Текст книги "A Fright to the Death"

Автор книги: Dawn Eastman

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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

39

I rushed to Vi’s side and brushed the snow off of her.

“Vi! Are you hurt?”

Her whole body was covered with snow like someone buried in sand on the beach.

She didn’t answer and I slid my arm under her head to try to get her to sit up. I heard a muffled snap behind me and turned just in time to see a large tree branch swing toward my head.

I ducked and the branch glanced off my left temple. If I hadn’t been wearing Seth’s hat and hood, I would certainly have been seeing stars. As it was, I fell on top of Vi.

I quickly got up and moved away from Vi. If there was a branch-wielding lunatic in the woods, I didn’t want Vi caught in the cross swings. I dodged to the left and turned just in time to see the branch swing again. I spun toward it and grabbed it as it whistled past. The person at the other end was thrown off balance and we both fell to the ground. The assailant was bundled up like a Michelin man and wore a ski mask.

I rolled onto the branch to keep my attacker from using it again, but before I could turn, he or she was on top of me, trying to bury my face in the snow. I tried to fight but I couldn’t get a grip on the slippery coat.

The snow burned my face, it was so cold. I felt her—and I knew it was a woman now—pushing my head into the ground and pulling on my scarf at the same time. She thought she could strangle me with my own scarf. I reached over my head and tried to grab any body part I could. I came away with the ski mask but didn’t slow the efforts of the maniac trying to choke me.

I remembered Seth’s knife and fought to get my hand into the pocket. I momentarily felt the scarf tighten as I only held it with one hand. I barely felt the coldness on my face anymore and it was hard to breathe. The snow was thick—a moment of fear flashed through me. Could a person suffocate in snow? I didn’t want to find out. Flicking the knife open, I reached behind and jammed it into what I hoped was a leg. The blade was too short to penetrate very far past a heavy coat, but it would go through the thin pants I had felt while grappling with my attacker.

A satisfying howl resulted when I made contact. I felt her grip loosen and she rolled off of me. Even before I turned I was certain I would see Linda.

She scrabbled away from me, clutching her thigh where I had stabbed her. I was still worried about getting Vi to safety and trying to figure out how to subdue Linda and drag Vi to the hotel when I heard huffing and snow-crunching noises.

“What’s going on back here?” Wally rounded the corner of the shed. His eyes grew large when he took in the scene of me holding a short Boy Scout knife and looming over a moaning Linda.

“Wally, thank goodness,” I said.

He stood straighter and looked at me warily. “What’s going on?” He took a step back.

“Linda just tried to kill me and Vi.” I tilted my head toward where she lay under the snow. “Vi needs to get back to the hotel.”

“She’s lying, Wallace!” Linda said. “She’s the one with the knife.”

Wally hesitated and looked at me. I showed him the Boy Scout knife, folded it, and tossed it to him. “Vi really needs help, Wally.” I pointed to where she lay, still and silent.

Wally rushed to Vi’s side and finished brushing her off. “She’s really cold,” he said. “Did she pass out?”

“I’m not sure how Linda got her out here, but we need to move Vi inside quickly,” I said.

“Right, of course,” Wally said.

He turned to Vi and picked her up. Since she couldn’t weigh more than one hundred pounds, I figured he staggered under the weight of her coat and all those sweaters. He took a few unstable steps and then put her feet down in the snow. He put his hands under her arms and dragged her backward toward the hotel.

Linda whimpered quietly as I hauled her to her feet. I kept a firm hand on Linda as she hobbled toward the hotel, making a much bigger show of her injured leg than I thought necessary.

It was a noisy procession with Wally huffing and puffing and Linda gasping each time she took a step.

“How did you know we were out here?” I asked Wally.

“I was looking out the window from one of the upstairs hallways to see how much snow was piling up.” He stopped dragging Vi so he could catch his breath and talk. “I saw Mrs. Garrett heading in this direction. She never ventures into the woods in the winter if she can help it, so I came out to see what was going on.”

