The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder (37 page)

We picked up Chinese on the way, walked the dogs, and watched the news. WINY had nothing useful to offer. I don’t even remember what the food tasted like. Somewhere during the weather—light snow, big surprise—my restless nights caught up with me and I fell asleep on the sofa with the dogs. I dreamed of endless ringing. Finally I swam back to consciousness and sat up with a jerk. I was alone with the dogs. The home phone was ringing.

“Jack?”

Silence.

I stumbled to the phone, but missed the call. The message light was flashing. I could hear my new cell phone ringing by now. I raced to my handbag, but missed that call too. On the handbag was a scrawled message from Jack.

That must have been him on the phone. I was so groggy I could hardly remember my name. I headed for the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face to wake myself up.

I sat on the sofa again, scratched the dogs’ ears, and played my messages.

Not Jack at all.

First Ramona. “Sorry, Charlotte; with all the fuss over the burst water pipe, I forgot to tell you that I found a bit of info about your fourteen-year-old hit-and-run. The police wanted to talk to a blond woman who’d been seen in the neighborhood that night. My money says you can chalk another one up to Serena.”

Serena was conveniently dead, of course, or at least missing. But would anyone have noticed mousy little Mona hanging around that wintry night so long ago?

Speak of the devil. The next message was from Mona. Her voice was hoarse and rasping, showing the stress she was under. “Charlotte? It’s Mona Pringle. I can’t wait anymore. I think the police will be closing in. There’s no point in letting Haley be the only one who gets away with it. They’ll get me for the others, so why should she be the only one to live? Poor Randy wouldn’t have died if it wasn’t for her. I have a weapon. It will be easier to get it right with a gun than with a vehicle. Thank you for trying, but there’s no hope for me.”

She must have been crying, she sounded so choked up. I could hear her blowing her nose, strangely comic for someone announcing a planned murder. But I could only imagine the amount of anguish that had reduced her to this state. Even so, despite everything Serena and her followers had done, Mona was once again going to lose out because of them. I couldn’t let her kill again.

I said out loud, “Oh no, Mona. You can’t do this.”

I stared at the receiver and listened to the dial tone. My hand shook as I checked my call display just in case. Of course it said BLOCKED NUMBER. The dogs lifted their heads sleepily as I paced, thinking hard. Where would Mona go? To Haley’s home?

I had to warn her. The phone rang on and on. I hung up. Then redialed it again. After the twentieth ring, a bleary voice answered.

“Brie,” I shouted, “it’s Charlotte Adams. Is your mother still there?”

“What? You woke me up. I’m so tired. Why can’t you leave us alone?”

“Is your mother still there? I urgently need to speak to her.”

There was a long unsettling silence before Brie said, “Well, you have a problem, I guess. I don’t see her. She’s not in the house, so she must have gone out.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care. My father is dead and it’s her fault. Do you think I want to follow her around?”

“She’s not to blame, Brie, please. Help me here. I think she’s in danger.”

“Tell that to someone who cares.”

“I think you do care. I need to know where she’s gone.”

“I
don’t
know. She didn’t tell me anything. She must have gone out when I was asleep. And I’m going back to sleep now.”

“What is she driving? Hello? Hello? Brie?” I listened in despair to the dial tone. I tried again, but the phone rang on and on. Brie might be a teenager, and an angry and grieving teenager at that, but I couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if her mother was killed and she’d done nothing to prevent it.

Had Mona tricked Haley into meeting her? I couldn’t see how that could happen twice. Or had she just parked and waited until Haley left to get food or something? But Mona had sounded like she knew where to find Haley.

It couldn’t be anywhere with a crowd or surely someone would stop Mona. That left out the shopping areas, uptown and downtown, the library, and most cafés and restaurants. No, it would have to be slightly private. The type of place where you might have a face-to-face meeting with someone you hated. A park? Lots of bad things had happened to Mona in the parks. But that could hardly be it this time. The weather continued to be vile. You couldn’t talk without your teeth chattering violently, extinguishing your dignity. Of course, they could always talk inside a vehicle, but I didn’t think that Haley would get into a car with Mona.

Mona had said go back and put things right. Where had most things gone wrong for Mona at the hands of the four bullies?

Of course. St. Jude’s.

Where else? If we had done a better job of keeping Mona safe when she was attending the school, we wouldn’t be faced with this tragic, murderous rampage now.

I dialed 911 and got Brian.

“Mona’s at St. Jude’s school with a gun. She said she’s going to kill Haley. They’re both on their way now. Please get the police there as soon as possible.”

“Oh my God, she wouldn’t do that.”

“She said she would. She said she has nothing more to lose. She thinks she’ll go to jail anyway because of the others.”

“I’m calling it in.”

“I hope they can stop her in time.”

I called Jack. His cell phone went straight to message. I tried Pepper immediately.

No answer, of course. I left her a message. “I hope you get this, Pepper, because Mona’s heading to the school to kill Haley. You have to take this seriously. I know you think she has a solid alibi but I’ve learned that a coworker may have covered for Mona when Bethann was killed. He’s covered for her before. Now Haley isn’t answering her phone and her daughter doesn’t know where she is. Haley thinks that Mona is willing to forgive her. I’m sure she has no idea of Mona’s plan. She’ll walk right into a trap. It’s horrible. Please get over there. You know them both. You know what Mona went through. You can make a difference. You could stop this.”

Was there anything I could do myself to stop it? I figured if I went to the school, the police would keep me away, but maybe I could be helpful in some small way. I knew Mona pretty well and I had the background. And she’d called me with that message. Deep down I wondered if she didn’t want me to stop her from killing Haley.

