I let the hand with the phone drop to my side, dramatically.
“It’s a shame,” he said, “really. You’re beautiful but you’re a real pain in the—”
“Lucas, I don’t believe you would really shoot me.”
“I’m afraid I have to. You know too much, and, as you said, you’ll lead the cops to me. I can’t have that.”
I said with a calm I did not feel, “You brought it on yourself. Why did you drag me into this in the first place? What was the purpose of the whole elaborate setup with the luncheon and the books and all that?”
“Well, it was April Fool’s Day, and you know I love a good joke.”
“Right. You love any joke at someone else’s expense.”
“What’s the point of a practical joke if it’s not at someone else’s expense? Sometimes you’re a bit dim, Jordan.”
“No doubt, but why pick on me?”
“You really shouldn’t have tried to turn me in after that misunderstanding about your bank account.”
“You mean when you cleaned out my savings?”
“You know what happened when the college found out? That was it for me. Out the door. You’ve ruined my career. You put an end to my education. The cops spoke to my parents. No one in my family will speak to me now. Are you happy? You really twisted the knife. You did everything you could to ruin my life. I’m going to make absolutely sure you never try anything like that again.”
I stood there, openmouthed and astonished. How could he twist my actions that way? How could he ignore his role in what happened? How was I the bad guy?
I sputtered, “But you were the one who stole from me!”
“We were in a relationship. What happened to sharing?”
“All the sharing was one-way. And what about my credit cards? You maxed them out. My credit rating ended up in the toilet.”
He shrugged. That was not the response I wanted. I added, “That was just nasty and . . . unsporting.”
“Oh, grow up. These things happen.”
“I was in love with you.”
The beautiful lips smiled. Not a nice smile. “Whatever. What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. Don’t you remember saying that?”
“It doesn’t sound like me.” In fact, it didn’t sound like anything a Kelly would say except for the “what’s yours is mine” part. “I never told you to help yourself to the money I needed for grad school. You forged my signature. That was a crime.”
“Well, you had your bit of revenge, didn’t you?”
“Sort of. But it was two years ago this month, and you haven’t been prosecuted. There’s been more than enough time to move on.” I’d dropped the charges at my uncles’ urging. No point in drawing any attention to our family, they’d said. A good defense lawyer could turn up the odd embarrassment. At the time I’d wondered if some of my educational savings might have had suspect origins. Not that it mattered, because Lucas had made sure they vanished into his pocket.
I glared at him as he said, “There would never be enough time for me to forget what you did to me. And now I will get my revenge. No one messes with Lucas Warden.”
It was time to pick up the pace if the unfolding drama was to have its denouement and if our final big scene was not to involve me in a bleeding heap on the floor.
“Fine. I regret reporting it to the police in the first place. I cared about you. I guess I still do.”
He actually sniffed. What an ego.
I piled it on. “But why was it necessary to involve Vera Van Alst and Uncle Kev in your scheme? You could have pulled the stunt with just me. I could have carried Vera’s money.”
“Where would be the fun in that?” he chuckled.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
He grinned. “It wasn’t enough to get the money. I wanted your life turned upside down. Like mine was. This was the perfect setup. Chadwick would discover the books missing. Then the police would be called. There would be plenty of evidence that you were at Summerlea. The police would come calling. You would spin this ridiculous story of an invitation for Vera, you, the lowly researcher, and your uncle with the criminal record. Chadwick would recover his property from Vera Van Alst. She would hold you responsible for the loss of her ten thousand dollars. Being the witch she is, you’d lose your job. Your uncle would be immediately under suspicion for theft.”
“That explains the loot from Summerlea you tucked behind the bush by the driveway at Van Alst House. I guess you wanted to make sure that Uncle Kev was charged no matter what.”
“It’s your own fault. You never should have told me all your family secrets and that you were the first one to go straight.”
“Explains a lot.” I wondered for a second if it explained why I’d fallen for this monster.
He laughed. “Your new life, which, face it, is not that great, living in an attic and taking orders from that ratty old harridan—”
“I love what I do.”
“And all that would be gone. And you asked for it, didn’t you?”
I hadn’t asked for anything, but I needed to keep playing along. “What made you think of me, Lucas, after all this time?”
“I saw your name in the local paper when Shelby dragged me to this area to meet her stupid parents. There you were. Little Miss Hero. Solved a murder, saved her boss. Full of herself. It gave me a great idea for making you pay.”
“I’m beginning to understand. And that bouquet of dead roses? Was that just a finger in my eye?” I wondered how much of his connection to Harrison Falls was a coincidence. He’d obviously burned with anger at what he saw as my betrayal. Had he picked Shelby because of that?
“Got to you, did they? That was the idea.”
“I see you went to quite a bit of trouble to make it creepy. What happened to you, Lucas? What changed you from a charming scoundrel to a murderer?”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“That’s right. I did say ‘murderer.’ Did Chadwick show up unexpectedly?”
His nostrils flared.
I needed him to talk, not nod, shrug, smirk or flare his nostrils. “Did Miranda let you down? She had it bad for you, didn’t she?”
