Death of a Wicked Witch

by Lee Hollis

  “Sergio knows everything, Mark. He’s on his way here for dinner right now. He should be pulling into the driveway any second,” Hayley lied.

  Mark chortled. “I don’t think so. I just got a text from Mary. The chief just called her and told her he was heading over to our house to ask her some more questions.”

  Hayley’s heart sank.

  But she was not about to show him any fear.

  “You started that fire in your high school, didn’t you, Mark?”

  Mark nodded, a pained look on his face as his memory returned to that obviously harrowing time in his life. “Yes, it was me. I loved Trudy so much, I’d never felt that way about any girl in my whole life. But she never took me seriously. She rejected me in front of all my friends. It was so humiliating. So I set a small fire inside her locker one night after school. I just wanted to teach her a lesson, but the fire got out of control and it spread so fast I couldn’t put it out. I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and didn’t look back. The school sustained major damage. It was going to take all summer to repair. I was so scared everyone was going to find out it was me and my life would be ruined.”

  Hayley averted her eyes to the pot of water on the stove as it came to a boil, and then returned her gaze to Mark’s gun, which was pointed right at her.

  “But then a miracle happened,” Mark continued. “Once the fire department traced the origin of the fire to Trudy’s locker, people started to whisper that it was probably her whacko twin sister, Tori, who set it because she was so jealous that Trudy was much more popular than her. The rumor somehow took hold and before I knew it everyone was just assuming Tori was responsible. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and let her take the fall, and I would get away with it scot-free.”

  The boiling pot of water was heating up the whole kitchen. Mark tossed the basement key onto the counter and used his now free hand to wipe some sweat off his brow.

  “So Tori got sent away and you were able to go on with your life as if nothing happened, like you didn’t destroy a troubled young girl’s life,” Hayley spit out.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Mark hissed. “I actually felt a little guilty...” He scowled as he caught a decidedly skeptical look on Hayley’s face. “I did! And there was a janitor who saw me running away from the school that night who was telling anyone who would listen, but nobody did because it was easier and more convenient to just keep thinking it was Tori so nobody would have to deal with the fact they sent her away for no good reason. Living with all of that and fearing the truth would eventually come out, my life took a horrible turn. Maybe it was karma, who knows, but I got into drugs and was arrested a few times. I couldn’t get any kind of decent job with my rap sheet. I needed a fresh start.”

  “So you decided to change your name and appearance and Mark Garber was born,” Hayley said.

  “Funny thing is, it worked,” Mark said, almost not believing it himself. “I met Mary, we got married, moved to Bar Harbor. Things really took a turn for the better. We’re both happy living here, content, despite the brutal winters. I even managed to let go of the past, like it was all just a bad dream.”

  “Until Trudy showed up in town,” Hayley said.

  Mark’s face darkened as he glared at her and muttered, “Yes.”

  “When Mary met Trudy, she couldn’t wait to hire her for your Witches Ball, but you couldn’t say anything for fear of giving up everything. But when you were with her, all those raging, bitter feelings came flooding back, didn’t they?” Hayley snapped accusingly.

  He didn’t answer her.

  He didn’t have to.

  The hurt and fury and resentment were written all over his face.

  “And to add insult to injury,” Hayley said, “Trudy didn’t even recognize you.”

  Mark gripped the gun so hard his knuckles were white. “I had spent so much of my teenage years thinking about her, obsessing over her, even as an adult, wondering what had happened to her. When I saw her, my heart nearly stopped. But she just introduced herself to me with this blank look on her face, like I was a complete stranger she had never seen before. She should have seen me, even with a new hair color and no glasses and all the cosmetic changes I made. She should have known it was me!”

  “But she didn’t and that just set you off again! You wanted her to pay for her rejection, the pain she caused, your life going so spectacularly off the rails when you were still just a teenager! You just had to get justice once and for all,” Hayley barked.

  The steam from the boiling water was now blasting Mark in the face to the point where he had to keep wiping off the perspiration while simultaneously steadying the gun in his shaky hand as Hayley confronted him with his grievous past.

  “And so you set an insidious plan in motion. You were the one who stole the carbon monoxide detector out of Trudy’s food truck earlier in the evening, before the party.”

  Mark sniffed. “She was there and didn’t even see me do it because she was so busy making sure she had enough food for all the guests.”

  “Then, when Ethan Dudley showed up dressed in the exact same costume as you, you changed out of your own Michael Myers getup and into a witch costume so you would look exactly like half the party guests. You slipped away, leaving Ethan—whom everyone would assume was you—and then you rigged the propane tank so it would leak gas inside the food truck while Trudy was busy cooking meat for her hot subs she was planning to serve.”

  “We told the guests the food truck wouldn’t be open until eight so everyone was still inside getting drinks at the bar, giving me enough time to rig the propane tank and lock the back door of the truck from the outside with the padlock. It was her fastest way to escape. She didn’t even have time to try and climb into the front and get out that way because she was overcome with the poisonous fumes before she even realized what was happening. I heard a thud inside the truck and knew she was gone.”

