School's Out for Murder (Schooled in Murder Book 2)

by Tracy D. Comstock

  Emily blinked, focusing on the most confusing of Gabby's questions. "It's morning already? I hate mornings. But I guess there's no emergency?" With an oomph, she pushed herself off the couch and headed to the kitchen to forage for some breakfast. Finding nothing but an overripe banana in the fruit bowl, and a deplorable lack of cereal, she grabbed a box of Chips Ahoy! and slumped down in the breakfast nook. When Gabby joined her, she held out the cookie box.

  "Really? For breakfast?" Gabby raised an eyebrow.

  "Your loss. More for me," Emily shrugged, shoveling in another bite of chocolaty goodness as she snatched the box back.

  "I didn't say I didn't want one," Gabby protested, snagging a cookie. "But I've already had breakfast with Greg and the twins."

  "It's official. I can never have kids. That is unless they agree to sleep in at least three days a week," Emily decided, ignoring Gabby's snort of laughter. "And to return to your probing questions. No, I only answer the door 'packing heat,' as you so weirdly put it, which makes you sound like some low-level gangster by the way, when I think someone's arriving in the middle of the night, right after one of our friends has been brutally assaulted in her place of work, and as to—"

  "That's why I'm here," Gabby interrupted, bouncing in her seat. "I called the hospital first thing this morning, and they've upgraded Amelia's condition to stable. I thought you'd want to go see her with me!"

  "That's great!" Emily said, popping up and hurrying to her bedroom, her lack of sleep all but forgotten in light of this good news. "I'll be ready in ten minutes." Gabby just laughed and reached for the cookie box.

  * * *

  "Twenty minutes," Gabby noted the time as they pulled out of Emily's driveway. "I'm impressed."

  "Give me a break," Emily told her. "We don't all roll out of bed looking like beauty queens, ya know?" She thought she'd done remarkably well on time, managing to shower, blow dry her hair, slap on some makeup, and don a pair of white linen capris, a cap-sleeved turquoise blouse, and silver, strappy sandals with a heel.

  Gabby rolled her eyes and switched on the radio. "So when'd you get the new phone?" she asked again, indicating the phone Emily was currently trying to plug into the car charger.

  "I went over to Brentville last night. After we all left the hospital, Tad had to go by the school to help Maclaine with something—again," Emily stressed. "So I went on home. Helen was coming back from a run, so I filled her in. When she told me to call her if I heard anything about Amelia, I remembered I still needed a phone. Where could mine have gotten to anyway?"

  "I've searched the house, but no dice," Gabby said.

  "Oh well," Emily shrugged. "I've got this one now. I'm going to go ahead and call Helen; I'm sure she's already up and about."

  By the time she'd finished her call, they were at the hospital. Stopping by the gift shop for the second time that week, Emily and Gabby bought a bouquet for Amelia and headed up to her floor. The nurse at the desk told them that Amelia was awake, but to keep their visit short. A police officer was seated on a chair outside the door, and Emily felt an involuntary shiver, thinking how lucky Amelia was to still be with them. Whoever had attacked her had clearly not meant for her to survive.

  Emily was afraid of how Amelia would look after seeing her so still and pale the day before, but she was relieved to see her sitting up in bed, although she still had several tubes sticking out of her. Her temple was covered by a large bandage, but they could still see that some of Amelia's gorgeous, brunette hair had been shaved.

  The minute Amelia saw Emily, tears filled her eyes. She held out both hands to her, and Emily and Gabby pulled up chairs beside the bed. "I hear I have you and Tad to thank for me being alive today."

  Emily felt her own eyes well with tears. "You certainly gave us a scare. How're you feeling?"

  "Like I got hit in the head with a 2x4," Amelia said, letting out a shaky laugh and self-consciously touching the white bandage.

  "Well, you look as beautiful as ever," Gabby told her, squeezing one of her hands. "And I'm sure Trent would agree. Where is he?"

  "He was here all night, but I sent him home to shower and change. He's been so good to me. I know he wants to thank you and Tad personally, Emily," Amelia told her.

