*****
Chapter 11
The Twisted Family Of Alex Darwin
“What’s that?” Bluebell asked. She stared at Nancy. Nancy had tears in her eyes, and she spoke with some heat.
“I’m telling you,” Nancy said. “Tara is Alex’s daughter.”
“Of course she is.” Bluebell nodded. The pieces were slowly clicking together for her. Tara’s lush black hair was quite similar to Alex’s. But there was another question she had to ask Nancy “And Joel, he’s Alex’s son too, isn’t he?”
Nancy gave a sideways look at Joel, who was with Tara, trying to console her by letting her play with the kitten. Bluebell knew immediately that she’d been right. Nancy didn’t deny it immediately, as someone else would have done. She only looked like she were working hard to pick out the right words
“Yes,” Nancy said with a sigh. “Joel isn’t my son. He’s Alex’s.”
Nolan stared at her as if she’d suddenly grown Antlers. He looked completely bowled over.
“Well, he has to be your son, though. Doesn’t he? You had an affair with Alex and…” Nolan stuttered, unable to finish his sentence. “I mean.. Everyone knows,” she said.
“I never had an affair with Alex!” Nancy exclaimed. There was heat in her voice. “He just liked to make up stories. He was an odious man. I hated him. But I had to tolerate him for Davis’ sake. I love Davis still. I only left him because he drank too much. Secretly, I hope he stops. I hope he sees sense. Because I’d be back together with him in a heartbeat if I could be.”
“But…” Nolan looked thoroughly confused, as did Trent. “But… if you love Davis, and Alex… none of this makes sense. Who are Joel’s parents?”
“Joel’s parents are Tara’s parents,” Nancy said. “Lacey and Alex Darwin.”
Bluebell rubbed her eyes, unable to process this. “So what you’re telling us is, you never had an affair with Alex?” So she’d been both right and wrong. Right that Alex was Joel’s father. Wrong that Nancy was the mother. But then again, it explained a lot. If Nancy wasn’t Joel’s real mother, it explained why she hadn’t cared much when Joel was missing. It also explained why she had been so comfortable believing that Davis wouldn’t harm Joel.
“I never even looked at Alex,” Nancy said. “He was despicable. Just a crowing rooster. Didn’t stop him from spreading lies about me. I needed this job, so there wasn’t much I could do. I tried counteracting the rumors, but it was pointless. No one ever believed me. Why would they?”
“And you’re saying Tara and Joel are brother and sister?” Bluebell asked.
Nancy nodded.
“So why… why do you and Davis raise him?”
“I was never able to bear kids,” Nancy said, looking sad. “I was all right about it, to be honest. I never really wanted kids. But Davis was inconsolable. He was crushed. He always wanted kids of his own. I think in some ways, he wanted to make up for his own miserable childhood by giving someone else a good childhood. That’s why I was so confident that Davis would never hurt Joel. He might burn down the world, but he’d never harm that child. Joel and Davis have a stronger bond than most fathers and sons do!”
“But how did that lead to him raising Alex’s child?” Bluebell asked. “I mean, not every man who doesn’t have his own son raises his sister’s.”
“Alex was odious, like I told you,” Nancy said. “He ran wild well into his 50s. He cavorted with women like there was no tomorrow. As for poor Lacey, she never seemed to stop loving him. She had three children with him even though they aren’t married! Alex treated her horribly. I don’t know how Davis didn’t just kill him.” Hastily, she bit her tongue, as if realizing what she’d just said. “I mean, I don’t think Davis killed Alex.” Nancy said. “I don’t think he ever would.”
“Tell us about Joel,” Bluebell said firmly, not commenting on this.
Then with a deep breath, she added, “When Joel was born, Davis and I took him as our own. We knew Lacey couldn’t possibly take care of both him and Sara while working two jobs to pay rent. Alex was a horrible man, very irresponsible. He didn’t care about Lacey’s suffering. He even denied being the father, though anyone with eyes can see the resemblance.”
“Does Joel know?” Bluebell asked.
“He doesn’t,” Nancy said. “I don’t want him too, either. I am not a very good mother to him, I’ll admit it. I never felt a bond with him. But then, I never wanted to be a mother either. Everyone assumes that women just automatically fall in love for and care for babies. Well, I wasn’t built that way. I resented Joel. I resented Davis too, for never having the backbone to stand up to Alex, and instead drinking away his misery. But look, I loved Davis enough to keep his messy family secrets just that - secrets. I just won’t stand around and let Felipe go to jail for a crime he hasn’t committed. Not that. That would be a sin.”
