Authors: Carol Durand,Summer Prescott
Chas
Beckett was at his desk going through his notes on the Higgins murder yet
again. Something just wasn’t adding up. He’d sent a patrolman to Samantha
Lemmon’s apartment on the night that Missy’s books were burned, and not only
had the young woman been sound asleep, but, as Missy had described, she had no
nails to speak of and the ones that she did have were completely unpolished.
Fingerprints taken from the murder scene as well as fingerprints on the broken
glass from Missy’s porch didn’t match the ones that Samantha had willingly
provided. The blood type from the smears on the yellow siding of Missy’s house
weren’t the same type as Samantha, and it was looking more and more like the
unfortunate woman really was innocent. That being the case, who would’ve had
cause to murder Sally Higgins? Clearly it was someone who knew how important
her book club was to her – the clues that had been intentionally left made that
abundantly clear.
A
uniformed officer interrupted the detective’s thoughts.
“Detective
Beckett, there’s a visitor here to see you,” the young cop said, inclining his
head toward the plump little woman trailing behind him.
Chas
tried not to let his annoyance show as he thanked the officer and greeted the
woman.
“What
can I do for you, Ms…?”
“Parsons.
Tamela Parsons,” the pleasant-looking woman blushed when he addressed her. “I’m
in the Burgundies and Books book club with your…er…with Missy,” she stammered a
bit, not knowing the exact nature of their relationship. “Anyway, she always
speaks very highly of you and…so…when I found something as I was going through
my things that I thought might be important, I thought that you might be a good
person to show them to,” she finished awkwardly, clearly intimidated by the
handsome detective.
“You
have my attention, Ms. Parsons,” Chas leaned back in his chair, indicating that
she should sit in one of the club chairs across the desk from him.
“Oh
please, call me Tamela,” she giggled nervously.
“Tamela,
then,” he said agreeably. “What is it that you have there?” the detective
asked, referring to the manila envelope that she was clutching protectively.
Glancing
furtively around, she leaned closer and said, “Photos,” in a low voice.
“May
I?” Chas extended his hand.
“Oh,
of course,” she nodded, handing him the envelope.
He
flipped through them carefully, recognizing the victim, Sally Higgins, who
seemed to be engaged in a loving relationship with the man in the photos.
“Sally
and her husband?” he guessed, putting the photos down on his desk.
“Umm…no,”
Tamela looked around again, leaning even further forward. “Sally and Marsha
Mueller’s husband…er…late husband, as it were,” she confided, eyes wide.
“They
were having an affair?” Chas asked.
“Yes,
for several years, I think.”
“When
were these taken?”
“Just
a couple of years ago, right before Ed…died,” Tamela replied, shaking her head
sadly.
“And
how is it that you have them?” Chas raised an eyebrow at her.
Tamela
Parsons blushed to the roots of her hair. “Well, our book club met at Marsha’s
tiny little house one night, and on my way back from the bathroom, I started
snooping around in Ed’s study, and found them in a drawer. My curiosity got the
best of me and I started flipping through them. I heard footsteps coming down
the hall and I panicked. I didn’t want to get caught – I was so embarrassed, so
I tucked them into the back of the book that I was carrying and ended up taking
them home. I’d always intended to put them back at some point, but then Ed died
a few months later so I just didn’t see the point,” she explained, ashamed.
“Does
Marsha know that you have them?”
“Oh,
absolutely not, she’d kill me if she knew,” the blushing woman said,
ironically.
“Do
you think Marsha ever confronted Sally with what she knew?” Chas was taking
copious notes as they talked.
“It’s
hard to say. Shortly after that night, it seemed like Marsha almost became
obsessed with Sally. Wherever Sally went, Marsha went too. They joined all of
the same clubs, went to all the same parties and events, but there definitely
seemed to be some sort of tension there.”
The
detective nodded. “Marsha introduced Samantha Lemmon to the book club, didn’t
she?” he asked. Tamela nodded. “And then Sally and Samantha became close?”
“Oh
yes,” she smiled. “Sally took Sam under her wing from the start. Those two were
like peas in a pod.”
“How
do you supposed Marsha felt about that?” he probed.
“I
don’t know, but I do recall seeing her shoot the two of them some very sharp
looks. I think she may have felt left out,” Tamela commented.
“So
she decided to kill two birds with one stone,” Chas mused, thinking.
“Beg
your pardon?” the confused woman asked.
“Nothing,
just thinking aloud,” Chas flashed a brilliant smile, hoping to throw her off.
