Only one more installment to go. Scroll down to catch up, before next week’s final chapter!
Chapter 16: Ending Well
Jack was exhausted. It took several tries the following morning, but Amanda finally got the rest of the story from her father.
“I didn’t know what to do. I figured out what was happening and confronted her that Easter when all of you visited. She tried to blackmail me. She said she’d expose my stupidity to the CIA if I turned her in. It would have ruined me, ruined us all…. So I asked Spooky, Horatio Lane, to help me out of the jam I’d gotten myself into.
“He hired a goon named Franklin something to take care of it. Franklin met with Candace and arranged for her to disappear herself. Franklin was to make sure that the police determined that she was just one of those girls who picks up one day and goes off. I thought he’d leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading to a drug-dealer boyfriend or something like that. But Franklin was a rogue asshole. He’s dead now, so I can say it out loud without him coming after me — or you. But he concocted this plan to kill a girl who looked like Candy, leave clues to Candy’s identity with the body and just let everyone think she’d died.”
“He killed Maria Ruiz?”
“Said she was collateral damage in a larger scheme of things.”
Amanda burst into tears.
“I told you Franklin was a scary man — a crazy killer. He’s dead now. I told you that, right. He’s dead now, so you are safe. It’s OK. He can’t come after you. He said he would, he did….” Jack rambled.
“Franklin’s plan backfired two ways, he dumped her body in a construction site on a Friday. It was supposed to be discovered on Monday morning, but the Russian mob was culling their own numbers and they used the same dumpsite for one of their hits. They also filled in the hole. It was confusing, no doubt, for the construction guys on Monday morning, but…”
“Did Candy know Franklin was going to kill someone in her place?” Amanda asked.
“I don’t think so. It’s not what I hired him to do. For all I know, she’s alive and well and living in Germany.”
Daniel and Amanda took her car and headed to the Mall. Amanda said she needed “art therapy” in the form of time in the Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden. A few hours of art and a bottle of wine over dinner later and Daniel made a radical suggestion.
“Let’s try to find her.”
Scary stuff in this reveal. I am a little confused though. Why would Candace agree to be ‘disappeared’? Because she’d been exposed as a spy?
In a word — yes. Being outed as a spy would have meant a long imprisonment in the U.S. or, in spy novel scenarios, a secret trade for U.S. spies held in the Soviet Block. Either way, she’d be in trouble at home too.
Anyway… there are two versions of Chapter 17. I can’t wait to find out which one you like better.
Ah hah! So Candace was trying to blackmail Jack to stop him from turning her in or whatever. And they compromised on her disappearing. Got it. 😀
Yup, and there’s one more complication to come — one more chapter too.
Gah….. Is she alive? Did she find a sugar daddy in Germany so she could live a life of ease?
What a great idea!
It’ll be interesting to see what transpires in the two endings you provide. Hopefully before than I get a chance to read back through the previous chapters again.
As the entire story is relatively short, rereading the previous chapters is an excellent idea — especially for readers willing to make a statement about which ending they prefer. It’s going to be fun!