Benny’s scowl looked positively demonic. Liss bit back the next smart remark hovering on the tip of her tongue. Taunting the other woman was not the smartest thing to do under the circumstances.
“I lied to you.” Benny made it sound like she was boasting.
“Big surprise. About what?”
“I was still around after that trunk was loaded into my van. I saw you drop the portrait and find a paper. I thought it might be the formula. That’s one of the reasons I stuck around.”
Now that Benny had gotten started, she didn’t seem to be able to shut up. Liss was glad to let her talk. The hard part was keeping her own mouth shut. She had so many questions she wanted to ask.
“I really am doing research, you know. I like those teaching gigs, and I figure a legitimate publication will get me more of them.”
The woman was a bundle of contradictions, Liss thought. No wonder it had taken so long to figure out that she was up to no good.
“Remember that day we ran into each other in the bookstore? You told your friend the whole story of finding the map while I was right there listening.” Benny laughed again. “You were the one who thought it would lead to Chadwick treasure, not me. I’m not that stupid!”
Liss kept her opinion about that to herself, knowing that if Benny had identified herself as a Chadwick descendant right after the auction, she’d have been happy to show her the map. Heck, she’d probably have given it to her.
“You really should be more circumspect,” Benny said. “The woman at the coffee shop knew all about your plans to visit Nova Scotia, including the stops you intended to make. I didn’t have to follow you. I went ahead.”
Liss’s heart sank. Benny’s words seemed to confirm her worst suspicion, that it was her fault that Orson Bailey had been murdered. If Benny hadn’t been after the map, he might still be alive. Of its own volition, the damning accusation slipped out. “You murdered an innocent man.”
“Not so innocent! And it wasn’t murder.”
“He ended up dead.” Liss started to stand, only remembering at the last moment that it would not be a good idea to let Benny know how easily she could get free.
“That wasn’t my plan.” Now she sounded like a sulky little girl again. “My plan was to get to Bailey first and con him into getting a copy of the map for me. I’ve had plenty of experience manipulating older men, especially the ones who devote themselves to research and haven’t a clue how to deal with women. Bailey was a different kettle of fish. He figured out I was up to something and he lost his temper. He had the nerve to grab hold of me and try to throw me out of his office. I don’t put up with that kind of treatment. I shoved him away.”
Liss felt sick to her stomach at the vivid image that sprang into her mind. Benny must have pushed him hard enough to cause him to fall backward, impaling himself on his desk spike. She had to swallow several times before she managed to speak. “If it was an accident, why did you move the body?”
“I wasn’t about to stay there and be arrested.” Benny spoke as if this should have been obvious to even the most dull-witted person. “I hid him to give myself more time to get away.”
“You ransacked his office.”
She shrugged. “Since I was there, I figured I might as well find out what he’d dug up for you and your aunt. It was my family’s history, after all.”
“Did you take his wallet, too?”
That produced a grin. “Money is always helpful. It wasn’t cheap to stay at The Spruces. Good thing I had plenty of cash stashed away from a con I ran in Cleveland. But what I really wanted wasn’t there. You still had the map.”
“So you went on to another place on our itinerary—Antigonish.”
“Stupid name.”
Benny didn’t have to admit that she’d trashed the motel room looking for the map, or that she’d taken items and broken into other rooms to make the ransacking look like a simple burglary. Lucas had been telling the truth when he’d said he came upon the scene later. When he searched someplace, like the Emporium and Liss’s house, he was neat about it. Along with her other despicable qualities, Benny Beamer was a slob.
“So now what?” Liss asked.
“Now I go on my merry way. Maybe they’ll find you and maybe they won’t. I don’t really care.”
“Nice.”
“You’re a loser—no great loss to anyone, stuck in this hick town in the back of beyond.” Benny sneered as she turned away. “I’ll bet you’d never even been out of the state of Maine before that trip to Canada.”
Wrong, Liss thought. So wrong. She didn’t bother to argue, or to tell Benny about the years she’d spent on the road as a professional dancer.
Liss had planned to let Benny get a head start before discarding the cords and making her way back to her car. Risking her own neck was just plain foolish. But it went against the grain to give someone like Benny a chance to escape justice. Before she could think better of it, Liss slipped free of her bonds and started after the other woman at a dead run.
“Hey, Benny,” she called.
