by Marc Timms
Johanna thought about what he’d said. She asked, “The one thing that I don’t understand is that Penny wasn’t harmed when she was abducted.”
Thomas laughed. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“No, I wouldn’t hurt that little girl. She’s adorable. However, these people tried to run you over or shoot you three different times, if you think about it. The time with me, the time where you went to the hospital, and at the end of our . . . date.” She felt slightly uncomfortable with the word. They hadn’t discussed their relationship. It had been more adventure than romance, and Johanna still had not heard anything from him about how he felt.
“So, what are you saying here?” Dempsey asked, as he went to the door to get the pizza. He brought back two boxes, making Johanna wonder how much these two men had to work out to wear off two pizzas.
“Just that it doesn’t make much sense to me. I forget who was telling me, but the crimes against a dog are not always crimes. Killing a person is murder. Both would get you more inheritance money. Why go for the bigger crimes?”
“That’s a logical point, but not all of these guys are logical,” Thomas said, as he pulled out a piece and began to eat it.
Dempsey laughed. “My guess would be that Arthur and Donley were being paid by someone else; someone who expected to get more money from the estate.”
“And Thomas’s part of the estate, if I understand that correctly, was about thirty percent. If Penny was gone, there would be half the estate to parse out to everyone.”
“So you’re saying that I am worth less than a dog, but the dog gets to stick around, and I don’t.” Thomas gave her a smile to say that he hoped he was worth more to her than Penny.
“So why?”
Detective Dempsey finished his piece of pizza and looked at them. “I can think of a few reasons why. The person who is doing this could not have wanted Lilly to have any of the money. By killing Thomas, the dog keeps the money, and Thomas’s portion goes to the cousins. If Penny were to die, Lilly would get a portion of the estate as would the cousins.”
Thomas shook his head. “I don’t think that any of the cousins really give her a moment’s thought, other than to think of ways to get rid of her and the dog. She’s an obstacle, but not a large one. Certainly not so that they would change their plans to kill a person rather than a dog, given the difference in jail time.”
“So then what?” Johanna asked. “What made Penny untouchable?”
Dempsey looked at them both. “Have you seen the will? Is there a provision for natural death vs. killing?”
Thomas snorted. “You’re in the best position to find that out. Johanna isn’t related to Jessica. I’m related but haven’t made my presence known—except to a killer. And you’re the legal heir, as a cousin.”
Dempsey grunted. “Don’t remind me.” He picked up the phone and dialed a number. No one answered, but Dempsey left a detailed message about the will and Penny. Johanna assumed that he was calling the lawyer under his position as heir and not as the police. The lawyer had not been keen on sharing the content of the will with the police.
“I’ll try again later if I don’t hear back,” Dempsey said. “I’m sure he’s busy getting things back together after the fire.”
Johanna had an idea, but she didn’t like it. Something that explained everything but the locked room. She had to come up with an explanation for that, and perhaps this case would be solved.
Chapter 6
The two houses stood next to each other, looking similar, but not the same. Johanna watched them from her car for a few minutes, waiting to see any activity at either home, but she saw nothing.
When she stepped out of the car, Johanna thought she could hear Penny barking in the distance, but she couldn’t be sure. Walking briskly, she headed to Jessica’s home, the house where the old lady had been found locked in a room.
The doors were locked, so Johanna walked around the house again, looking in the window and trying to envision the scene of the crime. She had come late to the crime scene. When she had arrived at the house, the EMTs were already taking Jessica’s body from the home. She’d never seen the woman in the house or locked in the room. Now she tried to imagine what it would have looked like.
The room’s walls were glass and went up to the ceiling, so no one could escape over the ornate walls. The doors were solid wood and had no openings in them. So a key was needed to get in and out—or some method of exit that the police had not thought of.
She turned to find Penny on her way up the hill to Jessica’s house. The little black dog wagged her tail wildly, as she waited for an appropriate greeting from Johanna. “Hello, hello,” she said, scratching Penny behind the ears. The little dog made a noise of appreciation.
Lilly was only moments behind her, showing remarkable speed for an older woman. “Phew,” she said, reaching Johanna and Penny a few seconds later. “I wasn’t expecting such a jaunt, but I didn’t want to let Penny get to close to the road. She just thinks everyone should stop their cars to let her through.”
Johanna gave her a smile and kept playing with Penny. She wasn’t sure how to start this conversation. “I’m sure she’s glad to be back. Did the police tell you that they’ve caught Arthur Tremblay and Ryan Donley? They’re both behind bars now.”
She shuddered, almost theatrically. “I’m just glad that you and that girl got Penny back for me. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
Been millions poorer, Johanna thought. She was also very aware that Lilly hadn’t questioned the identity of the hitman. She knew him by name, or had excellent skills of inference. She looked down at Penny and smiled, who was unaware of all the drama she had caused.
“Has the lawyer been by to see you? Have you been notified that a claim has been filed on the will? Apparently Jessica had a son out of wedlock.”
Lilly tsked, playing the part of old maid to perfection. “I wouldn’t have thought that of Jessica; I really wouldn’t have. She was always so prim and proper. It just goes to show that you never know anyone, do you?”
“That’s true,” Johanna said, seeing her opening. “I would never have thought that you would have hired those men to kill people and steal a dog.”
