by Amity Allen
My bladder was starting to complain. Ugh, this always happened to me. “I hate to be a pest, Denise, but before we do that, would you happen to have a restroom I could use?”
“Sure. Follow me.” We walked into the barn, the cool earth floor making a big difference in the temperature already. The musty “barn” smell tickled my nostrils as I passed through to the door she pointed at, beyond the horse stalls. “First door on the right. It’s our vet room and towards the back wall is a toilet area.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll just be a minute.”
“Not a problem. See you in a few.” Her attention was drawn to an extra round Jack Russell Terrier, who had something yellowish on his nose. “Oh Sausage. What have you gotten into now?” She went after the dog, who proceeded to take off in the other direction. Denise took up chase, but when I saw how fast the dog ran, I didn’t expect she had a very good chance of catching him.
Sausage. What a funny name for a dog, but it fit his anatomy perfectly.
As I entered the vet room, I thought about what a nice place this would be for a cat to live. Pepper could laze on the hay bales, chase and torture Sausage . . .
Because I was thinking about my new cat and the dog, I didn’t really pay much attention to the vet room as I passed through it to get to the toilet. But after I finished my business and washed my hands, I let my curiosity get the better of me.
The large room boasted a table that was too small for a horse, but perfect for a smaller animal or providing a work space, as well as a long row of cabinets above a sink and a countertop. Looking for a paper towel, I opened the cabinet above the sink. Inside were a bunch of pill bottles, a few bottles of what looked to be liquid medications, and some smaller bottles. It was like peeking into a person’s medicine cabinet, only with everything being much bigger because it was for horses. There were some tubes of creams and ointments. I picked up a few of them to see what they were. I was surprised that I recognized some of the pink stuff for stomach upset, and some of the names of the antibiotics and eye ointments from when I’d been there years ago.
General had scratched his eye on a branch and gotten an ulcer on it so Felicity and I had administered atropine and antibiotic ointment to it every day. But Denise had a big box of atropine in there—like a case. More than you’d need for twenty horses, and there were only three bottles left in there.
Something made a noise behind me, and I jumped, slamming the cabinet doors closed at the same time. Looking around, I couldn’t tell what had made the noise. Maybe a horse in the barn, stomping or kicking at something.
I should have left, but instead I was unable to curb my curiosity, so I opened the next cabinet over. It was filled with towels and multicolored bandages. I closed the door then noticed on the refrigerator there was a picture of Tony Morgan and Denise.
The picture looked remarkably like the one I’d seen over at the Morgan’s house when I dropped off the azalea bush. Only that one had three people, and this one only had two and what looked like a woman’s arm. The rest of Heather had been cut out.
I needed to get back to Denise before she started wondering about me. I was about to step outside when I noticed a wall of framed photographs. There were pictures of Denise with trophies and horses, pictures of younger girls, some boys, people I assumed were her students. Then I noticed in the very center, in a place of honor, was a picture of both Heather and Tony Morgan standing next to Denise. There was a horse in the picture wearing a bed of red flowers of some sort, and Denise held the horse’s reins.
When I went back into the barn, a chill passed through me that I hoped was a cold front coming through.
I found Denise behind the barn where she’d been before, but this time she was leaning on the side of a golf cart, scrolling through her phone.
“Hop on in, and I’ll take you for a spin.”
“Thanks.” I climbed in one side of the golf cart, and she climbed in the other. Soon we were zipping off at a much faster clip than I expected. The wind whipped my hair across my face and I had to pull some strands out of my mouth.
“I bet you’ll be glad when fall finally gets here.” Our weather was always stifling in the summer, and I couldn’t imagine working outdoors in it all day long.
“I actually love the summer,” Denise countered.
“Really? With all this humidity? You are a better woman than me.” I guess I got spoiled by the Santa Ana winds when I was out in California. Sometimes the combination of the heat and the humidity in Alabama was so unbearable it made me feel faint.
Denise laughed, apparently unfazed by the heat. As she drove around the property, she showed me an enormous catfish pond, and a place for the ducks.
“I sell their eggs. Some people can eat those but can’t have chicken eggs.”
“Huh. I had no idea.”
We rode around to a nice-sized garden patch where she grew heirloom tomatoes, and she gave me a small bucket of them to take home to Aunt Cricket. They were all different colors and sizes. I couldn’t wait to try one.
We got back in the cart and looked to be heading for the main barn.
“So how are you doing?” I wasn’t sure if this was too presumptuous. I didn’t really know Denise, but I also felt that if I didn’t ask how she was, she might think me insensitive.
“You mean since Heather?”
I nodded.
“I miss her. That part’s hard. Some days I can’t believe she’s really gone.”
“I’m sure it’s tough. You know she had a cat?”
Denise slowed the engine of the golf cart by taking her foot off the gas. “Yeah?”
This question seemed to throw her off.
“Well, I was over at her house the other day—”
Denise turned and glared at me. “What were you doing over at Tony’s place?”
