Because Miles was the person Will Grace had owed money to, the man he’d been afraid of all along.
After delivering that dramatic pronouncement, I paused to take a breath.
“You finished?” The officer blew out a weary sigh. She sounded like she was really hoping I’d say yes. “Because I’ve got plenty here to get you a callback from Detective Sturgill. I’m thinking maybe you want to explain the rest of this to him in person.”
If only it was that easy.
“Sure,” I said. “Thank you.”
I started the car, intending to head home. Then I abruptly changed my mind, when something else occurred to me. Maybe Miles had a second reason for showing up at Graceland School. Maybe he’d wanted to keep an eye on his sister too. He might have felt the need to ensure she didn’t say anything that could get him into trouble.
Because suddenly I realized that Emily had been right in the middle of this fracas all along. So now I had to ask myself: How much did she really know?
Chapter 32
I turned in the opposite direction and headed toward Graceland School. Camp ended in less than an hour, and Sam was expecting me to pick up the boys anyway. So it only made sense to go there. Before the day’s session was over, however, I intended to find Emily and make her tell me the truth.
I was happy to see that Miles’s Lexus wasn’t out front when I arrived. That helped. I had no desire to see him. I texted Emily once I’d parked the Volvo in the lot. She quickly wrote back to tell me she was in her office.
I let myself in the building and strode down the empty hallway. Emily’s door was half-open. She was sitting behind her desk, frowning at her computer screen. When I knocked, she glanced up and smiled.
Emily closed the computer, then beckoned me into the room. “It’s nice to see a friendly face. It feels so quiet around here now that the puppies are gone. It’s only been one day. I can’t believe how much I already miss them.”
“I’m sure you do. They were a big part of your life for three months.” I pulled over a chair and sat down. “I didn’t see your brother’s car when I came in. Is Miles around?”
“Not if his car’s gone,” Emily said with a shrug. “He must have gone out. Miles gets bored hanging around the school all day. I think he’ll be heading home soon.”
“To New Hampshire?”
She nodded. “Miles expected the police to have things wrapped up by now. But the investigation is still dragging on, and he says there are important things he needs to get back to.”
I didn’t believe that for a minute. I wondered if Emily did—or if she was covering for her brother. Maybe Miles had felt the authorities’ net closing around him. New Hampshire shared a border with Canada. Maybe he was already on his way there.
“You and I need to talk,” I told her.
“Oh?” Emily didn’t guard her expression closely enough because she suddenly looked wary. “About what?”
“I think you know.”
She managed a wobbly smile. “Don’t tell me you’ve managed to scoop the police.”
“No, but I have gotten some things figured out. You told me you had no idea what Will was doing in the woods behind the school on the night he was killed. That wasn’t true, was it?”
Emily stared at me. She had to be wondering how much I knew. And how much she ought to admit.
“Maybe not entirely,” she said after a pause.
“Did you speak with him?”
“Just briefly.”
“What did you talk about?”
Her chin lifted. “Money, what else? As usual, Will needed some. He tried to persuade me to give it to him.”
“And you didn’t,” I said.
“Of course not. What would have been the point? Maybe he’d have used it to pay off whoever he owed this time. But sooner or later, he’d have been back for more. Will refused to understand that his mistakes weren’t my problem anymore.”
“Will was in trouble,” I said. “Did he tell you someone had threatened to harm him if he didn’t pay up?”
“He did, but I didn’t believe him,” Emily snapped. “Will’s whole life was one drama after another. I thought this was just more of the same.”
“Did he tell you who he was in debt to?”
The wary look came back. Emily’s expression immediately shuttered. “No. He didn’t.”
I was pretty sure she was lying. But I could circle back around to that later.
Instead I said, “Why didn’t you tell anyone that you spoke to Will on the night he was killed?”
“Why do you think?” She snorted. “Doing so would have made me look guilty. Will was my ex-husband. His body was found near my property. I knew the police would be examining our relationship under a microscope. If I’d admitted I was the only person who knew he was here, that detective would have snapped handcuffs on me the very first day.”
“So instead you impeded their investigation,” I pointed out.
Emily just shrugged, as if the move still made perfect sense to her.
“Did you shoot Will?” I asked.
The question—coming from me—seemed to surprise her. “No, of course not.”
“So if you didn’t kill him, that must mean you weren’t the only person who knew he was here. Right?”
Emily bit her lip and took her time about answering. She cast her eyes around the room as if she was looking for a way to escape. “Maybe.”
“And maybe you know who pulled the trigger,” I said.
This time, she didn’t reply at all. So I kept talking.
“You knew all along, didn’t you?”
That accusation finally goaded her into responding.
“No!” Emily cried. “In the beginning I had no idea. None at all. Otherwise, I never would have asked for your help.”
I nodded. At least that part made sense.
“But then you couldn’t help becoming suspicious,” I prompted.
Emily wasn’t dumb. While I’d been blundering around in the dark, she’d already had the pieces of the puzzle neatly lined up in front of her. All she’d had to do was put them together.
