Murder by Christmas (Edna Davies mysteries) (17 page)

Seven o’clock that evening found her in her small office. Relieved to have crossed most of the tasks off her to-do list, she was finally sitting down to her Christmas cards. Many of her far-away friends and family members wouldn’t be receiving season’s greetings until after the fact, but at least she would reach those with whom she corresponded only once a year. When the phone rang at her elbow, the sound made her hand jerk, scratching a thin, inky-blue line across the “Holiday Wishes” to the top of the card she’d just begun.

“Drat,” she muttered. She’d have to throw it away and begin her message anew. She was reaching for the receiver on the third ring when the doorbell chimed. She first answered the call with a hurried “Hello.”

“Is this Edna Davies?” an unrecognized woman’s voice asked over the line.

“Yes, this is she.”

“This is Faye Krispin.” After a half-second hesitation, she added, “from the Kitchen.”

“Oh, yes, Faye. Someone came to the door just as I picked up your call. Can you hold a moment?” Before the woman could reply, Edna put down the receiver and had stepped from the office when the caller began to bang heavily and repeatedly on the door.

“Hold your horses. I’m coming,” she nearly shouted into the empty hall.

The sound of the bell had roused Benjamin from the chair beside the desk where he slept whenever she worked in the office. Jumping down, he preceded her into the hall and waited while she opened the door.

“Evenin’, Miz Davies. Hope I’m not disturbing you.” Kevin Lockhorn stood on the front stoop, inside the storm door which she’d apparently left unlocked. He slipped past her into the hall as he spoke.

Trying to be polite and hide her astonishment at his intrusion, she shut the front door and moved past him. “I’ll be with you in a minute, Kevin,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m on the phone.” Almost unconsciously and a second before she reentered her office, she noticed that Benjamin had disappeared. “Hello, Faye. Are you still there?”

“I won’t keep you, but you seemed anxious to know Laurel Taylor’s husband’s family’s name.”

“Yes, I am.” Edna picked up her pen and reached for a scrap of paper to jot down whatever information Faye was about to impart.

“It’s Greene. The uncle was Thomas McKinley Greene. When we tried to reach him, we learned that he had died, but a daughter and grandson live in the area, as well as a cousin. Laurel’s husband’s name was Kevin Lockhorn.”

Chapter 19

Edna nearly dropped the phone as she sensed Kevin’s presence in the hallway. Was he behind her? The hair on the back of her neck bristled at the thought. Was he listening?

“Thank you, Mrs. Krispin. I’ve made a note of it. Thank you for calling.”

She hung up, hoping the quiver she felt along her spine was not apparent in her voice. For appearance sake, she wrote a few words on the scrap of paper as if it were an appointment. Only then did she feel calm enough to turn around with the confidence to smile and greet her visitor. He wasn’t in the doorway as she had expected. Stepping into the hall, she didn’t see him there, either. She glanced into the kitchen before heading for the living room.
Where was he?

As she walked through the archway into the living room, she saw him standing next to the Christmas tree. He held Danny’s present in one hand, slapping the tube against the open palm of the other as, head cocked to one side, he examined the tree. She realized again how much he resembled his uncle--a big man, fit and strong. Physical similarities were where the likeness ended, apparently. Kevin had been in the army, so he must have been combat trained. Her heart thudded as she realized, alone in the house, she’d be defenseless if he became violent. Charlie’s words popped into her head--
Couple of broken ribs, older than the arm fracture. Her collar bone has been broken, too.

She moved to stand behind her wingback chair and gripped the top to steady herself. She wondered if he intended to hit her with the cardboard tube.

“Please put that down. You’ll tear the wrapping.” The night of her trimming party, she had forgotten to give Danny’s present to Kevin and had felt badly that the boy wouldn’t receive his grandfather’s portrait until after Christmas. Now, she had another reason for wishing it had left the house that evening. A cardboard tube wouldn’t be lethal, but it could certainly hurt and humiliate.

Ignoring Edna’s request, Kevin kept his eyes on her, turning only his head as she’d moved across the room. He grinned disarmingly. “Hope you don’t mind. I made myself at home. I thought I’d visit our Christmas tree while you finished your phone call. We did a pretty good job of decorating it, don’t you think?” He pivoted to face her, lowering Danny’s present to smack it rhythmically against his pant leg. “Nice party the other night, by the way.”

The words spoken in a soothingly gentle tone, so contrary to his behavior, increased her unease. She balked at his possessive “our” for her family’s tree, but brushed it aside. Trying not to show fear, she said, “I don’t mean to be rude, Kevin, but is there something in particular you wanted to see me about? Tomorrow is the last day before Christmas, and I have a ton of cards to write this evening.”

