Murder in the Milk Case (20 page)

Chapter Twenty

Lee Ann dragged Karen a few feet farther into the woods. Shrubby growth under the trees and my SUV hid us from sight. Anyone driving by would have to stop and focus to see what was really happening.

“Where’s Julie?” I asked softly.

“With her father,” Lee Ann said.

Karen’s chest heaved with ragged breaths that hissed through her clenched teeth. Tears filled her wide eyes. My body shook, but I locked my knees and squeezed my hands shut to control the movement. I had to stay focused.

“What are you doing, Lee Ann?” I hated the way my voice quavered. “You can’t possibly get away with this.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Doesn’t matter at this point. That stupid detective is sniffing around my door. Because of you.”

The knife shifted at Karen’s neck. She whimpered as it nicked the skin on her throat. I saw red, as my mother would say, and not just blood. A red haze of fury.

“Why is that because of me?” I asked through stiff lips.

“You’ve been talking to the cops. Your mouthy mother brags about it, even at the grocery store. And Karen here has been keeping me up on everything you’re doing. She’s so gullible. She hates you, you know.” Lee Ann shrugged.

“I don’t, Mom,” Karen whispered. “I didn’t mean it.” Large tears rolled down her face.

I wanted to tackle Lee Ann so badly that my body shook. “Is this because of Norm drinking? Are you mad because your marriage is failing and mine isn’t?”

She snorted. “Norm isn’t drinking. That’s just what I told people.”

Voices drifted from the library. Little kids and their parents spilled into the parking lot. Then my cell phone rang on the ground behind me.

“Don’t pick that up.” Lee Ann grabbed Karen’s arm, yanking her behind a tree and out of view.

If I screamed, Karen might die. Rushing Lee Ann was too risky. Not with the knife at Karen’s throat.

I shifted my position so I could see them, taking deep breaths, trying to calm my mind. The rings of the phone made me want to scream in frustration and fear, but hysteria wouldn’t get us out of this. Karen’s eyes watched every nuance of my behavior. I couldn’t act afraid. I had to keep Lee Ann talking. Then I could figure out a way to disarm her.

The ringing finally stopped.

“Where did you get that knife?” I asked. “It looks like the one that killed Jim Bob.”

She laughed. “Jim Bob didn’t die from stabbing. That’s just what everybody thinks.”

“Mommy? Where are you?” Sammie’s shout came from the library.

Karen gasped. I trembled as I peered through the trees and the windows of my SUV. Sammie stood on the library’s front stoop, looking for me. I was still, hoping she wouldn’t see me. She hopped onto the pavement and headed for my vehicle.

My fingernails dug holes in my palms. Lee Ann swore softly behind me. Then a woman rushed out of the library. I heard the low hum of her voice and the high squeak of Sammie’s.

“Don’t make a sound,” Lee Ann hissed.

Sammie hesitated, then trudged back to take the woman’s hand. They disappeared into the library. I breathed a prayer of thanks. Now, to get me and Karen out of this.

“We’re leaving,” Lee Ann said. I turned around.

Fury had twisted her face into an unrecognizable mask. “It won’t be long before they call the cops.”

“Let Karen go,” I begged. “Take me.”

“Shut up, Trish. You’re driving.” She glanced around to make sure no one was looking and pushed Karen from behind the tree to where I stood.

I knew if we got in the car with her we were as good as dead. My mind raced. “Where are we going?”

Lee Ann grinned. “Norm’s favorite place. Very lucrative.”

It didn’t take much imagination to know she meant the landfill. What a horrible place to die.

Lee Ann took the knife from Karen’s throat and held it to her back. She motioned for me to get in the passenger door. I stood where I was.

“Get a move on, Trish.”

I met Karen’s gaze. She nodded ever so slightly, and I tried to figure out what she meant. Next thing I knew, she fell to her hands and knees.

“Get up,” Lee Ann kicked her.

Kicking my daughter was Lee Ann’s last mistake. I roared and leaped at her.

She shrieked and lifted the knife. It glinted as it arced toward me.

“No!” Karen screamed and grabbed Lee Ann’s leg.

The knife missed my arm by an inch. I tackled her, slamming her into a tree. The knife fell from her hand, landing on the dirt with a dull thud. Karen scrabbled for it, but Lee Ann kicked wildly, hitting Karen’s hip, knocking her off balance. I grabbed a handful of Lee Ann’s hair. She screamed and clawed at my face. Her nail caught my nose.

Sirens blared in the distance, but I ignored them. I’d had enough. Perhaps Lee Ann didn’t remember my temper in school or the kids I’d beat up. What she really didn’t understand was my desperation to save Karen and my unborn baby.

I twisted a hank of her hair in my hands and hooked my foot on her leg. She fell to her knees. I held her hair tight, wrapped around my fingers, but she kept fighting me, so I punched her in the gut. She groaned and slithered to the ground. I rolled her over onto her stomach. Then I kicked the knife away and knelt, with my knees in her back.

“Karen, get a couple of those bungee hook things from the car.”

She scrambled to the SUV. The sirens came closer, and I prayed they were coming for us. Lee Ann struggled under me, trying to knock me off balance, but I jerked her hair and stayed put.

“I thought we were friends,” I said.

She swore at me, calling me horrible things that I couldn’t hear clearly over the din in the parking lot.

I glared down at her. “I have a feeling you’re guilty of a lot of things, but as far as I’m concerned, the very worst thing you did was threaten to kill my daughter.”

