Chapter and Curse

by Nancy Warren

  “This isn’t a movie and you’re not the cops. Why would he pull over?”

  “I can be very persuasive.”

  I didn’t know if that was true or not, but sure enough, about ten minutes later, the traffic was sparse and Lochlan pulled out in front of Dylan’s car, put his flicker on, slowed, and every time the car behind tried to pull around him, he’d block him.

  We slowed down almost to a stop, and after a bit of honking and rude gesturing, Dylan pulled over to the side of the road.

  The man who got out of the driver’s side was spitting mad. “What is your problem?” he shouted. As Lochlan got out and stepped up to him, the vampire didn’t speak. He just looked down from his imposing height. Something about those cold eyes seemed to have an effect, for Dylan McAuliffe took a step back and in a much less aggressive tone said, “What do you want?”

  He turned to me, “Quinn?”

  I was out of the car by this time. I walked up to Dylan. “I’m wondering where you’re going in such a rush.”

  He looked puzzled but still wary. “I’ve seen you somewhere. Right. You were at Brenda’s house the night she was killed.”

  “That’s right. And you told me you were her fiancé.”

  He appeared even more wary. “So?”

  “So she dumped you. Also, you said you’d left work and driven down from Dublin, but that wasn’t true either, was it?”

  I watched as Lochlan made his way to the passenger side. He opened the door. “Get out,” was all he said.

  Archie Mahoney got out of the car. He seemed much more nervous and less aggressive than the driver. He glanced at me and back at Lochlan. “Why are you here? What do you want?”

  Lochlan looked into the back of the car. “What’s in the backpack?”

  “My clothes. What’s it to do with you?”

  “Archie,” I said, “You didn’t tell anyone you were going away. I had a few jobs for you at the bookshop.”

  His color had gone ruddy. “I’m only going away for a few days. Took advantage of a free ride to Dublin, didn’t I?”

  I took a step closer to Archie. We weren’t police. We didn’t have to act like them. At my nod, Lochlan opened the back door and reached in and picked up Archie’s backpack. The redhead grabbed at it. “Give that back. You’ve got no right.”

  Dylan, looked torn between fury and curiosity. I said to him, “You’re my witness. I assume you’re still a lawyer in good standing?”

  He nodded.

  Lochlan easily held the backpack out of Archie’s reach while the younger man kept grabbing for it. He didn’t say anything, simply passed the open pack toward me and held on to Archie. I reached inside and pulled out a green sweatshirt. I would feel terrible if my hunch was wrong. But there, under the sweatshirt, I saw a lumpy plastic bag.

  I pulled it out. Archie had stopped struggling now and stood, wretched. Inside the plastic bag was the Marklin toy tank. Underneath that was the ship and then the cars, all packaged separately.

  There was a moment of absolute silence, and then a truck went by, noisy and throwing up dust, and that pulled me to my senses.

  “Oh, Archie,” I said, so disappointed my hunch had turned out to be right. “We’ll have to take you back. The Gardai will want to talk to you about these toys.”

  He glared at me, not looking like the sweet kid who’d hauled boxes of books so willingly. He looked angry, entitled and scared. “What about them? They’re only toys. Brenda said I could have them.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  Dylan McAuliffe spoke up. “I’m not sure what’s going on. You chased him down for a few old toys? The paint’s peeling off this one,” he said, pointing at the ship and looking far from impressed.

  “These are Marklin tin toys. Collectors’ items. The total value of these is over a million dollars.”

  Dylan McAuliffe looked stunned and inspected the toys more carefully.

  “So what?” Archie cried. “Brenda gave them to me. She did.” Then he got in my face. “Prove she didn’t.”

  “He has a fair point,” Dylan the lawyer piped up. I felt like swatting him upside the head. We weren’t in court, and he wasn’t representing Archie.

  I turned to Archie. “The police found a partial print on the candlestick that killed Brenda. It matches yours. They held off arresting you because there was no motive.” I tapped the plastic bag with the tank inside it. “Here’s the motive. Greed. You’re going to jail, bro.”

