“You hit her in the shoulder. It knocked her down and slowed her up some.” Ironically, Enid had shot Molly with Molly’s own gun—the one she had loaned Cassie after her son was killed. Cassie’s insistence that Enid carry the gun had saved Enid’s life, but not Cassie’s. A sharp pain of loss shot through Enid. Cassie is dead.
Enid struggled again to remember. “Then how . . . Why didn’t Molly kill me when I went outside?” Her head was throbbing.
“Rachel found a note her mother had left and put the pieces together. She figured Molly was going after you. She called me first and then drove to the inn to stop her. She got there just as you came out the door and collapsed. Rachel yelled at her mother not to shoot you. Rachel saved your life.” He paused briefly to give Enid a chance to absorb what he had said. “When I got there, Molly and Rachel were huddled together on the porch. We took Molly to the hospital, and she’s in custody. You don’t have to worry about her any longer.”
Enid struggled to maintain her composure. “Was Cassie alive when you got there?”
Chief Jensen cleared his throat and shook his head. “She didn’t suffer. The shotgun blast to her chest killed her instantly.”
Enid took a tissue from the box the nurse had left and wiped her eyes. “It was supposed to be me.”
The nurse reappeared and turned to Chief Jensen. “That’s enough for now.” She handed Enid a little paper cup with a pill in it. “Here, take this.”
Before Jensen left the room, he turned back to Enid. “There’s a fellow from SLED that will be handling this investigation. His name’s Dan Elliott. Said he’s met you.”
Enid could tell Jensen was waiting for an explanation, but she remained silent.
“Anyway, Officer Elliott will be touch with you soon and take it from there.” Jensen stood there, staring at the floor.
“Thanks, Chief.” The pill was starting to take effect. “I guess I need to rest now.”
“Sure.” He looked up at Enid. “I’m sorry about everything. No matter what you think of me, I never wanted anything to happen to anyone.”
Enid struggled to stay alert. “Before you go, I have to ask you one thing. Was Eddie involved in Rosie’s murder?”
Jensen put his wide-brimmed hat on and tipped it. “We’ll talk later. You take care.”
CHAPTER 60
The next morning, Enid had a hangover from the medication and her mouth was dry. She leaned over to get the cup of water next to her bed, but a sharp pain in her hip stopped her from reaching it. “Ouch,” she said aloud.
“Here let me get that,” a male voice replied.
Is Chief Jensen still here? Enid tried to get her bearings. She watched the man step closer to her bedside. “Cade.” That was all Enid could get out before a flood of emotions overcame her. He sat on the edge of her bed with his hand resting on her shoulder and kept handing her tissues as she needed them.
“When did you get here?” she asked.
“Late last night. You were sleeping, so I just napped in the waiting room.”
“I’m so glad to see you.” Enid wanted to cry again, but there was nothing left inside. “Do you know what happened?”
Cade nodded.
“It’s all my fault. First your mother’s heart attack, and now Cassie.” Enid closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to see Cade’s face right now. He must hate her.
“Mother is fine. In fact, she asked me to give you her best wishes. She’s going home from the hospital. A relative is coming down to stay with her for a few days.” He smiled at Enid. “In fact, this whole experience had been good for Mother, in a perverse sort of way. She’s had some time to reevaluate her priorities.”
Part of Enid wanted Cade to blame her and get it over with. But the other part of her was grateful for his compassion. This was the old Cade, the person she had fallen in love with years ago. Instead of comforting her, those memories reminded her of another loss she had to bear.
“I know you and Cassie were close. You lost a good friend,” he said softly.
A knock on the door announced a young girl with a vase of flowers in her hand. She put them on Enid’s bedside table. “These sure are pretty.” She handed a small card to Enid. “Here you go.”
Enid opened the envelope and read it. “They’re from Jack.” Another flood of emotion washed through her as she thought of Cassie again. If Jack cared for Cassie as much as she had adored him, he was suffering right now. She wanted to see him but dreaded it too. How could she ever look him in the face again and not feel guilty for what had happened?
