by J. D. Shaw
As she drove along Maple Street, she had to pull off to the side to let another ambulance speed past her on the way to Cayuga Memorial.
When she arrived at the Sheriff’s office, she walked into the sights and sounds of complete pandemonium. Desk officers were swamped with phones ringing off the hook, people shouting and nearly running into each other as each tried to be louder than the other.
Vivienne walked past the information desk and headed down the all-too-familiar hallway that led to Sheriff Rigsbee’s office.
As she passed the water cooler, she was pulled to the side by one of the officers whose name she never could seem to remember. All she could recall was that his pencil-thin black mustache looked like a pathetic attempt to appear older and have authority, but it failed to work on both attempts. “You?”
“I’m sorry, it’s been a long day.” Vivienne apologized. “I can’t remember your name.”
“She’s here.” He shouted to the others and then spun her against the wall roughly. “I got her.”
“What the hell is going on?” Vivienne screamed in frustration.
“You must be crazy to come strolling in here after trying to poison half the town.” He quickly snapped some handcuffs on her wrists.
“What are you talking about?” She asked as he spun her around to face him.
“Vivienne Finch, you’re under arrest for multiple counts of attempted murder.” The officer was joined by several others who looked at her as if they had just caught Jack The Ripper.
“This is a mistake.” She sputtered.
“You have the right to remain silent.” The officer continued.
CHAPTER 24
Monday, December 16th
It felt like time had come to a complete stop. Not that she would have minded such an event happening, as the past week had been exhausting both emotionally and physically. She sat alone in Sheriff Zeke Rigsbee’s office, having just endured the unpleasant task of standing in a police lineup.
She did have an ace up her sleeve. She only hoped that her single allowed phone call would yield the desired result.
As the sheriff stepped into his office, he closed the door behind him and folded his arms across his desk. “In all my years serving this town, I never would have believed you capable of such a heinous act.”
Vivienne lowered her head. “I know this doesn’t mean much, but it wasn’t me.”
He walked over to his desk and sat down to face her. “Thankfully, my faith in humanity has not been completely destroyed this year.”
“What?” Vivienne lifted her head to face him.
“You are a very lucky woman to have such good friends to cover your back.” Sheriff Rigsbee leaned back in his chair. “Kathy Saunders dropped this off the moment she heard about your arrest.” He lifted a thick manila folder off the desk.
“Thank you, Kathy.” Vivienne felt an enormous weight suddenly leave her shoulders.
“Yes and you are darn lucky that she did.” He spoke softly. “Your notes proved quite useful.”
“So you read it?”
“I have here the information that one Samantha Charles has forwarded to you about the R.G.E. Company and the plans to start drilling in Cayuga Cove.” He tapped the folder.
“Then you know about Robert Rothwell and Natalie Burdick too?”
“I just got off the phone with Miss Charles. We had an interesting conversation about Natalie’s tenure in New York.” Zeke’s usual poker face was devoid of any emotion.
“Natalie wants the drilling to start at any cost.” Vivienne’s voice gained a sense of urgency. “Joshua and Miss Octavia were trying to stop her.”
“I’ve had an interesting talk with Miss Octavia as well. She’s a strange bird, but her story matched up with the information in here. I may not believe in her magic mumbo jumbo, but I do believe that she was setup in an attempt to keep this department distracted and unaware of what really was going on out by the cemetery.”
“She’s a very dangerous woman.” Vivienne interrupted.
“She was also spotted at Our Lady of the Lake today, after the attack on Joshua and Carlton Jones.”
“Spotted by who?”
“Suzette Powell. Oddly enough, she was searching for you when it happened.”
“Yes.” Vivienne worked fast to cover the fact that it had been Natalie impersonating her inside the church. “During my investigating, I became aware that Eddie Robertson had died from poisoning.”
“No one outside of this department knows that, but I’m willing to overlook Deputy Arkins’ lack of judgment in sharing that with you given the circumstances.” Zeke cast a wary eye at her. “Please continue.”