He smirked.
“She had access to Chadwick’s keys. It was easy for her to get a copy made. She could find out the code. Of course, she knew when he’d be away.”
“Stupid girl. She told me he’d gone to Manhattan for a meeting. She claimed the house was empty.”
“But she lied. Why did she do that? Had she found out about Shelby? Did she realize you were just using her?”
“Yes, she lied, and it’s on her that he died.”
“And Chadwick died because he found you on his property?”
His mouth twisted.
“Oh,” I said, “let me think how that could have happened. You had to be there, of course, watching your production. You wouldn’t have been able to resist being at Summerlea during the luncheon. Must have been fun. Did Brent Derringer and Tom Kovacs—your old acting buddies—depart the minute their parts were played? Did you pay them? Are they a couple of scam artists too? Or did you have something on them?”
“You always did think you were smarter than everyone.”
I kept talking. “When they took off, did that leave you with the new woman in your life here in this grand house to celebrate your windfall? Were you ‘celebrating’ with Shelby in one of those luxurious bedrooms upstairs?”
He actually blinked. “How did you know that?”
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. Chadwick must have been attacked upstairs. Not many people would be strong enough to have carried his body up that staircase. Therefore you must have been upstairs first to attack him. If he’d felt he needed help, he’d have picked up the phone and called the police.”
“He came charging like a lunatic,
waving that statue at me.”
“Oh really? Chadwick never waved that statue. His prints would have been on it if he had, and there was only one set of prints: Uncle Kev’s. And we both know that Kev didn’t kill Chadwick. You did.”
“Clever girl.”
“That’s right. Thomas—or should I say Tom Kovacs—spotted Kev fondling it and told you before you left. My guess is that, for some reason, you took that statue, wearing gloves, of course. Maybe you were thinking of planting that somewhere too. Then what happened? Did Chadwick show up?”
“I liked that little statue. I thought I’d keep it as a souvenir of our afternoon. But then, that old fool went for me. I was just defending myself.”
“Oh please. Self-defense? But Chadwick was killed while you were committing a felony, so naturally that won’t be worth anything to you during your trial. Did he find things a bit off and go looking to see if someone was in the house?”
“I won’t be on trial, and I’m starting to get bored,” Lucas said with a yawn.
You’re going to keep talking, I thought.
“So what happened? Did Shelby scream? Did poor Chadwick think he was saving a woman from an attack? No one’s going to buy that.”
“I don’t know what he thought, but he came at me.”
“So let’s see, a forty-three-year-old man, pudgy and out of shape, not used to violence, rushes up the stairs to confront an intruder, barges into the bedroom and attacks you.”
“Yeah, that was a bad break for him. I did what I had to.”
“Except you’d left those gloves on—or put them on again—and hit him on the back of the head. Was he running away at that point? You made sure there weren’t any of your fingerprints, because you were known to the police as a result of my complaint and maybe others. And then, once you’d killed Chadwick, you hurled him down the stairs.”
“The situation got away from me—”
“And of course, Chadwick recognized Shelby when he discovered her upstairs in the bedroom. She must have freaked.”
“She was a silly, nervous thing, not nearly as intelligent as she looked. She started screaming when she saw him. How stupid was that? She should have just laughed it off, explained and apologized for our romantic interlude in his ‘country house.’”
I wasn’t sure that Chadwick or anyone would have bought that. Not with keys and codes involved. “But silly and nervous or not, she was the person who brought you into contact with Summerlea. She was your entrée into that kind of society. Lots of wealthy young women to plunder, trust accounts to play with once Shelby was stripped clean. And you managed that, didn’t you? Her car was being repossessed. She was being hounded for debts that you’d actually incurred.”
He practically spat. “Spoiled brats. You think they deserve their privilege, these rich bitches? Who cares what happens to them?”
“I’m guessing she wanted out even before Chadwick was killed. She was jumpy and nervous during the whole luncheon scene. But I’m sure you had a hold over her. Did she steal from her parents? Was that what you were holding over her head? Then with Chadwick’s murder, she started to fall apart. She became hysterical when I saw her at the gallery. Now she was in too deep to walk away. Did you decide then to get rid of her?”
He shrugged. “It’s all water under the bridge now. But you have to admit, it’s worked out according to plan in the end.”
“You mean with me, Vera and Kev accused of murder rather than breaking, entering and theft?”
“Exactly.”
“Thank you for calling the police with those tips. That brought us a lot of grief. And then planting stuff on my uncle Mick beforehand. He didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“That was the idea. I thought it was a laugh. And it got to you, didn’t it? As I said, you brought it on yourself.”
The best plan was to play to his massive, twisted ego and give the psychopath in front of me a few ego strokes. “I see you’ve been very clever with all this. I have to admire your entire plan. It was brilliant. You get even, I get blamed. My friends and family get damaged.”
“You don’t have to tell me it was brilliant. I thought it up.”
