Bitter Reckoning

by Heather Graham

  Larry Blythe looked up at Quinn, dazed.

  He smiled. “We almost had it—perfect murders chalked up to legend for all time.” He shook his head. “But. No fair,” he said. “I didn’t know I was going to be fighting a werewolf.”

  Quinn stepped past him, tall enough to stretch up and free Danni.

  She looked down at him, and said, “I kicked butt at first, really. You would have been proud. I believe I gave Tracy a lovely black eye.’

  He smiled at her pulling her into his arms.

  “Did you get the medallion?”

  “Still on Tracy.”

  “We’ll get the damned thing, rip it to shreds, and see it can never be put back together again.”

  She slipped from her scarecrow-holding stake into his arms, holding close to him as she asked, “Quinn, do you think it was the medallion? Or just…someone who hated others and wanted an excuse for murder?”

  “We’ll never really know, will we?” he asked.

  The sound of sirens burst all around them. Footsteps pounded across the terrain. Peter Ellsworth had come with his troops.

  “Colleen?” she asked worriedly.

  “She’ll be okay,” Larue shouted.

  “I didn’t do any of it!” Tracy screeched. “Whatever Danni says, it’s a lie! It was him, Larry. He did it all, and—”

  “Shut up, bitch! Your romance is over, baby. Your romance is all over!” Larry, still beneath Wolf’s jurisdiction, said. And laughed.

  Quinn drew back and slipped an arm around Danni’s shoulder then called out to his dog. “It’s okay now, Wolf. The policemen will get him. Time for us to go home.”

  Danni dipped down to embrace the dog. She looked at Quinn. “Home?”

  “Home, God, yes, please! I can’t take anymore vacation!

  Epilogue

  “You’re lucky you were able to destroy the medallion,” Father Ryan said. “What with all the police running around. If it was an antique, I’m sure there have to be a few local preservationists who must have wanted it set in a museum.”

  Father John Ryan, a good friend and most amazing priest, sat at the table in the kitchen at the house on Royal Street with Quinn and Wolf. The dog was seated at Quinn’s feet, but he kept lifting his head to look toward the hallway to see if Danni was coming yet.

  “We didn’t give anyone a chance. As we got Tracy Willard down from her pole, Danni got her hands around the chain the medallion was hanging from. And—true or not true, we’ll never really know—if you have no evil intentions or well of hatred in your heart, the medallion does nothing to you. Anyway, as soon as we were alone, I crushed the damned thing, burned it, made it fall apart—and then we buried it in about twenty pieces during our ride home. It’s not coming back to life, and Tracy didn’t even realize Danni had taken it when she did. Tracy Willard believed up until she was charged with first degree murder, she could shift the whole thing onto Larry Blythe.”

  “So, it was really her?” Father Ryan asked.

  Quinn shrugged. “Tracy was apparently the one who found the medallion for sale at a little antique store off the highway. She and Larry had both been out to the area several times, and they’d heard all the ghost stories. Once she had the locket in her hands…well, she didn’t want any competition. And apparently, online and in person, Trent Anderson had shown interest in both Ally and Belinda—even though in life, from what I’ve heard, they were as different as night and day. Killing someone else to make it all look like a cult or local crazy meant nothing to either of them.”

  “So, jealousy and greed motivated Tracy Willard,” Father Ryan said. “What made Larry Blythe get into it all?”

  Quinn shook his head. “He saw all the beautiful women falling for just about every other man—and in his mind, acting like fools over other men for all the wrong reasons. Tracy was wearing the medallion that night, but she might have seen to it he had it at times? I don’t know. Legends and stories are often somewhat true…but maybe not all be true to the bone. Sometimes events can come back and bite us. I have a feeling Yvette was murdered by her rival and not Percival’s mother. I believe his mother was murdered before it could be proven she wasn’t the killer. Not that I want to go back right away or anything, but somewhere along the line, maybe we could make a trip—and you could say a few words at that cemetery. Maybe let a few of the ghosts rest in peace.”

  “Of course, not that much of a drive,” Father Ryan said.

  Danni came into the kitchen. Wolf perked up and trotted over to her and she ducked down to embrace the dog as she said, “Not enough of a drive!”

  “Ah, Danni, you can’t blame an entire area!” Father Ryan said.

