The Marsh Madness

“So what happened? Did Shelby scream? Did poor Chadwick think he was saving a woman from an attack? No one’s going to buy that.”


“I don’t know what he thought, but he came at me.”

“So let’s see, a forty-three-year-old man, pudgy and out of shape, not used to violence, rushes up the stairs to confront an intruder, barges into the bedroom and attacks you.”

“Yeah, that was a bad break for him. I did what I had to.”

“Except you’d left those gloves on—or put them on again—and hit him on the back of the head. Was he running away at that point? You made sure there weren’t any of your fingerprints, because you were known to the police as a result of my complaint and maybe others. And then, once you’d killed Chadwick, you hurled him down the stairs.”

“The situation got away from me—”

“And of course, Chadwick recognized Shelby when he discovered her upstairs in the bedroom. She must have freaked.”

“She was a silly, nervous thing, not nearly as intelligent as she looked. She started screaming when she saw him. How stupid was that? She should have just laughed it off, explained and apologized for our romantic interlude in his ‘country house.’”

I wasn’t sure that Chadwick or anyone would have bought that. Not with keys and codes involved. “But silly and nervous or not, she was the person who brought you into contact with Summerlea. She was your entrée into that kind of society. Lots of wealthy young women to plunder, trust accounts to play with once Shelby was stripped clean. And you managed that, didn’t you? Her car was being repossessed. She was being hounded for debts that you’d actually incurred.”

He practically spat. “Spoiled brats. You think they deserve their privilege, these rich bitches? Who cares what happens to them?”

“I’m guessing she wanted out even before Chadwick was killed. She was jumpy and nervous during the whole luncheon scene. But I’m sure you had a hold over her. Did she steal from her parents? Was that what you were holding over her head? Then with Chadwick’s murder, she started to fall apart. She became hysterical when I saw her at the gallery. Now she was in too deep to walk away. Did you decide then to get rid of her?”

He shrugged. “It’s all water under the bridge now. But you have to admit, it’s worked out according to plan in the end.”

“You mean with me, Vera and Kev accused of murder rather than breaking, entering and theft?”

“Exactly.”

“Thank you for calling the police with those tips. That brought us a lot of grief. And then planting stuff on my uncle Mick beforehand. He didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“That was the idea. I thought it was a laugh. And it got to you, didn’t it? As I said, you brought it on yourself.”

The best plan was to play to his massive, twisted ego and give the psychopath in front of me a few ego strokes. “I see you’ve been very clever with all this. I have to admire your entire plan. It was brilliant. You get even, I get blamed. My friends and family get damaged.”

“You don’t have to tell me it was brilliant. I thought it up.”

“Tell you what, Lucas. Because of what we used to have together and because I can’t help but admire your ingenuity with this whole production, I’ll just head out and that’s the last any of us will hear of this. Not a word from me.”

“Get real. Do you think I’m falling for that? With the police crawling all over the county looking for you? You’d blab everything you know about me before the door shuts behind you.”

“But that’s not going to happen. You have some stuff on my family, and that’s enough for me to keep my mouth closed.”

“Right. It’s not going to happen because you are going to be dead.”

I injected a little shake into my voice. “Come on, Lucas. We were in love once.”

“Don’t think so.”

“That would make three people you’ll have killed, Lucas. Is it getting easier?”