by Liz Turner
“Right,” Jager said. “Well, can you tell us where you were last night?”
A blush crept up Deedee’s neck.
Jager coughed. “I mean, ever since you came here to the Larch Luminary.”
“I was busy all day yesterday,” Deedee said. “I had to welcome the guests, set them up in their rooms; then we met with Victoria. Tess met her too. When everyone had settled down, I took a long bath. Then I had dinner in my room. After dinner, I went to meet Clay in his room.”
“I see. Is Clay your boyfriend, Miss?”
“Clay? No. Not anymore. I loved him once, a long time ago. Seven years ago.”
“Well…”
“Why did I meet him yesterday, then?” Deedee laughed. “Well, I hadn’t seen him for seven years. I wanted to know if he’d thought about me, the way I had thought about him. He left me, you know. He ran away. I hated him for a while, but then I met him again, and… it was like nothing had changed. He was the same man. Still, we talked a lot last night, and we got some closure.”
“What then?”
“I came back to my room. I met Leo in the hallway, and he looked angry, but he didn’t make any comments, thankfully. I went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning...” She gave a little sob. “Leo was dead!” Her shoulders began shaking. “Cara and I were in the room all day after that and now, and now we found out that Matt is dead too!” With this, she broke down completely.
“There, there,” Cara said. “Oh dear. Where’s that bottle of Valium you always carry, baby? Here, have a pill; it will soothe you.”
Deedee accepted the pill mechanically, and her face became blank again. “I don’t want to talk any more about Leo,” she said piteously.
“Just one more question, please,” Jager said. “Tess claims that she was married to Mr. Leo Loams. Is that true?”
Deedee gave a brittle, angry laugh. “Tess makes a lot of claims.” She said. “She’s delusional.”
“So he was never in a relationship with her?”
“Leo? Not a chance.” Deedee said.
“That’s not true, you know,” Cara said gently. “Leo was in a relationship with her, at least at some point. That’s why he stopped practicing psychiatry. He got fired because he had an affair with Tess. That’s a major violation of ethics. As a matter of fact, Deedee, I think your mother was one of his patients too.”
Deedee looked angry. “Leo was...” She shook her head.
“He was your father. You knew that, didn’t you?” Cara said. “Leo promised me he had told you.”
Deedee turned away from Cara, her shoulders stiff. Her nostrils flared, and her mouth scrunched to the side. “I can’t think.” She said. “Take me back to the conference room. Please.”
Immediately, Jager escorted her out, leaving Cara and Victoria sitting behind.
“As his daughter, Deedee will inherit everything, won’t she?” Victoria asked.
“She will, yes,” Cara said.
Victoria didn’t say a word, but Cara must have guessed what was going on in her mind.
“If you think Deedee killed Leo because she was set to inherit everything, you’re wrong. In fact, it proves that she didn’t kill him. See, Leo had one reason for calling us all up here. He wanted to announce his will.”
Victoria nodded. “I’d guessed as much.”
“But did you ever think to ask why a healthy man in his sixties would call us all to read his will?”
Cara asked. Victoria’s eyes sharpened, as she guessed.
“That’s right,” Cara said. “Leo was dying. He had cancer of the lungs. He found out a year ago.”
“That’s… didn’t he tell anybody?”
Cara nodded. “Deedee and Jim knew. Deedee told me too. But the rest didn’t know. I think Gray knew too, which is why he wanted Clay to come here and make amends with Leo. I guess the forensics team will find out about his cancer regardless.”
“This changes everything Cara!” Victoria exclaimed.
“It does, doesn’t it? Deedee had no reason to kill Leo. She knew he was going to die in a few more months. It had to be Clay who killed him or perhaps Tess.”
“I think,” Victoria said, “That I know who killed him now: it all fits together. Finally.”
Chapter 21
Outside, the blizzard had slowed down to a whimper. Soon, Corporal Jager's team would be able to make their way to the hotel. Inside, the group had all gathered in the conference room. Corporal Jager sat at one end of the table, notebook in hand while Simon sat at the other. On one side, sat the women, Cara, Deedee, and Tess. On the other side, sat the men Gray, Jim, and Clay. Victoria stood by the door, watching them all. In turn, every eye was fixed on her.
“One of you killed Leo.” She said. “One of you killed Matt. One of you also killed an innocent maid; a woman who had done nothing to you. You killed her simply because you wanted something of hers.” Victoria’s eyes met each of theirs in turn, and each time, it was the others who turned away first.
“I’ve never met a family like yours,” Victoria said. “There were no blood ties. There was only grief that tied you together. For each of you, in some way, had a life that was full of grief. Clay, and Gray, you had an abusive father. Jim, you became an orphan at a young age. Tess, you had issues with mental health and suffered because of an abusive boyfriend. Cara, you used to be a substance abuser.” Victoria paused. “I’m sorry each of you suffered the way you did. But I also know that you are rightfully proud of how you fought your way out of the pits that life placed you in, and emerged stronger. Leo, you all said, helped a lot with overcoming your obstacles; he saved your lives, in a way.”
“He did!” Tess said.
