by Cindy Kline
Everyone disappeared, and a nurse in pink scrubs leaned over and, using the remote, lifted the bed a few more inches, then put a straw in her mouth. After taking several sips, she asked the nurse to bring the bed up a little farther.
She looked around the room and noticed Noah sitting in a chair near the door, a worried look on his face. Gran stood next to him, her hand on his shoulder.
“Noah?”
He got up, rubbed his hands on the legs of his jeans and walked over to the bed.
Molly took his hand, “I’m so sorry we weren’t able to decorate the tree tonight. I mean, last night.” She could see a tear in his eye.
“That’s okay, Miss Molly. We can do it when you get out of here. Are you okay?”
“I think so. Just a little headache,” she looked at her gran. “You two take good care of Luna until I get out of here, okay?”
He smiled. “We will.”
Gran leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Keith didn’t want to intrude on the family, but he wanted me to tell you to get well soon.”
“Thanks. Can you keep an eye on him? He’s quite depressed he can’t get home for Christmas.” Molly continued by telling her what she’d done to help make him feel better.
Gran smiled. “You really are an angel, aren’t you?”
The next time Molly opened her eyes, Liam was at her bedside. He bent in and kissed her on the lips. She tried to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away.
“Careful there. You have a concussion.”
“I hear you’re the one who saved me.”
“Well, if you consider giving you a concussion saving you, then I guess so.”
“What happened?”
“I was on my way to Rose Cottage when I saw you walking toward the pub, so I got out to meet you. I was almost by your side when a car came out of nowhere and tried to mow you down. The only thing I could do was tackle you to the ground.”
“The Detroit Lions could use you on their team.” Molly smiled, mentioning Keith’s favorite football team.
“Who?”
She shook her head, then stopped, “Ow,” and put her hand to her head.
Liam smiled. “Don’t do that.”
“Thanks.” She smiled back. “Do you know who it was that tried to run me down?”
“No. I was more concerned about you. What were you doing walking down the street?”
“I was meeting Callum at the pub.”
“Oh, one date a night isn’t enough?” He smiled.
“Very funny. No, he had a file for me. I was meeting him at the pub to pick it up.”
“What kind of file?” Liam asked, offering her another drink through the straw.
“Thank you,” she took a long sip. “I’m not sure.”
“Maybe you hit your head harder than they thought.” He smiled.
She didn’t want to get Callum in trouble, so she just smiled, “Maybe.”
The nurse came in, took her blood pressure and gave her some pills for the pain. She tried to shoo Liam out of the room, but he wouldn’t budge, staying by her side.
After she left, Molly looked at Liam. “Have you met Noah?”
He nodded. “He seems like a very nice young man. It’s too bad about his parents. Are you sure you want to take on the responsibility of an eighteen-year-old?”
“He doesn’t have anyone else, Liam. Besides, I have Gran to help, and you too. You have a daughter almost the same age. I’m sure you can give me a lot of good tips.”
“Speaking of my daughter, she’s spending Christmas with her boyfriend in France, so it seems I’m on my own for the holiday. How would you like to spend it together?”
Molly smiled widely. “I’d love that. As long as you mean me, Gran, Noah and Luna. Oh, and don’t forget Sandy. Luna can’t spend her first Christmas without her mother there.” Liam bent down to kiss her. When she came up for air, she told him about Keith not being able to leave and what she’d done.
“Really? I’m glad to hear I have nothing to be jealous of then.”
The doctor came in and told her she’d have to spend another night in the hospital but should be able to go home the following day. Molly was very glad to hear it, as she’d had her fill of hospitals.
DI Elliott showed up sometime later, but Liam met him at the door and wouldn’t allow him inside, for which she was thankful. Liam came back in a few minutes later, his face grim.
Molly yawned and closed her eyes, “What did he want?”
“Nothing. Go to sleep.”
The last thing she felt was Liam kissing her on the lips.