His tactic worked, she blushed from her neck to her ears again. “Thank you for
coming in today, Tamela, you’ve been very helpful,” he said, standing. “You
don’t mind if I hang on to these, do you?” he employed another dazzling smile.
“Oh,
my, not at all, Detective, just don’t let Marsha know that you got them from
me, I don’t want her to be angry with me.”
“
You
certainly don’t,
” Chas thought to himself as he ushered Tamela Parsons out
of his office.
“Chas,
omigosh, I know who murdered Sally Higgins!” Missy said in a low voice on the
phone.
“Me
too,” he replied, but she was too keyed up to notice.
“Marsha
Mueller came in and she had bright red nail polish with the tips worn off and
she has pierced ears and was wearing diamond earrings that were like the one
that I found on the porch. I didn’t understand why, but when we were at book
club the last time, she was pretty snappy with Sally and I think it’s because
Sally wanted Sam to help her with the Garden Walk committee instead of Marsha,
so Sam is innocent and Marsha did it,” she explained in a rush. “Marsha Mueller
is sitting in my shop right now eating a coconut cupcake, can you come arrest
her?” she whispered, standing in the far corner of her office with the door
closed.
“I
came to the same conclusion, but I’m working on tying it all together at the
moment. Just let Marsha go on her way, and when I have something more concrete,
I’ll get a warrant,” the detective advised. “And Missy…be careful.”
**
Chas
Beckett was in the process of putting all of the pieces of the Sally Higgins
murder together. While the fingerprints that the lab had found didn’t match
Samantha Lemmon’s, they all matched each other, and he would bet his last dime
that they would match Marsha Mueller’s, along with the traces of blood that had
been smeared on Missy’s house, and the DNA from the earring post. The murder
mystery book that had been left open on Missy’s pillow, was displaying the page
that described the body of the cheating wife being found, and Tamela Parsons
had provided photos illustrating the affair that had taken place between Sally
and Marsha’s husband.
When
Chas had interviewed Marsha, she had immediately cast suspicion upon Samantha,
the newest member of the group, obviously because she perceived her to be
Sally’s ally. He was planning to ask Sam Lemmon if Sally had said anything
about Marsha, jealousy, or an affair. If Samantha knew about any or all of
those things, and Marsha had indeed killed Sally, Sam might be next on the
list. It looked as though everything Marsha had done, from vandalizing Missy’s
house, to burning books, to dousing the porch in wine, had been designed to set
Samantha up, but she hadn’t been quite careful enough about covering her
tracks.
Detective
Beckett had just picked up his desk phone to call down to the lab to see if
they were done processing the evidence from all of the crime scenes that were
seemingly related to the Sally Higgins murder, when the officer who had brought
Tamela Parsons to see him reappeared at his door.
“Detective?”
he rapped on the door frame, and Chas put his desk phone down, sighing. “I
thought you might want to know, we got a call from an apartment complex close
to downtown, regarding an assault with a deadly weapon. The intended victim’s
friend was coming to pick her up and didn’t get to the door before the victim
came running out screaming,” he explained quickly.
“Okay…”
Chas nodded, waiting for more information.
“The
victim is a Ms. Samantha Lemmon,” he said, glancing at his notes, “…and the
perp is a Ms. Marsha Mueller. The friend who called the assault in is Echo
Willis. The victim is being transported to the hospital with lacerations, and
the perp is in custody, being transported to lock-up.”
Chas
was out of his chair and had his sport coat halfway on before the officer had
even finished his report. He was headed to the hospital first, to see what had
prompted the attack on Samantha Lemmon, then he would head to the lock-up to
inform Marsha Mueller that she was not only under arrest for assault with a
deadly weapon, but also for the murder of her husband, Edward Mueller, and her
former best friend, Sally Higgins.
When
Tamela had told Chas that Ed’s death had seemed a bit suspicious, he did some
checking and found that he’d had the exact same earmarks for cause of death
that Sally had. Ed’s death had been attributed to sleep apnea, because it was
clear from the autopsy that he had suffocated to death, and Sally had been
quite obviously smothered with a pillow while she slept. When Marsha smothered
Sally, she had knelt on the sleeping woman’s arms, bruising them. Autopsy
photos of Edward Mueller showed similar bruising.
