Digging for Dirt (Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery Book 9)

by Cindy Bell

  Ida glared in return. She knew why he was angry, but she didn’t appreciate being insulted.

  “I’m doing nothing of the sort. I came here to get the straight story from you!” Ida exclaimed. “I can see that maybe some of the things that Freida wrote about you weren’t a lie.”

  “That woman!” Roman roared. “She has been out to destroy me for years, but no I didn’t kill her, and no, I’m not upset that she’s dead! How is that for truth, Ida! Now get out of my room!” He pointed to the door. Ida was shocked as she stepped out of the room. She hadn’t expected Roman to have such a temper. She also wasn’t sure whether he was telling the truth or not. Was his outburst a show to throw her off the truth? Had he truly intended to kill Freida? Ida headed back to her room as quickly as possible. Vicky was waiting for her outside the door.

  “What happened?” she asked. She looked at her aunt’s stricken expression. “Aunt Ida, he didn’t hurt you did he?”

  “No. But he’s not happy with me. I think I might have said too much.” Ida grimaced. “Vicky, let Mitchell handle this. Roman is a bit of a loose cannon.”

  Vicky stared at her aunt for a long moment. She knew that Ida was edging around the truth. She was instantly angered that Roman would do anything to make her aunt feel awkward. Ida was a strong and vivacious woman and it took a lot to make her feel uncomfortable.

  “I’m going to talk to him right now.” Vicky started to walk away. Ida grabbed her arm firmly.

  “No, Vicky don’t. I’ve upset him enough. He’s a powerful man, and I shouldn’t have made such a serious suggestion. Wait until the morning, when we might get more information from the grocery store about who ordered the fruit basket. Mitchell can question Roman. It really isn’t a good idea for us to pursue this on our own.” Ida squeezed Vicky’s arm. “Leave this alone for tonight.”

  Vicky recalled hearing a similar speech from Mitchell not that long before. She decided not to argue with her aunt.

  “You’re right. In the morning we’ll find out more. Then we’ll know what really happened.” Vicky glanced towards her apartment. “I’m going to head in for the night.”

  “Me too,” Ida nodded. After Ida disappeared inside her room, Vicky began to fume. She was certain that Roman had done something to frighten her aunt. Even if he wasn’t a murderer, Vicky needed to speak to him. She lingered by Ida’s door for a few moments. She knew that Mitchell wasn’t home. He was more than likely busy setting up a protective detail for Roman. Which meant that Vicky would only have one chance to question Roman alone and see if she could get the truth out of him, and try to convince him not to cause the inn trouble and that was exactly what she was going to do.

  Chapter 16

  Once Vicky was sure that Ida wasn’t listening at the door, she began walking down the hallway towards Roman’s room. It was deserted at the moment.

  Vicky was relieved that no one would spot her heading for Roman’s door. She made her way down the hallway and around the corner. With every step she took she grew more irate. She knew that she should try to diffuse the situation for the sake of the inn’s future even though she hated the thought that anyone would do anything to upset her aunt. The door to Roman’s room was closed. However, when she neared it, she heard the sound of a scuffle inside. She pressed her ear against the door and listened for a moment.

  “Let go of me!” Roman’s voice boomed from inside the room. It made Vicky’s body grow tense. Who was he yelling at?

  “You won’t do what it takes to win. You don’t care if you win and I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to be on a losing team. We won’t lose if you’re dead.” The voice carried through the door and seized Vicky’s heart with fear. She recognized the voice. It was Trevor. She was almost certain of it. She grabbed the knob of the door and twisted it. The knob turned, but the door wouldn’t budge. Was Trevor trying to get revenge for Freida’s death? Had Roman admitted the truth to him?

  “You don’t have to do this, we can still win. You’ve lost your mind. You’re going to ruin everything. You’d be throwing the campaign away. You will be throwing your future away. Our future. We can just pretend none of this ever happened.” Vicky recognized the fear in Roman’s voice.

  Her heart began pounding hard. She shoved her shoulder against the door. She could tell from the light give that there was furniture in the way of the door.