The sound of her name was all the warning Benny got. The moment she swung around, Liss’s kick struck her hard in the solar plexus. The former gymnast had no opportunity to use her greater upper body strength against a long, well-aimed dancer’s leg. She bent double, grunting in pain, and lost her footing when Liss gave her a shove. Flipping her over, Liss knelt on the small of her back, twisted her arms behind her, and bound her wrists, using the same cords Benny had brought to the party. Her ankles followed . . . and Liss did know how to tie knots.
* * *
The next day, Liss slept late. It was Sunday and the Emporium was supposed to be open, but she didn’t care. Only later, when she finally rolled out of bed and was inhaling her first cup of coffee, did Dan tell her that he’d called Beth to mind the store.
“You may as well take her on as full-time help for the rest of the summer,” he added. “She’s worked more hours than you have this month.”
It was only a slight exaggeration.
“Sherri called,” he said.
“What news?”
“The RCMP will be extraditing Benny Beamer. Meanwhile she’s down to Fallstown in the county jail.”
“Good.”
“And Aaron Lucas contacted Sherri to give her an update on the formula Benny tried to sell them.” His grin warned her that things hadn’t turned out quite as Cornwall Pharmaceuticals had hoped.
“Let me guess. Jardine’s fancy lawyer got his paws on it before they could escape to Connecticut?”
“Nope. Better. After she took it off Benny, Sherri let Kelsey have a look at it. It wasn’t what he was hoping for.”
“Don’t tell me it was an explosive?”
He shook his head. “Turns out it was the potential wonder drug Widdowson had been working on, but in the years since he walked off with it, a rival company independently developed the same drug and it turned out to have so many dangerous side effects that now nobody wants anything to do with it. The formula is worthless.”
“Serves them right that they won’t profit.” Liss got up to refill her mug. “After all, the company was willing to turn a blind eye when Aaron Lucas broke the law. He may not have ended up stealing anything, and Sherri can’t charge him with breaking into the Emporium and our house, but he admitted that he did.”
“Sounds to me as if it’s a case of poetic justice as far as they’re concerned. I’m just glad we’ve seen the last of both Lucas and Kelsey. They’re on their way back to Connecticut. So,” Dan added, sliding into the chair next to his wife and trailing his fingers up the length of her arm, “since you’ve got the rest of the day off, how should we spend it? I was thinking—”
Liss never got to hear what he had in mind for the two of them. They were interrupted by a vigorous knocking at the front door and the sound of her mother’s voice.
Bracing herself, Liss went to let her parents in. She expected to find suitcases piled on the porch, but on
ly Vi and Don MacCrimmon stood there, grinning at her like a pair of naughty children. She glanced at the car parked at the curb, but could see no sign of boxes, bags, or other luggage inside.
Liss’s father engulfed his daughter in a hug while her mother gave Dan a kiss on the cheek. Then the two men shook hands and the two women embraced.
“Have you come far this morning?” was all Liss could think to ask. They both looked fresh as the proverbial daisies.
“Not at all.” Vi’s smile was a sunburst. “We got here yesterday afternoon and thought we’d settle in before we came to see you.”
“You . . . settled in? You mean you’re not staying with us?” Liss didn’t know whether to panic or cheer.
“Of course not. While we look for a permanent place in the area, we’re renting Patsy’s neighbor’s year-round camp.”
“So you never even considered moving in here?” Dan sounded as if he needed to be certain he’d heard correctly.
“Good God, no!” Violet MacCrimmon laughed, eyes twinkling. “That would never work. I love my daughter, but she’s simply too difficult to get along with. If we were forced to live at close quarters for more than a week, I’d probably end up strangling her.”
A Note from the Author
As usual in one of my Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries, I use a mixture of real and fictional places and events. Moosetookalook, Fallstown, and Orlin, Maine, and Chadwick, Nova Scotia, do not exist, but Antigonish and its annual Highland Games are real and so is the Gaelic College on Cape Breton. Harpswell, Maine, is also a real place, located right next to Bailey Island, where I began writing this book back in June of 2016 on a writers’ retreat with three of my fellow Maine Crime Writers. I owe more than I can say to the encouragement and support of Kate Flora, Barb Ross, and Lea Wait, and this book is dedicated to them with my heartfelt thanks.
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