“Yes,” Maureen said.
“What are you going to do to me?”
Maureen held up the gun. “Did you tell anyone you were investigating me? Is anyone coming after you?”
“Oh, everyone I’ve ever me,” I lied. “I told the barista at the coffee shop and Detective Garza…absolutely everyone will be after you in a minute.”
She laughed. “Has anyone ever told you that you are the worst liar?”
“Once or twice,” I said with a sigh.
She stopped talking then. If I tried, she brandished the gun until I closed my mouth. The trees thickened and we found ourselves on the dirt road leading to the campground. She directed me to the left and up a winding trail to the most secluded cabin you could wish for. It was surrounded by trees and barely visible until you were right up on it. I parked and she motioned for me to get out of the car.
“Open the cabin door and get inside. The key’s there with the car keys, the green one,” Maureen said keeping the gun trained on me. “Hurry up or I’ll shoot you here and leave you for the animals. Plenty of little woodland creatures would love a free lunch.”
My hands shook as I sorted the keys. “Don’t kill me, Maureen. I won’t tell anyone what I know. I’ll take the secret to my grave.”
“You most certainly will,” Maureen said, as I cursed my choice of words. “Open it.”
I got the key loose but my fingers were clumsy with fear and I dropped them. She hissed at me. I scooped them up and tried again. After the third try I was sweating from stress but the door was open.
“Inside,” Maureen said. I had no choice but to obey. Once inside she instructed me to sit down in an old lounger. She sat opposite me.
“Why did you bring me here? You could have killed me earlier and been on your way to Mexico by now. This is your cabin isn’t it? They’ll find us here, and if I’m dead you’re definitely going to jail…”
Maureen shot the gun. The bullet exploded splinters out of the floor by my feet. “Shut up! Don’t you ever shut up?”
I tried to speak but my mouth was too dry. It took a few swallows to get things going again. “Maureen please,” I whispered.
“Oh, well since you asked nicely,” Maureen said and trained the gun to my chest. But her arm shook and after a few seconds she lowered it. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“Do what? Shoot the floorboards?”
“No, you little idiot! I didn’t mean to kill my mother. It was an accident,” she said, looking pained. “But my mother is an idiot too, and she never knew when to leave things alone. So she died. But I wasn’t going to let my life end with hers. And I can’t let it end with yours. I just need to work out the best way to get it to look like a suicide.”
“I would never kill myself,” I said, feeling icy.
“Don’t be selfish,” Maureen said. “Think of your family.”
I knew what she was implying. If I didn’t do what she wanted she would go after my family. I was afraid but I was rapidly growing angry.
“Maureen if it was an accident then why are you doing all this? Just tell the cops it was an accident and we can both just go home.”
“Because I tried to cover it up,” Maureen said. “Now there’s no way out. Except for you. So I want you to,” she rummaged around in her purse pulling out a pen and paper. “Take these and write a nice note about how you killed my mother and then overcome with grief you took your own life.”
“No,” I said. “No way am I doing that. Kill me if you want, but you’re not using me as an alibi.”
“Fine,” Maureen rose with the gun. “I’ll just say you confessed to me.”
I stared down the barrel of the gun. This was it. I was going to die.
Something slammed into the cabin door. Maureen turned and I launched at her like an angry cat. We crashed backwards into her chair and rolled. I scrambled for the gun. She screamed and held on trying to turn the gun so she could kill me. It went off and someone yelped. I bit Maureen’s wrist and she let the gun go. It skittered away.
“Freeze,” Detective Garza said. She stood over us pointing her own gun at Maureen’s chest.
“Is she alright?” Aunt Hazel asked. I saw her silhouetted in the doorway. “We heard a shot.”
“I think I’m shot,” Rory said. I rolled to my feet to see him leaning awkwardly against a wall. And then he slowly slid to the ground.
Chapter Twelve
I raced to Rory’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said, laughing a little. “It just grazed me.”
“Why are you laughing? You’ve been shot!”
“I’m in shock, I think,” he said, and a giggle escaped him.