  "There's no need to thank us," Emily said. "I'm glad we decided to stop when we did, but I'd be much happier if we'd come by even earlier." Secretly, she was relieved to hear that Trent had spent the evening with Amelia. Looked like her eyes had just been playing tricks on her last night.

  "I guess I should've locked the front door while I was working in my office, but I've never had to worry about that kind of thing before." Here she began to cry softly. "I don't know if I can ever go back there."

  "Hey, now, one thing at a time," Emily told her, passing the box of tissues to her, after grabbing one for herself. "Let's just concentrate on getting you well for right now."

  "That's what Trent said," Amelia said, blowing her nose. "It all makes no sense to me. Why would anyone attack me?"

  Since she'd brought the attack up, Emily decided to ask some of the questions that she had been wondering about the most. "Did you see who it was?"

  Amelia shook her head and then winced. Easing back against the pillows, she said, "I'd been working on some files in my office since we didn't have any clients scheduled. I was the only one there, but like I said, I left the front door unlocked. I had just went to the bathroom, and as I was walking back into my office, I remember seeing a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Before I could turn, though, something hit me, and…" She trailed off. The next thing that had happened was Emily and Tad finding her on the floor.

  "Do you have any idea at all who it might have been?" Gabby asked her gently.

  "No," Amelia said, sounding unbelievably weary. "But…"

  "But what?" Emily prompted.

  "But I wonder if it was Maclaine," she said quietly, so quietly they had to lean toward her to catch the words.

  "Why Maclaine?" Gabby asked, but Emily already had her own suspicions on that front.

  "Because you were denying the affair with Larry, and she wants the inheritance to herself?" Emily answered for her.

  Amelia sighed and said, "Yeah. I mean, the police told me about the will. I know that accusing Maclaine sounds awfully cold-blooded, but she's the only person I can think of with a motive at all. I'm hopeful the police will figure this all out soon. I don't want to live my life afraid."

  "If Larry would have just told the police straight up that you two are not having an affair, maybe none of this would have happened," Gabby said, standing up and fussing with the blinds to keep the sun out of Amelia's eyes. "That man makes me furious."

  "Would that man be me?" said a deep voice from the doorway.

  All three women looked up to see Larry McBain standing there, mangling a ball cap between his two hands. "Actually, yes," Gabby snapped. "What're you doing here?"

  Moving further into the room, Larry avoided making eye contact with Gabby, which was a smart move on his part, as she'd probably have cut him in half with her laser-focused glare. He stepped up beside Amelia, who didn't look any happier to see him there. "Amelia," he started, then stopped. "How are you?" he finally asked lamely.

  "I've been better, Larry," Amelia said angrily.

  "I know," Larry sighed. "I'm so sorry if any of this was my fault. But—" here he paused to look all three of them in the eye as if willing them to believe him, "I'm sure Maclaine had nothing to do with this."

  "Whether Maclaine did or not," Emily interjected, "you have to admit that this vicious attack may be related to the rumors that you and Amelia are involved in some affair. Rumors, I might add, that you have done nothing to squelch."

  As if sinking under the weight of their combined accusatory stares, Larry sat down in the one remaining visitor's chair, still keeping a death grip on the ball cap in his hands. "Look, I'm really sorry about all that. The thing is," his cheeks flushed as red as the roses on Amelia's beds
ide table, "I haven't exactly been forthcoming because I am involved with someone."

  Even though Emily had expected as much, she felt the words like a blow. By the looks on Gabby and Amelia's face, she was sure she wasn't the only one shocked by his admission. "With who?" Amelia finally asked. "Because I know it's not me!"

  "You've got to understand," Larry began, but Gabby stopped him right there.

  "We don't have to understand anything. But either way, I think you better explain yourself."

  Larry nodded and began to talk in a rushed voice, as if the sooner he got the words out, the better their reception of his news would be. "It's not like you think. I loved my wife. I would never have stepped out on her. But, the thing is, Janice was often very busy with her mayoral duties. Sometimes I felt like I was married to a shadow."

  "Oh, please," Amelia snapped. "Don't play the poor, pitiful neglected husband card."

