by Dee Ernst
I took another step toward the door, and she hit me. It happened so fast I barely registered her lifting her arm as her hand became a fist. I tried to turn away, and I almost made it, but she hit me. Her knuckles went into my cheek, and the pain was incredible. I staggered back, holding my hand to my face. I could feel blood running from my nose, and my eye began to swell.
She shook her hand. Her knuckles were red. “Oh dear, I’m going to have to put some ice on my hand. Will you look at that? I’ll be sore for days.”
I was trying not to faint. I took a deep breath, counted to three, then exhaled slowly. Again. And again. She had hit me
“Are you crazy?” I blurted. “What did you do that for?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she rushed toward me, her face inches from mine. “Don’t call me that,” she said, very quietly. “I’m not crazy.”
“Then what do you call it?” I hollered, stepping back from her as far as I could. “Why else would you hit me?”
I watched as she carefully rearranged her face, stepped back from me and smoothed down the front of her dress with her hands.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. That was very…wrong of me. But I can’t let you leave.” She smiled at me, a brittle, frightening smile. No, she wasn’t going to let me leave. Ever.
I tried to think. I needed to put her at ease, get her to let her guard down. Right now I could see that she was still so tightly wound that one wrong move, and she’d probably be all over me again.
I pitched my voice down and tried to sound not completely terrified. “Why not, Kate?”
“Well, the whole town is buzzing about you and that very attractive policeman, Ellie. You know how small towns are, by ten this morning we all knew exactly how long he stayed last night. No lights on upstairs while he was there, good for you. Whoring around with a man you hardly know is not the way to conduct yourself, not with two daughters.”
The kettle whistled, and she turned and poured the steaming water into the teapot, picked up the teapot carefully, and swirled it gently. “I can’t have you telling him about me, can I? I mean, that would lead to all sorts of questions, and frankly, I’m not in the mood right now. Let’s give this a few minutes to steep, shall we?” She pulled out her chair and sat down, looking up at me expectantly. “Please, sit down, Ellie. And tell me, I hear your oldest daughter may be moving to France? I love France. Went there with Gerald years ago, when Lacey was in college. We had a wonderful time, although I must say Paris was not very friendly to us. I hear things have changed. I hope so for your daughter’s sake.”
I glanced at the doorway again. She was sitting, so if I ran, I might make it. Or not. If she caught me a second time, what could she do to me? I felt sure she would use more than her fist. She would try to kill me.
“I wouldn’t tell Sam anything, Kate. You can trust me.”
She tilted her head and looked very apologetic. “Oh, Ellie, if only I could be sure. But people are terrible liars. Lacey promised me she’d give me all the money that Gerald left her, but she didn’t. She said the boys’ money was in trust, but I didn’t care. She promised me. I don’t think she realized how serious I was, so I had to show her. Of course, I tried to get the boys, but I didn’t know where Doug’s sister lived. So I had to settle for Doug.” She lifted the lid of the teapot and leaned over to inhale the steam. “Oh, this smells lovely. Shall I pour?”
I felt sick to my stomach. The pain in my cheek was keeping me focused. I glanced at the table. There was nothing there I could use as a weapon, no carelessly placed paring knife or heavy iron doorstop. I smiled. I could not afford to panic. I needed to do something. But what?
“Oh, wait, I have these lovely scones I made yesterday. Do you bake? I love to. Cookies are my specialty.” She got up and moved, coming around the table and behind me. I instinctively hunched my shoulders. What if—
Something came down in front of my eyes and around my throat. I brought my hands up, but it was too late. It was one of the cotton towels, tightening around my neck. I could hear her behind me and feel her hands twisting the fabric. It was impossible to scream. I reached out, hoping for anything to use against her, and my fingers found the teapot. I grabbed the spout with one hand and the handle with the other, and swung my arms up and back, and the teapot smashed into her face. I felt the steaming tea splash against my hair and neck. She screamed, and in that second she broke her grip, and I lunged away from her, knocking over the table in front of me and tearing at my throat as I ran screaming through her living room and straight into Sam Kinali’s arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice shaking.