“I’m so glad you did.” I smiled gratefully at him.

That seemed to galvanize him and we quickly made it to the inn.

I opened the back door and swung it wide so Wally could get inside with Vi. Then I shoved Linda in before closing it against the cold.

René met us in the hall. He stopped short, taking in the scene.

“I thought you might be Emmett,” he said. “I heard from Holly that Emmett took the snowmobile and Kirk went after him,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Vi might be hypothermic,” I said. “Please find Heather. She’s the blond one and she’s a nurse.”

“I know where she is,” Wally said. “I’ll go get her.”

René took Vi’s limp form from Wally and rushed her to the lounge.

Linda’s head hung and her hair covered her face. It looked like she had given up on the idea of escaping, but I didn’t trust her.

Dad and Seth rushed toward us as we stood in the back hall.

“We heard Vi was hurt,” Dad said. “Where is she?” Dad was breathing hard and his shock of white hair seemed to stand even taller than usual.

“Wally went to find Heather,” I said. “René took Vi to the lounge.”

Seth ran down the hall to check on Vi.

“Clyde, are you okay?” Dad asked. He searched my face and squeezed me into a bear hug.

“I need to go call the police,” I said to Dad. “I’ve got our murderer.”

Linda slumped against the wall and held her hand on her leg wound.

“She’s been hurt,” Dad said.

I looked at Linda, who had now begun to moan in light of Dad’s sympathy.

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “Keep an eye on her until I get back. I hope Wally knows a place we can put her until the police get here.”

I rushed to the front desk and called 911 from the landline. I reported the need for an ambulance if they could get through and asked her to get a message to Pete Harris that we had a suspect in custody. I then ran back to Dad and Linda.

Just as I arrived at the back hall again, Wally and Seth approached. Seth’s eyes were big and he said, “They took Aunt Vi into the lounge by the fire.” He swallowed and looked from me to Dad and back. “She’s not waking up.”

“Dad, we need to secure Mrs. Garrett somewhere,” I said. “Wally, I don’t trust her—do you have a place that can be locked?”

Wally shook his head. “Not really.” He glared at Linda. “But I know where Kirk keeps the zip ties.”

Jessica ran toward us down the hall. She was out of breath.

“Mom! I just talked to René. What’s going on? Are you okay?” She moved to examine Linda’s leg.

I stepped between her and Linda. “Your mother is under arrest.”

“What? What for?” Jessica stepped back, her hand to her chest.

“Reckless endangerment, attempted murder, and probably the murder of Clarissa.”

Jessica’s hands shook as she covered her mouth. Her eyes were huge and she stared at her mother.

“I don’t believe it,” she said. Linda dropped her head. “You’ve made a mistake. Mom, tell them.” Jessica stepped toward her mother again and I steered her back down the hall.

René must have heard the noise and came out of the lounge. He approached Jessica and turned her toward the reception area.

Linda remained silent, but scrubbed at her eyes as Jessica walked away.

40

Thirty long minutes later, Vi groggily sipped the hot tea with brandy that René had prepared. She made a face and pushed it away.

“What’s in that tea? Is it that healthy green stuff?” she said. “It’s horrible!”

I grinned at Mom. Vi would be okay.

Heather had done a quick check of Vi’s extremities to be sure frostbite hadn’t set in. I was worried about Vi’s left hand since she’d lost her mitten and I had no idea how long she’d been outside.

Heather gave a thumbs-up and said it looked like Vi would be just fine. She quietly told me it would be better if we could get her to a hospital just to be safe.

I was mulling this over and wondering if it was worth trying to get the hospital helicopter to fly in and take her, when we heard boots stomping in the front reception area. Wally’s eyes got big and he scurried off to take up his post.

I thought it might be Mac and Kirk finally returning. My spirits lifted and I followed Wally out of the room.

I rushed to the front entrance and stopped short when I saw police uniforms. Even though I had called them, my gut clenched as I thought they might come bearing horrible news about Mac.

