Death By A HoneyBee (31 page)

   
“You gave me a start, Josiah,” she said, trying to hide her dismay at seeing me.

   
I got out of my van and looked into hers.
 
“Going somewhere?”

   
“Just a small trip over to Gatlinburg to calm my nerves.”

   
“All this luggage just to go to Gatlinburg?
 
It looks to me like you are going to be away for a long time.”

   
“Would you please move your van?
 
I need to get going.”

   
“Looks like you’ve been in an accident,” I said rubbing a dent in her fender.
 
“Why, it seems that this car has hit a black car, maybe a black Mercedes.”
 

   
“I am telling you one last time to move your piece of junk out of my way.”
 
Tellie started towards me.

   
I drew my taser out of my pocket.
 
“You are not going anywhere, Tellie.
 
We need to get some things settled.”

   
“This is kidnapping.
 
Aren’t you in enough trouble with the police without adding this?”

   
“Tellie, I will not hesitate to use this on you,” I warned.
   

   
In a flash, Tellie propelled herself into her car, locking the door.
 
She then turned on the Suburban.
 
I pulled a hive knife out of my pocket and sliced off her tire’s air valve.

   
“You bitch!” she mouthed.
 
I was getting really tired of people calling me that.
 
She flew out of the car towards me with her hands extended as though she was going to rip off my face.
 
I zapped her with my taser.

   
She fell to the ground crying and writhing.

   
“Tellie, that was just a little sting, but if you come at me again, I’m gonna give it to you full blast.”
 
I pulled out my cell phone from another pocket, punched in 911 and held it up for her to see; then I secretly turned on the phone’s video just as Franklin had taught me.
 

   
She kept rolling and moaning on the ground as though really injured.
 
I was not going to fall for that trick.
 

   
“Tellie, if you don’t simmer down, I am going to call the police and let them talk to you.
 
I know you killed Richard and tried to blame it on me.”

   
She turned to look at me and my spine tingled.
 
I had never seen such a look of pure fury.
 
Her face was twisted with it.
 
Tellie rolled over and weakly stood up using the car for support.

   
I jabbed the taser in her direction.
 
“Don’t come any closer,” I cautioned.
 
I felt the sweat drip down my back.
 
I was scared of her. Tellie was younger and stronger.
 
She had to have a lot of hate in her to kill her husband.
 
I did not want to get into a tussle with someone like that.
 

   
“You have nothing, Josiah.
 
Let me be.”

 
  
“Then let’s call the cops.
 
As you say, this is technically a kidnapping.
 
I am sure they would like to know my theory that you jabbed Richard with adrenaline inducing his heart attack, and used the bee stings to disguise the holes in his neck.”
 

    
Tellie’s face slumped with the crooked look of defeat.
 

    
“What do you know?” she whispered.

    
“I know how and why you killed Richard.
 
I just don’t know why you picked me as the fall guy.
 
What had I ever done to you?”

    
Looking defeated, Tellie leaned against her car.
 
“It wasn’t personal.
 
It was . . . just opportunity.
 
Richard didn’t like your competition at the Farmers’ Market.
 
Said over and over again you had no business being there when he had to make a living and you being rich and all.
 
Over time, he became more and more obsessed with you.
 
Told people that you cut your honey with corn syrup.
 
One day, it came to me that I could use his obsession of you to get rid of him.
 
I never thought you would ever get convicted, even if you went to trial.
 
Rich people never go to jail.”
 

    
“Do you have any idea of what you have put me through?
 
How much money you have cost me?”
 

    
“Josiah, it was easy to set you up. If another beekeeper had been having trouble with Richard, then I would have used him.
 
Like I said, you were convenient.”
  

    
“Meaning the argument at the State Fair.”

    
“Yes.
 
You and Richard were so busy eyeballin’ each other that it was easy for me to switch the tags on the jars.
 
Nobody paid any attention to me, no one ever does.
 
And you just left the claim tickets out in the open where anyone could get at them.
 
It didn’t occur to me that he would actually push you, but when he did – so much the better for me.
 
Then you pushed him back.
 
He wasn’t expecting that.”

 
   
“Well, that certainly makes me feel better that it wasn’t personal,” I growled. “How did you make a call on my cell phone?”

