Her smile chilled me. “Go on.”
“That’s why you kept confessing to me. You thought I’d figure out that you’d been in the room the whole time and you were trying to convince me it was an accident. So the footprints outside the building must have been Carolyn’s. Burns returned to his office after taking me to the personnel office. You two were waiting for him. Which one of you sliced him?”
Carolyn looked at her girlfriend. “If you want to talk about it, please hurry up. I want to get rid of them.”
Gwen spoke to Carolyn but didn’t take her eyes off us, “Don’t worry. I’ll hurry. I just want the satisfaction of looking at the stupid bitch’s face when she realizes how we’ve made a fool of her.”
I thought they didn’t have to make a fool of me. I’d already done quite nicely on my own.
I wanted to keep Gwen talking. She’d gone over the edge and my best bet was to encourage her bragging. “So Carolyn told Burns she’d give him his freedom if he’d give her continued access to the files. He refused. So you cut him. And after you killed him, you helped Carolyn back out the window. You probably didn’t count on Doris coming into Burns’ office. When she walked in, you slid to the floor behind the door and stayed quiet until the room filled up with the rest of us.”
“About time you figured it all out. How we laughed at you and your amateur sleuthing. We realized pretty early you were no threat to us at all. You were just playing at crime solving. The only thing you were good at was bungling.”
I let the jibe go unanswered. “I also want to know if either one of you sabotaged the gas line to my house or the brakes on my car.”
“Of course not.” It was Carolyn’s turn to talk. “We just saw those as signs that luck was with us.”
I sensed they were starting to get bored with my questions, so I decided to throw them an interesting one. “What I really want to know is how you two got together. Carolyn, I know you were Dr. Burns’ sweetie while he was married to Claudia. He divorced her, married you and then started a long-term affair with Gwen. So how did you guys get so chummy?”
“I think that’s a fair question.” Gwen turned to Carolyn. “Do you want to answer it or shall I?”
Carolyn did not seem pleased by the whole conversation. Of course she wasn’t the center of attention and she didn’t like that. “You tell them if you want to. I think we need to end the conversation and get on with ending their existence. I’m bored with all the talk.”
Gwen faced us again. “When Martin ended our relationship, I was mad. Really mad. I wanted to kill the little chippie he was sleeping with. But he was so discreet. I couldn’t figure out who it was. Then I got mad at him instead. For dropping me and then for being so sneaky that I couldn’t figure out who he was seeing. I thought Carolyn might know something. I called her and told her Martin was having an affair with someone that wasn’t me. We met. We talked. The rest, as they say, is history.” God, she was unattractive as a braggart.
“I have another question. Did you ever find out who Martin’s new girlfriend was?”
Gwen didn’t look so confident now. “No, but it doesn’t matter. She doesn’t have him any more.”
Now it was my turn to gloat. I knew something they didn’t know. Maybe I could use that as a bartering tool later.
“Okay, I have another question.” Oops, I better make this interesting. Gwen and Carolyn were both starting to fidget. “Carolyn, did you send Gwen into my office to keep me busy while you were rifling through Martin’s files? That was a good move and it almost worked.” She nodded, she liked compliments. “The thing that made the plan fail was that Gwen kept looking at the door leading toward the kitchen. I knew something was going on so I walked through the kitchen and caught you in Martin’s office.”
Gwen wasn’t happy by this turn of events. “Shut up, loser. Do you want to know anything else or are you ready to die?”
Okay, here goes nothing. “The other night there was quite a parade by my house. Would you explain that?”
Gwen giggled.
Carolyn’s turn to talk, apparently. “It was quite a coincidence that we were both there. In fact we just discovered it today. You know Claudia Burns just returned to Quincy. I don’t trust her and thought I’d check her out. As I was driving to her house I noticed she was leaving and I followed her. She went to your home, knocked, and peeked in the window. Don’t know why. As she left, I looked in your windows.”
Carolyn continued. “Gwen’s brother Charlie has this thing about trying to protect Gwen. He was following me, because he thought I was out to hurt Gwen.” She flashed a loving smile at Gwen. “Gwen was out looking for Charlie because she wanted to tell him about our relationship so he would stop worrying and would stop snooping. That’s how we all ended up looking in your windows within a very short time. Rather funny when you think about it.”
