by Rose Pressey
“Really?” I asked.
“I found out what kind of boots Stan wears. Don’t ask me how I found out though.”
“I probably don’t want to know.”
“He wears a size eleven and he always wears the same boots, Carhartt.”
The adrenaline pumped through my veins. “I knew it. I knew he’d been in the house when we weren’t there. I just don’t know how he got in when it was locked.”
“Oh, also you asked if I knew Evelyn. Well, I found out that she used to work for his father. Apparently she was his alibi years ago when he was accused of another murder. I guess you’re surprised to hear he was implicated in another murder, huh?”
“Not really. This is news about Evelyn though. Thank you so much, Carrie.”
Just then, movement from the house in the upstairs window caught my attention. It wasn’t Reed, it wasn’t Lacey or my mother… the face looking back at me was Evelyn Arlington.
Chapter Thirty
My stomach hit the ground. Evelyn had a blank expression on her face. What was she doing in the house? She held something in her hand—I soon realized it was a gun.
“Is everything okay?” Carrie asked, bringing me back to the conversation.
“I’m not sure,” I said, still looking up at Evelyn’s menacing glare.
Before Carrie had a chance to reply, my phone went dead.
I glanced down at the phone. The message said there was no service. With a shaky hand, I stuffed the phone back into my pocket.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asked.
He couldn’t see the face that I was looking at.
“Do you know a woman named Evelyn Arlington?” I asked still looking up at the woman.
“Yes, she is the bitch who gave that piece of garbage Stan an alibi.”
I swallowed hard. Something wasn’t right. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had the feeling I was about to find out.
“Why do you ask?” he said.
“Because she is in the plantation staring out at me right now. She doesn’t look happy.”
“I’ve had run-ins with her in the past. She doesn’t like people not sticking to the historical restoration codes. She always had a screw loose in my opinion,” Blake said.
“She’s a little obsessed,” I said.
He jumped up from the step. “Well, let’s go inside and see what she wants.”
Was she in there with Reed? Did he know she was staring out the window at me? I walked up the steps and Blake followed me into the house. The rooms were dark since the sun was at the back of the house. Shadows loomed in every corner. I didn’t hear a sound, no footsteps or anything.
“Reed, are you in here?” I called out. I didn’t yell loudly. For whatever reason, I felt like I needed to be quiet. What had Evelyn done with Reed? And where was my mother and Lacey?
“Maybe we should go upstairs and confront her,” I said.
Blake nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Blake and I eased up the steps, one by one, trying to keep the noise to a minimum. When we reached the top of the stars, I pointed to the first door and he nodded. We walked over to the bedroom and I eased the door open. I poked my head in just a bit, but the room was empty. We continued to every room, but no one was there.
When we reached the room at the front of the house where I’d seen Evelyn looking out the window, I paused. Taking in a deep breath, I nodded at Blake. He mimicked my motion and on the mental count of three, I opened the door. I exhaled when I realized that room was empty. My emotions were mixed. At the same time I wanted to find Evelyn and I didn’t want to find her. What could I say? She might be small, but she was a very scary woman.
“She’s not here,” I whispered. “This is the window where I saw her.”
“Maybe she went downstairs.” Blake walked back to the door and peeked out.
I shook my head. “She could be in any of the rooms down there.”
“This was our bedroom,” he said, looking around the room.
I touched his arm. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone for a bit while I go downstairs and look for her.”
“No, I’ll go with you. You don’t need to confront her alone.”
I was thankful for the offer because I didn’t want to confront her alone. I tried to be tough, but that eighty-five-pound woman really gave me the creeps. We stepped out of the room and headed back downstairs. The house was still eerily quiet.
When we made it to the bottom of the steps, we paused and looked around. No one was in sight. This was just downright creepy.
“I’ll check one side of the house and you can check the other,” Blake said.
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll go through the dining room and the kitchen.”
We went our separate ways, which didn’t seem like such a good idea now that I was walking through the dining room alone. It was funny, this man was a complete stranger yet I still felt safer with him around. I’d take being with him any day over confronting Evelyn.
I made my way through the dining room and into the kitchen. There was still no one in sight. This was getting ridiculous. And I felt I was building myself up into a panic. I needed to remain calm, I told myself. This was no time to panic.
I looked on the window into the backyard just in case Evelyn had walked outside. It was unlikely, but I had to check every option. When I didn’t spot anyone outside either, I made my way back through the rooms and into the foyer. Blake hadn’t returned yet, so I decided to head into the parlor and at least find him. That was if he hadn’t disappeared too.
Chapter Thirty-One
My heart rate increased as I moved through the entrance of the parlor and saw them standing in the middle of the room. Evelyn turned around and narrowed her already beady eyes at me. She had a tight grip on the gun in her hand. Where had she gotten the thing? A Civil War museum? The handgun had a brass scroll design on the sides and a long barrel.
This was certainly a reversal of situations. Reed had been the one who had found me when the crazy realtor had tried to kill Mama, Reed’s Aunt Carolyn and me. Reed’s hands were cuffed and he had a look of disappointment on his face. If I knew him, and I was beginning to after more than six months, I knew that he was disappointed with himself for letting a little old lady handcuff him. But now was not the time for worrying about something like that.
