Pain exploded from my cheek to my eye. Flickers of light filled my vision. I felt hands around my neck.
Devlin was strangling me. I clawed at his hands, trying to peel him off.
I heard Ruth and Alice scrambling for the gun. I couldn’t breathe, and then suddenly a very familiar voice rang out, “Oh no you don’t, mister.”
Devlin released me. I coughed and spat, falling to my knees. I looked up and saw Francine, her arms wrapped tightly around Devlin.
He fought and struggled, spitting and cussing. “Let me go!”
“What’s got Devlin?” Alice said.
“The Backwoods Banshee herself,” I said. “She’s got him in a hold.”
Francine ran a finger down his cheek. “Isn’t he so cute? I’d like to keep him as a pet.”
Devlin’s eyes widened in fear. “Who’s there? What’s holding me. Whose voice is that? Let me go!”
“And he can hear me too,” Francine cooed. “This could be a match made in heaven.”
“Thank you,” I choked out.
She smiled. “You’re welcome. Now. Why don’t y’all call the police and get those country bumpkins out here to arrest this piece of something I’d rather not discuss in public.”
I laughed. My throat burned and my breath came ragged, but I had enough in me to dial Kency’s number.
“Here’s the gun.” Ruth handed it to me.
Francine continued to cuddle a very disturbed Devlin. I smirked at Ruth. “Something tells me that I’m not going to need that.”
Ruth cocked her head toward Devlin. “The banshee has him good?”
I laughed as Francine licked Devlin’s cheek. “The banshee has him better than good. She’s got him great.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Devlin Monk admitted to killing Cora, and Kency Blount took him away.
Ruth, Alice and I were walking toward the car when Alice spoke up. “I still don’t understand how Ruth’s jacket ended up with Cora and how Birda found it.”
“It ripped when Ruth got out of the ATV,” I said. “It may have fallen off when Ruth got near Cora’s body. Remember, she was one of the first to arrive on the scene. Then Birda found it. The whole thing was pure coincidence.”
“A nasty one,” Ruth said.
“I agree.” I squeezed her arm. “But it’s over now. The killer’s been caught, and everything can go back to normal.”
Alice and Ruth stared at me as if I had three heads. I rolled my eyes. “Okay. As back to normal as our lives can get, that is.”
Ruth and Alice laughed all the way back to the truck.
The next morning the sun rose high and warm in the sky. It was a day of beginnings, and I wasn’t about to let it get away.
Roan called me first thing.
“Do you know anything about Devlin Monk being arrested for Cora’s murder?”
I grimaced. He was not going to like my answer, but there wasn’t much I could do about it other than suck it up.
“I do. I was there.”
