by Marja McGraw
“That’s one of the things his doctor told Josh over the phone last night,” Mike said. “He said, and this is a psychological thing, that the reason Ted was such a neat freak was because he was trying to wash away his guilt. It made him feel dirty, I guess. I don’t understand it all, but underneath all his hatred, there was a tremendous guilt, and the guilt made him hate even more. Sort of a never-ending circle of guilt and hate.”
“Did anyone find out why he took all the little things from our rooms?” I asked. “That’s something I’m curious about. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“It was sort of a cover, I think. He was trying to lead us away from himself. Mr. Perfect wouldn’t steal, right?” Sharon folded her hands in her lap.
“Now, for the big question,” I said. “How did Ted die?”
Mike leaned forward. “When Josh and I entered the passage, Jem had knocked Ted away from you. He was trying to strangle you.”
“I remember that well,” I said shakily. I hugged myself, not wanting to remember but unable to block it out. My head was rising out of the sand, a little too late.
At the sound of the door, I looked up and saw David enter the room. He walked over to stand by Sharon.
“Well, Ted kicked the dog and went after you again. Josh warned him to stop and Ted pulled a knife out of his pocket. I don’t know if he planned to use it on you or Jem.”
“A knife?” I said in surprise.
“Yeah, a knife. Jem snuck up behind him and leaped at him, and David and I rushed him, but Jem’s attack catapulted him in Josh’s direction. I guess he figured if he couldn’t get you, he might as well take out whoever he could. So he lunged at Josh with the knife. Josh had his pistol in his hand and shot him, but Ted kept coming. Josh had to shoot him again.”
“What happened?” I asked, finally noticing bandages on Mike’s hand.
“Ted got one good swing in with the knife before he fell. I happened to be in the way. You have to remember the tight space this all took place in.”
“From what we understand, for a while he was taking medication while in the hospital, and he really did seem better,” Sharon said. “But then he started faking it and quit taking the meds.”
“We found a piece of paper in his dresser drawer last night. It had two last quotations written on it, but I think he meant them for himself, not for you,” David said.
“What were they?” I asked.
Sharon handed Mike a piece of paper, which he passed on to me.
The first one read:
“He beareth his misery best that hideth it most.
Gabriel Harvey
Marginalia”
The second one, the one that tore me apart, read:
“Come death, and snatch me from disgrace.
Bulwer-Lytton
Richelieu Act iv, sc. 1”
I read them and cried.
“He must have been going through a hell that we can’t even imagine,” I said. “These quotations make me feel like on the outside he was completely out of it, but on the inside he must have known how wrong he was. I’m no psychiatrist, it’s just that that’s how I feel about it.”
“I would tend to think a lot of mentally ill people probably do go through something like that,” Sharon said quietly. “It’s hard enough to get through life without thinking everyone is out to get you, that everyone hates you. What torture his mind must have gone through.”
“Did anyone remember to pick up Marion?” I asked.
“Only you would think of that,” Mike said. “Yes, Josh took care of it.”
Mike moved to the edge of the bed and sat down, holding my hand. I looked out the window and saw a soft, white mist. It was still snowing.
Epilogue
I stayed in the hospital overnight for observation and was released the next day. Sharon was there for two days longer than I was, and then she came home, too.
Mrs. Banks returned from New York just long enough to gather her things together, saying she’d decided she truly missed New York and her old friends. She decided to go back and pick up the pieces there. My gut feeling was the house scared her.
J.T. said country life wasn’t what he expected, and he moved back into town. Apparently, he and Richard English had become better friends than any of us had realized. He confided in me the day he moved out that it just wasn’t any fun without Richard there to tease, and he really missed him, even knowing what a coarse person he was.
At the end of January, Mike took me to Aspen, the belated second part of my Christmas gift. He mentioned what a nice place Aspen would be for a honeymoon, and we were married while there.
Sharon and David were married in February, as planned, with Sharon limping to the altar. They stayed on at Holt House, buying in as partners. We had plans to enlarge the operation.
Lucy and Josh took things very slowly in their relationship. They were perfectly content to keep things the way they were, without any changes.
Boarders came and boarders went, but Marion Webster became a permanent fixture around Holt House. She stayed with us, a part of our little family.
Mike and his crew did more construction on the house and grounds, adding some cabins, and we deal almost exclusively with vacationers now. Holt House has become a resort of sorts, and we have to live up to a nationwide reputation. We have more employees, and Lucy is the head of the staff. We are well-known for our cuisine, our service, the activities we offer – we even added a stable and horses – but most of all we built up a reputation for our personalized service. Returning vacationers said they felt like they were special guests when they visited Holt House.
My parents came for a vacation not long after Mike and I were married, and stayed for a month. They never tried to talk us into moving to Florida again. They knew real happiness when they saw it.
Mike sealed up the secret passageways.
And life goes on.
Biography
Marja McGraw worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years, and after relocating to Northern Nevada from Los Angeles, California, she worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation. Marja also did a stint in Oregon where she worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and owned her own business, a Tea Room/Antique Store. Her next stop was Wasilla, Alaska. The draw to Northern Nevada was strong, and she eventually returned.
Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half.
Marja has appeared on the morning news in Reno, Nevada, and on The Morning Show on KLBC-TV in Laughlin, Nevada. She’s also been a guest on several radio and Internet radio shows.
She has a website at www.marjamcgraw.com and a blog at http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/.
Starting with Secrets of Holt House (rereleased as Mysteries of Holt House), A Mystery, Marja followed up with A Well-Kept Family Secret - A Sandi Webster Mystery and the beginning of the Sandi Webster series. Bubba’s Ghost, Prudy’s Back!, The Bogey Man and Old Murders Never Die followed. Bogey Nights – A Bogey Man Mystery, the first book in a second series was released in March, 2011, and was followed by Bogey’s Ace in the Hole and They Call Me Ace. She says that each of her mysteries contains a little humor, a little romance and a little murder, and that her books concentrate on the characters and solving the crime rather than the crime itself.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Se
venteen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Epilogue
Biography