“Jack came to see you yesterday, but Chief Jensen said SLED wouldn’t let him talk to you until they get a formal statement from each of you. Didn’t want you two to compare notes, I guess.” Cade smiled slightly. “Jack’s a good man. He kept apologizing to me for not being here to protect you and Cassie.”
“Yes, he is a good man.” Enid blinked away new tears. “I think he and Cassie were more than just friends.”
Cade nodded. “He said as much.” Cade took Enid’s hand in his. “He doesn’t blame you. He wanted to make sure you knew that.”
Enid laid her head back on the pillow and rested. She was tired and torn between wanting to know more details, yet wanting to sleep and forget escape yesterday’s horror.
“You need to rest.” Cade released her hand and stood up. “I’ll be here until you’re ready to go home.”
Enid opened her eyes. Home? Where was home now? And was Cade part of it? She couldn’t handle that conversation right now, so she just nodded and shut her eyes again. “Thanks.”
CHAPTER 61
Later in the day, SLED officer Dan Elliott came by the hospital room and took Enid’s statement. It didn’t take long, as Enid’s memory of that night was spotty, as best. The one scene she kept seeing like a movie running in an endless loop was Cassie lying on the floor. When Elliott was convinced she knew nothing more, he gave Enid his card and told her to call if she remembered anything else. Don’t you realize I’m trying hard not to remember?
As soon as Elliott left the room, Jack knocked on the open door, and Enid motioned him in. Jack sat on the side of her bed and held her hand for several minutes. “I’m so sorry for causing all of this. Cassie is dead because of me.”
Jack got up to wet a washcloth in cool water and then handed it to Enid to wipe her face.
“Thanks. I’m sorry to be so emotional.”
Jack sat down again on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been through a lot. I’m so sorry I was in Chicago.”
Enid struggled to find the right words. “Cassie loved you, and I took her away from you. I’m so sorry.”
Jack smiled, but there were tears in his eyes. “She was pretty special, wasn’t she?”
Enid nodded. “She was like my mother and the sister I never had, all in one.”
Jack wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I had a copy of Cassie’s will that she gave me a few years ago. Thank goodness she left instructions for her funeral in it.”
“Leave it Cassie to take care of the details so no one else would have to worry. That’s what made her a great innkeeper.”
“She wanted to be cremated and her ashes scattered on Glitter Lake. That’s where Mark is, you know.”
The weight on Enid’s heart lifted slightly when she thought about how Cassie would become part of the beautiful lake. “She never mentioned that Mark’s remains were there, but I’m not surprised.”
“I’m planning a memorial service in a few days. The doc says you’ll be out of here in a day or so. When you’re up to it, I thought we’d have a small service with a few friends, and then you and I will scatter her remains.”
Enid just nodded, not trusting that she could speak.
“Dan said he had taken your statement. Are you up to comparing notes? We can wait if you’d rather not talk about it now.”
“As I told Dan, I don’t remember much. Cassie went to Greenville and then came back to the inn after she decided not to
go to the wedding. Everything after that is a blur.”
Jack dropped his head. “She called me from her friend’s house, said she didn’t want to go to the wedding. She sounded so relieved when I suggested she just go back to the inn if she really wanted to. It was like she needed permission from someone. If I had only . . .” He paused and sighed deeply. “Before we hung up, she told me how much she was going to miss you when you went home. When I reminded her you would still visit the inn, she said she felt like she’d never see you again.” Jack choked up and cleared his throat. “It was like she knew somehow.”
Enid wiped her face again with the wet washcloth. “I should have told you when we talked, when you were still in Chicago, that I had figured out Molly had killed Rosie. Waiting seemed like a good idea until Cassie told me she had asked Molly to check on me while she was gone. I tried to call Chief Jensen, but Molly intercepted the call. She had no way of knowing Cassie had returned home, because Cassie’s car is usually parked out of sight on the other side of the inn.” Enid shuttered involuntarily. “I was the one Molly wanted to kill. Cassie was just an innocent bystander.” Just like her son Mark has been.
