The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder

by Mary Jane Maffini

  I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Don’t meet with her, Haley!”

  Haley plowed on, apparently not hearing. “We’re going to get together, for lunch. This will be such a huge weight off my mind. You have no idea how much it bothers me. She picked neutral territory. She picked a spot, more private than the local café, but it’s out of town a bit. It’s a small family restaurant about ten minutes from my place on Burnt Road. I expect to be pretty emotional and I don’t want half of Woodbridge watching me lose it. That diner is such a rambling place; they have booths and they just leave you alone. A lot of people meet there when they want to have private chats without running into half the town.”

  I supposed this made sense, but not for Haley, not with everything that was going on. “Haley, I don’t think you should meet with Mona alone. Those years at St. Jude’s and even before, back in the playgrounds, they’re all very . . . unresolved for her. She may be a lot angrier than you expect. Why don’t I go with you? Mona knows me and she realizes that I understand what she’s been through. She’d be all right with that, I am absolutely certain.”

  “That’s real sweet of you, Charlotte, but I have to do this. Anyway, I’m not going to be by myself.”

  “Yes, but Mona isn’t—”

  “Not just Mona, but Randy. He’s going to drive me in. I am so keyed up that I don’t think I could drive. It’s snowing out and I’m not real good in that anyway. Told you he’s a sweetheart.”

  “Didn’t Mona object?” Randy was linked to the enemy. If Mona wanted to confront Haley and to hear Haley’s regrets, she would want to do it in an equal setting. If that was what she wanted.

  “To tell the truth, I never mentioned it to her. Randy just offered right now. It won’t matter anyway; he’ll just sit outside and listen to his music and relax. He knows what I did now, some of it anyway and he’s already told me what he thinks of it. He’d be on Mona’s side, not mine.”

  “Haley, please don’t—”

  “Sorry, Charlotte. Look at the time. I’ve got to go. Wish me luck.”

  I didn’t have a chance to do that before she hung up. I paced, fuming.

  I was in the library, but even that didn’t help me find the address of the restaurant without a name. I headed home for reinforcements and burst through the door just as Jack thundered down the stairs. He said. “I was hoping I could talk to you about the reconversion. Because I want to—”

  Right. The reconversion. That was the last thing I could deal with. “I have to go out. I need your cell phone. I didn’t have a chance to replace mine and I have to drive out to the country. It could be an emergency.” I filled him in on Mona’s date with Haley and my worries about it. “I think it would be better if they met up with some neutral, professional intervener. Don’t you?”

  I added, “A shrug is not an answer.”

  “True, but it’s not my business and it’s not your business either.”

  I was outraged enough to stamp my foot. Of course, then I felt like an idiot. Foot stamping at Jack? I was definitely losing it. “It is my business. Mona called me and shared her fears and anger. Then Haley told me they were meeting at some restaurant in the middle of nowhere. I feel responsible for them. I don’t want either of them to do any more damage to the other.”

  “Mona never did any damage to Haley that I ever heard of.”

  “No, she didn’t, but Haley was damaged by her own behavior. She’s having a struggle with this. I suppose it’s only fair that she suffers some too, but she is having a hard time and I feel for her. I’d like to see them have their meeting in a safe place.”

  “So you’re just going to drive around and see if you can find them?”

  “I’m sure I’ll find the place. She said it’s on Burnt Road about ten minutes from her place. Burnt Road is only a few miles long. Randy’s truck’s pretty big and so is the sign on it.”

  “It could be ten minutes in either direction. I’ll get my jacket and go with you. Think of me as reinforcements.”

  I wanted to throw my arms around his neck, but I didn’t want him to know how much I wanted to be with him, especially considering his current plans. “I appreciate that, but it’s better if I go alone. There’s already a crowded scene. I just need your phone.”

  “I know Mona. She might be reassured.”

  “Tell you what, if I find her, I’ll ask if she wants you to come over.”

  Another shrug. “Someone’s got to stay here and eat your Ben and Jerry’s before it melts. Here’s my cell. I’ll be here with a landline.”