  Dylan dropped the stuffy lawyer act and looked horrified. “Are you saying this ginger toad killed the woman I loved?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Archie glanced up and down the road as though he might make a run for it. But he must have seen how useless that would be. He said, “I didn’t. I wouldn’t. These are lies.”

  “That partial print on the candlestick says different.” I turned to Lochlan as though Archie was nothing to me. “They have all the evidence they need to convict Archie for murder.” And then on a crazy bit of inspiration, I added, “I bet he murdered Billy O’Donnell too. What’s the penalty for a two murders?”

  Lochlan might be surprised at my leap of logic, but he hung with me. “Terrible it’d be. As young as he is, he’d never see the outside of a prison. He’d die in there.”

  I nodded as though I had any clue that that was true.

  Luckily, Archie bought it.

  “I didn’t kill Billy O’Donnell. I wouldn’t. I didn’t mean to kill her either. She didn’t know what she had. To her they were just a few dusty, old toys. But the old man, he told me all about them. Worth a fortune they were. And I needed the money. She didn’t, with her fancy job in Dublin. She got out. But me? Stuck in Ballydehag for all my life? Nothing but the odd jobs man?” He shook his head. “Nobody would have missed a few tin cars, but they were my chance. Like winning the lottery.”

  “Brenda caught you stealing them, didn’t she?” I asked softly.

  He nodded, then gulped, and his Adam’s apple jumped up and down. “I didn’t mean to kill her. I don’t know what I was thinking. She was running upstairs to call the police. Shouting at me, she was, and calling me names. I begged her not to call the Guards, but she had the phone in her hand.” He put his hands over his eyes. “So I hit her with the candlestick, sitting there ready to be packed away, it was. Right there. And then she fell down and there was blood everywhere.”

  Dylan was staring as though stunned. A car slowed, the driver staring at us as though this were a crash site, but then seeing nothing but four people standing at the side of the road talking, sped up again.

  “I wiped the candlestick clean, and I had to change my shirt. It had blood on it. I grabbed one of the old man’s shirts out of the charity bag. And you were still banging on the door. I hoped you’d go away.”

  I nodded. “But I didn’t. I came around the back and into the kitchen. And you came running down the stairs.” I could still see him, red-faced and panicked. I thought he’d discovered Brenda bleeding on the floor and that explained his state, but he’d put her there. I must have arrived right after he’d done it. If only I’d been five minutes earlier, Brenda might still be alive.

  Now he was confessing, he couldn’t seem to stop talking. I had a feeling it was a relief to finally spill out the whole story.

  “I hid the toys in a box of rubbish, then I went back the next when the police had finished to fetch them.” He rubbed his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean this to happen.”

  Dylan McAuliffe had worked himself up into a mighty passion, and before I saw the blow headed for Archie’s head, Lochlan had stepped in and grabbed his fist.

  “Let’s let the law deal with him,” he said in his cold way.

  “But Brenda was going to be my wife. And he killed her.”

  I shook my head. “She was never going to be your wife. And you knew that. She’d already broken up with you. What were you even doing there?”

  To my shock
, his eyes filled with tears. “I was hoping to get her back. I had nothing left. I lost my job. I’d lost Brenda. I thought, maybe if I could get her back, then everything would go back to normal.”

  He had no idea how close he’d come to being tried for murder.

  He glared at Archie. “And you! I thought you were a nice kid. Drove me to the hospital to see Brenda. You were so friendly. Helped take my mind off it. You only did drove me so you could see if she’d made it. See if she’d told the Guards what you did.”

  “No.”

  “I’m not taking you one more kilometer in my car.” He pointed his index finger at the killer. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  That was a slight problem because Lochlan’s fancy car only had room for two. I said, “I’d better call the Gardaí. But please wait until they get here so you can confirm that you heard Archie admit to murder.”

  He nodded jerkily. “For Brenda’s sake.”

