Drowning the Daffodils (A Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery) (9 page)

Lawrence glowered at her
, the intensity growing in his gaze. “You used her for your alibi. You broke the winding stem so she would think it was a certain time, you even changed the alarm clock, so that it would trick her, too,” she narrowed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “You are a cunning man. I can see how you made your millions, but what I can't understand is why?”

Lawrence lowered his eyes at the question but Vicky pushed him harder. She was hoping that if she could keep him talking, eventually someone would come looking for her. L
awrence was tall and muscular.  His age did not make him vulnerable in any way. Vicky wasn't sure if she would be able to overpower him. “How could you do it?” she asked as she stared at him. “Why would you do it? He was your son,” she shook her head as she studied him. “Simon didn't deserve to die, did he?” her voice strangled with disgust.

“
Don't judge me,” Lawrence growled as he stepped closer to her. “You have no idea what it's like. When you have a fortune everyone wants a piece of it. You're not just a man, you're a treasure chest, and everyone around you will pick you clean if you're not careful.”

“
It was all over the pre-nuptial?” Vicky asked incredulously. “Did you find out about the affair she was having with Mike?”

“
With Mike?” Lawrence sputtered out. “For being so nosy, you've got it all wrong,” Lawrence chuckled and shook his head. “Mike hasn't touched another woman since he married that busy body Charlene. She keeps tabs on him, and he has this crazy notion in his head that he's in love with her. Jane was not having an affair with Mike,” he shook his head again as if it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

Vicky was a little surprised by this. She was certain that Jane was having an affair with someone, otherwise what sense did the argument make that she had overheard? Was it
possible that Lawrence simply didn't know about the affair? A moment later it dawned on her and her eyes widened further.

“
It was you,” she hissed as she narrowed her eyes, her stomach flipped with even more disgust. “You're the one that was having an affair with Jane.”

“
Guilty,” Lawrence smirked as if he was somewhat proud of his actions. “I have to admit, it started out as a way to get my son to turn against her, but I can see what he saw in her now. She's a very seductive woman.”

Vicky grimaced with disgust at his words.
“But she was your son's fiancée,” she reminded him. “Aren't there enough other women in the world that you could have just left her alone?”

“
Yes, she was my son's fiancée. From the wrong class, the wrong type of woman. All the more reason to prove how disloyal she is,” Lawrence sighed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, he was watching her closely to make sure she didn't try to push past him. “She was more than happy to have an affair with me, so why would I let my son marry a woman like that?” he frowned and his jaw clenched for a moment as if he was recalling a painful memory. “But he was just so stubborn. I thought telling him the truth would finally knock some sense into him. He was so insistent that she not have to sign a pre-nuptial. They weren't even married yet and she was already cheating on him with his own father! But when I told him…”

“
He had a different reaction, didn't he?” Vicky asked as her heartbeat quickened. “He knew that you conned her into it.” 

“
He got so angry,” Lawrence admitted with a sigh. “I tried to explain to him how I was trying to help him, to protect him. For once I was trying to be a father and protect my child from certain heartbreak and financial ruin. You would think he would thank me for that, but instead he was furious. He put his hands on me, accusing me of manipulating Jane and taking everything from him. The way he was shouting and carrying on, I knew someone was bound to hear. I couldn't have the rest of the family know that I was sleeping with Jane. He was out of control!”

“
So, you tried to control him,” Vicky suggested, her throat tightening with horror at the thought of it. “You tried to quiet him down.”

Lawrence lowered his eyes and his cheeks flushed with shame.
“I never expected him to slip. I never expected it, I just wanted him to be quiet. I told him to shut his disrespectful mouth and he spat at me! He said I was the reason the family was split apart, and now I was trying to do the same thing to him and Jane,” he shook his head and closed his eyes. “When he wouldn't quiet down I just gave him a shove but he fought back,” he murmured his words. “I just wanted to get my point across and he was refusing to listen to any kind of reason, I didn't expect…” his words trailed off for a moment before he reluctantly began to speak again. “His head cracked against the tiles by the pool,” he breathed his words out. “He just fell, and then he was just gone,” he swallowed thickly. “He wasn't even bleeding, but he had no life in him. No pulse, he wasn't breathing, I knew he was dead,” his final word wavered slightly but not enough for Vicky to believe that he was genuinely heartbroken over the loss of his son.

“
So, you decided to cover up what you did,” Vicky challenged him taking a daring step forward so that there was only a small amount of space between the two of them.

“
I did,” Lawrence murmured. “I couldn't have word getting out that I had killed my own son, even if it was his own fault really,” he shook his head and muttered something under his breath before continuing. “So, I rolled him into the pool,” he glanced in the direction of the pool. “I didn't think anyone would investigate the death too deeply. I figured it would all be swept under the rug,” he gritted his teeth as he looked back at Vicky. “Which is exactly what should have happened. Then we wouldn't be in the messy situation we are in right now.”

“
I can't believe you just pushed him in and walked away,” Vicky hissed with a scowl of repulsion. “Your own son, just like that!”

“
Yes,” he replied and then cleared his throat. “I would prefer it if he wasn't dead, but that's just not how things worked out,” he shrugged as if it was a business deal that had gone south. “I would have preferred that you not go snooping around and put yourself in this dangerous position, but you did,” he moved closer to her, his thick shoulders and broad chest making a wall in front of her. “So, now you're going to have to suffer the consequences for your nosy behavior.”

“
You're digging a hole for yourself, Lawrence,” Vicky said coolly. “One that you're not going to climb out of.”

“
Funny thing about holes,” Lawrence growled as he pulled a gun from the back of his pants. “If you dig them deep enough, no one ever finds them.”