  “While you’re here, I’d appreciate it if you’d walk Truffle and Sweet Marie. You can work up an appetite that way.”

  Truffle and Sweet Marie, hearing the word “walk” on a day that should have been too cold to snow, yet it was snowing, immediately attempted to burrow behind the sofa cushions. The idea was that I couldn’t see them if they couldn’t see me. As strategies went, it needed work.

  Jack said, “Don’t worry. I’ll airlift them.”

  I bundled myself into my puffy parka, picked a pair boots with more grip than style, and pulled a woolly hat down over my ears. I added a scarf just in case. I hurried downstairs and out to the Santa Fe. The country roads would be worse than usual in this weather and I was glad that I was driving this heavy vehicle.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was cruising along, very high off the ground and starting to feel in control of my environment. I was asking myself if it made any sense to show up at this meeting between two old adversaries, if you could call Mona an adversary. She’d certainly been a victim in the past. She might be in full battle mode now, but in my mind she was still a victim. I couldn’t believe that a simple apology from Haley, however tearful and remorseful, would be enough. Mona wanted retribution. The positions were reversed now. I didn’t want Mona to harm Haley and harm herself by doing that. I figured if I showed up, I could broker a bit. The worst that could happen was that everyone would be mad at me. I could live with that.

  I left the twinkly lights of Woodbridge behind and took the interstate. Even that was slippery and I saw three vehicles fishtail before I exited. I hated to get off and drive along gloomy, less traveled surfaces. The snow tires helped and I was glad the Santa Fe was an automatic. Even with this vehicle, I found myself in a skid more than once. My shoulders were aching and my hands stiff from gripping the wheel too hard for too long. I tried not to let my mind wander back to my cozy apartment with Jack and two cuddly dogs and a supply of chocolate. This wouldn’t take long and it was the right thing to do. I drove through the gloom with my high beams on. Usually snow brightens and cheers a drive. Not this dreary afternoon. The naked trees cast bizarre and slightly creepy shadows. You could barely see.

  I slowed as I approached a small family restaurant. The windows were dark. No cars were parked in the lot. A sign was stuck on the glass of the door. CLOSED FOR THE SEASON. I guess not everyone knew that.

  What now? Had Haley and Mona already met up and gone on to some other location? Had I missed them?

  I hadn’t passed anyone on the road in from the interstate, so Mona hadn’t turned around and gone back in that time. Haley would have come from the opposite direction. Had she returned home? Maybe Mona had gone with her. That would have been good. Mona would see Haley’s life as a wife and mother in her small, simple home. Mona would realize that it wasn’t all roses for the former bully. If Brie was still in her sour mood, Mona might even take some pleasure from that.

  I made the choice to drive on and reassure myself that everything had turned out all right. If anything, the winding road got twistier as I made my way to Haley’s. I knew it wasn’t more than a ten-minute drive, but it would feel a lot longer. I kept my speed down. I turned off Burnt Road and followed the route to Haley’s house. The road followed a steep wooded ravine and I didn’t care for the idea of sliding off the road and into that. I’d slowed to a crawl when I saw the skid marks ahead. Someone had slid straight off the road and knocke
d over a wooden guardrail. The local guardrails were not holding up well. I stopped, my heart thundering. What a place to have an accident. There probably wasn’t a house for miles. Was anyone hurt down there? Injured? Dead?

  Ahead of me, I saw a figure limping along in the dim snowy mist, and then it stopped to lean against the guardrail. I drove forward and slowed. I blew the horn and the figure turned. Haley?

  I stopped and jumped out.

  She stumbled toward me. Blood and tears streaked her face. Her nose looked like it had been broken. A ragged gash ran along her hairline. She clutched a cell phone in her bleeding hand. I put my arms around her, as she shook.

