Josiah Reynolds Box Set 4

by Abigail Keam

  It would have been nice to let Sandy know the DA had dropped all charges against her. There was no direct evidence she started the fire at her house or was tied to the murders of Carol Elliott or Toby.

  The DA’s office interviewed me, and I truthfully told them even though Sandy had hinted at arson, she never actually confessed to starting the fire. Since the house was uninsured and insurance fraud was not involved, they decided to drop the entire matter.

  That’s great for Sandy, but what about Shaneika? Sandy hadn’t paid her a dime, and now Shaneika was out what was owed her.

  Shaneika groused, “Clients skipping town and not paying my legal fees happens more often than you think. I just put a lien on her property. Forget it, Josiah.”

  As the lazy summer drifted along, I did forget.

  I rode Glory a couple more times, but Hunter was in the midst of serious renovation of Wickliffe Manor, so he didn’t come over as much as he would have liked. Without Hunter, I didn’t have the confidence to ride Glory, so I patiently waited, though Baby and I visited the Hanoverian and the Paint every day.

  Walter Neff finally cashed my check after I went over to his apartment and threatened to call the police for a wellness check if he didn’t open his door. I think Walter was lonely and still not over the death of his lady friend, Bunny Witt, so he took it out on me. I let him scream and call me names, getting the poison out of his system. He stopped finally, from sheer exhaustion.

  We took his beloved Avanti for a drive and had dinner at a seafood place along the river. Of course, I picked up the check.

  Walter’s mood brightened when I suggested Shaneika Mary Todd needed another investigator, and he should talk to her about it. Regardless of what I thought of Walter personally, he was a good shamus. When we parted, I hoped I had reached some sort of détente with him, but who knows with Walter?

  Things seemed to be falling into place, and that’s the devil’s trap–complacency. Everything is fine and you let your guard down. You just don’t see it coming.

  I was getting ready for dinner at Matt’s when I heard scratching at my front door. Thinking it was Ginger, Matt’s dog, coming to play with Baby, I opened the door without checking my monitors.

  “Georgie!” I exclaimed. “What in the world!” I quickly picked her up and looked around. No sign of Sandy, but she had to be nearby.

  I quickly closed the door and locked it.

  Georgie, not noticing my distress, kissed me with several licks and squirmed in my arms. When I let her down, she ran to find Baby. Seconds later, I heard yips of joy and heavy thudding, which I took to be them playfully chasing each other.

  I remained stationed at my monitors, scouring the grounds for Sandy. “This is silly,” I said to myself.

  “Georgie. Georgie,” I called.

  She didn’t come.

  I found her nestled on my couch with one of Baby’s chew toys. Baby was seated in front of her with a concerned look on his face, which Georgie ignored, happily gnawing away.

  I called Shaneika’s office. She wasn’t there, so I left a message with her secretary that Sandy Sloan was back, and most likely at her house. Then I left a message on Shaneika’s personal phone.

  Gathering a leash, I clipped it to Georgie’s collar. “Your mommy is probably looking for you. Let’s take you home.” I fed her a treat, and made sure she saw me put more goodies in my pocket. She leapt off the couch, jumped up on Baby one more time for good measure, and followed me without complaint.

  It took all my strength to shove Baby back at the front door so he wouldn’t come with us.

  I hurried along the path near the top of the Palisades, hoping I wouldn’t meet Darius Combs along the way. Since my golf cart was electric, it was silent, so Sandy couldn’t hear me as I swung around the burned house, looking for her.

  I saw Sandy before she saw me. It wasn’t until I was in her peripheral vision she looked up, and then it was too late–for both of us.

  I saw what I saw.

  A shovel stuck in the ground next to a freshly-dug hole near the equipment shed. Beside the hole, I saw Sandy counting a wad of money from a tin can, which lay open beside her.

  Another thing lay beside her. A shotgun.

  But the thing that really caught my attention was a man’s Omega Seamaster watch on her wrist. The stainless steel band caught the sun and shone, making it hard to miss.

