Veiled in Death

by Stephanie Blackmoore

  It was the only time I was treated to Helene’s retreat without her putting up a fight. She handed over a key on a silver chain, wiped a tear from her eye, and swept from the house.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “I guess it’s official. I won’t get to be one of your bridesmaids, after all.” Tabitha offered me a rueful smile and smoothed down her prison-issue jumpsuit. I appreciated her stab at humor, but couldn’t bring myself to laugh. It was the day I was due to get married, and here I was in jail with one of my best friends. I hadn’t told anyone I was planning on dropping in on Tabitha. I’d hightailed it over after picking up my marriage license, hoping I could stop for a brief visit, unnoticed by my family. They wouldn’t think it very auspicious to spend even a minute in a jail on the day one was going to wed.

  “Don’t worry, Tabitha. Rachel will save your crazy green dress and matching ankle bracelet to wear when you get out.”

  If you get out.

  I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Tabitha’s case was looking increasingly dire and airtight.

  “Too bad you and Pia are the only people in this whole darn town who know I’m innocent.” Tabitha gave my hand a grateful squeeze.

  I was saddened to notice she hadn’t included her mother, June, in the tiny list of two. But also heartened that she’d said that we knew she was innocent, not merely that we just believed it, too.

  “And although I do believe Grandma Claudia was trying to broker the sale of certain items, I’m almost positive she didn’t steal them. Not for the usual reason, at any rate.” Tabitha rose to pace around her miniscule cell. “But Truman doesn’t even want to hear new information that could help with his other investigations.”

  “Like what?” I had been a good girl this month, not directly sleuthing and soliciting information around town. But I still knew a lot.

  “Horace Overright is a very distinctive man. I saw him on the sidewalk just minutes before the car barreled into Richard. I think he may have run him down, Mallory.”

  A chill danced down my back.

  It does fit.

  “Horace said he saw you back then with blood all over you. If he was there minutes before the attack, then just after, it could be him. Plus, who would want the Betsy Ross veil more than him?”

  And the man was currently residing in my B and B and residence. Great.

  “What are you waiting for! Tell Truman!” I sprang to press the button to summon the guard. I happened to know my soon-to-be father-in-law was getting ready at his house. But Tabitha could get her info in the record right now.

  “Like I said, he’s not interested in anything I have to say now that I’ve been all but convicted in his mind.” Tabitha nearly came to tears with her frustration. “And I’ve meditated a lot in here, too. I can think of one more detail, but it’s still a smidge hazy. When I went to help Richard, I thought that the veil was gone.” She paused. “But in the back seat, I swore I saw a bat of some kind. Softball, maybe.”

  “Time’s up.” Faith appeared at the door, and did a little tsk. “Really, Mallory? Here on your wedding day?”

  I stood and gave Tabitha a bone-crushing hug. “For good friends, I’d do anything.”

  * * *

  I got home to Thistle Park with room to spare. It was bizarre showing up for a wedding with nothing to do. Oh yeah, except pledge my love and affection and commitment to the best man I’d ever known, and his equally amazing daughter. I broke into a grin as I donned the magic sundress that had served as my wedding muse.

  I missed my engagement ring, but soon would have another, a different and lovely symbol on my left hand.

  It would be the smallest wedding to take place at Thistle Park, save for Keith and Becca’s, which had been a teeny affair with Rachel officiating, Pickles the cat, the bride and groom, and yours truly.

  “You look gorgeous.” Rachel walked in a circle around me. Her retro taffeta jade dress swished and rustled. “No veil, but I love your clip.”

  It was best that I had not worn a veil. Not after all of the events of the newly finished month of June. I’d never look at another bridal veil the same way again after the apparent curse of the Betsy Ross veil had befallen me, my family, and friends. My hair was half held back with a demure pearl clip. And I’d chosen to don some lovely emerald earrings Garrett had given me, to tie in Rachel’s bridesmaid dress, rather than the heavy crystal ones June had gifted me.

  “It’s showtime.” Rachel nudged me to the back door of the kitchen, where my mother and stepfather stood.

