Chapter 12
Nick's senses suddenly went on full alert. He couldn't believe that this was happening. It was only two days ago that Freddie had held Warrick at gunpoint and that had been bad enough seeing his friend being held at the mercy of a disturbed individual. Now, here he was in an all too familiar situation.
Alone. Again.
Honestly, he wasn't sure which situation was worse - being the one trying to save a friend in a hostage situation or being the one with the gun pointing at him. Neither qualified in his mind as a good time.
The CSI held his hands up in a sign of good faith. "Just wait, Stella. Put the gun down. I'm not going to hurt you."
Admittedly, he felt a bit foolish as he said this. After all, she was the one with the gun and he was unarmed. He cursed himself for his foolishness. If this case had taught him anything, it was that things were never what they seemed. He shouldn't have come here alone. He shouldn't have taken it for granted that Stella was innocent. He had no one to blame but himself.
Stella took no notice of Nick's words, and he suddenly realized that she was not looking at him at all. She was focused on something just past him. Following her gaze, Nick turned and saw Victoria emerging from the woods.
"Now what?" Nick wondered. Things just went from horribly wrong to incredibly confusing. What was going on?
"Mr. Stokes!" Victoria cried out in concern. "Are you alright? She didn't hurt you, did she?"
Nick was surprised by her concern for his safety and was about to answer when Stella interrupted. "Oh don't try and play the hero! That role doesn't suit you! You're a murderer, Victoria! You're responsible for the deaths of at least three people! Don't pretend to care about him!"
Victoria moved closer and held her hands up as Stella had the barrel of the gun trained on her. Victoria's composed demeanor contrasted sharply with Stella's almost wild look.
"Really? I'm not the guilty one, Stella. We both know that. I'm not the one threatening people at this very moment. I'm not the one with the gun." Victoria's eyes were wide, but she kept her voice calm.
"This is here for my protection! I'm not going to let you do to me what you did to Daniel! And Jack! And Linton! Your hand may not have dealt the death blow to Jack and Linton but you're responsible for their deaths! You made Freddie do it! I'm not going to let you kill me too!" Stella shouted, madly waving the gun in the air.
"That's not true. I would never do such a thing." Victoria looked at Nick. "I did not write that check. You have to believe me."
Nick pressed his lips into a thin line of determination. He wasn't going to stand here and keep quiet about what he knew, not when these two women were hurtling insults at each other. He wanted to get to the truth.
Looked at Stella, he said, "She didn't pay Freddie. He deposited a $250,000 check over a month ago. That check was from you."
Stella stared dumbfounded at Nick, completely shocked. "What are you talking about? I never paid Freddie anything! I don't have that kind of money! Victoria does!"
"You did pay him. We got a copy of the check. It belonged to your theater company." Nick told her bluntly.
Stella's face blanched. "I didn't authorize that check."
The gun faltered in her hand a bit as she stared wide-eyed at Victoria. "You set me up. You've been planning this all along, haven't you? You wanted me to take the fall for this. I can't believe it. I thought we were friends."
Mustering her strength, Stella shifted her eyes to Nick. "Victoria is my silent partner. She practically owns my entire company! I told you that I don't have a head for business! I knew I couldn't run the company myself and Victoria offered to help. She began to buy it from me over the years, but I remained the face of the company. She would have authorized the check. Not me."
Nick looked at Victoria, uncertain. There was no way to verify Stella's claim right now given their location.
"Is that true?" he asked, carefully studying her face.
"Yes, it is. I am a silent partner." Victoria admitted. "But I did not authorize that check."
Still suspicious, Nick asked, "If you knew what she had done, why didn't you say something sooner? Why did you wait till now?"
"I didn't realize that this was all about Daniel until you told me you had some questions about him." Victoria shook her head in dismay. "I didn't put the pieces together. If I had, maybe some lives could have been spared. I knew that you were looking at me because Daniel had been in love with me, but I knew you didn't have any proof. Physical evidence is more credible than a verbal eye witness account. I wanted to help you, to find some proof of what Stella had done, but I couldn't risk acting like I knew anything. I didn't want Stella to come after me."
"No, Nick! You can't believe a word of what she's telling you! You heard the truth from me! You believed me a few minutes ago! You promised to help me!" Stella cried.
Nick hesitated, uncertain of what to do. Victoria's words had an air of credibility to them, but he wasn't sure what to believe. Victoria had a logical answer for everything while Stella's answers contained more verbal accusations than reasons for belief. Nick reminded himself that the woman who had planned this whole situation was calculating and had undoubtedly adopted a role she believed would save herself in a situation like this. So, was she the woman who seemed to be calm and rational, providing answers to his questions or was she the woman who seemed to be ruled by her outraged emotions, playing the frightened and desperate woman card?
"She got to you, didn't she? Told you some incredibly moving, elaborate tale with great description?" Victoria asked, the tiniest trace of desperation creeping into her voice. "Mr. Stokes, you cannot trust this woman. She is a liar and a manipulator. She's an actress. She makes a living from deceiving others. Believe me. No one's as good an actress as Stella. She has the awards to prove it."
"How dare you! I'm not the liar! I'm not the manipulator! You're the one who lured poor Daniel up here and then pushed him off the ledge!" Stella cried.