# # #
Molly didn’t sleep well, as a nurse woke her up every hour to check her pupils and take her vitals. Most of it was a blur, but she thought she’d heard someone telling her to move over and get in bed with her. When she woke up, though, she was lying on one side of the bed, and there was an indent beside her. She looked at the nurse.
“Yes, your young man was in bed with you. Caused quite a stir, I tell you, but he wouldn’t leave your side. Well, until I just kicked him out. However, I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
“He stayed all night with me?”
“He did. How’s the head today?”
Molly moved it back and forth, only feeling mild discomfort, “Much better. I think the church bells have quieted for now.”
“That’s good to hear. You have quite the bump on your head, young lady. But the good news is the hair will grow back soon.”
“Hair? Did you say hair?” She touched the back of her head, and all she felt was a bandage.
The nurse smiled. “I’ll be right back.…”
Molly was standing up when the nurse came back. “Are you doing okay?” She was around the same age as her mother, with light brown hair with golden highlights, dressed in navy-blue scrubs.
“I think so,” Molly smiled. “I wanted to check out the back of my head but just realized that’s going to be difficult.”
“That’s why I brought you this.” She showed Molly a hand mirror she’d been holding. “I have to change your bandage anyway, so if you can make it to the toilet, I can help you look at it. However, you don’t have much to worry about. The doctor just had to shave around the wound.”
The two walked into the bathroom, and Molly stood in front of the nurse while she took the bandage off.
“Now, turn around. You’ll have a better view of the wound.”
Molly stood with her back to the large, over-the-sink mirror and then held the smaller mirror up over her head. The nurse was right. It wasn’t too bad, but any bald spot on the top of her head would make her wear hats for the next several weeks, she was sure. Then she raised her hand to press the bump with her fingers.
“Ow!”
The nurse smiled. “It’s still pretty tender, but it looks much better than when you came in.”
Molly’s head spun, and the nurse must have noticed because she took hold of Molly’s arm as she said, “Okay, back to bed with you.”
The nurse led her back to bed, and she crawled in, laying her head back onto the pillow. “The doctor will be by soon to look at you. If he gives the all-clear, you can go home today.”
That would be wonderful.” Molly looked out and noticed a constable standing outside her door. She looked at the nurse. “What is that constable doing there?”
“He’s there to stop anyone who isn’t authorized from coming in.”
“Do you know why?”
“Not a clue. Would you like a light breakfast?”
“Yes, I’m starving.”
A nurse brought in some breakfast, and then Liam reappeared, Callum behind him, holding a file in his hand.
Liam kissed her on the lips, then moved so Callum could kiss her cheek. She held out her hand for the file, but Liam took it instead.
“Okay, Molly—spill.”
She looked at the two men above her. “Okay, both of you know part of the story, but neither of you know all of it, so bear with me.”
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“When I found Henry, he gave me his keys and asked me to destroy a file that was in the safe at his office. I went to Moore Plastics and spoke to his assistant Megan and told her what Henry had said. She informed me the combination was in a locked drawer of his desk, and Henry was the only one who had a key.”
“Which is why Henry asked you to take his keys,” added Liam.
“And why we didn’t find any keys on him,” Callum said. “They were in your coat pocket the day we searched Rose Cottage, weren’t they?”
She nodded. “Megan unlocked the desk drawer and handed me the combination. I opened the safe, but it was empty.”
Callum asked, “So, where was it?”
“No one seemed to know. However, when I went to Megan’s house to talk to her, Noah, her son, pulled up behind Keith and me, saying he was there to return her keys. When we found her body, Noah dropped her keys, and I picked them up. It was then I noticed something.”
“What was that?” Liam asked.
“That Megan had a duplicate key to Henry’s desk drawer on her keyring.”
“So, Megan took the file?”
“I think so. Megan mentioned how Henry was extremely secretive about the file, even asking her to leave the office so he could read it. I think she found out what the secret was, and whatever it was, got her killed.” She looked at the two men. “Reanna mentioned Henry was awake. Does he know who did this to him?”