“
Lawrence, you don't have to do this,” Vicky said quickly as the afternoon sunlight flashed off the smooth barrel of the gun. “Just put the gun away. What happened to Simon was an accident, like you said, at the very worst it will be considered a crime of passion. But if you kill me, there's no turning back from that. No one is going to believe…”

“
They won't need to,” he reminded her as he raised the gun in the air. “Because they won't find you,” he pointed the gun directly at her and then steered her away from the bushes towards the garden shed. With each step that Vicky took she knew it might be her last. She contemplated screaming, but there was no way anyone could get to her before he pulled the trigger. They were too far from the inn for anyone to hear her anyway. He jerked her towards the shed and then swung open the door, which of course the gardener had left open. As he pushed her inside he grabbed the padlock and hooked it over the latch on the door, essentially locking them inside. That was when Vicky realized Lawrence had no intentions of letting her leave the shed alive.

“
Lawrence,” Vicky attempted to get his attention again, to steer him away from the determination he seemed to have to kill her. “Just think this through,” she pleaded with him. “You're a reasonable man. You know that you can afford to hire the best lawyers in the country. You will likely get acquitted.”

“
That may all be true, Vicky,” he said calmly as he studied her with a hint of resentment for the trouble that she was putting him through. “But what you don't understand is that even the rumor of me being involved in my son's death would ruin me. It would ruin the reputation of my entire family,” he added and then sighed as he leaned against the wall of the shed. “And really, how is that fair?” he asked as he tilted his head to the side and studied her. “I mean, do we all have to suffer because of Simon's screw up?”

“
It wasn't Simon's fault,” Vicky growled with frustration. “If you're going to kill me, fine, but there is no excuse you can use to justify killing me. Just as there is no excuse you can use to justify killing your own son.”

“
Simon was a good kid,” Lawrence admitted with a mild shrug. “He had a lot of potential, and a lot of spirit. But he had terrible taste in women. If he had simply listened to me, then he might have saved his own life. I warned him against Jane. When he refused to comply with breaking up with her, I started an affair with her, with the purpose of showing Simon just how foolish he was being.”

“
I bet you were very proud of yourself,” Vicky said quietly. “Did you know that Mike knew about your little fling with your future daughter-in-law?”

“
Mike knows?” Lawrence asked with surprise. “Well, that's one juicy tidbit that I didn't know about. Maybe your nosiness came in handy after all. I bet Mike wasn't too happy about it,” he chuckled. “No, I'm sure he wasn't. Mike always babied Simon.”

“
You mean raised him?” Vicky pointed out. “That's why he and Mike were arguing, because Mike knew about the affair and couldn't bring himself to tell the truth about who Jane was having an affair with. You know, I think the strangest part of this entire story is that your sons loved you, in spite of who you are.”

“
And Mike still does,” Lawrence pointed out. “And he always will as long as you never have the chance to tell the truth.”

Vicky braced herself for what she knew would come next. She was certain that there was only one thing loud and strange enough to alert someone to her predicament. But getting her hands on it was going to be very difficult. Luckily she spotted something that Lawrence wasn't paying any attention to. It was a large metal rake, and it was leaning across a stack of old pots. The end of the handle was just close enough to Vicky that she could step on the end of it. She waited until Lawrence raised the gun again. Then she stepped hard on the handle, sending the metal rake up into the air. It smacked Lawrence hard in the elbow of the arm that
was holding the gun.

“
Ouch,” he yelped and jerked his arm upward as Vicky had hoped he would. As his hand jerked upward the gun went off, very loudly. Lawrence got control of the gun and glared at Vicky.

“
Wrong move,” he growled at her and then pointed to a piece of landscaping wood. “Sit down,” he commanded her. “Your little stunt won't get you anywhere. No one is going to think much about one gunshot. They'll think it was a car backfiring, or someone playing with fireworks. No one is going to come looking for you,” he insisted as Vicky reluctantly sat down. “So, now you and I, we're going to wait here until it gets dark. Then I can shoot you and bury you, and be ready for my flight home tomorrow.”

“
I wouldn't count on it,” Vicky countered, her eyes narrowed as she met his gaze boldly. She wasn't going to allow him to frighten her, even though she couldn't stop her heart from racing.

The shot that rang out over the manicured grounds of the inn was not one that could be easily dismissed. Not when someone who lived in the inn had started her very own murder-mystery book club. As soon as Ida heard it, she gasped. She looked over at Wilbur whose eyes had widened. They had been inside the inn for about five minutes looking for Vicky after Lawrence had indicated that she needed to speak with them. But there was no sign of her, other than her purse and phone being behind the front desk.

When Ida heard the shot ring out her stomach churned. She hoped that it had nothing to do with Vicky, but deep down she knew it did. As she started to walk toward
s the sound, her cell phone began to ring. She still had a hard time managing the thing, but now at least she could tell that it was Mitchell calling.

“
Ida, I'm so sorry if I disturbed you, I've been calling Vicky for the past fifteen minutes and she hasn't answered. I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”

“
Oh dear, Mitchell, I don't think she is,” Ida replied in a shaky voice. “I believe I just heard a gunshot.”

“
A gunshot?” Mitchell asked with surprise. “Ida, stay where you are, I'll be there in a few minutes.” Aunt Ida agreed but she had no intention of staying put. She knew that Vicky needed her help.

“
Wilbur, will you do me a favor?” she asked as she turned to look at the man who was quickly becoming a close friend.

“
Anything for you, Ida,” he replied with a soft smile.

“
Will you please wait here for Mitchell? I don't want him to be worried if he arrives and can't find us,” she explained.