I had to figure out how to fix this situation. Evelyn now had Blake and Reed in the corner with the gun pointed at them. There were three of us and one of her, but she had a gun so that kind of evened the playing field.
“Get over there with the other two now.” She gestured with the gun.
I didn’t respond. Instead I did as I was told and moved slowly over to the other side of the room and stood beside Reed.
“Hurry up, you little trollop. I don’t have all day.” Her nostrils flared as she spoke.
Where else did she have to be? Was she late for killing someone else? She had been the one to kill Gordon Millerton. And I’d thought Stan was the one who had killed him.
“I can’t believe what you’ve done with this place even after I gave you the set of rules. Either y’all are stupid or just plain old mean. In my opinion, it’s probably both.”
“Why are you doing this? We haven’t done anything to you,” I said.
“Let them go,” Reed said. “They don’t have anything to do with the work in this house. Everything that’s been done is all me.”
That wasn’t true, but I admired Reed for trying to save me yet again.
My phone began to ring and I knew she didn’t appreciate the loud ringtone. I hoped that whoever was calling hung up soon because she’d probably shoot us soon if the phone didn’t stop chirping.
“For your sake I hope that god-awful noise stops soon. I hate annoying noises as much as I hate annoying people and as of right now you meet both of those criteria.”
She continued to point the gun at me. Maybe she was a bad shot. Was I willing to test that thoug
ht out? No way. This was one time when I wished I had a gun like Raylan Givens on that Justified show on TV. I’d whip it out and shoot the gun right out of her hand and save the day. Okay, that was neither here nor there now—I had no weapons. Maybe if I threw my cell phone at her I could knock the gun from her hand. Nope. A flashback of when I pitched at the softball game came back to me. No one ever wanted me on their team and it was highly likely that my phone wouldn’t come within ten feet of its intended target.
As we stood there in a showdown, a mumbled noise floated through the room. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly where the sound was coming from though. Evelyn must have noticed that I had heard the noise because a smile spread across her face.
“I guess you’re wondering what that noise is, huh? Are you missing two people who you are quite fond of?”
My face must have turned bright red. She had my mother and Lacey?
“Where are they?” I asked.
“They won’t be coming to save you if that’s what you’re thinking. They’re a little tied up at the moment.”
“I asked where my mother and my friend are.” I had somehow grown bold when I learned she was holding Lacey and Mama.
“Let them go, Evelyn,” Reed said again. “They have nothing to do with any of this.”
“They were meddling in business that didn’t concern them. Therefore, that makes them a part of this. If everyone had just minded their own business we wouldn’t have any of these problems, now would we?”
“How were they meddling in anything? They aren’t even from around here,” I said.
“Well, I ran into them this morning and they were telling me what to do. Especially that bossy mother of yours, so I decided to just get rid of them.”
“You didn’t hurt them, did you?”
I thought I was going to be sick. I’d gotten my mother into another life-or-death situation. I couldn’t let anything happen to them. My thoughts raced a million miles a minute, trying to figure out a way to escape this lunatic woman. If I could just get her attention off of us for a moment, maybe I could tackle her. Okay, I would probably trip or something, but maybe Reed could tackle her and I could clobber her over the head with the metal chair.
“Don’t I know you?” Evelyn asked Blake.
He stared at her, his face was emotionless.
“Don’t you speak?” she asked.
“No, I don’t think you know me,” he said.
She stared for several seconds, then I supposed she gave up on trying to place his face. It had been twenty years, so he had probably aged, but I knew if I’d told her his name she would remember instantly. I was sure he had a lot of hatred for the woman who’d helped his wife’s killer go free.
“Mr. Millerton ignored my guidelines. I had to get rid of him before he did any more destruction to the homes. Now you are doing the same thing. I simply can’t allow that to happen.” Evelyn made a sweeping motion with her hand, swinging the gun through the air.
We all ducked, but she seemed unaware of her careless movements.
“How did you kill him?” I asked.
She looked down, then back up at me. There was no remorse in her eyes. Actually, it was as if she wasn’t even behind her eyes. Her expression was blank and emotionless. I didn’t think she cared that she’d murdered the man. And I didn’t think she’d care if she murdered us.
“The hammer was right there on his desk. He’d been hanging a picture showing the front of the home after he’d made the hideous changes to it. I just couldn’t stand to look at it any longer. When I told Gordon about the guidelines, he had the nerve to act like he didn’t know what I was talking about. He actually scoffed at me and mocked me. He was a terrible man.”
The last time I checked scoffing at someone wasn’t grounds for murder, but I didn’t point that out to her.
“He thought because he had plenty of money he could just get by with anything in town. My relatives built this home,” she said, waving the gun at us. “That stupid Stan wouldn’t kill Gordon for me. I was his alibi when he killed that teacher. He owed me a favor. When he wouldn’t do it, I had to kill the bastard myself. Now I realize it isn’t so hard to eliminate a problem.”
