Band Room Bash (21 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Sherry and I were frozen in place.

“Well, I’m glad I came back to check on things,” Carla said. “I couldn’t find you at home, Trish.”

“You were looking for me?”

She didn’t answer, just held out her hand. “I’ll take that paper, please.”

Sherry glanced at me with raised brows, and I nodded. Carla snatched the letter from Sherry’s outstretched hand, balled it up, and stuck it in her pocket. “I knew you were snooping around the school.” Her eyes were hard and dead like marbles.

I watched in horrified disbelief as she took a gun from her pocket and pointed it in our direction.

“I don’t understand,” Sherry said. “Are you the one who killed Georgia?”

“Not on purpose, but it’s just as well. She had turned against me. The day before she died, she actually had the nerve to tell me I was crazy.”

As she waved the gun, I thought Georgia’s words hadn’t been too far from the mark.

Sherry’s phone rang.

Carla jumped. “Don’t even think about getting that,” she said.

“Sherry is a cop’s daughter,” I said. “You kill her, and he’ll be after you the rest of your life.”

She shrugged. “They won’t know it’s me. They all think I’m on vacation.”

“No, they don’t,” Sherry said. “Aunt Elissa knows that Trish saw you in the parking lot.”

Carla narrowed her eyes. “Then I guess Trish will be mistaken, won’t she?” She glanced at me. “And your mother knows I was leaving. I stopped to get coffee.”

“I don’t think they’ll believe you,” I said.

“Sure they will. You’ll be dead, so no one can argue with me. You are going to leave a note saying the two of you have gone out to Connie’s house to return this jacket and pick up something. There, Connie is going to kill you two and kill herself. I intended to kill her to begin with, anyway.”

“You want Connie to die?” I asked.

“Of course. She took what was mine—Ronnie.”

Sherry’s eyes rounded and her mouth fell into an O.

“How did Georgia die?” I asked.

“I bought coffee for the three of us and doctored Connie’s with Inderal.” Carla smiled as though she were proud of herself. “Both of them always drank those herbal concoctions with lots of ginseng, which was giving Connie heart palpitations. She also had low blood pressure. I figured the Inderal would finish her off. I wanted Kent Smith to be blamed. Unfortunately for Georgia, she drank Connie’s coffee, as well as her own.”

“Why blame Coach Smith?” Sherry breathed.

“Because he was threatening me. We were supposed to be working together. Now, that’s enough!” Carla waved the gun at us. “One of you get a piece of paper.”

Sherry turned and pulled a spiral notebook from her backpack.

My mind was whirling, trying to put everything together.

“Write the note,” Carla ordered Sherry.

“So this is all because of Aaron?” I asked.

Carla smiled, but it was more like a grimace. “He was mine. She took him. I thought when she moved here she’d lose interest. Then he’d take me back.”

Sherry finished writing the note.

“Let me see it.” Carla held the gun on me while she snatched the note from Sherry’s hand. She read it slowly then shoved it back at Sherry. “Put it on the table.”

Sherry obeyed, then Carla held the curtain back so we could walk through.

“Where is Connie now?” I asked, even as I tried to figure out how to get away.

“Right where I left her.”

I felt a sharp twinge in my abdomen. A contraction. I doubled over as much from the pain as to give myself more time to think. Perhaps I could appeal to her for mercy.

“Get up,” Carla ordered.

“Can’t. Starting labor.”

She swore. “I’ll just have to shoot both of you here then plant the gun on Connie, which I was going to do, anyway. Then she’ll be guilty of four murders.”

I straightened. Sherry’s face was ashen.

“Four murders?” I asked.

Carla smiled. “My dearest Ronnie. I shot him with this very gun.”

My heart thumped. If she could kill someone she loved, there would be no appealing to her mercy.

“My aunt will be back any minute,” Sherry said.

“No, she won’t.” Carla smiled.

“What did you do to her?” I asked, thinking the worst.

“I watched her drive out of the parking lot. I phoned in an anonymous emergency call. I told them Connie was threatening Marvin—at his house across town. I knew Elissa was helping the cops. And I knew she’d want to be there if they found Connie.”

Prickles of anger began to replace my fear. No way was I going to let some monster truck principal kill us.

I met Sherry’s gaze and narrowed my eyes at her. She did the same. We would figure out something.

Carla held the curtain aside, keeping her gun trained on us. “Let’s go. Close together, please.”

Before we could move, the phone in my purse behind us began to ring. Carla jumped, but it didn’t distract her. Then Sherry’s phone began to ring in her pocket. Perfect. In the cacophony of noise, Carla’s gaze and aim wavered just long enough for me to slam her gun arm. Then Sherry slugged Carla in the stomach with a strength that surprised me. The gun clattered to the floor.

Carla lost her balance and fell, but she recovered quickly and scrabbled on the floor for the gun. I kicked it to the back of the stage. Sherry tackled Carla and knocked her to her back.

Carla screamed like a banshee, limbs flailing like she was a bug trying to get up. Sherry boxed her ear then pulled her hair, making her scream louder.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My son had picked the perfect girl.

“Good job,” I said.

