“With pleasure,” Morrie grinned. “Angus was dating Abigail, but he didn’t like her seeing other guys. He confronted her about it, and she laughed in his face. So he took the leopard-print scarf from her bed, wrapped it around her neck, and squeezed the life out of her. He figured he could pin it on Danny or Jim, so he left the room in a mess and the door open. Only he found out later that another cop had arrested them earlier that night, and they were in the cells at the time. They took DNA from Abigail – evidence from the sexual intercourse she’d had an hour before her death. Only Angus tampered with that evidence, corrupting the results so it wouldn’t point to him. Any of his fingerprints at the scene were discounted because he was the lead investigator. He got away with it for all those years.
“When Danny reformed and was looking for a cop to consult with for his books, he met up with Angus. Our killer supplied sordid stories from his past cases, and Danny twisted them into best-selling novels. That is, until Danny pressed Angus for details on the garrotings for his latest novel. Angus, figuring he was safe by now, helped Danny concoct a story that was so clever it could never be true – the story of a coroner who framed a crook for the murders by tampering with evidence. While Danny wroteThe Somerset Strangler, it occurred to him that details of the story rang a little too true, and that there was one person who absolutelycouldhave killed Abigail – Angus.
“When Danny announced he was writing a memoir but that Angus wasn’t allowed to read it until it was published, Angus grew worried. He was safe as long as Danny stuck to fiction, but with non-fiction… Danny could be on to him. At the party, he found out Danny had given a copy of the memoir to Brian, but not to him, and his suspicions were confirmed.
“Amanda told him that night how she’d conspired to get Beverly Ingram to come to the event, and that she’d also leaked a copy of the memoir to her. Angus knew Beverly would be reading the book with a fine-toothed comb, looking for evidence to convict a killer. He had to silence them all. And when he saw Beverly at the party wearing that scarf, he realized this was the perfect chance. That night he picked up Beverly’s scarf from the footpath outside the shop, went back to the hotel with Amanda, then pretended to fall asleep until she got annoyed and snuck off to Danny’s room, where she was when Danny left in the morning.
“Just after five a.m., Angus rang the front office, put the tape on play, and then snuck out the front of the hotel while Miranda was delivering the towels. Later, he told Amanda he’d corroborate her alibi and say she was with him, so the police wouldn’t suspect her as the last person to see Danny alive. In fact, she was the one corroboratinghisalibi.
“Angus then used a tape recording of their lovemaking to create a false alibi and get Miranda away from the front desk so he could sneak out after Danny. He still had the scarf from Abigail’s murder, which he’d stolen from the evidence room years ago. He snuck up behind Danny, garroted him, then stole away when he heard us coming down the stairs.”
“Impressive,” Mrs. Ellis said.
“That is next level genius,” Morrie said. “I’ll be remembering that one. It was a trick Danny used in one of his books. That’s how I figured that out.”
“And Brian Letterman?”
“Angus had already deleted the manuscript off Danny’s computer before the police searched his room. But he know that Brian had received that early copy. He knew that if he read it, Brian would know Angus murdered Danny, so he garroted Brian before he could talk. It was inconvenient that Beverly Ingram wasn’t there to take the blame, but he tried to pin the murder on Jim by claiming he’d seen him walking into the Sunday School room with Brian, even though Jim had that phone call from Amanda, who wanted him to leak chapters of her book on the internet and stir up a social media frenzy. That’s why he stole Penny’s mourning veil after she took it off to drink her tea. It was all very clever, and of course, no one suspected Angus because he was an ex-cop.”
“But what happened to poor Mina?” Mrs. Ellis leaned over to squeeze my hand.
“Amanda sent her an article about Penny Sledge, which made Penny look like the murderer. Amanda wanted to ruin both her husband and Penny to stir up a media frenzy before her erotic novel came out. That’s why she leaked Danny’s memoir to Beverly Ingram and gave her a ticket to the event.”
“That nasty bitch!” Mrs. Ellis said, a hint of glee in her voice.
“Indeed.” Morrie smiled. “Our lovely Mina was on her way to show the article to the police. Only Angus had got to the station first with free coffee and cronuts for all his ex-cop buddies, all laced with strong sedatives. Once he cleared the station he went downstairs, intending to hang Beverly in her cell with the leopard-print scarf and kill the last person who might realize he was the murderer. But then Mina bloody Wilde shows up with a purse full of dangerous insects and threatens to spoil the whole thing. And the rest you know.”
“I’m so pleased you’re all right,” Mrs. Ellis gave me another hug, and a wet kiss on the cheek.
“We never would have found you if it hadn’t been for Grimalkin. She sniffed me out outside Penny Sledge’s house, and led me straight back to you. You were passed out. I was so scared that we were too late, but I found a faint pulse and called an ambulance. They arrived just in time.” Morrie squeezed my hand. “I don’t know what–”
“Yoo-hoo!” Mum’s voice echoed down the hall. “I’ve been trying to get in to see you for nearly twenty minutes but some very rude nurse told me I wasn’t allowed. I waited until she was called away and snuck past—” Mum tried to push the door open, but Heathcliff’s bulk was in the way. He slid aside, smushing Morrie against the wall, and Mum stumbled into the room.
“Oh, hello, boys, Mrs. Ellis.” Mum set down a bunch of flowers on my bedside table, and leaned over to kiss me. “Mina, I’m so glad you’re doing better. One more day and you can go home. I bet you’re pleased.”
I nodded. I was desperate to see the shop again. Heathcliff had been grumbling that ever since the police arrested Angus and let Beverly go, the shop had been wall-to-wall people. In fact, he’d been an hour late getting to the hospital this evening because he couldn’t shove everyone out the door fast enough. The two romance authors who cancelled – Bethany Jadin and Marie Robinson – called to reschedule. They offered to run a reader party with lots of swag and booze and a couple of sexy male models. All the tickets to that had already sold out.
We were going to be able to pay the mortgage this month, with a bit leftover to save for the tagging system. It was going to be okay.
“I’m dying for some real food again,” I croaked. “Maybe when I get out we can all go to the pub—”
“Oh, Mina, no. That food is sounhealthy.All that sugar and preservatives and saturated fat. I’m going to make sure you get all your vitamins and nutrients with my newest business venture.” I groaned as Mum lifted an enormous object out of her tote bag and onto the bed. “It’s a fruit snack machine. It’s for people who want to be healthy but who can’t stand the idea of eating fruit. You stick a whole apple or peach or fruit of your choice into this compartment, push the button, and the machine snap-dehydrates the fruit, slices it, covers it in salt, and spits it out here. They’re fruit crisps – deliciousandhealthy. Isn’t it remarkable?”
Remarkably disgusting. I tried to groan, but it hurt my chest. “It’s… it’s remarkable, all right. What happened to the Flourish patch?”
“Oh, I’m done with them. What a pack of scammers. Completely ridiculous. It’s horrible how companies like that prey on the weak and uneducated,” Mum said with a fierce scowl.
Morrie elbowed her in the side. “Tell her what happened, Helen.”
Mum blushed. “Mina’s had a traumatic experience. She doesn’t want to hear about—”
Mischief glinted in Morrie’s eye. “I know Mina. She willdefinitelywant to hear this story.”
“Tell me,” I croaked.
“Fine.” Mum sighed. “I had a little accident with my Mercedes.”
My chest tightened painfully. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
