Along Came A Needle: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery (12 page)

Jessica smiled, holding my least favorite vegetable in her hand: a beet.

“Oh, yum,” I said, although I could never bring myself to eat any of it, let alone make other people eat it.

“I think I'll make soup,” Jessica said before walking back into the kitchen.

I looked back up the stairs and told her that I would meet her in a few minutes and I ran up the stairs to face my fear. Someone else was in the house. I knew it.

My cell phone vibrating in my pocket about gave me a heart attack as I reached the landing.

“I know you're in here. Come out before I call the police.” I said.

Well, that wasn't the best idea. The police were supposedly in on this according to Charlie.

I heard a woman chuckle. “You think Calvin is going to help anyone?”

I spun around to face Flynn's office door. “Who is that?” I asked.

The door opened slowly. Alice stood on the other side of the door. “Calvin is no good, you know? He never has been and he never will be.”

“Alice, what are you doing in here?” I asked, feeling for my still vibrating cell phone.

She looked at my hand. “Do you need to get that?”

Boy, did I, but could I, without her taking off on me?

“Go ahead. Answer it. Tell whoever it is to get the real police to come to town because we have ourselves a murder here.” Alice said.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and said, “Hello.”

“Come outside. Now.”

I looked at the phone.

“She hung up on me.” I whispered.

“Listen, I don't know what you want, but I don't have time for this. Either you help me or you get out of my way.” Alice stood in the doorway, staring at me.

I shifted from foot to foot. One one hand, I had my daughter telling me to go outside and, on the other, I had a woman rifling through a dead man's belongings and a feeble, old woman cooking a meal. I didn't know which way to go.

The front door opened and Ruby ran through it. “Mercy, let's go. Diana's waiting in the car.”

“What car?” I asked as Alice slammed the door shut.

Ruby looked up at me with her eyebrow quirked up. “Who is that?” She whispered.

“The cook,” I shrugged.

“Geez, lady, do you have to tell everybody?” Alice shouted from behind the door.

“What is going on?” Ruby asked.

“I don't know. I honestly don't know,” I said as I raced down the stairs toward the car.

“Are you leaving,” Jessica stepped out of the kitchen.

Ruby answered her. “Yes, please give our apologies to Chip, but we really need to get home.”

“No!” Jessica screamed. “Don't leave now. We need you!”

I stopped short, confused by her reaction.

With tears in her eyes, she stepped forward at the same time that Alice started down the stairs. “Please, don't go yet. We need your help.”

Diana rushed in the door. “Mom, let's go before they get back.” She froze in place when she noticed Jessica and Alice staring back at her. “What is this?”

I stepped forward, placing my body between her and them. “I don't know. Let's go. We really should go.”

As we ran outside, Diana asked, “Are you going to be okay with what's going on here?”

“I don't know. I'm too tired to think straight.” I answered.

Charlie's laugh always made me smile, even if he was laughing at my expense. “That's the craziest story I ever heard. Do you know how many times I had some nut case walk into my office and tell me something like that? I always sent them packing.”

“Well, maybe next time, you'll actually listen to them.” I said.

“I doubt it, but you still did good. I guess this calls for a celebration. How about next time I see you, I take you out to dinner? The diner around the corner is in the middle of a remodel. Maybe we can go there.” He laughed again, knowing how I felt about that diner and one not-so-friendly waitress I'd had the misfortune of making my acquaintance with a few months back when I'd first met Charlie.

“No thanks. I'm actually celebrating right now. That's why I called you because, like you said, these meals are kind of a tradition and, since you were there for the first one, you should be here for this one, at least in spirit.” I told him.

“And, on the phone,” Charlie added. “While I'm sitting here eating a sandwich that I found in the back of one of my desk drawers, you're probably enjoying a fancy spread.” Charlie teased.

“No, I'm just enjoying a simple meal with good friends and family.” I corrected him at the exact same time Hank decided to pop a bottle of wine open.

