What You Don't Know, page 25
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TW: How the hell was I supposed to know that? Huh? You didn’t tell me what to do if he was there. You didn’t tell me nothing. I had to make that shit up as I went along. Should have answered the damn phone.
* * *
BJ: I didn’t have the phone, all right? Was out all weekend. You weren’t supposed to call me until after it was all over. (Silence). I can’t fucking believe this.
* * *
TW: Look, it wasn’t like I could come back, since you said it had to be this weekend, or you weren’t going to pay me (Pauses). Why did it have to be this weekend, anyway?
* * *
BJ: Today’s my birthday. I thought getting rid of Blair would be a good fiftieth birthday present to myself.
* * *
TW: Damn. (Several minutes of silence pass). Hello?
* * *
BJ: God, I still can’t believe Malcolm is gone.
* * *
TW: Believe it.
* * *
BJ: Farrah, too?
* * *
TW: Everybody’s dead. We shot everybody, then set the house on fire before we left.
* * *
BJ: (Exhales, followed by a long pause.). Farrah, too. Huh. Well … it’s not like she was Malcolm’s daughter anyway.
* * *
TW: What?
* * *
BJ: What time did you leave the house?
* * *
TW: Look, you gonna have to throw some more paper my way.
* * *
BJ: For what?
* * *
TW: I got—man, I got hit, bit—my damn hand, my foot—I can’t hardly walk—
* * *
BJ: That’s not my problem.
* * *
TW: Hell, yeah, it’s your problem. I done went through all this. You wasn’t around to tell me what I should do, so yeah, you need to throw like a bonus or something my way.
* * *
BJ: You weren’t supposed to kill Malcolm.
* * *
TW: But you wanted Ol’ Girl gone and she gone. (Sniffs) I did my job. Now you do yours. (Silence). Hello?
* * *
BJ: You said you shot her? Blair, I mean.
* * *
TW: Yeah, I shot her. I told you, we shot everybody. Had to.
* * *
BJ: I’m almost sad you set the house on fire. (Laughs). I thought it would be funny if you dumped her body in a dumpster. Taking the trash out. Well. I wanted her to suffer. I had dreams all weekend that you slit her throat, stabbed her fifty times, bashed her skull in. I guess getting shot and set on fire is suffering.
* * *
TW: (Pauses). You must have really hated her. What she ever do to you?
* * *
BJ: You don’t know the half. (Pauses). Did you get the necklace I asked for at least? The one she was wearing?
* * *
TW: Yeah, I got it.
* * *
BJ: Well, thank God you got that right, at least.
* * *
TW: You want that necklace, give me my money. Thirty thousand.
* * *
BJ: Thirty thousand?
* * *
TW: Yeah, that’s what I said. Thirty G’s.
* * *
BJ: I’ll give you ten. That’s what we agreed on.
* * *
TW: Oh, you want to act like a bitch now, huh?
* * *
BJ: Excuse me?
* * *
TW: I need Thirty G’s. Otherwise, I’m going straight to five-o—
* * *
BJ: Are you threatening me?
* * *
TW: I’m just saying you try to cross me, I’m going straight to the police, tell ’em everything I know.
* * *
BJ: And what do you think you know, exactly?
* * *
TW: I mean, I—I’m just saying—
* * *
BJ: How stupid do you think I am? How fucking stupid do you think I am? You don’t even know who I am. You don’t know my name, you don’t have my phone number. My actual, real phone number. You’ve never even met me. You could walk past me on the street and wouldn’t even know it. This—you know I have a voice changer on this phone, right? The voice you’re hearing? It’s not even my real voice. I could be a man, a woman. I could have an accent. I could be from fucking Australia, fucking Mexico for all you know. You have no idea. So go ahead. Go run to the police and tell them all about this mysterious person who you did this job for that you’ve never met, don’t know anything about, and that you agreed to kill for (Laughs). Sounds like a fucking TV show.
* * *
TW: I mean, they’ll track you down, some kind of way. They got all kinds of equipment and—
* * *
BJ: (Laughs). I don’t think so. Don’t worry. You’ll get your money. I’ve got to handle a few things first. In the meantime, don’t fuck with me, all right? Don’t try one thing, because you don’t have me where you want me. I’ve got you where I want you
(Pauses).
Who’s the bitch now?
(Line disconnects).
The Aftermath
Elena York: Terrell Winters and Lenard McKinney waived their right to trial. They pleaded guilty to first degree murder, along with about twenty-five other counts including premeditated murder, kidnapping, and assault. They both received life without the possibility of parole.
