Page 65 of Blink of an Eye
"I know, but I was scared. I tried to go back later that night, but the apartment was empty and the body was gone." Nigel nodded deeply to us all, almost a bow, and then he took his seat again.
Beau stood up, walked to the wall, and punched a hole in it. Then he started shaking his hand out and yelling.
"You idiot," Lorraine scolded.
I had the feeling that normally she would have gone running for the first-aid kit.
Tonight, she just glared at him.
"All right," Beau shouted. "Allright. I'm the damn fool."
"Simmer down," Uncle Mike said. "This has been a hard enough evening without your melodrama."
Beau clenched his hands into fists, but then laughed. It was harsh and bitter, but it was still laughter.
"I'm the moron who hid the body."
20
"Why? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Lorraine's anguish was written all over her face.
"Because he thought he was protecting you," Jack said. "He thought you'd shot him."
"If only you'd said something," she cried. "If only—"
"If only any of you had said something," I told her. "Maybe don't beat up on Beau so hard until you hear his story. He was ready to go to jail for you."
Susan rolled her eyes. "This oughta be good."
Beau told his story. Closing the diner and racing over to her apartment when he didn't hear from Eleanor. Finding Earl's battered, bloody, and very dead body.
"I knew what must have happened. There was blood all over the place, and Lorraine was gone. I know he'd hurt her, and she'd escaped. Probably to Ruby's. So I had to fix it for her. I'd let her down, over and over, so I had to do this one thing. Can't you see?"
He swept the room with his pleading gaze, and I caught myself nodding along with everyone but Susan and Andy. Icouldsee.
"I waited until dark and then I rolled him up in that ugly green rug and took him down to my truck. Luckily, I had a cap on the back of that old Ford. I shoved him in there and drove to the swamp. Then I threw him out to be gator food."
"It worked," Uncle Mike said. "At least for fifty years."
"Stupid gator," Beau muttered. Then he blew out a breath. "And then I drove his car to Orlando."
He told about the bad neighborhood, the papers. Hitching a ride back to Dead End.
"I even stopped and bought a ticket to California at the Greyhound station, just in case the police ever checked," he admitted.
"You're a regular criminal mastermind," Susan drawled, folding her arms across chest.
"No. I’m a failure for letting her get hurt. I wanted to kill him," he snarled. "If intentions count, I'm guilty. And there's no statute of limitations for murder."
Susan stood up and looked at each of us one by one, and then she brushed her hands together. "Why can't you people justtalkto each other?"
"Seconded," Andy said fervently. "Thanks for the food, though."
I figured I'd better ask the question. "Is Lorraine free?"
A smile played at the edges of Susan's mouth, just for a second. "It is the final decision of the Dead End Sheriff's Department that this is officially a closed case. Never, ever to be heard about again. Good night."
Lorraine stepped forward. "What about—"
