Green Living Can Be Deadly (A Blossom Valley Mystery) (24 page)

 

Water ran in rivulets down Helen’s jacket and pooled on the welcome mat. She squinted at me. “Dana?”

“Hi, Helen.” My voice squeaked, and I cleared my throat. I shifted the hand with the bag of shreddings behind my back and forced myself to chuckle, though it sounded more like I was choking on a chicken bone. “Kimmie needed to retrieve fund-raising tickets from Wendy’s office, and I offered to come with her.”

Helen’s head swiveled as she took in the room. “Kimmie was that friend of Wendy’s, right? So where is she?”

I knew she was going to ask that. “She had to get back to her restaurant. I was on my way, too, but I had to use the facilities. Too much iced tea at dinner.” I chuckled again, but Helen didn’t.

Instead, she craned her neck to look upstairs. “I thought I saw the light on in my office.”

So she
had
noticed the light. “You must have seen me in Wendy’s office. I wanted to double-check that we hadn’t left a mess.”

Her gaze strayed to the front door. “How did you and Kimmie even get in here?”

I didn’t want to answer more questions. All I wanted was to find a way out of here. But Helen blocked the only exit and didn’t seem eager to move. “Kimmie has a spare key.” I tried to keep my focus on Helen, but she must have noticed my attention continually returning to the open door, my one chance at escape.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’m letting in the rain,” she said. She turned and slammed the door shut. The noise of the latch clicking into the slot reminded me of the sound of a cell door slamming shut in a prison movie.

I crossed the room to where Helen stood, but she made no move to get out of my way. “I think the rain’s letting up a little. Now would be a good time for me to drive home,” I hinted.

“Before you go, perhaps you could tell me what’s in the bag.”

My fingers convulsed on the plastic. “Bag?” I asked, trying to sound innocent, but only managing to sound guilty. I lifted the bag up like it held a goldfish that I’d won at the fair. “It’s nothing.”

Helen pursed her lips. Her gaze never left my face. “Since you’re removing it from this office, I’d say it’s something.”

“Just the trash,” I said. “I wasn’t sure Kimmie and I should let ourselves in, so I figured I’d at least take out the trash while I was here.” I was a bad liar. I knew I was a bad liar. But in all my years of lying, I’d never come up with a dumber lie than that.

Before I could move, Helen swung an arm out and snatched the bag from my hand, untying the top in one swift motion. She peeked inside, then reached in and pulled out a clump of shredded paper.

As she studied it, her expression changed from mild curiosity to outright rage. When she raised her eyes to glare at me, I felt my insides shrivel.

“These are from
my
office!” She was seething.

I took two steps back. “I’m sure they’re from Wendy’s office.”

She dropped the bag on the floor. “I knew you were trouble the moment you came here after Wendy was killed, snooping around. I answered your questions. I tried to convince you everything was fine. Still, you kept digging. Do you think you’re going to blackmail me like Preston did?”

Aha! Blackmailing Helen must have been Preston’s big plan to get more money. “Is that why you killed him?”

Helen sneered at me. “He knew Wendy was an idiot when it came to math. He realized I’d been handling the books, so I must be the one who stole the money. He thought he was entitled to it.” Helen let out a laugh. “As if.”

I backed up again, banging my spine against the staircase post. My heel bumped the bottom step. “What now? Run off to your new company and start over?”

“Exactly.” Helen reached into her inside coat pocket and pulled out a black object, which she gripped in her hand. She unfolded it to reveal the long blade of a knife. “As soon as I get rid of you, of course.”

A gust of wind rattled the windows, and Helen jerked around to look. I used the precious seconds to grab a figurine from the end table and strike at Helen. We were far enough apart that I only managed to brush the blade, but the movement startled Helen. She jumped back and lost her footing, falling to one knee.

Even partly kneeling, she could easily grab me if I tried for the door. Instead, I turned and ran up the stairs, huffing and puffing in a panic. All I could picture was getting into an office and locking the door. It was my best chance while I waited for help to arrive. If help was even coming . . .

As I neared the top, I felt fingers wrap around my ankle. I fell forward into the hallway, automatically kicking my leg out behind me. My foot hit air, but Helen loosened her grip. I kicked my leg again, and she let go. I rose to my feet and risked a look behind me. Helen was rising to her feet. Her face was set with determination, and the knife was still clutched in her hand.

I rushed into Wendy’s office and slammed the door shut, pushing the lock in the knob. As I turned on the lights, I saw the knob twist as Helen tried to open it from the other side. The sound of metal grating on metal filled my ears as she rotated it first one way and then the other.