  “I’ve never been prouder,” my mother whispered as she took one arm. Doug was a sweet and blubbering mess, who couldn’t get a single word out. He grasped my other arm, and we were ready.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Rachel preceded me out the kitchen door, down the back-porch steps, and toward the simple unadorned trellis. I seemed to float down the steps on the arms of my parents, my path a clear one to reach Garrett and Summer at the trellis.

  Garrett wiped away a spate of tears and took me in his arms when I finally reached him. And together we were wed by our favorite judge, a small group of onlookers cheering as we finished our short and simple ceremony. And together, hand in hand, Garrett and Summer and I made our way down the path to the garden. We danced the night away amidst the fireflies, noshing on sangria punch, five kinds of cookies, and vegan sandwiches requested by Summer. It was the wedding I never knew I’d dreamed of, and it was just perfect.

  Garrett and I were the last ones in the yard, holding on to each other under a limitless black bowl of twinkling stars. He swept me up in his arms and carried me over the threshold of the kitchen. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He left me after delivering a smoldering kiss, and headed up the back stairs to the honeymoon suite.

  I spun in a dreamy circle and poured two glasses of water to take upstairs. A cell phone buzzed on the kitchen table. I reflexively picked up the phone, swiping to light its screen. Only then did I realize the phone belonged to Pia. We had the same phone, with similar floral cases. I made to turn it off, when the screen that popped up revealed information too intriguing to ignore.

  Pia’s genealogical DNA results had been cued up for her perusal. And her closest relative was someone I knew. The DNA lab predicted that this person was Pia’s half brother. It wasn’t the answer she’d sought about her father, but it got her the answer just the same. There next to Pia’s name on a digital tree resided her half brother, with what were probably his own newly released results. Pia’s brother was Keith, making Richard Pierce her father.

  I stood motionless in the dark kitchen. The news was more shocking to me than when Luke Skywalker found out about Darth Vader.

  Footfalls raced down the back stairs. Garrett swept me up in his arms once more.

  “I just can’t wait, Mallory.” He took Pia’s phone from my hand and slid it onto the kitchen table. I didn’t give it a second thought.

  Amidst gales of my own laughter, my husband carried me up the steps to begin our married life together.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I awoke in Garrett’s arms, my favorite place to be. I tenderly turned my gaze to him as he peacefully dozed. I rose from the bed and donned my robe, part of a surprisingly tasteful gift from my sister to wear on my wedding night. I slipped from the honeymoon suite after sending a look of love back at Garrett.

  And promptly had the bejesus scared out of me in the hallway.

  “Mallory.” Rachel appeared an inch from me.

  “Hey! Way to creep up on me.” I gave my sister’s arm a playful punch.

  “Oh, stop. I’ve been dithering in front of your door for half an hour, deciding whether it would be totally rude to wake the newly married couple.”

  This had better be good.

  Rachel gestured toward an open door down the hall. “Horace is gone.”

  Okay. Not good.

  “Like, take a stroll in the dewy morning air gone, or gone gone?” I was already tearing down
the hall to see for myself.

  “The latter.”

  Every scrap of Horace’s things had been removed. Guests were free to come and go, of course, and he’d paid in full. But it was a cold way to leave. He’d joined in on the wedding festivities, and I thought I’d at least get to say goodbye.

  “Let’s check the office,” I suggested. “I don’t like the feel of this.”

  Rachel nodded, and we set off. As we reached the top of the stairs, the honeymoon door cracked open. I trotted back for my first morning married kiss.

  “Hurry back, love.” Garrett planted a scorcher on my lips.

  A few minutes later, Rachel and I turned in slow circles in the office. We’d finally set it right after the room had been tossed, with some new chairs and couches.

  “It seems okay,” I muttered. “And it’s funny. Helene said her late husband favored owls. I never realized how many owl pieces came with the house, and how it’s all Richard’s doing.”

  Richard.

  How could I have forgotten?!

  I filled Rachel in on Pia’s father’s true identity. She let out an expletive not to be repeated.

