Measured Mayhem

by Jessica Beck

  “I didn’t think it would hit you so hard,” Lee explained. “And besides, I thought it might pry you free from him,” he said as he stepped back from his attacker.

  “Did you loosen that rail and try to drop that gargoyle on me, too?” she asked him coldly.

  “The gargoyle was me,” he admitted. “I purposely missed you by a mile! It was just meant to scare you enough so that you’d leave Jeff.”

  “But you didn’t have anything to do with the fence?” I asked.

  “I didn’t touch it. If anyone did it, it was Adam,” he said. “You’ve got to believe me, Autumn. It’s not too late for us.”

  She gave him the iciest stare I’d ever seen in my life. “You’re the one who has lost his mind. I don’t ever want to see you again. Do you understand?”

  He looked shattered by the news. “Just give me a chance to make things right with you,” he protested.

  “If you don’t leave this second, I’m calling the police and telling them what you did,” Autumn said.

  “You should call them anyway,” Jeff protested.

  “Stay out of this, Jefferson. I’m handling it,” she told him firmly, and he held up his hands and took a few steps backward. It was great seeing that my old friend was back in full force.

  “Understood,” he said.

  “Go, Lee. Now. I mean it.” Her voice was devoid of all emotion. I think the fact that she wasn’t screaming at him threw him off. Hanging his head, the handyman walked away, clearly a beaten man.

  “I still can’t believe it,” Autumn said once he was gone.

  “What, that Lee tried to drive you away from me, or that Adam paid him to do it? Why would he even do something like that?”

  “You haven’t spoken with Carter Lincoln yet, have you?” I asked him.

  “No, he’s been calling me ever since he found out that my mother died, but I haven’t wanted to speak with him,” Jeff admitted. He turned to Autumn. “Why, have you?”

  “He tracked us down twenty minutes ago,” she admitted. “Jeff, your mother left me a million dollars, but only on the condition that we stay together. Adam had incentive to break us up, but that’s not all.”

  “There’s more? What else could there be?” he asked. “I’m going to kill him when I get my hands on my dear brother.”

  “I’m afraid that’s the plan he has in store for you,” I said. “If you two split up and then you die, he gets everything.”

  Chapter 24

  “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING about? I’m pretty sure that Henry Charleston killed my mother,” Jeff said. “I’m glad you called me last night, Autumn,” he told his wife. “I had the auditors move in before he could destroy the evidence. It’s true, he’s been stealing from my mother for years, but evidently she finally found out about it. He confessed everything to the police this morning. That’s why I came here looking for you. I went by the cottage, but you were already gone.”

  “He actually confessed to killing Cecile?” I asked him.

  “No, just to embezzling from her, but the police chief was pretty sure he’d admit to killing my mother before long. It’s just a matter of time before it’s all wrapped up.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, something nagging at my mind.

  “Do you still think Adam did it?” he asked me. “He might be lowlife scum, but why would he kill our mother while Autumn and I were still married? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” I admitted, not mentioning the fact that it cleared him as well. If he had killed Cecile for the money, it would only make sense if it had happened after he and Autumn were divorced, which was clearly a possibility, considering where they had been heading. As things stood now, he’d have to share everything with her, despite his mother’s bequest.

  So who did that leave?

  And then the last puzzle piece fell into place.

  We needed to find Annie Greenway, and we needed to find her fast.

  “Why Annie?” Autumn asked as we all got into Jeff’s car.

  “She’s the only one who still makes sense,” I explained. “Do you happen to know where she lives?” I asked Jeff.

  “Sure,” he admitted.

  “Then drive, and don’t stop for any red lights,” I ordered. Autumn had taken the front passenger seat, and I was sitting in back.

  “Talk to us, Suzanne,” she said.

  “Okay, let’s eliminate our suspects. If Adam did it for the money, or Jeff...”

  “He didn’t do it,” she said firmly before he could defend himself. That seemed to please him, but we didn’t have time for any side trips.

  “Or Jeff,” I continued, “then the order of events was all wrong. Lee wouldn’t kill her because his fight was with Jeff, not his mother. While it’s true that Charleston may have had motive aplenty, he knew he was caught from the moment folks started to wonder about him, and that was quite a while before Cecile was murdered. Remember, Davis told us people around town have been speculating about his trustworthiness for weeks now. That leaves Annie, and Davis also told us that she had a very public fight with Cecile a few days before she was murdered. If she wanted your mother’s approval, Jeff, and she didn’t get it, she might resort to murder just to get another obstacle out of the way.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Jeff said. “That would make her some kind of psychopath, wouldn’t it?”

  “People have killed for worse reasons than that,” I told him. “Autumn said it herself. The woman’s been obsessed with you for years. If your mother stood between the two of you, in her mind it might have been the next logical step.”

  “Maybe, but murder?”

  “I know that it might be a stretch, but that’s why we’re going there first to talk to her before we call the police,” I said. “I have a feeling we can break her, if you’re there with us. What do you say?”

  “If it will help solve my mother’s murder, then I’m in,” he said as he reached across the seat and took his wife’s hand in his.

