But now Tom had stopped ransacking the house. The scene was sufficiently staged for his purposes. All he was waiting for was the arrival of the recording of Tiffany’s statement. Once the recording was destroyed, he would shoot them and flee.
“Your aunt was wrong about you,” Laurie said, seeing an opportunity to get him talking. “Once your cousins gave you a chance, you ascended quickly through the corporate ranks. Anna was telling me she didn’t know what she’d do without you.”
“That’s all I was trying to tell my aunt that night,” Tom said, his voice becoming increasingly agitated. “She should give me a chance at the company. I saw her slip away alone and go onto the elevator. It stopped at the roof. You had run off somewhere by that point,” he said, pointing the gun at Tiffany. “The guard by the staircase had taken off. I used the stairs to the roof to find Aunt Virginia alone. I just wanted her to hear me out. I had tried already when dinner ended, but she blew me off. I thought once we were alone, away from the crowd, she might listen to me. All I wanted was a role in the business. I wasn’t asking for my father’s half—even though I felt entitled to it. I thought she’d be willing to make things right, the way Uncle Bob never did. Half that company should have been my father’s.”
“Carter told me how cruel she could be,” Laurie said, egging him on. “She told him that he needed to grow up, and he wouldn’t be anywhere without the family name.”
“That’s nothing. My aunt treated me like a piece of garbage. She was even colder to me than Uncle Bob. When she saw me on the roof that night, she called me a gambler with no control over my life. She said I would never have been admitted to the party except that Uncle Bob had turned the Wakeling name into something valuable.”
“How awful for you,” Laurie said, feigning sympathy.
“Do you know what her last words were? ‘Tom, you’re even more useless than your father.’?”
“And then you pushed her,” Laurie said.
“No, I didn’t. She was trying to leave, and I reached to stop her. I wanted her to see that I was a human being with dreams and plans. She jerked away from me and fell backwards. She was just so small. It was all an accident.”
It was possible that Tom had actually come to believe this version of the facts over the years, but he was lying to himself. Laurie had seen that ledge. She tried to imagine the terror Virginia must have felt when he picked her up and hoisted her over the railing.
Laurie gasped at the sound of a knock on the door.
Tom swung the gun away from Tiffany and pointed it at her. “Open it.”
79
When Leo arrived, an unmarked police van was parked a few houses down from Tiffany’s home. The agents, looking up from their binoculars, told Leo that the blinds at the house were tightly closed when they arrived. This meant that Wakeling probably could not see what was going on outside, but also that they could not see inside. Tersely, Leo told them what he wanted to do. With few other options, they quickly agreed to his plan.
Two officers positioned themselves at the back door. Charlotte made her way to the porch, flanked by two officers to her left, and Leo and another to her right. She was wearing a bulletproof vest beneath her blue coat.
Leo had given Charlotte a firm command: her only role was to knock on the door and then run to the end of the block, where Alex and more police were waiting.
Charlotte knocked on the door.
Leo’s heart jumped at the sound of Laurie’s voice inside. “Thanks for coming, Jane. This should be quick. There’s not much left on my part to do,” she called out through the door as Leo heard locks tumbling.
There’s not much left on my part to do. The phrasing sounded strange from Laurie’s lips. Leo knew his daughter. Laurie was trying to find a way to convey vital information.
There’s not much left on my part to do.
Left. My part. My left. She was telling him that the threat was positioned to her left. The hinges of the door were to her right.
He then signaled that the other officers should watch what was the right side of the door frame from their perspective, where they would have the best angle.
It happened quickly.
The second the door moved, one of the officers pulled Charlotte to the side and she began to run. Leo kicked the door open the rest of the way and swerved to his right, away from the door frame. Laurie ducked low and lunged out, shots whistling over her head as Leo yanked her to the side. Tiffany screamed and dove to the floor.
The shots occurred almost instantaneously. The investigation later revealed that eight shots in all were fired by police—four from each of the two officers on the opposite side of the door. Two additional shots in Laurie’s direction had been fired from Wakeling’s pistol.
Both officers gave identical versions of what they had seen from their vantage point. Tom Wakeling had been standing to Laurie’s left side as she opened the door. Once she leapt outside, he had swung toward the open door and aimed at Laurie.
They had no choice. Tom Wakeling was dead, but their gunfire had saved Laurie’s life.
80
As Charlotte raced toward the police car, the sound of gunfire exploded behind her. She collapsed against it, gasping for breath and moaning, “Oh, dear God.”
Frantic, Alex was standing there. He asked, “What happened to Laurie? Is she safe?”
Without waiting for an answer, Alex threw his door open and rushed down the street. Two policemen tried to stop him.
He spat out the words. “I’m here with Leo Farley.”
The officers waved Alex by.
He heard a woman shouting Tiffany’s name. In an instant, a sobbing Tiffany stumbled into her neighbor’s embrace.
But where is Laurie?
Unspeakable relief overcame him when he spotted Laurie standing with her father. An NYPD jacket was wrapped around her shoulders.
She was alive. She was safe.
“Laurie, Laurie!” he shouted.
She turned at the sound of his voice. When he pulled her into his arms, it felt as if they were all alone. When he finally let go, both of their faces were wet with tears.
“How did you know to come?” she whispered.
“Tell you later. My God, I love you so much.”
They held each other in the street, moving only to make room for the onslaught of police cars and ambulances that were arriving.
Leo came over to them saying, “You two get out of here. You don’t need any more of this. A car will take Charlotte home. The department’s going to want to question you, but it’ll be hours before they’re ready.”
Laurie looked between Alex and her father hesitantly. “Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Who knows the ropes of an investigation better than your old man? I’m serious: Go. I’ll make sure the powers that be know how to find you.” He patted her on the back, steering her in the direction of Alex’s waiting car.
“Our plan was to go back to the restaurant,” Alex told him. “Our table is waiting.” He said gently, “Laurie, are you still up to it?”
“Absolutely!”
81