  “You have to help,” she managed to say after a minute. “No service here. Randy is . . .” Haley collapsed, racked with deep, shuddering sobs. I managed to help her climb into the Santa Fe. Her leg was obviously injured and she gasped in pain as she struggled into the passenger seat. I was afraid she was going into shock. I backed the Santa Fe up the hill to the highest point, where I was lucky enough to get a signal on the phone.

  For once 911 didn’t chastise me when I told them about the accident and gave the rough coordinates. “You’ll see my vehicle. It’s a Santa Fe, an SUV, dark red. There’s an injured woman in the passenger’s seat. I think she’s in shock. Her name is Haley Brennan. I believe her husband, Randy, is in the van that went off the road. She says he’s badly injured and possibly . . .” I heard my voice breaking. “I’ll try to get down into the ravine to see if I can help him. It could take me ten minutes or so to make my way down that hill and then I’d have to climb back up to call back.”

  I took a deep breath and headed down the steep, snowy incline, praying I wouldn’t find Randy dead. I grabbed onto the dried grass, brush, and small trees as I slid. At the bottom, I struggled to wade through the snow. Up close, the van was buried nose first and tilted. Boxes and supplies had tumbled toward the front seat. The window was broken, probably where Haley had climbed out. I could see her bloody handprints and drops of blood in the snow.

  “Randy? Are you there?”

  Nothing.

  I could see Randy slumped against the driver’s side window. Something was wrong and it took a couple of minutes to realize that no one ever held their head at that angle. I gasped before I could stop myself. I forced myself to reach in and try to see if there was a pulse. There was nothing I could do for Randy. I turned and fought my way up out of the ravine and back to the Santa Fe.

  It was hard to meet Haley’s eyes. As she stared at my face, her tiny remaining hope was extinguished.

  Haley whimpered, “My God, what am I going to do without him? We have always been together. Always.”

  “What happened?”

  “She forced us off the road.”

  “What?”

  Haley took a deep shuddering breath. “The meeting didn’t happen. Mona was screaming at me from the time we got to the parking lot. I guess it’s a good thing the diner was closed. When I tried to suggest she come home with us, she just lost it. Shouting, swearing, kicking the van. She said she wanted to kill me. Randy got upset and insisted on leaving. He said I didn’t have to take that. Two wrongs don’t make a right. We drove away and she drove off like a crazy person. Before we got home, someone forced us off the road. It had to have been her.”

  “Mona?”

  “I couldn’t see her face, but it had to be.”

  “Did you see her car?”

  “I saw it in the parking lot. A little red thing.”

  That was bad news. “But did you actually see who forced you off the road?”

  “No. We had a lot of new supplies stacked in the back of the van and the boxes were blocking my view. But who else could it have been?”

  I had no answer for that.

  “Randy’s an excellent driver, but she rammed us. I wanted to get out and try to reason with her, but Randy said he was afraid she’d run over me. I think now that he was right. Do you know she actually hit our vehicle? When she came at us, Randy swerved and we crashed right through that guardrail. I can still feel it, the noise, like an explosion. But I thought at least Randy could get us out and . . .” Haley’s torrent of words stopped and she started to sob.

  “Are you sure it was Mona who hit you, Haley?”

  Haley gripped my hand until it hurt. “Of course it was.”

  “But did you see her? Is there any chance it could have been Serena?”

  “Serena? Oh. She’s capable of it, but . . .” I could tell she was thinking hard. “No. It had to be Mona. Serena was nowhere around. I thought I was going to die. I passed out for a bit. I don’t know how long. She left us to die. She killed Randy. She killed him. She did it to hurt me. Oh my God, maybe I deserved that. But he didn’t.”

  Procrastination is the true thief of time. Stop yourself whenever you decide to procrastinate and turn your negative self-talk into positive messages. Break the habit.

  16

  Although the flashing lights were a welcome sight and the paramedics got Haley out of the Santa Fe and into the ambulance efficiently, I wasn’t doing too well myself. I was shaking and my teeth chattered, even though I felt relieved that the team was calming her down. The snow now seemed thicker and wetter and more oppressive. My clothing was soaked right up to my hat. My feet were icy from the snow that had worked its way into my boots during my descent to the van.