  The funny thing was, Autumn didn’t pull away.

  When we got to Annie’s house, I told them, “Stay back and let me handle this.”

  Something told me to peek in the window before I rang the bell, and wow, was I ever glad that I did. It might have been the sound of Annie’s voice or the whimpering I heard in the background, but something was surely amiss.

  Through the open screen window, I could see Adam tied to a chair, his mouth covered with duct tape and one arm and both legs bound with it as well. He was writing something with his free hand, taking dictation really, as Annie stood over him, a knife just a bare inch from his throat.

  Apparently we’d gotten there just in time.

  Or was it possible that we were already too late?

  Chapter 25

  “WALK BACK TO THE OTHER side of the car and call the police,” I told Autumn quietly. “Annie has Adam tied up in there, and she’s got a knife at his throat.”

  “What are you going to do?” Autumn asked me softly as she pulled out her phone.

  “I’m going to try to stop her,” I said.

  “Using what?” she asked. “Your cast iron pan is back at the cottage. Take this,” she said as she grabbed the pepper spray from her purse.

  “I’m coming with you,” Jeff said to me.

  “You don’t have to risk it,” I told him.

  “He’s my brother, even if he is a snake. What’s the plan?” He seemed ready if not eager to get involved, and the truth was that I could use the backup. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, I would have waited for the police, but I was afraid that Adam would be dead by then. I had no love for the man, but even he deserved better than dying at this crazy woman’s hand.

  “Go around back and throw something heavy through a window or that glass sliding door,” I said as I noticed it behind Annie and Adam.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “When she turns around, I’m going to jump through the window screen and rush her,” I said
.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” he asked me, hesitating.

  “It is what it is. I know one thing, though. If we do nothing, he’s going to die, and I don’t want that on my conscience. Do you?” I stared at him for two full seconds before he shook his head.

  “No, let’s do this.”

  Jeff hurried around back, and I tried to see if I could get through the screen and to Annie before she could attack Adam, or Jeff either, for that matter.

  I decided I had a few seconds, so I walked to the front door, trying to stay out of sight as I did so. Was there any chance it was unlocked?

  It was! I was stunned when the doorknob turned in my hand! It was certainly going to be a lot easier than jumping through a screened window, getting my balance, and attacking this lunatic of a woman who was armed with a knife.

  All I had was pepper spray. I looked around the porch and saw a small ornamental flag on a thin metal pole. The flag was waving in the breeze, and the rod holding it didn’t look very strong, but it was better than nothing. I pulled the stake out of the ground and bunched the flag up as a handle when I heard something crash through the glass at the back of the house.

  I was fully expecting to see Annie rushing toward the back when I burst into the house, but she hadn’t moved a muscle.

  The knife was still poised at Adam’s throat, and she looked at me as though she’d been expecting me all along.

  “Come in, Suzanne. You should get whoever is helping you to come in, too. We’ll make it a party.” There wasn’t a hint of disturbance in her voice, something that chilled me more than a homicidal rant would have accomplished.

  This was one seriously unbalanced woman we were dealing with, and evidently she wasn’t about to give up until at least some of us were dead.

  “She knows. You might as well come in,” I called out as I walked into the house.

  “Drop that,” Annie said as she gestured to the flag holder in my hands.

  I complied, and she actually smiled at me. “That’s a good girl.” Her knife never wavered for a moment from Adam’s throat, and I could see by the look in his eyes that he was terrified.

  I couldn’t blame him. We’d come to rescue him, but instead, now we were all in the middle of a bad situation that I’d somehow found a way to make worse.

  Chapter 26

  “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE, Annie?” Jeff asked her as he walked into the room from the back of the house.

  “Jeff? What are you doing here?” she asked incredulously.

  “I came to talk to you,” he said. “Annie, maybe we can work things out.”

  He was trying to calm her down, and from the way the knife dipped slowly, I knew that it just might work. I had to be ready with the spray, stuffed in my pocket, if the opportunity presented itself, though. I was still eight steps from her, and so was Jeff. If I tried to spray her now, I’d surely get Adam, but that was the least of my worries. I needed a solid four steps before I could be sure to get it into her eyes at all, and for that, I needed Jeff to keep on talking.

  “It’s too late for us,” she said bitterly. “You said so yourself not an hour ago.” The knife moved closer to Adam’s neck, and I saw him stiffen as the blade lightly touched the skin. A small trickle of blood danced down his neck from the wound, and he grunted from the pain.

  “I may have been hasty,” he said. “We should at least talk about it. You should know that I forgive you.”

  “For kidnapping Adam? I’ve done much worse than that,” she admitted. “Cecile wouldn’t give me her blessing. She said that she’d come to realize that you belonged with Autumn. I lost my mind, Jeff. I shoved her, I admit that much, but she tripped and hit her head.”

  “On a rolling pin?” I asked her. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t let her get away with the delusional scenario she was describing.

  “It was all one big accident, but I can’t undo any of it now,” she said. “Adam was just finishing up his suicide note and confession, but that’s not going to do us any good now, is it? I’ve got to come up with a new plan.”

