A Malicious Midwinter

by Dee Ernst

  I folded my hands and recited like a schoolgirl—Garth, James and Glory leaving, Boot returning alone, Beth’s sudden rescue attempt, looking for Glory, and finally, my finding the truck.

  Sam nodded thoughtfully. “The first thing that strikes me as odd is Beth suddenly showing concern for Glory’s welfare. Considering everything I’ve seen here in the past day and a half, I find her behavior…not in character.”

  “That’s what I thought,” I said. “She told me she was going to have to work with Glory, so she was going to try to make amends.”

  “Did you believe her?” Sam asked.

  I shook my head. “Not really, but who knows? She was sober, I think. Maybe she really did have a change of heart.”

  “But she tried to run me over,” Glory said.

  Sam shifted his attention. “When?”

  Glory told him quickly what happened.

  Sam nodded. “She tried to run you over? Are you sure that, maybe, she couldn’t see you in the dark? After all, your coat is black, right?”

  Glory looked down and turned red. “She saw me. I mean, I was standing in the middle of the street, waving at her.”

  “And did you see where she went? Did she come back and try to, well, finish the job? After all, if she tried to kill you, I doubt she would have just returned here.”

  She looked at Garth. “Maybe she tried to get to the train. Maybe that’s where she was going.”

  Sam looked thoughtful. “Ah. So, instead of driving straight down to the bottom of the hill, she abandoned the truck halfway there and decided to walk the rest of the way?”

  “Why not?” Garth said. “That would explain why the truck was left, and then Ellie found it, and accidentally killed her.”

  “I did not…” I began, but Sam cut me off.

  “Here’s what I think. I think she saw someone she knew, and pulled over to talk to them. Maybe she got out of the truck. Maybe she invited them inside. We’ll know when the fingerprint results come back. Whoever it was did or said something that scared her so badly she tried to run away.” He looked around the room. “How’s that for a theory?”

  Silence.

  “Now, I need to know your movements, James. And Garth, Glory. You all left here and, what? Where did you go? More importantly, how did Glory end up walking back alone?”

  James ran his hands through his hair. “We went to the end of street here, and then went down the hill. The road was pretty clear.”

  Glory nodded. “We were talking about Beth, of course.”

  “What about Beth?” I prodded.

  Glory looked uncomfortable. “I asked James what it was like being married to her.”

  “And I told them,” James said. His voice was hard. “The first two years were fine, and then her star started falling, and she started drinking, and things became unbearable. I tried to get her to stop, but she just got angrier and more…devious. She’d do things and not tell me. She started spending all our money. She took a lover.” His lips tightened. “When I told her I was leaving she got violent, and attacked me with a knife. I left the house with just the clothes on my back, got a restraining order, and got the divorce as quickly as I could. For the next few years, she stalked me, harassed me. I had to get another restraining order. I had to move out of New York City and go where she couldn’t find me to get any real peace.”

  “So, when you saw her here yesterday, you probably thought she’d start all over again,” I said, watching his face.

  He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. Shelly made a soft noise, but I didn’t look at her.

  I finally looked away from James. “Go on, Glory.”

  “Well, as he was telling us, he said he really needed a drink, and suggested we walk over to his house. He didn’t have electricity, but he had some nicely aged whiskey, and that would keep us warm.”

  “So, you walked over to Davis, and went to his house,” Sam said. “Then what?”

  Garth shrugged. “We lit some candles and had a drink and I joked that all we needed was some incense and a joint, and James said he didn’t have incense, but he could roll a joint, so he did. He was still going on about Beth.”

  “I can’t stand any smoke,” Glory said, “so I started back with Boot. I knew all I had to do was get to the top of the hill and turn toward your house, but I thought I could take a short-cut, and that’s when Beth tried to run me over.”

  “And then we got the call from Shelly,” James said. “Telling us that Boot had returned without Glory. Garth and I left right away to look for her.”

  “So, you were together?” Sam asked.

  Were James and Garth going to get each other off the hook? That meant Glory…

  “No,” James said. “Garth went straight up the hill and I went across Sommerfield.”

  “And then?”

  James shrugged. “I wandered around, searching, until Shelly called me to tell me that Glory was in a house on Brenner.”

  “Shelly?” Sam asked gently. “Did you find her?”

  “No. Garth did.” She twisted her hands together. “I just happened to be on the next street and I heard him calling for her.”

  “So,” Sam said in the same tone, “did you see Beth?”

  It took a moment for the question to sink in, and her face turned ugly. “No, Sam. I did not.”

  Sam tightened his lips. “Garth?”

  “Glory called me and told me that she was in a house on Brenner. I didn’t know where Brenner was, but Phil—the guy who lived there—he got on the phone and I told him where I was, and he talked me up the hill. When I found the street, I just started yelling, and he opened the door and there she was.”

  Glory turned and buried her face in his side, and as she did, the ice pack slipped off her ankle. I got up quickly, and put it back in place. The room was so quiet I could hear the low hum of the generator.

  I sat back down, trying to find a scenario that made sense.