 
   
“That was easy too. Don’t you remember you sat near me at the Beekeepers’ Meeting in August?
 
When everyone was loading up their plates during the potluck, including you, I simply hung back.
 
Your back was turned; your purse was open and the cell phone on the top.
 
Richard had our phone turned off at the time, besides he never would have thought to check the time or date that the call was made. I told him I took the call.
 
We had just one phone between the two of us and shared it.”
 

    
“What was the purpose?”
     

    
“I had to have a record that you contacted him.
 
Just more smoke and mirrors.
 
I told Richard that you had called and wanted to see him.
 
You were thinking of selling out and wanted to give him first crack at buying your bees.”
 

    
“So you lured him to my house and stabbed him with adrenaline pens.”

    
“He was overweight.
 
Had high blood pressure.
 
The doctor had him on medication.
 
I didn’t know if it would really work, but it was my only chance to be free.
 
I tased him first and just pushed him in where he had pulled some frames

out.
 
The hive was already open where he was checking it.
 
Then I stuck him in the neck with the pens in the taser burn area and started banging on the side of the hive.
 
It didn’t take much to get those bees stirred up.
 
It was a hard thing to do, but I was desperate to get away from him.
 
To get Taffy away from him.”
 

    
“Oh come on.
 
I think the $750,000 life insurance policy may have been the main incentive.”

    
“An incentive – not the motive.
 
The life insurance policy was just the icing on the cake.
 
I had thought of a way to get rid of that wretched man for once and for all.”
 
Tellie exhaled.
 
“You have no idea what freedom tastes like until you have been kept in a cage.
 
I waited years for an opportunity to kill him.”

    
“What did you have to do with the letters and the attempts on my life?”

    
“That was all Nancy’s doing.
 
One of the reasons I am leaving this town is to get Taffy away from that lunatic.
 
As soon as I bail Taffy out, we’re leaving Lexington forever.”

    
“Skipping out on her court date?”

    
“Skip out, drop out.
 
I don’t care what you call it.
 
I am taking my daughter and shaking the dust of this snobby town off my shoes.
 
We are going to start fresh and clean where no one knows us.”

   
 
“Taffy will be a fugitive for the rest of her life.
 
Think about what you’re doing,” I said.

   
 
“My daughter will have the special tutoring and education she needs.
 
For the first time, she will have a chance at a good life, and not just the crumbs.
 
I’m not going to waste the insurance money on a trial lawyer when I can use it for her college education.
 
I made a choice of what to do with the money that is left.
 
I am going to give my daughter every advantage in the world.
 
All my married life, I took the brunt of Richard’s anger trying to protect Taffy.
 
And I will go on protecting her until the day I die.
 
Taffy is going to have the life I didn’t.”

    
“You’re defaulting on your house?”

    
Tellie smirked.
 
“The house was paid in full this morning and will go on the market in two weeks.
 
My lawyer is handling all the details.
 
And once the house is sold, I will have a hundred thousand plus.
 
Meanwhile, Taffy and I will be far, far away.”

    
“Speaking of money, how are you going to be free of Joyce?”

    
Tellie looked confused.
 
“Don’t know what you mean.”

    
“Come on, isn’t she blackmailing you because she covered the last half hour of your shift and lied for you so you could have an alibi?”

 
    
“Don’t you dare drag Joyce into this!
 
She’s my friend.
 
You have no idea what you are talking about.”

  
  
“I know that she stupidly deposited twenty thousand dollars in her bank account, her payoff to lie for you.”

    
“Joyce knew nothing, asked for nothing.
 
I asked her to cover for me that day, lied to her saying that I was meeting a man.
 
She knew about my marital problems, so she was happy for me when I told her that I had met someone special. When I got the insurance check, I gave her that money.”

  
  
“As a payoff.”

  
  
“No!
 
As a gift to a friend.
 
She wants to take her dying child to Disneyland.
 
I gave her the twenty thousand so that she and her son could have everything their hearts desired on this trip.
  
She knew nothing about my plans.
 
She thinks I am leaving to meet this made-up man just for the weekend.”

    
That certainly knocked the wind out of my sails, but I refused to let sentimentality cloud my judgment.
 
I was fighting for something too – me.
 
“You could have just left Richard like Agnes did.”