“Delivering flowers. Since I came back to town, I’ve joined my friends, who have a flower business. Someone sent him some flowers and I was delivering them.”
“Oh, I see!” Her voice had taken on a hysterical tone, and for an instant I caught a glimpse of the jealous side to Denise Tellerman. One she had never shown me before.
“So you’ve know Tony a long time?” I asked.
She stiffened. “We go back a long way.”
“Is it true that he loved you first?” I held my breath waiting for her answer.
She laughed bitterly. “Who told you that?”
“Tippy mentioned that Heather met him when you brought him home to meet your family. That’s all. I just thought it was interesting.”
She pushed the pedal harder, and we went faster around a curve than felt comfortable. I clutched the edge of my seat.
“Interesting? Heather was an awful person. She took him from me. The way she took everything from me.” Denise hit the break and stopped the golf cart. We were at the edge of what looked to be the property line. On the other side was a deeply wooded area. Denise got out of the cart and turned to face me.
“Is that why you killed her?”
Denise laughed. “That’s rich. You think you’ve got it all figured out, that you’re a detective in real life. What a joke.”
“Not really. I just figured out what you didn’t want me to.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I shrugged and got out of the cart myself. We faced each other.
Had she suspected the whole time that I suspected her and planned to bring me out here to harm me? My heart began to race.
“You stood to gain the most. With Heather out of the way, you thought you could have Tony back. Maybe there was some money involved too.”
She laughed. “That may be, but you’re wrong. I didn’t poison Heather. I wasn’t there, remember?” She snorted, looking smug.
“Right. But you’re smart. I mean, you hacked into Tippy Bradshaw’s computer didn’t you?”
Denise shook her head. “So easy.”
“How’d you learn to do that?”
She rolle
d her eyes. “It’s not hard. People are so blessed stupid. They stay logged into their email accounts. All you have to do is open them. I figured that out when Heather left her email open on my computer once.”
“She used your computer to check her email?”
“Yes. One weekend I had to go out of town to a horse show, and she stayed out here to watch everything for me while I was gone. She said she needed a break from Tony. From my Tony. She never appreciated him, never knew what she had in him. She treated him terribly.”
“So when you came home and saw her email account, you read through it.”
“Of course I did. I just knew I was going to find evidence of her cheating on Tony, and I was going to print it out and take it to him. Show him how disloyal she was, so he’d leave her sorry butt once and for all.”
“Did you find anything?”
Denise scowled. “Yes, but she wasn’t cheating. At least not like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was fixing the results of her pageants.”
I gasped loudly.
“I know, right? She was taking bribes. Probably wasn’t even reporting the money on her taxes either.” Denise shook her head.
A lightbulb went off in my brain. “So you blackmailed Bruce Martindale into doing it for you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she snapped.
“Yes, you do. You discovered he was bribing Heather so that Anna Beth would win the pageant, and you threatened to expose him if he didn’t kill your sister for you. That would have brought both his personal and professional life crashing down, so he agreed.”
“There is no evidence of that.”
“Maybe not, but you had copies of his emails between him and Heather and you forced his hand.”
“You have no proof of this. That’s just a cockamamie theory.”
“Maybe not, but when the police arrest Bruce and he finds out you were the one that killed his girlfriend Liz, I expect he’ll sing like a bird and probably get a better deal for testifying against you.”
I pretended to need to tie my shoe, and as I bent down I pulled my phone out of my pocket and set it to record.
“What are you doing and what are you talking about? Liz who?”
“Tying my shoe, and nice try. Liz Stoner, the producer of the reality show Babies and Beauties, and Bruce’s girlfriend. You know, the woman you were so worried might know about you and Bruce’s plan that you killed her.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Possibly. Did you think she had footage that might implicate you in some way, or were you just scared Bruce told her in a moment of weakness what you made him do?”
“You really are a piece of work, Poppy Parker. There’s no proof of any of this. It’s just some wild story you’re making up, and that’s exactly what I’ll tell the cops if you try spouting any of these ridiculous accusations of yours.”
“Have it your way, Denise. But I’m guessing you didn’t realize we have hidden cameras in the bed and breakfast. Time stamped with you coming in and out of Liz’s room. Before you went in she was alive. After you left—not so much.”
Denise’s face exploded into a grimace of rage. “You evil little witch! I don’t believe you,” she cried, but I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t so sure.
“Where’s the footage?” I asked.
“I got rid of it. None of that mattered. It had nothing to do with Heather or her murder.”
I remained silent, wanting her to keep talking. The more she talked, the more she incriminated herself.
“Wait. You don’t have cameras! If that was true, the police would have already arrested me.” She looked like she was ready to scratch my eyes out.
She had me there. I lied about the hidden cameras in the bed and breakfast. I had no way of knowing it was her who really killed Liz, but I’d had a hunch so I’d played that card. Now the question was—how could I get out of here?
Seeing as I was at least a mile from my car, unarmed, and at the edge of the property that belonged to this woman who had just confessed to murdering two people.