His grin faded as he sauntered to the fireplace and stared down at the glowing embers behind the screen for a few seconds. Only the chair stood between them now. She wondered if he would throw Danny’s present into the fire. When his eyes lifted to hers, they seemed filled with suspicion. “Actually, I’m looking for Mary. I thought she might be here.” As if swapping favor for favor, he twisted his shoulders and gently tossed the wrapped tube so that it landed and rolled beneath the tree.

Surprised and momentarily silenced by the action, Edna stared at him for several heartbeats before responding. “I think you can see for yourself that I’m quite alone.” Edna’s instincts warned her not to reveal that she, too, was looking for Mary.

This man had been Laurel Taylor’s husband. Was he abusive? Had he been the one to beat her, leaving evidence of broken bones that the medical examiner found? Kevin looked so much like his uncle Tom, she wanted to believe he was as gentle and kind. On the other hand, Norm Wilkins, their cousin, had a mile-long mean streak. Did Kevin take after that branch of the family? These thoughts were spinning around in her head while the man in front of her studied her face with narrowing eyes. Tightening her grip on the chair back and hoping he wouldn’t see her fingers tremble, she waited for him to speak.

“Aren’t you good friends, you and Mary?” His tone hinted at a growing impatience.

She nodded. “We are.”

“Then you know where she is.” The statement was matter-of-fact, leaving no trace of doubt in the accusation.

There was no use arguing with a man whose mind was already made up. Partly to distract him and somewhat out of curiosity, she asked, “Why did you pack the snow around my car yesterday?”

He chuckled, looking pleased with himself. “You wouldn’t answer the door. Didn’t you hear me knock? I banged hard enough.”

“I wasn’t home,” she said, adding silently,
And thank goodness for that
.

“Your car was out front.” He stated the fact as if it were proof that she was lying.

“Is that why you blocked it in, because you thought I was hiding behind my curtains?” She felt her own temper begin to rise. What a childish thing for a grown man to do.

“Nah. I did it ‘cause I didn’t want you to leave before I had a chance to talk to you. I had another job to get to, but it wasn’t going to take long. I was going to dig your car out after we talked.”

“Were you looking for Mary then, too, or did you have another reason for ensuring I stayed home?”

At once, he became less belligerent and said almost pleadingly, “It’s really important. I gotta talk to Mary”

“About what?” Edna was more curious than angry now.

“Not your business.” His face reddened slightly. He sounded as if he were about to lose patience again. As he started to move around the chair, a faint noise from the hall caught his attention. “What was that? Who else is in the house? Thought you said you were alone.”

She hesitated for only a second. “I have a cat. He’s probably knocked over something on the kitchen shelf.”

But she knew Benjamin better than that. He wouldn’t be up on the counters. Her heart skipped a beat as she herself wondered who else was in the house. Her back prickled as she remembered the last man who had entered her house uninvited. That man was in jail, but there might be others out looking for Carol James. Was it the man in the Humvee? She wanted to turn so her back wasn’t to the unknown in the hallway, but then she wouldn’t be facing Kevin.

While she had been distracted by these thoughts, Kevin had moved to her side. He grabbed her elbow and squeezed as he growled, “Where is she?”

“I’m right here, Kevin. Let her go.”

They both spun around at the sound of Mary’s voice. The tall red-head seemed to have materialized in the doorway, so silently had she appeared. Wearing a white camouflage coverall patterned with what appeared to be tree branches, she had wrapped her red hair completely in a scarf of the same cloth. Since she didn’t have the girth of a snowman, she looked more like a winter scarecrow, with only a pale, narrow face and brilliant green eyes standing out in the fabric. Benjamin sat behind her, quiet and watching, his eyes on Kevin.

In that split second, Edna also noticed that Mary was turned slightly sideways, her right arm down by her side and her hand hidden behind her thigh. Edna recognized the pose and knew Mary held a gun.

“Mary?” was all Edna could manage to gasp, making the name into a question. Torn between relief at seeing her friend and anxiety at what was obviously tension between Mary and Kevin, Edna couldn’t think of anything to say. Where to begin? She had so many questions.

“What are you doing here?” Mary broke the growing silence, her eyes never leaving Kevin’s face.

“I’ve been looking for you. We need to talk.”

“Nothing to talk about, far as I can tell. I saw you run from Laurel’s house two days ago. Did you kill her?”

Edna took in a sharp breath and looked at Kevin. His face was bright red now. She didn’t think it was from the fire’s heat.

“Are you crazy?” The words burst from his throat, almost a growl. “I never saw her. She refused to open the door.” He slid his eyes to Edna before glaring back at Mary. “That the way you women treat people in these parts?”