Bluebell took a deep breath. “Yes,” she said. “That would be a sin.”
“Lacey was a good woman before Alex ruined her life,” Nancy said. She took out her phone, hunted around a bit, and showed Bluebell a photo. “She was an acrobat in the circus just like Tara. This was a very long time ago, when we just started. None of the other performers were around back then. But look at her, she and Tara look the same, don’t they?”
Bluebell smiled. “Yes,” she agreed. “In fact, if I’m not mistaken, this photo is very similar to the poster of your circus that hangs everywhere. Lacey’s wearing the same purple tights and yellow scarf outfit.”
“Her signature outfit.” Nancy nodded. “Tara wears it now.”
Nolan gasped. “I found that!” he said. “It was under Nolan’s desk.” He pointed at the scarf. “It was under the desk, I tell you, I know because I thought it was unusual that they found nothing under the desk. I was chatting up the deputy and he told me I must have imagined it.”
“She must have dropped it there when she found Alex.” Nancy nodded. “Poor thing. A hard time for her. First her uncle, then her husband get arrested.”
“But why would it go missing afterward?” Nolan asked. “There’s something suspicious here.”
“Yes, Nancy. You forget, Felipe is not her husband,” Bluebell said grimly. “He’s her soon to be ex-husband. That makes a world of a difference.”
*****
Chapter 12
A Yellow Scarf With A Knot
Tara was in her trailer, packing her bags, when Bluebell knocked.
“What is it?” Tara asked, looking a little impatient. It had been a very long day. The sun was almost about to set. The last thing she wanted was for Bluebell to come chatter about some useless thing.
“It’s Felipe,” Bluebell said, excitedly. “Tara, I thought you’d like to know. He’s been released!”
“He… he has?” Tara tried not to sound nervous. “Why? I thought they had ironclad proof that he’d done it. Does he just have a good lawyer?”
“It’s not that,” Bluebell said. “They found the rest of the letter!”
“That’s not possible!” Tara exclaimed.
“Well, that’s what I heard anyway,” Bluebell said. “Nolan is friends with a deputy, and he says they know how Alex was killed. All along we thought it was strangulation, that is, we thought someone put their hands around Alex’s neck and squeezed. But it wasn’t that. It was done with a handkerchief. You know all about it, right? You were reading a book about the Thuggee tribe of India. They used this method. They’d tie a knot in the handkerchief, slip it around someone’s neck, and then put their knee in that person’s back. The more the victim struggled, the faster he’d get strangled, and the Thuggees would escape without a scratch.”
Tara gulped. She stared at Bluebell. “What are you trying to say?” she asked in a cold voice.
“Nothing,” Bluebell said. “I thought you’d be happy to know. It’s funny, as soon as I heard about the method of murder, I thought about your book. It was your book, right? Or did Felipe read it too?”
“Now that I
think of it, that one’s his,” Tara said.
“Maybe it is.” Bluebell nodded. “But that yellow scarf of yours, that isn’t his. It most definitely isn’t. Do you know where you last saw it?”
“Why are you hounding me?” Tara asked, furious. “I had nothing to do with any of that.”
“Sure?” Bluebell smiled. “I guess the police might believe it too, except they found your fingerprint under the desk, where you dropped the scarf!”
Furious, Tara sprang on Bluebell. Her hands clasped around Bluebell’s neck, and she roared.
“You’ve been meddling in this from the beginning! You and that boyfriend of yours!” Tara cried. “Yes, I killed him! I had to! He was a horrible man, and he deserved it! Now you’ll die too!”
Bluebell stayed calm, gathering the magic inside her. A second more, and Tara would have been on the floor, but before Bluebell could attack her, the door was flung open, as Nolan rushed in, followed by the sheriff.
“Tara Darwin, you’re under arrest,” the sheriff said. “For the murder of your father, Alex Darwin. The best thing you can do is cooperate.”
“Fine,” Tara said. “I confess. I did it. I know you’ve got my fingerprints anyway. I thought I’d wiped them all off!”
“What fingerprints?” The sheriff looked confused.
“She just told me…” Tara pointed to Bluebell, who gave her a cheerful little wave. Realizing that she’d been duped, Tara gave an even louder roar, and tried to rush her again. The sheriff, however, had a firm grip on her.
For the third time that day, the circus folk watched as a suspect was hauled off in the back of the police car. This time, though, they knew the cops had gotten it right. All thanks to Bluebell.
