“That was Charlotte,” Bonnie said, “and they haven’t found her body.”
“I know who I saw, and it wasn’t Charlotte,” Melissa said. “It was Ava. Ask Hannah, she’ll tell you the same.”
“It was dark, honey, and they do look alike now that Charlotte’s all grown up,” Bonnie said. “Ava says Charlotte was the one who tried to kill my son, and who tried to kill you.”
“Wait a minute,” Melissa said. “That’s not right.”
Melissa searched her memory. Ava on the dock with Charlotte, arguing, struggling. It was dark, with only the moon for light. How did she know who was who? Ava’s voice was deeper, more mature, and she had thought the one with the oar in her hand was Ava. Why was that?
Melissa closed her eyes and pictured the scene on the dock. Something had glinted in the moonlight: Ava’s big diamond ring, on the hand that held the oar. The one that had knocked Charlotte over; the one that had tried to kill Melissa.
Melissa felt dizzy; she reached for the arms of the chair to steady herself.
“Bless your heart,” Bonnie said. “You need to sleep. You’re not planning on driving yourself, are you?”
Melissa shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and tried to focus.
“No,” she said. “Delia’s picking me up; she should be here any minute.”
“You get some food in you, and you’ll feel better,” Bonnie said. “I’ll call the shop and have the girls send over some sticky buns.”
“What happened to Ava?”
“Flew the coop,” Bonnie said. “Will took her and Olivia to the DC airport this morning; they’re probably somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean by now, on their way to England. He’s buying a house there; they’re not coming back.”
“What about the boys?”
“I was just about to tell you,” Bonnie said. “She came to my house early this morning, to give me instructions about the boys; where they were to be sent after Will made the arrangements. Instead, I told her how it was going to be. She didn’t much like it, but I didn’t give her any choice. Will was waiting out front, and she didn’t want him fussed.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her we all knew Olivia was Patrick’s daughter; we also knew about the private investigator she had the affair with and killed. I told her unless she gave me custody of my grandsons I was going to raise a stink like she’d never smelled before in her life. Before I was done with her, I’d have Olivia, too, and she’d be in prison.”
“Weren’t you scared?”
“Sean was there, so no, not really.”
“Sean was there?”
“He had the custody agreement ready,” Bonnie said. “I’ve been busy this week; you didn’t even know about that, did you? I can be sneaky when I have to be. Now, granted, Sam and Sean put their heads together and came up with the idea, but it was me that got to deliver the news.”
“Y’all are sneaky,” Melissa said.
“Sean was wonderful,” Bonnie said. “He could tell she was going to call our bluff, so he told her that the FBI had all the evidence plus a statement from Patrick and they were going to arrest her as soon as they could get a warrant.”
“Is that true?”
“Maybe,” Bonnie said, but then winked at Melissa and smiled.
“What did Ava say?”
“She turned white as a ghost,” Bonnie said. “Her sins had finally come home to roost. She signed those papers and lit out of there like her backside was on fire. She didn’t even wake up the boys to tell them goodbye.”
“And no one drowned?”
“They haven’t found a body, so no, we think not.”
“That means Charlotte is still around somewhere.”
Bonnie shrugged.
“I love all my grandchildren, but I feel like I’ve lost Charlotte,” Bonnie said. “Unless Patrick decides to press charges, I don’t think she’ll be in any trouble.”
“He won’t,” Melissa said.
“Has he talked about what happened?”
“He says he doesn’t remember,” Melissa said.
Bonnie looked down the hall at the door to his room, and Melissa noticed Patrick had stopped wailing.
“Maybe that’s for the best,” Bonnie said.
Melissa sighed and then said, “I gotta go.”
She stood up and steadied herself.
“Don’t abandon him now,” Bonnie said. “He needs you.”
“No,” Melissa said. “Whatever it was that held those two together is stronger than me. I’m not gonna spend the rest of my life playing first runner-up to that woman, never mind all the other ones he’ll fool around with.”