“Is that wine? You're not fooling me, Mercy.” Charlie heard the pop from the wine bottle and the giggles from everyone seated around the table.

“Anyway, I just thought we'd share the moment with you two and, more importantly, I wanted to see if you were still in a foul mood.” I'd been worrying about what had been going on with him. He'd been distant lately. I was almost wondering if he'd been seeing someone and didn't have a place in his life for me anymore.

Charlie's tone changed. “I haven't been in a foul mood. Why would you think that?”

I didn't want to start a debate, so I changed the subject. “Are you still working on the same case?”

Charlie exhaled loudly. “You could say that. So, tell me, is it true that the answer to your murder mystery was in a dream?”

I laughed. “It wasn't quite like that.”

Ruby's eyebrows quirked up when she noticed that I was on the phone. “Who are you talking to?”

I mouthed Charlie's name to her.

She winked. “Oh.”

“Is that Ruby?” Charlie asked.

To avoid the inevitable, I started explaining how I came to figure it all out.

“You're kidding me, aren't you? So, the cook stole this medical case? For what reason?” Charlie asked.

I explained, “As soon as we got far enough out of town, I called the state police and told them what I thought. They said that they were already aware of the problems at The Felon House and with the whole town. They drove over and made the arrests.”

“You're telling me that you figured out who killed Flynn?” Charlie sounded shocked. I should have been offended, but I had to admit that figuring it out took me down a very long and winding road.

“I sure did. It wasn't that difficult to figure out,” I lied. “The clues were right in front of me.”

Diana laughed. “Mom, will you be serious? Let me talk to him.”

I shook my head. “No, I'll tell him. I want to hear him congratulate me on a job well done.”

“I think I'd rather hear the rest from her. It will save me from having to listen to you gloat.” Charlie teased.

I ignored his comment and continued. “When Jackson told me that he was Flynn's nephew, it occurred to me that there was bad blood, so to speak. He mentioned that he'd been the one I'd seen going through Flynn's things, but when I saw Alice in the office too, I thought I'd been wrong all along. It turned out that Chip and Flynn stole from a lot of people and hired just as many to help dupe people. It finally made sense that what I thought I saw or heard was part of the process. They were trying to work us over to do who knows what with.”

Charlie asked, “So, who killed Flynn?”

“That's the most fascinating part of this whole story.” I smiled, enjoying the fact that he hadn't yet been able to figure it out.

“So, Chip and Calvin and the whole town were in on the scheme to fool people into believing the town and the house were haunted. Their greed though, made them do things to members of their own families and that's what led to their demise. That's what brought the wayward son home.” I loved how I phrased that.
Who knows, maybe I should write a book someday?

Charlie groaned, “Are you going to tell me or drag this out for hours?”

I laughed. I loved that I'd found something that duped the veteran law enforcement officer. He needed some shaking up and I needed to be the one to do the shaking, at least I thought so.

My food was getting cold, so unfortunately, I had to hurry this conversation along. I had some celebrating to do finally. Although the drama caused me to miss my birthday, I still felt the need to share and celebrate my little victory.

“Well, grouchy, Chip and Flynn got this whole scheme going about a year ago. The renovations cost them a fortune and they were running out of funds quickly, so they had to find a way to finance their business. At the same time, the only real employer in town closed its doors and people lost their livelihood. I guess there was some secret town meeting and some of the citizens – there's only a few thousand – thought they'd make it the destination for ghost hunting and paranormal exploration.” I explained.

“Then, how does the ex-con figure into that?” Charlie asked.

“The same way that Jessica and Alice did. They borrowed money from them and then funneled money out of their accounts to finance their endeavor. They borrowed a hefty sum of money from Jackson's father – Flynn's oldest brother. He, like everyone else in town, didn't have the money to lend, but he did it, because Flynn was his brother.” I explained.

“So, when Jackson came out of jail, he wanted the money back?” Charlie asked.