  Danni shook her head. “I don’t. I’m grateful for our outcome. We couldn’t stop what happened before, but…” Danni paused. “I’m not sure the truth is all out yet, but I think Daphne Alain was intended as a victim, and they had originally planned their third ‘three scarecrows’ to be found at the harvest fairgrounds. I don’t know everything, but those two did conspire to kill Belinda here—she was heading out to the event, and Tracy did not want her there. Here’s the thing, both Tracy and Larry had access to all this information about so many people, because they had access to everything that was public on the dating site—and everything that was not. They were in New Orleans where Larry had found out about the mansion and the graveyard and because he was online constantly, and because they were both responsible for hospitality and for site inspections. What is so scary to me is the planning that went into what they did!”

  “They identified the man killed with Belinda as a local. They must have targeted him because he was easy to attack,” Father Ryan said. “But what about the man killed with Ally Caldwell?” Father Ryan asked.

  “Again, easy enough for the two of them. Larry had hacked into all sorts of sites that had to do with Trent Anderson. He was supposed to be the scapegoat, as far as Larry was concerned. I think Larry believed until almost the bitter end Tracy would wind up with him. Somewhere in there, he must have figured out she was doing it all for Trent Anderson. I’ll never really understand. But Detective Ellsworth was able to find out the man who drove Ally out was a local, someone who wanted to become involved with the lodge…and who was called and given the job of driving her out. No one at the limo company thought anything of him taking a car—or even that they hadn’t seen him before. They were always hiring people. He had a record himself, which was why he was grateful to take the job when he got the call. We believe, one of the two—either Tracy or Larry—arranged for him to stop at the cemetery. It would be a gag to scare her—and he was probably told not to worry, it was being set up by Ally’s boss,” Danni said.

  “Tracy was really the impetus—but it was easy to pull Larry into her snare. They killed four people because she wanted Trent Anderson. That must not be doing much for him,” Father Ryan noted.

  “Well, here’s the oddest part of it all,” Danni said, taking a seat and patting Wolf’s head, where it now lay on her knee. “Trent Anderson and Colleen have been spending time together, trying to help the authorities find answers to many of the remaining questions. And…well, it seems they’re going to be seeing more and more of each other.”

  “Ah, well, good for Colleen,” Father Ryan said. He looked at the two of them. “And you don’t seem to mind you lost your great vacation with the pool and the great room and the activities and all?”

  “No!” They both said emphatically.

  Father Ryan grinned and stood. “Well, I’d best be getting back to the rectory for the night. I’ll see you two soon enough I suspect.”

  Quinn and Danni both rose to see him to the door.

  When he was gone, Quinn turned to Danni.

  “Are Billie and Bo Ray still setting up your Christmas ornaments? You were always such a big believer in not starting too early, in enjoying the fall, using…”

  “Harvest decorations,” she said.

  He shrugged.

  “Not this ye
ar!” she said. “I’m just ho, ho, ho, all the way!”

  “Great. Well, hm. I’ve a little surprise for you then.”

  “You do?”

  “Upstairs!”

  He swept her up into his arms and made his way across the hall and to the stairs, hurrying up them and into their room on the second floor.

  He pushed the door open and let her observe his efforts.

  Delightful lights twinkled everywhere in shades of red and green. Elves sat on the mantle. A giant stuffed reindeer sat on the bed, and a small tree and a creche dominated her dressing table.

  Danni smiled at him. “Ho, ho, ho!”

  “Christmas all the way. Want an early present?”

  “Oh, you’re a present, are you?”

  “Don’t like to brag, but…”

  Danni laughed. She squirmed out of his arms and over to the bed. The giant reindeer landed on the floor. He came down with her, and the lights continued to blink and sparkle soon casting their colors upon naked flesh.

  He rose above her and told her softly, “You, my love, are the best present I’ve ever had in life, and I thank God you love me, too.”

  Later, she curled into his arms.

  “You’re not a bad gift yourself,” she assured him. “Especially because…”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t think I ever, ever want to be on dating site!”

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, sci-fi, young adult, and Christmas family fare.

  She is pleased to have been published in twenty-five languages. She has been honored with awards from booksellers and writers’ organizations for excellence in her work, and she is the proud to be a recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers and was awarded the prestigious Thriller Master Award in 2016. She is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

  Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts a Vampire Ball and Dinner theater raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf Region. She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players,” presenting something that’s “almost like entertainment” for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.