by Cindy Bell
“It was!” Frank shouted. “Of course it was!”
“Even more upsetting was finding out that she never loved you in the first place, wasn't it, Frank?” Eddy asked with feigned sympathy. “What was it that set you off, Frank? After all these years? Did you finally realize that it was James she loved all along?”
“No, no, no,” Frank shook his head quickly. “It was all lies, all of it.”
“What did Elena tell you, Frank?” Eddy asked in a whisper. “How did she confess it?”
Frank squeezed his eyes shut tight and groaned. “I wish I'd never seen that damn letter.”
“What letter?” Eddy demanded. “What did the letter say, Frank?”
“Elena knew she was going to die. She was terminally ill. So, she thought she'd get right with the world before she passed. She wrote letters to everyone she thought she had wronged. She sent me one. It said that she had married me because she thought I would make a good husband and father, and that the passion would come later. But it never did. She only had passion for,” he growled and couldn't finish his sentence.
“For James,” Eddy supplied. “So, after all this time of believing that James had stolen her from you, you had to face the fact that she just had stronger feelings for James than you. Is that why you poisoned him, Frank?”
“When I saw him again,” Frank muttered without answering Eddy's question. “When I looked into his eyes and I realized that he was the man that had ruined my life, I couldn't believe it.”
“So, you knew that James lived here?” Eddy pressed.
“I didn't, not until after I moved in. I saw him walking by, he didn't see me. I started to think about the things I would do to him if I could,” Frank admitted. “He took everything from me. But they were just fantasies. I wasn't going to do anything.”
“Fantasies that led you to lacing a bottle of wine with poison?” Eddy prompted.
“It wasn't like that,” Frank moaned and hung his head. “It wasn't like I walked up to him and shot him. It wasn't murder.”
“How is killing a man, poisoning him, not murder?” Eddy demanded. “Don't lie to me, Frank!”
Frank stepped back from the sheer volume of Eddy's voice.
Outside the office, Samantha heard the shout. She cringed at the sound of it. Her front door swung open and Walt came walking in with a scowl.
“Is that Eddy I just heard?” he asked.
“Yes,” Samantha gasped out. “I don't know what he's doing in there, but I've never heard him so angry before.”
“He's yelling loud enough for the entire block to hear,” Walt said with concern.
“What do you think we should do?” Samantha asked. She was beside herself with worry. Her mind was spinning as she considered calling the police, but she didn't want Eddy to be punished for trying to do what they had all set out to do, capture a murderer.
Chapter 17
Eddy leaned close to Frank, his eyes boring into the other man's. “I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what really happened, Frank.”
“All right fine,” Frank muttered and wiped a hand across his forehead. “I'm not lying though. I'm not a murderer.”
“Yet, you just admitted to poisoning James,” Eddy pointed out and slid his hand into his pocket to make sure that his phone was still recording.
“Yes,” Frank stared hard at his own palms. “Sometimes things happen in life that take a good man, and turn him into a murderer”
“All those years of being a good man do not make up for the murderer that you became,” Eddy said sternly. “The only way you can be a good man again is if you tell the truth. You made a mistake. You let your emotions take over. After the letter you received from Elena and being faced with James again, it's understandable that you couldn't control yourself,” Eddy sighed and shook his head. “What I don't understand is how did you do it?'
“It was the strangest thing. It was like everything just fell into place. I was helping the committee set up. I found out who the party was for. I decided rather than being petty I would buy James a bottle of his favorite wine. I intended to kill him with kindness. When I got the bottle of wine, I remembered the times we had shared together. We were best friends all through high school. We went to college together. We shared that wine on so many occasions. The only time I really thought everything was right with the world was when James was by my side, and then,” he paused and looked up at Eddy tearfully. “And then all I could think about was finding him with Elena. They didn't even try to hide it,” he shook his head. “When I walked in, James just shrugged and told me it was good that I knew and that we could all move on. As if I was supposed to just move on from something as upsetting as that,” Frank's eyes widened. “How could I ever move on from that?”
