by Kate Young
“What is that? What are you doing?” Ellen rose to her feet, hobbling a little. “You better not be getting any wild ideas. What’s that? A note?”
Too late to try and hide it. “Yes.”
“What’s it say? Drop that jar!”
I gave my cousin a look of disdain as I dropped it at her feet.
“Why did you kill Carol? Because of the inheritance? I heard Kevin wanted it all.”
Ellen pushed me deeper into the woods. She gaped when she got closer to me. “Kevin should be inheriting all the money, not Carol.” Doubt shone in her eyes, and I heard ambivalence in her tone.
“Because of the Jane Doe, then?”
She shook her head as if pushing the notion from her mind. “I didn’t kill Carol or that stupid Jane Doe. You’re so blind.”
“Then enlighten me.” I stumbled over a tire wedged in the dirt.
She leaned closer to me, and I was ready to knock her on her ass, when she whispered, “Read that note. It might be important.”
I gaped. She was insane!
She nudged me with the barrel of the gun, and I jumped, staring at the pages. In Carol’s hand was a written confession of sorts.
The Jane Doe has a name. She had parents. She had a sister …
Oh my God! I kept reading.
Ellen read over my shoulder, pressing the gun to my side, “Sweet Jesus! Listen to me,” she said urgently, her eyes darting rapidly around. “The gun isn’t loaded. Play along and we might get out of here alive.”
Play along with what? Had my cousin snapped because of Kevin? A shotgun being cocked echoed in the woods, and Ellen grabbed my arm. Panting, I scanned the area, and my heart nearly stopped when I spied a person dressed in camouflage step from the cover of the overgrowth.
“One little Jane Doe left all alone; she went and hanged herself and then there were none.”
“Val?” I hardly recognized her. She had a hangman’s noose wrapped around her arm. My mind spun, and I recalled the person in the car at the Fast Trip. It had been her! “Why?” I croaked, my eyes filling with tears.
“Toss the mailer over here, Ellen, and kick that gun away.”
Ellen complied. “I-I did what you asked. I’m here to trade my cousin and the evidence for Kevin’s freedom.”
Did she believe Val could free Kevin? Ellen paled and seemed to become disconcerted. I was no longer shaking; I was downright furious.
Val poked her lip out. “Poor Ellen, so in love she can’t see straight.”
“You’ll call the authorities now, right? Hand over the evidence that proves his innocence.” Ellen squealed as a bug swarmed at her face.
Val let out a giant belly laugh. “Kevin can rot, for all I care.”
If Ellen had ever taken the time to read a mystery or true crime novel or, hell, watch the news, she’d have known not to bargain with killers. I had no disillusionments regarding my predicament. Val’s presence made everything apparent.
I stared at the stranger standing before me, and pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. She’d dropped me hints. Little crumbs along the way she wanted me to piece together. Her anger toward Carol, not for dying, as I initially thought, but for attempting to betray her. She’d manipulated everyone and everything around her to control what I found out and when. Until the pictures. “You! It was you all this time.”
“Do I detect some hostility or maybe jealousy that my intelligence far supersedes yours, Miss PI?” She took her cap off, shook her hair out, and gave a little smile, trying to appear modest, as if she’d done something amazing. She failed. The woman was proud of her actions, and I felt ill.
Gone was the person I thought I knew. It was as if she’d shed her humanity like a second skin, and what remained was sheer arrogance, hubris, and gall.
“I don’t find you all that clever. I find you monstrous.” Her life had been a skein of lies.
She laughed. “I’m cleverer than any killer in any true crime novel we’ve ever read. You were living in a true crime story and never knew it. And after Chelsea told me about the rhyme Carol left with her, I couldn’t resist playing along. She’d promised to hand the scarf and rhyme over to me, and would have, if her stupid mother-in-law hadn’t swiped it.” Val puffed out her chest as she watched me process the fact she’d known about the note before I did.
“You’re a monster,” I grated through clenched teeth.