“Tell you what, Lucas. Because of what we used to have together and because I can’t help but admire your ingenuity with this whole production, I’ll just head out and that’s the last any of us will hear of this. Not a word from me.”
“Get real. Do you think I’m falling for that? With the police crawling all over the county looking for you? You’d blab everything you know about me before the door shuts behind you.”
“But that’s not going to happen. You have some stuff on my family, and that’s enough for me to keep my mouth closed.”
“Right. It’s not going to happen because you are going to be dead.”
I injected a little shake into my voice. “Come on, Lucas. We were in love once.”
“Don’t think so.”
“That would make three people you’ll have killed, Lucas. Is it getting easier?”
I heard a small rustle in the darkness. I only prayed he hadn’t heard it too. Apparently not. He was too focused on me. And not in a good way.
“You know what? It is getting easier. And you don’t know the half of it.”
A cold shiver ran over my body.
Lucas kept talking. “And don’t bother trying to trick me. The conversation’s over. It doesn’t matter what you say. You’re too much of a risk to keep around. And I have so many reasons for my revenge.”
“You don’t mean that!” I was hoping against hope that everything was in place as it should have been.
“I do. But feel free to beg. I think I’m entitled to that after all the trouble that you brought me.”
“Trouble that I—? Wait a minute. Please think about this. You don’t want to hurt me. I could even help you. And if they find another body here, it’s just a matter of time before someone breaks down and fingers you.”
“They won’t be finding another body here. And they’ll never find your body where you’re going.”
“What are you talking about? They found Shelby where you dumped her corpse.”
“That was different. I didn’t plan that. I had to do what I had to do to shut her up. But at least I was able to point the finger at you.”
“You phoned in another police tip, I suppose?”
He smirked again. “You really shouldn’t have chased her out of that gallery and then followed us. You and your pet librarian were the obvious suspects. You make it too easy for me. You forgot that I’d seen you in every imaginable wig when you were onstage. I know the way you move, the way you walk. You couldn’t fool me with that getup.”
Time to manipulate his vanity. It was the only tool I had left. “You’re a despicable human being, a psychopath. You’ve caused a lot of misery to many people. You’ve murdered two, and you’ve just threatened to murder me. Furthermore, you’re not as good-looking as you used to be. You’re getting a little jowly. Put on a bit of weight. I see that your hairline is receding. You won’t be able to play the leading man for much longer the way you’re going. But the other inmates may still find you attractive in prison when you get there.”
I needed him off balance, emotional. I guess I succeeded. “But I’m not going to prison, Jordan.” This time he raised the gun.
I shouted “NOW!” and dove to the side, rolling toward the open mahogany pocket doors that led to the parlor. When I stuck my head out a minute later, Uncle Kev had Lucas in a headlock. Uncle Lucky was sitting on his back. Soon, they moved out of view, and Officer Tyler Dekker fastened handcuffs on Lucas while doing a great job of reading him his rights. Quite a multitasker, our Smiley.
Lucas wasn’t planning to go without a fight. He kicked out hard at Smiley’s knee and connected hard. Smiley gave a grunt of pain but got those handcuffs on. Lucas t
ried to arch his back without success. Uncle Lucky is no lightweight. I knew I could count on him.
Lucas swore and bellowed, “I’ll kill you! You’re dead, every one of you.”
“Sheesh,” said Smiley, standing and rubbing his knee. “Assaulting an officer of the law? And then a death threat? Make my day.”
“Hey,” I said, with a wobble in my voice. “And threatening me isn’t bad enough?”
“With all due respect,” he shouted over Lucas’s raving, “this was a crazy idea for you to meet a killer here, Miss Bingham. It was just lucky for you that I got an anonymous call on my cell phone while I was off duty not too far away.”
“But who could have called you? No one else knew I was coming here.” Unlike Smiley, I had been very good on the stage.
He shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll trace the call.”
They wouldn’t, because the burner Kev used would have already been tossed into the lake. Even if they brought it to the surface, it wouldn’t tell them a thing.
“A tip? And what did the tip say?”
“The caller told me if I came in through the back door, I’d find Chadwick’s killer and maybe save another life. From the look of things, I got here just in time.”
Kev was flushed with pride. He’d managed to make that prearranged call to Tyler without screwing up. Of course, Kev hadn’t been able to resist coming into the house instead of remaining outside as agreed. Good thing that Tyler Dekker had been in on the sting. I was glad he wasn’t the kind of guy who let his mail pile up and he’d opened the envelope I’d sent him. And he’d trusted me.
I hoped Smiley’s career in the police took off, because he sure wouldn’t make it as an actor. But he didn’t need to. While Smiley called for backup, I skipped around the corner and found Cherie with a huge candy-pink grin splitting her face.
“Did you get everything?” I said.
“I got it all right. And it’s beautiful. Even better than beautiful. You know, I think a person could enjoy doing this for a living. I edited out the bit that shows Kev and Lucky. No point in complicating things. And even if the cops might notice the video’s been edited, it’s not likely they’ll be able to get it back.”
The Marsh Madness Page 26