Advertisement for Murder

by Nadine Doolittle

  The gardens were enclosed by a low hedge but otherwise open to the public. It seemed to her that the fog had gotten thicker, but surely that was her imagination. She could barely make out Solomon and Hector waiting for them in the shadow of the Abbey. They had positioned themselves out of sight of the ruins.

  “We haven’t seen her yet,” Solomon said anxiously. “Did you follow her from the theatre?”

  “She wasn’t at the theatre. If she was, we didn’t see her.” Avery looked at her watch. “Nine-thirty. Intermission is just ending.”

  She glanced around for Elliot but he was already cutting through the long grass and fog.

  “Here! She’s over here!”

  Avery and the others sprang into life. She raced after Hector to the fog-bound sanctuary where a young man she didn’t recognize was bending over Pearl’s lifeless body. On the ground nearby was a woman. Her wrists were handcuffed behind her back. Her blonde hair had escaped the black toque she wore.

  Karen Haggerty.

  Hector and Dennis took a position of guardianship on either side of her—she wasn’t going anywhere. Elliot knelt beside the young man who was working to revive Pearl with CPR alternating with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Solomon pushed through the small gathering and when he saw Pearl’s lifeless form, his face collapsed in terror.

  “What’s going on? What happened? Detective Denton, what are you doing here?” He sounded on the edge of hysteria.

  “Shut up, Solomon,” Helen barked. “Can’t you see he’s trying to save her life? The person we need is Josephine. She’s a nurse. We shouldn’t have left without her!”

  “Mr Marks called me,” Denton explained while Elliot expertly took over compressions. “He told me what you guys were up to and suggested I stake out the place in case something went wrong.” He gave Solomon a sharp look. “Something went wrong.”

  “Karen decided to skip the play,” Elliot grunted. His breathing was rapid. “Detective Denton was here to stop her.”

  “Oh sure he was!” Solly yelled, his voice breaking. “Look at her—she’s dead! I told you guys—I warned you this was a stupid idea! What the hell were you doing, Denton, when Hansen was getting the life strangled out of her?”

  “Stop it,” Pearl said weakly. Her eyes opened and Avery watched as she took a breath and then met each of their faces.

  “Miss Hansen.” Elliot’s shoulders rounded and his voice was weak. “Are you all right?”

  “What kind of question is that? We can all see that she’s not all right!” Solomon spun around so she couldn’t see his face but Avery could. His hand went to his mouth and he held it tightly there while he struggled to bring his emotions under control.

  “My throat hurts. It hurts to breathe.”

  Denton lifted her to the bench and removed his black overcoat to drape it around her shoulders. He radioed for an ambulance and Helen sat down beside Pearl and pulled her into her arms. Karen still lying prostrate was on the ground, silent and unmoving. Elliot stood off to one side, observing her coldly.

  “I saw Detective Denton come up behind her,” Pearl told them in a hoarse whisper. “I knew she wasn’t going to get away with it this time.”

  “You were very brave,” Helen murmured.

  “Visibility was poor,” said Denton. “I couldn’t tell what was happening until I was almost on top of them. I should’ve acted sooner.”

  “Why did you do it?” Elliot moved to Karen’s side.

  “Do what? I didn’t do anything. I always walk through here at this hour. Good thing too. I interrupted the attack on poor Pearl. I was removing the choker when I was accosted by that stupid oaf. If he had taken the time to ask me, I could’ve told him.”

  “Could have told him what?” Elliot crouched down beside her. “What could you have told Detective Denton, Karen?”

  “That it was Penelope Beresford who attacked Pearl.”

  Avery inhaled sharply. “Liar! It was you! We’re all witnesses.”

  “In this fog? At this hour?” She giggled. “I don’t think so.”

  Sirens wailed through the streets, coming closer. Detective Denton bagged the necklace and then pulled Karen to her feet. Elliot held the baggie up in front of her face.

  “This was Jenny Blake’s,” he said. His eyes held a strange light. “Do you remember the day Duncan gave it to her? You were at the pool, finishing your shift and he arrived with Frank. Tell us what happened that day, Karen. Duncan gave this to Jenny. Tell us why this meaningless little piece of jewellery upset you so much?”

