Violet paused for a minute, and then continued.
“You killed Elizabeth Dalton in the hopes that, if it were discovered that she was the target, that Browning would be found to be the killer. However, you did not know that he was called away to Manchester on business that day at the last minute. You did not know until later that it was impossible for him to have committed the crime. As soon as you discovered that your plan had failed, you went back to blackmailing him, only this time you doubled the amount, hoping to put so much pressure on him that he would find another position elsewhere. He would leave the company, no matter what, leaving his position open to his second-in-command.”
“You have no evidence of this. None whatsoever,” Jessica Ashton finally said. Her voice was filled with fear. I was honestly amazed. We were sitting here, just inches away from a woman who had killed four people in an attempt to take her boss’ job, and she was the one who was scared.
“You are correct. I do not. However, you know of me. You have seen how easily I have uncovered the exact operation. Do you truly believe it will take me long to find enough evidence against you to convict you in court?”
Jennifer sighed. “No. No, of course I do not. Do you mind if we step outside for a moment? After all, I am free to go. I see no policemen here.”
“That is correct. There are no policemen here. However, I encourage you to turn yourself in. If you admit to your crimes before I am able to prove them beyond a doubt, I am certain that you will be given leniency. For now, we go outside. You do look as though you could use some air.”
Chapter 18
I looked curiously at Violet as the three of us got up. What exactly had been the plan here? Violet had shown her hand completely, Jennifer had denied everything, and now she was getting ready to leave. Surely there was a plan here I didn’t know about, because right now it seemed like everything was going badly. This wasn’t like in the movies or on TV, when the guilty party was confronted and admitted to everything. What on earth were we going to do?
Violet led the way outside with Jennifer Ashton following behind her, trying in vain to maintain a confident air of authority. I took up the rear. Violet led us to the small alleyway next to the bank. Even though we were only a few feet away from the hustle and bustle of downtown London, the alley somehow muted the sounds of the city. People walked past, completely oblivious to our presence just a few feet away. I had a bad feeling about this, and glanced out to the street.
Jennifer Ashton leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths. She was obviously trying to find her way out of this.
“You may as well turn yourself in,” Violet told her. “I will find the proof. It will not take me long.”
Jennifer’s eyes flashed in anger. “No,” she said. “I will not. Like every arrogant person on the planet, you wouldn’t have told the police about this, would you?”
“No, not yet,” Violet replied calmly. Jennifer dug through her purse. Suddenly, she pulled out a Swiss Army knife. My eyes widened as she flipped open the blade, and I shrunk back against the wall, but Violet just smiled. It was as though she’d expected this the whole time.
“That’s the problem with you arrogant types. You always keep everything to yourselves. I worked too hard to get here. I’m not going to let you ruin this for me.”
My throat was dry. Every instinct in my body was telling me to run, but I also knew it was pointless. Ever since my surgery, not only was I in terrible shape, but my left leg didn’t work quite as well as it should; there were small children who could run faster than me now.
Jennifer looked over at me. It was like she could tell I was the weaker target. Clutching the knife, she looked stronger now. She had the upper hand on us, and she knew it. The knife wasn’t big, but I was all too aware of just how much damage it could do. I’d seen people in the ICU, hell, I’d seen people in morgue thanks to wounds the same size as that knife she wielded.
Kicking off her heels, Jennifer lunged at me. I cowered back against the far wall. My body froze. There was nothing I could do except look at the steel blade as it came closer and closer to me. My breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t fight or flight. I was stuck. Frozen to the spot, and like a deer caught in headlights, I was about to be killed.
No. No, I wouldn’t be killed. Or if I was, I was going to fight back. It wasn’t going to be like this. I was going to give it everything. I had too much to live for. I didn’t want to die.
At the last second I darted to the left as Jennifer reached out to slash me with the knife. She grunted in disapproval and lunged at me again, but this time I managed to move back and out of the way. She ran toward me again, but this time, she kicked out at me. Making contact with my bad knee, I cried out and fell to the ground, clutching at my knee in pain. This time, there was nothing for me to do. Nowhere for me to go. I couldn’t do anything with my knee hurting like this. Jennifer lunged forward once more as a tear began to fall down my cheek. I didn’t want to die.
I closed my eyes, silently told my mom I loved her, but there was no pain. Nothing. I cautiously opened my eyes and found Violet in front of me. Her shoulder was bleeding, oozing blood onto her shirt, but she was holding the hand with Jennifer’s knife. With a single quick movement, she kicked out and swiped Jennifer’s legs from underneath her. The woman fell to the ground with a yelp, and with a single quick movement Violet flipped her onto her stomach, forcing her arm behind her and twisting until Jennifer dropped the blade.
