Lorna Barrett - Murder Is Binding

Someone knocked on the shop door, the CLOSED sign apparently keeping them from entering. Tricia leapt up to find her new attorney standing outside. "Come in, Roger."

"I've brought a friend," he said and held out a hand to his companion.

Grace Harris had undergone a dramatic change since the last time Tricia had seen her. White hair trimmed and perfectly coiffed, the elderly woman looked slim and elegant in a long-sleeved pink silk shirtwaist dress, accompanied by a single strand of pearls. Several gold bracelets graced her wrists, and the little gold scatter pin Tricia had given her decorated the lace collar at her throat. One of her first stops after leaving St. Godelive's must've been a jewelry shop. Grace allowed Roger Livingston to hold the door for her as she entered the shop.

"Dear Tricia-my savior," she said and rushed forward to pull Tricia into a warm embrace.

Tricia stepped back. "Come inside and meet everyone, won't you?"

Grace took in the others. "I believe I already know two of them. Hello, Russ." The newsman nodded a greeting as she walked past him to join Mr. Everett, who took her hands in his.

"It's been far too long, Grace."

"Oh, William, you don't know how good it is to see an old friend."

Mr. Everett's eyes were shining. "I did visit you several times when you were in St. Godelive's. I'm sorry to say you didn't know me."

Grace smiled. "I know you now. And I thank you."

Tricia introduced Grace to Angelica and Ginny before ushering her into the chair next to her sister. Mr. Everett, an excellent bartender, soon placed a glass of sherry in Grace's freshly manicured hand.

Grace swept the shop with her gaze. "My, my. I'm so sorry I missed your grand opening, Tricia. You've done a wonderful job reinventing this old building."

Tricia smiled, pleased at the compliment, and settled on the broad arm of Grace's upholstered chair. She took a more reasonable sip from her glass, realizing the inevitable couldn't be avoided.

"I'm so sorry about Mike," Tricia said. She'd spent the last week wrestling with guilt over his death. She hadn't had the strength to enter the partially submerged car a third time to attempt his rescue.

Grace sipped her sherry, her expression thoughtful. "I'm sorry to say I lost Michael a long, long time ago, dear."

"You're torturing yourself unnecessarily, Tricia," Russ said, all business. "The medical examiner ruled Mike Harris's death an accident. He hit the windshield and died on impact. You weren't to blame."

Was that really true? When push came to shove, Tricia hadn't been able to crash the car. More than anything she wanted to believe that fate-and Mike grabbing the steering wheel-had caused the car to careen out of control. She hadn't meant for him or Doris to die; she just wanted to save herself and Angelica.

"Did we miss the service?" Angelica asked, looking to Tricia for guidance.

"Under the circumstances, I thought it best not to have a public memorial," Grace said, her voice subdued. "He was cremated and I scattered his ashes in my backyard yesterday morning. He loved to play there as a small boy. I prefer to remember him that way."

Her admission cast a bit of a pall on the party. No one seemed to know where to look. It was Mr. Everett who broke the ice. "Does the district attorney feel he's got a good case against Ms. Gleason?" he asked Roger Livingston.

"Fingerprints proved that the woman killed at the Cookery was indeed Deirdre Gleason. Her doctors in Connecticut confirmed she suffered from pancreatic cancer and had only a few months-possibly weeks-to live."

Russ picked up the story. "The cops theorized Doris saw her sister's illness as the answer to all her problems. With a successful financial background, Deirdre had invested wisely. Her portfolio was worth at least two million dollars. However, her will stated that the bulk of her estate was to go to a number of charitable organizations. She'd only designated a paltry ten thousand to be paid to her only surviving sibling. I can imagine that didn't sit well with Doris, whose business was on the rocks and she was faced with a new lease she couldn't afford. Killing Deirdre and taking her place had to seem like the answer to all Doris's problems."

"And don't forget," Angelica added, "Doris as Deirdre also stood to inherit at Doris's so-called death, too."

Ginny shook her head. "This is all so convoluted it's making me dizzy."

Russ hadn't brought up Mike Harris's part in Deirdre's death. Out of respect for Grace, Tricia didn't mention it, either. And his excusing her part in Mike's death sounded all well and good, yet the memory of seeing his limp body being pulled from the hulk of Deirdre Gleason's car would haunt Tricia for a long time to come.

Grace patted Tricia's hand. "It's all right, dear. Please don't dwell on what happened. Michael won't hurt anyone ever again, and now no one will ever hurt him, either."

Tricia wondered if she could be so charitable if put in Grace's shoes.

"I'd still like to see Sheriff Adams apologize for hounding you, Tricia," Roger said.

"That'll never happen. Mike was a charmer, and I'm afraid he charmed Wendy Adams. She saw me as a threat to whatever relationship she thought she had with him. And despite the coroner's report, she blames me for Mike's death."

"I'm afraid my son used his charisma to get himself out of many scrapes over the years," Grace said.

Tricia thought back to that awful night. Wendy Adams had stood on the little bridge over Stoneham Creek as the local firefighters had hauled Mike's body out of Deirdre's car. She'd inspected his cold, dead face and then walked up to Tricia, who stood on the roadside shoeless and shivering under a scratchy blanket. Fighting tears, the sheriff had stared at Tricia for long seconds, and Tricia had been sure the woman was going to slap her. Then, abruptly, Wendy Adams had turned away. Shoulders slumped, she'd gotten back in her police cruiser and driven off into that bleak, rainy night.

They hadn't spoken since. A deputy had been dispatched to Haven't Got a Clue to take Tricia's statement, but Tricia had no doubt that Wendy Adams now considered her an enemy-the person who had robbed her of a future of love and companionship.

Still, Tricia felt only pity that the sheriff had been so easily duped, so manipulated by a handsome man with a glib tongue.

The shop door opened, the little bell above it tinkling merrily, and a smiling Bob Kelly stepped inside. "Am I too late for the festivities?"

Angelica's face lit up and she held out her hands. Bob surged forward, clasped both of them, and bent down to draw them to his lips for a kiss.

"You look beautiful as ever," he gushed.

"You're a liar, but after the week I've had, I can use the compliment," Angelica said, a blush coloring her cheeks.

Tricia rose and turned away from the sight, ready to gag.

Angelica patted the arm of her chair and Bob dutifully perched beside her, still holding her hand. Mr. Everett offered him a drink and Bob accepted a Scotch and soda.

Russ set his plate aside and straightened in his chair. "You've been avoiding my calls for a week now, Bob. What's the story on the big box store coming to Stoneham?"

Bob took a sip of his drink. "I hadn't planned on announcing it until later this week, but since the Stoneham Weekly News won't be out for another five days, I suppose I can break my silence."

The room seemed to crackle with electricity as everyone leaned forward to listen.

Bob sipped his Scotch, milking the anticipation.

"Come on, Bob, spill it," Tricia said. "What big company is coming to town?"

"None."

"None?" Russ repeated, incredulous.

"The rumors were just that-rumors. But come summer there will be a new business venture opening on a one-hundred-acre site just north of town."