“Leo, now there’s a man who was unique,” Victoria said. “He was a complicated man. By turns good and bad. From what I could tell, he was the kind of man who wanted to make a difference. He filled his life by collecting people who had suffered and healing them. Initially, he did it by being a psychiatrist. When he had been suspended from practice because of his affairs with two patients, Tess, and Deedee’s mother, he tried to continue to heal people through his books and his theories about needing a tribe.”
There were silent nods.
“The truth was, Leo was the one who needed a tribe around him. He was an insecure man, who only felt better if he could pretend to be a healer. That was what made him happiest in life until he managed to make his book a success. He earned the adulation of thousands of fans, and he changed when that happened. He cared less about you, his original family, and began thinking more and more about himself. He used you all, in a way.
Jim, he used you for the money you had inherited, and when that ran out, he used Gray in the same way. He used Matt to gain control of the Ranch house. He used Tess by having an affair with her when it suited him, without bothering to declare to the world that he cared for her. As for Cara, I think you escaped the worst of it because you were modeling. I think though that he used your fame to help push himself up.”
Silence met her words. Tess opened her mouth to protest, but Victoria held up her hand to stop her, and she slumped back into her chair.
“Which made me think that each of you, in your way, had a reason to kill Leo.
Gray, he’d taken your inheritance away from you.”
“I didn’t care,” Gray said. “I have a real estate practice. I do fine on my own.”
“Oh, but do you?” Victoria asked. “The market has been in a slump for a long time now. Maybe Leo didn’t give you the money you needed, even though you’d opened your wallet and bank accounts for him.”
“I didn’t do it!” Gray said. “Even if I did, why would I kill Matt?”
“We’ll come to that,” Victoria said. “But first, Tess. You hated Leo too. You hated how he never made his affection for you known publicly.”
“I didn’t hate him for it,” Tess said, but she mumbled the words and didn’t raise her eyes.
“You were staying right next door to Leo t
oo, an ideal position,” Victoria said. “Which made me wonder…”
“I didn’t do it,” Tess said. “I loved Leo and Leo loved me.”
“Yeah. Keep saying it till we believe it, Tess.” Clay laughed.
Victoria turned to him. “Clay. I was very suspicious of you. You thought you had a claim on Leo’s money, and you were angry at the way he had driven you out all those years earlier. Weren’t you, Clay?”
“So what if I was?” Clay asked. “I didn’t kill him!”
“Maybe you didn’t,” Victoria said. “But how about the maid who was found in your room, Clay? How do you explain her death? How do you explain the fact that you nearly throttled Matt, who turned up dead later?”
“This is a conspiracy!” Clay cried his face turning red. “You’re trying to frame me!”
“You’re wrong,” Victoria said. “I’m not trying to frame you. But someone is.”
Clay looked at her hopefully.
“The missing key was a clue,” Victoria said. “That was a badly thought out and ill-executed attempt to frame you, Clay.”
“Who did it?” Clay fumed. “I’ll kill them!”
“Deedee,” Victoria said. “Deedee did it all.”
“What!” Choruses of shouts exploded across the room, and Victoria raised her hand. Silence fell.
“It can’t be,” Cara said. “You’re trying to frame Deedee, and I’ll stand as witness to the fact that she was in the room with me all day, she hasn’t murdered anyone!” Cara hugged Deedee. “Don’t worry, dearest. I’ll protect you.”
“Always so protective,” Victoria said. “Deedee inspires that in people, doesn’t she? She inspires loyalty just like her father did.”
“Why would she kill him?” Cara asked. “I told you if you think it’s about money...”
“Oh but it is about money,” Victoria said. “It was always about the money. Ever since Jim and Deedee heard Matt yelling at Leo last night, they had decided to kill him. Matt told Leo that he wouldn’t allow him to play favorites. But he didn’t mean that Leo was playing favorites with Deedee. He meant that Leo was playing favorites with Tess.
Leo had altered his will so that Tess, whom he had secretly married, would get all his money upon his death.”
“Liar!” Deedee shouted. “You should be thrown out of here!”
Calmly, Victoria continued to explain. “Deedee and Jim conspired together to kill Leo and destroy that will. That way, since Tess had no proof they were married, Deedee would inherit everything.
Deedee was the one to kill Leo. I’m not sure if Jim helped, but I do know that it’s suspicious that he lied about going to the gym that morning. You couldn’t have been in the gym, Jim. First, because Cara didn’t see you. Second, because if you were, the maid would have cleaned your room. After all, your's is the first room from the elevator. Instead, she skipped your room indicating that she thought you were still inside. Perhaps you talked to her then and fixed up a place to meet.”
“Why would I?” Jim cried. “Why would I kill him?”
“You knew about me,” Victoria said. “Time was running out for both of you. You’d found out about the will only the night before, and you had to kill Leo fast. Deedee, you were listening through the connecting door as Leo talked about sabotage. It made you panic. When I went downstairs, you saw your chance. You entered his room, and gave him valium, telling him it would help with his headache. When he was sufficiently drugged, you and Jim together pushed him through the window.