There
had been a significant amount of alcohol in his system, which is part of why
sleep apnea had seemed an obvious choice – the combination of the two was known
to be deadly. There had been an empty bottle of wine on Sally’s kitchen
counter, alongside a glass that had her fingerprints all over it, and Chas
theorized that Marsha had gotten both of her victims drunk enough to pass out,
then smothered them as they slept. Sally’s autopsy results would most likely
support that theory and were due back from the coroner any time now.
Missy
went back out to the front of the store after hanging up with Chas and catching
her breath for a moment, planning to tell Ben that he didn’t have to distract
Marsha anymore, and was surprised to see that the murderer had already taken
her leave.
Ben
saw his boss surveying the eating area and apologized. “She seemed to be in a
hurry to leave when I came out here, I tried to talk to her, but she just kind
of waved me off,” he explained.
Missy
was actually relieved that Sally’s killer had left her shop, and heaved a sigh
of relief. “Don’t worry about it, Ben, it’s probably best that she’s gone.” She
told the young manager what had been going on and that it looked like Marsha
was Sally’s killer.
“So
you left me out here with a woman who is under suspicion for murder? Thanks,
boss,” he teased, glad he hadn’t known in advance. It was impossible for Ben to
lie, and he just knew that he would’ve acted oddly and tipped her off.
Missy
glanced at her watch. “I love my work, but I am more than glad that it’s
closing time,” she admitted, not feeling the least bit guilty. “Flip the sign
please, Ben,” she nodded to the placard that currently said “Open.”
“Wow,
twenty minutes early? I’m certainly not going to argue,” he grinned, heading
for the front door to turn the sign over to “Closed.”
“You’re
the best, Ben,” Missy smiled. “Would you mind staying while I clean up? I
probably don’t have any reason to worry, but I’d rather not be alone for now,”
she confessed.
“No
prob,” he nodded. “I clean the eating area and you clean the kitchen?” he
offered.
“Sounds
great, let’s do it.”
The
two of them finished the closing duties and cleanup in record time, each eager
to get out of there at the end of a long day. Hanging up their aprons, the
locked up and left, with Ben watching Missy unlock and start her car before
getting into his to go home to Cheryl and baby Cammie.
Missy
drove straight to Chas’s house, where she’d pick up the dogs and take them for
a long walk to ease some of her tension. She knew that Chas was on Marsha’s
trail, but in her opinion, he just couldn’t arrest her soon enough for comfort.
She felt terrible about having been so cold to Samantha because she had
suspected her of killing Sally, and planned to apologize profusely as soon as
Marsha was charged and everything was wrapped up. She should have known, from
the simple fact that her own best friend Echo had befriended Sam, that the
young woman was not only innocent, but of good character. Missy may have led a
fairly sheltered life, but Echo had been around the block enough times to
generally know a criminal when she saw one, unless they happened to be male,
and incredibly good-looking.
Jogging
to the small park in Chas’s neighborhood with Toffee and Bitsy felt good,
almost cleansing, and while she knew that there was still a murderer on the
loose, she also knew that Chas was on top of the situation, and that
ultimately, everything would be okay. She thought fondly of the man whom she’d
grown to depend upon for emotional support and quiet strength. He was kind,
honest, and an amazing human being, and she felt incredibly fortunate to have
him in her life. She was nearly back to his simple but stately home, when the
phone that had been tucked into an arm band so that she could run unencumbered,
buzzed, signaling an incoming call.
Coming
to a halt and trying to regulate her breathing a bit, she unholstered the phone
and saw that Echo was calling.
“Hey
girl, what’s shakin?” she answered, glad to hear from her best friend.
“Omigosh,
Missy, something terrible has happened, can you come meet me at the hospital?”
her normally laid-back friend sounded frantic. “I’m in the ER waiting room.”
“Of
course, I’ll be there in about ten minutes,” she promised, hanging up and
sprinting for Chas’s house as fast as her furry friends’ legs would allow.
Not
bothering to change her clothes, Missy quickly filled food and water dishes for
the girls, wiped her face with a damp washcloth, grabbed her purse and car keys
and headed out the door. She found Echo pacing in the hallway outside of the ER
waiting room, blood all over her once-light blue t-shirt.
“Echo,
what happened?” Missy asked, more than disturbed to see her friend covered in
blood, and hugging her close, regardless.
“It’s
Sam. We were supposed to have a pizza and movie night at her place, and when I
was walking to her door, she came running out, screaming and covered in blood,
followed by this crazy redhead who had a knife. When the woman saw me, she
dropped the knife and ran around the corner of the building. I was scared for
Sam, so I shoved her in my car and locked the doors so that I could call 911.