  “Annie, I’ll go to the police with you. We’ll tell them what happened, that it was all an accident,” Jeff said.

  As she turned to look at him, I took two steps forward. She didn’t notice, but I was committed. The second she turned around to look at me again, I’d have to strike.

  Jeff said, “We can still be together.”

  “But you don’t love me,” she said, tears starting to track down her cheeks. “You told me so yourself.”

  Before Jeff could say a word, the front door opened, and Autumn rushed in, brandishing a tire iron and screaming her head off. I leapt forward and sprayed Annie before Autumn could get to her. The killer dropped the knife, and I picked it up as Jeff pinned her arms from behind.

  She seemed to melt back into his embrace, as though it had been her plan all along.

  I ripped the duct tape from Adam’s mouth, and as I was working on freeing his one arm and both legs, Autumn stood over him and slapped his face viciously. “You tried to make me think that I’d lost my mind.”

  The recent captive started weeping openly, either from the accusation or the trauma he’d suffered so recently. “They loved you more than they loved me,” he whimpered. “You had to go.”

  “So you could kill Jeff and get everything?” she asked him, quivering where she stood, filled with rage.

  “What? No! I never wanted that! I just wanted them to love me again.”

  Autumn looked at him with open contempt. “I feel sorry for you,” she said as Chief Seaborne arrived and took custody of Annie from Jeff.

  I could swear the vicious killer resented the presence of the police, and the sudden absence of Jeff’s arms around her, more than she did being found out.

  After Annie was led away, Jeff told his brother, “I don’t want to know you anymore. You need to leave, and don’t ever come back.”

  Adam asked chokingly, “Mother’s funeral is in two days. Can I at least stay for that? I’m so sorry. Can you both ever forgive me?”

  “No,” Jeff said firmly.

  Autumn evidently had a change of heart. “Jeff.”

  He turned to her, and she shrugged slightly. “Let him stay, at least for the funeral.”

  Jeff took that in and mulled it over before he answered. “Fine, but remember this, Adam. It’s because of Autumn that you are staying, not because of me.”

  “I understand. Give me a chance, and I’ll make it up to you both,” Adam said.

  “Let’s see how the next few days go,” Autumn said as the paramedics arrived. They started to treat Adam’s wound when Chief Seaborne came back in.

  “Ms. Hart, may I have a moment?”

  “Of course,” I said. I didn’t want to get in the middle of the family discussion anyway. Either they’d all work it out or not, but at that point, it was none of my business. Whatever Autumn decided to do was fine by me now. She’d found her spirit again, and I trusted her to do what was best for her and her family.

  “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” the chief said right out of the gate. “I was wrong.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “This entire case turned out to be one big mess. Just about everyone involved but Jeff ended up doing something wrong.”

  “But you managed to figure it all out before I did,” she admitted graciously.

  “Once I saw the right way to attack the problem, it was the only way that it all made sense. Annie was the only one who didn’t have a monetary motive,” I said. “The truth is that I never really seriously considered Lee, and everyone else, from Jeff to Adam to Charleston, all had reasons to want Cecile to be alive. Only Annie had a reason to want her dead, so she could get close to Jeff. I have a feeling if we hadn’t figured this out and Jeff and Autumn really did reconcile, she would have been Annie’s next victim.”

  “You’re probably right,” she said as she extended her hand, which I shook. “No hard fe
elings?”

  “None at all,” I said.

  “When you see your husband next, tell him I said hello,” she said as she headed for her squad car, where Annie was waiting patiently in back as though she was in a limo and not being taken into custody.

  “I’ll do that,” I said.

  Chapter 27

  “ARE YOU sure you can’t stay any longer?” Autumn asked as she hugged me good-bye.

  “I’m sorry, but I need to get home to my husband and my own family,” I explained. “I have a feeling you’ll be just fine without me.”

  “I couldn’t have made it through this without you,” she said as she hugged me even harder. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “I’m just happy I could help. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yes, I believe I will be, now.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I had to know. “How do things stand between you and Jeff?”

  “He’s taking me out on a date the day after the funeral,” she said. “I’m not letting him move in just yet, but I’m not willing to write my marriage off, either.”

  “That sounds like a good plan to me,” I said. “What about Adam?”

  “He’s staying on a trial basis. Jeff is still ready to kill him, but he’s all the family he has left, so I’m trying to get him to at least give him another chance.”

  “That’s not quite true though, is it?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked me.

  “He’s still got you.”

  As I drove back home, I found my thoughts drifting to my mother, my husband, and all of my friends. Momma was rich, apparently even richer than I’d realized, but she was worth so much more to me alive than she would ever be dead. I knew that I wouldn’t have her forever, but I’d take every day I could get.

  Jake was a treasure, too. He gave me exactly the right amount of space I needed to lead my own life and still be a very important part of it as well. I was lucky to have him, and I knew it. To be fair, he said the same thing about me, but wasn’t that what everyone in a healthy and strong marriage said?