As the sky began to turn deep purple, I knew the wind would pick up again and the temperatures would plummet. Were they stuck in the woods? Did they crash into a tree? Did Emmett have a weapon? I crossed my arms to keep my hands from shaking and stepped forward to meet the police.

“I’m Detective Harris.” The plainclothes officer with salt-and-pepper hair and the weather-beaten face of an outdoorsman addressed Wally. “Someone called emergency dispatch and said there was a suspect in custody?”

“I’m Wallace Prescott.” Wally stepped forward and shook hands with the officers. “We have her . . . detained in the office.”

Wally saw the officers’ attention had shifted to me, and he turned to see who had come into the room.

“Detective Harris, this is Clyde Fortune,” Wally said. “She’s the one who caught our suspect. She and Detective McKenzie have been trying to identify the murderer.”

I was amused at Wally’s use of the word “our.” I supposed he deserved it after coming to my rescue.

Detective Harris stuck out his hand and we shook.

“I’ve known Mac for a long time. He told me you were here as well when we spoke on the phone. From Ann Arbor, right?”

“Formerly Ann Arbor. I live in Crystal Haven now.” I felt a calm settle over me as I said it. It felt right.

“We finally cleared the road down below,” he said. “It sounds like we got here just in time to miss all the excitement.” He turned to Wally. “Maybe you should show me where you’re keeping our suspect.”

The three officers trooped after Wally and me. We briefly filled them in on the afternoon’s events as we made our way to the small supply closet where Wally had incarcerated Linda. I summarized the situation for Detective Harris and he asked for a few minutes to talk to Linda.

I returned to the lounge to check on Vi.

She sat with a bright afghan over her lap and sipped a different cup of tea. René had provided a tray of sandwiches and cookies, which Seth eyed carefully. I saw the wheels turning in his brain, trying to figure out how to get some of Vi’s food without appearing insensitive.

Vi wasn’t paying any attention to the food; she was too busy telling her tale.

“I just knew there was something going on with her,” Vi said.

I bit my lip to keep from interrupting and reminding her that her main suspect had been Kirk.

“But she was a tricky one,” Vi continued. “She invited me to her room for coffee and cookies.” Vi looked around to be sure she had everyone’s attention. “I wanted to see their apartment and thought I could pump her for information about . . . her staff.”

Vi glanced at me and I smiled. I wasn’t going to ruin her story by telling the young swooning knitters that Vi had suspected their yarn-bombing beefcake.

“She must have put something in the coffee,” Vi said. “I started to feel funny, but she insisted she’d just seen someone sneaking around out near the shed where Clarissa’s body was.” Vi adjusted her afghan, and Tina stepped forward to assist.

I finally remembered what was missing from Clarissa’s medicine cabinet—Valium. Linda must have used that on Vi to relax her enough that she would pass out in the snow.

“She hustled me outside after I grabbed my coat and we walked through the snowbanks to the far side of the shed.”

Vi stopped and took another sip of tea.

“I don’t remember a whole lot after that. I felt really dizzy and she told me to sit down. The next thing I knew, I was freezing and I heard Clyde calling me.”

Everyone turned to look at me and I filled them in on my side of the story. By the time I finished, the police had found us again and said they’d take Linda with them. They asked me to show them where Clarissa’s body was stored.

I put Seth’s coat on again and prepared to venture back outside. Wally produced the key and handed it to me. He evidently didn’t want to join us for this part of the process.

It had gotten even colder in just the last hour or so since we’d come in. More worried than ever, my ears strained to hear the sound of snowmobiles but, except for the wind, all was silent.

I showed the officers the shed and gave them the key. I agreed with Wally’s sentiments—I had no desire to look at Clarissa again. I watched as they carried her plastic-wrapped body out of the small building and up to the crime-scene van.

I followed them back to the inn. Each step crunching through two feet of snow, I began to spin more and more dire scenarios in my mind. Where could Mac and Kirk be?

