by Lauren Carr
“Doris wouldn’t have done that,” Cameron said. “It was a family secret. She never have told anyone about it.”
“I didn’t even know until Angie was a teenager,” Ralph said, “when she started asking about her father.”
“You must have suspected,” Joshua said. “Angie was so much younger than Doris. You know what type of man Ralph is. Then, when she started baring a resemblance to your children, your suspicions grew stronger. And then, Cheryl Smith started spreading the word.”
“Suddenly, Angie Sullivan was a threat to you and the image that you had created in this little town,” Cameron said. “She was reality personified.”
“Angie was living proof of your husband’s infidelity,” Joshua said. “With her gone, you could continue living the lie that you had built.”
“You can’t prove any of that,” Mildred said.
“In 1978, you drove a royal blue Cadillac,” Cameron said.
“I always drive a royal blue Cadillac.” Mildred smoothed the front of her skirt with her hands. “Every year, I buy the latest year’s model.”
“We know,” Joshua said.
“As a matter of fact,” Curt said, “back then, you were the only one in town who drove a 1978 royal blue caddie.”
“It’s what you used to push Angie’s car into the river,” Cameron said. “When you pushed it off the pier, you left your car’s paint on hers. Forensics traced that paint back to the type of car you were driving back then.”
Gail gasped. “I remember around the time Angie disappeared that your car’s front end had been smashed. You said you hit a deer.”
“Mildred,” Ralph hissed. “Why? Angie was a sweet, sweet girl. She never did anything to you.”
“Yes, she was a sweet girl,” Mildred said. “Do you really think I didn’t know that I was your second choice? You have always been in love with her mother.” She looked up at Gail. “I’m not in denial. I’ve know the truth since day one. But I’ve always done what I needed to do to keep my family and my position as a leader in this community held in the highest regard.” She smoothed her hair.
“Even if what needed to be done meant murder,” Joshua said.
“You were out stalking Angie that night, weren’t you?” Cameron said. “After she dropped Kyle off at his house, you got her to pull over off the road and slugged her with a tire iron.”
Pleased with herself, Mildred smiled. “I waited until she had gotten out on Route 30 across the state line, where no one was around, and then I rear ended her—hard. I almost put her in a ditch. We pulled over, but she didn’t want to get out of the car at first . . . until she saw it was me. Then she got out of the car all sweetness and light.” She giggled. “She even called me Mrs. Hildebrand. She went back to look at the damage, and that was when I let her have it.”
She frowned. “The hardest part was dragging her to get her back into the car. For a little girl, she was so heavy. I drove her car back to the yacht club. I parked it on the pier. And then I walked over to one of the bars and called a cab to take me back to my car. I started to tell him some story that I had made up about my daughter breaking down, but I saw he didn’t care at all. He dropped me off at my car, and I drove back to the pier, put her car in neutral, and pushed it off the pier.” She shrugged with a grin. “Within a few weeks, people stopped speculating about Ralph’s illegitimate daughter, and my problem was gone. Everything went back to the way it was—the way it’s supposed to be.”
She looked around at the faces in the room. Gail’s face was tear-soaked. Ralph’s mouth was hanging open.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Curt Sawyer ordered Mildred to stand up. “Mildred Hildebrand, you’re under arrest for the murder of Angelina Sullivan.”
“We’ll also be filing charges in Pennsylvania for arson and two counts of attempted murder,” Cameron said.
“I was doing what I had to do to protect my family. It’s the job of every matriarch. You understand that, don’t you?” Mildred said.
“Actually, I don’t,” Cameron said.
Epilogue
When Joshua offered to take Cameron anywhere she wanted for dinner that night, he was pleased, and not surprised, when she picked Cricksters. He wasn’t disappointed, until they walked in for their date to find everyone they knew already there. Jan and Tad, Donny and his date, Kaden, who all happened to arrive at the same place for their Saturday night dates. The table was filled with food in various stages of being consumed. Tad and Jan were halfway through with their salads. Donny and Kaden were eating ice cream for a treat.
In spite of his efforts to tell Cameron that he wanted to be alone with her, Joshua discovered after ordering their sundae at the counter that she had pulled two chairs up to the table and joined the crowd.
Jan was still cringing about the news of who had killed sweet Angie Sulllivan. “Knowing Mildred all these years, I never would have known how insane she was.”
“She was always a very proud woman, but I admit I never suspected she was capable of killing a young girl just to protect her own status and reputation,” said Tad.
“Did Ralph Hildebrand have any idea about what his wife had done?” Donny asked.
“I doubt it,” Cameron said.
“He doesn’t play much of a role in any one’s lives but his own,” Joshua said.
“I feel sorry for Doris,” Jan said. “She’s been an innocent victim in all this. I guess she’s out of the running for elder.”
“Not so fast,” Joshua said. “Doris has gotten a lot of sympathy from a lot of members of the board. It’s all but official that she’ll be taking Albert’s place.”
Donny, Jan, and Tad exchanged grins.