She might have shied away from doing so for as long as possible. But eventually, Emily had to have come to the conclusion that was now glaringly obvious to both of us.
“I talked to Miles right after I found out what had happened,” she said. “I was in shock, and he was the first person I called. Later, it occurred to me that he hadn’t asked many questions. And that he seemed to already know about things I hadn’t told him. But I still didn’t realize.” Emily stopped and shook her head. “How could I have realized? The whole idea was impossible.”
“I understand that.”
“But then Miles showed up here—after I’d told him not to come. He was the one who insisted. And once he was here, he kept bugging me to talk to the police. He wanted to know all about their investigation.” Her gaze lifted. “He asked about you too. And why you were poking your nose into everything. He told me I was stupid to let you keep coming around.”
“You weren’t,” I said. “Your instincts about that were spot-on. But now you have a decision to make. What are you going to do?”
Once again, I’d asked a question that surprised her.
“There’s nothing I can do,” Emily replied sharply. “Miles will go back to New Hampshire, and we’ll both put this behind us.”
She had to know that was a fantasy, I thought. A man had been murdered. Perhaps not a very good man—but even so, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that the police wouldn’t follow their investigation to its conclusion. Whether or not Miles left the state.
“I’m sorry, Emily,” I said. “But that’s not how this is going to end.”
“You’re right,” a deep voice said from behind me. “It’s not.”
Slowly, I turned in my seat. Miles was standing in the doorway.
So Emily’s brother wasn’t on his way to Canada. That was too bad. Miles wasn’t holding a weapon, bu
t he still exuded a palpable air of menace. I wished the puppies had been here to warn us of his approach.
“I thought you were out,” I said.
“I was. But it looks like I returned just in time.”
Emily stared at him, wide-eyed. “How much did you hear?”
“More than enough.”
She shoved back her chair and stood. “Then you know what you need to do. Go upstairs and pack your bags. You can leave right now.”
“And go where?” Miles’s lips pursed in annoyance. He knew better than to believe his sister’s fanciful solution. “There’s no point in my going anywhere until I’ve fixed things here.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I grasped the arms of my chair and stood up too. Now at least we were all on equal footing.
Emily stepped out from behind her desk. She moved to stand between me and her brother. “Don’t do something stupid, Miles. There’s nothing here that can be fixed. Things have gone too far.”
“You need to get a lawyer and talk to the police,” I told him. “Explain to them what happened. It will be better if they hear it from you first.”
“First—before they come for me, you mean?” Miles growled. “That’s not going to happen. Because you’re not going to have a chance to tell them what you know.”
I’d already told Detective Sturgill everything I knew. At least, I’d tried to. Hopefully, the message I’d left hadn’t been too garbled in the retelling.
“Don’t talk like an idiot,” Emily snapped. “Forget about what Melanie said. Just go. Get away from all this. Go someplace where the authorities will never find you.”
Where would that place be? I wondered. La La Land?
“I’m not running away,” Miles shot back. “I have a life. I have a job. I’m not going to let everything be ruined just because I happened to be there when your irresponsible ex-husband had an accident with a gun.”
An accident? That was a new idea. Next, it might occur to Miles to argue self-defense. Whatever kept him talking was fine by me. I’d listen to as many stories as he wanted to spin. I would even pretend to believe them.
“You,” he said, pointing in my direction. “You’re coming with me.”
I braced my feet and crossed my arms over my chest. Whatever Miles had in mind, I didn’t want any part of it. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He reached around behind him. When his hand came forward again, it was holding a gun. The weapon must have been tucked in the back of his waistband.
Miles pushed Emily to one side. Then he lifted the barrel and pointed it at me. “I said move.”
My head jerked up as a bell chimed in the other building to signal the end of the camp day. Dammit. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
Emily caught my eye. I knew she was thinking the same thing.
“Just keep the kids safe,” I said to her. “All of them. I’m going with Miles.”
“Melanie, don’t—”
“I have to. You know that as well as I do.”
Emily wanted to continue arguing. She didn’t want to accept the truth of what I was saying any more than I did. But neither of us had a choice. After a moment, she nodded and stepped aside to let me pass.
Miles grabbed my upper arm. He poked my ribs with the gun’s muzzle. Like he thought I wouldn’t be frightened enough with the weapon six inches away. Fat chance of that. At this close range, any shot he took wouldn’t miss.
“Go to the children,” I said to Emily. “Now.”
She turned and ran from the room.
Through the office window, I caught a quick glimpse of campers pouring out of the other building to gather in the school’s front yard for pick-up. Then Miles yanked me away. I stumbled after him, out into the hallway. He and I walked toward the rear door.
At least we were heading away from the children. But the end of the camp day also meant that he and I would be alone behind the school. There’d be no one around to notice that something unusual was happening.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked as we exited the building.
“You’ll see,” Miles replied grimly. “Just keep walking.”
Together, we strode toward the woods at the back of the property. Those trees had provided ample cover for Miles’s first dirty deed. It must have made sense to him to repeat what had worked before.