“How did you find me?”
Rory smiled. “I saw Maureen with you and your mother. I watched you tell her you were fine. You are a terrible liar, Ella Sweeting.”
I frowned.
“Don’t look so down about it, Miss Sweeting,” Detective Garza said. “It saved your life.”
Garza had called for an ambulance by then and a couple of officers had neatly stowed Maureen in the back of a patrol car.
I put my arm around Rory and pulled him close. He leaned gratefully against me, and I rested my head on top of his. We didn’t say anything, but I think we both understood.
The next day was devoted to my “recovering from my ordeal,” as Girard put it. I sat bundled in blankets in the living room, my favorite orange-frankinsense-lilac blend diffusing around me, munching on Girard’s scrumptious chocolate chip cookies and sipping white hot cocoa with chocolate chunks and marshmallows floating among gold dust. To say I was being coddled was an understatement of murderous proportional.
Mother had encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, so I invited Rory over and ordered pizza for everyone. Not quite what she had intended, it seemed. As soon as she heard Rory’s name mentioned she sniffed and told me not to bother inviting the mailman over. I ignored her, as did the Aunts, who began discussing Rory’s bravery and injury and cuteness. Mother glowered at us all.
When Girard showed him in, I beamed, and the Aunts all smiled knowingly.
“Hi Rory,” I said. “Come share the blankets with me.”
His cheeks flushed just the slightest bit as he came over to the love seat I was on and sat down beside me. I fluffed the blankets over him, but Mother twitched them away, staring him down until he put some space between us. She opened her mouth, and I cringed, worrying that she might say something that would insult him, but thankfully the doorbell rang, distracting her.
Girard entered the drawing room a few seconds later, followed by Detective Garza and Ruby. Garza was as perfectly coiffed as ever, with her hair all slick and shiny and a wearing a perfectly tailored pantsuit. I instantly felt drab, but was still pleased to see her. But I was even more pleased to see Ruby. She was in her uniform, so on the clock, but she winked at me and stayed by the door.
“Are you here to arrest me?” I asked Garza, only half kidding. She had threatened to arrest me for sleuthing. She seemed like the type to make good on her promises.
Smiling, she shook her head no. “I came to fill you in. It’s not exactly procedure, but you did help me catch a killer. How did you know it was Maureen?”
“Oh, well I didn’t at first. I was convinced it was Max. He has certain, uh, issues that led me to believe he was capable of it.”
“Ah, you mean he’s a creep,” Rory interjected.
“He’s not a creep,” Ruby told him. “He’s an eligible bachelor.”
Rory raised an eyebrow at the cop. “If you say so,” he said.
“Well, first he has a drug issue, so he would need money. He wears the same cologne that had been poured all over Vanessa. He was a bit creepy,” I said, glancing over at Ruby. For whatever reason she liked the guy…but the best thing would be if she heard the truth about him. Hopefully she would make a better decision that way. “He also pushed his sister down the stairs at the wake. It made him seem like a good ca
ndidate.” I mouthed I’m sorry to Ruby.
Garza nodded, her smile widening. “I thought the same thing. But he wasn’t a gambler.”
“Right. But George Stewart was a gambler, and he had a lot of reasons to want his wife gone. They basically hated each other and he even laughed when he saw the body.”
“Well, that’s where I can tell you you’re wrong,” Garza said. “If Vanessa died under suspicious circumstances, he gets nothing unless he can prove he was not involved. Seems like Vanessa was cannier than anyone thought when it came to her loving husband.”
I nodded. “I dismissed him early on. Nothing really seemed to connect him. I was stuck on Leanne for awhile.”
“Well, that was way off base,” Rory said. I resisted the urge to pinch him. “I’ve known Leanne forever. She loved Vanessa like a mother.”
“But she was the one stealing the jewelry,” I added. “Did we ever find out why?”
“Maureen,” Detective Garza answered. “She was pressuring Leanne to steal for her. Maureen was pawning the jewelry for her gambling habit.”
“The IOU in Vanessa’s hand was hers?”
