Immaculate Deception

by Hannah Weston Price

  “You didn’t go after her?”

  He shook his head, more tears running down his face. “I thought it would be better to talk after she’d calmed down. But the next time I saw her she was dead.”

  The door suddenly flung open and Detective Thornton marched in. “So, let me get this clear. When she left your flat, she was alive?”

  John nodded.

  “So you didn’t kill her?”

  “It’s my fault!” John screamed before collapsing in to a sobbing mess. He was crying so loudly, his mouth open wide, the way a toddler might cry.

  Detective Thornton turned his eyes onto the mirror. “We need some blankets and tea and call Dr. Manning.” Then to Reggie, his expression softer. “You should go home. We’re not going to get anything else from him tonight.”

  “I should stay with him.”

  “The best thing for this boy is a sedative and sleep. You did well. He needed to talk.”

  “What about you?” She asked as two officers wrapped John in blankets and walked the still shivering boy back to his cell. “You need sleep and food.”

  “I’m a grown man, Vicar,” he replied. “Don’t worry about me.”

  ***

  An hour later, Dr. Manning gave John a mild sedative to keep him calm and suggested that a bed in the cell would in fact be the best place for the young man, at least for the moment.

  He believed John when he’d said that Elsa had been alive when he’d last seen her. But he knew in his gut that there was more.

  Quietly, he slipped into the cell with a sandwich and another cup of tea. John just looked back at him with slightly glazed eyes.

  “It’s alright, John,” Harry said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “You’re just here so you can rest. You’re not in trouble.” He felt like he was talking to a child. “Are you hungry?”

  John nodded eagerly and accepted the plate of sandwiches and the sweet tea with a timid, “Thank you.”

  “Listen to me, John. I know this is hard. Elsa didn’t kill herself, she was murdered. And it is not your fault. You screwed up, but you are not responsible for her death. Do you understand me?”

  “She was murdered?” John was struggling to understand but finally he nodded. “Who would want to hurt her? She never hurt anyone in her whole life. It was all of us who failed her.” More fat tears slipped down his face.

  “Well, we aren’t going to fail her this time, are we, John? I need you to be strong, strong for Elsa. Can you do that?” When John nodded, Harry continued, “Where would Elsa have gone, after she left your flat?”

  John’s hands started to shake but his expression shifted from fear to sorrow to something harder.

  “She would have only gone to one person. Her best friend, our best friend. Summer.”

  ***

  Reggie was just laying out the new cat food she’d brought for Maggie’s approval when a knock sounded at the door.

  Checking her watch, she mused, “No sleep for the wicked or the holy it seems.”

  Before opening the door, Reggie paused at the corner and peaked back around into the kitchen just in time to catch Maggie having a sniff followed by a tentative few bites of her food.

  She moved to the door and smiled when she opened to find Summer standing on her doorstep.

  “I hope it’s not too late, Vicar,” Summer said. “I just… Didn’t want to be alone and I brought cake.” She looked sadly down at her feet.

  “Oh, my dear, come in!” Reggie opened her door wider. “You’re always welcome and that goes double if you bring treats to share. Why don’t I open a bottle of wine. You tell me your favorite stories from when you guys were kids and I’ll share my most ribald vicar jokes.”

  Summer laughed then checked that the lane outside was empty before closing the door.

  Chapter Twenty

  Harry Thornton felt something cold and heavy settle in his gut as he listened to the phone on the other end ring until Summer’s polite voice read the message bank greeting. It wasn’t that late. But of course, it had been a long few days and perhaps the young woman had simply gone to bed early or turned off her phone. There were endless reasons why she might not be answering.

  Sitting back in his chair, Harry groaned and combed his fingers roughly through his thick dark hair. John’s statement hadn’t really given him any more answers, but all the pieces were falling into place and the picture was too disturbing for words.