“So, I started to wonder if maybe she was one of the gold digging black widow characters you see on those true crime shows.” Vivienne felt quite proud of the little white lie that was covering all her magical bases. “It made sense that in order for her to get in on the family money, she had to bump off Eddie first. In order to create a diversion, she came up with the plan to use the Bad Santa notes to stir up dissent amongst the townspeople. After all, this is a small town. If someone just opens their ears in the right place, you’ll learn more than you ever thought possible. ”
Zeke nodded in agreement. “You’ll get no argument from me there.”
“So, you’ve found other poisoning evidence?” Vivienne hoped.
“Someone poisoned all the baked good with hydroxybenzene.” Sheriff Rigsbee revealed to her.
“So how did you figure out Natalie was behind it?” Vivienne asked.
“You can thank Suzette Powell for that. She picked you out of the lineup.”
“I don’t understand.”
Zeke leaned back in his chair. “You were placed at the bake sale this morning along with several other women from the town. Suzette Powell told one of the investigating officers that she had a small confrontation with you before mass started.”
“Oh.” Vivienne had no idea what her imposter had done, but she had to play along. “It was nothing.”
“Oh, it was more than that.” Zeke continued. “That little spat happened to be your key to freedom.”
“Really?” Vivienne smiled. “I need to have words with friends more often.”
Zeke cleared his throat. “Getting back to business, she informed me that after your spat, she lost sight of you in the crowd getting the baked goods ready downstairs.”
“I had been up late baking and wanted to get a quick nap in before it started so I snuck home.” Vivienne put her cover story in place.
“Which your friend Kathy was able to verify when she called to inform you about the attack on Joshua.” Sheriff Rigsbee nodded. “Those smart phones you own all have GPS location devices and the cellular carrier was able to verify your phone’s location during the call this morning.”
“Thank goodness.” Vivienne sighed. “So how does this all link to you suspecting Natalie? She’s been missing for days.”
“As soon as the morning service started, Suzette thought she saw you in the back corridor near the restrooms. She followed up and discovered a strange woman who claimed she was the church’s cleaning lady.”
“Natalie.” Vivienne nodded.
“Standing right outside the crime scene at roughly the same time we assume the attacks happened.” Zeke finished. “Suzette informed me that the woman had her hair in her face and avoided eye contact, but she still looked familiar. It wasn’t until later on when she happened to glance at one of the missing flyers on the church bulletin board that she made the connection and called the station.”
“Thank goodness.” Vivienne sighed. “So when did you catch her?”
“We haven’t.” Zeke’s posture tensed up. “I have a missing officer whose last known location was the church and a bad feeling that she’s behind it.”
“I’m sorry, sheriff.” Vivienne lowered her head. “What about the bake sale poisonings? Is everyone okay?”
“They’re very sick at the moment
but the medical teams are dispensing medication to counter the lethal effects. Her choice of poison is most peculiar.”
“I think she was obsessed with using hydroxybenzene because the original Rothwell family members were killed off by the same thing.” Vivienne added. “It’s rather obscure now. Most likely if she killed with it, there was a good chance it would not get picked up on a basic autopsy.
“Unless someone suspected otherwise.” Zeke concurred.
“Think about it. After she married Robert Rothwell, she could poison him with the same thing. If someone became suspicious, it wouldn’t have been very hard to dump an amount into the waste water generated by the drilling company and blame it on accidental exposure while visiting the site in person.” Vivienne finished. “The black widow kills her final victim and walks away with a large chunk of the Rothwell family fortune.”
“Not if we stop her.”
“Vivienne, it’s time I fill you in with the plan we have to catch this Natalie in the act.” Zeke announced.
“She’s very intelligent.” Vivienne spoke up. “You better have a good trap.”
“It’s one we think she can’t resist.” Zeke tipped his hat at her. “You.”
There was a knock on the door as one of the officer’s stepped inside. “She’s back from her supply run.”