She grinned, pointed the shotgun at me, and I hit the dirt. A shot echoed over my head. Ellen screamed.
“Not so brave now, are we? That’s the problem with all y’all rich girls. Talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, you ain’t got nothin’.” She pointed the barrel of the shotgun right at me, and I quaked in my shoes. “Get up.”
I did.
“Girls like me, we do what we must to survive. Silence whoever we have to.”
Ellen started backing away, “This has nothing to do with me. I did my part. I’m not one of the Jane Does. You said, you were going to kill the Jane Does.”
“Shut up and start walking.”
I grabbed Ellen’s hand and pulled her along. Blood pumped in my ears so loudly I could hardly hear anything else. Ellen kept sobbing and stumbling over her feet. The briars were scratching our legs and arms as we waded through, very aware of the crazy woman at our back with a loaded shotgun. If I didn’t do something soon, Ellen and I and the rest of the Jane Does were dead. Fury replaced fear within me.
I kept my tone even. “Carol was smarter than you give her credit for.”
Silence for a few beats.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I detected the hint of concern in Val’s tone.
“Well, she left one note—how do you know she didn’t leave another. One exposing you for the friend-killing monster that you are.”
“Ha!” Val mocked, though she didn’t sound as convincing as she had before.
A minute later, Val came around in front of us, red faced. “You’re such a fool, Lyla. I didn’t kill Carol. She was my one true friend.”
“Why should I believe anything you say? You told Ellen you were going to kill the Jane Does. Your friends,” I bit out and instantly wished I could retract the words.
Her eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t have considered it if stupid Carol hadn’t sent the e-mail out. I even tried to stop the chain reaction. But the club decided to get involved in something y’all knew nothing about.”
Ellen started crying again loudly. Val kicked at her, and she went down hard on one knee. “No more talk!” I helped Ellen to her feet, and Val shoved me forward.
Ellen started blubbering again and shaking all over. Her anxiety was infectious. “Please let me go. I won’t tell a soul, I swear. I gave you Lyla.”
“Shut up.” Val kicked Ellen’s injured leg, and she grunted in pain, lifting her hand to grip Val’s camo sweatshirt. Val batted her hand away as if she were a mere insect.
My eyes darted left as I made eye contact with Ellen. She waited a single beat before she made a dash to the left, toward the direction of the car, screaming and pumping her arms. Val hit me in the head with the butt of the gun and I went down. I lay still with my eyes closed. The pain was excruciating. Val gave chase to Ellen, and I wasted no time scrambling to my feet and running in the opposite direction, deeper into the woods.
A shot echoed above my head. I dove to the ground as the birds took flight, leaving the safety of the trees. Filled with adrenaline, I army-crawled behind an ancient oak, hearing Val screaming my name and thanking God she’d decided to hit me instead of shooting me.
“Lyla! Come on out now.”
My heart hammered so loudly I feared she’d hear it.
“Lyla. Where are you? I have your cousin. I’ll kill her. You know I will.”
From my vantage point I couldn’t tell if she had Ellen or not. I couldn’t chance it. If I kept quiet and hid, I had no doubt Val would execute my cousin. And I would not let anyone else die at Val’s hand. “Let Ellen go and we can wor
k this out. Carol did leave a note. She told us everything. Don’t add to it by hurting someone else.”
“Stop trying to be clever. You’re not. You don’t know anything.”
“The Jane Doe is your biological sister! You set the fire that killed your parents!” I yelled from the dense cover of overgrown brush, peering through to see if I could spy my cousin.
Val’s steps slowed. “Stupid Carol.” She sounded annoyed. “Whatever. I can change my plans.”
What did that mean?
“You hated your sister so much you actually killed her? You’re a monster, Val. And you made Carol live with the murder all these years and then killed her?”
Val snorted. “No one on the planet could push my buttons like Loretta. And I saved her ass too. Without me setting fire to the house, she’d have continued to live in that hell hole till our horrible parents killed us both.”
