Without a moment’s hesitation, Cherie looked me right in the eye and lied. “Yes, he told me when I met with him this afternoon. I am the widow, after all.”
“It’s good that you have all of the details.” I needed to call Jack. Right away. “It’s getting cold out here. I think I’ll go inside. Are you headed to bed? It’s getting late.”
I didn’t wait for Cherie to answer, hurrying inside the much warmer building. It felt almost stifling in my overheated state, and I tugged at the collar of my sweater, trying to cool myself off. Sending a glance over my shoulder to ensure that I hadn’t been followed, I walked calmly to my office and grabbed my phone off of my desk, my shaking fingers stumbling to dial.
“I can’t let you do that.”
Well…shoot. I wasn’t as cool and sly as I thought I was. Huge surprise. Cherie must have run after me to get here so fast. I froze, my heart slamming against my ribs and roaring in my ears.
Don’t show any emotion. Don’t show fear.
Wait…was that for killers or bears? I couldn’t remember.
Turning to face Cherie, I plastered a big fake smile on my face. “Hey, Cherie. Was there something else you needed? I think there’s some apple pie left from dinner.”
“You know.”
This is where my complete inexperience with murder handicapped me. Did I play dumb or did I brazen it out? Cherie didn’t appear to have a weapon but I couldn’t be sure. Her hands were in her coat pockets. She could have another knife or worse, a gun. I wasn’t ready to die. I had too many things I needed to do first.
“Know what? I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Is everything okay?”
I guess I’d decided to play dumb. My fight or flight instinct was kicking right in and I wanted to run but Cherie was standing between me and the doorway.
“You know I killed Roger.”
I couldn’t play dumb now. Why did killers confess anyway? Did they feel guilty or did they want to brag?
“I don’t know anything, Cherie. You should lie down. I think you’re overtired.”
Cherie’s lips flattened into a line and her eyes flashed with anger. “My best friend in the whole world was sleeping with my husband. She was my best friend. She’d taken everything from me that I ever cared about. So I decided to take everything from her. I killed her husband and Roger, and I made sure that she’d be blamed for it. She’ll sit in a cell for the rest of her life thinking about what she did to me while I live in freedom and luxury.”
I couldn’t stop the words tumbling from my mouth. “You killed your own husband to get back at Lorna?”
“That cheating bastard deserved to die.”
“What about you forgiving him and buying a house here in Ravenmist?”
“That was never going to happen. It was simply to divert suspicion from me.”
Sweat rolled down my back, making my wool sweater stick to my skin. I wanted to scratch at the flesh but I didn’t dare move my hands, wanting Cherie to stay as calm as possible. The less I moved, the less she might move.
What could she do? The inn was full of people. They were mostly asleep but a few of the kitchen staff were still around and the front desk clerk was on duty. We weren’t alone and clearly she didn’t have a plan. Jack had said that the other murders were thought out. This? This wasn’t. It gave me a slight advantage.
Hopefully.
“Why did you do it in Ravenmist? Why come all of the way here?”
I was hoping if I kept Cherie talking I might somehow talk her out of whatever she was planning to do to me. I knew her secret so she couldn’t let me live.
“A backwater town with a backwater cop in charge. I did my homework. This stupid little town hasn’t had a murder in ages. Your sheriff will take the evidence I’ve given him and do the right thing. Arrest Lorna.”
“What about Adam?”
“What about him?”
“He’s innocent.”
“No one in this world is innocent, least of all Adam. He’s been helping Jerry cover up his theft for years.”
“So Jerome really was stealing from his partner.”
“Jerry was a philandering thief and the world is a better place without him. No one is going to mourn his passing.”
“You’ve thought it all through.”
“I’ve been planning this for two years, and I’m not going to let you ruin this for me.” She reached out and tried to grab my arm but I jerked away just in time. “Don’t fight me. This is inevitable.”
I begged to differ. Did this broad actually think I was going to go without a tussle? She had to be out of her mind to think I was just going to give up and go quietly. Unless she had a hidden weapon, I had a decent shot at winning a wrestling match with her.
“There are people in this inn who will hear me if I scream,” I warned, taking two steps back. There wasn’t much room to maneuver in this small space and my back was against the metal filing cabinets. I was trapped but still defiant. This was not how I was going to go out. Missy wasn’t getting a text tonight. At least not about me. “And I will scream this place down like Jamie Lee Curtis in a horror flick.”
This time Cherie didn’t go for my arm. Her hand wrapped around the plant on my desk, Howard the Fern. It had a heavy earthenware pot that could easily crack my skull open like an egg. Dodging to the left and hoping she’d go right, I felt that familiar cold wave run over me and then Terrence was in the room, zipping around like a ghost on speed. Cherie screamed and dropped the plant to the floor where it loudly shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving a mess on the maple planks. With another scream she turned and ran out of my office as if the hounds of hell were at her heels. Terrence had scared the bejesus out of her.