“I’m going to check on something here in the cottage,” I said and gestured at the cottage door as we passed by.

Pete Harris nodded and followed his officers as the men with Clarissa’s body veered off to the parking lot and opened the back of the van. I still hadn’t heard snowmobiles and dejectedly opened the cottage door to go inside.

I needed a moment to myself, but was greeted exuberantly by Baxter. He calmed down quickly when he sensed my mood. He sat and leaned into my leg. Tuffy’s ears drooped and he also sat and regarded me carefully. I leaned against the wall and then sank to the floor.

Baxter put his head on my knees and sighed. The tears came then and I didn’t try to stop them. I had been so worried about Vi, it was partly in relief that I cried. But Mac had been gone far too long and I was very worried. I didn’t know what I would do if anything happened to him. Tuffy walked over to me and put his head under my hand. His way of providing comfort was to demand some petting.

I resolved to be more forthcoming with Mac about my plans for the future. I knew that I wanted him in it and we wouldn’t make it if I kept trying to hide who I was.

I allowed myself five minutes. I knew I would be missed if I stayed any longer and didn’t want to be found with a red nose and swollen eyes. I went into the bathroom to splash water on my face. The dogs trailed after me and watched quietly.

“Okay, guys,” I said at the door. “I’ll be back soon—you be good.” Both dogs wore the forlorn expression of being left behind.

A loud swell of voices greeted me as I walked in. I was only able to distinguish two sounds: Mac’s deep rumble and Vi’s “I knew it!”

I rushed to the lounge and straight toward Mac. I had to touch him to be sure he was really there; my imagination had run so wild. His face was bleeding and he was developing a black eye, but he was safe. My vision became blurry and I turned away from the watching crowd to hug Mac and get control of myself. Mac seemed surprised at my tearful greeting but held me close until I was ready to face the rest of the gang.

Kirk stood to the side, clutching Emmett’s arm and glowering. He also looked like he’d been in a brawl, with scrapes on his face and a split lip.

Emmett appeared worst of all. His nose was bent at an odd angle and dripped blood onto his coat. He held his right arm carefully cradled in his left and kept his eyes on the ground.

Officer Harris had followed me into the room and quickly took control of Emmett. He handed him off to one of the other officers and went out into the hallway with Kirk and Mac.

“What are they talking about out there?” Vi said. She sat up and stretched her neck to see over her admirers. “Mac was just getting to the good part, where Emmett crashed into a tree and they had to chase him through the woods.”

“That must be why I didn’t hear them return,” I said.

Mom nodded. “They had to walk back through all that snow and Emmett tried to get away twice!”

“Emmett was the one stashing the cell phones,” Seth mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. He sat with Vi’s plate on his lap.

“I can’t believe we’ve been staying here right under the nose of a thief and a murderer!” Mavis said. She sat down next to Selma, who nodded and patted Mavis on the back.

Holly rushed into the room. “I heard they’re back, where are they?”

“They’re talking to the police in the front room,” Isabel said.

“Is he all right?” Holly said.

“Who? Emmett?” Mom said.

“No, Kirk!” she said.

Heather and Tina narrowed their eyes at her.

“He’s fine,” Dad said. “A little beat up, but Emmett looks worse.”

Wally stepped forward and talked quietly to Holly. She sat in a chair by the door and mangled her apron in her lap.

She jumped up as Mac and Kirk came back into the room. She gasped when she saw his cuts and bruises and he quietly reassured her that he was fine.

He put his arm around her and they stepped out into the hallway.

Vi waved Mac over to the couch and imperiously patted the spot next to her. He glanced at me and sheepishly sat with her.

“Now tell us the story,” Vi demanded.

Mom nodded, and the rest of the crowd murmured agreement.

Mac wasn’t used to reporting to civilians on his cases, but he did an admirable job of reassuring them that everything was wrapped up without giving away too much.

“Emmett and Linda were involved in a stolen cell phone ring,” Mac began.