Coming to my senses, I ran forward and grabbed it while Violet kept her knee firmly in Jennifer’s back. She grabbed the woman’s hair, pulled up her head and drove it into the pavement. Jennifer Ashton stopped moving; she was knocked unconscious. Violet then calmly took out her phone and dialled a number. I assumed it was an ambulance.
“Hello, DCI Williams. Yes, if you come to the Virgin Money branch at Haymarket I have a gift for you. A gift that you can charge with four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.”
There was a pause. “Of course we’re all right, I did say attempted, didn’t I? Or was that too long a word for you?”
I smiled to myself, then the instincts that came from twelve years of schooling kicked into gear. Violet was bleeding from her shoulder; I had to take care of that.
I grabbed my phone and started dialling nine-one-one, before remembering the number here was different. I stopped the call and began to press nine-nine-nine instead, but Violet stopped me.
“Goodness, Cassie, you’re acting like I’m going to die.”
“You might, if you don’t get medical attention soon,” I replied.
“If only I knew a doctor. Hmm, it’s too bad there’s not one standing right here,” Violet replied. I dialed the number and put the phone on speaker, then went over to look at the wound.
“Yes, we need an ambulance at uh, the corner of Haymarket and Shaver’s Place,” I said, looking up for the street sign indicating the name of the lane we were standing in. Carefully, I had a look at the wound in Cassie’s shoulder. It was oozing blood, dark blood. That meant it was a vein that had been hit, not an artery. That was good. That was very good. There was a decent amount of blood, but not an amount that would be life-threatening if I applied pressure to the wound.
Jennifer Ashton’s purse had a scarf attached to the side of it, to make it look fancier. I ran over and grabbed it, then bunched up the scarf and pressed it against Violet’s wound.
“As useful as it is to have a doctor around, I can’t just magically create antibiotics out of mid-air,” I told Violet as I worked to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t so bad that she was going to need a tourniquet. Plus, the ambulance would be here in a few minutes, so just applying pressure with the scarf should be fine for now.
“I do not need an ambulance,” Violet repeated. “I am fine.”
“Really? Because you were just stabbed while saving my life. And besides, I’m a doctor. You have to listen to me. If I say you need an ambulance, you need an ambulance.”
I made sure Jennifer Ashton was well and truly unconscious—and checked her pulse just in case, she was still very much alive—and led Violet over to the wall, where I sat her down.
“Don’t lie down, I want your shoulder to stay above your heart,” I ordered. “Keep the bandage pressed against the wound.”
I was about to go out to the street to see if the ambulance was arriving yet, when DCI Williams suddenly turned the corner. I waved over to him, and he rushed over.
“Violet! What happened? Are you all right?” he asked, concern etched all over his face.
“I am. I have your murderer. She’s lying over there,” Violet said, motioning with her head toward Jennifer Ashton.
“It’s all right,” I told him. “I called the ambulance, they’re on their way.”
“Good, well done Miss Coburn,” DCI Williams replied with a nod as he made his way to Jennifer Ashton. She was just beginning to stir back to life, and he cuffed her before she was able to do anything else.
“I’ll come by and get your statement later from the hospital,” he called out to Violet and I as he led her away.
“We won’t be at the hospital, I’m fine,” Violet called back toward him. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.
“Really? You’re fine? Because you’ve just been stabbed in the shoulder. That’s not ‘fine’,” I scolded.
Violet shrugged, wincing slightly at the pain as she moved her shoulder. “It’s not like it’s the first time.”
“Oh, so you make it a habit to be attacked by murderers?”
“You should be a little bit more grateful. After all, I did save your life.”
“Yes, you did, and I am thankful, but as a doctor I also have to do my best to save yours. As much as I’m tempted to let you bleed to death in this alley right now just to show you that you do need medical attention.”
“I am fine. A bit of pressure on the wound, a few stitches, and everything will be all right. I’ve been here before. I am not a baby; I know what it is like to be stabbed.”
Violet was impossible. I shook my head in disbelief as the ambulance pulled up. I directed them toward Violet.
“No matter what, insist she goes to the hospital,” I said to one of them quietly.
“I heard that,” Violet called out to me.
“Doctor’s orders,” I called back.
“You’re not licensed to practice in this country!” she called back.
“Somehow I don’t think that’s the sort of thing you usually care about,” I replied. The paramedics quickly huddled themselves around Violet and loaded her up onto a stretcher, despite her protestations. I hopped into the ambulance along with them, Violet eventually giving up and lying down on the stretcher while the EMTs inserted an IV, cut off her shirt and worked to clean the wound and stop the bleeding.