  Karen thrust out her chin and hissed, “Because it was mine!”

  Avery’s mouth tasted of copper. This was it.

  If she didn’t confess, Karen would likely go free.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  THE EXPRESSION on Karen Haggerty’s elfin face lost some of its stoniness.

  “It was mine and Duncan knew it was mine. He had Jenny but he wasn’t about to let me go. Oh no. Frank told me Duncan was jealous of the two of us. He told him on purpose because he knew it would get back to me. He knew I wouldn’t give up on him if there was still a chance. And then he gave her that.”

  “You thought you were getting back together that day. School was out and Duncan had had enough of the Jenny Blake Experiment. She was working night and day that summer and he was stuck watching his best friend have fun with his ex-girlfriend.”

  Her eyes and mouth sagged, dissolving into soft buttery flesh. “The Christmas before, he asked me what I wanted and I said a puka shell necklace. Well, I didn’t get a necklace, did I? I got dumped. Duncan told me he wanted to see other girls, specifically Jenny Blake.”

  “He hurt you when he gave her that gift—your gift.”

  “He was always doing stuff like that, testing how much I loved him. We were made for each other, you know; we’re exactly alike. No one understands him like I do. That hasn’t changed.”

  “But there was something different about that day. You gave up on him and slept with Frank Zwick. You must have been in lot of pain to take such a drastic step. Why did you give up on the boy you loved? Was it because of the necklace?”

  “Oh, the necklace was just the icing on the cake!” She laughed mirthlessly. “Jenny was in a club that year at school—the Explorers’ Club—and Ida Greb was one of them. Well, Ida tells me that Jenny wasn’t over her old boyfriend, not by a long shot. I decided Duncan had a right to know. He’d been going out with Jenny since December and they still hadn’t slept together. I wouldn’t sleep with Frank either because I was in love with Duncan. So I told him. His girlfriend was still in love with Sutcliffe and he deserved better.”

  It seemed to Avery that they were all holding their breath. To his credit, Detective Stewart Duncan didn’t make a move to stop Elliot’s interrogation. He seemed willing to let the older man take the lead.

  “How did Duncan take the news?”

  “He was hurt.” Karen lifted her eyes to Elliot. “And then I felt sorry for him—sorry that I had told him. It was heartbreaking. He’s not sensitive or clever like Jesse. He’s always doubted himself. Jenny Blake was a bitch to do that to him. Duncan has always been able to talk to me. I tried to comfort him; I told him she didn’t deserve a guy like him and he could do better. Duncan hugged me and we kissed. We were both crying. The feeling between us that day was strong—the strongest it’s ever been. Like we were broken and put back together again. He told me he was going to talk to her about it. He thought it was the fair thing to do. He didn’t want to come off as an asshole. His reputation was important to him. I knew that and I agreed with him completely. And then the next time I saw him—” She broke off, her chin wobbling.

  “He had given the necklace to Jenny. The necklace he had bought to give you at Christmas,” Elliot murmured. “That was very cruel. I wonder what happened to change his mind about ending it with her.”

  Karen laughed bitterly. “Oh that was the best part! Apparently Duncan confronted her about Jesse and she admitted the w
hole thing! She moaned that her feelings were confused and Jesse wouldn’t let her go and he was falling in with the wrong crowd—on and on—I wish I’d been that smart. Duncan was competitive. He wasn’t going to lose out to Sutcliffe. So he gave her the necklace.” Karen’s head tilted to one side. “He gave it to her in front of me because I’d seen him in a weak moment. He’d exposed his vulnerability to me. Duncan had a lot of pride. I think subconsciously, he wanted to hurt me for seeing him hurt.”

  Flashing blue and red lights cut through the fog. The sirens stopped.

  “Jenny was wearing the necklace the night of the party, wasn’t she,” Elliot stated.

  Karen laughed triumphantly. “Of course she was! It looked great on her. She was tall, tanned and beautiful with long straight brown hair. She could’ve had any boy she wanted. I wasn’t in the best shape emotionally that night. I knew I was pregnant with Frank Zwick’s baby. No test. I just knew it. And there was Jenny. She had my necklace and my boyfriend and what did I have? Duncan and I belonged together. That night was our last chance.”

