“I knew she was absolutely driven to prove herself to her father, but I had no idea. . .” She shook her head. “It just doesn’t seem possible, and yet. . . there’s a sick sort of logic to it all, isn’t there?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Like starting with the little stuff and then the whole thing just getting so terribly out of hand. I suppose she may have knocked those flats over on herself and put the glass in her own powder partly just to get attention. If her parents didn’t give her the attention she needed as a child she would probably do about anything to get it now”
Richard agreed. “She probably had some vague idea of blaming those things on Dirk and scaring him off. Then when that didn’t work she got more serious.” He paused. “She was incredibly clever. She really had it all set up so no one would question that she had killed him in self-defense. I suppose she hoped for a witness. That must have been why she left the note behind—or just for evidence later.”
“If we hadn’t arrived at just the right time, no one would have doubted her,” Elizabeth agreed. “Who do you think delivered that note for her?”
Gregg shrugged. “That would have been easy. She probably left it at the box office for herself. Asked them to deliver it after the play. They would have sent it along with anyone who happened to be free.”
“So there was no kidnapper?” Tori spoke slowly, groping to make sense of it all. “She staged the whole thing all by herself? That’s really amazing.”
“Yes, it is,” Elizabeth agreed, “and a terrible waste of brains and talent. Courage, even. Those bruises were real. She must have thrown herself against a pile of rocks.” She shook her head.
Richard nodded. “‘The pity of it, Iago; oh, Iago, the pity of it.’”
There was a long, thoughtful silence in the room.
Then Elizabeth frowned. “So that must mean it was Erin who almost knocked me off the catwalk?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Richard turned to her. “That was Larry. He confessed the whole thing. He was getting an extra good price for some special connectors they used on that bank of lights. He saw Erin drop the case on you, then run off. He panicked that he’d be found with the stolen stuff, so he just froze there until he had to run.”
“I thought Larry was outside when that happened?”
“Apparently that’s what Tom thought and inadvertently gave Larry an alibi.”
Elizabeth shook her head, thinking how tangled the web had become.
“But it’s so awful about Sally,” Tori persisted. “I don’t see how anyone could be so obsessed, even someone with a father like Eric Wooton.”
“Pain in her childhood left her driven to be perfect, to fill the emotional void in her life. It’s a classic case.” Gregg stopped and laughed. Everyone was staring at him. “Hey, sorry. I’ll hang out my shingle—Resident Psychiatrist—so you’ll be warned. But it’s true. I told you I had counseling. That’s the pattern.”
“What about Erin now?” Tori asked. “Do you think she’ll get counseling in jail?”
“I’m sure her father will get her the best lawyers and best psychiatrists money can buy. Probably all he needed to know was that Erin—or rather Erica—cared for him.” Richard shook his head. “What a shame it all had to go so far.”
Tori took a long sip of tea. “It’s like all that stuff about mercy and justice in Measure, isn’t it? She deserves the severest justice for Sally’s death, and yet we want her to have the mercy of medical treatment. And some judge will have to sort it all out.”
“Mercy, justice and forgiveness,” Elizabeth mused, not yet sure how she felt about it all, except great relief to have it over. Then she recalled the line from Winter’s Tale that Gregg had quoted earlier, “‘as the heavens have done, forget your evil; with them forgive yourself.’”
“Yes,” Gregg said slowly. “Heaven’s forgiveness. That’s another truth I’ve been groping my way toward this week. You guys have been great.” He smiled at Richard. “I’m still working on all that you’ve thrown at me.”
“Don’t worry about that, Gregg,” Richard replied. “We’re all still working on it. The mercy and justice stuff is so nice in theoretic boxes, but when you get it tangled up with real people. . .”
“Yes, fine.” Tori interrupted. “But we have news.” She nudged Gregg impatiently.
“What?” Elizabeth demanded.
“In all the excitement I almost forgot. . .” Gregg hesitated.
“Well, I didn’t forget.” Tori threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Trevor told Gregg after Richard and Officer Fellows went chasing off after Elizabeth—my goodness,” she interrupted herself, “it has been a long night, hasn’t it?”
“Tori— ” Elizabeth sounded threatening.
“Oh, yes. Well, SOSC has an opening in its drama department. They asked Trevor if he was interested. He isn’t, but he thinks Gregg has a really good chance of getting it! Now, see—” She tossed her head and gave her sister a saucy look. “You can’t possibly object to Gregg. After all, you married a college professor.”
“Yes, and look where it got me.” Elizabeth held her pose of breathless seriousness.
“Where?” Richard demanded.
Her smile broke across her face. “‘To the marriage of true minds. . . that looks on tempests and is never shaken—the star to every wandering bark.’”
“‘Aye, there’s method in her madness. Come on, and kiss me, Kate!’”
And she did.
# # #
About the Author
Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of thirty-five books, largely novels of British history. She is now specializing in mysteries. A Midsummer Eve’s Nightmare is the second in her series of Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries, after The Shadow of Reality.
Donna is a former English and drama teacher. She has played Olivia in Twelfth Night and done cuttings of Isabella in Measure for Measure, Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew. She and her husband were regular patrons of the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland, Oregon, for many years.
Donna invites her readers to learn more about her books and research trips, see pictures of her garden, and write to her through her website: www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com
A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare
An Elizabeth and Richard Mystery
Copyright ©2010 by Donna Fletcher Crow
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.
StoneHouse Ink 2011
StoneHouse Ink
Nampa ID 83686
www.stonehouseink.net
First eBook Edition: 2011
First Paperback Edition: 2011
ISBN: 978-0615571638
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover design by Fuji Aamabreorn
Published in the United States of America
StoneHouse Ink
Table of Contents
Books in The Elizabeth and Richard Mystery Series
Title Page
Dedication
"To Find True"
Cast of Characters
Prologue
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
/> CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
About the Author
Copyright Information
A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare Page 15