“Give him some time,” Bonnie said as she stood up. “You may change your mind.”
“I love you,” Melissa said as she hugged Bonnie. “I’m only sorry you won’t be my mother-in-law.”
“I love you, too, darlin’,” Bonnie said. “If it weren't for you my son would be dead. You’ll always be special to me.”
Melissa walked down the hallway, away from Patrick’s room, past the nurses’ station, to the elevator. When the doors opened, Hannah was standing inside.
“I’ll ride down with you,” Hannah said.
Melissa entered the elevator and leaned against the back wall. She didn’t think she had ever felt so tired in all her life.
“How’s the patient?” Hannah asked.
“Bawling and squalling,” Melissa said.
“He’s a big baby,” Hannah said. “You’re officially a superhero now, you know, just like me. I’ve been considering names for you. How do you like ‘Tiny Titan?’ You know, like for Tennessee.”
“Perfect,” Melissa said, as she closed her eyes. “I love it.”
“Hold me closer, Tiny Titan,” Hannah sang. “Saving cheaters on the river ...”
Melissa laughed and opened her eyes.
“We’re friends now, huh?” Melissa said.
“Yep,” Hannah said. “You’re an honorary cousin. We took a vote, and it was unanimous.”
“I’m honored.”
They got off the elevator and walked toward the main lobby.
“Any news?” Melissa asked.
“They haven’t found Charlotte’s body,” Hannah said.
“I can picture it so clearly,” Melissa said. “The dark hair, the pale skin, the hand with the ring on it. That big sparkly ring. It was Ava.”
“Ava claims Charlotte knocked her over and then attacked you,” Hannah said. “She says it was Charlotte who kidnapped Patrick and tried to kill him.”
“But it was Ava with Patrick at the Thorn when I left. I saw Charlotte at the little house earlier. Johnny saw her, too. She had Ava’s van and planned to go to their house.”
They reached the ground floor and left the elevator. In the main lobby, they sat down in two chairs well away from anyone else.
“Ava says she was never at the bar,” Hannah said. “The blonde girl conveniently doesn’t remember anything, so there’s her paid off, I’d guess. Ava says she heard a commotion on the dock from up at her house and went down to see what was happening. She says she was trying to save Patrick when Charlotte hit her with the oar and knocked her over.”
“I swear to you, Hannah, it wasn’t Charlotte,” Melissa. “Charlotte was waiting for her mother to leave town so she could stay at their house. She’s probably the one who heard Ava at the dock, went down and caught her. Charlotte would not have tried to kill Patrick. The things they said on the dock don’t make sense the other way around.”
“It was dark,” Hannah said. “I thought it was Ava hitting Charlotte and then attacking you, but I only saw her from behind, and they look so much alike. I’m sorry, I can’t honestly swear to it.”
“It doesn’t matter what I say,” Melissa said. “I’m the ex-con, and she’s the queen of Rose Hill. No one will ever believe me.”
“What does Patrick say?”
“He doesn’t remember anything. That might be true, but probabl
y Heathcliff just doesn’t want Cathy to get in trouble.”
“You really took that book personally, didn’t you?”
“I’ll tell you what I think,” Melissa said. “I think Charlotte’s tethered to cinder blocks at the bottom of the river or buried in the woods somewhere.”
“You think Ava killed Charlotte, attacked you, fell in the river, swam to the shore, and then sneaked back and buried the body?” Hannah asked. “I know Ava’s rotten, but that’s like Mephisto-level evil. Besides, there wasn’t time.”
“Then that means Charlotte’s still around here somewhere,” Melissa said.
Melissa saw Delia crossing the street from the parking garage to the hospital.
“There she is,” Melissa said, and they both stood.
“How are Timmy and Ernie?” Melissa asked.
“They’re with Sean,” Hannah said. “I don’t know exactly how it happened because my husband is a veritable vault of secrecy, but it looks like they’re officially Bonnie’s now.”