  “Oh, my goodness, Pia’s phone! It doesn’t seem like she has a pass code. I should have secured it.” A wave of fear coursed through me.

  Rachel and I raced to the kitchen. It was too late. The phone was gone.

  Uh-oh.

  The information about Pia’s paternity in the wrong hands could be disastrous. Rachel and I discussed the ramifications as we took one more slow inspection around the house. In the parlor, my sister picked up the little owl statue Helene had remarked upon, and slowly tossed it in the air, catching it again and again.

  “Watch it with that, Rach.”

  Of course, after my admonition, the piece fell to the hardwood floor, the pretty Japanese ceramic bird bursting into a thousand shards.

  “Oopsies.” Rachel blushed and moved to sweep up the mess with the nearby chimney tools stashed near the fireplace. “What is this?”

  A sheaf of papers had resided within the owl.

  “Whoa.”

  One was weathered and delicate, with spidery, barely perceptible faded brown ink scrawled across it. I’d seen it before, on a digital photo Tabitha had held up for me. It was Betsy Claypoole’s—née Ross—receipt for the veil.

  “And these?” Rachel thrust the other papers into my hands. I shook more ceramic shards from the documents and took a closer look.

  “It’s an amended will. Made out just a month before Richard died.” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “He knew June was pregnant with Pia. Dear God, he left half of Thistle Park to June’s unborn child.”

  Rachel and I stood stock-still.

  I wasn’t sure about the rules of succession and newfound, amended wills anymore. But I did know what Richard had wanted. Half of Thistle Park should go to Pia as rightfully hers.

  “Helene.” It came out in a whisper. “Rach, she probably knew. She finally figured out who Richard’s mistress was, and was afraid June would tell Pia about her father’s identity. Helene tried to kill June.” It made sense. “And Claudia, too, for that matter, since she’d promised to tell Pia in just a week, on her twenty-fifth birthday.”

  “Let’s go.” Rachel moved to confront Helene this very instant.

  “Give me just a few more hours.” I wiggled my eyebrows and ran back up to Garrett.

  Yes, the new revelations were dire. But some things could wait.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Helene attempted to push her front door closed, but Rachel stuck a bejeweled, high-heeled sneaker in the jamb to stop her.

  Perhaps announcing that we knew she’d tried to murder June in addition to killing Claudia hadn’t been the most persuasive gambit to gain entry. I tried another tactic.

  “We found an amendment to Richard’s will, Helene. One leaving Thistle Park to the child he conceived with his mistress. Meaning Pia, June’s daughter.”

  That got her attention.

  “You’re making it up.” Helene’s voice was a fearful hiss.

  “Here it is.” I handed Helene a thin stack of papers.

  She perused them and then promptly began tearing them into smaller and smaller chunks. “You’ll never prove any of this.”

  “Oh, puh-lease. Like we wouldn’t have just given you a copy, not the original.” Rachel breezed past a stunned Helene and held the door open for me. I was nervous entering my enemy’s home, especially now that I knew she’d killed Claudia and probably had attempted to kill June, as well as Jesse. My original hunch about the silly white gloves she’d worn to Cordials and Cannonballs had been correct.

  “You still blame Jesse for Richard’s death since he’d quit his security detail for Richard,” I added. “That’s why you tried to take him out, too, when you had the chance in the fog. But your real target was Claudia. You must have known that she was going to tell Pia that Richard was her father, as soon as she turned twenty-five.”

  “I did know that,” Helene conceded with a bitter twist of her mouth. “And while I begged Claudia not to reveal her knowledge, I’m no killer, you idiot.”

  Perhaps Helene’s preoccupation and bullying about women on the battlefield had just been a proxy war of intimidation designed to make Claudia think twice about telling Pia the truth.

  “Then you tried to kill June, but failed. Or maybe you had one of your minions do it. I’m not even sure when you figured out who Richard’s mistress was.”

  Helene grew still. “I always suspected. But it was when she showed up at the funeral, in the back, already with child, that I knew for sure.” Her face fell, her spirit totally dejected.