I had no choice. I grabbed my jacket and purse and took the stairs two at a time.

In the car, I left a message for Margaret as well. I had a feeling she’d be needed this time.

By the time the Santa Fe squealed into the parking lot at St. Jude’s, the lot was jammed with emergency vehicles, parked every which way. Roof lights were flashing and armed officers made sure that no one got in or out of the school yard.

I parked and stepped out of my car. I approached the nearest cop, the smart young officer, Dean Oliver. “I need you to get back in your car,” he said.

“I know the two people involved,” I said. “They’re—”

“In your car. Now, please.”

Pepper hadn’t returned my call. I hoped she’d respond if one of her own officers called her. “Listen, Dean, I called it in. You have to hear me out. Mona Pringle has threatened Haley. Can you call in Pepper Monahan? She knows them both and she likes Mona and understands what she’s been through. It could diffuse the situation if Pepper speaks to them. She—”

“In your car, Charlotte.” It seemed to have more impact when he used my first name.

“But—”

“I’ll speak to the officer in charge and I’ll make sure he contacts Sergeant Monahan, but right now, I need you to stay out of harm’s way. We have a report of a weapon on the school site.”

“Yes, you have that report from me through 911.”

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t keep arguing with you. You’ll end up getting arrested.”

“Okay, okay. I’m getting in. But please make sure you contact Pepper.”

A commotion near the school caught our attention. The cluster of cops surrounded a pale, blond woman, who was huddled near the side door.

“That’s Haley,” I said. I fought back tears of relief. “She’s the one who Mona is planning to shoot. Thank God she’s still alive.”

Haley appeared to be dazed by the collection of law enforcement, particularly the response team with their high-powered weapons.

She followed instructions and put her hands over her head.

“What’s going on?” I heard her say. “Charlotte? Is that you?”

“First her husband is killed and now Mona’s after her,” I said to Dean Oliver. “Can you make sure those SWAT guys don’t brutalize her any more?”

Dean Oliver moved decisively toward the scene of the action. I followed in his wake. “We have to find out where Mona Pringle is. She called me and told me she was going to kill Haley. You can listen to the message on my phone if you want to. Here. I can access that message from the . . .”

He gestured toward Haley, who was lost and bewildered in the face of all those cops.

“Charlotte,” Haley shouted through chattering teeth when we approached. “What is going on? Where have you been?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I got your message to meet you here and when I got here, I couldn’t find you. Mona had a gun. She said she was going to shoot me, and then, thank God, the police showed up.”

I said, “But I didn’t leave you a message, Haley. Wouldn’t you recognize my voice?”

“Oh. It wasn’t you. One of your friends said you’d asked her to call because there was a problem with your new cell phone.”

I said, “It wasn’t me. Must have been Mona.”

“I didn’t recognize her voice or I never would have come.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to explain about the alters. Haley wasn’t listening anyway.

“Oh my God, she set it all up and I fell for it. She killed my husband, didn’t she?” She turned a tear-streaked face to the cops. “You have to find her and stop her.”

Dean took out his radio and spoke into it. I couldn’t quite hear what he’d said. Before I could ask, a dark sedan arrived and Pepper Monahan stepped out, all grace and danger.

“Pepper!” I yelled across the parking lot. “Haley’s okay. We have to find Mona.”

Pepper shot me one of her famously dangerous scowls. I had to ignore it.

I turned to Dean. “I need to talk to her. You did say that you owed me.”

It was somewhat unfair to keep playing the “you owe me” card, but I had to do what I had to do. The bright young officer squared his already square shoulders and we elbowed our way over. “Important information for Sergeant Monahan,” he muttered as we approached.

“Now what?” Pepper said.

“Did you get my message?”

“Of course, I get all your messages, including the last one. Why else would I be here at this time of night? I have a life, you know. Now, where’s Mona? Is she inside?”

“Let’s ask Haley.”

“Let’s? You mean let the police ask. I imagine that’s what you meant to say.”

“Works for me,” I said.

Pepper had the clout to work her way past all the SWAT types, although they kept their weapons trained on me, Haley, the parking lot, and the school. Haley had her jacket clutched tightly to her. She was still shaking. I glanced at Pepper, who was gazing impassively at Haley’s damaged face. I wondered if the sight of Haley’s bruises and black eyes brought back memories of Pepper’s own trauma the previous June. “I hope they’re not going to drag her in to the police station and grill her after what she’s been through.”

Pepper shook her head. “They’ll be easy on her. I’ll make sure of it. But she does need to make a statement. And so do you. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Of course, in the drama of the moment, I had forgotten that if you make a call to 911 announcing an impending murder, they will insist that you provide details and sign your name.

“See you at the station,” Pepper said.

“But where’s Mona?”

Pepper glanced around. She obviously didn’t want to be seen giving information to the enemy. “No sign of her. And don’t you even think about driving around Woodbridge looking for her. We’ll find Mona and if your allegations are correct, we’ll deal with her. We’ll be searching the school too. If she’s hiding in there, we’ll find her.”

“Wait! You want substance. Listen to this.” I used my new cell to dial into my home phone messages. I handed the phone to Pepper so she could hear for herself the message that Mona had left. It went without saying that her expression changed.

“Maybe now you believe,” I said.

She gave it her best scowl. “Officer Oliver will take you to the station and take your statement. And after that I want you to keep your nose out of this whole thing before it gets shot off.”