I stared at him in surprise, then nodded.
“Are you sure? My God, Ellie, what did she do?”
Her tiny living room was full of dark uniforms. There were loud noises everywhere, and I felt cold. He moved away from me, and now the noises seemed far away too, and a very young man in a blue uniform lead me outside and sat me down on one of Kate’s shiny white rocking chairs. He was asking me questions, I think, but I couldn’t hear very well. Then another young man took his place, and a woman—she looked very kind—was looking in my eyes, and the young man was taking my pulse, and then I stopped shaking, and I could hear everything.
“What’s your name, ma’am?” the woman asked.
“Ellie Rocca.”
“Good. Now, Ellie, can you tell me what day it is?” The young man put something against my cheek, a cold pack that felt wonderful.
I could hear Kate screaming. Her voice was hoarse, and her words were vile, filthy. She was being taken from the house. I looked down. I could not watch her. “It’s Saturday. May fifteenth.”
“Good.” Her fingers were against my neck, and the skin felt raw and burned. “What was this, a rope?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. I think she used a tea towel.” That suddenly struck me as very funny, and I started to laugh, and I was still laughing when Sam came up on the porch and pulled me up and against him.
Then I started to cry.
The paramedics determined that I did not need to go to the hospital. They gave me a shot of something that took away the pain in my cheek and cleaned my bloody nose. Shelly appeared from nowhere, had a long talk with Sam, then sat with me in the back of the patrol car that took me home. I immediately lay down on the couch. I was aware of Cait, looking horrified, and Tessa starting to cry, and then I was dreaming, odd bits and pieces, Lacey Mitchell and her little boys, waving.
When I awoke, I could tell by the shadows that it was past dinnertime. And I could smell pizza. My mouth felt numb, as did my cheek and eyes. I sat up slowly. My eye was swollen almost shut. My throat felt raw, on the inside and the outside. And I was starving.
“Hey,” I called out. My voice sounded weak and strained.
Tessa came in first, running, but when she saw me, she stopped and started to cry. I held my arms out to her, and she crawled in.
Cait and Sam came in together, Cait sitting beside me, Sam across from us on the chair. I looked at Cait over Tessa’s head.
“You should be at work.”
She shook her head. “Mom, I should be here.”
“No. Go to work. Tessa can take care of me. And Sam. You need the tips. Paris is expensive, remember?”
Sam smiled. “I told you, Cait. Go ahead. I can stay.”
She looked at me, and her eyes filled with tears. “Are you going to be okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. Really. Go.”
She got up and went upstairs. Tessa was down to just sniffles, so we sat there for a few more minutes. I was looking over her head at Sam.
“Thank you.”
“For what? You had everything under control by the time I got there.”
I shook my head. “She would have come after me. She would have chased me up one side of Davis Road and down the other.”
“Perhaps. But I’m sure one of your neighbors would have noticed and at least tried to stop her.”
“She’s Millicent
?”
He nodded.
“She’s crazy,” I said.
He shrugged. “According to Lacey, she’s also evil.”
“Lacey? You found Lacey?”
“She found us. She had been in a motel in Harrisburg, looking for a place for her family to relocate. When she heard about Doug, she drove back here. The plan was for him to try to keep things as normal for the boys as possible. He stayed with the boys, because according to her, he thought she was more likely to be in danger once the mother found them. He didn’t think he’d be a target.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “She told us about her mother. That’s why we happened to be there. We were coming to arrest her.”
Tessa slid off my lap and looked up at me. “You look awful. Do you hurt?”
I nodded. “Yes. And I’m starving. Do I smell pizza?”
She brightened. “Yes. Do you want some?”
I nodded again. “Yes. On a tray, please. And water.”
She bounced off the couch and was gone.