  He looked at the bags of toys glinting in the sun and then shook his head. “You killed a woman for a few dusty old toys.”

  Chapter 20

  “Did they really find a partial print on that candlestick?” Deirdre asked. We were supposedly having a meeting of the vampire book club, but nobody had even bothered to bring the book.

  I shook my head. “I was totally bluffing. I knew that if he stuck to his story that Brenda had given him those toys, we couldn’t prove he’d killed her. I had to get a confession out of him.” Lochlan had seen the forensics report and knew I was bluffing, but he’d played along.

  “And that was genius that you turned on your cellphone to record,” she said to Lochlan.

  “That was only insurance. Quinn had the brilliant idea of making Dylan McAuliffe a witness. He’ll have more credibility, being a solicitor. Even if he was unemployed.”

  “Dylan’s hoping to get a job in the prosecutor’s office,” I said. “I think being involved in a murder case lit a fire in his belly.”

  “Archie Mahoney confessed to the Gardaí. They have his sworn, signed confession,” Lochlan said.

  “And Jack Buckley’s a free man.”

  Lady Cork looked from Lochlan to me. “You two make a wonderful detective team.”

  A week after Archie’s arrest, Karen Tate and I met for dinner at the pub. I had a feeling this might become a regular event, one I would more and more look forward to. Especially if I could stop accusing my distant cousin of murder.

  This time, I was the first one there. I said hello to Sean O’Grady and asked for a bottle of red wine and two glasses. Then I said, “No, make that champagne. The proper French stuff.”

  He looked very impressed. “We don’t get much call for fancy fizz around these parts.”

  I put on a shocked face. “Don’t tell me you don’t stock French champagne in your cellar.”

  “Keep your knickers on. Course I stock champagne. Just don’t get much cause to serve it. Is there a special occasion?”

  I nodded. “There is. But I’m not at liberty to tell you what.”

  “A mysterious American. You don’t see that every day.” He grinned to take the sting out of his teasing words.

  I leaned across the bar and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Just get me that champagne.”

  So when Brenda arrived, not only was I already there at the same table we’d sat at before, but there was a silver ice bucket of cooling champagne, and Sean had brought over proper champagne flutes.

  She sat down and said, “Sorry I’m late. I was with the lawyers.”

  “And?”

  She looked torn between happy and sad. “And you were right. Brenda never made a will.”

  “So if she died intestate, I’m guessing you were her next of kin.”

  She nodded. “I was. And since our father left each of us half of his estate, her half comes to me.”

  “She’d want that. In fact, they’d both want that,” I assured her.

  I couldn’t open the champagne yet. I felt her conflicted emotions too clearly.

  “What if she hated me? I mean, what if she would have hated me if she’d known?”

  I told her something I had figured out only recently. “She did know you were her sister.”

  Karen shook her head. “That’s not true. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t.”

  “It is.” I leaned closer. “Dr. Milsom told me she spoke two words before she died. They were, ‘our father.’”

  She glanced up, and our gazes held. “Our father? Maybe she wanted him to say the Lord’s Prayer.”

  I nodded. “He thought she was asking for last rites. But I think she was trying to tell him you were her sister and Billy had acknowledged you. She had so little strength, all she could manage was ‘our father.’ Remember, he hung on after he had his heart attack. He hung on until she got there and could speak to her.”

  “You think that’s what he wanted to say?”

  “Among other things. I do.”

  She looked so much happier. She blinked back tears. “I think Brenda and I would have been friends if she’d lived.”

  “I think so too.” I paused. “But because of Archie thinking he could grab those toys and her walking in right at the wrong moment, you’ll never get the chance.”

  She blinked rapidly again. “I’d have given them to him. If it meant I could have kept my sister. What were a few old tin toys to me?”

  “I know. If we could turn back time.” How many different decisions would any of us make if we had that luxury.

  “Well, I’ve made one decision.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m donating those toys to Father O’Flanagan to help with the restoration of the church tower and the graveyard.” She shook her head. “I could never live with myself if I used that money for something selfish, when those toys caused my sister’s murder. Brenda’s buried with our dad and her mum in the graveyard. It seemed the right thing to do.”