  "No, that's not what I mean." Larry tried once again to explain. "It's just that I found myself at loose ends more often than not. I've always been a voracious reader, so I spent a lot of time in the library. Susanna Fowler and I went to school together, you know," they all nodded, "and Janice, too. In fact, I dated Susanna before Janice, and the more Susanna and I talked, the more I realized Susanna might still care for me. I was flattered and honestly, I realized I had some residual feelings for her as well."

  "Did you talk to your wife about this?" Gabby asked him sarcastically.

  "No." Larry hung his head. "And I'm sorry for that now. I justified my actions by telling myself that as long as I wasn't physically cheating on my wife, I was doing nothing wrong. But, I knew better. I had feelings for them both. I didn't know what to do."

  "So you decided to get Janice out of the way so that you could be with Susanna?" Emily asked, raising her voice just enough to attract the attention of the cop stationed by the door. Thankfully, Larry was too obsessed with clearing his conscience to notice when the cop stepped inside the room, listening intently.

  "No! I would never hurt my wife. In fact, the night she—she," a tear slid down his cheek. "That night, I was going to tell her that I still had feelings for Susanna. I felt so guilty, but then…" Larry began to cry in earnest.

  A stony silence settled over the room, each one coming to his or her own conclusions. Finally Emily said, "So if you didn't kill your wife, who did?"

  "I don't know!" Larry practically shouted. "But I know it wasn't me, and it wasn't Susanna. Amelia," he turned to her, "I'm so sorry if I put you in harm's way. I was trying to protect Susanna. If people thought I was involved with you, then no one would suspect that Susanna and I had feelings for each other. I was wrong, and I'm so very sorry."

  Emily could tell by the look on Amelia's face that her friend was relenting. She stood and moved around to Larry's side. "I think it's time you come clean with your story, Larry. You've put two women in grave danger, due to your lies. You have to go to the police." The cop at the door moved in to stand by Larry's chair. Noticing him for the first time, Larry nodded.

  "I hope you can forgive me, Amelia," he said to her and then he turned to the officer. "I'm ready to make a statement." His head hanging down on his chest like a defeated, old man, he moved with the officer toward the door.

  "Larry, I think you need to be worrying about Maclaine and Susanna," Amelia called after him.

  Larry stopped at the doorway and turned anguished eyes on the three of them. Then, with a slow nod, he left the room with the officer.

  No one spoke, too shocked by the past ten minutes' revelations to even know where to begin. "Well," Gabby broke the silence by saying, "I didn't exactly expect that."

  "Me, neither," Amelia agreed, "but I couldn't be more grateful. Finally I can get on with my life without this cloud of suspicion hanging over me. I wonder how Maclaine will react to this news."

  "Good question," Emily said. "Of course, she'll have Tad to help her through," she added sarcastically.

  Gabby batted at her arm. "Oh, stop it. She'll have her boyfriend to see her through."

  "Whoever that is," Emily muttered.

  "Speaking of boyfriends, I can't wait to tell Trent all about this," Amelia said happily, but Emily could see how exhausted she looked.

  "We need to get out of here and let you rest. We'll stop back by later this evening and see how you're doing." Amelia tried to protest, but her eyes were already shutting and a nurse had come in to shoo them out anyway.

  "What're you gonna do now?" Gabby asked Emily as they headed back down in the elevator. "I can drop you somewhere, but I need to get back to the kids. Greg has a showing on a new property this morning."

  "I think I'll give Tad a call and see if he can pick me up here. I'd like to talk to Susanna and see how she is, too." They stopped by the information desk, but learned that Susanna had been dismissed the previous evening. Emily called Tad, and he was just getting back from a workout at the gym. He promised to be there in twenty minutes. He had tried to call last night, forgetting Emily had lost her phone, and was relieved to hear from her. Emily sent Gabby on her way, telling her she would just grab some real breakfast in the hospital cafeteria while she waited. Gabby reluctantly left, but only after Emily had promised repeatedly to stay close to Tad until the police had someone under arrest for all these crimes plaguing their small town.

  Once Gabby left, Emily ate some passably good French toast in the cafeteria, then purchased a Mary Higgins Clark paperback from the gift shop and settled in to read until Tad got there. She'd read every single one of Mary Higgins Clark's books, but she loved them so much, she could always read one again. She was thoroughly engrossed by the time Tad found her tucked away in a sunny corner of the hospital lobby. Before they left, Emily filled him in on Larry's confession and got his take on how Maclaine would handle the news.