Carla tried to topple Sherry, and I wondered how we were going to subdue her. Then we heard the doors to the auditorium.

“Dad?” Sherry said. “Aunt Elissa?”

“Sherry?” I’d never been so happy to hear Detective Scott’s voice.

“We’ve got Carla down,” I said.

Footsteps thundered down the aisle. The curtain blew open, revealing Detective Scott, who sprinted to Sherry. Corporal Fletcher followed, surprising me by how fast he could move. Another deputy leaped up on the stage, jerked Carla to her feet, and handcuffed her. Elissa followed behind them, limping on her cane.

“Are you both okay?” Detective Scott asked, even as he snatched Sherry into his arms.

“We’re fine, Daddy,” Sherry said.

“Fletcher, take care of Trish,” the detective said. He held Sherry and I saw tears in his eyes.

Soon the stage was swarming with cops.

Another pain seized my abdomen. I grabbed at the plastic chair and sat down hard.

Corporal Fletcher rushed to my side. “Mrs. C., you don’t look so good. Did she hurt you?”

“No.” I grimaced in pain. “But I am going to have a baby.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“I love you.” Max leaned over my hospital bed and kissed my cheek.

I brushed my fingers over his lips. “Ditto.”

He glanced at the bassinet next to my bed. “Rest, now. I’m sure Chris will wake up hungry soon.”

After one last kiss, he left the room.

For once, I was grateful to be in the hospital. I stared at my new son. Despite his early arrival, he was healthy. Delivery had been easy compared to the pregnancy.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow at the door and looked up. Connie and Marvin were standing there. She was holding a wrapped box.

I was surprised to see them. “Come in.”

They crossed the room like most people do in a hospital, quietly, as if treading on eggshells. She handed me the present and peered into the bassinet. “He’s beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I laid the box on the bed next to me. I wasn’t sure what to say after that. “Marvin, are you okay? Did you have a heart attack?”

“Yes. All the stress. It wasn’t a murder attempt.”

“So you’re going to stop eating doughnuts?”

He grinned. “Yes.”

An awkward silence followed.

Connie shifted. “I guess you’re wondering why we’re here.”

“Yes. I am.”

She and Marvin glanced at each other.

“We wanted to thank you,” Connie repeated. “You saved my life. You told April about the shed door hinges squealing, and she came out there to investigate. And Detective Scott said you helped him by sharing some of your observations with him.”

That was news to me. He’d been by to visit and so had Corporal Fletcher, but neither had said anything about the investigation.

“How did you end up in the shed?”

“Carla had me tied up in there but didn’t fasten the door tight. In all that wind, it blew open. When April came out to shut it, she found me. I told the cops on the phone that Carla had gone to your house to get you. She thought you’d be home resting, not helping Elissa and Sherry.”

I glanced at Chris and shivered to think how close we’d come to being killed. “Connie, did you know it was Carla?”

“I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t figure out why she would have killed Georgia. But remember when you told me about the watch when you three came to the house to get costumes?”

I nodded.

“That’s when I wondered if Carla had stolen it from Aaron after I gave it to him to have it fixed. But I couldn’t go to the police, because I was afraid they would blame me for Aaron’s murder or something.” She paused. “You know what the really horrible thing is?”

“What?”

“Georgia and I were together in the band room before she died. We had the coffee that Carla brought us. I couldn’t drink mine because I was having heart palpitations, so Georgia drank both cups. We were fighting.”

Connie’s voice broke for a moment and Marvin put his arm around her shoulders.

“Georgia had discovered I was gambling, and she saw what I was doing in the library the day before.”

“Which was?”

“Checking the value of antiques online and visiting some gambling sites. She said she’d told Marvin, but he didn’t believe her.”

“I was so angry with her I stormed out.” She swallowed and began to cry. “If I had stayed, I might have been able to call the paramedics in time to save her.”

“I’m pretty sure by the time she was having convulsions, it would have been too late,” Marvin said.

I looked at him. “Why did Georgia tell you about Connie gambling?”

“She was angry and wanted someone to stop Connie. She thought I could. As if I’d have that kind of influence. We were just friends, even though I wanted more.”

This must have been the argument that Karen talked about when she wanted me to solve the murder.

Connie sighed. “Most everything I stole has been recovered.” She glanced shyly at Marvin. “He went and got them back. The family is willing to let me take care of Granny Nettie again if I attend a program for my addiction.”

I turned to Marvin. “Why aren’t you in jail? I thought you were part of the drug and cheating scheme.”

He shook his head. “No. Unfortunately, though, I’m the one who gave the idea to Coach Smith. At least about the Inderal.” He reddened. “I used to take it to help me perform in concerts. One day I was joking with the coach that we ought to use it to try to improve the kids’ concentration during tests. He took me seriously. And he got Carla involved. She was always out to prove herself. She wanted to move on to a more prestigious school.”

“So why were you afraid that day at the football game?”

“Because I was working with the cops to set up Coach Smith, and I was afraid if I talked to him for long, he’d know something was up.”

“Oh.” My eyelids felt heavy.

“We should let you sleep,” Connie said.