Detective Garza nodded. “She was gambling so much it caused a rift between her and Max. He didn’t approve of her choice in men or hobbies.”
Well, at least he had something going for him.
“How did you get on to Maureen’s trail?” Garza wanted to know.
“I was still on Max’s trail at the funeral. But then I found a slip of paper with a phone number on it. When I was snooping in the little family room at the funeral parlor I ran into her and discovered the number was for the racetrack. I put it together with the cologne/perfume thing.”
“Cologne/perfume thing?”
“Oh, the day of the murder, Rory was delivering a box, and when he found out Vanessa was dead he dropped it. Something inside broke, and it gave off a scent that was a dead ringer for the one in Vanessa’s room. It took us awhile to realize it was a combination of Maureen’s perfume and Max’s cologne. Were the threatening phone calls about Maureen?”
“One of them was,” Garza admitted. “The other one was an overdue cable bill.”
“So I know she did it, but I still don’t know why,” I said. “She really did love her mother. I can’t believe she’d actually kill her to cover gambling debts.”
“No,” Garza said. “It was an accident. Maureen told me she had gone to an Italian restaurant earlier that evening.”
“She stole the knife from my bag!” Aunt Sarah crossed her arms in annoyance. “That little kleptomaniac! I knew I recognized her from somewhere. She ‘helped’ me pick my things up at the restaurant while helping herself to Hazel’s knife.”
“Right. She was planning on pawning that. Vanessa caught her stealing some jewelry and realized why. They argued and Vanessa said she was going to call the police,” Garza began.
“So she tried to stop her and stabbed her,” I concluded. It worked with the scene. “That’s how the phone must have ended up under the bed.”
“She should have come forward then but instead she decided to blame the murder on her brother or father, whichever looked better on paper. She doused the body in her brother’s cologne. Opened a window and escaped onto the ledge, and then came back inside through the hallway window.”
“Wow,” Rory breathed. “That is cold blooded!”
“Well at least we know Max is innocent now,” Ruby said wistfully.
“I think you’re carrying a torch for the wrong guy,” I said.
She smiled at me and snorted. “You have terrible taste in men.”
Rory and I glanced at each other, amused.
“Max is a catch, and I think with the influence of a good woman, he can be rehabilitated,” Ruby said.
Detective Garza laughed, “Oh, Ruby! You would make a terrible influence on any man, let alone millionaire playboy Max Stewart.”
“Maybe,” she agreed. But she shrugged her shoulders and added, “Still, you can’t deny that he’s a hottie.”
Girard came in with the tea trolley, loaded high with pastries and a stout, steaming teapot. The cats followed, whiskers twitching.
“I think that in light of the circumstances, I will not be arresting you for meddling or your Aunt Hazel for owning that knife,” Garza said. “I am going to advise against further sleuthing on your part.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I assured her. “I’m not expecting to see any more dead bodies anytime soon.”
Garza raised an eyebrow. “I wonder.” She turned to Rory. “How are you holding up?”
“Oh, I lost a chunk of skin, that’s all. I’m fine. Bit woozy, really,” he answered. She grinned at him, and I wished we had those blankets back.
I drank two cups of tea and was reaching for an éclair when I saw a tail flick behind the anthurium. A second tail appeared and suddenly Trouble was up on his hind legs trying to get a lemon square. Livvie tried for an apple crisp at the same time, and the cart tipped over in a glorious explosion of pastry, tea, and powdered sugar.
“Oh, you troublemaking thieves!” Mother chased the cats, but they outsmarted her and zipped around the loveseat.
“Quick! Lick them all so no one will want them,” Livvie yelled.
Trouble ducked under the coffee table and did just that until Garza and Aunt Joe chased him out.
“Get out of here, you ungrateful monsters!” Mother shouted, tossing her tea towel after them. I knew they would be back in a minute to sneak more pastries. It was no use, the afternoon tea was over. Mother turned to Garza.
“I am so sorry, Detective! Those dratted cats are a such menace,” she said, dabbing at the tea splatters on Garza’s pants. “I can have another tray brought in. Just give me a moment. Girard!”
