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“Your brother is right, Ms. Farrell. You need to turn yourself in. Both the local police and the FBI know all about what you’ve been doing. We now know you arranged the death of Nick Underwood, and you ran the business of putting federal and local confiscated items back on the streets, which included the gun used to kill Barcos. A gun once owned by your niece that was reported stolen in that burglary of her condo eight years ago. A gun you encouraged her to purchase.”
“What!” Walter Roker exclaimed. “You had something to do with that burglary of Nyla’s home?”
Katherine Farrell rolled her eyes. “Pull yourself together, Walter. Yes, I orchestrated that burglary as well. That was my first attempt to kill Nyla. She was supposed to be home that evening, but she wasn’t. So, I ordered my men to make it look like a robbery.”
Detective Connors could only shake his head. He figured the only reason the woman was confessing to so much of her deeds was because she honestly assumed she had men stationed around this place, and saw a way out. They knew of her plan to burn this house down with all of them in it, with her making a narrow escape. Then she would play the grief-stricken sister. Unknown to her, her men had been arrested and had spilled their guts for a lesser charge.
“We also know you planned for those bombs to go off last week with the intent to kill both the prosecutor and the defense attorney connected with the Barcos homicide,” Detective Connors then said.
“You were responsible for planning that bombing?” Walter asked his sister. “Had those bombs gone off, innocent people would have been killed. What kind of monster have you become?”
She smiled at her brother. “The monster you created by taking the only thing I considered my own from me. Besides, I felt it was time for me to shake things up a bit, let everyone know I meant business.”
“Is that the reason you had three men sent to Hollis Calloway’s home to beat her up?” Detective Tomlin asked.
“What!” Walter Roker exclaimed.
Ignoring her brother’s outburst, Katherine Farrell snapped at Detective Tomlin, “And what of it? She was snooping around too much to suit me.”
“Well, just so you know, we’ve arrested most of your men, so none of them are surrounding this house. So far, we’ve hauled in police officers, Attorney Ramsey, a number of Barcos’ men, and Special Agent Norris Brock and two others. We can prove all of them have been on your payroll for years.”
“Michael?” Walter Roker asked in shock.
“Yes, Attorney Michael Ramsey,” Detective Connors said. “The same man you wanted your daughter to marry. The son-in-law you preferred over Karl Halifax. Oh, and by the way, according to Ramsey, the reason your daughter broke things off with him is that she discovered he was having an affair. The only thing she never found out was that the other woman was her aunt.”
Walter Roker stared at his sister. “How could you do this to us? How could you do this to our family?”
“I don’t give a damn about you or the family, Walter. I stopped caring the day you took my baby from me.”
“Drop the gun, Ms. Farrell!” Agent Wells ordered, rushing into the room.
“No!” Katherine took aim at her brother. Darlene jumped in front of her husband and took the hit instead. Detective Tomlin quickly wrestled the gun from her.
Police officers suddenly filled the house. While Connors administered first aid to Darlene Roker, Agent Harris ordered emergency medical treatment for her. Walter Roker hollered and screamed that he never wanted to see his sister again.
Amidst the chaos, a rather calm Katherine Farrell was handcuffed and led from the room by police officers.
CHAPTER 31
“What do you have to tell me?” Nyla asked when Locke and Hollis arrived at the safe-place where she and Karl were staying. Karl must have noticed the grim look on their faces, so he protectively wrapped his arms around Nyla’s shoulders and pulled her closer.
“Your mother has been shot,” Locke said.
“Mom! How?” she asked, grateful for Karl’s support. “Who shot her?”
“Your Aunt Katherine.”
“Aunt Kat shot Mom? Why?”
“Let’s sit down, and we’ll tell you everything. The last report I got was that your mother was rushed into surgery, the bullet was removed, but she’s not out of the woods yet,” Locke said.
She nodded. “I want to go see her.”
“Of course.”
“So why did Aunt Kay shoot Mom? Were they arguing about me? Even so, I can’t imagine Aunt Kat hurting anyone.”
Hollis thought about the agent and his family who had been killed by Katherine Farrell’s orders and knew how wrong Nyla was about that. Over the years, her aunt had hurt a lot of people and had ordered the killings of even more. “What we’re about to tell you will come as a shock, Nyla,” she said. “During my investigation, I discovered your Aunt Kat is the one who framed Karl with the full intention of Barcos killing him.”
