I smiled. “You’re just upset because there’s not a Columbo-like finish. Bessie hasn’t confessed and said why she did it. Admit it, you like that ribbon on the package.”
Aunt Shirley scowled at me. “I suppose I’m upset that we won’t be around to hear the rest of the story.”
I closed my suitcase and picked up my cell phone. Aunt Shirley grabbed her oversized pink purse and cell phone.
“Why’re you taking your purse?” I asked.
Aunt Shirley smiled secretly. “Because you never know when something might come in handy.”
I groaned. “You want a crazy confession from Bessie, don’t you? You want some excuse to reach inside your purse and get out—what? Did you bring your nunchucks again?” I sucked in a breath. “Please tell me you didn’t bring your nunchucks!”
Aunt Shirley waved her hand in irritation. “No, I didn’t bring the nunchucks. And just because I believe in being prepared doesn’t mean I want something to happen. It means I’m the smart one in the group.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You know something, don’t you?”
Aunt Shirley shook her head. “No. Not for sure. But I have been tossing a couple things around. I think it will be good for Bessie to go to the station. This way the others will let their guard down.”
I knew better than to ask more questions, so I leaned quietly against the wall as Aunt Shirley dialed Sheriff Simpson’s number. I could tell from the one-sided conversation he was just as surprised as we were at the discovery.
“He said he’ll be here in about half an hour.”
I pushed off the wall. “Then let’s go bring down a killer.”
Chapter 16
As I knocked on Mom’s bedroom door to let them know we were ready, Olivia Banner and her husband closed the door to their room.
“I don’t know about you,” Olivia said with a smile, “but I can’t wait to leave today. Do you think Sheriff Simpson will be by today with an arrest?”
I blinked in surprise at her. It was almost like she was a fly on our wall. “I’m sure he knows something by now. Hopefully he’ll be able to take someone in for further questioning.”
They moved past us and continued down the stairs. “See you in the parlor,” Olivia called back.
“That was creepy,” Aunt Shirley said.
I nodded. “But maybe they’re just excited to get back to their house and make a fresh start. I do like knowing that something good has come out of this terrible tragedy.”
Mom threw open the door. “Paige is about ready. She had a pretty rough morning. She insists she wants to try and come down for breakfast, but then I want her to come back up here and lie down for a little bit before we head home.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Aunt Shirley and I pretty much have our stuff packed and ready to go anyway.”
Paige shuffled to the door. “I’m sorry about this. I really thought by now the morning sickness would have faded.”
Mom wrapped her arms around Paige. “Don’t you worry. I’m sure Aunt Shirley and Ryli can find something to do this morning while you nap after breakfast.”
Paige laughed self-consciously. “I suppose I should be grateful for all the naps I can get in now. Because something tells me when this baby comes, there’ll be no rest for me.”
The parlor was already in full swing. Olivia and Brian were sitting on the couch talking with Wayne Skaggs. Wayne was wearing another suit and tie, this time with an orange handkerchief.
The Wainwrights were passing out coffee and laughing with Olivia and Brian. Tina was sitting by the fireplace watching Dayna pour her a mimosa. Stewart was scowling in the corner, but at least the phone was out of his hand. He waved off a drink when Dayna asked if he wanted anything.
“Right on time,” Gary Wainwright called out as we walked into the parlor. “Coffee, tea, or mimosa this morning?”
Paige asked for peppermint tea to help settle her stomach, while Mom and I asked for coffee.
“For you Aunt Shirley?” Gary asked.
“Coffee.”
I did a double take. Aunt Shirley passed on a mimosa? Was she coming down with something? Was the world coming to an end? Was she finally growing up?
“I’ll save the mimosa for breakfast,” she added.
And there it was. The proof that all was still right in the world.
“Breakfast is ready to be served,” Bessie said from the doorway.
I had to admit, she didn’t look like someone who’d taken a hammer to someone’s head less than twenty-four hours ago. But then again, I’d been wrong about people so many times it wasn’t even funny.
