“That’s quite a story,” Arabella said “I assure you it’s true.”
“Do you think Gilly knew or suspected Trent of the murder?”
“Without question. According to Trent, Gilly planned to put the gun back in the safe, but when Levon became a prime suspect, she worried that the police might start watching Levon’s house.”
“So we know how Trent came into possession of the gun, and why he shot Marc,” Emily said, recapping. “What we don’t know is who shot Trent or how the gun ended up in the pond.”
“Actually,” Walker said, “that’s the easy part of this puzzle.”
49
Walker gathered his thoughts. “Trent knew Heidi wasn’t well and called her, offering to provide a professional appraisal of her antiques with the view of purchasing some, and she called me. Heidi never liked Trent, because she saw what he’d put me through these past few years. She assumed that Trent would get a honest appraisal, and then lowball her on everything.”
“Surely he wouldn’t stoop so low as to cheat a dying woman?” Arabella said.
“I wish you were right, but I’m quite certain that was the plan, not that Trent told me in so many words. I do know it was the reason he called Levon for a meeting. He’d seen Levon’s silent auction donation for a household or estate appraisal, and Gilly vouched for Levon’s expertise.”
“Was Gilly going to be in on that scam, too?” Emily asked.
“I think it’s likely. She may have cared for Levon on some level, but it didn’t stop her from stealing his gun, and she had no qualms about cheating a children’s charity. I’m afraid Gilly is all polish on the outside, and all tarnish on the inside.”
“And Levon—” Arabella couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
Walker shook his head. “If it’s any consolation, Levon had no idea about any of it. He went to that meeting with Trent unsure of what to expect. Thanks to me, he never had to find out.”
“Why thanks to you?” Arabella asked.
“Because I phoned Trent and asked him to meet me on the trail behind the third hole. From this point on, I’m going to ask that you let me tell the story without interruption. Otherwise, I’m not sure I can go through with it.”
“You have my promise,” Arabella said. “Mine, too,” Emily said.
Walker nodded, then resumed his narrative.
“I told him that I’d found a way to dispose of the gun. A spot where the police would find it, somewhere they wouldn’t have thought to look before, but where it would firmly cast the blame on Levon. Trent hesitated, at first, and for a minute I thought he might have grown a conscience. Then he admitted that he was waiting for Levon at the clubhouse. ‘Even better,’ I said. ‘When the police found the gun, people would remember Levon being there, waiting.’ Trent arrived less than five minutes later. He must have run there to meet me. There was no preamble, no second-guessing about what was going to happen to an innocent man. He simply reached into the small of his back, pulled out the gun, and handed it to me.”
Walker’s voice broke. “The gun was loaded. I had a thought, ‘why is Trent carrying a loaded gun?’ And then I shot him. I had to, you see. I would have done anything to protect Heidi. Anything.”
Walker put his head in his hands and began to cry.
50
Arabella, Emily, Luke, Levon, and Hudson sat around a table at The Hanged Man’s Noose. It felt odd, to Arabella, to sit with Hudson and Levon at the same table, but both Levon and Luke had insisted that Hudson should be part of their celebration.
Luke and Levon had been cleared of any and all wrongdoing. Walker, however, had been charged with first-degree murder and that put a damper on the gathering.
Arabella had been surprised when Hudson had accepted the invitation to join them, although not ungrateful. She wasn’t sure if the two of them had a future, but she did know she couldn’t revisit a romantic relationship with Levon. Gilly and the key had cemented that decision and no amount of cognac would weaken her resolve. Not this time. Not again. Never again.
“So let’s get this straight,” Betsy said, after serving each of them a complimentary Treasontini. “The Kids Come First Charity Golf Tournament was a scam from the beginning?”
Arabella nodded and said, “Trent’s doing, and possibly to a lesser extent, Gilly’s.”
“And Trent killed Marc because they thought he was going to expose them?”
Arabella frowned, “That’s what they thought. Remember Gilly Germaine’s fancy story about using a real gun, not a starter’s pistol, to start the tournament? Levon showed her his antique Enfield revolver, which he kept in his safe. She stole it. The gun was supposed to be payment to Marc Larroquette so that he wouldn’t report the scam, except when Marc saw the gun, he recognized that it belonged to Levon. The two struggled and it went off, killing Marc. It was an accident, but Trent didn’t think the police would see it that way.”
“The irony is, my father would never have gone to the police to report the scam,” Levon said. “He spent his life avoiding them.”
“What will happen to Gilly?”
“She hired Isla Kempenfelt to represent her on the charges of ‘stealing a firearm and careless use or storage of a firearm.’ Didn’t you read the paper this morning? Kerri St. Amour says Gilly has agreed to take a plea deal of three to six months.”
“But why did Walker shoot Trent?” Betsy asked.