The two men looked at each other, and Callum shook his head. “He can’t remember anything after being with you and Ciara at the bookstore.”
“How did you know where to get a copy of the file?” Liam asked.
“That was pure luck, actually. Keith and I stopped by to see how Imogen was and caught her home. She’d mentioned how she didn’t know how to light a fire, so Keith and I lit it for her. We found a partially burned folder with a half-burned page stuck to it with the private investigator’s name on it. We pulled it out and put it in a plastic bag.”
“That’s not all, though, Molly. Tell Liam how you figured out who poisoned Henry.” Callum smiled.
“Oh, again, luck. When I was at the Pierce house the first time, Henry told me his medicine was on the nightstand next to his bed but didn’t tell me which bedroom. So, I had to look in them all, and I noticed one room had a lot of plants growing. So, Keith made up an excuse to go look at them while we were there and took pictures. Then he went and visited Listowel University and had it confirmed that there was an aconite plant included in them.”
Liam pulled up a chair and sat down. Callum did the same, dragging it beside him.
Callum smiled. “Just call her Nancy Drew of Ireland,” he winked at her.
“So, you were able to read part of a burned page and found out who the private investigator was, is that it?” Liam asked.
“Yes, it was a report from a private investigator located in Dublin. Ronan Moore’s son Patrick was killed in a hit-and-run accident five years ago. The police never found the person responsible. So, he hired a private investigator to look into it.”
“How did you get copies of the file?” Liam asked.
Molly looked at Callum, then looked away.
“Molly…”
“You can’t blame Callum for this. It was all me,” She looked at Liam, then down at the bed.
“I’m afraid to ask this, but what did you do?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Um, well…”
“She told the guy she was working with the police and to have the files sent to DI Murphy at the Dooley Garda Station,” blurted Callum.
Liam clapped Callum on the back. “Congratulations on your promotion, Murphy.”
He cleared his throat, “Thank you, sir.”
Liam held out the file, still unopened. “So, this may hold the key to Henry’s accident and Megan’s murder?”
“Possibly. We won’t know until it’s opened,” Molly smiled sweetly. He handed her the file.
Molly took his arm, pulled him forward and gave him a kiss. “Thank you.”
Molly opened the file to find three pages stapled together. She looked at Callum, “This is only the first report. The PI said he’d sent an addendum. It’s not here.”
“That’s all he sent. Are you sure it’s not there?”
Molly looked through it again. “I don’t see an addendum. He said there was one. Okay, let’s read this one, anyway.” She looked down at the first page. “This is about Patrick’s hit-and-run. Someone mentioned to me how Ronan never got over it and hounded the police.” She looked at the two men. “I guess this was his next step.” She looked down and began reading again. “The first part goes over the details of Patrick’s accident. The incident took place on October 31, five years ago. He was leaving a party at a co-worker’s house, walking to his car. He was crossing the street when he was hit by a car. There were no witnesses. A couple found him as they were leaving the party and called the Garda.”
Callum added, “That coincides with what the police report said.”
Liam looked at him, his eyebrows raised.
Caleb shrugged. “I requested a copy of the report when all this happened, sir.”
Molly ignored them and continued. “According to this, the detective found a man named Caleb Crabtree, who lived about a block from where Patrick was hit. He didn’t witness the accident but may have seen the car,” she looked up at the two men, then began reading again. “According to this, Mr. Crabtree saw a car parked down the street from the co-workers’ house. He’d worked late that night and noticed a dark car with a woman sitting in it. He thought it was strange because she never left the car.” Molly’s eyes went wide. “Mr. Crabtree didn’t recognize her but said she had dark, curly hair.”
Molly looked up at them. “Oh, my God. It was Imogen!”
Callum said, “Or Shannon, but why would she kill her own son?”
Liam added, “Why would Imogen kill her brother?”