I heard her steps, coming closer. Only one set of steps. Ellen wasn’t with her or at least she wasn’t walking with her. I prayed Ellen had made it to safety and called for help.
“Loretta had some nerve showing up at the alumnae bonfire. I’d sent her money before when she threatened to out me. It was never enough. So that night, I’d had it. Carol and I were out in the parking lot, doing tequila shots in my car. Loretta had been stealing what she could from those too drunk to notice. That’s how she got Ellen’s necklace.” Val sounded disgusted.
“Still, how could you kill your own flesh and blood?” I darted to another tree. I had to keep her talking. I’d know where she was if I did.
“I didn’t have a choice! She threatened to tell everyone all about how I had a personality disorder and killed our parents. We scuffled. Carol tried to help me, and she got knocked down and hit her head. Loretta started screeching murderer at the top of her lungs. I had the scarf around my neck.”
“Surely, there was another way!”
“What would you know about it? Living your stupid charmed life. I warned her. Told her to shut her stupid mouth. I gave her chances, even after I wrapped the scarf around her neck.”
“So it was an accident,” I said as calmly as I could manage.
I could hear Val moving through the brush. “Carol had her suitcase in the trunk of her car. She’d been planning on spending the night at my house. It was a feat to get Loretta into the suitcase without anyone seeing. But I managed.” She spoke as casually as if we were discussing a sale on sandals. “I lived a few miles from here before the adoption and knew there were a lot of rural areas where a person could disappear. It seems I’m not the only one. When I sobered up the next day, I drove her up here. Carol was so wasted that I convinced her it never happened. Time passed, and no one came forward to report anyone missing. That helped.”
“That’s why she battled with paranoia and anxiety?” Poor Carol.
“Yes. And it was all okay until that damn dumping grounds article, and she started seeing your father. He wanted her to question everything. To get to the root of her fears.” That sounded like Daddy.
“But it wasn’t Carol’s fault. She wrote about how much she loved you and had tried to save the rest of us from you.”
Val coughed. “I did love her.”
Getting too close. I moved again. Oh! “Carol never feared for her own life. She wrote you were the one she was going to run away with. That y’all would start a new life.”
Val huffed. “Carol wanted to go away. To hide me from danger since we both thought for sure you knew it was me in the car. It was a stroke of luck when you found the camo cap and also that the judge had Carol followed. Pinning her death on Kevin was easy from there. David was blinded by rage, and Greg—well, he was easy enough to manipulate. I knew about the camera being out at the police station.” She laughed. “You screamed like a little girl when you found the possum. And seriously, I knew you were having dinner with Quinn. Slipping in and writing on the mirror was nothing. You never suspected a thing. Texting you with a burner phone should have been enough to scare you off, but oh no, you wouldn’t relent.”
“Let me help you.” I shoved the paper back in my waistband and, as quietly as I could manage, went deeper into the dense forest.
“Ha! That’s what Carol said. I believed her until that night when she came into my house without calling. I had just loaded the new pictures to the flash drive. She stole it, and I thought for sure she’d turn me in. But she didn’t.”
“So you killed her!” I shouted, then changed locations.
“No! I pleaded with Carol to return them. I coaxed her to the house to explain. I came clean and told her everything. How I kept revisiting the body of my sister. Documenting her decomposition. She couldn’t under the reason I came back and had to see the body, again and again.And I couldn’t explain my need to see Loretta but promised I would stop. My promise did nother to appease her. She said she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. I convinced her we should take a trip. Relax and consider starting over in a new place. Her marriage with David was over, and everything she saw around here just reminded her of what we’d done.”
What Val had done—Carol wasn’t complicit in the murder, if you asked me.
“I would have gone through with it too. But at the last minute, while we were on our way to the airport, she freaked out and decided we should turn ourselves in. Some nonsense about freeing ourselves by telling the truth, something she learned from your father. I pulled over into a back road, and we fought. She had an attack.”
I spied Val’s boots several yards away. Too close. “That must have been awful for you.” Weapon. I have to find a weapon. As quietly as I could manage, I moved behind a couple of pines, my fingers digging into the bark.