  What if Beth had been sincere and had really wanted to make up with Glory? Maybe she saw Glory, picked her up, and was going to bring her home, but they fought. Glory, with her newfound backbone, would have not been so easy to forgive. Beth left the truck, Glory killed her, and then hurt her ankle after leaving the truck abandoned.

  On the other hand, just two days ago, Beth had almost complete control over her. Had Glory changed her thinking so much that she’d be able to run Beth down in cold blood? I didn’t think so.

  But Garth…

  “Garth, how long have you been after Beth? About her taking credit for Glory’s writing?” I asked.

  “He was doing it for me,” Glory said quickly.

  “I know. But how long? I mean, showing up at the library here wasn’t the first time he confronted her, was it?” I leaned toward Glory. “Was it?”

  She shook her head. “A few months,” she said in a small voice.

  “So, he’s been showing up at her events now for a few months? Has he done anything else?” I asked.

  She was quiet, so I turned my gaze to Garth.

  “What else have you done?”

  He squirmed.

  “If there was any type of complaint or restraining order against you,” Sam said, “you know we’ll find out.”

  “There was a restraining order in New York,” Garth said. “But she couldn’t keep me away here.”

  “So, how long?” I asked again.

  “Almost a year,” he said. “She told Glory that they would be listed as co-authors, but, of course, she lied. She had no intention of sharing the credit. I would show up at her signings. I wouldn’t do or say anything. Not at first. After a while, I’d question her. And…well, I showed up at her house a few times.”

  “So, this has been building up for a while now, has it?” Sam said. He was speaking very quietly, in a reassuring tone. “Wow, Garth, that must have been really tough for you to watch. Especially since you knew that Beth wasn’t going to back down without a fight. I bet she was some tough lady.�
�

  “She was more than a tough lady,” James spat. “She was a total bitch. You have no idea how vindictive she could be. Glory, tell them what Beth said to you. How she made your life a living hell.”

  Glory took a deep breath. “She was awful, just awful. She told me if I left her, she’d make sure no one ever published a word I wrote. She knew everyone, you see. Everyone in publishing, that is. She had lots of power, and important friends. She could do it. And she would have. She would have ruined everything for me.”

  Sam’s phone rang. He answered, listened briefly, then hung up. He looked down at the floor, and we all waited. When he lifted his head, he looked suddenly tired and old.

  “John, call for another car. We need to question Garth and Glory. Separately. At the station.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Garth surged to his feet. “What about Ellie? Just because she’s your girlfriend? You’re going to just forget about the fact that she was in the truck when it went out of control? She probably hit Beth. This is—”

  Sam held up his hand. “That call was from one of my officers. Ellie’s story is that she found the truck parked on Windsor, and that there was already blood on the bumper. This call just confirmed that. Blood that probably dripped from the bumper was found in the snow. Since that part of her story checked out, I’m going to believe that she’s telling the truth about the rest.”

  My story checked out. I felt a slight pang. He had sent someone to make sure my story checked out. I looked at him, and he met my gaze openly.

  Of course he checked my story. Because he was a good cop, and that’s what good cops did. They checked every fact, looked into every angle. It felt personal, but I knew it wasn’t. It was his job.

  I squared my shoulders and nodded to him. I understood. Of course I understood.

  Glory started to sob again, and Garth put his arms around her. “We didn’t do anything,” he said stoutly. “I want a lawyer.”

  Sam sighed. “Of course. That’s your right. But no one is being arrested here. We just need to get answers.”

  He turned and walked over to John, and they began speaking, too quietly for me to hear. Boot lifted her head, hopped off the couch, and trotted over to me, resting her head on my knee and wagging her tail. I scratched her behind the ears and we sat, waiting, listening to Glory’s muffled sobs.

  Chapter 7

  The power was on by the next morning, and the plows came through for a final time right after nine o’clock. I got my car out of the garage drove James and Shelly down to Shelly’s house

  I was exhausted. After Sam took Garth and Glory away, Shelly, James, and I sat, numb, drinking scotch. By one in the morning we had talked though every possible scenario. We all agreed that Garth had done it.

  “She probably pulled the truck over after she tried to run over Glory,” James theorized. “Garth saw her. Since he couldn’t have known what she just tried to do, he probably wasn’t even that angry, but she didn’t know that. When he got in the truck to talk to her, she panicked and ran out.”

  Shelly, looking dazed, agreed. “I feel bad for him, but I’m sure it was an accident. Why doesn’t he just confess? He was driving around, not knowing where he was going. I bet she was in the middle of the road when he hit her. He couldn’t have seen her until it was too late.”

  Poor Beth.

  Poor Garth.

  At noon, I called Cait and told her what had been happening.

  “Oh, Mom, how awful! That woman sounds like she was awful, but nobody deserves to die.”

  “I know. I need to go back and sleep for a day or three. This has been a horror. But first I have to see if Glory needs help with anything.”

  “So, you’re sure Garth did it? You said both of them were taken in.”

  I leaned back in the chair and tried to relax my shoulders. “Yes, I think Garth killed Beth, but I don’t think he meant to.” I quickly gave her James’s theory.

