The Tainted Course

by Diane Weiner

  Dave said, “I found something. On the pad by Tilly’s bed. She’d written something.”

  Emily said, “This is as old school as it gets, but give me a pencil.”

  Dave ran into Ava’s room and found one the desk. “Here you go.”

  Emily scratched the lead back and forth across the pad until she could read what had been on it. “Bungalow Village, St. Johnsbury. That’s not too far from here. Let’s go.”

  “I’ll call the police.” said Emily.

  “Fine, but we’re going there, too.”

  Henry started the Jeep and Emily entered the address into the GPS.

  “Hurry,” said Dave. “What if she hurts the girls?”

  “If she loves them as she seems to, she won’t hurt them.”

  “Then why is she running?”

  Henry said, “Because I think she killed Faith and she thinks the police are onto her.”

  “Killed Faith? Why on Earth?”

  “Who knows. The important thing is finding her and the girls.”

  “Hurry up!” said Dave.

  Henry stepped on the gas. It was sleeting heavily and he could feel the tires slipping as he accelerated. With laser focus, he drove as fast as he could, slowing down only when the car started skidding. Slippery roads––Tilly is on the run. What if she crashes? He kept his thoughts to himself.

  Emily said, “Turn left at the next street. Henry, can you see out the windshield?”

  The wipers, even on full speed, weren’t meant to deflect pellets of ice. “I’m good.”

  “Turn right at the barn.” Emily, sitting in back, could barely see out the window, but she heard sirens. “There’s a crash up ahead. What if…”

  Henry strained to see what had happened. He heard sirens. “It’s not them. It’s a truck. We’re almost there, aren’t we?”

  “According to the GPS just a few more minutes,” said Emily.

  Henry watched the accident scene through the rearview mirror. “Looks like they’re closing the road back there.”

  “What if the police can’t get through?” said Dave. “Wat if we’re all too late?”

  “Turn here!”

  Henry felt the tires slide. “You have to warn me, especially with these roads.” He managed to steer into the skid and get the Jeep back on track.

  Dave said, “That’s it, right? Bungalow Village?”

  “Yep.” Henry pulled into the icy parking lot and all three ran to the office door.

  “Can I help you?” asked an acne-suffering teen.

  Dave said, “I’m looking for my girls. They’re with a middle-aged woman. What room are they in? Give us the keys.”

  “I can’t give them to you. Privacy and all…”

  Dave grabbed him by the neck. “Tell me what cabin they’re in.” The veins popped from his neck.

  Meanwhile, Emily snuck around the other side of the counter. “Cabin 123. Let’s go.”

  The wind whipped ice pellets in Emily’s eyes making it difficult to find the numbers. “Here it is. The light’s on inside.” She pounded on the door. A moment later, Henry and Dave were at her side. “Open up, Tilly. You don’t want to hurt the girls.” She heard sounds on the other side of the door, but no response.

  Dave pounded. “Open up! Give me my girls, Tilly. This isn’t right.” He pounded and yelled but got no response.

  Henry walked around the cabin, looking for another door. There wasn’t one, but he caught Ava’s eye through a window while Tilly busied herself pushing furniture against the cabin door. He held his finger to his lips. With Dave pounding on the door, Tilly didn’t notice Ava cracking open the window. “Shh. Where’s Mila?”

  She pointed to a heap on the bed. “She’s sleeping. I think Tilly drugged her. She’d never sleep through this.”

  “I’ll be right back. Stay quiet.”

  Henry walked back to the front of the cabin and whispered to Emily. “You start pounding and talking. Dave and I will go in through the window.”

  Emily banged loudly and screamed, “You can’t do this, Tilly. Think of the poor girls. How could you kill their mother?”

  Finally, a response. “Poor mother? Do you know what Faith was doing to Mila?”

  “What was she doing?” Emily screamed through the door, hoping to keep Tilly distracted.

  “She was making her sick. For attention. I looked it up online. They call it Munchausen by Proxy. She made Mila sick to draw attention to herself.”

  “But Mila seemed well enough.”

  “She hadn’t yet physically harmed Mila, but she was about to start. Seizures? I never witnessed one. Neither did Ava. Dairy intolerance? That girl chugs ice cream like the Good Humor man after fasting for Ramadan. She doesn’t have a dairy allergy.”