Your first mistake, Jim, was in telling me that you had found the bottle of Valium next to Leo’s bed, you remember? You said that when you were pretending to look after Deedee? You had indeed found a bottle next to Leo’s bed. But it was Deedee’s bottle. Leo was an ardent believer in taking natural medicines. He never touched alcohol or any pharmaceuticals. I think that a visit to his doctors will confirm this. I doubt he even took drugs for his cancer. Deedee must have been furious at how incompetent you were.”
“This is ridiculous!” Jim said. “Why would we kill Leo if he had cancer? Deedee was going to inherit his estate regardless. Why would we kill the maid? Why would we kill Matt?”
“You killed the maid because you wanted her key,” Victoria said. “The skeleton key that would let you access any door on the fourth floor. You made a mistake there, too. You lured her up to Clay’s room, Jim, either bribing or seducing her and then you killed her using a beer bottle. Well, that made me suspicious too. Clay didn’t drink. He and Gray are both sober.”
Jim sat silently, not moving, not reacting.
“You dropped the key beside the maid, and then ran down to shower. Once you finished showering, you came back to...”
“How did he get my key?” Clay interrupted.
“Excuse me?”
“How did he get my key?” Clay asked. “It was on me all the time.”
“When you hugged Deedee, she slipped it out of your pocket,” Victoria said. “Old habits die hard. Don’t forget; Deedee used to steal when she lived with her mother. She slipped it to Jim, who used it to open Clay's room and then kill the maid.”
Simon whistled. “So once Jim killed Ava and took away her skeleton key, he waited for the right opportunity to strike.”
“He got lucky,” Victoria said. “Clay nearly throttling Matt drew suspicion away from him. Jim entered Matt’s room when the corridor was empty, killed him, and walked back out. But he was in a hurry; I suspect he heard someone, and panicked, wanting to exit Matt’s room fast. Matt had Leo’s will, you see, and Jim was hasty in trying to destroy it. He ripped it up and tried to flush it down the toilet. But this is where he made the critical error. He didn’t flush it all down. We recovered enough of the will to uncover their real motive. We found out that Tess had gotten everything.”
“Idiot!” Deedee shouted. “Idiot! I loved you Jim, but you ruined it all for us!”
“Oh shut up, Deedee,” Jim said. “We’re finished. We should never have killed Leo. I could have given you a home. We would have been poor but happy. But no, comfort and money were always more important to you.”
“I didn’t want to go back to poverty!” Deedee said. “I’d seen enough of it with my mother!”
Victoria stepped aside, satisfied, as Corporal Jager moved forward to handcuff them both.
Turning away from the chaos of the conference room, Victoria headed out, to the corridor. She walked to the window at the end and looked outside. The mountains were visible again, granite and snow sketched sharp against the sky. The snowfall had ceased, and a weak sun shone in the powder blue sky. Victoria took a deep breath and felt peace flood through her body.
*** The End ***
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Murder at the Festival Book 4
A Rare Catch Cozy Mystery Series:
Murder at Starlight Resort
Murder At The Barbecue
Murder at the Renaissance Fair
A Margie Lauderdale Cozy Mystery Series:
French Cuisine Murder
Wedding Bells & Murder?
Murder At The Wine Tasting
(coming soon)
About the Author
Liz lives in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies with her husband Rick and Golden Lab, Abbie.
She's had a lifelong penchant for mysteries of all kinds. As a girl, she loved reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys stories before graduatin
g on to Agatha Christie books. Figuring out who the culprit was always seemed to capture her imagination. Now she enjoys writing mysteries herself.
Not content to stay in one genre, she has written novels in mystery & suspense/romance and most recently - cozy mysteries.
When she's not writing she can is hiking, camping and enjoying the great outdoors.
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Preview of Murder At The Festival
Chapter 1
Weather in the Rocky Mountains in May is more unpredictable than a pregnant woman’s moods.
Victoria smiled at that thought, as she served Bessie Jacobs, who was six months in, and looking fresh and happy. That is, until her husband Nicholas, who was browsing the menu, decided to unwisely say the words, “There’s a triple cheese omelet, of course, but you could do without.”
Bessie’s mouth turned down, and her eyes narrowed. Nicholas, blissfully unaware, continued to run his fingers down the list. “Ah, heart healthy whole`wheat pancakes with lite syrup and nuts.” He said.
“What did you mean I could do without?” Bessie asked, her voice dangerous.
Nicholas looked up, “Well obviously I...” He froze like a deer that has just seen a mountain lion emerge from the bush. Nervously, he put a hand to his collar and pulled. “What I mean is… well.”
Victoria, deciding to save Nicholas, jumped in. “Well, you know that omelet has Brie- and mold ripened cheeses like that should be avoided by pregnant women. That’s what Nicholas meant, probably.”
Nicholas, who did not know the difference between a Brie and a Cheddar, nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly it. That’s what I meant.”
Bessie’s lips were still pressed together.
“Husbands are such a trial sometimes.” Victoria laughed. “I remember the second month I was pregnant with my son Byron, and my husband, Michael...”