* * *
Skye Stafford: The judge said they had a blackness in their soul, a stain so dark, so depraved, they almost couldn’t be described as human beings.
* * *
Isabelle Ryan: When Malcolm gave his victim impact statement, when he described the torture the family was subjected to over those two days, you could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. And you couldn’t ignore the sobs, the cries, the despair from everyone in the courtroom. Except the two defendants. Their faces were dry as a bone.
* * *
Gwen Majors: Bridget actually went through with the farce of a trial, if you can believe that—which actually, I could—screaming that she was innocent, demanding her right to a fair trial. It was disgusting. I think she actually thought a jury would buy her bulls**t.
* * *
Terry Gilbert: Malcolm didn’t attend Bridget’s trial or any of the motions or hearings. All his testimony was via video. He said because it’s what she wanted, to be in the same room with him. Said he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of ever again being in the same room with him. And in ten years, he never has. And he never will.
* * *
Skye Stafford: Bridget Johnson was sentenced to one hundred and thirty four years each for Farrah and Blair. Two hundred and sixty eight years. First chance of parole in one hundred years.
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Elena York: In an incredible twist of irony, Blair didn’t leave her sister any money.
* * *
Skye Stafford: Farrah was Blair’s sole beneficiary. Since she and Farrah died together, per Blair’s request, all her cash and various other items were donated to different women’s and community organizations she worked with.
* * *
Elena York: What she did give Bridget was her Captivate Barbie doll. The only thing her will said was, “I know you always wanted this. It’s yours.”
* * *
Jenny Valentine: She probably figured Bridget would sell it anyway, so it was like she was getting money, but still … the irony wasn’t lost on anyone. And I loved it.
* * *
Sasha Reid: I feel bad, because I—Bridget was my friend. Probably my best friend. I loved her. I know people say she’s a monster, and yes, she did a horrible thing—an unforgivable thing. But, you know, deep down, she does have a heart.
* * *
Rosemary Stubbs, Lenard McKinney’s Mother: I still don’t believe my son done what they say. Not for one minute. It’s all a setup. They planted all that evidence, forced him to confess. You know, since he’s a little slow. Happens all the time. They need a scapegoat and they chose my son. Everybody say I’m crazy, that I’m not wanting to accept the truth. I know the truth! I know he didn’t do it. I know in my heart. All I can do is pray, pray that there’s some lawyer, some group, or somebody out there who’s willing to take this on for my son, who’s willing to go up there and fight for him.
* * *
Sasha Reid: Bridget … she was the life of the party, you know? Always up for a good time, always upbeat. Always ready for fun. Just a spontaneous person. She’d be that person on Friday who’d say, “Let’s go to Vegas for the weekend,” or “I think I’m going to dye my hair pink today.” Just a lot of fun. And she loved her little dog, Frito. Oh my gosh. She loved that dog. She’d carry little Frito around in her purse pretty much everywhere she went. She’d feed it rice and vegetables and steak, chicken. Sometimes, I think the dog ate better than she did. (Laughs). I wound up adopting him. I didn’t feed him steak, but he ate okay (Laughs). And she was a big movie buff. Name any movie and she could quote it, tell you how many Oscars it won. Watching a movie with Bridget was this totally crazy experience. I miss that girl. I miss my friend.
* * *
Wanda Miller, Courtney ‘Cookie’ Miller’s Mother: My husband and I gave our daughter a good life: a nice home, food on the table, two parents. We told her every day we loved her. We told her every day we were proud of her. We did everything right, everything we thought we were supposed to do. And my daughter still walked into someone else’s home with a gun and threatened the lives of other people. She knew what was going to happen and said nothing. All because she thought she was in love. How do you fight a teenage girl on that?
* * *
I’d like to think she would have come to her senses, would have realized Terrell was no good and left him behind. She’d be a woman now. A mother. Maybe she would have become a doctor. Maybe she would have found a good man to marry. Maybe. So many maybes. So many nevers.
* * *
Skye Stafford: Malcolm pretty much slid from view after the murders. He never stepped foot in the house again.
* * *
Isabelle Ryan: Almost immediately, Malcolm left the Chicago area and moved back to California. Through the years, Bridget has tried desperately to find him. In the beginning, she bombarded his parents, his brothers, and his attorneys with letters and phone calls, trying to track him down, proclaiming she was set up, that she’ll love him until the day she dies. Eventually, phone numbers were changed and unlisted, and restraining orders were obtained, meaning if Bridget violates that order by attempting to contact anyone in the Gilbert family, she gets more time tacked onto her already lengthy sentence.