  “And you framed Tabitha to get her out of the way,” Rachel added. “She was close to the scene when Richard was killed, and you might have even thought she knew.”

  “Good one, Rach.”

  I worked in one last theory. “It’s totally possible you killed Richard, too, Helene. You claim to have not known right away that he was with June, but you did know he was having an affair. Did you gun down your own husband in cold blood, then take off with the veil?”

  Helene opened her mouth once more, but our uninvited guest answered for her.

  “Getting closer, Mallory, but not quite.”

  A slim hand with a gun whipped around the corner of the front door. A hand wearing my purloined engagement ring.

  “Into the woods, ladies. All of you. Now.”

  June Battles gave us a triumphant smile and brought up the rear of our death march into the woods.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Duh.

  It irritated me that my last day on earth would be the one after I wed the love of my life. And after I’d finally fit all of the chess pieces together in my head. Of course, the perpetrator was June. In retrospect, it fit.

  Rachel gave me a desperate glance back, and was rewarded with June’s hand lashing out to turn her around.

  “Ouch! Lay off of me!” Rachel glared at June.

  But the accomplished murderess just laughed. “Rachel, as if you haven’t noticed, I’m quite skilled with a gun. It doesn’t matter if it’s a modern piece, or a historical replica. And when I’m done with all of you three, it’ll look like the two Shepard sisters tried to take out Helene Pierce, but that there was a shoot-out. The town will mourn all of your deaths, that’s for sure. But I won’t. I’ll get to keep going on.”

  “You framed your own daughter.” I tried to keep the anger from my voice. “You’re lucky Tabitha didn’t know the person having the affair with Richard all those years was none other than her dear mother.”

  June shrugged, unfazed. “It was so easy to steal items from my daughter’s place of work, then take her laptop when she was having lunch or dinner, and list the stuff on eBay.” June snickered. “It was even easier to steal items, present them to Claudia as newly found or acquired treasures, and watch her try to sell them here in Port Quincy.”

  “You wer
e trying to get your own mother and daughter in trouble and out of the way.” I shook my head. “You are a sick woman.”

  “You mean I’m a genius,”June amended. “And I had to punish Claudia. She started selling items she knew were mine from Richard, as punishment for not telling Pia about him. She stashed those suitcases downstairs, when I told her not to sell them and to put them away for safekeeping. It’s not Pia’s fault she brought those hatboxes up, and you found the veil. But I wasn’t worried. I knew I’d steal it back.”

  “You tossed our office and broke into the safe.”

  It made sense now. It was also the reason why Pia’s desk had remained remarkably unscathed.

  “But can I ask why you’re wearing my engagement ring?” I shivered. I didn’t want the piece of jewelry back, now that it had resided on this psychopath’s finger. But I still wanted to know.

  “This is the ring Richard gave to me,” June conceded. “Claudia sold it out of spite. She just happened to sell it to Garrett.”

  “But the real reason you had to kill your mother was because she promised to tell Pia about her father.”

  June nodded. “If you must know, that horrible man valued Keith more than my daughter. He made out a trust for me as an enticement not to tell Pia of her identity until she turned twenty-five. A random number that was really oriented toward keeping Keith in the dark, so that his precious son didn’t think badly about his father.”

  I wasn’t about to tell June about Richard bequeathing half of Thistle Park to Pia.

  “And you tried to frame me for stealing the distillery.” Helene finally spoke up. “You put it on my property and stole my wallet to bury it there.”

  It was my turn to volley a theory. “You cruel, cruel woman.” A wave of anger crested and crashed within me. “You killed Richard yourself, stole the veil, and let your poor daughter Tabitha carry the knowledge and secret that she’d been on the scene. A secret that weighed on her for years.”

  June signed. “That I did regret.” She turned to Helene. “You always win, Helene. Richard had proposed with this ring, and promised to wed me wearing the Betsy Ross veil. At the last second, he chickened out. He didn’t want to leave you and Keith. He chose your family over mine. He had to go.”