“His animosity toward Trent has been building for years,” Emily said. “They started FYSST and that meant a lot to Walker. Trent was willing to toss it aside if he smelled money. When Trent found out Heidi was dying, he tried to convince her to have an appraisal of her antiques with a plan to lowball the appraisal. That’s why Trent was meeting Levon that day.”
“He saw my silent auction donation at the golf tournament,” Levon said. “An antiques appraisal for an estate. He wanted to hire me.”
Arabella said, “Heidi told Walker that Trent had approached her about the appraisal. She was suspicious, because she didn’t trust him. In her new will, there’s a clause in it that expressly states Trent Norland is not to profit in any way from any appraisal or sale of her collection.
“When Walker found out why Trent was meeting Levon, he called Trent and asked to meet him on the trail behind the third hole of the golf course. He told him to bring the gun, that he would dispose of it. When Trent gave him the gun, Walker shot him. He threw the gun in the pond, sure that the police wouldn’t blame Levon. He’d wrongly assumed that Levon had reported the gun missing before the first murder.”
“He was right about that,” Luke said. “They didn’t suspect Levon. They suspected me.”
“What did Marc Larroquette have on you?” Emily asked.
Luke flushed and glanced at Levon, who nodded. “Levon and I shared a summer together at Camp Miakoda a few years back, although we didn’t hang in the same circles. I didn’t want anyone to know I’d been a young offender.”
“It was a long time ago,” Levon said. “We were kids on the wrong path. We’re both different people now.”
“What did you do?” Emily asked, her voice quiet.
Luke looked at Emily with such love that Arabella felt a moment of envy.
“I stole an expensive boat and took it for a joy ride, which I crashed into a private dock. It wasn’t the first time, but because I wasn’t eighteen I was tried as a young offender and sent to Camp Miakoda. My guess is Marc, being a blackmailer, had done his research on all of Levon’s boot camp mates. He threatened to go to Kerri St. Amour. I knew how much Kerri hated Emily. I could just imagine what Kerri would do with the story. It wasn’t so much about protecting me and the reputation of my marina, though that was certainly part of it. I wanted to spare Emily any further humiliation at the hands of that woman.”
Emily put her hand in Luke’s and squeezed it. “We all have things in our past we’d rather not talk about,” she said.
“That we do,” Hudson said. “Like the reason
kids used to call me Banana.”
“Banana?” Arabella asked. “Why Banana?”
“A story for another day.” Hudson raised his Treasontini in a toast. “To old friends and new beginnings.”
“To new beginnings,” Betsy said.
“And to no more murders,” Emily said. “I’m officially retiring my detective uniform.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Arabella said, clinking glasses with everyone. Was it just her imagination, or did Levon let his glass linger on hers a moment longer than necessary? She caught the look in his indigo eyes, and knew that the lingering touch had been intentional. She shook her head, ever so slightly, and put her hand in Hudson’s. It was time for a new beginning.
Wasn’t it?
Acknowledgments
The idea for A Hole In One first came to me while I was golfing. As a longtime ladies league member of the Silver Lakes Golf & Conference Centre in Holland Landing, Ontario (the inspiration for Lount’s Landing), it seemed only fitting to design the third hole of the Miakoda Falls Golf & Country Club based on the third hole at Silver Lakes (though there are no dead bodies in their woods). Beyond my often-too-vivid imagination, there are many real people who helped to make this book possible, especially:
Sarah Byrne, who bid on my “name a character” silent auction item at Bouchercon 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Constable Sarah Byrne was born because of your generous donation to charity.
Kathleen Costa, beta reader extraordinaire, for her willingness to critique and correct with honesty and compassion.
Helen Farnsworth, a longtime member of the International Perfume Bottle Association, for her information on the Herman Tappan Perfume Company, as well as her suggestion for the Glass Dolphin’s silent auction donation.
Anita Lock and Ti Locke, for their tireless editing efforts to make this book the best it could be.
Sean McGuire, www.oldguns.ca, for the suggestion to use an Enfield Mark I as the murder weapon, and for explaining why it was a good fit for the story.
Larry Owen, a good friend and former attorney, for his advice and guidance on legal procedures in Ontario.
Constable Andy Pattenden, York Regional Police, for answering my questions about antique guns and gun laws in Ontario (and for not sending an officer to my house).
Last, but not least, with love and thanks to Mike Sheluk, my husband, beta reader, and best friend.
About the Author
Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of the Glass Dolphin Mystery and the Marketville Mystery series. Her short stories appear in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, which she also edited.
In addition to writing mysteries, she spent many years working as a freelance writer and editor; her articles have appeared in dozens of U.S. and Canadian consumer and trade publications.
Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Toronto, and Guppy Chapters, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, South Simcoe Arts Council, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves on the Board of Directors.
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