“Were you the one following me in the white car?” I asked.
“A couple times, yes. The other times I had Amanda Porter follow you. She was more than happy to do it for a little extra cash. She’d do anything for Mr. O’Hara. He should have stayed with her.” Evelyn smirked.
There was no way I’d let her get under my skin right now. I just needed a chance to get closer to Evelyn and maybe I could knock the gun out of her hand. Of course maybe I would trip or make a mistake and she would shoot Reed and then me. It was a chance I’d have to take. She was going to kill us if I didn’t do something to stop her.
A glint of gold caught my eye and I spotted my mother in the hallway. I couldn’t let on that she was back there. Lacey and Carrie stood behind her. My heart thumped. I didn’t want my mother involved. I wanted to tell her to run away as quickly as possible. But if Evelyn knew she was back there then she might turn around and shoot my mother. I couldn’t let that happen.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mama inch closer. Was she really going to try to sneak up on Evelyn? After a few more steps, Mama was directly behind Evelyn. I didn’t dare look at Reed. He was probably freaking out.
In one swift movement, my mother wrapped her hands around Evelyn’s neck and pulled her back. The gun went off as I lunged forward. Everything was a blur. I grabbed Evelyn’s hand and yanked the gun from her grasp. My mother was sitting on top of Evelyn as I pointed the gun at her. Trust me, there was no way Evelyn was going anywhere. I was worried however that Evelyn might be smothered to death by sequins.
Lacey and Carrie stood in the doorway with their mouths wide open. Mama and I had saved Reed’s life. I guessed we were even now. Would he still be mad at me after that? I sure hoped we never had to be in this situation again. I didn’t want the tie breaker.
“Where have you been?” I asked my mother.
“This crazy woman managed to tie us up and make us stay in that basement.” Mama’s voice was even louder than usual.
“You were in that horrible basement?” I shivered at the thought.
“Yes. You wouldn’t think a little thing like this woman could pull something like that off, but she’s a clever one.” Mama shifted her weight on Evelyn.
“How did you get free?” I asked.
“Your new friend here let us go.” Lacey smiled at Carrie.
“When you’re phone went dead I got worried,” she said.
“I’m glad you did.” My heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal.
“Why did you confront Evelyn?” I asked them.
Lacey pointed to my mother. “She was the one who figured it out.”
“You mentioned a peppermint at the murder scene. Well, when we met her she had one in her mouth, so I asked her about it.”
I knew a jury wouldn’t convict someone over a peppermint, but we didn’t have to worry about that now. Evelyn had just convicted herself by holding us hostage.
“Would someone mind getting me out of these things?” Reed rattled his hands, breaking up our conversation.
I handed Lacey the phone. “Call 911.”
Evelyn mumbled something under the weight of my mother’s body, but Mama just applied more pressure. If the cops didn’t show up soon, she’d definitely accidentally smother the woman.
I ran over to Reed and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m so sorry for what I said last night.”
He shook his head. “No, it was my fault for being a stubborn jackass. You can handle yourself and you were just trying to help me. I didn’t want you to be hurt though. I guess I’m too much like my uncle.”
“Speaking of your uncle. Are you going to tell me why you two are fighting?”
“He’s upset with me for leaving Georgia.”
“But you’re back now. What’s the probl
em?” I asked.
“Yeah, but not for good,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“You and I both know you’re a Kentucky girl. Even with this house, we have to go back there.”
I nodded. He was right. Kentucky was where my heart was.
“Why were you talking to Evelyn today?” I asked.
“Melody gave me the papers that Gordon had wanted me to have. They were the news articles about what had happened in the house. Evelyn happened to pull up when I was sitting in front of the house and she saw me reading them.”
Uh-oh. So he knew I’d taken the folder from Melody.
After Lacey dialed the police, they came in record time. I was shocked actually; I hadn’t expected them to show up at all. The police handcuffed Evelyn and took our statements. Surprisingly, we learned that Stan had turned himself in for the murder. What had made him change his mind?
“Did you steal a file folder from my cousin’s house?” Reed asked as we watched the police escort Evelyn out.
I diverted my attention. Some things are better left as secrets.
Epilogue
Reed and I stood outside Lou’s house on the small patio overlooking the lake. Fall had settled over the area, although the leaves had reached their peak yet. The sun was descending behind the trees, but the air was still warm.
Lou held up his glass of champagne. “To another successful home project.”
Reed and I clinked our glasses against his.
“Cheers,” we said.
We’d sold the McKeeley Plantation to the historical society. They were opening a museum for the county in the house. Blake Gaines had been a big part of making that happen. He’d left Bay Point, but at least he had some closure now.
Stan was set to go on trial for Amber Gaines’ murder and Evelyn Arlington was facing the same fate for murdering Gordon Millerton.
Reed and his Uncle Lou had called a truce. Lou was realizing that he couldn’t force Reed to stay in town if he wanted to be somewhere else.
“So what are your plans now?” Lou asked.
Reed looked at me. “I’m not sure.”