  I leaned closer, “That’s a wonderful idea. And, if it’s okay with you, I’ll do the same thing with the first edition of the Winnie-the-Pooh and the signed Ian Fleming that Karen put in a box for me to sell at my shop.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Between us, we may raise enough to fix that old church steeple and the graveyard.”

  Now I felt that we could celebrate. I pulled the champagne out of the bucket. Sean O’Grady had been keeping half an eye on us, and he rushed forward.

  “Ladies, allow me.”

  Naturally, we let him. He opened the champagne with the perfect amount of pop and then poured the bubbling wine into our glasses.

  Karen lifted her glass. “I want to make a toast.”

  “Okay.”

  She thought for a minute and then said, “To Brenda and Billy. To family. And new friends.” She clinked my glass, and we sipped.

  Karen leaned back in her seat. “I think you were the first person who said what a wonderful bed-and-breakfast that old house would make. That’s what I’m going to do with the O’Donnell house. What do you think?”

  When I’d said the O’Donnell house would be a great B&B, I hadn’t realized that a nasty, old witch had taken to living there. “Are you sure? Running a bed-and-breakfast is a lot of work.”

  She nodded. “I am sure. I’ve thought of nothing else. Naturally, I can furnish the entire place with the things in my shop, and the furniture that was already there. It will take some money, but I’ve already talked to the bank about a loan.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I went with, “I heard the house was haunted.”

  Her eyes shone. “Oh, I hope so. Nothing will bring in the tourists like ghost stories.”

  I had to laugh. Biddy O’Donnell would have a fit if she found herself a tourist attraction. I couldn’t think of anything better. We both sipped champagne.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get a sister, but I feel like I’ve made a fast friend.”

  I was flattered and told her I felt the same way.

  Then a voice interr
upted our BFF bonding. “What’s the occasion?” Andrew Milsom asked.

  Karen looked at me, and there was a spark of competition in her gaze. So much for the sisterly bonding. She said, “I’m opening a bed-and-breakfast in the O’Donnell place.”

  He looked very impressed. “Are you now? That is something to celebrate.”

  She said, “Get Sean to give you a glass, and I’ll pour you some champagne.”

  “Champagne’s not my usual drink, but don’t mind if I do.”

  Soon the three of us were sipping champagne. I thought, since I had already accused Karen Tate twice of being a murderer, I really owed her one. So I finished my second glass of champagne and then said, “I’m almost positive I forgot to lock up my shop. I’m so sorry. I have to leave you now.”

  Andrew Milsom looked surprised, but Karen knew exactly what I was doing. She said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  I knew she would. I wondered what she’d have to report.

  I headed out into the soft summer evening. “Good evening, Quinn,” said Kate O’Leary and her husband as they headed into the pub.

  “Evening.” I loved that people here were beginning to know me and I them.

  I got on my newly fixed bicycle and headed back to my cottage. I’d been looking forward to my pub dinner, but I thought a nice evening with my familiar and a dinner I’d take out of the freezer wasn’t a terrible idea.

  I’d had worse Friday nights.

  I pedaled up the gravel drive, got off my bicycle and leaned it against the potting shed under the overhanging roof. I took off my brand new bike helmet and took it into the shed. It was warm in there and smelled of drying herbs. On impulse, I checked the yew branch I’d brought in here to dry. At least if Biddy decided to wrap the place in yew again, hopefully the spell would only affect the shed.

  The yew was drying nicely, and my palm and fingers tingled as I touched the wood. I knew that Pendress and the other witches would do everything they could to return Biddy to her subterranean prison. I was certain the old witch wasn’t going back there without a fight. With her blood in my veins and a wand from this powerful magic tree, I had an idea I might be able to stop Biddy from doing anything too terrible. Maybe my compassion was getting the better of me again, but I would not let them put her her back in the ground. However, I wasn’t going to let her terrorize Ballydehag, either.