Morrie shrugged. “Possible. I think we confront Dorothy, see if we can shake her up a bit. I overheard her conversation in the bakery. She said she was going to the church to do some cleaning. With any luck, we’ll find her there, alone.”
We raced over to the church. Sure enough, there was only one car in the parking lot – a grey Nissan. The wooden door to the church was open a crack. Morrie and I peered inside, but without the candles lit, I could barely see a thing.
Morrie stepped inside and slammed the door behind him.BANG.The sound reverberated through the towering nave.
“Who are you? What do you want?” A voice snapped from the altar. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“Dorothy Ingram, it’s a pleasure,” Morrie purred. “We’re a couple of concerned citizens come to speak with you about recent crimes in the village. Namely, two murders and one assault on members of the Banned Book Club.”
Dorothy straightened up, dusting her hands on a white apron she wore over her severe black dress. “Police officers, are you?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Morrie said, sliding his phone from his pocket and tapping at the screen.
“Don’t lie in God’s house,” she snapped. Even in the dark, I could feel her eyes staring daggers through my chest. “The two of you work in that heathen bookshop. I see no reason to speak to you and don’t see how I could be of interest. I hardly knew those unfortunate ladies.”
“That’s not true, though, is it?” I said. “I overheard you talking to Ginny before Mrs. Scarlett’s funeral. She was blackmailing you. She wanted you to do something for her, or she would tell everyone about yourfilthy little secret.”
“That’s preposterous.” Fear cut through Dorothy’s bluster.
“Is it? You hated Mrs. Scarlett because of her influence in the community. She kept stepping on your plans to make the village more wholesome and God-fearing. You considered the Banned Book Club a personal affront.”
“Even if I did, I didn’t lay a finger on her. Killing is against God’s Commandments! I would never commit such a despicable act.”
“And just where does aborting your unborn child sit on God’s moral scale?” Morrie asked, still concentrating on his phone.
Dorothy’s face paled. “Wha… what are you talking about?”
Morrie held up his phone. On the screen was a scan of a printed form. “While we’ve been talking, I hacked your mobile phone, and what was the first message Ginny Button sent you? This in-patient form for an abortion clinic… with your name on it.”
“That’s not mine. It’s been doctored!” Dorothy shrieked.
“I don’t think so,” Morrie grinned, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “You were only nineteen, and an unwed woman. Whatever would God think? Tell me, was it a single night of unbridled passion, or did you have a long-term lover? Was he hung like a donkey? Did he make you scream? Did he stick it in your arse—”
“Get away from me, you vulgar man!” Dorothy screeched, swinging the broom at Morrie.
She’s really upset.I reached out to stop Morrie, but he was on a roll. He wrenched the broom from her hand and broke it over his knee like it was nothing. She sobbed and cowered behind the altar, and all the while he just kept talking in his calm, cheerful tone. “So you had the abortion, and no one ever had to know. Except Ginny Button came across this old file somehow, and she used it to make you do her bidding. She made you poison Gladys Scarlett, and then you threw her down the stairs in order to stop her blackmail. I know you work in the village pharmacy. You would have access to the equipment needed to make arsenic. You had no love for Gladys Scarlett. But what Idon’tknow, what I desperately want to know, is why Ginny wanted Mrs. Scarlett dead?”
Dorothy peered over the top of the altar, laughing like a hyena. “What a load of cockaninny! Ginny didn’t ask me to kill Gladys Scarlett. She wanted me to use my position on the church committee to remove Brenda Winstone from the youth group. I was only too happy to do it because Gladys’ corrupting influence had tainted Brenda’s sweet nature. But then, the day of the funeral, Ginny said it wasn’t enough. She wanted Brenda tosuffer. She wanted me to accuse Brenda of touching a child inappropriately so that Brenda would never be able to be near children again.”
I thought about how Brenda had lit up when she chased the children around the shop, and how her voice faltered when she said her husband didn’t want kids.What an evil thing to do. It would destroy Brenda.
“So you wrote that note and had Ginny meet you after the service,” Morrie said. “Perhaps you tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t back down. And so you pushed her.”
“No! I didn’t see Ginny after the service. I stood at the door to offer a basket of flowers to the mourners so they might place them on that ungodly woman’s grave. Cassandra Irons can attest I was in that position until Mrs. Ellis screamed, and she has no love for me.”
“Why did Ginny want to hurt Mrs. Winstone?” I piped up.
“She never revealed that to me, and I didn’t ask. I do not care about the petty squabbles between harlots and heathens.” Mrs. Ingram rose from the altar and waved her arms. “If that is all your questions, I’d be thankful if you left me in peace. If you have any kindness in your hearts, do not reveal my secret in the village.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Morrie crossed himself furtively. “I love to keep secrets. They’re much more valuable that way. We must be off. Say hi to Jesus for me. Toodles!”
“Toodles?”I punched him in the arm as we exited the church.
“I was just been friendly. So, Mina the clever detective, do you believe her?”
“I… I’m not sure. I find it harder to believe she had an abortion, honestly. But if she’s telling the truth, that puts us right back to square one again. If Dorothy Ingram didn’t kill either of them or attack Mrs. Winstone, then who did?”
“Perhaps when Miss Blume said, ‘I know what you’ve done’ to Ginny, she meant getting Mrs. Winstone kicked off the youth group. In which case, Ginny’s motivations may be unrelated.” Morrie held up his phone. “I think we need to figure out if Ginny Button was blackmailing anyone else.”
