by Anna Drake
Welcome to the club, I thought.
“May I come in?” she demanded.
Andrew came up behind me and spoke softly in my ear. “Tell her no. Make up any excuse. Tell her you’re going out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’m on my way to my daughter’s house.”
“That’s okay. I won’t take long.” She stepped around me and entered my home.
“Get her out,” Andrew whispered, urgently.
I turned to face her. “What do you want?”
“Tea.”
“Wonderful, I just made some.”
“I thought you said you were on your way out.”
“I am… or I was.”
Suddenly Andrew popped up behind her. And just as suddenly he disappeared.
I staggered back a step. My hand flew to my chest. He’d abandoned me. But what else could he do? He had no substance. When it came right down to it, I was on my own. I always had been.
I told myself that she didn’t know I suspected she was the killer. If I stayed calm and didn’t give myself away, I should be able to come out of this alive. “You’ve come to the right place, then,” I said, refocusing myself to the task at hand.
Rose pressed her face close to mine. “I hear you visited the library today.”
I took another step backwards. “How did you know about that?”
“My cousin’s the librarian. She’s been keeping an eye on you for me. I’ve known all about your various visits and who you were researching.”
I took a deep breath. “What do you want with me?”
“Let’s go to the kitchen, shall we?”
“Okay.” I could think of worse locations. If she had come to harm me, there were things in the kitchen that could be used for defense. Knives. Heavy pots. Cast iron skillets. If it came down to it, I would grab the nearest item and let her have it.
In the meantime, I needed to keep her talking. I had to find a way to save myself from this madwoman. “How about that tea?”
She chuckled. “Sounds wonderful.”
Blackie was finishing up the bone from my evening’s pork chop when we entered the room.. He took one look at us and sprang from the floor to the top of the refrigerator where he sat and used his paw to clean his face. Rose seated herself at the table. I walked on to the countertop to pour the tea.
“What makes you think my library search this afternoon had anything to do with you?”
“Who else would it be? I’ve watched you sniffing around the other people. Trying to figure out where Carrie’s money went and if it might have been funneled off by them.”
“You were following me?” I reached up and grabbed two mugs from the cupboard.
Rose heaved a heavy sigh. “Once in a while, yes. How else could I keep track of you? You’ve been so much trouble. All you were supposed to do was go with me that night. Be there when the body was found. That’s all I wanted from you. A harmless, honest witness. Someone to be trusted to give my story the ring of truth.”
“You planned it all? Right from the beginning?”
She nodded. “Even down to the box in the closet. Thought you were so clever, didn’t you. Insisting on delivering it to Oberton. But I wanted him to have it. I hoped the items in there would lead him on a merry chase.”
“You intended for me to find it?”
“Who sent you to the closet?”
I thought back, and my jaw dropped. “You did,” I whispered.
“Of course I did. How do you think it happened? I thought with your love of mysteries you’d be the perfect patsey. Instead, you turned out to be my worst nightmare.”
“You took Carrie’s money?”
“Of course. She was the sort of person who was easily led. Her husband taught her well. She did whatever she was told. She was used to a strong hand guiding her.”
“And you were delighted to play that role.”
“It had its appeal, yes.”
“How did you know about the money?”
“I’d heard rumors of the inheritance. I renewed our youthful friendship, discovered the rumors were real, and helped myself to it.”
“You organized it right out from under her, you mean.”
“Don’t be bitter. She wasn’t. She didn’t mind. She was a charming woman. You’d have liked her. She just wasn’t very bright.”
“Then why did you kill her?”
“She was getting dotty. Was starting to talk about the money. I couldn’t have that, could I?”
“And Jennifer?”
“She didn’t know a thing about it.”
“And Hank?”
“He was a babe in the woods. Until you asked him about the inheritance. Then he came to see me. You didn’t know that did you?”
I shook my head.
“He came to ask me about Carrie and her finances. Of course, I lied. I told him you were passing on false stories. Stories that had always circulated here but that had no basis in fact.” She chuckled. “He believe me, too.”
“Then why kill him?”
“Because at some point, it might have occurred to him that I’d lied. That there had been money and that I’d made off with it. I couldn’t risk that, now could I?”
“And now what?”
“What do you think? You played the game well, but you’ve lost.”
“You’re going to kill me, too?”
“At first I thought I might move away. I wouldn’t mind a change of scene. I’ve got enough money to go wherever I please. Paris. London. Barbados. I had the whole world to choose from.”
“But you decided not to go?”
“Right. You were my inspiration. All that packing. All that sorting. Put the house on the market. Deal with real estate agents and offers from buyers. Ultimately, I decided it would be easier, simpler really, to just kill you. I can always visit those places on vacations.
Don’t you feel any remorse?” I eased closer to the stovetop. The cast iron skillet still sat there, unwashed from when I’d used it to fry my pork chop..
“What are you doing?” Rose asked.
“Nothing.”
Rose jumped up from her chair and pulled a knife free from her jacket pocket.
“No,” I screamed.
My scream must have caught Blackie’s attention because suddenly a black streak jumped from the refrigerator to Rose’s shoulder. He swiped a paw across her face, and a crimson marked blossomed in its wake.
“Awk,” she yelled, her hand flying to her cheek. “Get this thing off me.”
“Blackie, get out of the way,” I told him.
“Mother,” Megan shouted from the front door. “Mom, where are you?”
Rose spun round to face the living room. I grabbed the skillet and lunged for Rose. I swung the heavy weapon upward. Then I sent it crashing onto the top of Rose’s head, and watched her collapse onto the floor.
***
Megan and I threw ourselves into each other’s arms. “What sent you here tonight,” I asked, sobbing.
“It was like someone had climbed inside my head. A little voice kept saying that you were in trouble. That I had to come. It was a voice I found impossible to resist.”
Andrew. He hadn’t forsaken me. Even without a bone to his name, he’d found a way to help me.
I sobbed even harder.
Megan managed to pull herself together. She called the police. And with skillet in hand, she stood guard over Rose until they arrived.
At some point, I looked up and found Andrew. He was on the far side of the kitchen, staring at me with lovelight in his eyes.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed this story. As for me, I’m a former journalist who lives in a small house in a small town in rural Illinois.
To learn when new books in my mystery series are available, you may follow my blog, like me on Facebook, or follow me on my Amazon Author Page.
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Other Books by This Author:
Bones & Boxes, a Hetty Fox Cozy Mystery
High Stakes, a Hetty Fox Short
Coming Soon: Old Bones, a Hetty Fox Cozy Mystery
Death Among the Roses, a Melanie Hart Cozy Mystery
The Case of the Missing Elf, a Melanie Hart Cozy Mystery
A Long Way Home, An Angela Clark Adventure
A New Beginning, An Angela Clark Adventure
Other titles may be found at my website.
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