I looked around the room for a weapon. My gaze roamed over the shelves and desktop, spotting a stapler, a phone, and a three-hole punch. Not much against a knife of that size, probably the same knife Helen used to kill Wendy and Preston. I pulled out my cell and tried Detective Palmer once more.

Before the call could connect, I heard the scraping of a key against the lock. I felt as if my entire body had turned into a block of ice. I should have realized Helen would have a key to every door in the building. I jerked my head around, hoping I’d see a potential weapon I’d missed the first time.

Nothing.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and turned off the lights, knowing the darkness would slow Helen down only for a couple of seconds. But it was better than nothing.

I crouched behind the desk and heard the lock disengage as the key found its home. The door swung open. The hallway lights created a perfect outline of Helen, knife in hand.

“It’s no use running,” she said.

Almost blind with panic, I leapt out from behind the desk, felt along the top of the desk, and snatched up the three-hole punch. I ran at Helen and swung the long metal tool at her head. It whacked into her temple. In the dim light, I saw her fall and the knife slipped from her hands. She made a grab at my pants as I moved toward the door, but I squeezed past her and ran for the stairs.

Slipping and skidding my way down the steps, I somehow managed not to break any bones. I darted across the lobby and yanked on the doorknob. Nothing happened. Fresh panic coursed through me.

I jerked the knob again, and the door flew open. Rain slapped my face as I lurched outside and stumbled to my car. Before I could open the door, Helen slammed into me from behind. I felt something scrape my side as I fell against my car. I swiveled around. In the feeble light cast from the building, I could just make out the knife back in Helen’s upraised hand.

As she brought the knife down in an arc, I threw myself to one side and pivoted around. The knife clanked against my car door. With a grunt, I grabbed the back of Helen’s head and shoved it toward the door. Her face connected with the top of the door frame, and she staggered back, clutching her forehead. Dark lines of what I could only assume were blood streamed down her face, intermingling with the rain. The hand with the knife hung at her side.

I rushed forward and shoved her down, then turned and ran. I headed for the highway, water spraying up as my feet pounded the wet ground. The soggy moss beneath my shoes was making squishing sounds, slowing me down as if slogging through mud.

Willing my legs to obey me, I forged ahead. My muscles shrieked in protest. Just when I thought they’d fail completely, I reached solid pavement. I turned in the direction of Mendocino and spotted flashing red-and-blue lights up ahead, coming closer. Jason must have reached the cops. Help was almost here.

I risked a look behind me and saw Helen still at her car. As I watched, she opened her driver’s-side door. Relief flooded through me as I realized she was no longer chasing me, too focused on her own escape.

With my last bit of strength, I raised my arms and waved as the cruiser approached. The car slowed as it neared me, and the driver’s-side window lowered. “Need help, ma’am?” the officer asked.

Sides heaving, I nodded and pointed toward Helen’s car. “That woman killed two people,” I gasped out. Then I bent down to catch my breath. All I wanted now was a hot bath and dry clothes. And to be wrapped in Jason’s warm embrace.

 

Two days later, I set the last moving box in the middle of my new living room. Well, Ashlee and my new living room, but I kept ignoring that part. I placed my hands on the small of my back and stretched out the muscles. I’d worry about the actual unpacking later.

The front door opened, and Ashlee bounded in, a scruffy-haired, leather-jacket-clad stranger in tow.

“Dana, this is Chip. We hung out together at a friend’s party last weekend, and it turns out he lives on the other side of the complex. Isn’t that a trip?”

We’d only moved in this morning, and Ashlee already had a new boy over? Oh, Lord, what had I been thinking when I agreed to move in with her?

“Come on, Chip, let me show you my room.” She took his hand and pulled him across the floor.

He mimed a hat tip on his way by and muttered, “Later.”

They disappeared into Ashlee’s room, and she shut the door. Thank goodness I’d insisted on the two-bedroom place.

I shook my head at my sister’s antics as I sank down onto the new couch, which had arrived this morning. The smell of chemicals and new material drifted up. I stood and opened the nearest window, thinking about everything that had happened in the last week. Lily had called this morning on the advice of her therapist to apologize officially for scratching my hood. She was also going to report herself to the police. I didn’t want to see her go to jail, but maybe confessing to the cops would help curb her anger issues.

Someone knocked at the door. I crossed the room and found Jason standing there, a bouquet of red roses in his hand. Mom stood next to him, holding a toilet brush and a basket of cleaning supplies.

“Look who I found at your door,” Mom said.