“No, don’t bother” Detective Garza said, stifling a laugh. “It’s time Ruby and I got back to work.”
“Oh, yes, I love work,” Ruby said.
Mother walked them out, apologizing profusely. Rory didn’t seem to mind the cats, which was good, since they had slunk their way back over to the snacks and were now licking them in earnest. I chose to ignore them. Aunt Sarah grabbed each one by their scruff and lifted them up.
“We’ll take these monsters away and let you two talk,” Sarah said.
“I beg your pardon,” said Trouble.
Livvie said nothing, as there her mouth was full of pastry.
“Sorry,” Auntie Joe said.
“Cats,” Aunt Hazel said.
And then Rory and I were alone. We grinned at each other.
“I should get going, too,” Rory said.
“Do you have to go?” I may have sounded a bit needy.
“Yes,” he said. “I have work tomorrow. But how about we go out on a real date sometime?”
“Are you asking me out, or telling me that you might eventually ask me out?”
He laughed. “No,” he said.
“To which part,” I asked.
“Ella,” he breathed in frustration. “Will you go out with me this Friday night?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said breezily. “I might be washing my hair…”
His face fell, and I laughed. “Of course I will!”
Rory knelt down in front of me and slowly came in to kiss me. I froze, not sure what to do. But he just very gently kissed me. His lips were warm and I think I melted into a puddle. When he moved back I was breathless.
“Bye,” he whispered.
“Bye,” I breathed.
“Oh, well bye,” Trouble squeaked, munching on a lemon tart.
“It’s a date…” Livvie said with a laugh and batted a croissant across the drawing room floor.
“That’s enough out of you two!” It was really weird that talking cats was starting to feel like a normal everyday occurrence to me. “How did you get back in here already?”
“We’re cats,” Trouble said with a snort.
“Oh Rory, I want to snog your face,” Livvie said. I swatted at her and she raced
away, laughing.
Auntie Joe peered into the room. “Rory’s gone?”
“Yes, but we have a date this Friday,” I told her. We giggled together as Aunt Hazel and Aunt Sarah came into the room.
“I knew he wouldn’t let you down,” Sarah said. “He’s a good egg, that Rory Smith!”
“Good egg?” I laughed. “How old are you?”
“Oh, about ninety? I think? I am losing track.”
“What?” I almost fell off the couch.
“Oh, we live longer than your average girl, and we look a darn sight better while we do it, too.” Aunt Hazel winked. “You’ll learn.”
“I have a lot to learn,” I said slowly. My head was reeling. I was going to look great until my nineties, if my aunts were anything to measure it by.
The next night we decided to all have dinner together. Mother had Father carve a roast. Aunt Hazel was holding her own with Father on finance and politics and the mating habits of wombats. Mother smiled at her in earnest. Baby steps….
“Well, this was an action-packed birthday,” said Father.
“It was pretty exciting,” I admitted.
“Well, hopefully things calm down quite a bit,” Mother said.
“George is going to inherit the house,” Father offered. “So Max and George will still be our neighbors.”
“What’s going to happen to Leanne?” I felt bad about her losing both her job and friend.
Father beamed. “Vanessa left her a small fortune. She and the boy will be fine. What about your lovely Aunts?”
“What about us?” Hazel asked.
“Has Ella convinced you to stay yet?”
“Have I?” I hoped I had. I waited for Mother to object, but she was silent.
“I’m staying,” Aunt Sarah said.
“Me, too,” Auntie Joe said with a laugh.
“And I go where these two go. Someone has to keep them out of trouble,” Aunt Hazel said. The others laughed at her.
“Great! Now who wants some potatoes?” Father said, platter held aloft, and it was settled.
I stood on the porch some while later, staring up at the stars. Mother joined me.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said. She hugged me tight.
Scent of a Killer: An Ella Sweeting Aromatherapy Magic Cozy Mystery (Ella Sweeting: Witch Aromatherapist Cozies Book 1) Page 10