Uncover Persona - Chapter 17 - Ending

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Sonja brought a carafe of coffee out, set it on the coffee table, and then sat down next to Emily, Mario, and Fernando.

Detectives Janice Carter and Harold Jones were sitting on the other couch facing them. Carol sat in a chair between the two couches.

"Okay," Emily let out a sigh. "I'm ready to hear what really happened to Kenton."

Janice began to explain.

"Cecelia Chase and her father are scam artists. She has been married a number of times with different aliases, all to sons of wealthy families who were gay and tried to keep the families from finding out."

"She would milk the son for as much money as she could get out of him and then expose him to the family, get a divorce and a nice settlement to keep it out of the news."

"She and her father put together the whole super religious scheme to draw in the Chases."

"When she found Frank, she figured she would be able to get in the family easier if she portrayed a sponsor for Christian charities, which, of course, were nonexistent fronts she and her father came up with."

"She suckered Walter Chase first and then went after Frank. She was working on milking Frank when Kenton came into the picture and figured out what she was up to," Harold said.

"Kenton started playing her and her father at their own game, but he got greedy and started having sex with her husband, and that was going to mess up her plans," Janice said.

"But," Harold said. "Damon met Frank, and the two of them fell for each other."

"What!" Carol gasped.

"That's right," Janice said. "They fell in love with each other, which of course, messed up both Kenton and Cecelia's plans.

"Kenton didn't want Frank's money because he was already getting money from Cecelia; he just wanted control over him and Damon." But, he was threatening to expose Frank to Walter.

"Cecelia couldn't let that happen. She would lose everything."

"So she had to get Kenton out of the picture," Harold said.

"We think the plan was for her to get into a scuffle with Kenton, making a huge mess on the patio to look like he had been in a fight with someone, and then her father was going to show up and finish him off."

"She did admit that she planned to frame Damon for the murder. She had taken the ring Damon gave Frank to wear when she hit Kenton in the head."

"So when he fell forward and hit his head on the chair, and then the side of the pool," Emily guessed, "she figured she didn't need to do anything else because he was unconscious in the pool and would drown."

"Exactly," Janice said. "And she didn't have to worry about setting someone up because either you or Damon would be the most likely suspects because her father had called Carol, saying he was Junior and told her about the Kenton and Damon's knowing that she would tell you."

"Wow," Carol breathed. "But Damon was with me, and Emily was with Mario; how was that going to work?"

"Because Damon wasn't with you all night," Harold said. "After the scene at the bar, he came home, and you two had what you thought was make-up sex.

"You passed out, and he left to meet Junior, a.k.a. Frank, at the condo Frank and Kenton shared, and Cecelia had proof. She was just waiting for the right time to give out the information."

"Kenton shared a condo with Frank?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, they had a place in a gated community off of Woodmont," Harold said. It was in Frank's name, but we think Kenton provided part of the money to buy it."

"That son-of-a-bitch," Emily growled."

"Yeah, and guess where he got his part of the money?" Janice said, From unsuspecting investors like Barbara McKinley."

"Oh my God!" Emily said, putting her hand to her mouth. You mean he's been swindling his investors all along?"

"For at least the past four years," Harold said. "We are still going through the paperwork, trying to figure out how far back the fraud extends."

Janice said, "Cecelia Chase started looking into Kenton's dealings. She hired him to work with her and her father when she figured out he was as crooked as she was.

"With Walter Chase's backing, unbeknownst to him, they put together several dirty property deals."

"What do you mean?" Mario asked. "Didn't they have to provide documentation to the clients about property values and taxes?"

"Yes, all of which can be doctored," Janice said. "Kenton was so charming, especially with the people he was seducing; none of them questioned the information he was giving them."

Janice looked at Emily and smiled apologetically. "Kenton did his homework. He researched his victims carefully before approaching them, including you, Emily."

"What?" Emily said, shocked.

"We found files in a storage unit that Cecelia told us about where Kenton kept files on everyone. He looked deep into your background, your relationships, and your family." Janice looked at Harold.