And probably saved my life, although I like to think that I could have taken a middle-aged housewife in hand to hand combat. Did I mention that I’d gone to the gym about six months ago? I’d had a great workout and been sore for days.
Terrence came to rest on my desk, his expression a mask of worried concern. “Are you okay?”
Breathless, I nodded, not able to trust my voice yet. I sucked in a few lungfuls of oxygen before I could speak.
“Thank you. How did you know I was in trouble?”
“I told you before, I watch. I watched over Rose and now I watch over you.”
It was literally the sweetest thing a ghost had ever said to me. I wanted to hug him but I wasn’t sure if I should, could, or even if he’d want me to.
So I did it anyway. I wrapped my arms around Terrence, feeling the zips of electricity tingle through my fingers all the way to my ears.
“You’re a good friend.”
Another cold wave and Terrence was gone out of my sight, replaced by the looming figure of Sheriff Jackson Garrett. He looked none too happy, by the way. Had he witnessed my hug with Terrence and then subsequent disappearance?
Jack’s voice was low but calm. “Can someone tell me what’s going on here?”
“Cherie is the real killer. She just tried to kill me, too.”
He glanced down at the demolished potted fern. Poor Howard.
“She ran out of here,” I said urgently, coming around the desk to push at his shoulder. He was so solid he didn’t budge. He might as well have been a tree. “You have to go after her. She’s getting away.”
“We already have her. My deputies are taking her into custody right now.”
But how…? “I don’t understand. How did you know that she was trying to kill me?”
Jack sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t. That was pure luck. I got a text from the state lab that they found one partial fingerprint on the knife. Cherie Mullaney. Her prints were in the system because she’d done some volunteer work at a high school. I also got word from my contact in Chicago that she took out a million-dollar insurance policy on her husband about six months ago. That was enough to get my attention. I was coming to pick her up when she ran screaming and yelling right out of your front door and bang, right into me.”
About that…
“That’s good then.”
I sat down on the edge of the desk, the adrenaline draining from my body, leaving me limp and exhausted. It had been one heck of day. Where was that glass of wine and hot bath I’d been dreaming about?
“Are you going to be okay? I need to get back to work.”
Blinking a few times, I had to run Jack’s words through my head again to comprehend them. My brain was officially mush.
“Sure. Yeah. I’m good. Go ahead.”
He didn’t appear convinced. “Are you sure? You look pale.”
“Because a woman tried to kill me with a fern a few minutes ago. That doesn’t happen to me every day.” I took a fortifying breath and waved him away. “Seriously, I’m good. Fine. Go ahead.”
“I’ll need your statement but it can wait until morning.”
“Okay.”
He took a step toward the door and then hesitated. “I can have a deputy come sit with you.”
“I’m all good.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Missy for you. You shouldn’t be by yourself.”
That was an excellent idea. Missy. She’d known what to say or do.
“Thank you.”
He spoke softly into the phone and then hung up. “She’s on her way.”
“It won’t take her five minutes to get here, Jack. You can go. You’ve got a killer to deal with.”
The real one this time.
“She’s not going anywhere.”
I looked up at him and our gazes met. I saw a heck of a lot of worry in those blue eyes. Unneeded worry, in my estimation. I’d be fine just as soon as my heart and breathing went back to normal.
“Neither am I. Go take a victory lap, Sheriff. You earned this one.”
We both did.
For a long moment, I didn’t think Jack was going to go but he eventually turned and left leaving me sitting on my desk with Howard the Fern massacred on the floor.
I didn’t know how long I sat there, slightly numb but Missy walked in, took one look at the office, and bundled me out of there. All the while I protested about Howard the Fern but Missy said she’d get me a new Howard.
My mom was going to be so upset about Howard. That’s when I realized it…
“You can’t tell my mom what happened. She’ll freak out.”
“Your mom is going to find out what really happened,” Missy said patiently, pushing open the door to my apartment. “The whole town is going to know. You helped catch a killer. You’re a hero.”
A hero? No way. Terrence was the hero but no one would ever know that.
“I don’t want to be a hero.”
“Too late. The whole town is going to be talking about how you exposed a murderer. I bet you’ll get a free meal at Daisy’s.”
If it was chicken and dumplings, that would be awesome.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lorna and Adam put their last suitcase in the trunk of the car before pulling me into such a tight hug I could barely breathe. They’d been released from jail this morning after Cherie had confessed, plus the forensics that had come back from the state lab. The DNA would take much longer but the partial print that Cherie had failed to clean off the knife told the tale.
“I don’t know how to thank you and the sheriff,” Lorna said tearfully, her voice thick with emotion. “I could have spent the rest of my life in prison.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I assured her, my face growing warm. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on how you looked at it.
