Lethally Green: A Maggie Flanagan Cozy Mystery (Maggie Flanagan cozy mysteries Book 1)

by Amber Boffin

  “I see, and why would you lend such a nice trailer to Fred Wigmott? Had he also been your boyfriend?” Maggie would normally never use such a sarcastic tone, but she felt the mayor was too political to tackle without it. For some reason, since their first encounter there was always electricity in the air between them.

  Ms. Stilton seemed annoyed, but to Maggie’s surprise she walked up to Fred Wigmott and said, “You killed him. You were always jealous of Peter. He succeeded where you didn’t. You even tried to separate us when we were young and tried to seduce me.”

  Fred Wigmott looked coldly at her. “You’ve got nothing on me. You expect all men to want you. You’re wrong. Look at you, why would I’ve wanted to be with you when my brother rejected you. You might be mayor now, but it won’t protect you against the truth that you killed him out of jealousy, not me. You are the jealous one, wanting revenge!”

  Maggie walked up to Fred Wigmott and looked up at him. “Wait a minute, you’re a little fast at accusing everyone here. First, it was Leon, and now the mayor. If you don’t want to explain what really happened, I will!”

  “You’ve got no proof.” Fred stood with his chin up, hands in his pockets.

  “You disliked your brother for his looks, getting all the praise from your parents and attending university. He was better than you at snowmobile racing. He had moved to the little town where you’d chosen to set up your business decades ago and ran for the position of mayor. This was too much for you; you had to get rid of him.”

  Maggie stopped to look at his reaction. He remained stone-faced. She had to carry on with her theory.

  “You know snowmobiles well and how to cut his brakes in such a way that he wouldn’t notice. You also knew how good your brother was at riding his sled, and simply cutting the brakes wouldn’t be enough. You had to provoke a fatal accident.”

  Maggie heard a loud ahh from the crowd. For a very brief moment she felt as if she were on stage in a play, but this was for real. She had to push him further.

  “You asked him to meet you that evening and told him it was urgent. He left the party early to see you. He would have done that for you. He cared for you.”

  Maggie took in a breath, hoping her hunch was right. His face was still and grey and his eyes two blank black pools. She went on, “Thanks to seeing my reflection in the Airstream, I know you parked the airstream across the road next to the beaver dam. You made sure you parked it close to the dam, its full length blocking the road and your truck hidden on the right behind it. You knew he always drove fast.”

  Maggie saw a flicker in his eyes; she must be right.

  “As he arrived at full speed, his headlight on, a bright light seemed to be coming straight toward him. The Airstream acted as a huge mirror. He swerved to avoid what appeared to be another snowmobiler coming head-on and managed to miss the trailer. He scratched the side of it, and still trying to brake, he went straight into the beaver dam, one of the skis hooking a branch, thus toppling the sled over, propelling him into the water. He died on impact, hitting a rock in the water.”

  Fred looked at her and at Raj, who was now framing him with Adam and maintained, “You’ve got no proof. This is utter speculation and ridiculous.”

  Maggie walked up to Sergeant Humphries and asked him to stand next to the mayor. As if under the spell of her story, the sergeant obeyed and brought Leon with him. The sergeant burst into another sneezing fit.

  “Do you remember sneezing when I gave you the purple hat?” asked Maggie.

  “Ahhtchooo, yes! And not just then, any time I looked at that effing hat.”

  Maggie then asked the mayor, “Have you lost a purple hat?”

  Ms. Stilton, her chest turning red, replied, “Yes, I don’t know where it went, only a few days ago and the last time I had it, I think, was when I saw Fred…”

  Maggie coldly looked at Fred Wigmott, then took a piece of paper from her pocket. “I found the hat you lost at the crime scene, and the perfume in the hat was yours, as Sergeant Humphries can confirm with his allergy to it. No one can forget your perfume.” Everyone nodded in response. She explained, “The hat was placed there to incriminate you, but that didn’t work.”

  Maggie waited for a moment for Fred to react. The sergeant stepped away from the mayor, trying to control his tearing eyes and runny nose, and stood closer to Fred, while Raj moved next to Leon. Seeing Fred refused to budge, Maggie added, “How can you explain then that your DNA was all over the hat?”

  “How can you prove it’s my DNA? I didn’t give any DNA sample to anyone. It could have been my brother’s DNA or someone else’s, maybe even yours!”

  Sergeant Humphries interjected, “We took your DNA, remember, when we wanted to be sure it was your brother, as the body was hard to recognize after being in the water for so long.”

  “But how can my DNA be on the hat?” asked Fred angrily.

  Maggie was quick to respond, seeing the sergeant look to her for the answer. “There were hairs from the mayor in the hat; no surprise there, given it was her hat. We also found one of your hairs. This was a real mistake on your part to have put on the hat. Perhaps you wanted to get a closer feel of Ms. Stilton, who had rejected you?”

  Maggie’s eyes moved from Fred to Ms. Stilton, who was staring at him in disgust. Maggie addressed the sergeant. “This DNA is a match for your DNA, Fred Wigmott, not your brother’s, and certainly not mine. Sergeant?”

  Sergeant Humphries seemed to seize his opportunity to be part of the revelation as he pulled up his trousers with his belt. “Yes, we have the results back from the lab. We were about to question you and arrest you.”

  Maggie looked briefly at Amy, who winked at her as the sergeant spoke. Fred folded his arms tightly against his chest, his chin pointing away. “You’ve got no proof,” he said again.

  Maggie walked to Adam and whispered something in his ear, then stormed toward Fred Wigmott like a little terrier chasing a rabbit brandishing a shiny object. “If it is not enough then, what about this?” While Adam was immobilizing Fred’s arm, she had picked Peter Wigmott’s ring from his pocket, betting on it still being there.