  “Why didn’t you report her if you suspected foul play?” asked Emily.

  “I threatened to but she said no one would ever believe me. Especially after what happened to my daughter.”

  “Tilly, what happened to your daughter? I didn’t know you had children.”

  “My ex-husband, my little Meredith’s father. He was supposed to be watching her but he didn’t. She ate a box of laundry pods. He didn’t even notice. When I came to pick her up, she was already dead. I should have protected her. I should have stopped him. She was only three years old. I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to Mila.”

  “Faith wasn’t hurting Mila, was she? Didn’t she just pretend Mila had those seizures?”

  “But she was about to cross the line. I found a bottle of Syrup of Ipecac in her room. Dave was planning to bring her back to court to fight for custody again. She was going to make Mila sick and say he did it.”

  “Dave wasn’t here, though. How would that have worked?” asked Emily.

  “He’d called and threatened to come up here to see the girls a few days before she died. That’s when Faith agreed he could come and visit them for one afternoon. That’s when she planned to make Mila sick and make sure Dave would never have a chance to be with the girls again.”

  “How do you know this?” asked Emily.

  “She told me. She asked me to lie to the police and say Dave threatened to kill the girls if she didn’t agree to share custody.”

  “So you killed Faith? Poisoned her cheesecake while it sat in the fridge?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  At that moment, Emily heard furniture banging and the sound of Henry and Dave’s voices. Tilly screamed. Henry burst the door open from the inside and let Emily in. Dave had Tilly in a choke hold.

  “We got her,” said Henry. “The girls are safe.”

  “I hear a siren. What took the police so long to get here?” said Dave.

  Emily said, “Remember the truck accident? I’ll bet they had trouble getting around it.”

  A few minutes later, Megan and Ron ran into the cabin. Ron secured the handcuffs while Megan read Tilly her rights.

  Dave said, “Mila! Is she okay?’ He went over to the bed and shook her. “Mila, Mila, are you okay?”

  Mila moaned. “Daddy? Where are we?”

  “We’re safe, honey. Safe and sound.”

  Chapter 26

  Emily woke up under her comforter, rolled over, and looked at her clock. 6 p.m. Henry slept beside her. The nap had done its job. When they got back from the cabin after rescuing the girls, she was sure she wouldn’t be up to dinner at the inn tonight, but Maddy begged, and Emily couldn’t say no. Henry stirred beside her.

  “What time is it?” He pulled himself up on his elbows.

  “6:00. We have to be at dinner in an hour.”

  “I wonder what this plan of Maddy’s is? Do you have any idea?”

  “No, but I think Coralee is in on it also. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

  “In a million years I wouldn’t have guessed Tilly was the murderer.”

  “After what happened with her daughter, I can understand how the thought of Mila being harmed made her crazy and overprotective. She loves that l
ittle girl.”

  “She had other avenues of protecting Mila without murdering her mother. She could have called DCF, for example.”

  “Her daughter’s tragic death derailed her. I understand. I’m to this day carrying around guilt over not protecting my sister. I’ll never forgive myself. She never would have drowned if I’d been watching her like I was supposed to.”

  “You have to let that go. As much as you loved your sister, you can’t bring her back.”

  Maddy knocked on the door. “Are you both up? Make sure you’re ready to go on time.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Henry called through the door. “Emily, go take your shower so I have time to take one too.”

  “You could always join me. It’d save time.”

  “Save time…Yep, I’m in.” He had his clothes off before she had the chance to turn on the water.

  When they arrived at the Outside Inn, Coralee had portioned off an area by the windows overlooking the ice glazed golf course. With the glow from the full moon and the help of a few strategically placed torch lights, the lawn glistened like a frozen wonderland. Pat and Megan were already seated and sipping wine from the local winery.

  Megan, dressed in a winter-white skirt and silk blouse, said, “We need this after the afternoon we had! Emily and Henry, the Sugarbury Falls police department says thank you once again for working with us to solve a murder.” She raised her glass.

  Maddy said, “Coralee made a special meal. Pasta alfredo with glazed pears.”

