Classic Revenge (30 page)

For a moment, Trish almost giggled. Millie would be
furious at being called an "old bat" Then, realizing her
own fear was on the verge of taking over, she fought to
gain control over her emotions. Their very lives were in
extreme danger, and giving in to the fear was not going
to save any of them. She had to stay calm. "If you mean
Millie, she's not here. She left a short while ago to
change clothes-something about wanting to look her
best when the police get here."

"She may be all dolled up," Clarissa cackled, "but it
won't be for the police."

"Why are you here in the first place?" Trish suddenly
wanted to know. "Could it be that Tom is really innocent of everything you accused him of, and you knew
we would find that out?"

Clarissa laughed. "That's just another example of
your incredible stupidity. No, actually I'm here because
Tom didn't die."

Trish frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that fact?" she asked
sarcastically. "You see, Tom tried to commit suicide tonight. Or, at least that's how it's going to look. But
somehow the shot didn't finish him off. I waited a while
to see if he was about to kick the bucket, but someone
knocked on the door. So, you see, that's why I still have
the gun. I didn't have time to wipe it clean and place it
in Tom's hand."

Edna drew in a ragged breath. She realized what
Trish had just realized herself. That knock on the door
had come from Joe. But Clarissa didn't know that, and
Trish wanted to make sure that fact remained. "I'll bet
you jumped out a back window."

Clarissa grinned. "For once, you got something
right. By now the neighbor has probably called the police and an ambulance-if Tom's still alive, that is. It
will be all over the news in the morning. So, now you
can understand why I'm here."

Trish sighed as if bored, and noticed with relief that
Edna had actually taken a couple of steps back. The main
thing was that Joe was safe. Clarissa thought it had been
a neighbor at Tom's door. "Are you going to tell us the
true story or not, Clarissa?"

The lights suddenly flickered as thunder boomed
loudly and the rain started to pour. Not now, Trish begged
silently. Clarissa could panic, and Edna still wasn't far
enough away from her for Trish to help.

Clarissa's eyes darted between Trish and Edna as she
slowly reached in her pocket and pulled out a small handgun. Edna gasped and took several steps back. Good
girl, Trish encouraged silently, her heart pounding in
her chest, but she kept her expression flat.

"Well?" she asked again, hoping to get Clarissa talking.

Clarissa grinned. "Are you sure you want to hear
how stupid you all were before you die?"

"Oh, definitely," Trish said as she nodded, "and then
that way, when I'm reincarnated, I won't make the
same mistakes."

"Aren't you the funny one?" Clarissa snarled. "But I
think I will tell you, just the same" She planted her feet
slightly apart and crossed her arms over her chest, the
gun still nestled in her right hand. "You see, Tom really
did kill Susan Wiley-and, for all the reasons I told
you," she said with a wink. "It looked like he was going
to get away with it, too. Well, I couldn't have that. Tom
hated Sam for ruining his life, and I hated Tom for ruining mine. I needed something to plant in Tom's house
that would tie him to Susan's murder. This may shock
you," she said with a wicked grin, "but I was in Sam's
house when you three tried your silly re-enactment of
the murder."

Trish remembered the strange feeling she'd had that
day that they were not alone in the house. "Then, you
were the one who broke into Millie's house, weren't
you?"

"Give the girl a star!" Clarissa said. "Yes, you three
actually told me where the combination to Sam's safe
was kept. Well, I stole the old lady's address book,
broke into Sam's, and got the earrings. It was truly brilliant, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was brilliant," Trish said dryly. "Go on"
Where was Millie? There was no way she was still in
the bathroom, and Trish could only hope she had seen what was happening and escaped across the street to
call the police.

"Well, I must admit the plan didn't work out quite like
I thought," she said bitterly. "Tom was over one day not
long after the murder, begging me to come back to him,
as usual, and when my back was turned he stole the earrings from my purse!"

Trish had to stall for time. "Wow, it seems like you're
just surrounded by idiots." Out of the corner of her eye,
she saw that Edna was moving again. Trish wanted
Edna closer to her so that, when Clarissa made her
move, she could get between Edna and Clarissa.