Miles was bigger and stronger than I was. And he had a gun. Out here in the open, I’d have no chance of escaping. But maybe once we reached the woods, I could convince him to let go of my arm. It would be darker there, and the uneven footing could work to my advantage. Considering our size difference, dodging between the tightly packed trees would be easier for me too.
We walked past the Dalmatians’ empty pen. It was a shame the puppies weren’t here to provide a distraction. Then again, who knew what Miles might be capable of? Maybe he would have shot them too. The thought made me cringe.
Miles must have felt my small tremor. He looked down at me and frowned. “Just a little farther now.”
As if that was what I was worried about.
“You’re making the biggest mistake of your life,” I said.
“No, not even close,” Miles retorted. “The biggest mistake of my life was letting Will Grace funnel my life savings into one of his bogus investments. I should have known better—but Will always did talk a good game. He had a real gift for making larceny sound like it was the best thing that could happen to you.”
“So that’s why you killed him?”
“It was an accident,” Miles said again. “I didn’t want Will dead. I wanted my money back. I only intended to threaten him. I needed him to understand that I meant business.”
“You were the person behind all those other ‘accidents’ that happened here too, weren’t you?”
Miles cast me a quick glance. “You’re smarter than you look. Emily never did figure that part out.”
“She’ll never let you get away with this,” I said.
“I’m not worried about that,” he replied. “I’ll convince her I was only doing what had to be done to protect both of us—and her school. She’ll be upset at first. But in the end, she’ll go along.”
I knew he was wrong about that. He had to be.
We were at least sixty yards away from the school now. The first line of trees was just ahead of us. The woods beyond them looked dark and ominous. Or maybe that was just my state of mind.
Abruptly I stopped walking. That jerked Miles to a halt too.
He motioned with the gun. “Not out here. Keep going.”
As if he thought I would be a willing participant in my own demise. The man was delusional.
“Let go of me,” I said. “There’s nowhere I can run now. I won’t be able to walk between the trees with you hauling me around.”
His grip slackened slightly. It wasn’t enough. The moment Miles released me, I intended to be gone. I’d dash into the woods before he even had time to think, much less react. I took a step away from him and yanked hard.
Then suddenly Miles did let go, and my whole plan went to hell. Instead of running like a swift and graceful gazelle, I stumbled over my own feet and fell down on the ground. Like an idiot.
The same ankle that I’d broken in February, twisted beneath me. Pain made me suck in a sharp breath. I swore vehemently. I wouldn’t be dashing anywhere now.
I was so busy berating myself that it took me a moment to realize that Miles and I were no longer alone. A pair of official looking shoes stepped into view. Relief washed through me as I realized what that meant.
“Miles Harlan, we have you surrounded,” Detective Sturgill said. “Put your weapon down on the ground and put your hands up.”
Epilogue
Later, I found out that Emily had called the Stamford Police Department the moment she was out of sight. Detective Sturgill had not only received my earlier message, he’d also understood most of it. So he and his partner were already close to the school when Emily’s frantic call
came through.
Detective Sturgill put in a call for extra backup. Then he came up with the idea to use the Earleys’ property as a means of accessing the woods behind the school. That maneuver ensured that he and his partner remained unseen as they circled around to get ahead of us and lie in wait.
Unlike my plan, the detective’s had come together beautifully.
Even better, Detective Sturgill had overheard much of what Miles and I had been talking about as we approached his hiding place. He’d been listening when Emily’s brother confessed to killing her ex-husband. He’d also heard enough to realize that Miles intended to shoot me too.
Miles, who’d been full of bluster and bravado when it was just the two of us, offered no resistance at all when the police suddenly appeared in front of him. He quickly laid down his gun and surrendered. I watched with satisfaction as he was handcuffed and taken into custody.
Detective Sturgill was looking very pleased with himself when he extended a hand to help me up. I was pretty pleased with him too. He would probably never admit it, but he and I worked well together. Almost in spite of ourselves, we were turning into a decent team.
After Miles was arrested, the police questioned Emily extensively. In the end, they decided not to charge her as an accessory to her brother’s crime. That she’d acted to thwart Miles’s plan to commit another murder, then readily confessed to everything she knew, were both mitigating factors in their decision.
Miles hired a lawyer who entered a plea of self-defense on his behalf. He was granted bail, then made himself scarce while awaiting trial. Before he left, Miles revealed to Emily that her assistant, Mia, had been working as his well-paid, on-site accomplice.
Confronted by Emily, Mia admitted to the role she’d played in engineering the alarming events that had taken place at the school prior to Will’s death. She blamed poor judgment and massive college debt for her regrettable behavior. Mia claimed to have been entirely unaware of Miles’s endgame and insisted she never would have participated in his scheme if she’d known it would culminate in Will Grace’s murder.
Emily was devastated to discover that someone she’d believed in and relied upon had betrayed her trust. She received scant sympathy from me, however. I found I was feeling much the same way.
Pup Fiction Page 25