I swung the door wider so they could both enter, then took the bouquet from Jason. I inhaled the sweet fragrance of the flowers. “You sure spoil me.”

“I’d bring you every rose in the store if they’d fit in my car,” he whispered into my ear as I gave him a peck on the cheek.

I dug through a box marked
Kitchen
and unearthed a large glass shaped like a parrot, which I’d picked up on a trip to Vegas a few years ago. I filled it with tap water and set the flowers inside. I’d have to add a vase to my list of household items Ashlee and I needed to purchase.

Mom glanced toward the closed bedroom doors. “Where’s your sister?”

“Ashlee?” As if I had more than one sister. “She’s, um, in her room. She’ll be out in a minute.”

Mom raised her eyebrows, as if she knew I was leaving out part of the story, but I hustled her and Jason to the couch before she could ask.

“Have a seat, you two.” I perched on the coffee table, my knees jutting between Mom and Jason. “I bet you’ve been swamped at work covering Helen’s arrest,” I said to Jason.

“The people of Blossom Valley can’t get enough,” he said.

Mom patted his knee. “You write such wonderful articles. I can’t believe that woman was responsible for two murders.”

“I’m just glad Dana was able to get away.” He took my hand and squeezed it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom smile.

I squeezed his hand in return. “Well, I did have to hit her in the head with a hole punch.”

“You always seem to hit someone in the head when you’re in danger,” Jason said with a smirk.

“It’s my specialty.” I released his hand. “But tell us more about the murders. What else have you found out?”

“Well, Wendy’s death was completely spur-of-the-moment,” Jason said. “Once Drew told Marvin about the missing money, Marvin confronted Wendy at the festival.”

“That was the yelling I heard from her booth next door,” I interjected.

“Right,” Jason said. “Wendy had no idea what Marvin was talking about, so she called Helen, who had already headed back to Invisible Prints. Helen returned, the two argued, and Helen killed her. She told the cops she carried that knife in her purse for muggers.”

“Has there ever been a mugging around here?” I shook my head in disgust. “Helen must have known she couldn’t hide the embezzlement forever. She may have considered killing Wendy all along.”

“Hard to say. She wouldn’t admit that, even if it were true.”

“What about that miniature turbine I saw next to Wendy’s body? Did Helen say anything about that?”

“Total accident,” Jason said. “Wendy was holding it when Helen attacked her.”

I was almost disappointed that the windmill hadn’t meant something profound. But at least the police had arrested Helen. “What about Preston’s death?”

Jason grimaced. “He immediately knew Wendy didn’t embezzle, because she would have never agreed to handle the money end of the business to start with. He decided to cash in with a little blackmail and set up a meeting with Helen at his house. She figured she’d already killed once, so what difference did a second person make?”

Mom shivered and I rubbed her shoulder.

“Poor Preston,” she said.

“What’s going to happen to Invisible Prints?” I asked.

“It’ll be shut down. Marvin’s company might be able to recoup some of the money through a sale of the assets, but Helen won’t say where the rest is.”

Here she’d killed two people, and she still wouldn’t give up the location of the money. “Selfish to the end,” I said. I thought about how off base I’d been about Helen. “What happens with Drew and Kurt now?”

“Now that Drew’s unemployed, she can use the extra time to plan her wedding. Kurt popped the question.”

I smiled. “I had no idea those two were so serious.”

Mom looked pointedly at Jason and me. “I love when two young people fall in love and get married.”

I tried to choke back a laugh at her blatancy and ended up coughing. Mom patted me on the back, and Jason jumped up.

“Let me get you some water,” he said.

As he moved to the kitchenette, Ashlee came out of her room. Chip was right behind, with her lip gloss smeared all over his face.

“Hi, everyone,” Ashlee said. “I’m going to walk Chip back to his apartment.”

“Leaving so soon?” I managed to say, still coughing a bit.

“Chip has things to do.” She half pushed him out the door, then turned back and whispered, “I have to finish unpacking before my next date gets here for dinner.” She winked and pulled the door shut behind her.

Another date? Already? I gripped Mom’s knee. “Please, I’ve made a terrible mistake. I don’t belong here. I belong at home with you.”

Mom laughed. “Nonsense. I’m ready for you girls to move out, and you, young lady, need to get on with your life.”

I looked over at Jason as he dug through boxes to find me a glass. He must have felt my gaze, because he glanced up and smiled. A rush of warmth cascaded from my hair roots to my toenails.

I turned back to Mom. “You know, Mom, I think you’re right. It is time to move on.” Even if it meant living with my boy-crazy sister. At least it was a start.