  “You were like Duncan in that respect. You weren’t going to lose out.”

  “No,” she said hotly. “No, I wasn’t. I told her—my whole life is ruined, okay? All my plans—I made one stupid mistake because I was hurt.” Her lip curled. “She took someone away from me, so I took someone away from her.”

  “Who did you take from her?”

  “Duncan. I told her it was his baby I was carrying.”

  Silence ticked over the group. No one moved.

  “What did she say?” Elliot asked, calmly, respectfully.

  Karen’s head tipped forward. “Well, that was really interesting. She said she didn’t believe me! She acted like she knew Duncan better than I did. I heard her on the phone with Jesse—I knew she wasn’t in love with Duncan—so what was it to her if Duncan was the father of my baby? What business was it of Jenny Blake’s?” Her voice rose shrilly. “None! But she decided to make it her business.”

  “She was going to tell Duncan.”

  “Bingo! She was going to go back to the party and tell Duncan the only reason I was so desperate to sleep with him was because I was a slut who was going to trap him with his best friend’s kid. She was such a bitch. You think she was some kind of saint. She wasn’t.”

  Avery held her breath, wondering if Karen knew what she had just said.

  “She had no idea how much you loved Duncan. How much this night meant to you.”

  Karen’s voice grew small. “She didn’t. She didn’t. She said Duncan used to complain about how I suffocated him. How he made sure to use a condom because he didn’t trust me to take the Pill. She said he deserved better than me. That’s a really cruel thing to say to a young girl. Jenny Blake was declaring war and everything’s fair in love and war, right?”

  “You had to stop her.”

  Karen jerked her chin toward the plastic baggie that contained the necklace. “That was in my hand. I was supposed to give it back to her but after everything she said, I couldn’t. She pushed past me and I—I—it was a reflex. My hands went out and I looped the necklace around her neck. I was just going to stop her from leaving, you see. I swear that was all. And then—I thought she must’ve had a condition, because she collapsed. I checked her pulse and she was dead.” Karen blinked several times. “I guess I didn’t know my own strength. I was always athletic. Lacrosse and swimming ... she didn’t put up much of a struggle.”

  “You didn’t mean to kill her.”

  Her eyes widened. “I didn’t! I can honestly say that was the last thing on my mind! I was in shock when it happened. I put her on the stone table so she wouldn’t be lying on the wet grass. I was about to return to the party when I heard Jesse Sutcliffe pushing his bike through the grass. He was calling Jenny’s name. I doubled back, took the door through the fence and jogged to my house. I came in through the side entrance and returned to the party like I’d been there all along. When I got a chance, I slipped upstairs to Duncan. I told him that Jenny was with Jesse, which was the truth. I tried to get us back to where we were, but he’d lost interest. He didn’t like being the bad guy but he liked being the dumped guy even less.”

  “And then Jenny’s body was found and Duncan needed an alibi.”

  “I didn’t care about that. I didn’t then and I don’t now. I would’ve done anything for him and he would’ve done anything for me. He would’ve married me. He told me he would before I gave my statement to police.” Her eyes swung from Elliot to the ruins and back again. “I waited for him for as long as I could. Once my mother found out I was pregnant, she forced me to name the father and I couldn’t risk naming Duncan. I couldn’t risk him denying it. I couldn’t.”

  Detective Denton was the first to speak. “Karen Haggerty, I am arresting you for the murder of Jenny Blake and the attempted murder of Pearl Hansen.”

  Numb, Avery listened as the criminal machinery was set in motion. Reading from a card at the back of his police notebook, he informed Karen of her right to seek legal advice, he provided duty counsel phone numbers, and advised her of her right to apply for legal aid. Lastly was her right to remain silent.

  “Do you understand?” Denton asked.

  “I do.”

  The arrest was a significant one. Closing out a four-decades-old cold case with a sure conviction was an incredible coup for a young detective. Stewart Denton could scarcely hide his animation from his fellow officers. The paramedics put Pearl on a stretcher and Solomon followed alongside it, his arms wrapped tightly around his chest.