  The pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

  “I brought your dog back, Sandy.”

  At the sight of Sandy, Georgie yipped and squirmed to be let down.

  I tightened my grip on her.

  “I was wondering where she had gotten to.” Sandy slowly slid her hand along the ground until it rested on the shotgun.

  “She wanted to play with Baby. Since you appear to be busy, I’ll take her back to the house, and you can come for her when you’re done,” I suggested, playing for time.

  Sandy picked up the shotgun. “I don’t think so. Step out of the cart, please?”

  “No.”

  “No?” Sandy grimaced. “You’re such a tiresome person, Josiah. Get out of the cart and do what you are told, for once in your pathetic life.”

  “My friend, Hunter, is back at the house waiting for me,” I lied, pressing on the cart’s pedal to go.

  Sandy raised the shotgun and blasted a tire at the rear of the cart.

  I screamed, and Georgie frantically clawed me in fear, but I didn’t let go. I could feel blood ooze from where she scratched me.

  The adrenaline really kicked into my system. It was either flee or fight. I pressed the pedal again, which produced a grinding sound. The cart didn’t move. It was too damaged. Fleeing was out of the question, so now I was going to have to fight.

  I was mad. Real mad. If I was going to go down, I was taking this bitch with me. “I’m getting tired of folks pulling a gun on me and making threats.”

  “I guess you need to hang around a better class of people.”

  I held Georgie closer. I could feel her panicked little heart beating against my panicked big heart. “You wouldn’t shoot Georgie, Sandy. You love her too much.”

  “Put her down.”

  “Not on my life. Georgie stays with me. If you make a move, I’ll snap her neck.”

  “Looks like we have a Mexican standoff.”

  “I’m going to get out now, and when I get back to my place safe and sound, I’ll let Georgie go.” Not taking my eye off Sandy, I carefully scooted out of the cart, and slowly backed up with Georgie closely pressed to my chest.

  Sandy took a step forward.

  “Don’t come any closer, Sandy. I’m trying to get out of here with nobody getting hurt. I get safely back to my house, Georgie runs back to you, and you leave. This event was a little misunderstanding between neighbors. Oh, by the way, all charges against you have been dropped. You’re free to go wherever, and do whatever you want.”

  Sandy smirked. “That’s the way I planned it. I knew the charges for arson were never going to stick.”

  “And Toby’s murder?” I just couldn’t keep my big mouth shut, could I?

  “That, too. Have you figured it out?”

  “Not until I saw your father’s watch on your arm. There were only two places the watch could have been–down at the bottom of the river or with the murderer.”

  “I can tell you, since we’re alone. I want to tell you. I want you to know. You always thought you were so smart. You bored me to tears with your pontification about art. Oh, the great Josiah with her PhD in art history. I would make fun of you to Toby after you left. He would laugh and laugh. We both thought you were a pompous ass.”

  I winced, because it hurt to hear Sandy utter those words. “I was a good friend to you.”

  “Yes, I guess you were, but I didn’t care. I used you to make the connections I needed to sell my paintings.”

  “How could I have been so stupid?”

  “You were so blind to a great many things. You didn’t even notic
e Brannon and me. We had a little thing going for a couple of months. You look shocked. You think Ellen Boudreaux was his only indiscretion?” Sandy laughed. “Oh, you poor sap.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “No, dear, I’m not. Brannon was a notorious womanizer during the last years of your marriage. He made it with lots of your friends.”

  “Stop. Please stop.”

  “The truth hurts, doesn’t it? The one thing I’m very good about is facing the truth.”

  “Like Toby cheating on you.”

  “I wasn’t going to take it lying down, the way you did with Brannon. I spent years building my career, painting until my hands were raw from work, and sucking up to people like you. Then when I finally achieve a level of success, Toby decides he’s tired of me, but not tired of the money I was bringing in.

  “It was true about him messing with my medication. I knew what Toby was doing, and I wasn’t going to have it.”

  “So you killed him.”

