At Wick's End - Tim Myers [1]
As the front door of her shop opened, the telltale chime announced that her visitor had finally arrived.
“So I was right,” she said as her suspect stepped out of the shadows to face her. “You murdered that poor man and then stole from him.” The calm tone of her voice did nothing to reveal the hammering in her chest.
“I was under the distinct impression that you had more than a guess when you asked me to come here. You don’t have proof of anything, do you?” There was no heat in the words, an absence of any emotion at all. Surprisingly, that chilled Belle’s heart more than a stormy confrontation.
With firm resolve, Belle said, “I’m not guessing. I’ve got evidence.”
“I can’t imagine what you think you have.”
Belle said, “How about one of the diamonds from the robbery?”
That earned a startled look from the accused. She continued, “You must have dropped it before you could hide them all, because you missed one. Aren’t you worried about fingerprints?” She saw the killer’s gaze dart around the candle shop, so she hastily added, “You’ll never find where I’ve hidden it. It’s safe right where it is.” Was it, though? Had she been too clever, setting this confrontation up without any backup support? It was time to end this before something bad happened.
Belle said sternly, “Turn yourself in. Please. They’ll go easier on you if you take responsibility for what you’ve done. It’s the only way out for you.”
“I can think of another,” the voice said, spoken again with no emotion at all. “I’ll find the diamond without your help.”
As the killer stepped forward, Belle realized too late that she’d put too much faith in her belief that all of mankind was basically good, that there was no inherent evil, and that anyone would do the right thing, given the chance.
It was the last mistake she ever made.
After the meddling old lady was dead, the scene was easily set in the storeroom to look like an accident. There were, after all, many ways a neck could be broken.
Most likely Belle wouldn’t have kept the errant diamond in her shop; there were too many people in and out of At Wick’s End every day. No, the evidence had to in her apartment upstairs. There was a key to her place behind the door in the candle shop office; it was the worst kept secret at River’s Edge. And now it was time to recover the only thing that could link the crime with the killer.
Chapter 1
“I’m sorry to say that I have some bad news for you.”
I choked the telephone in my hand and tried to hide my impatience. “What other kind of news do lawyers ever have? And I told you before, my name’s Harrison.”
After we’d gone through the introductions and pleasantries, I’d waited for the real reason this man was calling me. I had a few leads to follow up in my sales territory, and times were lean at the moment. Okay, who was I trying to kid? I was broke because I was not entirely enamored with the prospect of peddling computers that weren’t nearly as efficient or modern as our brochures proclaimed. I just couldn’t bring myself to sell an inferior product to an unsuspecting public. It was time to try my hand at something else, a fact I’d realized some time ago. No job ever seemed to capture my interest long enough for me to get comfortable with it, and sales was turning out to be no different from hardware store clerk, copier repairman, dance instructor or house sitter.
And now I had a lawyer on the line. This just wasn’t turning out to be my decade.
“Err, Harrison, I’m sorry to say that your aunt Belle Black has passed on.”
“Great-aunt,” I corrected automatically as I felt a sudden twist in my gut. That’s exactly what Belle had been to me as I’d grown up, the greatest great-aunt a kid could wish for. She was the one who slipped me candy bars and folded fives on the side, the one who stood up for me when no one else would. It was always Belle’s place I retreated to when I ran away from home.
And now she was gone.
I asked, “What happened? Was it her heart?