“Henry made a comment about not really knowing his wife. Maybe this is what he meant.” She laid the pages on her lap.
“That also explains why Ronan Moore did nothing about it. He’d already lost his son. He didn’t want to lose his daughter too,” said Callum.
The atmosphere had changed from expectant to depressing in a matter of minutes. They all looked at each other, then Molly gathered up the pages, put them back in the file folder and handed it to Callum, who looked at Liam. “It’s not really enough proof, though. Is it, sir?”
“Not really. But I think we need to speak to this Caleb Crabtree.” Liam said.
“I’ll get right on it, sir.”
“Callum—”
“I know. I’ll inform DI Elliott.”
Molly watched as Callum wrote the address down included in the Caleb Crabtree file, and he left her room. As disappointed as she was to have to stay one more night, the discussion with Liam and Callum exhausted her, and she just wanted to sleep.
Molly tossed and turning, trying to figure out what she’d missed. Something was trying to make it through her rattled brain but couldn’t quite make it to the forefront. Images kept going through her head. Henry ill in his car, the look on his face when he saw Reanna, his body lying on the ground. Going to his office, meeting Megan, then finding Megan’s body. All the people at her house, Noah, Rory, herself, Keith, Craig, Callum, Constable Mills. Wait—something about Craig. What was it?
She rolled over again and tried to shut out all the images. Seeing Imogen at her house, the fireplace, finding the file. Something about the file… What was it? She finally opened her eyes, rang for a nurse and asked for something to help her rest. A few minutes later, she was blissfully asleep.
Molly woke up to a quiet room with no visitors. She moved her head, and didn’t feel like she was going to vomit, so she figured she’d improved. Something was nagging at her, but her brain was feeling slushy. She needed to move.
She threw back the covers, swung her legs around and didn’t move for a few seco
nds. Since everything in the room seemed to stay in the same place, including her stomach, she stood up. She felt a little lightheaded, but that was all. Molly looked around for the robe Gran had brought her, felt around the floor for her slippers and slipped them on. Her plan was to slip out and visit Henry without getting caught. She needed to see him. She was hoping something would click.
The floor she was on had two U-shaped floors with a parallel hall running between them. Molly’s room was at the intersection, and she could sneak out with none of the nurses spotting her. She caught the elevator as it was closing and pushed the button for two floors below.
A few minutes later, she was standing at the door of Henry’s room. Luckily, only Henry was there, but she could see Imogen’s bag sitting next to the chair. She’d probably be gone only for a few minutes.
Someone had brought in a small Christmas tree, its lights blinking in the corner of the darkened room. There was an IV drip attached to Henry’s arm, along with a clip on his finger monitoring his pulse, and two large beeping monitors surrounding the head of the bed. One showing his heart rate, the other his blood pressure.
A bandage almost covered his entire head, and he was very pale. But he was breathing on his own, which was a plus. Molly looked at him, took a deep breath and sat down in the chair used by his wife.
“Henry, I know you probably can’t hear me, or who knows? Maybe you can. A lot has happened since your accident, and since I’m a suspect, I’ve been trying to figure out what happened. It would be really nice if you could wake up and answer some of my questions.” She looked closely for some type of reaction, but there was none. She sighed.
“I should tell you, someone killed Megan, probably the same person who did this to you. I’m so sorry. I know you cared for her. But don’t worry about Noah. He’s currently staying with us, Gran and I, and he’s welcome as long as he wants to stay. I can’t wait for you to meet my gran. I think you’d like her.” She smiled.
“Who did this to you, Henry? This is what I know. It wasn’t your ulcers making you sick. It was poison—aconite, to be precise. You may have heard it called monkshood. Ironically, the pills you were taking for your ulcers actually were covered in poison. So instead of them making you feel better, they were making you feel worse. I’m pretty sure it was your mother-in-law. Not sure why, though. Maybe she was trying to kill you, but if so, she didn’t do a very good job of it.”