  Inside she could hear the struggle continuing. There was grunting, cursing, and even some sounds of skin colliding against skin.

  “I never lose, Roman. But you won’t do what it takes to win,” Trevor’s voice raised. “Winning is everything. I needed you to take this seriously. The only answer is to kill you.” Vicky heard a loud crash as if perhaps a lamp had been knocked over. She slammed her shoulder against the door. It finally moved enough for her to squeeze through it. On the other side she saw Roman pinned against the wall by Trevor. Trevor had his hands around Roman’s throat. Vicky didn’t have time to think about caution. She rushed forward and grabbed Trevor by the shoulders. She tried to tug him away from Roman.

  “No!” Trevor screamed. “He has to die! He is a coward! He doesn’t deserve to win. I did everything to help him and he blames me for Freida’s death. He won’t do what’s necessary!”

  Vicky’s heart slammed against her chest. She dug her fingernails into the sides of Trevor’s neck. When Trevor felt the pain, he tried to wriggle out of her grasp. Vicky only dug her nails in deeper.

  “Let him go!” Vicky growled. Roman’s face was turning a deep shade of purple. He struggled to take a breath. Trevor finally released him in order to reach up and grab Vicky’s hands by the wrists. Roman slumped to the floor, gasping for air. Trevor spun her around in front of him. In that moment she saw his crazed eyes and her body filled with fear. He landed his knee into her stomach. Vicky doubled over at the pain in her stomach. She stumbled back a few steps.

  Trevor saw the opportunity and struck her hard in the face. Vicky fell across the bed, stunned by the pain that flooded her jaw. She was about to stand up when Trevor punched her again. Her mind spun as she tried to work out what was happening. Why would he want to kill Roman?

  “Stay down, Vicky,” he warned her. “I’ve already killed once, I intend to kill Roman, too. I’d really like to avoid killing you. If only Roman had eaten the berries none of this would have happened!”

  Vicky was terrified by his words. She knew she had rushed into a dangerous situation that she might not be able to get out of without some help. Worse than that, Roman was crumpled on the floor. She wasn’t sure if he had passed out or if he was dead. He was not going to be able to come to her defense and no one else knew that she had even come into his room. She had to think of a way to escape and fast.

  Trevor tore down one of the curtains and used it to tie Vicky’s hands behind her back. He tied the knots so tightly that Vicky could barely move her wrists. She started to feel an even deeper panic build within her. Satisfied that Vicky was sufficiently restrained Trevor turned back to Roman. He glared down at the man on the floor.

  “Weak, that’s all you are, I did everything for you. Do you really think you can play dead you fool?” Trevor swung a foot hard into Roman’s side. Roman cried out in pain and curled up in an attempt to protect the more vulnerable areas of his body. Vicky was relieved that he was alive, but she knew that he wouldn’t be for long. Trevor was already ready to kick him again.

  “Trevor! Why did you kill Freida?” Vicky asked. She wanted to distract him, but she also wanted to know the truth. She needed to do something, anything, to keep him from killing Roman. Trevor paused and turned back to face her.

  “I didn’t mean to kill her.” He stared at her for a moment. “The berries were never meant for Freida they were meant for Roman, but that idiot delivered the fruit basket to the wrong room.”

  “But why would you want to kill Roman?”

  “I didn’t really. When I was out walking and I recognized some poisonous berries from one of my books
on botany, I knew I had the perfect way to win the election.”

  “How?” Vicky asked.

  “By making Roman sick. I did more research and I knew that the quantity of berries I put in the basket wouldn’t kill him it would just make him sick. But as the evidence shows the quantity would be lethal for someone of Freida’s build. I never meant to kill anyone I just wanted Roman to get sick.”

  “But why?” Vicky asked incredulously.

  “So we would win, obviously.” Vicky noticed that Trevor was getting more and more agitated. His hands were twitching at his sides. “It was the perfect way to get the sympathy vote. An attempted assassination. Then Roman had a greater chance of winning.”

  “You murdered someone so Roman could win?”