  “It was you who my husband, Bruce, saw running away in a witch costume when he went outside to sneak a cigarette. Later, you planted the carbon monoxide detector in Cloris Fennow’s food truck in order to point the finger at her.”

  “It worked beautifully,” Mark said proudly. “Cloris was the perfect patsy. Everyone knew she was upset because there wasn’t enough business in town to support two food trucks so why wouldn’t everyone think she did it, just like with Tori?”

  “I have one question. How come no one saw two Michael Myers at the party once you came back inside?” Hayley asked.

  “Because I prearranged with Ethan that he should leave the house precisely at eight fifteen, ditch the mask, and go home where his money would be waiting in an envelope underneath his front door, allowing me to take his place as if I had been in there the whole time.”

  “It was a brilliant plan if it had worked. But it didn’t. The police chief knows everything now,” Hayley reminded him.

  “I’ll deal with the chief later! You, I can take care of right now,” Mark growled, the gun now aimed at her chest.

  Leroy, sensing danger from the other side of the basement door, barked wildly, frantically, annoying Mark.

  “Shut up!” Mark barked, trying to think.

  Hayley knew she had to act fast or she was a dead woman.

  The problem was she hadn’t the faintest idea what to do.

  Chapter 40

  As Mark advanced upon Hayley, pushing her toward the back door, Hayley knew if she made any sudden moves she was a goner.

  “Come on, let’s go!” Mark yelled, jamming the gun in her side, his eyes darting back and forth, desperate to come up with some kind of plan to get rid of her. “We’re going to take a little ride.”

  Suddenly, a deafening, blaring sound startled them and they both froze in their tracks.

  What on earth was that?

  It was coming from upstairs.

  And then it dawned on Hayley.

  It was the smoke detector she had secretly installed in the bathroom in orde
r to surprise Bruce if he tried to sneak a smoke inside the house. Which meant he had been upstairs this entire time, puffing on a cigarette, completely unaware of what was happening down in the kitchen.

  Mark looked up at the ceiling, trying to locate the source of the ear-splitting, screeching sound, momentarily distracted.

  It was all Hayley needed.

  Mark’s eyes were off her for just a few seconds, but it was enough time for her to reach out and grab the handle of the stainless steel pot on the stovetop filled with the boiling water. She flung the pot at Mark and the scalding water spilled all over his hand that was holding the gun.

  Mark howled in pain, dropped the gun to the floor, and grabbed ahold of his scorched hand.

  “Bruce! Help!” Hayley cried as she dove to the floor and scooped up the gun. Mark, who had snapped back into the moment, realizing he was about to lose control of the situation, seized Hayley in a bear hug, grappling with her for possession of the gun. Hayley held on tight, determined not to allow Mark to get the upper hand again. They struggled with each other mightily, banging into the kitchen counter, and then falling back down to the floor, rolling across the floor and slamming into the refrigerator.

  Leroy continued loudly barking from behind the basement door, in a frenzied state, scratching at the door furiously.

  Hayley heard the bathroom door upstairs fly open and whack against the wall and then pounding footsteps as Bruce hurried downstairs to find out what was going on in the kitchen.

  When Bruce reached the hallway, he stopped suddenly. His mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of Mark Garber writhing on the floor, wincing in pain as he nursed his reddened, blistered hand.

  Hayley was sitting upright, her back against the oven, pointing a gun at him.

  She hadn’t needed her husband’s help after all. Hayley had managed to take care of it all on her own.

  The shrieking wail of the smoke detector finally, mercifully shut off.

  “What the hell happened here?” Bruce cried.

  “I’ll tell you what happened,” Hayley whispered, still trying to catch her breath. “I caught you smoking again, that’s what happened. Now do me a favor and call Sergio. He needs to get over here right away.”

  Bruce nodded, still stunned, and obediently reached for the phone.

  Chapter 41

  Mary Garber stared out her living room window, her elbow resting on the arm of the chair she was sitting in and her hand cupped underneath her chin. Her eyes were wet and she sniffed a couple of times during the silence as Hayley sat respectfully across from her. On the coffee table between them was a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee and a lemon danish in a small brown paper bag Hayley had thought to pick up for her on the way over. It was still early, not even eight in the morning, but Hayley knew Mary would be up after a sleepless night, processing the news that her husband, Mark, had been arrested for the murder of Trudy Lancaster, not to mention assault with a deadly weapon against Hayley herself. Hayley had not been sure she would be welcomed into the Garber home given her personal role in the whole ugly matter, but Mary had seemed genuinely pleased to see her when she had shown up on her doorstep.

  Hayley glanced over at the TV and Savannah Guthrie was interviewing some actor promoting his new movie on the Today Show, but there was no sound since Mary had pressed the mute button before they sat down.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mary dropped her hand from the bottom of her chin to her lap and turned back toward Hayley. “I want you to know, I need you to know, that I had no idea . . .”

  “About Mark’s secret past?”

  “Yes, I’ve been totally in the dark, all these years. It’s just so unfathomable to think about. All this time, he was lying to me. How could I not see it? Why was I so stupid?”

  “You can’t blame yourself Mary. Mark legally changed his name before he even met you. There was no way for you to know. You had absolutely no reason to be suspicious.”