We all followed Bessie into the dining room. This morning she had breakfast set up buffet style. We lined up as Dayna took our drink orders, and Bessie stood behind the food-ladened table to help serve.
Luckily I was sitting at the table facing a window that overlooked the driveway, so I saw Sheriff Simpson’s patrol car bumping down the long driveway before the others had a chance to see. I shoved the last of my eggs and bacon in before taking a drink of my coffee. It was time for the show to start.
The ringing of the doorbell had everyone else going quiet. A silent look passed between Gary and Cybil Wainwright as they went to go answer the door.
I looked surreptitiously at Aunt Shirley. She’d just finished off her mimosa and looked quite pleased with herself.
No one said a word as Sheriff Simpson took off his hat and walked in behind the Wainwrights. Gary and Cybil went back to their chairs and sat down.
“There’s been some new development in the case,” Sheriff Simpson began. “I want it known that I’m not here to officially arrest anyone yet, but I do have enough evidence to take someone in for further questioning down at the station. I’m also going to request consent to search their bedroom.”
I looked around the table. Everyone looked scared and no one met the Sheriff’s eye. If I didn’t know better, I’d say every person at the table expected to be taken down to the station and questioned further. I guess Aunt Shirley was right…we were missing something.
Sheriff Simpson shoved his hat back on his head and took out his handcuffs. “Bessie Terrance, I’m going to ask you to place your hands behind your back. Again, you are not under arrest, this is just for safety precautions.”
Bessie looked like she’d been slapped. Her mouth dropped open and her cheeks and neck matched the red of her hair. “Me? I haven’t done anything! I didn’t kill Trent!”
Bessie looked wildly around the room. I didn’t know if she was looking for an escape route or for someone to tell her it was just a misunderstanding. Sheriff Simpson gently turned her around and put the handcuffs on her. Bessie started to cry.
“Do you give me consent to go through your room and the kitchen?” Sheriff Simpson asked.
“Of course! You won’t find anything because there’s nothing for you to find!”
“Thank you.” He leaned over and clicked the radio mic on his shoulder. “Permission given to search suspect’s room and kitchen.” He gently turned Bessie around to face him. “You and I will now go down to the station for further questioning.”
“Mr. Wainwright!” Bessie cried. “I haven’t done anything! I swear!”
Gary Wainwright stood up. “Is it okay if I come down to the station to give her a ride home, Sheriff?”
Sheriff Simpson nodded. “That will be fine, Gary.”
I could hear voices in the foyer and footsteps on the stairs. The other deputies weren’t wasting any time on searching Bessie’s room and the kitchen. Sheriff Simpson led a weeping Bessie from the room.
No one spoke for a full ten seconds, then chaos erupted. I didn’t say anything, just finished off the last of my coffee. Once the conversation died down, everyone seemed antsy and anxious to get to their room.
“We will be leaving immediately,” Stewart announced as he pushed his chair back from the table. “Tina, let’s go.”
Tina kept her head down and followe
d her husband out of the room. Olivia and Brian were next to escape.
“Aunt Shirley,” Gary Wainwright said. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
Aunt Shirley and Gary left the room, and Mom, Paige, and I offered to help Dayna and Cybil clean the dishes, but they wouldn’t hear of it, especially since it was obvious no one would be getting into the kitchen anytime soon. They both shooed us out of the room.
“Now what?” Mom asked as we stood in the empty foyer. “Do we get our stuff and leave immediately or…”
Aunt Shirley walked in and shook her head. “No. We need to stay on for a little while longer.”
Mom closed her eyes. “Please don’t get held hostage or get kidnapped or anything else today.”
Aunt Shirley grinned. “No promises, Janine. But I’ll try not to.”
Wayne Skaggs strolled into the foyer from the dining room. “I’m going to change clothes and then head out to take care of the horses for Gary while he’s gone. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour and a half. Janine, when I return, maybe you and I can go for a walk before you leave?”
I saw the look of panic in Mom’s eyes. Before anyone could say anything, Paige moaned. “I’m really not feeling well. Morning sickness, you know. Janine, could you help me up to our room?”