Karen handed me two bungee cords. I took them from her and wrapped Lee Ann’s hands and feet together.

Red and blue reflections of police-car lights glared on my SUV windows and those of the library.

“Wow, Mom.” Karen stared at me like I was a superhero. I smiled at her, and for the first time in months, she smiled in return.

I heard shouts and more sirens.

“Go tell them where we are,” I ordered, standing guard over Lee Ann.

The next person I saw was Corporal Nick Fletcher. He reached my side and looked down at Lee Ann.

He took his hat off and scratched his head. “Well now, that’s got to be the finest example of hog-tying I’ve ever seen. Too bad we gotta undo it.”

He nodded at two other deputies, who took off my bungee cords and hauled Lee Ann to her feet, efficiently handcuffing her. They walked her away with more gentleness than I thought necessary.

I saw Karen in the parking lot talking with Detective Scott, while a deputy put a blanket around her and bundled her into the front seat of a squad car. She was safe. That’s when my knees gave way.

Corporal Fletcher grabbed me under my arms. “Whoa there, Mrs. C. We gotta get you outta here.”

Detective Scott ran toward us shouting, but I couldn’t hear him clearly, given that I had those annoying little spots in my vision.

“Fletcher. . . Trish. . . Oh, man.” He turned around and yelled for a paramedic.

“Just let me sit,” I muttered.

Corporal Fletcher lowered me gently to the ground. I leaned against my SUV.

Then he stood and put his hands on his hips, a wide smile on his lips. “Sarge, I never seen anything like this. She’s a little firecracker.”

Funny, but I kinda liked the guy despite his profession. The detective knelt next to me and examined my face.

“Are you hurt? You’re shaking. Your nose is bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Just shook up.” I met his gaze, trying to hold my hands still. “Her nail got my nose. I’ll probably get cooties.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m glad that’s all.”

I felt the concern in his gaze. “You know what?”

“What?” he asked.

“That car that tailgated me was hers, but I didn’t recognize it. well, probably her husband’s. I’d never seen it before. Max was right as usual. I should have told you about it the first time.”

He patted my arm.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital,” I grumbled. “They’re going to start charging me rent.”

He shrugged. “They won’t take you if you don’t need to go, but I do want you and Karen checked out.”

“Well, I have to call Max. He’s going to kill me anyway, so maybe we should wait until then.”

Detective Scott smiled. “We can’t wait. I just talked to him. He’s stuck in Baltimore rush hour traffic. There was an accident.”

I swallowed. “I guess he’s not very happy.”

He shook his head. “That’s putting it mildly, but he does know you’re both alive.”

The paramedics arrived. The detective stood. He and Corporal Fletcher moved out of their way.

“Detective Scott,” I called as they arranged me on the stretcher.

“Yes?”

“This wasn’t something I did on purpose. I didn’t break my promise.”

“I know.”

Max stopped in the doorway of the family room, tie undone, hair mussed, staring at me and Karen as if seeing a vision. His chest moved with short, uneven breaths. Then he crossed the room, holding out his arms. “Both of you come here.”

We did. He grabbed our shoulders and kissed the tops of our heads. “When I couldn’t reach either of you, I almost lost my mind,” he whispered. “I was so worried. All I could do was pray. I don’t know what I’d do if. . .”

I stood on my toes and put my lips on his cheek. It felt wet and tasted salty. Maxwell Cunningham the Third, my husband, the love of my life, was crying.

I looked over his shoulder where my mother and father stood, watching. They had come to pick up Charlie and Sammie. For the second time this week, my mother didn’t say a word.

Detective Scott arrived shortly after, and Max brought him into the family room.

Karen and I were huddled under blankets on the couch. I’d tried to tell Max that I was hot and didn’t need to be covered, but he ignored me.

“I’m sorry,” the detective said. “I wish I could have acted faster. I had a feeling Lee Ann was getting ready to leave town, especially when she sent Julie away to meet Norm. I was working with the DA to put together an arrest warrant.”

Max sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. As much as I loved being near him, I was sweating from the combination of the blanket and his body heat.

“I need a statement from you tonight,” Detective Scott said.

Karen spoke first. Lee Ann had called and begged Karen for a meeting. Julie had supposedly run away, and Lee Ann wanted Karen’s opinion about where Julie had gone.

I managed to wriggle the blanket off while Karen talked, but I couldn’t escape Max’s arm—not that I wanted to.

“We talked in her car in the parking lot,” Karen said.

“I didn’t know that station wagon was Lee Ann’s,” I said.

“It was Norm’s,” Detective Scott said and motioned for Karen to continue.

“Well, then she told me I should call Mom to come and get me. She’d wait with me and explain.” Karen swallowed. “After I called, I went to the bathroom and came back outside to wait with her. That’s when I started to realize something was wrong.”

Max’s arm had tightened on my shoulders as Karen spoke.

“Mrs. Snyder had already said something about Mom smashing Peter’s head in, but I thought she was sort of joking.” Karen glanced at me. “She did say that Mom had been a violent maniac in school and had everyone fooled that she’d changed.”

Sounded to me like Lee Ann took advantage of an already angry child. I still couldn’t comprehend that she could pretend to be my friend and hate me that much.

I wiggled in Max’s too-tight grasp as he looked at Karen. He loosened his hold. “What do you think now?”

Karen wouldn’t look at us. “I. . .don’t believe it. Mom told Mrs. Snyder to take her and leave me. She was going to die for me.” Her voice broke.