“They’re better off,” Melissa said.
“Ding dong, the witch is dead,” Hannah said. “She had everything, but it went to her head.”
Melissa walked out of the hospital with Delia to find that snow had started to fall; big, fluffy bunches of flakes that stuck together and melted as soon as they hit the pavement. Out in the parking garage, they saw Terese getting out of a car. When she got to where they were standing, Terese hugged Delia.
“You two gonna own up to me now?” Melissa asked them.
“Fine with me,” Delia said.
“Sure,” Terese said. “Can we sit in your car?”
After they got in, Delia and Terese up front, Melissa in the back, Delia started the car and turned up the heat.
Terese took out her ID and showed it to Melissa.
“Federal Bureau of Investigations,” Melissa read. “Does that make you a good guy?”
“I think so,” Terese said. “The majority of us are good guys; there are a few exceptions, of course, just like anywhere else.”
“Have you been investigating Ava?”
Terese nodded.
“Not officially at first. I was here several years ago with my boss, investigating a drug-dealing operation,” she said. “We stayed at Ava’s B&B.”
Melissa waited while Terese seemed to hold an internal debate over telling her more.
“You can trust Melissa,” Delia said.
Terese shook her head, and Melissa realized the woman was trying not to cry.
Delia reached over and patted Terese’s arm.
“Even though I watched most of this happen, there’s still a lot I don’t know,” Delia said. “But I’ve given it a lot of thought over the years. I think what Ava does, and she’s very good at it, is to present a lovely blank screen, and whatever a man projects onto that screen, she becomes. Whatever he imagines she is, based on his fantasies and her beauty, she pretends to be for as long as she needs to get what she wants.”
“She’s a shapeshifter,” Melissa said.
“She is,” Delia said. “So these men think they’ve met the love of their lives, when actually, what they’ve met is a dangerous con artist.”
“My boss is a brilliant but arrogant man,” Terese said. “He prides himself on being an excellent judge of character, and by the time he met Ava, he had built up a reputation as an honorable, straight shooter. For Ava, however, he was willing to throw it all away, to risk everything he had worked so hard for. He could have lost everything.”
“Except you protected him,” Delia said.
“He was a good man who made a mistake,” Terese said. “If it came out it would have ended his career.”
“What did he do?” Melissa asked.
Terese shook her head.
“I can tell you,” Delia said. “You remember that Ava’s first husband, Patrick’s brother, Brian, abandoned Ava when their kids were very young. He got mixed up in selling drugs, had borrowed money from Theo Eldridge, and then disappeared. Right after Theo Eldridge was murdered, Brian showed back up in town, on the run because his second wife had died under mysterious circumstances.”
“He was a bigamist,” Melissa said, and Delia nodded before she continued.
“The FBI had agents living at Ava’s B&B while they investigated the local drug ring, and Terese’s boss fell in love with Ava. One morning, very early, he left the B&B in an SUV, and later that day, Brian was found dead in a ravine near the State Park. Do I have it right so far?”
Terese nodded.
“Terese’s boss was pursuing him when Brian’s car went off the road,” Delia said. “Instead of stopping to help him, he left him there to die.”
Terese turned her head to look out the window.
“Ava turned on him after that,” Delia said. “She no longer needed him, so she dumped him.”
“And took up with Scott,” Melissa said.
Delia nodded.
“She dumped Patrick a few times,” Melissa said. “He just never stayed dumped.”
“I think Ava was the first woman Patrick fell in love with as a teenager,” Delia said. “I believe he idealized her when they were young and he truly believed he rescued her after his brother left. She convinced him she was his one true love, and that except for all the complications that continually arose, they would be together.”
“Men are so dumb,” Melissa said.
Terese turned back toward them and laughed, but also wiped her eyes.
“Underneath her exterior, deep down, Ava is actually very insecure,” Terese said. “She thinks she has to manipulate men to get what she wants, which is safety, and to feel safe requires money and social status.”