  “And got rid of his little girlfriend, too.”

  “You placed the note on Lonny’s car.”

  “I spent some time in Winchester asking around about him. Cost me a few bucks, but it was worth it. Found out Lonny had a filthy temper. I knew that gorilla would confront Carol. I was only hoping for a smackdown, but when he actually killed her–well, it was a bonus for me. Saved me the trouble of killing the cow myself.”

  “You were going to kill Carol and frame Lonny for it?”

  “Like I said, he saved me a good deal of trouble.”

  “How did you find out about the affair?”

  “She called and bragged about it. Remember, I told you.”

  “I know you’re lying, Sandy. The police found Carol’s journal. She wrote Toby had told her about messing with your medication, and she wanted to break it off. She was starting to get scared. Carol called to warn you about Toby, and you killed her for her kindness.”

  “Killing with kindness, that’s me. Oh, don’t look so upset, Jo. They both had it coming. You killed your own husband by aggravating him to death.”

  “Brannon having a heart attack due to stress in his life is hardly the same thing as blowing the side of your husband’s face off with a shotgun, presumably with the one you’re holding on me.”

  “I can say Lonny killed Toby.”

  “But you’re the one wearing the Omega watch, the one your father gave Toby, which you took after you killed Toby. Then you released the brake on the truck letting it slide into the river. It threw me that Toby was killed near Winchester, making Lonny the natural suspect.

  Somehow, you must have made Toby think Carol was going to meet him.”

  “She had already been dead for weeks, but Toby didn’t know that. He was going berserk not hearing from her, wondering what had happened. He just couldn’t go to her house. He had to wait until Carol contacted him.”

  “How did you manage to make him think Carol had arranged a meeting by the river?”

  “That’s my little secret. You don’t need to know everything.”

  I looked at the wad of money still lying on the ground. “That’s Toby’s share of the money. You burned enough money to make it look like you burned his half.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” Sandy looked around. “I’ll tell you something else about my husband. Toby bribed the surveyor to lie about our property line. The equipment shed is not on our property. Darius was right. That was Toby, a weasel to the end. See why I had to kill him to protect myself? I knew what he had in store for me.”

  I remained silent, trying to figure out how I was going to get out of this mess.

  “I’m so glad we’ve had this talk, Josiah, and cleared up a few things. Now give me my dog.”

  “I don’t think so, Sandy.” I took a step back.

  “We both know you’re not going to hurt Georgie. You don’t have it in you.”

  I took another step back. “Yes, I will. I snap her little neck.”

  “Oh, Josiah. So predictable to the end. You don’t have the nerve to hurt Georgie, but I do.” Sandy raised her shotgun.

  I dropped Georgie while turning to run, and stumbled on my own feet, falling flat on my face. I put my hands over my head and curled up into a ball.

  There was the loud sound of a shotgun blasting away, causing me to tinkle on myself. I didn’t feel anything, except for warm liquid between my legs. It took a moment to register, but there was no pain or blood oozing out of my body.

  I heard movement, the rustling of grass, and Georgie’s constant yipping.

  “Get up, girlie. You ain’t hurt except for your pride. Get up. I ain’t gonna chew my cabbage twice.”

  “Darius?” I cautiously opened my eyes and peered from between my fingers.

  Darius Combs stood a few feet from Sandy with his shotgun aimed squarely at her.

  Sandy had dropped her gun and stood as if in shock.

  “Git to my house and call the po-lice,” Darius said, pronouncing police with a very long o.

  “Am I shot?”

  “The blast you heard was from my gun. I got the drop on Sandy. Now, git.”

  “Where did you come from? How did you know?” I was astounded I had been saved by Darius Combs, the meanest man on Tates Creek Road.

  “Been keepin’ an eye on this place. I knew she’d come back. That’s why I took her paintings. I wanted a reason to jaw a spell with her.

  “I’ve always been right suspicious Sandy kilt Toby. She was always full of malice. When she came back this morning, I’d hid and been watchin’ her. You came along and got her to talkin’. I heard the whole, sorry thing.”