“Send her in.” Zeke nodded.
Vivienne looked up as Miss Octavia stepped into the room with a large silken bag in her grip. “Am I glad to see you.”
“I told them you needed my help.” Miss Octavia smiled. “Even if they don’t believe in ‘mumbo jumbo’. She glanced warily at Sheriff Rigsbee.
“I don’t care what you use, I want her stopped.” Zeke folded is arms across his chest. “You can employ Santa Claus for all I care.”
Both Vivienne and Miss Octavia groaned in response.
* * *
“We are asking all of our responsible citizens to help us out in capturing this dangerous fugitive.” Zeke spoke to the press outside the Sheriff’s office. “If you spot her, please don’t try to detain her. Call the police right away and tell them as much information as you can.”
“How did she escape?” One of the reporters asked.
“I am not at liberty to discuss that.” Zeke scolded the intrusive reporter. “Our priority is not to assign blame, but to ensure that Vivienne Finch is brought to justice and made to answer the charges against her.”
Kathy turned to Clara who was standing in the throng of concerned citizens gathered to hear the press conference. “Good thing we’re in on this or I’d be hopping mad at him.”
Clara nodded. “You? If they hadn’t told Nora she’d have had a stroke by now.”
“I hope she’s careful.” Kathy worried.
“She’ll be okay. She’s our Vivienne. One of the smartest cookies we know.” Clara whispered back. “Let’s get out here and hope it ends soon.”
* * *
Thanks to a secret ride in a patrol car, Vivienne and Miss Octavia had been safely transferred to Gus Holt’s land where the drilling equipment was quiet and shut down for the evening.
Their protector, officer Jeff Waverly, was hiding off to the side behind a large tanker of waste water that the drilling process had generated. Both Sheriff Rigsbee and Vivienne had agreed that only one officer be posted to ensure Natalie would not spot the trap too early by mistake. It was a risk, but one that needed to be taken.
As agreed to, Vivienne decided to start the dialogue that she hoped would draw Natalie to her while Miss Octavia and Officer Waverly remained hidden. “Okay Natalie, you’ve won. You can come out now and finish this.”
There was nothing but silence. Vivienne had to force herself not to look in the direction where her surprise party was hiding. Seeing that her words were not enough, she decided to make it more personal. She retrieved the silver brooch from her purse and held it tightly in her palm. “Natalie, the police know all about your plan to destroy the town. It’s not going to work.”
A gentle breeze blew along the snowy field but Vivienne remained alone. As she carefully crunched across the snow, she noticed the fresh set of little footprints. She thought for a moment and decided to take the biggest gamble of all. Before leaving the Sheriff’s office, she had stopped at the vending machine and purchased a pack of chocolate chip cookies to snack on as her stomach growled incessantly with hunger pains. Thankfully, she had been too nervous to eat them. She pulled the cookies out of her jacket pocket. “Connor, I have cookies. Just like I promised. Do you want some?” She called out.
A moment later, Connor stepped out from his hiding place behind a large trailer that had sections of metal piping strapped down. “Cookies?”
He bounded toward her, a look of pure joy upon his face. “They are all for you, sweetie.”
He stopped at her legs and gave her a little hug. “I love you Miss Vivienne.”
Her heart melted and she fought back a flood of tears. She knelt down to embrace him. ”You poor thing, caught in the middle of this vicious plot.”
He took the cookies from her hand and began munching on them. “I don’t like staying at Uncle Gus’ house. He won’t let me play in the cemetery like Mommy does.”
“Where is your mommy?” She asked.
“Right here.” Natalie’s voice called out from behind her. “Using my son to get my attention. Have you no shame?”
“It’s over, Natalie.” Vivienne spoke quietly. “It ends here.”
Natalie raised her arms into the air as the wind picked up to a howl, scattering snow in a crazed fury. “Yes it does.”