“Why were you sneaking around her backyard?” Mary asked, clearly not believing his story. “If you wanted to see her, why not walk in the front door. It’s not even locked during the day.”

“I didn’t want anyone to see me.”

Mary scoffed. “Why not? If you’re so innocent, why were you acting so guilty?”

He glowered for several seconds, as if making up his mind to something. “She’s got a restraining order. I’m not supposed to go near her.”

“Is that why you ran when I called out? You were violating a restraining order?” She snorted derisively. “I’m not that stupid, Kevin. Those orders are ignored more often than not.”

“All I know is I heard a car coming up her driveway, so I took off for my truck. I saw you at the stop sign, but until then, I didn’t know it was you who yelled at me. How’d you get around the corner so fast?” Without waiting for a reply, he went on. “Even when I recognized you in that ragtop of yours, I wasn’t about to stop in that neighborhood. Like I told you, I wasn’t supposed to go anywhere near her.” He stopped talking and glared at Mary as if daring her to doubt him.

“You expect me to believe you didn’t go into the house?”

“That’s why I’ve been looking for you. I wanted to talk to you, to convince you I had nothing to do with my wife’s death.”

Edna noticed the surprise that flashed across Mary’s face and wondered if Kevin had seen it, too. Apparently, this was the first she’d heard of Kevin’s relationship to Laurel. True to form, Mary’s recovery was instant, but before she could speak, another voice was heard.

“Talk to
me
, Kevin. I’m the one you need to convince,” Charlie said, stepping out of the shadows to stand beside Mary.

The relief that swept over Edna was enormous. She felt faint with the rush and reached out to grab the chair back. He was wearing jeans and a pullover that had seen better days. She supposed he had come by to remove his deflated Santa Claus from the roof. Whatever the reason, she was happy to see him. Maybe he could dispel the almost-physical feeling of tension between Mary and Kevin.

Charlie stood silently for a minute. When Kevin only stared back at him, the detective’s glance moved to Edna. Studying her face, he asked quietly, “You okay?” She nodded, unable to speak. His eyes shifted to follow the line of Mary’s arm from her shoulder to her hand. “Put it away,” he said, sounding almost amused, but not quite. “Make sure the safety’s on.”

“Never took it off.” Mary grinned at him as she brought her hand into sight of the others in the room. Looking insolently at Kevin, she moved her feet slightly apart to stand like a soldier at ease, only her wrists were crossed in front of her and one hand gripped the pistol.

Kevin glared accusingly at Mary. “What’d you call in the cavalry for? There was no need for that.”

Before she could answer, Charlie said, “I’m the one you need to talk to, Kevin.”

“I didn’t kill Laurel. I don’t know how else to say it,” he said stubbornly. “How do I convince you I’m innocent?”

“Why did you break into the house?” Charlie asked.

Edna looked at him quizzically, then thought the detective might be trying a bluff. How could he know that Kevin was the one who broke into Laurel’s house.

For a minute, he looked as if he were going to deny the accusation, but then he sighed. “How’d you know it was me? Fingerprints?”

Charlie smiled and nodded. “Since you were in the military, your prints are on file. Pulled you up, nice as you please and just as quick. Even if we didn’t have proof of you being in her house, I could have guessed. Her papers were gone, but not the TV or jewelry or anything a burglar usually takes, except maybe for the computer. Don’t really have to be a detective to figure it was personal.” His smile faded. “So why’d you do it?”

Kevin ran a hand through his dark curls and sighed heavily. “I wanted to find out why she came to Rhode Island, why she wanted to live near my relatives. I was hoping she might have been looking for me, maybe she wanted me back. I loved her, and she loved me … once. That afternoon, I went to the house because I wanted to show her that I’ve changed.” At that, his entire body seemed to sag. “When I heard Miz Davies talking to you that night, I knew it was too late, but I wanted to find something, anything to tell me why she moved here. I wanted time to sort through everything, so I took the lot. It’s all in my room at Norm’s place.”

A loud knocking at the front door sounded like a burst of gunfire in the stillness that followed Kevin’s confession. Mary motioned to Edna that she would see who it was and disappeared down the hall. She returned shortly, followed by two uniformed officers.

With a look of panic on his face, Kevin glanced from them to Charlie. “What are they doing here? I told you I didn’t kill her.” He frowned before his expression turned to one of self-satisfaction. “You can’t arrest me for breaking and entering. I’m her next-of-kin, so legally, that night, I entered my own house.”

Charlie held up a hand, palm toward Kevin, and slowly shook his head. “As her husband, you’re the prime suspect in our murder investigation. I need you to come to the station and answer a few questions. You’re not under arrest …” he paused briefly before adding softly, “not yet.”