“Yes, but it doesn't stop there. I know you didn't meet Jackson, but he's not exactly the kind of guy you would want your daughter to bring home. He's a definite bad boy type, but surprisingly, he also has a heart. He was determined to get everyone's money back – everyone that he knew in one way, shape, or form.” I said, remembering what Jackson had told me after Chip was arrested for his crimes.

“What was in the case that was so important?” Charlie asked.

“Oh, how could I forget? Chip mentioned to me that his mother had been a nurse. That's why he had the old case. Well, inside the case, he had...wait...I don't want to tell you that yet.” I stopped to take a bite of my food.

“Mercy!” Charlie scolded me.

Before we arrived, Flynn and Chip had gotten into an argument. Chip had a whole other deal going with the Green Farm and was planning on taking it from them to build his empire. Well, now, hear me out on this – Thalia claims to be some kind of psychic. She had a vision or something that Chip was doing something underhanded and she told Flynn about it and that led to an argument that Annie and the others overheard.” I detailed what I'd heard Thalia tell the state police.

Diana grabbed the phone from me and said, “Let me tell him. I'm sure he's tired of you torturing him with this long, drawn out story.”

I let her take the phone. I was starving and kind of wanted to hear how she would explain what happened.

Diana started, “Okay, sorry, Charlie, but Mom has been gloating since yesterday and, now, she wants to torture you with her story.” She laughed to his response and continued with her version of the story. “Here's the short version. Try and keep up. Chip and Flynn were thieves. They stole from everyone and had plans to steal from many more of their supposed friends and family. Someone finally had enough of it and formed a small band of people to expose what they were doing. A couple of volunteers decided to go into the lion's den, so to speak and the state police convinced a dear, sweet woman to gather intelligence. Before all that could happen, Chip's greed got the best of him and he used an old medical kit that belonged to his mother as a means to end his problem with Flynn. End of story.”

She listened for a few moments longer, then handed me the phone.

“I'm back.” I giggled.

“So, Chip killed Flynn? How?” Charlie asked.

“With a needle from his mother's antique medical case. It was filled with mercury.” I informed him.

“Well, why didn't Flynn say anything or call for help?” Charlie asked.

“Either he didn't notice or was so set on keeping up appearances for his guests that he pretended nothing was wrong. We'll never know.” I said.

“They used an elderly woman to gather information? What kind of outfit are they running over there?” Charlie joked.

“You should have seen her. She had this whole story going about how she was writing a book, but the whole time, she was gathering information to share with the police. Her notebooks had detailed sketches that she'd drawn of the whole house from top to bottom. I guess, she had gotten into the kitchen one night and saw Chip hiding the case in there. He probably assumed it was safe because she was just a sweet, older woman, but that sweet woman blew the whistle on him and helped catch a murderer and a thief.” I explained.

“How did the cook get involved?” Charlie asked.

“Jessica and she were old bridge club friends. Jessica filled her in on the little secret and they were going to work together, but Chip fired Alice before that could happen.” I said.

“And, the newlyweds?” Charlie asked.

“They were just trying to enjoy their honeymoon. They had nothing to do with any of it. In fact, I think they actually believed that the house was haunted.” I said.

“Did you?” Charlie teased.

“No, of course not.” I lied. I still think I saw the ghost of Flynn's ancestor, but I wasn't about to tell Charlie that.

“Well, happy birthday to you. You did a good job, even if you can't listen to save your life.” Charlie said.

“Thank you, I think. Have you heard from Nubbin?” I asked, remembering my old friend.

“Yep, he's definitely mad at you, but he won't tell me why.” Charlie said. “How's the dog?”

“In big trouble. The vet said that he found his way into a stash of candy that the good old doctor had hidden in his home office. Barney will be fine, but I'm not sure how Hank is going to make out.” I joked, winking at Hank across the table.

“Are you finally going to enjoy some time off now?” Charlie asked.

“I sure am. I'm going to go home and put my feet up and do nothing for the next two weeks. Happy Birthday to me.”

The End