“Yes. She clutched her chest and fell to her knees. She needed her pills, but they were in her purse. I told her she could have them if she swore to forget this again. I begged her to swear.” I could see Val shaking her head. “She did, but she complied far too easily. I wouldn’t let her have them. I meant it to teach her a lesson. She died before I could get my point across. I was so angry at her. She did this!”
A shot rang out and I jumped. Blood thrummed in my ears. She thought she’d found me.
“All she had to do was trust me. I would have taken care of everything. She would have never gone down for it.”
Sirens blared and a helicopter whirled above the trees.
“Hear that? You might as well throw your weapon down, Val. You’re going to prison for what you’ve done.”
“Oh, Lyla, neither one of us is leaving these woods. Too bad we couldn’t take all the Jane Does with us.” She sang, “Two little Jane Does running in the woods; one got shot and then there was one. One little Jane Doe left all alone; she went and hanged herself and then there were none.”
My breath came in pants. “Not funny, Val!”
“I think it is. Too bad Melanie didn’t come with you. We could have added another dead Jane Doe.”
I moved again.
“Stupid Melanie. She went and ranted on Facebook about losing her luggage. When I went by to see the townhouse with Ellen before they signed the lease, I saw her dumb suitcase being delivered. I took it before I left. I planned on throwing it out. I get so sick of Melanie thinking the world revolves around her.”
Melanie did not believe the world revolved around her.
“But when Carol and I got into it, I was glad I still had it. I thought, ‘Fine.’ Carol wanted drama. Wouldn’t let the Jane Doe die. So, I stuffed her in Mel’s suitcase just like her precious Jane Doe. Loretta deserved to rot for all eternity without her identity.”
“You delivered it the day you visited Ellen and Kevin?”
“Yes. I meant to put it at Melanie’s door. The idea of Mel’s face was priceless.” She smirked. “But Ellen came out before I could. I dumped it at your stoop instead. I had no idea it’d stir up your old issues and you’d become like a bitch with a bone.”
I scoped out the area for a weapon and found a big fallen bra
nch. I used my foot and hand to crack a piece off and readied myself. I heard her footsteps. She wasn’t a light walker.
“Put your weapon down and come out with your hands up,” I heard over the megaphone.
Val cackled. She actually cackled.
“Two little Jane Does …” she sang, and I shivered as she racked in another load, “walking in the woods.”
Anger consumed me like never before. Not only had she hidden her true nature from us, she’d try to terrorize me and the others in our club, when we began to discover the truth. She would have killed us all. That’s why she’d threatened Amelia at the funeral reception. Her entire life had been a farce. Val lived among us and pretended to be one of us when, in actuality, she embodied pure evil. What was that saying? “Hell is empty because the devils are here.” I gripped the thick branch and listened carefully.
“It could’ve been so different between Carol and me. Now … well … now it’s too late.”
I heard crunching to my left, and I slowed my breathing and tossed a rock farther left. She came toward the sound, crowing loudly, “And then there was one.”
The second I caught sight of her camo shirt, I stepped out and swung with all my might. Down she went like a ton of bricks. “One devil down.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Hello,” I called and walked into Mother and Daddy’s grandiose home and searched through the house. Daddy lifted a hand as he read today’s paper. There was an article printed about his work with Valerie Heinz. He’d asked my permission before he’d taken her on as a patient. She’d made a deal with the DA and confessed to everything. She’d exhibited psychotic behavior and the defense requested a psych evaluation, and she’d been admitted to the maximum-security psychiatric hospital. She’d asked for my father. She wanted the same doctor Carol Timms had worked with. Twisted. Truly sick, if you asked me.
She’d been completely unconscious when Brad and the team swarmed the woods that day. I’d handed over Carol’s confession, and since Val had shoved the bubble mailer containing the pictures and my cell phone into the waistband of her pants, her entire confession had been recorded by a nifty app Brad had on his phone. I would be downloading said app for my future investigations.
