Unfortunately for us, there was no answer when we rang the bell. In fact, rather worryingly, the front door had been left ajar by about an inch.
“I’m going to go in, and make sure everything’s okay,” Chase said. “The two of you wait here.”
“You’re joking right,” Cat said. “If anyone here doesn’t need protection, it’s Alice and I.”
Chase gave Cat a hard look for a second, but then realized she was probably right. He nodded. “Okay, fine. But the two of you have to stay close to me, and if it turns out that anything’s gone wrong in there, I need the two of you to leave immediately. And don’t touch anything.”
We nodded in agreement and followed after Chase as he made his way into the house. My heart thumped in my chest as I wondered what we were going to find. No one left their front door ajar for no reason.
Of course, my mind immediately went to the worst possible option. What if we found Vicky’s body? On the one hand, it would mean that we had gotten it all wrong. If she was the murderer, then why would she be dead? And then, if that were the case, in all likelihood it would mean that our murderer had killed two people now.
As all of these thoughts flittered in my brain, Cat and I followed after Chase, who went through the house methodically, room by room, before determining that it was empty.
There was nobody here. That was a good thing, right?
“It looks like she left in a hurry,” Chase said. “Her important things are gone, a couple of her drawers in the bedroom are still left open, and the floor of the bedroom closet showed some marks where there had obviously been a wheeled suitcase until a few minutes ago.”
“I wonder where she went,” I mused.
“This might help,” Cat said, holding up a piece of paper. “I found this on the kitchen counter.”
It was a note, scribbled on a regular legal pad, and signed by Vicky at the bottom. Chase took hold of the pad from Cat and read aloud from it.
“To whom it may concern,
I apologize for leaving, but I can no longer stay here. Neither can Kyle. After all, I was the one who killed Vanessa Woods. I was told this morning that the police are close to making an arrest, and I realized that meant they were either going to arrest me, or somebody who did not commit this crime. So, Kyle and I had a chat, and we’ve decided to leave, after I admit to everything that I’ve done.
About ten days ago I went to visit Polly at her home since we were working together to organize sports day for the children. While I was there, I happened upon a bottle of cyanide inside Vanessa’s room. At first, I simply thought she was considering suicide. But, when I spoke to Polly about her, obviously not mentioning the cyanide, I came to realize that her plan was likely to kill Kyle.
Kyle and I had been friends for so long, and I simply couldn’t allow her to do this. So, I took some of the cyanide that day, and hid it away. When I found out from Polly that she and Vanessa were going to a book club, I decided to join as well. The fact that the club was reading one of my favorite books made it easier for me to pretend that I was really there for the literature. I took the cyanide that I had taken from Vanessa’s vial, and slipped it into her coffee.
I don’t regret what I did. She was going to kill Kyle, who was much too good a man for her. The next day I went to Kyle and told him what I did, and he told me he forgave me. The two of us are together now, and we plan to be for the rest of our lives. Please do not try to find us, as I swear there was no malice in my actions. I did what I did to save the life of the man I had loved from afar since we were in school together.
Sincerely,
Victoria”
“Well, that confirms that,” Cat said after Chase had finished reading the letter.
“It also explains how the cyanide was taken. Polly had told me that Vicky had visited the home about ten days before the murder, but of course, we’d had no reason to believe that someone had taken the cyanide from Vanessa’s room and used it to murder her at the time.”
“I have to go back to the station,” Chase said. “After all, this letter will be cause enough to have the cause of death labeled as a homicide once more, and I have to put an alert out to find Vicky and Kyle.”
“Do you think they’ll be caught?” I asked. Chase shrugged.
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “They have a few hours’ head start on us, and if they manage to leave the state before we put the alert out it will be a lot more difficult to find them. And of course, if they manage to go south into Mexico before they’re caught, than that’s basically it.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here then,” I said. The three of us left the home, and Cat and I made our way back to the bookshop.
“Have you seen Aunt Francine at all?” I asked Cat when we made our way back. She shook her head.
“No, I haven’t seen her all day. I think she may have crossed over, which means that we really have defeated all of the Others.”
I nodded slowly. “I’m going to miss her.”
“Me too, but it’s not good for ghosts to stay here. They really do need to cross over eventually.”
“I know. But still, it was nice to be able to know her, even if it was just for a little while.”
Cat wrapped her arm around me as we made our way back toward the village.
“Look on the bright side. The Others are gone forever. We are never going to have to worry about them again, we solved another murder, even though it looks like the person who did it is probably going to get away with it, and we saved the reputation of my cupcake shop.”
I leaned against Cat’s shoulder and smiled. “You’re right, of course. And to be honest, I’m kind of okay with Vicky getting away with it. I think Vanessa really was trying to kill Kyle, although Vicky probably should have gone to the police instead of taking matters into her own hands.”
“Agreed. Chase would have done right if it had come to that. We’ll see. Maybe they’ll be caught before they leave the state.”
Cat was right. There was still a chance that the killers would be caught. And regardless, they were no longer in Sapphire village. Our little town could go on, and I hoped that things would be a little bit more peaceful from now on. A girl can always hope, right?
Also by Samantha Silver
First of all, I wanted to thank you for reading my book. I well and truly hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I loved writing it.
If you did enjoy Pride and Premeditation I’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment and leave a review for the book on Amazon, to help other readers find the book as well.
Want more of Alice’s adventures? The sixth Moonlight Cove Mystery is set for release in early 2019. In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of Samantha Silver’s other books:
Other Magical Bookshop Mysteries
Alice in Murderland (Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
Murder on the Oregon Express (Magical Bookshop Mystery #2)
The Very Killer Caterpillar (Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)
Death Quixote (Magical Bookshop Mystery #4)
Willow Bay Witches Mysteries:
The Purr-fect Crime (Willow Bay Witches #1)
Barking up the Wrong Tree (Willow Bay Witches #2)
Just Horsing Around (Willow Bay Witches #3)
Lipstick on a Pig (Willow Bay Witches #4)
A Grizzly Discovery (Willow Bay Witches #5)
Sleeping with the Fishes (Willow Bay Witches #6)
Get your Ducks in a Row (Willow Bay Witches #7)
Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Poison in Paddington (Cassie Coburn Mystery #1)
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
Whacked in Whitechapel (Cassie Coburn Mystery #3)
Strangled in Soho (Cassie Coburn Mystery #4)
Stabbed in Shoreditch (Cassie Coburn Mystery #5)
Ruby Bay Mysteries
Death Down Under (Ruby Bay Mystery #1)
Arson in Australia (Ruby Bay Mystery #2)
California Witching Mysteries
Witches and Wine (California Witching Mystery #1)
Poison and Pinot (California Witching Mystery #2)
Merlot and Murder (California Witching Mystery #3)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and a little old doggie named Terra. She loves animals, skiing and of course, writing cozy mysteries.
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