Lilly laughed, apparently expecting Johanna to join her in a chuckle, but Johanna remained silent. Lilly then looked at the other woman with an expression that began with mirth and changed to hostility.
“Why would you say something like that? I would never hurt Penny. She’s a lady of luxury now, and she’s taking me with her. I’d never want anything to happen to her.”
Johanna looked hard at the other woman, trying to find that part of her that wasn’t quite moral. “That’s why I first suspected you,” she said. “The cousins all had a reason to want this adorable dog dead. You didn’t have a reason to hurt her. And sure enough, she wasn’t hurt. She might have been frightened for a few days, but she’s recovered. And it made a wonderful cover-up for you. No one would suspect you of getting rid of your own meal ticket, but no one got rid of Penny. In retrospect, it was remarkably easy to take her back from those men. Donley did shoot at us, but he missed by a mile. It makes me wonder how much he was trying. When he was shooting at Thomas, who was the main target here, that time he came close to hitting his target. If Thomas hadn’t shoved me, I would be dead now. “
Lilly picked up the dog. “You’re very lucky, aren’t you, dear?”
“I think I am,” Johanna said, thinking of Thomas and the last evening they spent together.
“I think that might be about to change,” Lilly said without switching her tone. She put Penny on the ground and pulled a rather large carving knife from her bag. “Why don’t we go to Jessica’s house?” she suggested. “I have something that I’ll show you.”
Johanna felt the nervousness under her skin. Her arms and legs seemed to quiver, though they followed her instructions and walked back to the house.
When they got to the house, Lil
ly pulled the keys from her pocket and smiled. “When you saw me, I had a set of keys to the house. How easy it was to tell you that I received them after the murder, so I could come and go as I needed.”
“You had them before that?” Johanna asked. The points were beginning to make sense. If Jessica had given Lilly a set of keys, then there was no locked room mystery. Lilly had just chosen to lock the doors on the way out. In that manner, the doors would be locked from the outside, and a pair of gloves would have covered all prints.
“Yes, but I lied about them. No one ever bothers to document that they’ve given a neighbor the keys. The police asked me if I had them, and I told them that I did not. People really don’t pay much attention to older women. They’re forgettable, and that’s what I was. Forgettable. So they believed me and went looking for a much more complicated manner of death. And again, they wouldn’t believe that I could have planned a locked room murder either. So I was safe—until that man came along.”
Johanna knew that she had to be talking about Thomas. “His appearance would have affected everyone who received something from the will, wouldn’t it?”
“Penny’s inheritance is more than anybody’s portion, and Penny’s portion was my portion too.” Lilly pushed her into the middle of the house, closer to the room where the police had found Jessica. “I can’t kill you in the same way today, dear. Everyone knows I have keys now. So that trick won’t work again. So I’ll just knock you out and turn on the gas. That should do the trick.”
Lilly poked the tip of knife into Johanna’s back to prod her along. Johanna walked into the kitchen, knowing what would come next. She dreaded the actions, worrying about her own health and fate.
Taking a rolling pin from the drawer, Lilly used her other hand with the knife, to make Johanna turn around and face the wall. Johanna had no choice at this moment.
She could hear the sound of the rolling pin as Lilly brought it down, and she jumped out of the way as much as she could. The rolling pin slammed down on her shoulder, and the sound of a pop reverberated from the room. The old lady had broken something, though Johanna was still alert.
“That should be good enough,” Lilly said, turning on the knobs to let the gas out. She gave the woman on the floor a smile and then locked the doors on the way out. As Johanna waited, she could hear Lilly talking to the dog.
Thomas and Detective Dempsey stepped out of the next room. Thomas broke the glass in one door and unlocked the it, so he could enter the kitchen. Dempsey dialed the emergency services and then followed his cousin to see how Johanna was.
“You heard all that didn’t you?” Johanna asked.
Dempsey nodded. “The assault on you should be enough to keep her under arrest. Then we can gather enough evidence to try her for the murders. It’s far easier to prove a case when you know who did it. We’ll be able to find times and places that will help convict her, and likely one or both of those men will roll over and spill all they know. It’s done now. You don’t have to worry.”
Her shoulder was incredibly painful, and Johanna was thankful that emergency services had been called. She’d be under sedation soon and then on her way to recovery—and then on to the solution of the crimes of the man in the park.S
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Timms is a creative writer who has loved writing ever since he was a young boy. He has studied the art of writing throughout school and has always had a passion for writing. At a young age, Timms moved from the US and is currently living in Australia with his wife and four kids. He has only recently decided to share his work and publish it to the world.
Marc recently became an international best-selling author when he published his first book "Shock" which went straight to number 1 in several categories.
When Marc isn't writing he loves to spend his time watching Aussie rules football and spending valuable time with his family.
Books by Marc Timms
SHOCK SERIES
SHOCK
SHOCK – The Truth
SHOCK – The Chase
SHOCK – The Chaos
SHOCK – The Capture
FORGOTTEN SERIES
FORGOTTEN – The Return
FORGOTTEN – THE Quest
FORGOTTEN – The Revelations
FORGOTTEN – The Reveal
FORGOTTEN – The Unveil
EYEWITNESS SERIES
EYEWITNESS – BOOK 1
EYEWITNESS – BOOK 2
EYEWITNESS – BOOK 3
EYEWITNESS – BOOK 4
EYEWITNESS – BOOK 5 - COMING SOON