I forced my eyes to focus. “Wait a minute. I have two more questions. Marvin, why were you at Self-Storage that day? And why did you get mad at the dry cleaners?”

He laughed. “You are thorough, aren’t you?” He glanced at Connie. “When I picked up the dry cleaning as a favor to Connie—trying to get her to notice me—the girl there gave me some papers she’d found in the pockets of a jacket. One of them was a pawn shop receipt. Then I knew that what Georgia had said about Connie was true.” His cheeks reddened. “I managed to steal a self-storage key from Connie’s house to see if I could find any evidence in her unit of her stealing stuff from Nettie. I did.”

“So the cops knew?” I asked.

Connie nodded. “Yes. That’s how the family found out.”

My eyelids were drooping again. “I’m sorry. I have to nap.”

“We understand,” Connie said.

I heard their footsteps as they left the room. From the way Connie and Marvin were acting, I had a feeling that Marvin had done what was necessary to prove himself to Connie. I love a happy ending.

Two days later, I was sitting in the living room with Chris in my arms. Max was fixing dinner with Karen’s help. Tommy, along with Sherry, was helping Sammie with a school project. I was enjoying doing nothing, even though I was still sore and tired from the baby’s birth. But my brain was doing fine. I had my clue notebook next to me, and I was going over my questions and observations. I needed one more answer before I would be satisfied.

When the doorbell rang, Charlie, as usual, raced to get it.

“Mom!” He yelled. “It’s that policeman guy again. And Abbie.”

That was a pleasant surprise.

Detective Scott and Abbie walked into the living room, and she made a beeline for Chris.

“He’s so adorable,” she murmured.

I held him out so she could take him, and she pressed him against her shoulder and kissed his head. Then she sat next to me on the couch.

Detective Scott smiled at me. “Congratulations, again.”

“Thank you. What are you guys up to? You know Sherry’s here, right?” I was worried that he would still object to Sherry and Tommy being together.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s fine.”

“We were out shopping,” Abbie said. “We’ve been invited for dinner. Max wanted to surprise you.”

“It is a surprise. Especially since you’re together.”

Detective Scott glanced at her then back at me. “Yes. I guess I have you and Fletcher to thank for that.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You need to remember something, Detective. Abbie is one of the most important people in my life. I used to beat kids up in school to protect her.”

He grinned at my mock threat. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry.”

“I guess this means you’re one of the family now.”

“In that case, how about you call me Eric?”

I wasn’t sure I could get used to that.

He noticed my notebook. “Still thinking?”

“Yes.” I picked it up. “I have one unanswered question.”

“Let me see if I can take care of that.” He dropped into a chair opposite us and stretched out his legs. He was the most relaxed I’d ever seen him.

“Just like that? I don’t have to beg or coerce you?”

“No,” he said. “Ask away. I owe you. It was two of your clues that helped me nail Carla.” “Which ones?”

“The one about Carla’s fiancé and the one about the watch. The cops in Charlottesville were able to pin Aaron Bryant’s murder on her, as well.”

“Wow.” I felt like I’d been given a gold medal. Abbie winked at me.

“So you asked Marvin to set the coach up to be caught?”

“Yes, we did. That was the only way we could get to him. Have him think Marvin finally agreed to help. One of the kids told Marvin what was going on. When Marvin confronted Coach Smith, he threatened he’d tell law enforcement that the drugs were Marvin’s idea. And Carla would back Coach Smith up, so Marvin came to us first.”

I glanced down at my notebook. “I think that’s about it. I understand everything else.”

“Okay.” Eric smiled at me then look at Abbie with a light in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. “Why don’t I leave the two of you here to talk? I’ve got a little gift for my daughter.”

“She’s in the family room,” I said.

He smiled broadly and whistled as he walked away.

When he was gone, I turned to Abbie. “What’s the present?”

“A charm bracelet. He’s going to document their life together with charms.”

“That is the sweetest thing in the whole world,” I said. “He’s much more sentimental and sensitive than I thought.”

“No.” She laughed. “He’s not.”

I grinned. “Ah. It was your idea.”

“Yes, but he thinks it was his, so let’s leave it that way.”

Abbie was learning fast.

Max walked into the room. “Time to eat.”

Abbie stood, still holding Chris. “Why don’t you let me carry my godson to the dinner table?”

Max held out his hand, took one of mine, and helped me to my feet. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“A couple hundred times, I think.”

He kissed my forehead. “I have the last few months to make up for.”

“You’re not the only one,” I murmured. I was determined to practice the lesson the Lord had taught me—walking in love.

I picked up my notebook as we left the room. I would retire it with the empty ones in the kitchen drawer.

Max grabbed my hand. “You’re not sad it’s over, are you?”

“Are you kidding?” I glanced up at him. “I’ve got enough to do now that Chris has been born. I might just give up my sleuthing hobby.”

Max met my gaze with a tiny grin. “Right. And pigs fly.”

About Spyglass Lane

Spyglass Lane Mysteries is a collection of Christian cozy mysteries—modern-day whodunnits with colorful characters and plenty of wholesome romance.

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