  Darius shifted his gaze to Sandy before spitting a wad of tobacco juice near her feet. “I told you, Josiah, her shed was on my propitty, but you never believed me, always taking Sandy’s side of things.”

  “I was wrong, Darius. I’m sorry,” I said, slowly trying to get up. Getting back on my feet was not as easy as falling on my feet.

  Darius went over to Sandy and kicked the shotgun away.

  “What did you shoot?” I asked.

  “Your golf cart. The noise startled Sandy so much, she dropped her gun. Didn’t see that comin’, didja, girlie?”

  I glanced at my cart. It was, indeed, shot all to pieces.

  Sandy fired back, “Shut up, Darius. It doesn’t matter what you two say to the police. I’m disturbed. This encounter will only prove it. I was hallucinating when I killed my husband. The court will never send me to prison. I’ll go to a nice mental facility and get out in two years. The notoriety will make the price on my paintings skyrocket.”

  As I made my way to call the authorities, I couldn’t help but think Sandy was right. She would get out and have a good life, while Toby and Carol were rotting in their graves.

  As for me, I had been a fool where Sandy was concerned. She never had any regard for me. I should have seen it. I should have been more discerning about my friend.

  When will I learn?

  Epilogue

  Sandy’s in jail waiting for the court system to sort things out. No bail this time, and she had to get another lawyer. Shaneika refused to represent her again.

  One thing I did do before the police arrived was take five thousand dollars from the wad of money on the ground. I was determined to make sure Shaneika was paid one way or another. I also bought another used golf cart with Sandy’s money.

  Listen–there is justice, and then there is Kentucky justice–and Kentucky justice is raw and dark. Take it where you can find it. I make no excuses.

  When I dropped the rubber-banded stack of cash on Shaneika’s desk a week later, she didn’t ask any questions, but put the money in a manila envelope and stashed it in her safe. She didn’t even bother to say thank you. That’s Shaneika for you.

  Lo and behold, Darius took Georgie as a forever pet. I was hesitant about the arrangement, but they both seem to be happy. Georgie comes over frequently with Darius in tow, for play dates with Baby. He sits in a chair watch
ing her play with a silly grin on his face. Everything Georgie does is wonderful, according to Darius. Maybe he’s not such a jerk after all.

  Glory and I are taking riding lessons. I’m keeping this from Hunter. I want to surprise him with my new riding skill. I don’t know when that will be, since I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s been busy or so he says.

  I don’t put much stock in what people say anymore. If Hunter wants to see me, he’ll call. If he doesn’t, he won’t. I’m not going to lose sleep over him, the way I did with Brannon and Jake.

  One thing I do know is that I have the love of Asa, my daughter, and my dear friends, Franklin, Matt, and Lady Elsmere.

  Their love will do very nicely for now.

  Death By Drama

  A Josiah Reynolds Mystery

  Abigail Keam

  Worker Bee Press

  Josiah joins an amateur thespian group that puts on plays in quirky places like public parks and crumbling antebellum mansions. It is a way to socialize, and Josiah feels lonely when her friend Hunter stops calling. Since the new play is being staged at Hunter’s ancestral home Wickliffe Manor, Josiah sees this as a win-win situation. She gets to have fun and remind Hunter that she is still alive and kicking. Hint. Hint.

  What could go wrong? Everything!

  Hunter ignores the acting group including Josiah, and it doesn’t help when the leading lady, Madison Smythe, drops dead on Hunter’s antique Persian rug. To make matters worse, Franklin, Hunter’s brother, is arrested for her murder!

  Josiah does the only thing she can. She sends an S.O.S. to her daughter Asa to investigate the murder. Asa must also discover why a love note from Hunter was found in the dead woman’s coat pocket. Josiah is ready for romance, but she doesn’t want to fall in love with a cheater . . . and possibly a murderer!

  Death By Drama

  Copyright © 2018 Abigail Keam

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author.