Half an hour later we were in the hospital, Violet lying in a bed in the ICU. She was quiet now, she’d resigned herself to her fate of receiving necessary medical attention.
“Thanks for saving my life,” I said to her quietly as she lay on the bed.
“Do not mention it. How is your knee?”
“A little bit sore. I’ll go see a physiotherapist if it’s not better in a few days, but I think it was simply the shock of it.”
Violet nodded. “Good.”
“Did you know?” I asked. “That she was going to attack us?”
“I had a pretty good idea.”
“Then why do it at all? That was so dangerous.”
“Because it was the fastest way to get her arrested. Even if she does not admit to the murders now, Jennifer Ashton will face charges of assault, and attempted murder against the two of us. She will go to jail, and in the meantime we will have a lot of time to discover the evidence needed to prove she killed Elizabeth Dalton. When you know who to look at, evidence collection becomes much simpler.”
“So basically you used us as bait, is what you’re saying?”
“Yes, essentially.”
“I’m starting to understand why people want to stab you,” I muttered in reply.
“If I had told you, you would not have agreed to come, and it was important that you did.”
“And why is that?”
“Because you have faced death. And tell me, Cassie Coburn, did you give up when the woman came at you?”
“No,” I replied quietly. “No, I remember thinking I didn’t want to die.”
“Exactement. Now you can re-start your life, knowing that.”
“I feel like your methods aren’t exactly approved by psychologists,” I told her with a small smile. Despite my annoyance at the fact that she’d essentially used me as bait, I couldn’t help but realize that she was right. I didn’t want to die. And it had been a long time since I’d cared one way or another.
Violet shrugged. “Well, they work.”
“Anyway,” I told her. “I feel like you should be thanking me, too. After all, I was the one who came up with the idea to set a trap.”
“I would have figured it out myself eventually. Because of you, it was done maybe twenty-four hours sooner.”
I laughed. “I guess that’s the closest I’m going to come to getting credit for this from you.”
“It is. But you should be glad. After all, you have helped me to catch a murderer. As a doctor, you save lives. That is what I do as well. We have saved lives here, today. It is likely that Jennifer Ashton would have killed again, eventually. The lives are less tangible than those you save as a doctor, and you will never experience the thanks of a family that has seen their loved one saved directly by you, but you have done it all the same.”
I nodded. “That is true. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Just then DCI Williams came in through the door. He looked haggard, and yet triumphant. Like a man who had finally completed a marathon in a personal best time.
“Well?” Violet asked as soon as he walked in.
“She’s admitted to everything. She also wants you arrested for assault, but obviously that isn’t going to happen.”
“Obviously.”
“She told us she killed Elizabeth Dalton initially in order to frame her boss, and when that didn’t work, thought that she could be the sole blackmailer and drive him out of his job.”
“That matches with what she told us as well.”
“I have to admit it. You were right about it not being the nephew.”
“Of course I was. I was right about all of it.”
I chose not to comment about the fact that for a while Violet thought Leonard Browning was the murderer as well.
“Yes, well, as always, we appreciate your help,” DCI Williams told her. I had a feeling he would appreciate her help even more if it didn’t come with constant disparaging remarks about the incompetence of the Metropolitan police force. His face softened suddenly. “Now, are you all right?”
“Of course I’m all right. I shouldn’t even be here. Cassie made the paramedics bring me to the hospital.”
“I’m a doctor, you have to do as I say,” I replied. DCI Williams smiled.
“I think that’s the first time Violet has ever listened to anyone else’s advice,” he told me. “She must actually like you. Good. It’s about time she found herself a friend.”
“I do not need friends, I simply used Cassie’s expertise as a doctor to help at the beginning of the case,” Violet protested, but I couldn’t help but notice a bit of color creeping up into her face. I had to admit, even though she was infuriating, arrogant and unpredictable, I kind of liked Violet. I liked her sassy attitude. I liked her complete and total confidence in her abilities. And I liked that she’d seen that I was in trouble and decided to give me a chance. Whether or not she really needed my expertise.
I’d almost been killed today, and yet I already felt like moving to London had been the smartest thing I’d ever done.
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.
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Want more of Cassie’s adventures? Read the second Cassie Coburn book, Bombing in Belgravia, now.
Other Cassie Coburn Mysteries
Bombing in Belgravia (Cassie Coburn Mystery #2)
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)
About the Author
Samantha Silver lives in Oregon with her long-time boyfriend, her Jack Russell terrier named Kilo, two cats who like to help her type by lying across the keyboard, and the occasional foster. When she’s not playing mom to all these animals, Samantha is either writing the mysteries she loves, volunteering at the local animal shelter, or watching Netflix.
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