Beyond Betrayal

We don't own these characters. We just liked spending time with them.

I have to give thanks to my co-writer, cohort and partner in crime for helping me write this. Thank you LadyKRedzz.

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Helen sat quietly in the chair, watching in dread as Gretchen was helped from her car and led to the police car. The officer's hadn't handcuffed her, but she had no doubts they soon would. Grimacing at the discomfort, she worked on the cords Gretchen had used to bind her to the chair. She had to get out of them and somehow help Gretchen and herself as well.

When she was finally able to free one hand, she quickly removed the rest of the cord and got to her feet. She wasn't quite sure what she planned on saying to the police, or at least she would say it, but she wasn't about to let Gretchen take the blame for a murder she didn't commit, a murder that really wasn't a murder.

Rushing to the door, she left the small bungalow and headed across the lawn to the drive but had barely gotten near when she saw the police open the back door to place Gretchen in the back seat.

"Officers!" She called when she got close. "My name is Helen Mercer. I'm the owner here. Is something wrong?"

"Well, yes, Mrs. Mercer." The older of the two men nodded. "We got a call to come here and take a report of some kind and when we arrived, we found this girl leaving at a high rate of speed and she has an unregistered gun hidden in her car. I'd say something is most definitely wrong."

Desperately, Helen tried to think of what to say. Taking a deep breath, she glanced at the frightened face of Gretchen and plunged in with the first words that came to mind.

"Officer, I don't understand. I asked my assistant to run some errands for me. What does this have to do with the call I made?" She managed to look properly confused as she looked at the man and then glanced over at Gretchen.

"Well, I don't know, Ma'am." The cop shrugged. "What exactly did you call us out here for?"

"I called about making a report of a prowler late last night, here at my home. I startled him. I may have injured him as well. I'm not sure though, because he ran off so quickly."

The one officer asked, "Ma'am, are you injured?"

Shaking her head, she stood with her arms wrapped around herself. "A little shook up, I guess. But, no, no, I'm not injured."

The cop nodded. "Okay, well, tell you what. Let me call this in and then we'll go from there."

Helen nodded as he walked over to his partner then motioned to Gretchen who silently moved closer to her. "Don't say anything. Let me handle this." She whispered as the officer returned.

"Ok, Mrs. Mercer. We'll need some additional information on this prowler and what happened so we can check it out, but I'll write this up back at the station house. As for this young woman, we'll have to take her down for questioning. Her being your assistant is not the story she gave us and we need to check further into the gun we found in her car." He gave a stern look to Gretchen and reached for her arm. "Come on, this way."

Gretchen swallowed hard and numbly followed along. She hadn't wanted to be arrested. She hadn't planned on that at all. But she figured the gig was up and she was going to have to face what she did regardless.

But Helen wasn't about to see the girl go to jail without at least trying to help. Quickly, she added, "Gretchen, I'm going to call Harold. Don't say anything until he and I can get there. Do you understand?"

Meeting eyes with Helen, she nodded. She still didn't understand why Helen was willing to help her but she decided it best to accept it. "Yes Ma'am."

Helen smiled briefly. "Good. Now, just relax and we'll get this all straightened out." Before they walked Gretchen to the car, Helen leaned close. "I meant what I said. Don't say anything. I'll get Harold to help. Don't you worry about anything."

But that worried Gretchen even more than the thought of being arrested. "Oh, Helen, you can't tell the judge. What will you tell him about Jay and…?"

"Well, I'll have to tell him everything, the whole truth." She said before thinking for a minute. "Well, almost everything."

As Gretchen left with the officers, Helen walked into the house contemplating what she was going to tell Harold. She knew she couldn't lie to him. He had to know what happened and why or he'd not be able to help her or Gretchen either one. But admitting, even to yourself, that you'd killed someone, though it was in self-defense, and then dumped the body…. This was not going to be an easy call to make.

Once in the house Helen began pacing, then quickly grabbed the phone, dialing Harold. After several rings, she was about to hang up when suddenly he answered. "Hello?"

"Oh, Harold." She sighed. "You're there. I was about to give up."