"He had thorough notes about your reactions to different," Harold did air quotes referring to Kenton's exact words. "stimuli."

Emily stared at him blankly, not really getting what he was saying, but Mario got it.

"You mean, he noted w. hat her reactions were too different things he did so he would know what buttons to push to get her to do what he wanted."

"Exactly," Harold said, pointing to Mario. "That's exactly what he did."

The shock on Emily's face sent waves of sorrow out to everyone in the room. She cried out, jumped, and ran out of the room. Mario got up and quickly followed her to the kitchen.

Carol wiped a tear from her cheek. And what was Damon's role in all this?"

"Mostly, just another of Kenton's victims," Janice said.

"He picked up on Damon's homosexuality right away and used it to play him the way he did anyone else he needed or wanted to use."

Carol shook her head sadly, "Poor Emily. How horrible to find out she was a tool all along."

Janice nodded, "It's probably a good thing he's already dead."

"You got that right," Sonja said. She looked at Fernando, who was gritting his teeth.

"We've seen him bring a lot of people through this house, but he put on his show for us as well. We had no idea that he was just using her.

"When they first started living together, he was mostly good to her, but we never suspected what a horrible person he was."

Emily came back and sat down next to Mario and held his hand. "So, I was a pawn?"

"I'm afraid so," Janice said, "As were Carol, Damon, and Frank."

"Why?" Emily wanted to know

"There's no way of knowing why, Emily, Janice said gently,"

"There is no rhyme or reason to any of the things we're finding out about him, except that he was playing everyone he was involved with."

"He thought he had the upper hand on Cecelia, but she was more ruthless than he was."

"Cecelia thought she had fixed her problems when she got rid of Kenton, but Frank was still seeing Damon.

"She apparently had Frank's phone tapped and found out that he and Damon were making plans to leave their wives and runoff," Harold said.

"Damon was planning on leaving me?" Carol asked, stunned.

"I'm afraid so," Janice said to Carol.

"When Cecelia found out, she saw her plan to clean Frank out hitting a wall, so she started planning on getting rid of Frank and collecting the three million dollar life insurance policy she had taken out on him, plus the inheritance money he would have gotten from Walter."

"Wow," Emily said, shaking her head. "What a mess."

"I don't understand why you guys didn't find tracks of someone besides Emily's and mine walking into the back yard?" Mario asked.

"She came in barefoot. She told her dad to wait in the car unless she called for him. She tiptoed in, hit Kenton in the head, and tiptoed out," Janice said, matter-of-factually.

Carol shook her head, She would have gotten away with it, and Damon would most likely have been blamed."

"So now what?" Emily asked.

"Cecelia is being charged with the murder of Kenton and the attempted murder of Damon and Frank," Janice said.

"Attempted murder of Damon and Frank!" Carol cried.

"Oh yeah," Harold said sheepishly. "We forgot that part." He looked at Janice.

In Kenton's office, we found a card key to a gated community. That's how we found out about the condo. The condo was in Frank's name, and AN e were going there to question him.

"When we got there, Cecelia and her father were in the process of trying to force Damon to shoot Frank. They had already made him write a suicide letter and were going to make him shoot himself after he shot Frank."

Carol clamped her hand to her mouth.

"Dios Mio, "Sonja said quietly.

"Yeah, that woman is a piece of work, "Harold said.

"So, where is Damon now?" Carol asked.

"After they gave their statements downtown, they said they were going to go back to the condo and regroup," Janice said. She looked at Carol.

"Damon said to tell you he would call you in a few days."

Carol shook her head sadly. "Well, I don't know if I will be around for him to call. I'm going home to Atlanta, and I'm going to file for a divorce. I'm done playing his game."

Emily reached over and squeezed Carol's hand. "I'm so sorry, Carol."

Carol squeezed hers back, "Me, too. You'll have to come to visit me in Atlanta. I hope you will."

"I will," Emily promised.