She moved towards Victoria, who backed away by circling behind Nick. Stella did likewise and suddenly, Nick found himself in the middle of their circle. Their eyes stayed locked on each other and Stella did not lower her gun. Nick kept himself moving as well so as to not complete take his eyes off each woman for more than a few seconds. It was a quite unnerving thing to be circled like that. Nick felt like a zebra about to pounced upon by lions.
"That is not true. I could never do that. It doesn't make sense for me to do that." Victoria said evenly. She then addressed Nick. "I'll be honest with you. I never paid attention to Daniel. He was too far below me to warrant my attention. Why, then, would I go out of my way to humiliate him? That would be a waste of my time."
"You never found humiliating people to be a waste of your time! You reveled in it! It's in your nature to be cruel! I'll never forget the way you treated poor Rebekah. She never did anything to you and you treated her horribly." Stella countered.
Victoria's eyes flashed at the mention of Rebekah's name, which reminded Nick just how cruelly Victoria had spoken of Rebekah during their first interview.
"Rebekah Prescott has no place in this discussion." Victoria breathed heavily. "This is about you and your attempt to cover up the murder of Daniel Motz. A murder you committed! I will not let you get away with it! I will not let you get away with Jack's murder! I will not let you get away with Linton's murder! You had a hand in it all and I will be damned if I let you escape unscathed!"
"You're insane!" Stella shouted angrily. "Why would I kill Daniel? I had no reason to! He was in love with you, not me!"
Victoria smiled at this. "Yes and that was the problem, wasn't it? You couldn't stand the thought that someone wasn't in love with you - that someone would pick me over you. I took some of your spotlight and that's something you don't like to share, do you? Everything was always about you, Stella. You always had to be the center of attention! It's still true today! You lured this poor man out here and put on some huge performance to try and frame me, while painting yourself as some tragic figure. You always were a bit over the top, Stella."
Victoria shouted at Nick. "How do you think they got Daniel to believe that I felt the same way he did? Daniel wasn't going to believe Freddie, the guy with a reputation for being a jerk! He wasn't going to believe Jack if Freddie was with him! No! They needed a girl to be the lure! They needed someone who could play the role of confessor convincingly enough to get poor Daniel to meet them at Lover's Leap! They needed an actress! They needed Stella!"
"Don't let her sway you with her words! She's trying to trick you! That's what she does! She gets inside your head and twists your thoughts until you believe things you never thought you would! She did that to us! She made us believe that we'd be better off not telling the truth about what happened to Daniel! That no one would ever guess the truth because no one cared enough about someone like Daniel! She tricked us into silence and made us accessories to murder so that if we ever decided to tell the truth, we'd end up in jail!" Stella accused.
Nick's head was spinning. He wasn't sure who to believe. After all that he had learned during this case about the people involved, his gut still liked Victoria for the murder of Daniel Motz. She had a clearer motive. It made more sense, but nothing about this case had made sense at first glance. He knew that Stella could be deceiving him. She was an actress after all. She could be in the middle of giving the performance of a lifetime. There was no way to be certain.
Instead of making a judgement call, he decided to deal with the most pressing matter at hand.
"Stella, I need you to lower the gun." he told her calmly.
Stella stopped circling Nick and looked at him, stunned. "No! You don't believe her, do you? You can't! She's lying!"
"If you want me to trust you, you have to show me that you deserve it. Put the gun down." Nick's eyes pleaded with hers.
Stella hesitated, but finally lowered the gun. She tossed it a few feet away.
Nick nodded in appreciation as he began to move closer to her. "There. That's better now we can..."
His words were drowned out by the sound of shot being fired. Stella's body jerked back, causing her to stumble. Nick instinctively reached out to grab her. Cradling her in his arms, they sunk to the ground.
Blood was rapidly pouring from a wound in the center of her chest. It stained her clothes and flowed onto Nick's shirt and jeans. He applied pressure to the wound but knew in his heart that it was a futile gesture. Stella's skin was growing paler with every second. She grabbed his wrist and looked up into his face.
"I'm sorry." she gasped. Her eyes conveyed such deep sorrow as she begged for forgiveness for getting him into this situation.
"Don't be." He smiled and smoothed her black hair with his hand in a gesture of compassion. It was the least he could do for a dying woman.
She gave him a tiny smile and then her eyes closed for the last time.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still. He held the body of Stella in his arms, staring at her face which was beautiful even in death. Though he had not been particularly fond of her, Nick could not help but pity her now. She had tried to do the right thing, to make up for the secret she had harbored for the past fifteen years, just like Jack. She had paid a steep price in the pursuit of redemption.
She had known that her life was in danger and had begged for his help and he had let her down. Nick felt a wetness on his cheeks and wiped the hand that was not sticky with Stella's blood across his face.
Nick heard a noise behind him and the gravity of his situation struck him with full force. He turned his head and saw Victoria approaching him with a gun in her hand.
Author's Note: I'm posting earlier thanusualbecause I'd like to be done before Thanksgiving. Still have a bit more to do but I think it'll happen. Again, thank you for the reviews. It's nice to know that people are enjoying my story.