“Don’t move another inch.” Jeff jumped out from his cover with his gun aimed in Natalie’s direction. “Stay right where you are.”
“I intend to.” She yelled back to him and then waved her left fingers.
A piece of metal pipe tore off the water tanker and smacked him in the back of his head. Jeff dropped to the ground, unconscious. “Now, we finish this.”
“Yes, we do.” Vivienne directed the large piece of silver rope to snake up behind Natalie and wrap itself tightly around her body.
“Connor.” Natalie cried out. “Help mommy get out of this.”
“No Connor, don’t listen to her.” Vivienne warned.
“Mommy?” Connor appeared confused and remained frozen in place.
“Good work, Vivienne.” Miss Octavia stepped out from the shadows of the drilling equipment. “That will hold her for now.”
Natalie struggled and squirmed, falling to the ground with a thud. “No.” She turned her head to face Miss Octavia and opened her mouth. A great wind blasted her backwards, forcing to put her hands up against her face to fight off the icy blast.
Vivienne cleared her head and recited the silence voice spell that Octavia had faxed her at the Sheriff’s station.
Natalie’s wind died off as suddenly as it started. She turned to Vivienne in anguish. She mouthed words, but no sound left her lips.
“I’m sorry.” Vivienne spoke back.
“Mommy.” Connor ran over to Natalie and tried to touch the rope, but the silver rope shocked him and he tumbled away into the snow.
“Quickly, we must get her to the cemetery before the spell wears off.” Octavia ran over and grabbed hold of Natalie who continued to scream at them silently.
With Vivienne’s help, they loaded her, Connor, and the unconscious body of officer Jeff Waverly into the patrol car and sped across the field to the Cayuga Union cemetery. “How long is the spell going to hold?”
“Not long.” Miss Octavia yelled back as they bounced along through the snowy field.
Vivienne spied the main gates, which were closed and appeared locked with a chain. She gunned the accelerator. “Hold on.”
The patrol car smashed through the gates, knocking them off the rusty hinges. Vivienne turned sharply to the right, narrowly missing taking out a large marble obelisk. The path to the cannons was barely visible in the fading sunlight, as they roared uphill and came
to a halt just shy of the monument.
Vivienne and Octavia jumped out of the car and dragged Natalie to the space between the cannons.
“What do we do now?” Vivienne asked.
Octavia pulled out her supplies from the deep pockets of her jacket. She pulled the stopper of the vial of holy water and drizzled it onto Natalie.
The water bubbled and steamed as Natalie found her voice again. “I’m not ready to go yet.” She screamed. “You must not do this.”
Octavia hurled a bottle of silver powder to Vivienne. “Walk a circle and keep it tight around her.”
Vivienne pulled the stopper off the powder and poured the silver powder onto the ground. She walked quickly in a tight circle around Natalie, trapping her inside the magical boundary.
“Blessed be the light that draws you near.” Octavia spoke in a monotone voice. “With love and reverence, we bid thee spirit farewell.” Octavia raised her hands upwards and closed her eyes. “Your business here amongst the living is done. Feel the burden of sorrow no more.”
Natalie shook violently and then arched her back, as a bolt of white energy crackled out of her mouth like lightening and struck one of the cannons.
Vivienne covered her ears as the wind roared around them. “Is it working?”
“You tell me.” Octavia looked at her in surprise. “I’ve never done this kind of thing before.”
A thick, black smoke poured off the ground between the cannons and coalesced into the spectral image of Edgar Rothwell. He appeared even more fearsome than Vivienne remembered. His blue-tinged flesh was pulled taught against his skull, eyes sunken deep and glowing like two red-hot coals. Vivienne stood frozen in terror as he stepped toward them. “You’ve done well, witches.”
“Leave them alone.” Natalie cried out. “This is between the two of us.”
Edgar raised his palms in the air and then flipped them upwards in a jerking motion. “You are correct.”
Both Vivienne and Octavia dropped over backwards, pressed to the cold ground by his magical force.