The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder (23 page)

“Like who else is my supporter?”

“Pepper. She says she was with you when Tiffanee was killed. Even if your so-called alter egos were killing, you would have to be physically present for them to do it. Pepper says that’s impossible.”

“Don’t you think my alters could find a way to fool the police? It’s not like that’s never been done before.”

I thought about that. The 911 center was a busy place. I assumed that people must be coming and going, taking breaks, that kind of thing. Could we be absolutely certain that Mona hadn’t managed to leave the area without anyone noticing? I had to follow up on this or make sure that Pepper did. I said, “And Ramona is another supporter. I saw her in the library today. She said if you need her, she’ll be there for you and she’ll do a better job this time. She wishes she had found a way to put an end to it when you were a kid at the playground.”

Silence.

I blurted, “And I’m here for you too, Mona. I realize that I should have stood up for you. I should have found a way to make them stop.”

While Mona was blowing her nose, I kept talking. “Jack Reilly too. He said he’d be willing to help.”

“That’s weird, Charlotte,” Mona said with a bizarre high-pitched laugh.

“Why?”

“Because you and Ramona and Jack were practically the only people who ever did try to help me. I never forgot that. You’re not the problem.”

“Margaret and Sally helped you,” I said. “Pepper too.”

“And I appreciated that then and now. But Pepper’s a cop. If she has to arrest me, she will. Maybe that’s the best thing. Do you know who the first victim was?”

I hesitated. “Bethann Reynolds.”

“Exactly. She was another victim of bullying. She also managed to get her life together and recently started to fight back about injustice. It’s ironic that I would have killed her by mistake, thinking she was Serena.”

I said, “But—”

“But nothing. She looked a bit like Serena, same height, blond hair, not as classy a hairdo, but she was bundled up with a scarf because of the blowing wind. There was that yellow Hummer parked on the street and she was crossing right by it. That’s all it took for me to kill her. I think the best thing would be for Pepper to stop me before I kill again.”

“Let me repeat: Pepper says you couldn’t have killed Bethann.”

“Right, like no one’s ever been mistaken about the time of a death. It doesn’t take long to hit somebody with a car.”

“Oh.”

Could Pepper have been mistaken about the time? And what if this wacky idea was true? I sure didn’t want Mona out there killing anyone else.

“Let us help. Tell me where you are. Or at least meet up with me and talk things through.”

“Not happening. It’s too late for me, Charlotte. Way too late. You won’t find me.”

“Mona! Wait!” I stood staring at the receiver and listening to the dial tone.

I left a message for Pepper, knowing she wouldn’t call me back.

I popped into Kristee’s Kandees immediately after that. I felt the need for some extra black-and-white fudge. Some for bribes, peace offerings, whatever. One for a thank-you to Ramona. She had done a lot to help set up and promote my workshops.

Some of the fudge was for me. It felt quite urgent, getting my mitts on it.

Kristee wasn’t faking any sorrow over the latest death. Once again, she was practically gleeful. “Jasmin?” she said. “I suppose she’ll rot in hell with the others. How about I toss in an extra piece to celebrate, Charlotte?”

Of course, I didn’t want to turn down an extra piece. I said, “Not everyone feels that way, Kristee. Mona Pringle was probably the person most victimized and yet she’s practically distraught.”

“I find that hard to believe. Does she think she’s killing them in her sleep or something? Whoa. You should see your face. She does?”

“Of course she doesn’t.” I backpedaled at some speed. “But she is upset, and she has been since Serena came back.”

“Not surprised. That Serena’s all ‘oh, can we be friends? I truly regret. I want to make amends, reconnect.’ Blah-blah-blah. My fat fanny she wants to make amends. She’s up to something. She’s all about herself. Too bad no one’s bumped her off yet.”

“She called you too?”

“Yeah and I told her where she could shove her so-called amends. You want these gift wrapped, Charlotte?”

Minutes later, after another tirade or two, I fled Kristee’s. I opened one of the gift-wrapped boxes and ate three pieces at the first red light.