“Linda?” Mom asked.

“Rose! Let the man tell his story,” Vi said.

“Yes, Linda. She needed money to keep the inn going,” Mac said. “Apparently there were a lot of necessary repairs and they don’t have the kind of steady business to support costly renovations.”

I remembered how proud Linda was of the antiques and artwork. She must have been desperate to save it all.

“When Clarissa moved here after her father died, it became clear that she had the majority stake in ownership and that her vision for the future of the castle was very different from Linda’s.”

Isabel shook her head and her mouth pulled down into a frown.

“Her father, David, had loaned some money to Linda back when they first opened and that gave him the majority ownership. He had promised to keep it as a handshake deal, but Clarissa got wind of it and made him formalize the agreement.”

Mac nodded thanks to Wally, who handed him a mug of hot coffee.

“Emmett told us he thought Linda may have killed Clarissa because that fight they had on Wednesday was about selling off some of the art work and antiques to fund Clarissa’s spa project.” Mac turned to where I stood next to Mom and Dad. “He didn’t tell us the whole story—he knew what the meeting was about because Linda told him they would have to get a good price for the cell phones so she could buy Clarissa off.”

“Linda found me in the turret room with Duchess.” Vi interrupted Mac’s story. “She thought I was trying to get information from the cat, but I wasn’t. Duchess had just come in the room and I was petting her, but not trying to interview her.”

Vi made sure we were all listening.

“I think she tried to kill me because she thought I knew she had killed Clarissa. The cat must have been in the room at the time.” Vi turned to Mac. “She did tell me she was shocked when she came downstairs and found a police officer staying for the weekend. She didn’t tell me she was shocked in a bad way. But she must have seen the whole thing unraveling when you and Clyde identified yourselves as police.”

41

The next couple of hours were filled with activity. The snowplow arrived and cleared the road and the parking lot. The police van took Clarissa’s body away. Mac and I spent an hour with Pete Harris sharing all of our evidence and he took Linda into custody.

By early evening, the inn had cleared out. The knitters couldn’t wait to load up their bags of yarn and knitting goodies. Lucille had won the yarn-bombing award for her piano cozy. She and Seth had spent well over an hour that afternoon covering the baby grand piano in a neon-colored knitted monstrosity. Lucille said she had called ahead to get the measurements and the piece fit the piano perfectly. I secretly thought the woman needed to get out more and resolved to be sure Mom and Vi invited her over more often. Tiny scarves for chess pieces were one thing, but this was truly impressive.

We had decided to stay one more night to give Vi a little more rest before packing and driving back home. Of course, we all had to pretend that it had nothing to do with her near-death experience.

The big surprise of the afternoon was Tina. She finally admitted to being in Clarissa’s room the night she died—the presence of actual police and a suspect in custody must have convinced her to tell her story. No one was more shocked than Jessica to learn that Tina was Clarissa’s half-sister. David Carlisle, Clarissa’s father, had had a relationship after his divorce but never claimed the child until he found out he had terminal cancer. He located Tina and promised he would leave her half his estate in his will. When he died, the will left everything to Clarissa. Tina suspected Clarissa had managed to destroy the new will. Tina had joined the knitter’s workshop to continue to put pressure on Clarissa to do the right thing and to get closer to Linda and Jessica in case she needed their help in obtaining her inheritance.

René and Jessica had gone to the police station to help Linda procure a lawyer. Unfortunately for her lawyer, she’d admitted that Clarissa taunted her about selling her favorite paintings to pay for the spa, and Linda hit her over the head with the Maglite. A good attorney might be able to get her a reduced sentence for that, arguing temporary insanity. But the calculated strangling and then the attempted murder of Vi would be harder to talk her way through.

Mac had warned René that he needed to tell Jessica the truth about his past, but agreed that maybe he should wait until Jessica felt less blindsided by her mother’s criminal activities and the news of a new cousin. Wally had taken over management duties until Jessica was ready to return to work.