“Ned Carter kicked Brianne to the curb. He’s moved out of the Davenport mansion and in with Gail Hildebrand,” said Cameron.
Jan smiled. “I’m glad. Gail really needs a shoulder to cry on right now. She deserves someone who loves her.”
“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Joshua said. “I thought Ned was superficial, but when I saw him with Gail, I could see that he loved her.”
“You can see that they have a connection,” Cameron said.
“Speaking of Brianne Davenport,” Jan said, “what’s happening in Hookstown, Pennsylvania, in regards to our prosecuting attorney shooting and killing Brianne’s toy?”
“We had dinner with prosecutor Frank Ballister last night,” Joshua told her.
“Oh,” Jan said with a sarcastic laugh, “you had dinner with their prosecutor? I can see there’s no old boy club stuff happening here.”
“How many murder suspects have you had dinner with?” Tad asked Joshua.
“It wasn’t murder,” Joshua argued. “It was justifiable homicide. They had five witnesses to back up my statement. Tell them, Donny.”
“Yeah, like he said,” Donny replied with a wicked grin, which made Jan and Tad laugh even harder.
The clerk arrived with Joshua and Cameron’s sundae built for two.
With the cock of an eyebrow in his father’s direction, Donny glanced at his watch. “Look at the time, we have to go.”
“Where are you going?” Cameron asked.
Casting a glance at his father, Donny stood up. “Kaden and I are meeting some friends.”
“Really?” Kaden replied.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
Joshua looked across the table at Tad. “Don’t you and Jan have some place to go?”
Jan was puzzled. “Where’s that?”
Catching Joshua’s glare, Tad said, “Jan and I are going to the mall.” He stood up. “We need to go pick out wallpaper for the nursery.”
“We already picked out wallpaper.” Jan glanced over at Joshua while Tad took her arm to pull her up to her feet.
Through the window, Cameron watched the two couples mingling out in the parking lot. “Was it something I said?”
“No.” Joshua pointed at the sundae. “Eat up, and let’s go home.”
“Whose home?” s
he asked while scooping up the hot fudge. “Mine or yours?”
“I don’t like you leaving me at the end of our dates.”
“But you also don’t like us sneaking around and hiding our sexual relationship from Donny.”
“I hate it when you put it that way,” Joshua said. “I don’t think of us as having sex. You make us sound like a couple of animals. We’re two people who happen to be in love, and we should be together.”
She shot him a grin. “Are you saying you like having me around?”
The metal of the spoon made a clink sound when it hit metal at the bottom of the bowl. She looked up at him.
Joshua was smiling back at her.
With the spoon, she scooped up what he had concealed at the bottom of the bowl to reveal a diamond ring covered in hot fudge.
“When you find a woman who knows how to give a good back rub,” he said, “you shouldn’t let her get away.”
With a smile, she licked off the hot fudge and placed the ring on her finger.
She reached across the table to kiss him on the lips. When they parted, she gazed into his eyes. “It isn’t every day you find a lover in crime.”
After kissing him again, she held up the engagement ring to admire it on her finger. The edges of the round diamond were trimmed in chocolate fudge. She sighed. “I can’t wait to tell Irving.”
The End
About the Author
Lauren Carr fell in love with mysteries when her mother read Perry Mason to her at bedtime. The first installment in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, A Small Case of Murder was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award. A Reunion to Die For was released in June 2007. Both of these books are in re-release.
The Mac Faraday Mysteries take place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. The first two books in her series, It’s Murder, My Son and Old Loves Die Hard have been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. Dead on Ice is Lauren’s fifth mystery.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors.
A popular speaker, Lauren has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
She lives with her husband, son, and two dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Visit Lauren’s websites at:
Website: http://acornbookservices.com/
http://mysterylady.net/
E-Mail: [email protected]
Check Out These Other Highly-Acclaimed
Lauren Carr Mysteries!
The Mac Faraday Mysteries
It’s Murder, My Son
An exciting mystery with plenty of intriguing and enigmatic characters, It’s Murder, My Son is not a read that should be missed for mystery fans.
Reviewer: Margaret LaneMidwest Book Reviews
What started out as the worst day of Mac Faraday’s life would end up being a new beginning. After a messy divorce hearing, the last person that Mac wanted to see was another lawyer. Yet, this lawyer wore the expression of a child bursting to tell his secret. This secret would reveal Mac as heir to undreamed of fortunes, and lead him to the birthplace of America’s Queen of Mystery and an investigation that will unfold like one of her famous mystery novels.
Soon after she moves to her new lakefront home in Spencer, Maryland, multi-millionaire Katrina Singleton learns that life in an exclusive community is not all good. For some unknown reason, a strange man calling himself “Pay Back” begins stalking her. When Katrina is found strangled all evidence points to her terrorist, who is nowhere to be found.
Three months later, the file on her murder is still open with only vague speculations from the local police department when Mac Faraday, sole heir to his unknown birth mother’s home and fortune, moves into the estate next door. Little does he know as he drives up to Spencer Manor that he is driving into a closed gate community that is hiding more suspicious deaths than his DC workload as a homicide detective. With the help of his late mother’s journal, this retired cop puts all his detective skills to work to pick up where the local investigators have left off to follow the clues to Katrina’s killer.