They came really fast, but I don’t know if they caught her attacker or not,”
she explained, tears running down her cheeks as she remembered the grisly
scene.
“How
badly hurt is she?”
“I
don’t know,” Echo shook her head. “But there was so much blood…” she swayed a
bit on her feet and Missy had no sooner gotten her seated in the waiting room,
than Chas dashed in, going straight to the reception desk and flashing his
badge. He saw Missy and Echo on his way back to the restricted area of the ER,
but when Missy ran over to talk to him, he told her that he’d be back to talk
with her and Echo as soon as he could.
It
had been barely half an hour, but seemed like days before Chas reappeared.
“You
didn’t hear it from me, but she’s going to be okay,” he announced quietly,
sitting down across from Missy and Echo.
“Oh,
thank goodness,” Echo said, and both women breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m
afraid I can’t stay, I have to get to the lock-up and inform Marsha that she’s
being arrested for murder. Apparently, because she thought Sam would end up
dead, she confessed to everything before she came at her with the knife.
Samantha said that it sounded like she was proud of what she’d done. Her
testimony will add more fuel to the fire for the prosecution, because Marsha
disclosed details to Sam that hadn’t been released to the public,” Chas said,
wearily triumphant.
He
kissed Missy on the forehead. “I’ll see you late tonight, beautiful.” Then the
detective turned to Echo. “Are we still on for tomorrow?” he asked. She nodded,
and despite the trauma of an event-filled day, a broad grin warmed her face.
“Well,
that sounds very mysterious,” Missy observed, after Chas left. “What are you
two up to tomorrow, and why am I not invited?” she demanded.
“Well,
unless you’re mechanically inclined, you’ll only be in the way,” Echo lied
smoothly. “Chas is coming over to fix the ice-maker in my refrigerator.”
“Oh,
well then, I’ll come with him. We can eat ice cream and critique his
performance,” she grinned.
“Umm…well…okay,”
her friend faltered, seeming oddly nervous. “That sounds…good, yeah, let’s
do…that,” she nodded vigorously.
The
two friends waited hours for Sam to come out of the ER and be moved to a
private room, then went up to see her.
“Hey
guys,” Samantha greeted them wanly from her hospital bed, as they crept into
the room, afraid to disturb her.
Missy
moved to the side of the bed nearest the door. “Sam, I am so sorry. I’ve been
just terrible to you, and I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you chose not to
forgive me, but from the bottom of my heart, I just want you to know that I’m
so so sorry that I doubted you,” she apologized, fat tears streaking down her
face.
“It’s
okay, I understand. Marsha did a good job of trying to frame me. Did the police
get her?” she asked, fear in her eyes.
“Yes,
she’s locked up right now, honey, you don’t have to worry anymore,” Echo spoke,
brushing the blood-stiffened hair away from Sam’s brow. Marsha had gone wild
with a butcher knife, slashing the poor woman’s scalp, shoulder, arms, hands
and torso. The cuts were deep enough to need stitches, but thankfully not
surgery. She was in the hospital for rest and observation and would most likely
get to go home the next day.
“Good.
I’d been suspicious of her ever since Sally told her that I’d be replacing her
on the committee, but I didn’t know her well enough to realize that she was
capable of doing all the heinous things that she’s done,” Sam murmured, still
in shock.
“I’m
just glad you weren’t hurt worse,” Missy said, taking her hand.
“Me
too,” Sam smiled, then yawned.
“We’d
better get going and let you get your rest, we just had to see you and make
sure that you’re okay,” Echo said, caressing her friend’s cheek.
“Thanks,
I appreciate it,” she replied, yawning again. They both gave her gentle hugs
and went on their way. Samantha fell fast asleep before they even made it to
the door.
“You
never got your pizza tonight, you must be starving,” Missy said as they left
the hospital. “Chas won’t be back for hours, I could come to your house and we
could whip up some late dinner,” she offered.
“No!”
Echo exclaimed. “I mean…umm…I’m really tired. So tired that I couldn’t eat a
thing,” she faked a yawn and stretched.
“Really?
That’s not like you,” Missy remarked, wondering at her friend’s strange
behavior.
“Yeah…I
didn’t sleep well last night,” she hedged. “Maybe next time.”
“Okay…sure,”
Missy agreed, nonplussed. She hoped that, although Echo was becoming close with
Sam, it wouldn’t negatively impact their relationship. She’d give her some time
to rest, but planned to call her tomorrow to ask if everything was okay.