“If you had told me you suspected Molly, especially after Cassie went to Savannah, I’d have flown back immediately. How did you put it all together?”
“When I saw Fern, she said there was nothing a mother wouldn’t do to protect her child. That made me start thinking. And then I remembered Ray Jensen telling me how angry Molly was when she caught him and Rosie doing drugs in her shed. Rachel was there, and Molly went ballistic, even though Rachel wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
“Even so, you took a big leap to assume it was Molly.”
“Not really. When you add the fact that she lied about asking me to meet her just before I got run off the road.”
“Chief Jensen filled me in. You should have told me.”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to worry you while you were in Chicago enjoying time with your family. It was foolish of me.” Enid looked out the window at the rain that had started to hit the glass. “And then I found out that Molly was leasing the goat farm from Fern at the time Rosie was killed. That explained the goat hairs. They must have been transferred to Rosie’s clothing when she was in Molly’s car. It is all circumstantial, at best, but I was pretty sure I was right.”
“Chief Jensen said Molly would have to submit to a psychiatric exam. He admitted she has a hot temper, but no one, especially him, ever thought she’d kill anyone.”
“Poor Rachel. I’m sure she’s devastated to find out her mother killed Rosie. And now Molly is charged with two murders, so she may get the death penalty.” Enid tried not to think about how her coming to Madden had changed so many lives, including her own. “How did Molly kill Rosie?”
Jack stood up to stretch his legs. “I hate hospitals. Seems like there’s no way to get comfortable in them.” He settled back in the chair beside Enid’s bed. “Jensen said that Molly saw Rosie waiting on the corner the day she was going for a job interview. Ray was supposed to take her, but he was late. Molly saw her and stopped to offer Rosie a ride.”
“Did Molly plan to kill Rosie?” Enid thought of all the times she had talked to Rosie’s killer without realizing it.
“According to Molly’s statement, she had repeatedly told Rosie to stay away from Rachel. You see, this was not long after she caught Rachel in the shed with Ray and Rosie.”
Enid listened in silence, not wanting to believe any of it had happened.
“Molly said when they were in the car, she told Rosie again to stay away from Rachel. Rosie smarted off, and Molly just lost it. She grabbed Rosie by the back of the neck and slammed her head into the dashboard. Rosie slumped down on the seat, and Molly got scared. She drove out to the edge of town and strangled Rosie with her scarf.” Jack took a deep breath. “Just dumped her body and drove off. Molly said she wasn’t even sure Rosie was dead. She went back late that night and checked but couldn’t find a pulse. Rosie may have been alive for a while.”
Enid couldn’t bear the thought of Rosie suffering alone in the woods. “But why did Molly decide to come after me? I hadn’t told anyone that I suspected her.”
“I asked the chief that same question. Apparently, when Ray Jensen found out you were going around town asking questions, he confronted Eddie. That was the meeting you drove up on, at the old feed and seed store. Ray asked Eddie if he had anything to do with Rosie’s murder. Eddie denied any involvement but said Molly hated Rosie enough to kill her. Ray wasn’t sure whether Eddie was just mouthing off, or if he knew something.”
“Eddie probably told Molly that Ray talked to him. It must have made Molly jumpy.”
Jack nodded. “It’s a good possibility. According to Chief Jensen, Molly hired Eddie from time to time to do various odd jobs. Those two had a strange relationship. Neither liked the other one much, but they depended on each other. Anyway, Ray got to thinking after talking with Eddie. Ray knew Molly had a violent temper, because Rosie had told him about several times when Molly had lost control. Ray also knew Rosie could push Molly’s buttons—and did it intentionally at times.”
Enid closed her eyes and rested her head on the pillow. She was overwhelmed trying to absorb everything Jack was telling her, and her head and hip were throbbing with pain.