“So, you relived the entire scene in your mind,” Eddy urged him to continue.
“It was more than that,” Frank admitted. “It was all I could think about. Over and over in my mind. I tried to push it out of my head. I tried not to think about it. But I couldn't stop it. Some of the fantasies I had about how I would kill him if I could began to surface again as well. One was to poison his food. Then I was in the shop buying the wine and suddenly I thought about poisoning it. As soon as I thought about it, I remembered the cyanide I kept from my days in the jewelry business.”
“That was a damaging thought,” Eddy said softly. He didn't want to do anything to stop the flow of Frank's confession.
“It was just a thought,” Frank said with a sigh. “I wasn't going to use it. It was just like a joke. But then on the drive home, I just kept thinking about it. All of a sudden it began to make sense. James didn't really deserve to live. He had stolen my life. He had gotten to live all of the best parts that I was supposed to live, so it was only fair that I end it. It wasn't murder. It was balancing the fates.”
“But that wasn’t your decision to make, Frank,” Eddy reminded him darkly. “And a bottle of wine didn't kill James. The poison that you put inside it did. What if James had decided to share it with everyone at the party?”
“Like I said, I didn't think about it,” Frank sighed. “I just did it. I didn’t even know if it would kill him or just make him sick. I certainly didn’t expect it to have such a strong effect so quickly. When James died, it didn't even feel real to me. I didn't think that it could really be my fault. When it started to dawn on me I panicked. I was afraid someone else would drink what was left of the wine, that's why I stole it,” he shook his head and gazed down at his own hands. “I didn't really kill him, it just happened.”
“No, you poisoned the bottle of wine and gave it to a man who was once your best friend to drink. You killed him. It was your way of getting even,” Eddy said sharply.
“If he had never done what he did, then it never would have happened,” Frank said harshly. “It doesn't matter anyway, you can't prove any of this.”
Eddy stared at him for a moment, then he turned away from Frank. He unlocked the door and pulled it open.
“Samantha,” Eddy said. Samantha and Walt turned around quickly to face Eddy. “Call the police.”
“Are you sure?” Samantha asked nervously.
“We have everything we need,” Eddy said with confidence and started to reach into his pocket for his phone. As he was sliding his hand into his pocket, Frank suddenly grabbed his shoulders from behind him. He yanked Eddy back into the room, and slammed the door shut.
“Eddy!” Samantha gasped and jerked at the handle of the door. It wouldn't budge. She turned towards Walt who was already on the phone calling the police. Frank shoved Eddy into the wall beside the computer table. Eddy felt his shoulder hit the wall hard and cried out in pain. It had been a long time since he was on the receiving end of violence and it didn’t help that his body was much older. Frank shoved his hand into Eddy's pocket and grabbed his cell phone.
“Did you really think I didn't know what all of this was about?” Frank demanded. “Just how stupid do you think I am?”
“I don't know what you mean,” Eddy growled in return and tried to wriggle out of his grasp.
“I knew you were recording me,” Frank held up Eddy's phone in front of his face. “You thought you had me, but without this you have nothing.” He shoved Eddy down into the same wooden chair that he had been sitting in. Then he opened the window behind him and threw the cell phone out through it. “Now, what do you have?” he asked as he turned back to face Eddy. “Nothing. But do you know what I have?” he smiled darkly. “I have a crazy man locking me up and harassing me. You're going to jail, Eddy, maybe you'll see some old friends there.”
Eddy's heart sank as he heard the sirens outside. The police were arriving which meant that he had to do something or he risked being arrested.
“That's right,” Frank said. “You should have just left it alone. James had a heart attack. He deserved to die. I didn't deserve anything that he did to me. Now you're going to get what you deserve,” Frank laughed a little. There was pounding on the door.
“Eddy?” Samantha called through the door. “The police are here.”