  “Well, Mom, hate to spoil this for you, but if it was an accident, it could very well have been Glory behind the wheel. Or even James.”

  “Cait, please don’t start getting all logical on me,” I told her. “We were up all night figuring this out.”

  “Oops. Sorry.”

  There was an outburst of laughter behind her, and I heard Tessa's’s voice. Not actually talking into the phone, but being heard nonetheless, shouting something half garbled by giggles. At least my girls were good.

  “Listen, Cait, go forth and do snow stuff. Say hello to your dad, and I’ll see you in a few days.” I hung up the phone and stared around my empty house.

  I didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. It just as easily could have been Glory.

  The thought of James having anything to do with it was something I could not get my head around.

  I moved over to the couch, lay down, and pulled the throw over me. Boot, sensing a nap, jumped up and curled around my feet.

  I slept.

  * * *

  Sam woke me.

  He looked exhausted, his hair untidy, a thick shadow of a beard on his chin and cheeks. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

  “Hey. How did it go?”

  He sagged onto the couch next to me. Boot immediately crawled in his lap.

  “They both say they didn’t do it,” he said wearily, scratching Boot behind the ears. “Separately, together, they’re sticking to their stories.”

  “And?”

  “I think I believe them.”

  I leaned against him. “Then, who did it? Am I a suspect?”

  He put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. “You know you’re not.”

  “It could very easily have been me. I was driving, I hit her, and when I realized it I tried to stop and went into a skid. It does make sense.”

  “Of course it does. Luckily for you, my crack team found drops of blood where the truck had been parked, so you’re off the hook.”

  “What if they hadn’t?”

  He pulled back and looked at me. “Then you would have confessed. You would have called me the second it happened and told me.”

  “So, that leaves James.”

  “Yes.”

  We were quiet. Boot whined.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked.

  He nodded. We went into the kitchen and I stared into the refrigerator for a minute.

  “Leftover chicken?”

  “Sure.”

  I spent a few minutes at the stove while he sat at the kitchen table.

  “What do we know about James?” he finally asked.

  “My best friend is in love with him.” I forked the chicken onto a plate and handed it to him.

  “I need to talk to him some more.”

  “Sam—”

  “Was he wearing gloves?”

  “Who, James?” I tried to picture him, leaving the house with Garth and Glory. His hands were in his pockets. “I don’t think so.”

  “So, we’ll find his fingerprints in the truck. It’s just a matter of time.”

  I watched as he sat, calmly cutting his food and eating. When he was done, he sat back and looked at me. “Do you want to come with me?”

  “When, now?”

  “This is a murder investigation, Ellie. There are two people I’m holding who are both declaring their innocence, and by tonight, unless one of them confesses, they are both free to go because I really have no reason to charge either of them. Also by tonight, I should have fingerprint reports back.”

  “Can’t we wait until then?”

  He looked at me steadily, not saying a word.

  I sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  I called Shelly. She was at James’s house. Sam and I drove down together, not speaking.

  James let us in, looking tired. “Am I busted for having pot?” he asked. “I swear, it’s purely recreational, just enough for a few joints.”

  Sam shook his head. “No, James. We need to talk about last night.”

  Shelly was hu
ddled in a chair, looking pale. Her short hair was flat against her head, and there were dark smudges under her eyes. I sat across from her, but Sam remained standing, his dark coat open, his hands in his pockets.

  “Tell me again about you and Beth,” he began. “Before the blizzard, when was the last time you saw her?”

  “What’s this about, Sam?” James asked. “You have Garth in custody, what’s going on?”

  “Garth was taken in for questioning. He has not been charged, and he insists he didn’t do it. When was the last time you saw Beth?”

  James straightened his shoulders. “About five years ago.”

  “You knew she was coming to the library?”

  James nodded.

  “But you didn’t know she was staying with Ellie.” It was not a question.

  James glanced at Shelly. “If I had known, I would have not gone with Shelly. I’d sooner freeze to death than be in the same room with that woman.”

  “So you didn’t have any contact with her until you saw he at Ellie’s?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “But you seemed to have pretty strong feelings about her, even after five years.”

  James closed his eyes and shook his head again. “You don’t know her. You have no idea what she was like. She never let go of a grudge. Never. That’s why Garth is the one who killed her. Glory knew what she was like, you heard her”

  “Did she hold a grudge against you?” I asked.

  “Of course she did!” James blurted. “When I left her, I stayed with a couple that were friends to both of us. I didn’t tell them everything, but I didn’t have to. They were the ones who took me to the hospital to get stitched up. Word got around, and…” He exhaled loudly. “Can you even imagine how angry she was when that story got out? That’s why I had to get restraining orders. She never let it go. I had to leave New York.”

  “So, you must have felt very threatened when you saw her again,” Sam said.

  “Of course I did. Only a fool would think she had changed her stripes. But I did not kill her.”

  Sam walked the length of the room, then came back. “I bet if she saw you walking last night, she would have stopped the truck and invited you in.”