"Helen, sweetheart. Are you ok? I was worried about you. You didn't look so good earlier. What's wrong?"

Inhaling deeply, she said, "Harold, I need to see you. Can you..." Before she finished, he answered.

"Sure. I'll be right there." Quickly he hung up and headed for the door. Something in Helen's voice rang alarm bells and it spurred him into hurriedly heading in her direction.

Within a few minutes, Harold was pulling in the driveway and rushing through the door. He knew by the look on her face, when she opened the door to him, that this was serious. Placing both hands on her shoulders, he rubbed her arms. "Helen? Sweetheart, you're trembling! What's going on? Please talk to me?"

Once again inhaling deeply, she dropped her head before replying. "Harold, it happened again."

Furrowing his brow, he repeated her words. "It happened again? Helen, I don't understand. What happened again?"

"Harold, I shot a man." She said with a shudder as the memory of it all assailed her.

"Honey, wait a minute. When? Who?" He asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Helen pulled away from him, wrapped her arms around herself and turned away, not sure she wanted to see the look on his face when she told him the details. "Last night. I shot a man in my bedroom."

"No." He shook his head. "You couldn't have. You were with..." Suddenly he stopped.

And she finished his sentence. "Yes, I was with you but only until I left the party to come back here for the present I forgot in my bedroom. Remember?" When he acknowledged the memory, she went on.

"When I arrived, he was here. I must have startled him or interrupted him. I guess he was going to rob me. When he saw me, he tried to attack me. He chased me through the house. It was dark but I made it back up to my room and found my gun and just as he reached me I fired the gun." As she finished, she started trembling, the gravity and horror of the situation assailing her all over again.

Seeing the state she was in, Harold pulled her into his embrace, gently trying to calm her. "Shush, Helen honey. Now just calm down and tell me what happened next." He led her over to the couch and gently bade her to sit as he took a seat next to her. "Alright, now go on. What happened?"

Helen dropped her head for a moment, collecting her thoughts before looking back up at him. "Well, like I told you, I came home to find him here, ransacking the place. I was so scared and when he attacked me, I shot him. Afterward, I tried calling over to you at the party, but no one could find you. So I just left word for you with Gretchen that I wasn't coming back. I called the police but when they answered, I panicked. Harold, I couldn't stand the thought of what happened last time, happening again. I… I…"

"It's alright, Helen, it's alright." He soothed. "Then what happened?"

"Oh, Harold." She choked back a sob. "I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had to get out of here, so I did! I just rolled him up in a blanket, put him in the trunk of my car and took him away from here. When I got back, I pulled into the garage and Gretchen was just getting home."

"Ok." Harold was already beginning to formulate a plan. "Now, did you tell her what happened?"

She shook her head. "No, no. I was just so exhausted. I came in the house and just went straight to bed."

Again, Harold furrowed his brow. "Helen, why do I feel there's something you not telling me?"

Suddenly, from the doorway, Gretchen called out. "She left out that it was Jay, Judge Porter. My husband was the man she shot."

Harold and Helen turned to see Gretchen standing in the doorway, listening to their conversation.

Dropping her head, Helen looked at Gretchen. "Oh Gretchen. No! No, you can't do this. You…"

"Do what?" Harold asked. He was still confused about this whole thing. "Would one of you please explain all of this to me?"

"She's trying to protect me, Judge." Gretchen moved on into the room and over to Helen's side.

Harold frowned looking first at Gretchen and then back over at Helen's too pale face. "Protect you? You mean you…"

"No." Helen shook her head. "She did not kill her husband, I did. And I'm telling the truth, Harold. Gretchen had nothing to do with this. I…"

"I did too, Helen." Gretchen interrupted her as she looked pleadingly at Harold. "I didn't kill Jay, that's true. Helen wasn't lying about that or why she killed him. But I am involved regardless. You see, if it wasn't for me, Jay wouldn't have been here in town and more specifically in this house last night."

"Have a seat, Gretchen." Harold ordered. "Tell me everything. I do mean everything and don't hold anything back."

When Gretchen finished her tale, she looked at the horrified expression on Helen's face and the unreadable one on Harold's. She had held nothing back from either of them, including her role in the murder of Mrs. Russell and her original scheme to do much the same to Helen.