  Mary nodded, accepting that fact, but not willing to completely let herself off the hook. “But we’ve been married for so long. You would think I would eventually pick up on something, some clue that would have driven me to find out the truth. But I didn’t. I just stayed so blissfully, so frustratingly ignorant to who he really was.”

  Hayley hated seeing Mary beat up on herself.

  After Sergio had shown up at Hayley’s house and slapped the handcuffs on Mark, reading him his rights and quickly frog-marching him out the door, Hayley had immediately picked up the phone and called Mary. Sergio had never reached Mary’s house to confront her with the new information regarding Mark, and so at the time she was innocently baking a glazed ham and whipping up some mashed potatoes for dinner.

  Hayley had felt obligated to at least give her a heads-up that Mark had been arrested. Hayley had known in that moment that Mary was utterly blindsided. Mary at first had assumed Mark had swung by Drinks Like A Fish and perhaps had one too many beers, and had been pulled over by the police for erratic driving, which would have been bad enough in her mind, a public scandal splashed all over the court page of the Island Times. But when Hayley had quietly explained that she was not calling from her brother’s bar, but from her own house, where Mark had shown up brandishing a gun, it was hard to hear Mary gasp and wail, “Gun? What was Mark doing with a gun?”

  Hayley had tried to fill in a few of the blanks, but it was difficult. Mark’s identity change, his connection to Trudy, stalking Hayley and Gemma all the way down in South Portland fearing what they might discover—it was all too much for Mary to bear.

  Finally, Hayley stopped and advised Mary to head straight for the police station where Mark could explain the rest himself.

  Hayley had been up all night worrying about Mary and what she must be going through.

  It had been a risk showing up with a danish and coffee since she had assumed Mary would be too upset to think about eating some breakfast, and she had been right. The danish was left untouched as they sat down in the living room and Mary unspooled the events of the previous evening: her husband’s ghastly confession; the details of his false identity, and years of cover up to escape paying for a crime he had committed; the ugly truth of allowing an innocent bystander with a few emotional issues to take the fall; and most disturbingly, taking a woman’s life because of a dark years-long obsession.

  “I just want to jump in my car and drive off this island, back to my family in Rhode Island, and never come back here ever again so I don’t have to deal with the constant whispering behind my back and all the judgmental looks,” Mary said, sniffing again and wiping her nose with a tissue.

  “No one will judge you, Mary,” Hayley tried assuring her. “You did nothing wrong.”

  “This is a small town, Hayley. We both know what happens in small towns.”

  “Yes, every town has a few annoying gossips. But you’ve been here a long time. You have friends, a support system.”

  “Who?”

  “Me, for starters. And I am pretty confident I can speak for Liddy and Mona too. That’s three people, and I bet there will be a lot more.”

  Mary smiled weakly, at least grateful for Hayley’s rousing pep talk, but she was still wary of truly believing it.

  Hayley glanced at the wall clock.

  It was five minutes past eight.

  She was already late for work.

  Hayley stood up. “I better go. I’ll call and check in on you later. Would that be okay?”

  Mary nodded. “Thank you, Hayley.”

  Hayley felt the urge to hug her, but Mary made no move to stand up and see her out. She just gazed back out the window, and so Hayley noiselessly backed away and slipped out the front door.

  Outside, Bruce waited for her in the car as she circled around and hopped in the passenger’s side.

  He turned to her as she shut the door. “How did it go?”

  “She’s devastated. It’s going to be tough coming back from something like this.”

 
“Mary’s strong. She can do it.”

  “I hope so,” Hayley sighed.

  “By the way, so are you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My wife, the badass. Tackling a man like a running back on the Patriots, saving the day. It’s like I’m married to Wonder Woman.”

  “Truth be told, I was scared out of my mind.”

  “I would be too. But promise me you won’t try anything risky like that ever again,” Bruce demanded as he pulled away from the curb and headed for the office. “I’ve waited too many years to marry you, I certainly don’t want to lose you now.”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “If you promise me—”

  Bruce sighed. “Yes! Okay! I’ll quit smoking!”

  “Thank you!”

  “But technically, it was my smoking habit that kind of saved your life. If I hadn’t been upstairs sneaking one in the bathroom that detector never would have gone off—”

  “Bruce!”

  “All right! I promise!”

  Chapter 42

  After leaving Mary Garber’s house, Bruce swung by the Island Times office and dropped Hayley off before heading back home. He had taken the day off so he could drive Conner up to Bangor for his flight back to New York. This time, Conner promised, he would actually get on the plane. Gemma was planning on saying her goodbyes at the house and then joining some longtime friends for lunch.

  Hayley had barely sat down behind her desk and begun scrolling through her dozens of emails when the door to the office burst open and Tori blew in, a shy smile on her face.

  “Good morning,” she said, closing the door behind her.

  “Tori! It’s lovely to see you! I didn’t know you were still in town. Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

  “That would be nice, thanks,” she said softly.

  Hayley shot up, circled around her desk, and walked over to the coffee station in the corner of the reception area to pour Tori a cup.

  “I wanted to stop by and thank you personally,” Tori said.