Allison Brennan - Love Is Murder

“You have a better truck,” Lucy said. “Or maybe so we don’t follow too quickly. I don’t know.” She looked around. “Where’s Steve?”

“He went to find Grace,” Patrick said.

“No! She’s been drugging him for God knows how long. I found prescription thyroid and blood pressure medicines in her bathroom-dozens of bottles. The pills had been ground into a fine powder. Thyroid medicine increases your heart rate, and blood pressure meds lower it-” She frowned. “What was she doing with Leo Delarosa’s blood pressure meds? He should have been taking them, especially after his heart attack.”

“Unless she withheld them or swapped them out,” Patrick said.

“If she was giving Steve the blood pressure meds, that would explain his dizziness and fainting. And Kyle”-Lucy looked at him-“you drank the orange juice that Steve had been drinking earlier. That’s how she did it.”

“Why?”

“So she could control and sell the land. This place has no mortgage on it, it’s worth a small fortune, and I’ll bet she embezzled the money Leo left to run the lodge.”

“You know what you’re saying?” Patrick said.

Lucy nodded, shivering more from her deduction than from the cold. “She killed Leo.”

“Let’s get inside and contact the sheriff,” Patrick said, “and get everyone in one room.”

They started toward the stairs to the porch and that’s when Lucy saw Steve standing at the top. His face turned from shock to rage.

“What did you say?”

“Steve, we need to get everyone in the house. Everyone. We need to talk.”

“Tell me what you meant-who killed my father?”

Lucy stepped forward, her boots sinking into the snow. Fast was not an option, but she moved as quickly as she could, worried that Steve would do something stupid. “We’ll talk about this inside.”

“Tell me!” he shouted.

Lucy reached him on the stairs. “Steve, I don’t have definitive proof, but I found your father’s heart medication ground into powder in Grace’s bathroom.”

Steve looked perplexed.

Lucy realized why the thyroid meds were also ground up. “I think she was giving him her own thyroid medicine instead of his blood pressure meds.”

“I don’t understand. What would that do?”

“Thyroid medicine can increase the heart rate. Since your father already had high blood pressure, if he wasn’t taking his meds and then was given something to make his heart work harder, the combination could bring on a heart attack or stroke. It’s not predictable-Grace couldn’t have known when it would happen, just that it would eventually. Then when she found out she couldn’t sell the land, she took all the money she could from your accounts. Maybe she took the money before he died, I don’t know.”

“But why ?” Steve wailed, his pain and anguish evident in his voice. “My father loved her!”

Lucy had some ideas on what had motivated Grace, but didn’t want to share them now, not with Steve so volatile. She glanced at Patrick and nodded to Steve. Patrick stepped next to him and said, “Let go inside. The sheriff will take over.”

As they stepped through the door, they all heard an engine start. A half minute later, the barn doors were nudged open by Patrick’s truck. Grace was at the wheel.

Beth walked into the foyer. “Close the door! You’re letting the heat out!”

Steve turned on her, pushed her back. Her eyes were wide in fear, and Steve shouted. “Did you know? Did you know your sister killed my father?”

The shock on Beth’s face was palpable. Without waiting for an answer, Steve pushed Patrick and stomped out the door, grabbing cross country skis from the rack.

“Steve, wait for the sheriff-”

“No! She killed my dad. It all makes sense. Everything makes sense now.”

Lucy tried to stop Steve, but she couldn’t move fast through the snow, and Steve was on the skis before she reached him.

“Patrick!” she called out. “The snowmobiles.”

Patrick said to Kyle, “Call the sheriff now. Give him my truck description, license plate 5K55567. Tell them Grace may be armed and dangerous. There’s only one road out of this mountain-they need to meet up with her before she hits the highway.”

“That doesn’t give them much time-twenty, maybe thirty minutes.”

“Then tell them to haul ass.”

Beth looked shell-shocked. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“We can’t explain now,” Lucy said, “but your sister is a killer. I’m sorry.”

“I thought-” she hesitated. “I thought we’d finally become close. I was wrong.

Patrick said to Lucy, “Get everyone in the library and stay there. I’ll get Steve.”

“You’re not going out there alone,” she countered.

“Dammit, you’re not a cop!”

“Are you going to argue with me or cooperate? You were drugged last night, Patrick. Grace is a killer and Steve’s emotions are running high. You need backup. Let’s go.”

She gave Patrick no opportunity to argue. She started toward the garage where the snowmobiles were stored. Without snowshoes, it took longer. Patrick waved her over to the tracks his truck had made; walking on the pressed snow was definitely easier.

By the time they reached the garage, Grace and Steve had a six-minute lead and the steadily falling snow was covering up their tracks. Patrick uncovered the snowmobiles. “Why don’t we take Steve’s truck?” Lucy asked.

“We need to make up time, and we’ll never catch up to her before Steve. Trust me, snowmobiles are faster.”

He started one up, then motioned for Lucy to take it before he started the next. This was only the second time Lucy had rode one of these vehicles-the first time being two days ago when they first arrived.

Patrick led the way. As they passed the lodge, Kyle came out and gave them a thumbs-up. Hopefully that meant he had spoken to the sheriff. With that, Patrick rode off and Lucy followed.

They stayed on the path left by the truck. Lucy noticed that Steve’s skis had diverged from the road, leaving a clear trail through the trees.

She sped up and motioned for Patrick to stop.

“What?” he shouted.

“Steve went that way,” she pointed down the mountainside. “We should split up.”

“Hell no.”

“He’s going to cut her off. He knows these woods better than anyone.”

“I don’t care, we’re not splitting up.”

“We may not catch up with her in time, and I’m worried for Steve. Please-I’ll follow him.”

“And what if you get lost?”

“I’ll stick to his trail. I can catch up with him and stop him from doing anything stupid. You focus on Grace. We’re wasting time.”

It was clear Patrick didn’t want to agree, but Lucy took his silence as assent. She rode back to where she’d seen Steve’s ski trail, worried that the heavy snowfall would cover his tracks faster than she could follow them. But he’d been traveling fast, leaving deep gouges in the snow, and Lucy easily found the path he’d left.

Lucy started slowly because she was at a dangerous downhill angle. But it leveled off a bit and she picked up speed. The trees started far apart, but the more she went down, the closer they got. She paid close attention to the tracks, because if she lost them, she would have to backtrack, and she might not be able to find his path again. Worse, the snow was making it difficult to see more than twenty or so feet ahead of her, and she had to slow when Steve’s tracks started swerving between trees.

Several minutes later, she saw a green figure in the distance. It had to be Steve, in his bright green jacket, and he was moving at a rapid pace. She sped up a bit, but stayed tense and focused on his trail. She didn’t know this area, and didn’t know if there was a deep gulley or drop-off.