Carol got up. "Well, if you don't need me for anything else, I'm going to go home and call my parents."

"I don't think we'll need anything else, but we can reach you on your cell if we do need anything, right?" Janice asked.

Carol nodded woodenly, "Sure, keep the same number for a little while just in case."

They all watched her walk out the door.

"I feel so bad for her," Emily said and sighed. think Damon being gay totally blindsided her."

Mario put her arm around Emily and kissed her on the side of the head."

"For you," Harold said to Emily, "we have good news and bad news."

"Okay, good news first.'

"Since we now know who murdered Kenton, you are no longer a suspect, and you'll be able to collect his life insurance," Harold said.

"The bad news?"

"There may be several investors who decide to sue his estate when they find out that he cheated them out of a lot of money," Janice said.

"Well, alright then," Emily said with a laugh. "I guess cross that bridge when I get to it. For now, I'm going to pay some bills that have been piling up and figure out what's next for me."

Harold and Janice stood up, as did Emily, Mario, Sonja, and Fernando. Harold and Janice shook hands with each one of them.

Janice held Emily's hands for a moment. "If there is anything we can do to help, please let us know."

"Thank you, Janice. Just knowing the truth has been a lot of help."

Epilogue.

One year later ...

Janice dragged Harold by his arm into Twister. "I can't believe you're making me do this," he grumbled.

"Oh, come on," she said. You know you've been dying to see what became of Frank Chase."

"Not really," he said, making a disgusted face.

Janice found Ashley and Kim sitting at a table close to the stage. "Hey, gals," she called out.

Kim motioned for them to sit in two of the four chairs they had saved at the table. 'You guys made it just in time; the show is about to start."

Janice motioned for a waitress to come over to the table, "Two beers, please."

"This place has never been this packed. I guess bringing some people up from Atlanta is a big draw," Ashley said.

Janice nodded. "There's Emily and Mario.'" She stood up and waved to them. Emily saw her and pulled Mario in their direction.

"I was afraid you guys wouldn't get a babysitter," Ashley said.

"Sonja and Fernando are always willing to take Juanita for us," Emily said.

"How old is she now?" Janice asked.

"Two months," Emily beamed.

"I still can't get over that you got pregnant so quickly after all that time; you and Kenton could never have a kid," Kim said.

Janice turned and looked at her. "I kind of remember you saying something about that. What happened? Did you guys do in vitro?"

"No, there was nothing wrong with me. Kenton had gotten fixed and paid the doctor to lie to me about it.

"The doctor never said it was my problem specifically, but he always hinted that it was my fault that I couldn't get pregnant. It turns out I can get pregnant pretty easily."

Ashley turned and looked at her, "Not again?"

At Emily's nod, Ashley laughed.

"Congratulations?"

Emily laughed. "Yes. We were a little surprised, but we're still happy."

She caressed Mario's cheek, and he kissed her lightly on the lips.

"So, she gets to be the designated driver tonight," he laughed.

The lights went down, and Terrell Donnell came out dressed as Whitney Houston.

"Welcome to the Twister's Amateur Drag Night," he said in a voice that sounded a lot like Whitney.

"We have a wonderful show for you this evening, and to start it off, I want to introduce to you Connie Frances.'

The audience cheered and clapped.

Everyone at Kim and Ashley's table dropped their mouths open as Francis Connor Chase, a.k.a. Connie Frances, came out with a blond wig that curled about his shoulders and a shimmering silver dress that was cut low and showed what looked like real breasts.

There was a slit up the side of the dress, showing a thin but attractive leg that ended in four-inch heels.

Emily turned to Ashley and shouted to be heard above the crowd. "Wow! I can't believe that is Frank."

"I know, right?" Ashley shouted back with a laugh.

"He makes a very pretty woman, and he's doing a fantastic show. I think Frances may have found a new career since he's been disowned by his father," Kim said.

Everyone at the table laughed. "Maybe," Ashley said, standing to join the crowd giving Connie Francis a standing ovation.

The End.