“Yeah, it really tickles me.” God, I hate it when I resort to sarcasm.
Carolyn’s recent and short bout of good humor left her. “Gwen, we’ve talked long enough. Let’s get out of here. We can get down to the river and kill them there. There are so many sink holes that we can load them down with bricks after they are dead and just let them sink. No cleaning up to do. And there are probably plenty of bodies down there to keep them company.” Just when I thought Carolyn was the saner of the two, she went and got weird on me.
“Okay, but please,” I pleaded, “please answer one more question…” They stopped walking so I continued with a question I already knew the answer to. “The thing that’s driving me crazy is how did you clean up after the murder?” Looking at Gwen, I said, “There was no blood on you anywhere.”
Since I sounded as if I admired their brilliance, Gwen couldn’t stop from answering. “You are such a dope. Clinics are full of disposable gowns. After Martin refused to cooperate, Carolyn kept talking to him while I stepped into the closet outside his office, got some gowns, gloves, hair coverings, and booties. I looked into Martin’s office, asked him to excuse us for a moment, and called Carolyn into the hallway. We went into the kitchen, covered ourselves with the disposable stuff and went into Martin’s office through that door.”
“Wasn’t he surprised to see you both dressed like that?”
She continued, “I don’t think he knew who we were right away. By the time he figured it out, it was too late.”
“So you actually cut him? You’re the one?”
She didn’t speak but she grinned, and that gave me all the answer I needed.
I continued with my questioning. “Then you put all the disposable clothing and the scalpel in a plastic bag and helped Carolyn out of the window. She took the bag with her. That’s why there were footprints leading away from but not toward the building.”
“Bingo,” Gwen said, “you win the door prize.” She paused. “Too bad there isn’t one.” Again, the maniacal laughter.
It caused my spine to shiver uncontrollably.
When she stopped laughing she said, “I was the receptionist, so I was the only one who knew Carolyn had come into the clinic. She’d called him from the empty office—now it’s yours—and when he got nasty on the phone we just decided to get rid of him. We figured I’d still be working there and could give new files to Carolyn. Of course, things didn’t quite work out the way we’d planned.”
Carolyn couldn’t resist trying to stop the chatter. After all, the attention wasn’t focused on her. “Will you just get rid of the bitch and the old man? You’ve told them everything. Sam’s just stalling.”
Gwen agreed to stop talking and bragging and to get the job done. “Get up. Get up. Let’s go.” The way she brandished that pistol, I was scared I’d die accidentally. She didn’t appear to have any more expertise than Charlie did. Maybe I could get the jump on her. I thought that if there was some way I could signal Gus, or some way to let him know that he needed to deal with Carolyn, we had a chance. Carolyn was a wimp. Gwen wasn’t, but we had to do something. I wasn’t going to die without at least mussing up someone’s hair. And if I was going to die, I wanted it to be here, so I could bleed all over Carolyn’s beautiful carpet. I decided to be resolute and just go for it.
As Gus and I stood, I melodramatically clutched at my stomach and yelled, “Grab Carolyn.”
Luckily Gus didn’t second-guess me. He jumped up and literally threw himself at Carolyn, tackling her in a way that showed her he knew his way around a football field. At the same time I pretended to pass out on Gwen. It wasn’t as picture perfect as Gus’s execution, but it was dramatic and it worked. My reputation as a fainter preceded me. She dropped her gun as the nurse in her reflexively put her arms out to catch me. I immediately grabbed Gwen and put her in a basket hold—a restraint normally used only for my past psychiatric patients and younger brothers. Expertly executed and very effective.
Just as I wondered how long I could hold her, we were pleasantly interrupted. “Hold it right there. Don’t move.” George’s voice was beautiful at that moment. I swirled around to face him and instead saw not only George, but Michael, Pete, Rob, Georgianne, and a charging Clancy. Georgianne was replete with the ubiquitous housecoat and curlers.
I maintained the restraint hold on Gwen, but I was getting tired. Clancy revealed teeth I didn’t know she had as she growled at Gwen, letting her know her bite was definitely going to be worse than her bark.
“Will someone help me here?” I yelled. Rob rushed over and relieved me of my charge.