  “How do you explain this in your pocket? It’s not yours. I saw it didn’t fit your finger when you wore it the other day. You’ve not changed weight since the photograph of the university party. You never graduated. Peter always wore his ring. I saw it on a recent picture of a township meeting. This means you removed it from his finger when he was dead!”

  Fred had managed to free himself from Adam’s grip but was stopped by a human barrier of Patrick, Damien, and Barrie. The audience had all been standing for a while and had formed a circle around the stage to get a better view and be part of the action. Sergeant Humphries made his way over, pushing the Millers and Tina away to arrest him and finally charged both Fred and Leon according to the rules.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  With a broad smile, the sergeant escorted Leon LeBreton and Fred Wigmott, together with Constable Gupta, stopping on his way for series of pictures from the little forest of cell phones that was now pointing toward him. Sergeant Humphries made sure only his face would be on the pictures, the convicted burying theirs in their jackets while the sergeant’s head popped out left and right to catch the line of the cameras. The sergeant looked forward to writing his report and making it up to his superiors. He hadn’t needed their help in solving the case, and that was what mattered most. It had all happened so quickly that they would most likely not believe it. Before reaching the car, he saw Tina Partridge, who had followed him out, and smiled.

  “Come to my office tomorrow. I’d be happy to fill you in on the details for this case.”

  *

  The group gathered around the sandwiches. Sandra, the clerk, commented on the mountain of food and the small group there to eat it. The mayor bent over her shoulder.

  “You are right, I had hoped more people would come. I’m sure Heidi, who prepared this, will find mouths to feed for the leftovers, don’
t worry.”

  A brouhaha of voices rose above the heads, as everyone felt compelled to state that it was obvious—it was exactly what they had thought but didn’t dare say earlier. Adam and Barrie joked with Maggie that she had taken a big risk and they hoped there would be no more cases. They nearly had heart attacks listening to her unravel the case. Amy hugged her, saying, “I’m so glad it went well. Not really how you thought it would, though?”

  “No, I was lucky, and I never would have found anything out had it not been for you.” She looked at the three of them. “I didn’t do much. They merely needed a little encouragement to talk. I can finally settle down here…”

  The reverend joined the little group. “What a story. Who would have thought, Ms. Maggie Flanagan, the secret detective and future pilot. I do hope you will take less risk when flying with me and be gentle with me. I wouldn’t want to be quizzed by you, that’s for sure! This village was so quiet before you arrived…”

  Maggie laughed. “Don’t worry, statistically I think we’re done. I really don’t want any more murders. How about we all meet at Mutti’s?” Seeing Amy’s confused look, she added, “The Horizon Cafe, tonight?”

  *

  That evening the cafe was alive with excited voices debating the events of the day and recounting them to Heidi, who stood at the head of the table, her hands on her hips, eyes wide, looking at her expanded group of adopted children. At the round table next to the window overlooking the lake, Barrie, Adam, and Raj were joined by Raj’s wife, Indira, Amy, and Maggie.

  Having heard what happened, Heidi was about to give them the specials of the day when Amy asked, “But there’s still a mystery for me. What about the blackmail letter Leon LeBreton received. Who sent it and why?”

  Amy was looking at Maggie, and Maggie lifted her hands to the sky and replied, “Dunno…I’m still wondering what that was about. It came from the…”

  The group turned toward Raj, who wore a smug grin as he tapped the table with his index finger.

  Excited, having already consumed a number of beers, Barrie nudged Raj with his elbow and started hitting the table with his hand in a rhythmic fashion.

  “Tell us!”

  The others joined in as Raj was clearly enjoying his moment of attention. He cleared his throat. “Yes, I know why…”

  Everyone around him shouted, “Out with it!”

  “Sorry, can’t give out the information, police matter.”

  Outraged, Barrie exploded, “Raj, you… Don’t give us this now. Okay, fine, we’re not interested anyway.” Turning away from Raj, he looked up toward Heidi, “So, Mutti, what can you recommend tonight, I’m starving!”

  Instead of answering Barrie, she was smiling at Raj, who was sitting his arms crossed, looking down, lower lip drooping as if he were sulking.

  Maggie’s curiosity got the better of her. “Raj, come on, you can tell us, pleeeease…”

  Raj, regaining the attention, settled back in his chair with a large grin. With a twinkle in his chocolate eyes and a little bob of the head, he said, “Okay, just because you ask so nicely…”

  All heads at the table leaned in, including Heidi, bowing forward to catch every word as Raj whispered, “It was Fred Wigmott. He had seen Leon going back to the crime scene and wanted Leon to take all the blame. If he could make him confess to the murder of Fiona, since he believed it was a murder at the time, it would be so easy to cast the blame on him for his brother’s murder too. He thought the fear that someone already knew would make Leon crack up.”

  Amy asked, surprised, “But how did you get that out of Fred Wigmott?”

  “For some reason he still had something against Leon, and I just asked him if he had written the note, since I thought he could have done it. He confessed.”

  “Well done!” exclaimed Maggie. “Finally, the entire mystery is solved. Phew, I can now settle in and relax. I really never expected this to happen here. But one thing that I am grateful for is that out of this terrible story, here are my newfound friends!”

  Maggie put her hands on the shoulders of Amy to her right and Adam to her left, looking at the pairs of eyes smiling at her from around the table. The moment was broken by a laugh and Barrie saying, “Now that’s all well and good. What about some food!”

  All eyes were now back on Heidi as she told them her specials…

  AMBER BOFFIN loves stories and writing. She started writing to keep in touch with friends from different continents and then to document her travels around the world. British-born, she worked and lived in a number of countries together with her husband before settling in Canada. The warmth Amber experiences living in cottage country, together with her passion for nature, inspire her to write the cozy mysteries with a twist—a little less peaceful than reality.