Sam was looking after her. “Your daughters are both very lovely. And quite entertaining.”
I tried to smile. “I bet. Was Shelly here, or did I dream that?”
“Shelly left about half an hour ago. You slept for almost four hours. I have pain pills for you, if you need them. And Shelly said she could come back. With Maggie. And Carol. And just about everyone else in Mt. Abrams.”
“She wanted the money,” I said.
Sam nodded. “Yes. It was all about the money. She left her husband about ten years ago. No one ever knew where she was or what she was doing. We’ll find out, of course. She returned to Fairfax just in time for her husband to die. They’re reopening that case as well.”
“She told me she killed him,” I said. “Killed him for the money.”
He looked thoughtful. “That’s good to know, but I doubt you’ll need to testify.”
“She followed them back here?”
“Yes. When the will was read, she told Lacey she wanted her share. Lacey took off and came back here. She didn’t realize her mother had tracked her down until she heard her voice in the library. She and Doug decided to give her the money and run. They handed over most of it to her, but they couldn’t touch the trust.”
“She told me. She said she tried to find the boys. She couldn’t. She found Doug instead.”
“Yes. I don’t know what she said or did, but he allowed her to get in the car with him. That’s where she stabbed him with an insulin injection. He probably had a seizure before he blacked out. Her fingerprints are everywhere. The autopsy results will confirm. We’ve got her.”
I sighed. “Good.”
“It was a very brave thing you did, Ellie,” Sam said. He was speaking very carefully. “It was also very reckless. If you had any reason to suspect Kate was a killer, why did you go to see her?”
I looked away from him. “I just wanted to ask her a question. I didn’t really know, I just…”
Tessa came back, carrying a tray very carefully. She set it down and watched as I sipped some water.
“Does it hurt to drink?” she asked.
I tried to smile. I kept forgetting I shouldn’t. “A little. But Sam has pills for me.”
I tried to eat the pizza, but it burned the inside of my mouth where my teeth had cut in. So I drank all the water, took two of the pills, and slept again.
I woke up once, in the middle of the night, to go to the bathroom. Tessa lay curled on the couch by my feet. Cait was asleep on the chair. And Sam was in my reading chair tucked in the corner. He was awake.
“How are you feeling?” he whispered.
I knelt down in front of him. “You should go home. I’m fine.”
He brushed the hair off my face. “Do yourself a favor. Don’t look in the mirror for a few days.”
“Gee, thanks. I look that good?”
His eyes met mine. “You’re beautiful.”
I went to the bathroom, and of course, looked in the mirror. My eye was swollen shut, my cheek and jaw bruised purple, and lips and nose were puffy.
I took another pain pill and climbed back next to Tessa and fell asleep again, watching Sam watching me.
The next morning Sam was gone, and we were all tired and cranky and my entire face felt awful. Tessa attempted to start the morning with a cheerful, “Happy Mother’s Day,” but it fell a little flat. The good news was that Cait offered to get my mother from the nursing home. The bad news was three texts from Marc, wanting to know if he could come to brunch as well.
I had already bought tickets for the eleven o’clock seating, so that was an easy no. I wanted to blow off the Arboretum completely. This conversation needed more than texts.
I called Marc and told him what had happened. He immediately wanted to come over, but I put him off. If my mother did not remember the orchid show, we’d take her back to the home right after brunch. If she did remember, I’d give him a call.
I showered, put more ice on my face, and found a pretty scarf to put around my neck to hide the redness. I got texts from pretty much every person I knew, asking if I was all right. I drank hot tea with honey and waited for Caitlyn.
My mother took one look at my face and started to cry. “Why did he do this to you?”
I put my arms around her. “Mom, I’m fine. Who do you think did this to me?”
“Marc. Was he drunk? Has he hit you before?”
“Mom, Marc did not hit me. I fell. I’ll be fine. Ready to go to brunch?”