"You can say that again. Of course, he didn't know
they were Susan's. He thought they were mine," she said,
shaking her head at the irony and unaware of Edna's
movements.

"Ouch, that must've rankled," Trish said, letting her
grin show.

"Shut up!" Clarissa shouted as she dropped her arms
to her side.

"Okay, okay," Trish said quickly, "settle down. Go on
with your story"

Clarissa took a deep breath. "Well, then the stupid
idiot gave them to that Mary girl! He owed her money
for some bookkeeping work she had done when he was
trying to get his own business going, and she wouldn't
leave him alone about it. So, to shut her up, he gave her
the earrings." Clarissa suddenly grinned. "Boy was she
surprised when I turned up"

"I'll bet she wouldn't give them to you," Trish said,
suddenly seeing the picture clearly. Mary would have
refused to hand over the earrings, not realizing they were stolen from a murdered woman, and Clarissa
killed her. That poor woman, Trish thought, as a feeling
of nausea threatened to overtake her.

"You, my dear, would win that bet."

Trish took a deep breath, trying to settle her stomach
and her nerves. They were out of time. So much of what
they had suspected was true, and so much of it was
shocking. There was no way Clarissa was going to get
away with another two, possibly three, murders, but that
fact didn't really make her feel any better right now. The
goal was not to die tonight, but options to prevent it were
becoming scarce.

She casually glanced along the counter to her right.
Surely there was some kind of weapon she could use. A
kitchen always held secret weapons, at least according to
all the crime movies she had seen. But there was nothing
except a crockpot and a toaster. She almost cried in frustration. If she survived this, she was going to plant small,
heavy objects in all the drawers and on every available
counter space.

Suddenly, Trish saw a slight movement behind
Clarissa, and her heart slammed against her chest. It
had to be Millie. No, she wanted to shout, get out of
here! Instead, she looked at Clarissa and let her disgust
shine through. "Mary was just an innocent bystander in
all this," she said, hoping Clarissa would keep talking.

But Clarissa didn't get a chance to answer. All of a
sudden, strong arms came around Clarissa, knocking
the gun from her hand and throwing her to the ground.
People were suddenly everywhere! Two uniformed
men with rifles barreled through the small hallway into
the kitchen, Joe was rushing toward Edna, his face as
white as flour. Henry stood beside the doorway talking into a walkie-talkie. And, the man who had tackled
Clarissa was none other than Larry. And then, finally,
there was Millie, marching determinedly through all the
commotion to give Trish a big hug.

"Did Joe get in touch with Sam last night?" Trish
asked once Edna and Millie had sat down at the kitchen
table.

Edna nodded. "Yes, and it was very emotional. Joe
said Sam couldn't stop crying. He kept thanking all of
us for believing in him and for finding Susan's killer.
He'll be over later today"

"And how is Joe doing this morning?" Millie asked,
stirring sugar in her coffee.

"He's fine, but I had a hard time convincing him to
let me come over here alone this morning." Edna
smiled, taking a sip of coffee.

"I imagine it's going to be a while before he's able to
relax, you know." Trish set the plate of fresh cinnamon
rolls in the middle of the table and sat down. "That man
was scared to death"

"Oh, he wasn't nearly as scared as I was" Edna shuddered.

"You handled yourself very well," Millie said. "I was
so petrified I couldn't move for hours, it seemed. But
when I heard Clarissa call me an old bat, I knew she was
crazy. I snuck into your office and called Henry. I didn't
expect him to show up with a full platoon! I thought for
sure he was going to blow it, but he told me they had
parked down the street and he had left one man there to
watch for Joe."

"Who would have thought Henry could have organized something that well?" Trish asked.

"Well, I did," Edna said. "But why did it take him so
long to make his move against Clarissa? We were almost dead meat!"

"No, you weren't," Millie grinned. "He was getting
her full confession on tape. No way is that crazy woman
going to get out of this."

"It's a shame that Tom died before he could stand
trial," Trish remarked with a sigh.