"Well," she sighed. "Now that you both know everything, you can understand why I should be the one going to jail, not you, Helen. The police released me because my fingerprints weren't on that gun and they couldn't prove I knew anything about it. I said I bought the wig stand at a yard sale and didn't know the gun was in it. But sooner or later they'll put all the pieces together and they will arrest me. There's no sense in letting Helen get stung by this. Let me say that I shot Jay as well."

Helen studied the floor at her feet as though there was an event taking place there that required all of her attention. She didn't know what to do or what to say. On one hand, she was cognizant of the fact that Gretchen was willing to take the blame for Jay's death in order to protect her.

But on the other hand, she realized the gravity of the fact that Gretchen was already involved in a murder and had things worked out just a little different, Helen herself would've been another Mrs. Russell.

Harold studied Gretchen. He had no doubts that the girl had told the truth. Years on the bench had honed his skills at reading whether people told the truth or not. But he wasn't sure quite sure of Gretchen's motives. Was she really just trying to protect the woman who'd been so good to her? Or did she have some ulterior motive? He wasn't sure.

When neither Helen nor Harold spoke, Gretchen stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going back to the police station and turn myself in. Might as well get this over with."

"No!" Helen suddenly spoke up as she raised her eyes to first Harold and then Gretchen. "At least not alone." She shakily got to her feet and reached out a hand to Gretchen who haltingly took it. "I agree that you should tell the police about your part in that woman's murder. But not for Jay. I killed him. Whether it was self-defense or not, I did it, not you. And I have to atone for that."

Harold got up and wrapped an arm comfortingly around Helen's shoulder. "Not alone, you don't." He whispered in her ear.

A Year Later

"Ah, this is nice." Helen smiled as she leaned lazily back on her elbows, watching the pounding surf of the beach, she was lying on. "The sun, the water and you. What more could a woman want?"

Harold, lying beside her, leaned over and enveloped her lips with his. "Well," he grinned when their lips parted. "I don't know what more a woman could want, but I'd say you've got all a man could want."

Looking up at Harold, her eyes crinkled in mirth and love. "I don't know what I would've done without you this last year. You know that? You stuck with me when the DA tried to make a murder case out of Jay's shooting and then the way you helped Gretchen. I…"

"Helen." Harold took her hand and gently tugged it. "Even though you dumped Jay's body instead of calling the police, what happened was still self-defense and the DA knew it. He just wanted to make a name for himself and thought dragging you through the mud could get it for him. All I did was make sure he couldn't. As for Gretchen, well, that's more luck than anything."

Helen nodded. "Yeah, I agree with you there. You know I can still remember Gretchen's face when she found out that Mrs. Russell hadn't died when Jay shot her. I don't think I've ever seen anyone more relieved than that girl was. Of course, regardless of anything, she would've had to have served a long prison term if you hadn't of helped her."

Harold shook his head. "I didn't do too awful much. I just made sure she had the right defense attorney and that he had all the facts in the case. Such as the way Jay forced her to help him when he showed up here and the way he hid that gun in the wig stand and the fact that Gretchen's prints were never on that gun. All those little things helped to convince the Judge that, although she wasn't innocent, she at least deserved a chance and a lesser sentence."

Helen shook her head as she considered it all. "You know, I realize that originally, she planned on doing the same thing to me that she did Mrs. Russell and perhaps others, but she changed."

Harold nodded. "Yes, she did and it was because of your influence on her. You showed her how good life could be." He leaned over and kissed her again. "You showed me how good life could be too."

"Oh, really?" She arched a brow at her new husband. "You think so, huh?"

Harold nodded. "Uh huh, and when we get back to our hotel, I think I'll return the favor, Mrs. Porter."

Helen grinned. "Mrs. Porter." She sighed. "You know, I never thought I'd ever want to be married again but…" She pulled him back to her. "Guess, Gretchen wasn't the only one that changed. Tell you what. Let's not wait. Let's go on back to the hotel now, huh?"

Harold nodded. "I can hardly wait."

The End