* * *
Bridget Johnson: I’ve been saying this for ten years and I’ll keep saying it: I had nothing to do with my sister’s murder.
* * *
Skye Stafford: Bridget keeps filing appeals and they keep getting thrown out or denied. She keeps representing herself because rightfully so, no lawyer will touch this with a twenty-foot pole.
* * *
Elena York: She leads a pretty lonely existence in jail. She’s kept out of the general population because she’s despised. She just sits there, year after year, all alone. The only way she’s leaving prison is in a body bag.
* * *
Lauren Dean, Realtor: I was able to sell the house pretty quickly. The new owner was an NBA player and he and his wife razed the house almost immediately. They built a new house from the ground up and started fresh. Clean slate.
* * *
Mitch Gilbert: Those first few years … my brother didn’t talk about it. Didn’t cry. Didn’t get mad. Didn’t show anything. Was just stone. But you could look at him and see he was haunted. Shattered.
* * *
Malcolm Gilbert: I got remarried about three years ago. Chantal. She’s amazing. She saved me. She took what was broken and pieced it back together again. She made me laugh.
* * *
Nate Gilbert: I’ll never forget the first time I heard my brother laugh. It … it kind of made me jump a little, you know, the shock when I heard it, it had been so long. I didn’t think I’d ever hear my brother laugh again.
* * *
Malcolm Gilbert: I live a pretty quiet life. I golf a little. Sit on the pier all day and fish. I don’t catch much (Laughs). But, you know, I go out there with my little tackle box, my little thing of bait. I’m happy to sit there and cast my line. To be near the water. The sunshine.
* * *
Chantal and I, we go to dinner and do jigsaw puzzles together. She, uh (laughs) she keeps me stocked with crossword books. We travel. Have our small circle of friends. She goes to every doctor’s appointment, manages all of the medications. She even (laughs), lights up with me once in a while. Medicinal, you know. We’re happy.
* * *
I actually started a foundation—The Blair and Farrah Gilbert Foundation. It gives music and writing scholarships. I meet with the recipients privately, take them to lunch, get to know them, tell them about my wife and daughter.
* * *
I can talk about them now, Blair and Farrah, and smile. I couldn’t do that for years. I wouldn’t talk about them. I can talk about Farrah’s ballet recitals; the slumber parties she had; that she was fluent in French and Spanish; how she’d sneak me fast food when Blair wasn’t looking. The trips Blair and I took or the voicemails she would leave me. She would sing me little love songs. I’d always seem to get them in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. The impromptu picnics she’d plan for us in the middle of the day on a random Wednesday. Even our fights (Laughs). I can even look back and laugh about our fights.
* * *
Isabelle Ryan: Some tragedies are unavoidable. This one wasn’t. Terrell and Courtney and Lenard could have stopped it at any time. Terrell could have gone to the police to report this murder he was being asked to commit, this horrifying crime he was asked to carry out. When Terrell rang that doorbell and Malcolm opened the door, they could have turned around and gone home. Even if Malcolm hadn’t been the one to open the door and indeed it had been Blair, as they thought it would be, they still could have turned around and gone home. When Farrah came downstairs, they could have turned around and gone home. They had so many opportunities to do the right thing, so many opportunities to walk away.
* * *
Lani Jacobs: I miss Blair every day. Even now, I still jog by her house—or where her house used to be—there’s a different house there now—but I jog by it, and thinking about her makes me smile. I’ll never meet anyone like her ever again. I wouldn’t want to.
* * *
Jenny Valentine: I always have a Captivate song or two, or a Captivate medley in my shows. And I always sing “The Dream of You,” which Blair sang lead on, as a tribute. We—me, Gwen, and Blair used to get together once a year, you know for dinner, drinks. Memories. Gwen and I still do it, but of course, it’s not the same. It’s just not the same.
* * *
Laila Amari: Whenever I read a magazine or a newspaper or a book, I always think of Farrah. She would have been a terrific writer. Some part of me thinks that somewhere, that’s exactly what she’s doing.
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Mitch Gilbert: We don’t dwell on what happened. We can’t. We just remember how much we loved them.
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Bridget Johnson: The worst thing has been not letting me see Malcolm. They’ve been filling his head with lies all these years, turning him against me, making him hate me. I could have helped him with his grief. I could have been there for him. I would have taken care of him. We could have helped each other. We’re both victims. But I’ll keep trying. Nothing will keep me from trying.
* * *
Until the day I die, I will keep on trying.
* * *
Because I will never give up on Malcolm.
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