“Oh, good,” Frank said and unlocked the door. He opened it up. Then he glanced back at Eddy with a slight smile. “I think they're going to be looking for you.”
“Come in, he's in the back room,” Walt said as he opened the front door. Two police officers walked into Samantha's villa with some confusion.
“We got a call about a murder?” the first officer asked.
“Well yes, but the murder didn't happen today,” Samantha explained. “The killer is right here,” she pointed to Frank who was just stepping out of the back room.
“Is that what he has you believing?” Frank asked and shook his head. “Officers, there is a mentally ill man here, he has taken me hostage and he's been ranting the entire time. He's really lost his mind.”
“I haven't lost anything,” Eddy said sternly as he stepped out of the room. “I am a retired police detective, and I know this man is guilty of murder.”
“You do?” the first officer asked and looked at Eddy skeptically. “Do you have any proof of that, Sir?”
“Well, I did,” Eddy frowned. “I had a recording of his confession but he threw it out the window. I'm sure the phone is still there, we'll just have to look for it.”
“Do you hear this insanity?” Frank demanded and shook his head. “He thinks I killed someone, a resident here who recently died of a heart attack. I guess that he is having a hard time dealing with the loss.”
“All right, Sir, you're going to have to come with us,” the first officer said and began moving towards Eddy.
“No!” Samantha gasped out. “You can't do that, he didn't do anything wrong!”
“She's just as crazy,” Frank sighed.
Suddenly, Frank's voice filled the room, but it was not coming from his mouth.
“Like I said, I didn't think about it, I just did it.”
“Where is that coming from?” Frank demanded. He was suddenly irate, causing the second officer to close in on him.
“There's a lot more to hear,” Jo said as she stepped fully into the villa. “Should I let it keep playing?” she asked. She was doing her best not to look directly at the police officers.
“That's my phone,” Eddy said with a mixture of relief and shock. “Everything you need is on there,” Eddy insisted.
“All right, let's just get all of this sorted out,” the first officer said with a sigh. “You, you, and you,” he pointed at Frank, then Eddy, then Jo. “You're all coming down to the station with me.”
“No,” Jo said and started to back out of the villa.
“She had nothing to do with this,” Eddy said. “She must have been walking by when Frank threw my phone out the window.”
The two officers looked at each other and then nodded. “All right then.”
Jo looked into Eddy's eyes with relief.
“Eddy, are you going to be okay?” Samantha asked. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“I'll be fine,” Eddy assured her. As he walked out with the officers, he glanced over at Jo.
“Thank you,” he whispered to her. Jo lowered her eyes.
Chapter 18
By the next morning Frank was in jail. Eddy was back at Sage Gardens, standing beside Samantha. Owen had called Mike the moment he heard the truth from Eddy. Mike was just leaving after his conversation with Owen.
“It's a terrible shame,” Samantha said in a murmur as she watched Mike's car pulling out of the parking lot.
“Hmm?” Eddy asked as he looked over at her.
“His son was finally able to forgive him for what he had done in the past, but then Frank came along and took his revenge,” she sighed and shook her head. “I know that there is never an excuse for murder, Eddy, but I can't begin to imagine how betrayed Frank must have felt when he discovered James and his wife together.”
“And then to have to live with that betrayal for so many years,” Eddy agreed solemnly. “Poor James had his own regrets, but apologies aren't always enough.”
“Have you ever had your heart broken like that?” she asked curiously and offered him a sidelong glance.
“Oh, no you don't,” Eddy said with a playful scowl. “I'm not falling into that trap.”
“What trap?” she asked. “It's an honest question.”
“An honest question that there is no right answer to,” he clarified. “I could say, no I've never felt that way before, and you'll think I'm lying, or that I'm too cold hearted to have ever been in love. I could say yes, I've been heart broken, so badly that I could barely bring myself to get out of bed in the morning, then you will have a thousand questions about that. Nope, it's a deep hole that I'm not falling into, Samantha.”
