ok. Call me.”
Beth hung up the phone and looked back up at Darcy. “It was Anne. She’d called earlier when…” Her eyes fell. “She said that Mrs. DeBourgh cut Caroline off, I guess right after Caroline told her she was coming to Boston. She realized how crazy Caroline was and completely pulled her funding. That is why she must have done this…”
“Don’t try to rationalize what she did, Beth,” Darcy said harshly.
“I’m not.” She sighed, standing and walking towards him. “How did Charles take it?”
Darcy ran his hand through his hair, wincing because he used his injured arm.
“Let me see your arm,” she insisted, walking over to his side.
“He’s alright. I mean, his sister is a fucking psycho, so I guess he’s doing as well as possible given that scenario.” He paused as her hands gripped the lapels of his jacket, gently tugging it off of his good arm before carefully peeling it down over his injury.
“At least this wasn’t a complete surprise to him… At least he knew about her and what she did – who she really was; if that’s any sort of consolation.”