Gus left Carolyn on the floor and went to his bride. “Darlin’, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so lovely.” I swear to God she blushed. And she almost looked good. Hell, she did look good. Anybody who helped saved my life was beautiful.
George took charge. “Rob, Officer Radcliffe should be coming inside any minute. Read these two their rights and take them downtown. I’ll be down in a little while to question them.”
He looked at me. I couldn’t help myself. I hugged him. Then I hugged Michael, and Pete, and Georgianne. I got on my knees and kissed my brave dog. I promised Rob a hug later, as I didn’t think he’d appreciate being grabbed by his big sister as he was arresting two murderers.
On her way out the door Carolyn looked seductively at Michael in one last-ditch attempt to garner his support. Michael didn’t make eye contact with her.
I stood and faced George. “Where’s Charlie?” The last I knew, he was in my car with Clancy?”
“Another officer is speaking to him outside. Are you okay?”
I didn’t answer; instead I asked another question. “How did you find out we were here?”
“It was Georgianne. She knew where you and Gus were going and she called me. I came right over and was rather surprised to see the rest of this gang here as well.”
I looked at the beaming Georgianne. “How did you know we were here?”
“Well, you know Gus isn’t well. I think it’s my job as his loving wife to know his whereabouts at all times. So I listened when you were talking to him. And don’t you dare call it ‘eavesdropping.’ I was doing it for Gus’s own good, and for yours too as it turned out.”
How could I be mad at the beautiful old witch? She saved us. “And what about my brothers?”
“Well, you told me your brother Rob is a police officer, so I called him, thinking that Officer Lansing could probably use a little help. And I remembered that your brother Pete is a Father, so I called him. You never know when you might need a priest. It just so happened that both young men were arriving home from work when I called and they were most happy to hear from me.”
I felt Rob’s stare as he and Radcliffe led the duo away. “We’re going to have a nice long talk later about your midnight activities,” he said.
I bet he wanted to thank me.
Pete contributed his unwelcome thoughts. “What in the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Pete, priests shouldn’t cuss.”
“Stay on the subject. What did you think you were doing?”
“Well, Father Smarty-Priest, I thought I was doing exactly what I did. Gus and I solved the crime and we caught the criminals. If I hadn’t pretended to faint on Gwen, she would have killed us and if Gus hadn’t tackled Carolyn, why she might have…”
“If you hadn’t come snooping around, you wouldn’t have been in a position where you had to be theatrical to save yourself.”
Male logic. Can’t live with them. Period.
George hung up the telephone, where he’d been talking with the station. “Pete, will you do me a favor and give Mr. and Mrs. Granville a ride home? They look tired. I’ll take Sam home in a few minutes.”
Georgianne and Gus looked anything but tired. Georgianne was still glowing and Gus had the energy of a thirty-year-old. Romance was in the air tonight.
Both of them hugged me before they were escorted from the room. As he was walking out, Gus turned to me and said, “This was the best night of my life. Thanks.”
The room emptied out pretty quickly. I was left with George and Michael. Michael hadn’t yet spoken to me, although I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. It was time for me to hug him again. My vertigo was settling down. Maybe I was “vibed out” for the night. I now knew that Michael had nothing to do with the murder. Why did I feel dizzy around him and not around Gwen? She was one of the guilty ones.
I walked up to Michael, put my arms around him and suddenly knew. I whispered in his ear “Maybe you scare me.” That’s the only reason I could think of for my physical reaction to him. “Maybe you scare me, Michael.”
“And maybe I should,” he whispered back. His warm breath in my ear caused shivers and goosebumps, but no dizziness.
George interrupted again. “I want to give you a ride home, because I need to talk to you. O’Dear, will you follow me in Sam’s car? Then I’ll give you a ride back here to your car?”
Michael was much too agreeable. He said yes and took Clancy with him. George and I got into the unmarked cop car that everyone in town recognized.
The ride was only a few blocks. I sat with my head leaning back, thinking about tonight, what almost happened, and what did happen.
“Hey.” He startled me a bit.
“Yeah, what?” My words were said quietly.
“First of all, I’d like to call a truce. I’m sorry about the prom. That was a long time ago and I hope you can start treating me like a human being again. I’d like to be friends.”