Nice move! Blame it on the baby!
I hid my smile as Mom nodded her head. “Of course. I’m sorry, Wayne. I think I’m going to have to take a raincheck. Maybe another time.”
Wayne nodded his head stiffly and watched Mom and Paige climb the stairs. “Well, ladies, you two stay out of trouble now, you hear.” He sauntered up the stairs and turned right at the top to enter the west wing.
“Let’s go upstairs until the deputies leave,” Aunt Shirley said.
We met Tina and Stewart dragging suitcases behind them in the hallway as we unlocked our door.
“Are you guys leaving now?” Aunt Shirley asked.
“Yes,” Stewart said gruffly. “We are not staying in this crazy place one more minute.”
I looked at Tina. Her eyes were red from crying, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. It was obvious her only crime was needing attention. Even after all this hoopla, her husband still wasn’t going to give her what she needed.
“Good luck,” I whispered to her.
She gave me a weak smile and meekly followed her husband down the hall. Aunt Shirley unlocked our door and threw her purse on the bed.
“Before he left, Gary Wainwright gave me the master key set. I can now get into any room I want.”
I shook my head as though to clear it. “Wait. What?”
Aunt Shirley grinned. “You heard right. That’s what he wanted to see me about. He opened this box behind the desk in the foyer and gave me the master keys. He wants us to do whatever we can to find the murderer. I guess he doesn’t believe Bessie would do this.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You know which room you want to search, don’t you?”
“Yep. I have a hunch. I’m still not sure how it all plays out, but I like this scenario better than anything else we’ve thought of with Bessie as the killer.”
“Who?”
Aunt Shirley just smiled and shook her head. “I’ll tell you when the time’s right. I want to lay down for about twenty minutes and think. The deputies should be gone by then and we can make our move.”
I blew out a sigh. I knew better than to probe her when she needed to think. I got out my cell phone and sent Garrett a text letting him know Sheriff Simpson took our cook, Bessie, in for further questioning and that we should be cleared to leave shortly. I purposely left out the fact that Aunt Shirley did not think Bessie was the killer because I didn’t want him to worry.
A few minutes later I received a text back saying for me to drive safe on the way home and to let him know when we would be leaving.
I hated only telling him half the truth, but by now I’ve come to learn that Garrett will never trust that Aunt Shirley and I can handle ourselves.
I’d just set my phone down and closed my eyes when Aunt Shirley’s phone alarm went off.
“Let’s go.” She picked up her massive purse and slung it over her shoulder. “They should be gone by now.”
I silently followed her out of the room. We stopped at the top of the stairs and looked outside. The two patrol cars were just pulling out.
“Perfect timing,” Aunt Shirley cackled. “Let’s roll!”
Chapter 17
I silently followed her into the west wing until we came to Wayne’s bedroom door. Aunt Shirley took out the master key and pushed open the door. She put her finger to her lips to signal me to be quiet.
I silently shut the door behind me as we stood in the center of Wayne’s room and looked around. It was laid out like the others. He had a bed, a desk, a dresser, and a bathroom.
“I’m going to look through his desk drawers,” Aunt Shirley whispered. “You look through the dresser.”
I had no idea what I was looking for, but I did as she requested. I opened the top drawer and found nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I found nothing strange as I went through all the drawers.
“I thought so,” Aunt Shirley murmured.
“What did you find?”
Aunt Shirley held up a collage of pictures. Some of Wayne in costume, others with him and another woman and a child. I peered down and sucked in my breath. “Is that Trent? Omigosh! Did he kill his own son or something?”
That thought nearly knocked me over, and I plopped down on the edge of Wayne’s bed. I couldn’t believe he’d be heartless enough to kill his own son. I dropped my hands and head between my legs and closed my eyes.
“I don’t think it’s his son. Maybe nephew or step-son.”
I didn’t care how she spun the tale, I was about to throw up at the thought. I opened my eyes and something colorful caught my eye. I started to pull on the strand and realized it was stuck because I was sitting on it. I stood up off the bed and reached down to pull the strand the rest of the way out.
