Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [100]
Annie felt a lump start to form in her throat. She could feel hot tears prick her eyelids. “I do need to talk to someone, Stella. If you ever tell a soul what I’m about to tell you, you could ruin my life. We need to be clear on this from the git-go.”
Stella squirmed in her chair, her eyes wide and curious. “We’re clear on it, Annie. Talk.”
Annie talked. And talked. “Now do you understand why I can’t marry Parker?”
“I understand why you think you can’t marry Parker. If he loves you, it won’t make any difference. What came before isn’t important, Annie. That was your other life before you met him, and, to tell you the truth, that life is none of his damn business. As for that other... episode, that’s over too. You paid it all back. Where the hell is Bonnie Doone, North Carolina? So you kept it a little longer than you should have. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. It’s so easy to Monday morning quarterback as Joe says. Listen to me, you aren’t thinking of doing something foolish like confessing, are you? Please tell me the answer is no.”
“I have been thinking about it, Stella. The problem is, I don’t have the guts to do it. I just have this feeling the net is about to drop around me. It might be better if I turn myself in and take my punishment. This has hung over me for too many years. I think about it every single day of my life. It’s the only wrong thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. To this day, I don’t know why I kept that money. To answer your question, Bonnie Doone is H-fourteen on the map. I drove there and left the rest of the money. It was out of my way. Maybe they’ll tie it to me, and maybe they won’t. I did it at night. I’m not sure, but I think I put a lot of extra money in the bags. I put a lot of Clorox and fabric softener in the water behind the toilet. That was kind of clever, don’t you think? I couldn’t risk doing the washing-machine thing again.”
“I need to think about this, Annie. I don’t want you going off half-cocked and doing something you’ll regret.”
“What would you do, Stella?”
“I sure as hell wouldn’t volunteer anything. I think I’d wait for them to catch up with me, and I don’t see that happening. The case is closed, you paid back all of the money. The guy that got out of jail is just bitter and angry. A jury convicted him. He’s probably lying about not being involved. If his father was as rich as you say he was at the time, the kid would have had the best defense going. So, what went wrong that a jury didn’t buy into it? As for that insurance guy, pffft, he’s history, too. He probably has a black mark on his personnel file and wants it erased. In the end the bank paid back the insurance money. Nobody is out anything.”
“Except me. I’m out of all my emotions. I just want it to be over. What are they going to do to me if I confess?”
“Toss you in the slammer for starters. Now, how’s that going to look?”
“Stella, it’s wearing me down. My shoulders feel like I’m carrying the weight of the world on them. So I get some jail time, I take my lumps, and when I get out, Elmo will be gone, Jane and Daisy will have a jailbird for a friend, and I’ll go off to some mountain retreat to live out my days. It’s not pretty, is it?”.
“God, no. Annie, you have a lot of money. I assume you must have some of the best lawyers money can buy. Oh, all right, let’s order, Annie. I’ll have the ravioli and another beer for each of us,” Stella said to the waiter who had finally come to take their order.
“I’ll have the same.”
“Annie, I know I’m not in your league, but Joe said information is power. I believe that. Take all the harassing you’ve gone through, take the facts as you see them, and go to your lawyers and, remember, do not confess. Tell those fine legal minds to file suit against the insurance company and the investigator for harassment and discrimination. Always throw