Old Loves Die Hard
The fast-paced complex plot brings surprising twists into a storyline that leads Mac and his friends into grave danger. Readers are drawn into Mac’s past, meet his children, and experience the troubling relationships of his former in-laws. New fans will surely look forward to the next installment in this great new series.
Reviewer: Edie Dykeman
Bellaonline Mystery Books Editor
Old Loves Die Hard…and in the worst places.
Retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, is settling nicely into his new life at Spencer Manor when his ex-wife Christine shows up—and she wants him back! Before Mac can send her packing, Christine and her estranged lover are murdered in Mac’s private penthouse suite at the Spencer Inn, the five-star resort built by his ancestors.
The investigation leads to the discovery of cases files for some of Mac’s murder cases in the room of the man responsible for destroying his marriage. Why would his ex-wife’s lover come to Spencer to dig into Mac’s old cases?
With the help of his new friends on Deep Creek Lake, Mac must use all of his detective skills to clear his name and the Spencer Inn’s reputation, before its five-stars—and more bodies—start dropping!
Shades of Murder
Lauren Carr could give Agatha Christie a run for her money! This hypnotic page-turner is a whirlwind of romance, murder, and espionage. Lots of creativity went into the unforeseen twists, and culminated in a climactic ending that tied the multi-faceted story into a nice little package. I also appreciated the special attention paid to the animal characters, which were every bit as developed as their human counterparts. This was an absolutely delightful read that is sure to be a hit with mystery readers. I look forward to reading her other books, as I am now a fan!
Charlene Mabie-Gamble
Literary R&R
In Shades of Murder, Mac Faraday is once again the heir to an unbelievable fortune. This time the benefactor is a stolen art collector. But this isn’t just any stolen work-of-art—it’s a masterpiece with a murder attached to it.
Ilysa Ramsay was in the midst of taking the art world by storm. Hours after unveiling her latest masterpiece—she is found dead in her Deep Creek Lake studio—and her painting is nowhere to be found. Almost a decade later, the long lost Ilysa Ramsay masterpiece has found its way into Mac Faraday’s hands and he can’t resist the urge to delve into the case.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, former JAG lawyer Joshua Thornton agrees to do a favor for the last person he would ever expect to do a favor—a convicted serial killer. The Favor: Solve the one murder wrongly attributed to him.
In Shades of Murder, author Lauren Carr tackles the task of penning two mysteries with two detectives in two different settings and bringing them together to find one killer. “What can I say?” Carr says. “I love mysteries and mystery writing. Two cases are twice the fun.”
In her fifth mystery, Lauren Car brings back her first literary detective while introducing a new one. In Shades of Murder, Joshua Thornton teams up with Cameron Gates, a spunky detective who has reason to believe the young woman listed as the victim of a serial killer was murdered by a copycat. Together, Joshua and Cameron set out to light a flame under the cold case only to find that someone behind the scenes wants the case to remain cold, and is willing to kill to keep it that way.
The Joshua Thornton Mysteries
A Small Case of Murder
Independent Publisher Book Award Finalist!
A Small Case of Murder is a GRAND case of murder. Following a style, reminiscent of that of Lisa Scottoline, and David Rosenfelt, Lauren Carr in her debut novel A Small Case of M
urder, delivers a powerful and strong detective- legal thriller that has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.
New Mystery Reader
Carr weaves an extraordinary story that is gripping and crafted at the highest level to entertain the reader with its touch familial centerpiece amidst evil and chaos.
Midwest Book Reviews
A Small Case of Murder is set in the quaint West Virginia town of Chester, where everyone knows everyone, and there is never a secret that someone doesn’t know. In such an intimate town, how many suspicious deaths can be left unquestioned?
Following his wife’s death, Joshua Thornton leaves a promising career in the U. S. Navy’s JAG division to move across country with his five children into his ancestral home. While clearing out the attic they find a letter written to their grandmother postmarked 34 years ago.
In the letter, Lulu Jefferson wrote “…Remember that dead body we found in the Bosley barn?...I saw him today…I went to talk to the reverend and there was his picture on the wall.” What dead body? His interest piqued, Joshua asks about Lulu and finds that in 1970 she died on the same day that she penned the letter implicating the pastor in an unreported murder. There is much more to this story than a 34-year-old letter. It’s a 34-year-old mystery!
Today, a double murder has the whole town under a microscope. The state attorney general appoints Joshua special prosecutor to solve the crimes. In a small town where gossip flies as swiftly as a spring breeze, it is impossible to know who to trust. Asking simple questions about events long ago could prove to be deadly for Joshua and his family.
A Reunion to Die For
Lauren Carr writes with a flair that will not only keep you reading but also make you glad you didn’t graduate with this class!
Romance Reviews Today
High school cheerleader Tricia Wheeler didn’t make it to her graduation because a bullet went through her heart and killed her.