“You know something, Eddy?” Samantha asked with an exaggerated sigh.
“What?” he asked in return and met her eyes.
“It was just a simple question. What is it with men? They can't ever answer, just yes or no,” she smiled slyly at him.
“Clever,” he chuckled and slid an arm around her shoulders to give her a soft squeeze. “Let's go see if Walt has survived all of this. I'm sure he's already missing us.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Samantha laughed. “He's probably busy putting everything back into place that we got out of order during our visit.”
“Yes, that does seem highly likely,” he agreed as they began to walk towards Walt's villa. Samantha caught sight of Jo walking towards the mailboxes. She had her eyes trained to the ground. Samantha knew that she could just pretend that she didn't see her. That they could go right back to pretending they had no idea who each other was. But something about the way she didn't bother to look up left Samantha aching with sympathy for her. After all she had done to help them, Samantha simply couldn't fathom the idea of not speaking to her again.
“Hey Jo,” she called out and raised her hand in a wave. Jo glanced up, obviously annoyed and reluctantly waved back to Samantha.
“What are you doing?” Eddy asked through gritted teeth.
“I'm saying hello to a friend of mine,” Samantha replied stubbornly.
“Some friend,” Eddy said gruffly.
“She helped you by getting the tape,” Samantha pointed out.
“It doesn’t change what she did in the past,” he replied. His gaze lingered on Jo for a long moment. “Let's go,” he said and steered Samantha away from Jo. Jo had already started to walk to the mailboxes again. Samantha shrugged Eddy's arm off her shoulder and looked up at him.
“She's paid her debt, if I want to be friends with her, then I will,” she said sternly.
“If that's a risk you really want to take, I can't stop you,” Eddy replied. “I just hope that she proves to be as rehabilitated as you seem to think she is.”
“I guess time will tell,” Samantha replied. As they continued towards Walt's villa, Sage Gardens grew still with the quiet of evening. Everyone had forgotten about the heart attack that had turned out to be
murder. They were all tuned into their televisions, card games, or novels. But there were four people who lived in Sage Gardens that would never forget.
The End
Money Can Be Deadly
Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Book 2
Chapter 1
The sparkling water of the lake gave Samantha the peace that she had been anticipating. Once in a while her mind would wander back to less pleasant times in her life. Occasionally a nightmare would wake her far earlier than the dawn. It was one of these mornings that had led her out to a table by the lake along with her cup of tea. She often spent an hour or so in the morning just gazing out at the water. No one was around this morning and it was a far cry from the busy lifestyle she had been accustomed to before she had retired.
Looking back, Samantha questioned why she had never allowed herself to slow down and just appreciate the fresh air that filled her lungs, or the sound of the birds chirping. As she sat back in her chair she smiled to herself. She had fought retirement tooth and nail. She wanted to keep working as a crime journalist. She wanted to still be on top of what was happening in the world. But when she had finally given in to the idea, she had found that retirement could be just as adventurous.
Moving into the retirement community, Sage Gardens, had made a huge difference in her life. Her neighbors were nice, if not a little quick to gossip. There were many social activities that she often took part in. Most of all, the view of the water was stunning. There was something fascinating about being tucked away in a beautiful environment. Sure, she felt a little disconnected from the rest of the world now and then, but on the flip side, she felt as if Sage Gardens had become her own little world away from the rest of the world. There certainly was no dearth of drama to be had, and the few friendships she had made were ones that she could rely on.
As she took another sip of her tea, she swept her eyes once more over the water. The unblemished surface greeted her, until she was startled by a lump near the water's edge. At first she thought it was a gnarled tree root emerging from the surface. When she leaned forward to take a closer look she could see that it was much larger than a tree root. It appeared to be made from cloth. She stood up and walked to the edge of the water. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was a backpack. The residents of Sage Gardens would often lose things. Many of the older residents were a little forgetful, and so it was not unusual to find purses or jackets laying around. But Samantha could not remember seeing anyone with a backpack.