  A paramedic suggested I wait in my vehicle. He said the police were also on their way and they’d want to talk to me. I supposed the crime scene techs would be there shortly too. I climbed back into the Santa Fe, turned on the engine, and sat there quivering, even after I put the heater on the highest setting and boosted the heated seats. I couldn’t get Randy out of my mind. It had been a bad week for innocent bystanders and he was the latest. What would poor angry Brie do now without her father? How could Haley cope with running the business and living without her high school sweetheart and husband? And worst of all, knowing that it was all a result of her actions as a teenager.

  I still had a hard time accepting that Mona could do this, but I’d been wrong before. I could never have imagined that I’d be staring at Randy’s corpse when I left the house to try to intervene between Haley and Mona.

  Mona’s life would be over too. I didn’t imagine she’d get much sympathy in court, regardless of the background. They’d accept that she’d been the victim and she’d allowed her corrosive hatred and anger to turn her into a villain. Randy had paid the price for that. A gentle man, a devoted husband, and a wonderful father, gone. I kept asking myself if there was any way that it could have been Serena. Haley hadn’t actually seen who was driving the car that pushed them off the road. But even I had to admit, it was looking very bad for Mona.

  It didn’t take the police long to arrive and in short order I was giving a statement. Lucky me, it was Officer Dean Oliver.

  “I think we’ll just get you home first,” he said. “We can do it there. Maybe you need—”

  “Never mind me. Check out Haley.”

  “The ambulance is leaving now with her. She’s in good hands. We don’t want you to get hypothermia.”

  Yes, I’d been having a rough day, but I hadn’t lost a family member. All to say, I had no choice but to do my session at the library that night. The topic was The Perils of Procrastination. As you can imagine, canceling was out of the question. I would have gone on a stretcher if I’d had to.

  “Are you insane?” Jack asked conversationally. “Someone tried to kill you yesterday and today you found the body of someone you know. You have to cancel.”

  “No. I don’t want to lie around and think about Randy. That would be even more upsetting.”

  “Think of your safety.”

  “I will certainly be safe at the library.”

  “And after the session’s over? When you have to drive home?”

  “I have this huge vehicle now. It will be good.”

  “This time I am going with you. I shouldn’t have let you talk me
out of going to hunt for Haley. Look what happened there. Mona could have wiped you out too.”

  “You’re far too busy with your contractor, I am sure.” Even I thought that sounded stupid.

  Jack scratched his chin and stared at me. “Okay. You are upset about that and I have no idea why. But I’m not going to be sidetracked. I’m following you to the library and I’m following you back. If you don’t like it, call a cop.”

  On my way out the door, Bethann’s brother-in-law called me. It took me a minute to remember that I’d given him my card.

  “I thought you’d like to know. You were right,” he said. “Bethann did get a call from someone she’d gone to school with. Someone called Serena, who had made her life miserable. She wanted to ask Bethann for forgiveness. Bethann said, ‘I’ll forgive you after I sue the designer pants off you. See you in court. Or better yet, in hell.’ My wife said Bethann said a few other words she wouldn’t repeat. I’m not sure if this helps, but I thought you should know.”

  My workshop wasn’t too bad. Of course, only about half the registrants showed up. That didn’t surprise me too much, given the topic. It was too bad, as procrastination is the biggest thief of time. But I was glad to be doing something to take my mind off my aches and bruises and the hit-and-runs. The painkillers helped too.

  I glanced toward the back of the room, where I’d first seen Haley sitting less than one week before. I shuddered, then did my best to put her disaster out of my mind and focus on the people who had shown up.

  “Congratulations! You’ve taken the first step toward getting your procrastinating tendencies under control. Now let’s—”

  Two hands shot up. “Who do you think is behind these hit-and-runs in Woodbridge?” a gray-haired woman wanted to know.

  A smiling younger woman with tumbling brown curls said, “What did it feel like to narrowly escape death when your car went over the embankment?”