She was still crying. “You have to leave him if he beats you. Even though he’s such a nice boy.”
I patted her back. Tessa and Cait were trying not to laugh. We got her as far as the porch when she started crying again.
“What will happen if he leaves? How will you live? Oh, dear, get a good lawyer.” She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
Shelly, Mike, and their two boys saw us, and Shelly hurried over. “Ellie, what is it?” She peered at my mother. “Hi, Leona, remember me? What’s wrong?”
Mike was looking at my face closely. “Wow, that crazy lady did a number on you,” he said. I tried not to laugh because it hurt, but the situation was getting out of hand.
My mother was telling Shelly about my abusive husband, Marc, and how getting a divorce would send me out into the street. Shelly and Mike’s kids wanted a closer look at my black eye, and Tessa was getting hungry. Mike managed to move us all, inches at a time, closer to the clubhouse, and my mother finally got distracted.
“Look,” she said suddenly. “There’s a sign over the door. Mother’s Day! How exciting!”
We sat with Shelly and Mike, and had omelets and French toast, and I chewed all the bacon I could manage on the good side of my mouth. Of course, the entire population of Mt. Abrams knew the whole story of Lacey and Doug Mitchell, and my part in it all, and there was a seemingly endless stream of concerned friends and curious strangers stopping by for a word or six. My mother told all of them I would soon be divorcing, because well, look at her. Everyone smiled and nodded, and after an hour I was exhausted.
“What do you want to do now, Mom?” I asked her.
She patted her hair. “I know you wanted to see the orchids, but you look dead on your feet. Besides, if I have to look at that monster you’re married to, I may do him violence. Cait, can you take me back?”
I was so grateful, I almost wept.
Cait and Mom walked back across Abrams Lane, and my mother waved as she got into Cait’s car. Tessa and I had stopped to look out at the lake. It was beautiful, and I never tired of it. Tessa put her arms around my waist.
“It’s pretty,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Mitchell is back.”
“I know.” I had seen the Suburban parked in the drive earlier.
Shelly came over and stood with us. “You guys want to come over for the first cookout of the season?” she asked. “A day like this shouldn’t be wasted.”
I nodded
gratefully. “Thanks. Yes, that would be great.”
She poked me with her elbow. “You good?”
I nodded. “I will be.”
Shelly smiled and followed her family down the hill.
“Mom, if you had a superpower, what would you want it to be?” Tessa asked.
I tightened my arm around her. “To be able to keep you and your sister safe forever.”
She nodded. “That’s a good one.”
“Gee. Thanks. What would yours be?”
“To save all the good days, days like today, so when you were having bad days, you could take them out and live them all over again.”
I watched in the distance as Lacey Mitchell came out of her house, got in her car, and drove away.
“That’s a good one too, honey.”
We turned away from the lake and walked home.
I called Marc again.
“I still love you, too,” I said quietly. “But things are confusing right now.”
“Your date?”
I nodded, then realized I was sitting on my porch, watching the sunset, with the dog on my lap, and Marc probably hadn’t heard me nod. I cleared my throat and said, loudly, “Yes. I like him.”
“If he’s the one causing the confusion…” Marc began.
“But, he’s not. You are.”
“Oh,” he said quietly.
Boot whined and snuggled in closer. I had managed without the painkillers all day, but knew I’d need them to sleep, and had taken the full dosage a few minutes earlier. I didn’t think they’d go to work so quickly, but I felt a sudden heaviness, and my mind began to get fuzzy.
“Can we be friends?” I asked.
“Always.”
“Good. I have to go now.”
I could hear him breathing. I remembered when we first started dating, and listening to him breathe on the phone was something I’d do every night we were apart. I felt the phone slip into my lap, and I closed my eyes.
I heard Kate’s voice, screaming, and then Sam was there, looking angry. Kate was smiling at me, pouring tea. Doug Mitchell was sitting across from me. His smile was fixed, and his skin was blue, and he appeared to be crying.