  According to John the three of them had been friends since school, Harry knew that already. But what he didn’t know was that John and Summer had been an item for a time in high school but had broken up for the sake of the friendship they shared with Elsa. Apparently, John had moved on and thought Summer had too, but when he and Elsa had admitted their relationship to their friend, she’d begun acting oddly, then seemed to recover and the friendship was stronger than ever.

  Except, it wasn’t. Elsa started getting sick. Nothing serious, just nauseous at odd times. Which he supposed explained why she thought she might have been pregnant. The report from Dr. Manning had stated that he’d found trace amounts of Arsenic, but not enough to have caused death… but he supposed enough to make her unwell.

  But if the plan was to poison Elsa, why stage the hanging?

  Damn, the more he learned the more questions he got. The way John told of it, their brief relationship had been more of a curious flirtation than the kind of passionate affair that could insight a murder.

  Nothing was certain, but still, he’d learned to trust his gut and for some reason it was nudging him to call the Vicar. It was possible that Summer might pay a visit to Reverend Watson in the near future, so he should at least warn her to be cautious.

  Checking his watch again, it had just passed eight, he picked up the phone and called Reverend Regina Watson.

  The phone rang and rang until a cool familiar voice answered.

  “Hello?” Summer said through the tiny speaker and Harry went very still. “Hello? Is someone there? I can hear breathing.”

  Harry hung up without a word and sat at his desk, staring at his trembling hands.

  It was completely possible that Summer was innocent, and she was merely spending time with the reverend after losing her closest friend. But at the rate their new Vicar attracted trouble, he doubted that very much.

  ***

  “Who was on the phone?” Reggie called from the closet under the stairs where she’d taken to keeping her makeshift wine cellar.

  “I don’t know,” Summer called back. “Just a bunch of heavy breathing then they hung up.”

  “Of course, it was,” Reggie sighed, rolling her eyes as she emerged triumphant with a bottle of red. “I swear, I attract all the crazies. Did you hear about the threatening note I got in the letter box?”

  Summer barked out a laugh, then covered her mouth with a flush. “Sorry.”

  “Not necessary,” Reggie waved her off. “I’m a trouble magnet. I didn’t even ask that many questions. But I must have stirred up someone’s knickers because the next thing I know, I’m getting anonymous letters and now calls. I’ll be getting death threats next.”

  “Do you have a knife to cut this cake?”

  “Somewhere I’m sure,” she said, then opened a cupboard and found a hefty knife block and brought it down to the bench. She pulled one particularly sharp looking blade free and frowned at it.

  “Is this too big?” Reggie asked.

  “It’s perfect,” Summer replied and took the knife as Reggie turned to find a bottle opener. “So you said you spoke to John?”

  “Yeah, he’s not doing so good. Blames himself for what happened. But I think he’ll be more open to talking tomorrow. I bet he’d appreciate a visit from us if we bring some of this cake.”

  “What did he say?” Summer asked. “Why on Earth would he think it was his fault?”

  Reggie shook her head as she pulled open draws and cupboards.

  “Apparently,” Reggie started then let out a triumphan
t sound as she found a bottle opener and got to work. “He and Elsa had a bit of a row that night. He said some things he regrets, and she ran out, very upset.”

  Reggie twisted the bottle opener again and again, the repetitive action, seeming to feed her train of thought. “I guess the real question is, where did she go after she ran out?”

  Summer stopped cutting as Reggie stood up straight.

  “I mean,” Reggie mused. “Where would you go if you and John had just had a big fight and you were hurting?”

  The answer was right there, and it was so obvious, Reggie wanted to slap herself in the forehead. Really hard.

  When she turned, she was not in the least surprised to find Summer standing very close to her, knife in hand, her cool smile not even coming close to her empty shark eyes.

  God, if you hear me and want to kick me in the arse, feel free.

  “Summer,” Reggie said, keeping her tone calm and even. “Think about what you’re doing. There’s no way you could get away if you kill me here with a knife.”

  Summer shrugged. “Maybe. What if I said it was self-defense?”