  “It isn’t my fault that Freida is dead!” He stared at her. “That was never my intention. Really the inn is to blame. If the basket was delivered to the right room, then no one would be dead and Roman would be in a better position of winning. But Roman thinks I’ve taken things too far. He doesn’t understand that I would prefer that he was dead than we lose the campaign.”

  Vicky’s eyes widened, the man was clearly crazy. “Did you break the sprinkler in the banquet hall?” Vicky tried to think of anything to say that would delay the inevitable.

  “That was a complete waste of time.” His voice rose and his fingers twitched faster at his sides with agitation. “When Sarah took me for a tour I saw that the restaurant was closed for painting. She explained that dinner would be served in the banquet hall. Roman and I were meant to have a dinner meeting to finalize some scheduling. So I decided to flood the banquet hall so I would have room service for dinner with Roman. Then I could poison Roman’s food with the berries as it would have been much easier to add the berries in the room than in the restaurant. Then bad weather was forecast, which was an added bonus.”

  “But he didn’t order room service.”

  “I know, once again he wasn’t prepared to do what was necessary to win. He didn’t want to do the work. He said that he didn’t want to have the meeting, he wanted to have a relaxing dinner. He wanted to eat outside and enjoy the scenery. So, when that fell through I thought I would use them in a fruit basket delivered from management as an apology, but then everything went wrong when it was delivered to the wrong room. I also wanted to plant some berries in the kitchen so it looked like the berries came from the kitchen. That way the police would have somewhere to focus that was pointed far away from me. But every time I went down there the chef or a staff member was in there. So I thought if I broke the sprinkler head the staff would be distracted and I could plant the berries.”

  “But we didn’t find any berries in the kitchen.”

  “I know. I couldn’t plant them. It was a complete waste of time. When I went to put them in the kitchen all of the staff had left the kitchen, but there was a delivery driver there so I couldn’t leave any berries there. All of that trouble for nothing. The note on the card pointing the police in the inn’s direction helped a bit I guess. But then the basket was delivered to the wrong room. I would have delivered it to Roman myself, but I thought it would point suspicion directly at me.”

  “Why did you want to ruin the inn’s reputation?” Vicky asked.

  “I never wanted to,” he said. “It was a necessary consequence for my plan to work.”

  “Trevor.” Vicky shook her head with disgust. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Roman was still on the floor. “You have murdered someone to win an election. It’s crazy!”

  “No, it’s essential!” Trevor said with determination. “There is no point in entering if you don’t win. Roman had all of these resources and connections to help him win, but that’s not enough. You can’t just sit back and hope, you have to take control. And that is what I’m going to do, I’m going to get rid of the problem. If Roman is dead he can’t lose, can he? If you’re dead you can’t tell everyone what I did, can you?”

  “But there are other ways, Trevor! Please, be reasonable.” Vicky stared into is crazed eyes. “Don’t do this, Trevor. There’s still time for you to get help. You can still save yourself.”

  “See? That’s the problem. Everyone is so selfish. I don’t care what happens to me, Vicky. I did this for Roman. And does he thank me for it? No!” Trevor shook his head with exasperation. He turned back towards Vicky. “I never meant for you or anyone else to get hurt in any of this. But I can’t let you live.”

  He raised his hands and reached for Vicky’s throat. Vicky tried to roll away, but he was too fast for her. She felt his strong hands curve around her neck and the air begin to be cut off from her lungs. Just when she thought there was no chance that she was getting out of the room alive, she heard pounding on the door. Suddenly, the door burst open. The furniture that had been blocking it went flying. Ida flipped into the room, and landed directly behind Trevor. She didn’t hesitate to grab him by the shoulder and the crook of his elbow. She flung him easily over her hip and across the room.

  “Aunt Ida!” Vicky gasped. Ida winked once at Vicky and then pounced on top of Trevor who was trying to get to his feet. She pinned him down with her knee, then pulled his arms behind his back.

  “I guess you’ll be needing these.” Mitchell climbed over the debris of the furniture holding a pair of handcuffs. He handed them to Ida, who was more than a little surprised that he would trust her with them. Mitchell rushed to Vicky’s side and untied her.