  "That's a tough one to call," Tad said. "Maclaine adored her aunt, but she loves Susanna, too. I don't think she had any delusions about the kind of wife Janice was to Larry. She may be relieved that her uncle has someone to be with now that he's a widower." When Emily only gave him a skeptical glance, he added, "Or she'll freak out. But either way," he added, pulling her close, "she has a boyfriend of her own to help her through this. Now, let's get out of here. Where to?"

  Emily held onto Tad a moment longer then said, "Last night, I was thinking—"

  "That could be dangerous," Tad interjected.

  "Ha, ha." Emily gave him an elbow to the ribs as they headed out to Tad's car. "As I was saying, I was wondering if Susanna could've been the one who attacked Amelia."

  "Really?" Tad asked, starting the car. "Was she even out of the hospital yesterday?"

  "The nurse at the front desk said she'd been released yesterday. I don't know what time for sure, and honestly, I hate to even think it, but I need to pursue this angle, if only to eliminate it as a possibility."

  "I?" Tad asked skeptically. "Don't you mean the police should pursue this angle?"

  "Of course," Emily agreed, her fingers once again crossed behind her back. "That's exactly what I meant. But it wouldn't hurt for us to just check in with her, would it?" She beamed what she hoped was an innocent looking smile.

  He heaved a put upon sigh, but turned in the direction of the town square. "Where are we headed? The library?"

  "I doubt she's back to work this quickly. She said that her neighbor, Dinah Moore, had offered to let her stay there. I think we should try there first."

  * * *

  They did find Susanna at Dinah Moore's house, both of the ladies enjoying a cup of tea on the shady, tranquil-looking porch. When Dinah saw Emily approaching, she hurried to meet her on the sidewalk. "It's good to see you again! I know Susanna will be glad you came by to visit. I'm Dinah," she said, turning to Tad.

  "I'm Tad Higginbotham," Tad said, extending his hand. "I hope you don't mind us barging in like this."

  "Not at all. Please, join us for a cup of tea." Emily and Tad followed Dinah up to the porch where Susanna was ensc
onced on a wicker chaise, surrounded by a light blanket. She immediately reached out her hands for Emily, and for an uncomfortable moment, Emily wondered if their coming by was a mistake. Had Larry told her he'd revealed their secret to her and Gabby and Amelia? But Susanna's next words put her at ease.

  "Larry called me on his way in to the police station. I hope you don't judge me too harshly," she said, her gaze taking in both Emily and Tad. "This wasn't something I meant to happen. I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

  Looking at Susanna's pale face, her fingers twisting together much like Larry's had earlier in Amelia's hospital room, Emily's heart went out to her. "It's not our place to judge, Susanna," she said, reaching over and squeezing her clenched hands. "We're just glad you're feeling better."

  "Thank you," Susanna said fervently. "I'm afraid what people will say when they find out. I wish I could talk to Janice again." Her voice broke, and she closed her eyes, pain and regret in every line of her face.

  Tad cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "Susanna," he said, "we all can only move forward. You and Larry's decisions are your business—no one else's."

  "I have to ask, though," Emily said, "if you've talked to Maclaine."

  "No, not yet. Larry thought it would be better if we talked to her together."

  "Maclaine cares a great deal for you, you know?" Tad told her. Once again, Emily felt the unmistakable tug of jealousy at the way Tad spoke as if he was an expert on Maclaine's thoughts and feelings. Suddenly, she was extremely uncomfortable sitting there. As much as she liked Susanna and hoped things worked out the way she wanted, she had to wonder what role she had played in the events of the last week. If she knew for a fact that Larry was not involved with Amelia, Susanna would've had no reason to harm her. But the fact remained, someone had killed Janice, and someone had attacked Amelia. Susanna had motive to get rid of Janice, but she'd lost her home, also. A feeling of overwhelming exhaustion came over Emily. For once, she was ready to leave things in the police's hands and give up poking around in things on her own.