“Look what I found,” I whispered and held up a frizzy red wig.
Aunt Shirley looked over at me. “That’s exactly what I was looking for. The whole female thing threw me off. But last night when I couldn’t sleep, I started thinking about everything that had gone on while we were here. And I remembered how good Wayne was at disguises. Put on a frizzy red wig, sunglasses, add some girth to him like he did with the Colonel Musgaard character, throw on a dress, and he could pull it off.” She picked up a small recorder inside the desk and pushed play. The sounds of an electric typewriter filled the silent bedroom. “And that’s how he got around the timeline.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Yes,” an angry voice said from the doorway. “Whatever do you mean?”
I turned around and saw Wayne Skaggs with his arms outstretched…holding a snub-nosed .38 revolver.
Pointed directly at my chest, I might add.
Wayne straightened from the doorframe and shut the door behind him. “I figured you’d take the bait I laid out for you. I tell you I’ll be out of my room for an hour or so and look who shows up.”
He stopped two feet in front of me. “You don’t want to make a sound,” he told Aunt Shirley. “I have no problem capping her right here.”
Aunt Shirley’s face turned ashen. “I understand.”
He motioned for Aunt Shirley to join me near the bed. She picked up her purse and walked slowly toward me. I could see the wheels turning in her head.
Wayne reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out two huge zip ties. My heart lurched at the thought of what he intended to do to us.
I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as Aunt Shirley made a fuss over situating herself just right as she sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. She plopped her oversize purse down on her lap, fisted both of her hands side-by-side, and rested them on top of her purse. I knew Aunt Shirley well eno
ugh to know that every gesture or word she said from here on out would have a purpose.
“Can you at least tell us why and how?” Aunt Shirley asked as Wayne slipped a zip tie over my wrists and pulled tightly.
“Ow!” I couldn’t help the cry. I wasn’t expecting that kind of pain.
“Shut up!” Wayne hissed.
He didn’t say anything as he moved down to where Aunt Shirley was calmly sitting. He slipped the zip tie over her side-by-side wrists and pulled tight. She grunted in pain. White hot rage filled my body, and at that moment I wanted nothing more than to pull off Wayne Skaggs’ arms and beat him to death with his own limbs.
“This was really a simple plan,” Wayne said once the zip ties were in place. “I came here first over a year ago, then realized what a gold mine I was sitting on. I knew I’d need help executing my plan, so I brought my sister’s boy in on the scam. He only had one part he needed to play, but he couldn’t even do that right!”
The more Wayne talked the more his face contorted with rage. He tucked the gun into his waistband and then threw an empty suitcase on the bed behind me. He grabbed and shoved whatever he could lay his hands on into the suitcase.
“Trent’s only part he needed to play,” Aunt Shirley said, “was to pretend to fall in love with Dayna, right?”
Wayne grunted. “But the kid couldn’t keep it in his pants enough to even do that.” He straightened and drew in a deep breath. “Seeing as how I love a good story, I’ll tell you the rest before I kill you.”
His matter-of-fact statement had me nearly peeing my pants. How would he kill us without everyone hearing? How much longer before people started looking for us? Who was still here? Cybil and Dayna. Mom and Paige. Maybe Olivia and Brian.
“The minute I stepped foot on Mystery Farms, I knew I deserved this place. I bid my time, getting to know the Wainwrights, finding their weakness.” A wicked smile twisted his face. “Their weakness is their niece. So after a couple months of being here, I convinced Gary he needed to hire someone to take care of the horses and help out around the farm more—take some of that pressure off of him, this way he could focus on the business more. He agreed and put an ad out in the paper. I wrote to Trent and told him the plan. He wasn’t allowed to tell anyone he knew me. He was just supposed to say he knew horses, give some backstory about living in Wyoming on a horse ranch, and then come here and woo the niece. I’d take care of everything after that.”
Bed, Breakfast and Murder (A Ryli Sinclair Mystery Book 4) Page 11