  “Are you hurt?” He looked at her with desperation in his eyes. “Did he hurt you?” She could see the fury building in his gaze.

  “No, check on Roman,” Vicky insisted. “Make sure he’s okay.” Mitchell turned to see Roman slowly sitting up from the floor. He looked like he had been put through quite a beating, and his face was still off color from the attempted strangulation. Mitchell immediately called for an ambulance and back-up. Once Ida had Trevor in handcuffs, Mitchell read him his rights. But his gaze never left Vicky. She was bruised from the attack. Ida wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  “Aunt Ida, how did you know?” Vicky looked at her aunt with disbelief. “If you hadn’t come in when you did, I wouldn’t have made it.”

  “Don’t say that! Don’t even think it!” Ida looked into her niece’s eyes. “I didn’t know.” Ida shook her head. “I decided that I better come back and talk to Roman again, before he could cause the inn and all of us some major trouble, and that’s when I heard what was happening.”

  Vicky looked at her aunt with fondness. They both had had the same thought, and Vicky was very lucky that they had, because Trevor had easily overpowered her. If her aunt hadn’t arrived when she did, Vicky might never have made it out of the room alive. She shuddered at the thought. Ida pulled her closer.

  Vicky stared at Trevor handcuffed on the floor. The entire time he had been right under her nose. It made her very unsettled to think that she had suspected the very man who had been the target of Trevor’s attack. Not to mention the fact that she got Monica to deliver the basket to Freida’s room, a fruit basket that killed her. Mitchell helped Roman to his feet.

  “Are you okay?” Mitchell looked Roman over to be sure that he wasn’t seriously injured.

  “I think so,” Roman’s voice was rough. He reached up and rubbed at his neck. “Thanks to these two brave women.” He looked over at Ida and Vicky with gratitude.

  Mitchell glanced over at Ida and Vicky, then he looked back at Roman. “I have an ambulance on the way.”

  “Thank you,” Roman said.

  Mitchell turned away from Roman and walked over to Vicky. Vicky looked up at him with some concern. She knew that he might be furious that she had put herself in such a dangerous position, that she had not let him know what she was up to. Mitchell’s expression was quite serious as he looked down into her eyes.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. His voice was barely above a whisper. Vicky nodded and opened her arms to him. Mitchell embraced her. He held her gently against him. “I love you, V
icky.”

  “I love you, too,” Vicky murmured. She felt comforted by his warmth. All of the pain she was experiencing seemed minor compared to the wave of love that washed over her.

  Chapter 17

  Once Trevor was in custody, and Roman had been evaluated at the hospital, Vicky and Sarah met in the kitchen. Henry prepared them a pot of very strong coffee.

  “I can’t believe that all of this was over politics,” Sarah said sadly. “Now Roman has dropped out of the campaign, and Trevor will have no chance of being the campaign manager for a winning candidate.”

  “Well, to be fair it was more about one very disillusioned, crazy man that would try anything to win. Still, it makes my heart ache to think that Freida died because of this.” Vicky shook her head. “Apparently, Roman had no idea that Trevor tried to poison him to make it look like an assassination attempt. The lengths people will go to in order to win. What a terrible thing to think that someone died because of a political campaign.”

  “I think it was an eye-opening experience for Roman,” Sarah spoke quietly. “He even admitted that the injury he claimed was a war injury wasn’t one at all. He says that he is turning over a new leaf of honesty. Maybe when he recovers from all of this he will run for office again.”

  “Maybe,” Vicky agreed. “Putting yourself out there in the public eye really does make you vulnerable to people who could target you. But you would never expect the threat to be in your own campaign committee. I never would have thought Trevor was capable of something like that.”

  “He is very deluded.” Henry set down two mugs of coffee in front of them.

  “To think he went so far as to damage the sprinkler to try and plant the berries and to try to get Roman to have room service. What an elaborate plan,” Sarah said. She stared down at her coffee. “I honestly thought we were going to lose everything.” She looked up at Vicky. “If it weren’t for you, Vicky, I think I would have lost my mind.”