“They were on the brink of bankruptcy,” Lauren informed Santiago. Then turned to Mrs. Veronica. “She knew that if she didn’t take the reins into her own hands, she would lose everything that made her…her. Meaning money.”
“You are surprisingly intelligent,” Veronica said, lips contorted into a malicious smile. Then she shrugged. “If my Alden had hired Loyd Peters—who is very easy to influence—over a decorated Melungeon veteran, this never would have happened. Your grandfather really built up your achievements, Sheriff. But the moment you put a certain segment of people in power, it weakens the natural order of things.”
“Natural as determined by whom?” Lauren asked.
“Let’s not be obtuse, dear,” Veronica said. She turned back to Santiago. “Once you were appointed, I needed someone better aligned with my vision of the future.”
“What kind of drug did you use to kill your husband?” Lauren asked.
“That’s not what’s important! What’s important is I had a son who didn’t hesitate when it came to following my directives. When Alden died, I made sure everyone understood how necessary it was for Anderson to proceed his father. And when he did, he had every reason to trust my judgment. We were able to seek out investors, who believed we could make Shrouded Lake a place that brought in more money than Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge combined. The revitalization initiative was the first step, the next was to acquire land. And slowly, quietly, people were made offers and were willing to leave homes that were barely standing. The beauty of working with people with no financial acumen is that they can be bedazzled by large numbers. It’s not our fault they chose to trust us versus paying attention to the details of the agreement.”
“And you recruited Dave Flemming in your scheme to move the properties silently,” Santiago stated. Neither Flemming norAnderson alluded to Veronica’s involvement at the station. Any mission leader would be impressed with the older woman’s ability to manipulate events and people.
“But she didn’t anticipate Mrs. Willoby’s refusal to sell her home. And she didn’t know about her affair with Mr. Williams. That’s where her plans unraveled,” Lauren provided.
“When I found out about their liaison, I thought she would cave to blackmail. And she had. The day of the crash, I’d come here to close out the deal, but the cantankerous bitch had changed her mind. Imagine the nerve, to renege on the deal after all the work we did. She said she no longer cared if her relationship with Mr. Williams was exposed.”
The Archers hadn’t honored any deal they made, yet Veronica had the nerve to be upset when Mrs. Willoby didn’t follow through with their agreement.
“I decided if she didn’t want to sell her house, she didn’t have to. I’d just purchase it from her children upon her death. No one in town would want a haunted house that had just taken another life. I resumed my friendship with Mrs. Willoby and began to use an innocent enough tincture in the right dosages. I used very unsafe dosages,” she smiled. “The day she died she was disoriented, even hallucinating a little. I told her to go to bed, that I’d call her daughter. I didn’t. I did tell her Sherry Lynn had arrived to take her to the hospital. She tried to get to her daughter but didn’t make it down the stairs alive.”
“So you’d been here the day she died.” Santiago frowned. “But you were headingupthe hill when you crashed.”
“A senior moment. I realized in my attempt to remove any sign of my presence; I’d forgotten to look for the paperwork that could be used as evidence of our plans. I had been reaching for my bottle of gin while trying to make a U-turn; killing someone I didn’t particularly like was still overwhelming. I felt like I was coming off a three-day binge.”
“You smelled liked you were smack in the middle of one,” Lauren muttered.
“A drunken Mrs. Archer is a lot less suspect than a stone cold sober one,” Veronica said. “After I crashed, I drank a third of the bottle and intentionally spilled some of the gin on my clothes to round out the façade.”
“You are one calculating woman,” Lauren said.
“And when you killed Bailey Joe?” Santi asked.
“I didn’t. Iorchestratedhis death knowing God would forgive any mother trying to protect her legacy. I recruited Sam Ferriday months ago. He installed Bailey Joe Williams’ security system. I thought it was simpler if Sam took the honors since he had detailed knowledge of Bailey Joe’s home. And yours, Ms. Green.”
Now it made sense why his deputies experienced so many delays in obtaining access to the security cameras. How the deer head was planted in Lauren’s house without the system activating.
“Theft and murder, that will be your only legacy,” Lauren told Veronica, who cocked her gun. “Not if you die tonight, dear.”
Something heavy crashed into the front of the house. Tommy and Lauren looked at St. James, who was still unconscious. Veronica’s slightly shaking gun remained on Lauren as she ordered Tommy to check out what was happening.
“You’re too late you know,” Lauren said.
Santiago tensed the closer Tommy got to St. James’s body.
“You’ll never get this house. I’ve already contacted one of the last known descendants of the Moor family and she will be here within the month to move into the home. If I die, it’ll still go to her. It will be damn near impossible to get through all the red tape I’ve wrapped around this property. We both know you don’t have a pot to piss in when it comes to fighting that battle,Veronica. And you won’t be able to count on your investors anymore; they will all flee when the details of your beloved revitalization scheme hits the media. No one will want to be associated with your legacy.”
There was another crash up front, followed by a gunshot. Santiago trusted that Sonny was out there doing what he needed to do.
Veronica must have sensed that her time had run out because she looked at Lauren with banked hatred and fired as he lunged at her, knocking the gun out of her hand.
Lauren stumbled back against the wall beside the back door.
Before he could reach her, the back door exploded, splinters and chunks of wood hit Santiago, as buckshot pierced his flesh.
Lauren screamed, crouching to the ground as a large shadow filled the doorway.
Santiago rushed the shooter, pushing the barrel of the gun up as it fired a second time into the ceiling as the two of them tumbled outside and down the front porch. Santi punched Sam Ferriday in the throat and face repeatedly and when the other man was prone on the ground he stood, stomping Sam in his face until he was unconscious. Santi rolled Sam’s body over and cuffed him then ran back into the house where Lauren had Veronica by the hair and was banging her head into the wall. Veronica slid to the floor, and Lauren fell to her knees beside her, hand to her chest. Santiago kneeled beside Lauren when he saw the blood. He reached to gather her into his arms when Tommy Lewellen’s foot connected with his jaw.