  Henry said, “That sounds a little weird, but I’ll trust her culinary creativity.”

  Emily said, “I’ve never had anything here that didn’t meet or exceed my expectations.”

  Henry cleared his throat. “You have to admit that the cauliflower brownies weren’t really edible.”

  Coralee came to the table. “I heard that. I have cheesecake on tonight’s dessert menu. Just kidding. It’ll be a while before I make another cheesecake.”

  After dinner, Maddy and Pat excused themselves from the table.

  “What are they up to?” asked Megan.

  “I have no idea,” said Emily. “I know it’s something important. Maddy about blew a gasket when I said I might be too tired to eat out tonight.”

  Coralee reappeared. “You’re wanted in the cat café. Follow me.”

  Henry whispered to Emily, “What the heck?”

  “Just play along,” said Emily. “I have a hunch.”

  Coralee opened the door to the cat café. Strings of twinkling lights sparkled across the ceiling. Candles glowed, filling the room with the scent of vanilla. Rose petals covered the floor.

  Maddy played a simplified version of The Wind Beneath my Wings on her flute, then Pat, holding Tito, came into the room. He’d changed into a tux.

  “Go ahead, Tito.” Tito sprung from his arms. Maddy, standing behind Megan, called him over. Tito wore a sign around his neck.

  Megan cried. “No way.” She read the sign aloud. “You gato marry me.”

  “Well? What do you say,” said Pat.” Gato is Spanish for cat.”

  “I say ‘Si! Si, si, si! Te amo.’ I love you.”

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. Pat got down on one knee and pulled a diamond ring from his pocket. “Megan, I never thought I’d find love a second time around, but you make my life worth living.” He slipped the ring on her finger. She hugged him and smothered him with kisses.

  Megan wiped her eyes. “How did you think of such a clever idea?”

  “It was Maddy’s idea.”

  Henry said, “Good thing Tito didn’t run away when you started play the flute, Maddy.”

  “Always the supportive father.”

  Emily said, “So do you have a date?”

  Pat said, “I don’t know. We’ll have to discuss it. I do know where we’re going for our honeymoon.”

  “Where?”

  “Majorca. Spain. We’ll fly into Barcelona and spend a few days there first.”

  Megan hugged him. “You know I’ve always dreamed of going to Spain.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Emily couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

  “Maddy, you’re a gem,” said Megan. “I’ll never forget this. You will be a bridesmaid, right?”

  “Wow, I’d love to. I’ve never been in a wedding before.”

  “And Emily? You’ll be a bridesmaid, too I hope.”

  “I’d be honored.”

  Henry cleared his throat.

  Pat said, “Well, buddy? You’ll be my best man?”

  “You bet. As long as I don’t have to wear a frilly dress.”

  Coralee brought up a bottle of champagne. “I brought Maddy sparkling cider.”

  Pat said, “A toast to great friends, love, and new beginnings.” Glasses clinked.

  Megan said, “And to Tito. I’ve been talking about getting a pet. I can adopt him, right?”

  Maddy said, “I can’t think of a better engagement present.”

  Emily’s phone vibrated. “Excuse me a minute.” She stepped into the corridor. “Mom? I didn’t know you were back from your cruise already.”

  “Emily, honey, I have some news. It’s about your sister…”

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Diane Weiner is a veteran public school teacher and mother of four children. She has enjoyed reading for as long as she can remember. She has fond memories of reading Nancy Drew and Mary Higgins Clark on snowy weekend afternoons in upstate New York and yearned to write books that would bring that kind of enjoyment to her readers. Being an animal lover, she is a vegetarian and shares her home with two adorable cats. In her free time, she enjoys running, attending community theater productions, and spending time with her family (especially going to the mall with her teenage daughter and getting Dairy Queen afterwards).

  The Tainted Course, is the fourth in Diane’s Sugarbury Falls series. The first book in this series, A Deadly Course, recently received an Eric Hoffer International Book Competition Finalist Award for general fiction. The second is Murder, of Course. The third is Clearing the Course.

  Diane also writes the Susan Wiles Schoolhouse mysteries.

  Visit dianeweinerauthor.com to find out more about the author.