“I don’t understand how the cable needle ended up in Clarissa’s room,” Mom said.

I shrugged. “Linda may have put it there to cast suspicion on the knitters, or even specifically Isabel, knowing that Isabel and Clarissa hated each other.”

Putting all the reports together, it sounded like Clarissa had had a busy evening before Linda hit her in the head. René had been there, Tina had been there, and I suspected Emmett had also paid a visit. Probably only Duchess knew how many visitors Clarissa had received. It was up to the Kalamazoo Police Department to sort out all the stories.

I had just rested my head on Mac’s shoulder and closed my eyes for a moment when I heard thump, thump, rattle, thump down the stairs. I sat forward, as did everyone else, and we watched the door.

“It’s the ghost,” Vi breathed.

“Good grief, Vi,” Dad said. “There’s no ghost.”

We heard rattle, smack, and shhh-ing noises. Mac stood up and took a step toward the door. A small box rolled into view. Duchess followed right behind and batted it into the room like a kitty hockey player. It didn’t slide as well on the carpet as it must have on the wood floor of the hallway. She turned her golden eyes toward Seth. Abandoning her toy, she prowled toward him, leaped into his lap, and settled in, purring.

Mac’s eyes had gotten big and he strode to the box, picked it up, and stuffed it into his jeans pocket.

Lucille cleared her throat and gave Mac a little nod. Mac humphed, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the hallway. He held a finger to his lips as he led me toward the back of the hotel and the now vacant library.

“Mac, what are you doing?”

I thought I heard footsteps behind us.

He dragged me into the library and softly shut the door. He pulled out the little box. My palms broke out in a sweat and the roar in my ears made me dizzy. I wasn’t ready for a proposal. Mac took my hand and dropped the box into it.

“What’s this?” I said.

“Open it.” Mac stepped back to watch.

I eased the ribbon off the box and peered inside. My whole body relaxed when I saw what it contained. A beautiful pair of knitted seashell earrings nestled on blue tissue paper. There was a little pearl bead right in the center of each one.

“They’re gorgeous,” I breathed. “Where did you get them?”

“I had some help from Isabel. Apparently, she knits jewelry and I asked her for something with a beach theme.”

“Beach . . .”

I looked up, and Mac now held a printed airline ticket.

“Oh, Mac, you didn’t,” I said.

“I did.”

“You got another flight? How—cell service has been down for days. And the Wi-Fi is still not working.”

“I know it’s a shock, but some things can still be done without the Internet.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. “Also, I had some help from Pete.”

“When do we leave?” I asked.

He checked his watch. “In about an hour if you want to make the flight.”

I threw my arms around him and thanked him enthusiastically.

“You missed something,” he said. “There’s still something in the box.”

I pulled the tissue paper out of the box and saw a key sitting in the bottom. I met Mac’s eyes. “Is this to your house?”

“Clytemnestra Fortune,” he said, “I love you.”

“Wait! Stop,” I said. I remembered the look his mother had given him and the grumpy way he snatched the ring box off the floor.

“What?”

“Did your mother put you up to this?”

He pulled me closer. “Of course not.”

“It’s just, I know you’ve been arguing about something. And I saw her nod at you when you picked up the box . . .”

“Clyde.” He put his hand on my chin and tilted my head up so I had to look in his eyes. “I’ve been waiting for months to go away with you. And I want to spend as much time as possible with you when we get back. Nothing has changed.”

“Even if I don’t go back to the police force? Even if I use my psychic abilities?”

“What? Of course. The only reason I was arguing with my mother was because I wanted to wait to ask you to move in with me until I could do it the way I had planned.” He turned away from me. “I wanted it to be romantic. On the beach, with the moon shining on the ocean, in a place far away from here.”

“That sounds nice,” I said.

“But, we aren’t there. We’re here and it doesn’t matter because we’re together.”

“Well, then, yes. But I think I’ll need to give you a key to my place instead.”

He smiled and kissed me and from the other side of the door I heard, “I knew it!”