  “Why would I try to kill you? Do you hear how insane that sounds?”

  “Ever hear the term stranger than fiction? What if you’re just one of those sociopaths like Hannibal Lecter. Maybe you think it’s funny to pick off people in a small town, one by one, all the while going completely unnoticed. But I was too clever to become one of your victims and after a bloody fight, I had to stab you, multiple times, to protect my own life and save my town.”

  Reggie blinked. This woman was completely bonkers. Correction, completely bonkers and holding a really big knife.

  Did I really need to give her the biggest one?

  And on the list of incredibly stupid things Reggie has done today. Oops we’ve run out of paper because the list is so long!

  “Well,” Reggie said, inching back ever so slowly as she spoke. “I will admit that I was too slow to work it out sooner, but Detective Thornton won’t be. He’s a – a very good detective and I’m sure he already has his suspicions. He’ll be able to work out exactly what happened here.”

  “He can speculate all he wants to, but he’ll still need proof and all there will be is my word against yours, and you’ll be—”

  “So, you’re the one who sent the letter?” Reggie interrupted. She needed to keep her talking, and luckily for Reggie, that might be the one thing she was good at.

  Summer laughed, the knife glinting wickedly as she twisted it this way and that. “That’s the best part. I didn’t send you anything. You really do have enemies all over. Hey! What if whoever sent the letter is the one who killed you and left me for dead? Oh, but I’ll very luckily survive.”

  Reggie dipped the flat of her hand side to side. “I guess that one is slightly more plausible. But why kill at all? Please don’t tell me you killed your best friend over a guy.”

  “It wasn’t just about him,” Summer spat. “It was everything! When John and I were together, it was perfect. Then Elsa’s stupid mother went and killed herself and suddenly the only thing that mattered was the poor orphan girl.

  “We ended it because John didn’t want Elsa to feel like a third wheel. I loved him, but I did that for her because she was my best friend. But then after waiting for years, I found out that they’d been together for months without telling me. And when it was their turn to choose the friendship or each other, they chose each other.”

  Reggie couldn’t help herself. She rolled her eyes and let out an impatient sigh. “Seriously?”

  Summer obviously noticed her change in tone and blinked. Annoyance was clearly not the effect she’d been hoping to elicit.

  “You murdered your best friend, your oldest friend and then pulled a knife on a Vicar, all because you felt left out? Do you have any idea how spoilt and stupid you sound right now?”

  “Don’t you call me stupid!” Summer screeched. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what it feels like to—”

  “I don’t care!” Reggie replied.

  Summer backed up a pace. She squinted at Reggie, shook her head, and squinted again. “You’re not a very good Vicar,” she said, her voice softer now. “Aren’t you supposed to be quoting scripture or telling me to seek forgiveness?”

  “Are you sorry?” Reggie asked, crossing her arms and staring the girl down. She honestly didn’t know what had come over her. All she knew was that she was suddenly very calm and not in the mood for this spoilt brat’s excuses.

  “No!”

  Summer laughed, her eyes manic as she gripped the knife tighter and paced side to side, like a hungry predator, but didn’t come closer. It was like there was some kind of fence between her and the Vicar.

  “Then, you’re not forgiven,” Reggie said.

  Summer growled and moved to take a step closer, the knife glinting, but she stopped. “You – You don’t understand. You’ve never been in love.”

  “Well that’s not true,” Reggie scoffed. “I’m a Vicar not a nun. No vow of celibacy for us.”

  Summer could have easily lunged at Reggie, but something was stopping her. The Vicar was certain that Summer had come to find out what she knew and kill her if necessary. So why was she hesitating?

  “Tell me what happened,” Reggie said.

  “I –” Summer stuttered, her face an ugly mask of rage and hate but also something else, something very sad quite pathetic. “I didn’t plan to kill her. I just wanted her to get sick. I thought if she got sick every time they were together, he’d get bored and they’d break up.”