“Let’s just go back, Denise. Turn yourself in. Perhaps there will be extenuating circumstances. You can hire a good lawyer.” I wanted to appease her, but the crazed look in her eyes told me it was too late for that.
She pulled a gun out of an ankle holster and pointed it at me. “I don’t think so.”
Waving the gun towards the woods, she indicated what she wanted me to do.
“Start walking.”
I did as Denise said and took a few steps towards the woods. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I tried my best to remember how to harness my magic skills, but my brain turned into a cloudy fog as I moved automatically in fear.
“What are you doing?” I asked, peeking over my shoulder at her. “The last thing you need now is another dead body you’re responsible for.”
“Shut up and give me your phone,” Denise said sharply. “I can’t have anybody talking. It’s not my fault Bruce was foolish enough to blab to that Stoner woman.”
“Is that why you killed her?”
“Of course. She’s on TV for Pete’s sake. I knew she couldn’t keep her mouth shut so I snuck in your B&B and waited for you to leave her room.”
“How did you get in?” If I lived through this ordeal it would be good to know how we could improve security.
“I got a key from Bruce to the front door so I just walked right in.”
I wanted to make a note to self, but I was too distracted by the gun pointed at me.
We had gone about fifteen feet into the woods now, and I imagined what she had planned. She’d take my phone and destroy it, take me deeper into the woods, shoot me and leave me there. Possibly bury my body in a shallow grave. And she might get away with the whole thing.
I couldn’t let that happen. I had to stall.
“So tell me about Tippy. Did you steal her tablet at the chicken place?”
She laughed bitterly. “There’s another one who’s too arrogant to live. I hoped the police would blame her for Heather’s death. She’s the one who should rot in prison for this, not me. She and that snotty daughter of hers basically closed down my business.”
“How did they do that?”
“Once Heather introduced them to the world of pageants that’s all Dimples wanted to do. Suddenly not only did Dimples not want to ride, but none of her friends did either. When you have a girl who’s a trendsetter like that one is, she can influence a whole gaggle of girls and that’s exactly what she did. I lost more than a dozen students after she defected over to the pageant world. My business couldn’t absorb a loss like that. This is a small town, and if none of the girls want to ride anymore, I’m in trouble.”
“Surely there are other ways. I could help you with a video, remember?”
She waved the gun at me. “That was a good idea, Poppy, and I appreciate it, but now that Tony is going to be getting Heather’s life insurance money I doubt we’ll need it.”
“So you and Tony are together?”
She nodded. “We will be. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Does he know what you did? That you had his wife killed?”
Denise shook her head. “He never needs to know. But she was always the wrong one for him. He knows that.”
Denise seemed to be living in a dreamworld of her own creation, and I wasn’t at all sure that Tony lived in that same world.
“Enough talking. Keep walking, into the woods.”
Good, she’d forgotten about the phone, but I needed her to keep talking while I figured out how to get out of this mess.
“You know, that was kinda clever. You were mad at Tippy so not only did you get rid of your sister, but you sending that email from Tippy’s account went a long way towards framing her for Heather’s murder. Tippy was at the pageant so she had the opportunity, her sending that email, and the fact that her daughter won the pageant after Heather
was dead might have made people believe that she’d murder someone just so her child could win. It was clever, really.”
“Thank you. Really, Heather got what was coming to her. You can’t treat people like they’re beneath you and expect there will never be any payback. She deserved what she got, the way she behaved. Always taking what she wanted. Regardless of who it belonged to.”
“Like Tony?”
“Yes, like Tony. Now quit foolin’ around and give me that phone.”
I discreetly pressed the stop button on the recording that was documenting our conversation. If anyone ever found it, they would at least be able to add my murder to her list of crimes.
“Please don’t do this, Denise. I can help you.”
“This is your own fault. You should have stayed out of this. You don’t know anything about what it was like having Heather for a sister. She was a despicable woman. No one liked her, and the world is a better place without her.”
“I know you believe that, Denise, but Liz Stoner didn’t do anything to you. I haven’t done anything to you. You have to stop hurting innocent people. You’re just doing this so you’ll get away with murdering Heather.”
“You bet your booty. So you better hand me that phone right now.” For the briefest of seconds I felt sorry for Denise. She was so overwhelmed with hatred for her sister that she’d lost her own humanity and perhaps her sanity. Her sallow complexion and the crinkled lines of her face told me that all the killing was taking its toll on her.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out my phone and handed it to her.
Then I closed my eyes and wiggled my ears as hard as I could, and I hoped and wished with everything I had that it worked.
I mustered all my energy and did it again. My head started to ping with pain and I knew it was working.
Denise stared at me quizzically, like she thought I was having a stroke.
The world stood still. The horses stopped grazing. Denise froze in the middle of putting my phone in her pocket.
I snatched the gun away first and then wrenched my phone from her still hand.
Running as quickly as I could, I placed the gun next to me on the seat of the golf cart and prayed I’d be able to make it work. When I turned the key for the first time, nothing happened.