“Your statement to the sheriff helped,” Lorna replied firmly. “And I am grateful. We both are.”
Adam’s face was about as red as mine was but he nodded awkwardly, the car keys jangling between his fingers. He wanted to leave and I couldn’t blame him. This town hadn’t been a vacation paradise for either one of these people.
“What happens now?” I asked Lorna as Adam opened the passenger door. “What will you do?”
Sighing, Lorna’s eyes filled with more tears. “I’m not sure. Jerry was stealing from his partner so I assume we don’t have any money. He must have spent it all. I guess I’ll have to get a job. It won’t be so bad. At least I won’t be in prison.”
“That’s true. There are worse things than working for a living.”
A car pulled up next to theirs and I tensed when I saw who was driving it. Angela. This could go sideways really fast. What was she thinking coming here?
Angela jumped out of the vehicle and ran around the hood to stand in front of Lorna.
“I’m so glad I caught you before you left.” Angela paused before continuing. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. Really sorry.”
Angela didn’t say anything else and I held my breath waiting for Lorna’s response. They had shouted at each other not long ago so I didn’t have much hope that this encounter would be any better, but Lorna simply nodded in return.
“Thank you.”
No shouting. No name calling.
Angela fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “I wanted to give this to you. Jerry was hiding money from you. He told me about it. He has an account in the Cayman Islands. I thought you might need it.”
Lorna accepted the slip of paper with a smile. “I do, thank you.”
Without another word Angela turned and climbed back into her car, driving away.
I pointed to the paper. “Maybe things won’t be so dire after all.”
“Maybe,” Lorna said. “But I think I still want to get a job. I want to be useful. Besides, this money probably belongs to Wagner.”
Adam placed his hand on Lorna’s shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
“I am.”
The two of them drove away, waving and smiling as they disappeared down the road. It felt good that two innocent people were going free to live their lives.
Back in my office I was surprised to see Jack leaning against my desk, examining the repotted Howard the Fern. Missy had stopped by this morning and with hope, luck, and water he would survive.
I hadn’t expected to see Jack again this morning. I would have thought he’d be busy at the station after I’d given him my statement.
“Where is your SUV?”
“I parked it out back. I didn’t think Lorna and Adam wanted to see me again.”
“That’s true,” I conceded. “They say they’ll come back for the Fall Festival next year but I’ll be shocked if they do. How’s Cherie?”
“I took her full statement this morning and now it’s up to the forensics lab and the prosecutors. Cherie’s going to be transferred this afternoon to the county lock up. She pretty much admitted everything. Her whole plan was to come here to a small town where the police resources wouldn’t be experienced in murder and frame Lorna. She planted the knife in the trunk as you know. She wrote Lorna’s name on the wall and she also impersonated her when she stabbed Bergstrom. She wore a wig in case anyone saw her, which no one did.”
“That explains–”
I broke off, not wanting to say out loud that Terrence had seen “Lorna” that morning. But from a distance he couldn’t tell that it was Cherie.
“Explains what?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. So it’s all over. What a relief. Unless there’s something else you want to discuss with me?”
Tense, I waited for his verdict. Just what had he seen last night?
His eyes narrowed and he rubbed his chin. “Not that I can think of. Why? Did you have something you wanted to talk about, Tedi?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“Then it’s all good.”
I’m not sure I would call it good. Weird? Yes. Good? Maybe.
“How about I fix you a late lunch, Sheriff? On the house.”
“I wouldn’t turn that down.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “And I think I owe you this.”
/>
I respected a man who paid his debts.
“They toilet-papered your trees.”
I didn’t make it sound like a question.
“They’ll regret it.”
“You’ll never find out who did it.”
“I just solved a double murder, Tedi. I think I can find a couple of kids with a six-pack of toilet paper.”
“If you say so. Now how about that lunch?”
I wasn’t going to bring up that moment in the office again. It was best to simply leave it alone. Sheriff Jack Garrett was in denial. He either didn’t see anything or he didn’t want to talk about it. Interesting.
I’d been given a reprieve. For now.
I hope you enjoyed Eat, Drink, and Be Scary! Don’t miss the next mystery in the Ravenmist Whodunnit series – Ghoul You Be My Valentine?
Thank you for reading.
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About The Author
Olivia Jaymes is a wife, mother, lover of sexy romance and cozy mysteries, and caffeine addict. She lives with her husband, son, and two spoiled dogs in central Florida and spends her days typing on her computer with a canine on her lap.
She is currently working on a new cozy mystery series – A Ravenmist Whodunnit – in addition to her other ongoing romance series.
Visit Olivia Jaymes at
www.OliviaJaymes.com
Eat, Drink, and Be Scary (A Ravenmist Whodunit Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 1) Page 15