  Denton hopped inside the ambulance as they were strapping Pearl in. He bent over her and touched her hand. “You were incredibly brave, Miss Hansen. I’m sorry I wasn’t there sooner.”

  Pearl’s eyes shone. “I was terrified and then there you were. You saved my life.”

  Solly Brice glowered.

  ✽✽✽

  THE PLAY was a huge success and Joyce Mandela was the toast of St. Ives. Hector did his best to hide his pride in his wife but the St. Ives Book Club wasn’t fooled.

  “Okay, you can stop grinning,” Dennis teased. “We get it. Your wife’s a genius.”

  “I’ll have to be on my toes from now on,” he said with a bashful smile. “A talented wife is almost as hard to keep as a beautiful one. Joyce is both. I need the book club more than ever to stay relevant. We’re not disbanding I hope. Our recent success has me keen to do more.”

  They were gathered in a corner of the theatre lobby, eating canapés and sipping champagne, mingling with the cast, donors and representatives from the municipality. The run of the play was only four weekends, but a closing night party for the Little Theatre was always a well-attended event. Solomon sat on a bar stool typing up the story on his laptop between swigs of beer. Pearl read over his shoulder as he typed, pointing out errors. Her parents were chatting with a group of older people at the opposite end of the room. She’d escaped their watchful eye by telling them she had to go to the bathroom and then slipped over to the corner where the book club was gathered.

  She would not be back at the paper, she told them. Even getting the scoop on the biggest story to hit St. Ives in a hundred years wasn’t enough to bring her father around.

  “Especially after almost getting strangled. I told him I was in no real danger but he refuses to discuss it.”

  Her slender neck still bore the ugly purple marks of Karen’s violence.

  “You don’t have to quit the book club, do you? We could read the book Elliot bought,” Josie said. “The original idea of forming a murder mystery club was a sound one.”

  “I gave my copy to Jesse Sutcliffe,” Dennis said. “Sorry. He said he liked to read and I thought, why not? I told him about Karen Haggerty’s confession and the guy started to cry. Stone cold sober, he cried like a baby. Got me a little choked up too. What we did here—” Dennis gazed at his wife. “What we did was a good thing and I, for one, am damn proud.”

  “Ida Greb is going to
pay him a visit,” Helen said. “She’s bringing him a load of old math books. Something could happen there but I don’t want to say anything to jinx it.” She winked at her husband.

  Francesca had confessed to penning the letter. She’d actually laughed about it, asking if the book club had figured out ‘whodunit.’ Avery’s neighbour had no idea the note was connected to the attack on the school secretary. She was the perfect foil for Karen’s plan. Francesca Murphy travelled for work quite a lot and depended on Karen to catch her up on the local news.

  Avery remembered Karen’s terrible confession. Did she regret what she had told them or was she relieved to have the burden lifted? It was hard to tell. She appeared unchanged by the arrest, confidently declaring that it had happened so long ago, no one would care anymore.

  Duncan Carmichael was also at the closing night festivities. Very few people wanted to talk to him, Avery noticed. He’d put on a good show of being appalled by Karen’s confession but his performance didn’t ring true. Avery wondered if he suspected all along that Karen was Jenny’s killer. If so, he’d never tell. Duncan Carmichael was the consummate politician; he would take that information to his grave.

  “She held that alibi over my head for years,” he’d said in a statement to the Herald. “Any move I made in life to get away from her, Ms Haggerty found a way to let me know she was having second thoughts about protecting me. It was like I had Stockholm syndrome in some ways. I didn’t know Karen didn’t have an alibi. I thought she was with Jenny and then with everyone at the party. I was as much her victim as Jenny Blake was.”

  He’d put forward a motion at town council to hold a candlelit service in the sanctuary ruins in memory of Jenny Blake, but the damage was done. Duncan Carmichael’s mayoral hopes were dashed.

  “The sins of the past really do come back to haunt one,” Avery mused aloud. “We don’t know this truth when we’re young and God forbid we talk to an older person to find out.”