  It was an evil plan right out of the kindergarten playbook but Reggie bit her cheek and nodded as though it made perfect sense.

  “But then she got it into her head that she was pregnant, even though Dr. Manning had told her it was impossible.” Summer laughed, a high-pitched manic sound. “And better yet, John told her he didn’t want it and they broke up! I couldn’t believe it worked.

  “But while I’m being an amazing friend and listening to her whine while she ate all my ice cream and drank all my wine, she started talking about going back and giving him another chance.” Summer looked incredulous as she spoke. “I mean what more evidence did she need that they were wrong for each other?”

  “You’re right,” Reggie agreed. “Then what happened?”

  Summer licked her lips and her eyes darted about the kitchen. It was as though she were actually searching her mind for the right words while also remembering the events of that night.

  “I tried to stop her,” Summer finally said, and there was a pleading tone in her voice now. “I tried to tell her that John was wrong for her, that she could do better. But she turned on me and started yelling! After I was such a good friend, after everything I’d done to show her what a bad match they were.”

  Reggie could see Summer was becoming more agitated and sensed that she didn’t have long before the girl finally did what she’d come to do. But Reggie needed to know.

  “Why would she yell at you?” Reggie asked.

  “She accused me of wanting John for myself, she said that John had told her about how we’d dated in high school, but he’d gotten bored and didn’t know how to break up, so he made the excuse that he was worried about Elsa being hurt, so I wouldn’t make a fuss.”

  Summer was pacing again, a caged animal. She wanted to strike but now she was talking she couldn’t stop.

  “I don’t quite know how it happened. One minute I was just glaring at her, and it felt like white hot daggers were pressing against the backs of my eyes. Then…” Summer slumped and giggled, it was an action more disturbing than the knife she was holding. “I saw the cord and just grabbed it. She looked so shocked! Like she couldn’t believe her selfish actions could possibly have consequences.

  “I wrapped the cord around her neck, and she tried to turn and open the door, but that just made it worse for her, easier for me. Then I just kept pulling until…”

  Reggie sent a silent thank yo
u that Summer had not felt the need to finish that sentence. The meaning and end result were clear and did not require explanation.

  She let out a shaky breath and finally smiled over Summer’s shoulder. “Is that enough?”

  Summer narrowed her eyes and turned just in time to see Detective Harry Thornton standing behind her, gun in hand.

  The detective nodded. “That’ll do, Vicar.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After Summer’s confession, everything seemed to move very quickly. For one horrifying second, Reggie had been afraid the girl might try to run at the detective. And though she didn’t doubt the man could protect himself, the result would have been horrific.

  Although he would have been defending himself, Reggie knew the death would have hurt him the same way lethal action hurt all good officers.

  But luckily for everyone involved, two uniformed officers entered the cottage on Harry’s command and in the next moment Summer seemed to deflate. She dropped the knife and didn’t struggle when Officer Clark cuffed her wrists behind her back and led the sobbing girl outside.

  The next few days passed in a daze of constant visitors with cakes and scones and pies. Everyone wanted to check in with the Vicar and everyone wanted to know the real story, which she told happily as she shared the various treats.

  She felt slightly hypocritical considering her last sermon on the topic of gossip, but since she wasn’t simply sharing bits of rumor, but in fact the truth of what had happened, perhaps it was the lessor evil. They would only make up their own stories if she didn’t tell them.

  Finally, to ease both her conscience and the town’s curiosity, she dedicated the Sunday Sermon to the events of that evening and the bravery of their fine police. She downplayed her own part, after all she’d just managed to keep her mouth shut long enough to let Summer make her full confession. And true that was quite the feat for Reggie, it wasn’t what she’d considered heroism.

  The bonus was that the morning service had the highest attendance the village had ever seen, even the haughty Ms. Wilcox seemed impressed. And though she informed Reggie that she had not sent the letter to the Bishop as yet, it remained on her desk, should the Vicar not fulfil her duties.