“That was incredibly stupid of you!” Nolan said, giving Bluebell a hug. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Bluebell said. “Besides, the sheriff told me there was no harm in trying it.”
“That sheriff doesn’t follow procedure,” Nolan grumbled. “He could have gotten you killed.”
“Worth the risk, since she confessed,” Bluebell said. “We had the evidence in theory, but without her confession, it would have been hard to prosecute her.”
“Why did she confess anyway?” Nolan asked. “She took the scarf and disposed it herself in the kitchen fire. How did you fool her into believing the sheriff had found it?”
Bluebell smiled. She’d cast a simple spell, a spell of heightened belief. Luckily for her, it had worked.
“Personally, I don’t even understand how you figured it out,” Nolan said.
“There were so many things that pointed to it being Tara,” Bluebell said. “But until we had all the information together, it was impossible to guess.”
“I still think it was foolish of you to go rile her the way you did.”
“Well, look, I had to. I had to take that chance. It was the only way we could catch her. She’d been really smart. The thing is, Joel was a key witness all along. He’d heard exactly the moment when Alex’s fate was sealed. He heard Alex say he couldn’t marry every woman who threw herself at him.
“Now, we all believed he might be talking about Nancy, thus suspecting Davis. Or that he might be talking about Tara, thus suspecting Felipe. But the thing is, Alex was talking about Lacey. Tara had confronted him again about doing his duty, about taking care of Lacey and Sara. He refused, saying that she was just another conquest.
“Incensed, Tara killed him as he sat down. She strangled him from behind, putting a knee in his lower back, and wrapping the scarf around his neck. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that scarf and you saw it. Luckily for her, she managed to slip into the trailer unnoticed while you and Felipe were distracted by Davis stumbling out.”
“And what about Davis’ theory?” Nolan asked. “You don’t believe the CIA killed Alex, then?”
“Nancy herself said that Alex was a big liar,” Bluebell said. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he were lying to Davis about being in the CIA.”
Nolan nodded. “Makes sense. But what about the accounts book? Who was Alex paying off? And what about that letter he sent Felipe?”
“Ah the letter.” Bluebell smiled. “That’s where she made her big mistake, you know. The letter. When Davis was arrested, she could have left well alone, but she was so hungry for revenge, she decided to trap Felipe. Unfortunately for her, it backfired majorly. We found out from Nancy that Alex was her father, for one. Secondly, the letter, it was clumsily placed, and she deliberately took me to her trailer to try and make me find it. She tried her hardest to incriminate Felipe. Two crimes in place of one.”
“But Alex wrote to Felipe… why would he?”
“The blackmail referred to in Alex’s account books is actually child support,” Bluebell said. “Child support for Sara. She turned 18 recently, and Alex stopped paying. I think that Tara was trying to get more money out of him for her sister. He wrote to Felipe to get her to stop. But Tara intercepted the letter, and tore it out. If you read it again, it ends “I’m writing to you ins-” I think if she hadn’t torn it in half, the rest of the letter would read, ‘I’m writing to you instead of Tara so that you can talk to her about her behavior!’”
“You know, I actually feel bad for her, kind of,” Nolan said. “She did it for her sister, after all.”
“Maybe she did,” Bluebell said. “I’d feel bad for her too, if it weren’t for her trying very hard to destroy poor Felipe’s life! Besides, murder is never the answer. There were a million different ways to handle this. She chose the path of violence.”
“True,” Nolan agreed. “That wasn’t right. She deserves whatever punishment she gets. As for us, we deserve a break. It’s been a very long day!”
“It has, hasn’t it?” Bluebell smiled. “Let’s get back home, Nolan.”
“Do you think Davis and Nancy will ever reconcile?” Nolan asked.
“I heard that after he was released, Davis swore he’d stop drinking forever,” Bluebell said. “Who knows, he may actually stick to it this time, in which case Joel will have the happy family he deserves.”
“Good,” Nolan said. “As for Sara, losing a sister will be hard for her, but she’ll inherit all of Alex’s money. Hopefully that’ll allow her to get the treatment she needs.”
“It’s just like you to find a silver lining.” Bluebell smiled.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Nolan said.
“What’s that?”
“How did you find Joel that time? How did you know exactly where Davis would be?”
Bluebell yawned, and stretched. “Well, I’d say it was magic, but then you wouldn’t believe me.”
“You know, one of these days, I just might!” Nolan said, giving her a broad smile.
The End
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Murder At The Circus: A Witch Cozy Mystery (A Bluebell Knopps Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 6