“It looks like Chief Jensen and Eddie had nothing to do with Rosie’s death,” said Jack. “That is other than Jensen failing to investigate it properly. And, Molly admitted she paid Eddie to run you off the road to scare you. She wanted you to leave town. After all, she had gotten away with murder for more than a decade.”
Enid opened her eyes again. “And then I showed up.” She fought another wave of guilt that enveloped her. “What about Chief Jensen taking payoffs from Eddie? And what about Cassie’s son’s murder? Is Jensen going to get away with both of those?” She rubbed her throbbing temples with her fingers.
Jack shook his head. “After Dan Elliott told Chief Jensen that SLED was investigating him for covering up the death of Cassie’s son, Jensen agreed to retire. I don’t think there’s anything SLED can prove at this point, so dethroning the chief might be the only justice Mark will get.”
“I think I need to rest now.”
Jack stood up and kissed Enid’s forehead. As soon as he left, she rang for the nurse, who arrived promptly. “Could I have another one of those pills?”
CHAPTER 62
Cassie would have enjoyed her own memorial service held at the inn. It was quietly elegant. After the service, Sarah’s Tea Shoppe served refreshments by the lake. A cool breeze blew, while the afternoon sun danced on Glitter Lake. Yes, Cassie would have been proud.
A number of people from Madden attended, including several of the Jensen family. Chief Jensen wasn’t the same man Enid met a few weeks ago. The man who once stood tall now walked with stooped shoulders. Enid almost felt sorry for him, and then she reminded herself that he had created the mess he was in.
Cade had brought Enid home from the hospital yesterday and stayed for the service. When it was over, he offered to take Enid back to Charlotte, where he had rented an apartment. As a courtesy to Enid, and with her old boss Jill’s intervention, the bank had agreed to hold off on foreclosure for a few months to allow Cade and Enid to sell their house. One of Cade’s friends had made a rock-bottom offer for a quick purchase, which they accepted to save their credit. Cade had already arranged to put their furnishings in storage temporarily, until they decided what was next. Though the offer was tempting, Enid declined Cade’s offer to go back with him to Charlotte.
Fern had sent more than a dozen pots of fall mums for the service. The sea of yellow flowers added to the beauty of the gathering. She had also sent a nice note to Enid, asking for her forgiveness.
In her will, and in one of those if-something-happens-to-me conversations with Jack, Cassie had requested a simple service. She didn’t want a minister preaching a sermon and trying to save souls at her expense. Strug
gling to keep his emotions intact, Jack read from Ecclesiastes:
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die …
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
“Today, we cry for Cassie and for the heartbreak she suffered when her son Mark was killed. She never recovered from losing him, and although she wasn’t a religious person, she was certain she would see Mark again in another dimension.” Jack stopped to compose himself and then said a few words about what a wonderful, loving person Cassie had been. He concluded by saying, “Rest in peace, my beloved Cassie.”
Enid then read one of Cassie’s favorite poems, “If Today,” written by Jane Marie, a writer and guest who often stayed at the inn. Cassie had been particularly fond of this verse, and Enid liked that Jane shared Rosie’s middle name.
If today, my absence brings sorrow,
Remember the sun will rise tomorrow.
If today, there are also tears,
Dry them with memories we made through the years.
Our talks, the laughter, those were times well spent,
Hold on to the thoughts that make you content.
The memories we share, that you hold so dear,
Will be a reminder that I am always near.
No longer will my absence bring sorrow,
Remember the sun will rise tomorrow.
The ache of loss and lingering guilt still consumed Enid. She kept asking herself if she had it to over again, would she have come to Madden? What if she had just ignored those old newspaper articles Jack had written a decade ago? Enid knew she would wrestle with those questions as she tried to rebuild her life.
* * *
Ray Jensen was one of the last guests to leave the memorial service. He walked over to Enid once she was alone. “It was a beautiful service. I’m sure Cassie would have been pleased. I didn’t know her well, but the few times we talked, she seemed to be a warm, kind person.”
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