“I don’t feel a bit sorry for her,” Melissa said. “She’s dangerous.”
“She’s a malignant narcissist with sociopathic tendencies,” Terese said. “The only emotions that matter are her own. Anyone else’s are just weaknesses to be exploited, and anyone or anything that gets in her way must be destroyed.”
Melissa realized then just how lucky she was to still be alive.
“We started out working on the drug dealing investigation,” Terese said, “but after that ended my boss got me assigned to the Rose Hill mayor’s political corruption case. During that time, while I lived here during the week and went home on the weekends, I kept an eye on Ava for him. She took up with the chief of police, Scott, and then after she got Theo Eldridge’s money she dumped him and went back to sneaking around with Patrick. I knew she was never going to marry Patrick, but a fool in love will see what he wants to see; I should know. After the mayor’s case was done, I went back to DC, but I still had contacts here.”
“That would be me,” Delia said.
“And eventually Karl,” Terese said. “When Will rented the whole B&B from Ava, I knew what was going to happen. I was content to let Ava do her voodoo on anyone dumb enough to fall for it until she killed the private eye. And she killed him, there’s no doubt about it. I’ve seen it from two angles now, and I’ve got Patrick’s statement, so there’s no question in my mind.”
“Were you working with Karl the whole time?” Melissa asked.
“Karl’s a retired agent, and an old friend of my boss,” Terese said. “After Will’s father died, his uncle, who is a very well-connected political donor, got in touch with my boss’s boss, looking for someone to watch over Will. Will’s a great guy, actually, and a good businessman, but evidently, he’s always been an idiot where women are concerned. Will’s mother reported her concerns to her brother-in-law, and he took care of it. My boss recommended Karl and Will’s mother hired him. Karl, in turn, hired the private detective through an intermediary; the private investigator didn’t know who had hired him.
“Karl had their house wired for video although Ava never knew it. She thought he was a drunk, but he only wanted her to believe that. He saw her come and go from that side of the river, and the private investigator saw her come and go from this side. We knew right w
hen the affair with the private eye started. She really is an incredible manipulator. She would have made an excellent operative.”
“Or a notorious double agent,” Delia said, “like Mata Hari.”
“No doubt,” Terese said. “The night Ava killed the private investigator, Karl saw her leave the house and then saw her husband try to leave. Will was out of it but insisted on driving. Karl talked him into letting him drive. When they got to the intersection outside the bar, Will grabbed the wheel, and they caused the coal truck to wreck.”
“Isn’t leaving the scene of a crime against the law?” Melissa asked.
“Karl works for Will’s mother,” Terese said. “He didn’t see the private investigator get hit, and he’s being paid to make sure nothing happens to the woman’s son, period. Will was his first priority.
“Karl took Will back to the house and was going around to the other side of the SUV to get him out when Ava showed up. He hid and then sneaked back to his apartment, where he watched on hidden cameras while Ava disposed of her clothing and hid the victim’s belongings. The next day he retrieved her clothing from the trash, and before she left the house that night after her party, he took the victim’s belongings from the donation bag she asked him to put in her car.”
“But not before Hannah stole the memory card,” Delia said.
“We have that now,” Terese said. “Between the video evidence from the bar and the funeral home, and Patrick’s statement, it wouldn’t have been hard to get a warrant.”
“Why did you let her leave, then?” Melissa asked.
“I received a call from Patrick last night, before the accident, saying he wanted to rescind his statement,” Terese said. “And there were other complications I didn’t foresee.”
“Your boss is still in love with her,” Melissa said. “He’s protecting her.”
“Here’s the thing,” Terese said. “Will’s uncle is closely connected to the current White House administration, he was a major donor to the president’s campaign, and he’s also a defense contractor. I heard from my boss this morning; the new head of the DOJ wants us to back off, or everyone’s fired.”
“She’s getting away with it.”
“Yes.”
Pumpkin Ridge (Rose Hill Mystery Series Book 10) Page 25