Luck seemed to be with me and after a few extremely deceitful phone calls to find out when he left the hospital, I tracked Dr. Partridge to the parking lot of Woodbridge General. I’d headed out there, as he hadn’t returned my calls asking about dissociative identity disorder. That bit of luck didn’t last long, as Dr. Partridge spotted me and actually sprinted to his vehicle, a sensible black Subaru. As I stood there, openmouthed, he got into the car and accelerated out of the lot.

“Yeah, sure, Dr. Partridge, thanks a lot,” I muttered as I drove away from the hospital with his elegantly wrapped package of black-and-white fudge still on the seat. The police (aka Pepper) had also failed to return my calls. Something bizarre was going on. It obviously had to do with all the bullying that Serena and her coven had done as teenagers. Three people had died and they were all connected. Bethann looked like Serena, but she’d also been bullied. There seemed to me to be a limited cast of characters. So, moving on: Either the deaths were random or they weren’t. There wasn’t much chance they were random. So, the hit-and-run driver was either Mona or it wasn’t. If it was Mona, it was either her normal self or one of her alters. Whatever the situation, I needed to find her and keep her (or them) from hurting anyone else. If it wasn’t Mona, I had to discover who
was
behind these crimes and stop them before someone else was killed. So, by process of elimination: If it wasn’t Mona, it must have been Serena. If it was Serena, what the hell was she up to? She had contacted Mona and Kristee and even Bella’s cousin. Had that contact been intended to upset them? Control them? Kristee was furious. Mona seemed beyond distraught and into the deranged zone. Not good in any case. Who knew what Tiffanee’s or Jasmin’s state of mind had been or even if Serena had been in touch with them. We’d never been friends or even friendly. I hadn’t seen them since I’d returned to Woodbridge. It wasn’t like I could just walk into one of their homes and ask the grieving families the tough questions. As for Bethann, I hadn’t known her at all. Couldn’t just walk in there either. No. I needed a plan. Well. Two plans.

The phone was ringing when I opened my door. Lilith’s voice greeted me. “Guess you were wrong,” she said cheerfully. “I am happy to say that, because I hated the idea of someone being cruel to the residents at Riverview or any vulnerable people. I felt murderous.”

I shivered as she spoke. Several times in the past couple of days, I had felt murderous toward Serena too, not a feeling I liked living with. My second line started beeping as Lilith talked. BLOCKED NUMBER. It was probably Mona, but I let it go to message. I needed to know what Lilith had learned about Serena. I was pretty sure Mona would call back.

She continued, “I talked to everyone I knew. Made up a story about Serena doing something at our college and wanting to know what kind of person she was. The weird thing was that everyone likes her. She is kind and considerate and, anyway, she’s never alone with a resident.”

“So far,” I muttered.

“Never. It’s their policy. No volunteers are ever alone with the residents. It’s to protect everyone. All I can say is if she wanted to make some poor soul miserable, she picked the wrong place.”

“What about staff? They can be vulnerable too. To blackmail or rumors. Whispering campaigns. False accusations. That’s her style.”

“No sign of it. Honestly, Charlotte. Maybe she did change.”

“My mother likes to say ‘and maybe pigs can fly.’”

“I don’t know what else to tell you.” Even Lilith was having trouble staying loyal to me on this one. Such was the power of Serena. At last she added, “I’ll keep an open mind. I know people aren’t always what they seem. Gotta go. I have a bunch of papers due and I have to call Seth after that. I’ll see you tomorrow at Hannah’s. That’s a quick and fun project. Good luck with your workshop tonight.”

“Mmm,” I said absently. I had an idea of who might know what I should do about the Serena situation, and there was possibly a way I could ask that wouldn’t compromise his ethics.

The evening workshop on “just say no” went quite well considering my state of mind. I kept hearing a small voice in my head, trilling, “Just say no to murder.” And, of course, I couldn’t get Mona out of my mind.