"I know. When Joe got to Tom's last night, he saw
him sprawled at the front door. He had crawled there
after Clarissa shot him, but he was still alive, if only
barely." Edna shook her head sadly. "He was able to tell
Joe about Clarissa, but he died right after that. Poor
Joe-he was so worried. He was racing over here when
the police stopped him at the corner."

"Larry is real proud of us, by the way," Trish said.
"He's going to come by later today."

"He's such a sweet man," Edna said.

"And he's a good-looking one," Millie said with a
twinkle in her eye. "We'll have to think of some way to
keep him coming by, you know. It does an old heart
good to see a handsome sight like that."

"Millie!" Edna exclaimed.

Just then the doorbell rang, and Trish grinned as she
got up to answer it. "That's probably Joe. He figures
you've been gone long enough."

But it wasn't Joe who followed Trish back into the
kitchen a few moments later. "Have a seat, Henry, and
I'll get you some coffee"

"Thanks," he said as he pulled out a chair and reached
for a roll. "How are you all doing this morning?"

"We're doing fine, Henry." Edna smiled. "We are so grateful for your quick actions last night. You literally
saved our lives."

"Actually, Millie is the one who deserves the credit.
She kept her head about her and did the right thing."

Millie sat up straighter and beamed. "Thank you. So,
when is the female scumbag's trial going to be? I'd like
to be a character witness."

Henry laughed as Trish placed a cup of coffee in
front of him. "There won't be a trial. She's confessing
to everything. It wouldn't matter, though. I have it all
on tape"

"You know, Henry," Millie said, "all of this could
have been prevented if you had only believed us from
the beginning."

Trish winked at Edna as she sat down. Millie's good
behavior couldn't have lasted much longer, anyway.

Henry cleared his throat and nodded. "I admit, at first I
thought you ladies were blinded by your friendship with
Sam. I was just following the evidence, and Tom made
sure it looked like Sam had killed his wife. According to
Clarissa, he even tampered with both Sam's and Claire's
cars to stall them and make the situation appear even
more suspicious. If it hadn't been for you, Sam may very
well have been tried and convicted of the crime. You did a
good thing, and I want to thank you. But --2'

"No `buts,' Henry," Millie stated, "because we were
amazing, and you know it."

"But," Henry continued with a stern glance, "what you
did was extremely dangerous. You are very, very lucky I
happened to still be in the office when Millie called."

Trish shuddered. "We know how lucky we are. I don't
even want to think about what might have happened"

"Larry hinted that you were checking out some new
information, Henry," Edna said. "Was he just trying to
pacify us, or is what he said true?"

Henry reached for another roll. "No, he was telling
you the truth. The main reason we suspected Sam from
the beginning was that the fingerprint analysis on the
radio showed Sam's print on the plug. We thought we
had our man for sure. But, believe it or not, Larry and I
were swayed by your conviction that Sam had been set
up. There was an unusually long cord on the radio, a
handmade splice job. And, there was another fingerprint
on it, one we couldn't identify at the time."

Henry paused and sipped his coffee. "One of the officers at the crime scene remembered that Sam had
touched the plug on the radio cord when he was asking
him if he could identify it, so we stopped placing so
much emphasis on that. Then, we finally got lucky. The
fingerprint analysis finally hit a positive match: Tom
Jones. He had just renewed his license a month before,
and his fingerprints were on file."

"Wow," Trish breathed, "what a strange set of circumstances."

"We won't ever forget your help in this, Henry," Edna
said softly.

"I don't care whether you forget it or not. What I
want is your promise that you won't do anything so
crazy again! Okay, look," he said, pushing himself up
from the table, "I have tons of paperwork to do. I just
wanted to come by and fill you in and to thank you for
your part ... and to threaten you within an inch of your
lives if you ever do it again."

"You're welcome," Millie said sweetly.

After Henry left, Trish sank down in her chair and
sighed. "Well, everything's back to normal, I guess"

"Hopefully so," Edna sighed. "It has been an exciting few weeks, though, hasn't it? We need to find something to do that will bring us the same stimulation, don't
you think?"