A Broth of Betrayal (24 page)

Chapter 35

E
LIZABETH TURNED TO
follow Lucky’s gaze. She gasped. “Edward?” She squeezed Lucky’s hand tightly and
a tremor ran through her body.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s too bad you had to go poking
your nose into this. And you too, Lucky. I wish you both could have left well enough
alone.”

“What are you talking about Edward? Why do you have a gun? What are you doing?”

Lucky’s blood ran cold. “It was you—you tied Maggie up and left her in that house.
Why?”

Edward ignored her outburst and turned to Elizabeth. “You have to know it wasn’t my
plan to hurt you. You never should have come here. I needed to see this through.”

“See what through, Edward? You’re not making any sense.” Elizabeth recalled Maggie’s
answer when she had pleaded with her in the cellar. “
He won’t hurt me then
.”

Lucky tightened her grip on Elizabeth’s shoulder. The pieces of the puzzle had fallen
into place. “You couldn’t know, Elizabeth. Harry Hodges was murdered and so was Richard
Rowland.”

“Harry?” Elizabeth gasped. She turned to Edward. “Oh no. Oh no. Tell me you didn’t,
Edward.” Tears rushed to her eyes.

“I wasn’t responsible for Harry, Elizabeth, believe me. I didn’t do that. If I had,
he would never have gone so easily. He would have died screaming like my little Johnny,
my sweet, innocent boy.”

“And Richard Rowland?” Lucky asked.

Edward nodded. “Oh yes. Funny thing, though. You were right, Elizabeth. It didn’t
cheer me as much as I thought it would. In fact, I really didn’t feel anything at
all after all these years. But it was satisfying to know he died just like Johnny.
I suspect Harry had an attack of conscience and decided to finally tell the truth
about what they did that day. And I think that monster Rowland got to Harry first.”

Elizabeth leaned against Lucky, unable to speak.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I tried. For so many years, I tried to put it behind me. But
it wasn’t any good. It wouldn’t go away. There were days I thought I had the rage
conquered, but it would flare up again even stronger. It was tearing my brain apart.
Harry knew. He could never look me in the eye. He knew how I felt. But Rowland . . .
when he showed up in town again, it all came back. I really didn’t think I had that
kind of hate inside of me anymore.” Edward shrugged, and the arm that held the gun
relaxed slightly. “But then the opportunity presented itself and it was so very easy.
And you know what I felt? I felt nothing. If anything, relief. Relief it was over.
They were all dead. I had waited a very long time. There were so many nights I couldn’t
sleep. Nights I would lie awake planning what I wanted to do to them all, wondering
if I had the stomach to do what needed to be done. And when the time came it was so
simple, so easy. Like watching a film from a long distance away.”

“Edward, there was a sworn statement that they weren’t there.” Elizabeth took a shaky
breath. “There was never any proof they locked Johnny in that house or set fire to
it. Everyone accepted it could have been an accident.”

Edward started to shake with barely controlled emotion. His eyes darkened; his face
twisted. “A sworn statement!” He spat. “Maggie Harkins was their alibi. She said they
were with her that day. She lied. She lied to save her son.”

“How long have you been torturing that poor woman?” Elizabeth demanded.

Edward smiled. “Not long. I just needed to keep her out of the way—until it was her
turn. But I always kept an eye on her. She knew it too. She knew she was as guilty
as those boys. Those three should have spent their lives in jail for killing my son.
Everyone knew they hung around that old house, sneaking cigarettes, lighting matches.
But the police let them go. Was that justice? Justice for my son or my wife?”

What little color was in Elizabeth’s face drained. Lucky wondered if she might pass
out from shock.

“I don’t need proof. I know! For thirty-five years it’s all I’ve dreamed about. I’ve
been tortured by the memories. I’ve had a picture of my dead child in my head all
this time. Can you blame me? When Rowland showed up, I knew it was time. The life
I should have had was stolen from me. Why should they have been allowed to live?”

Lucky’s mind was racing. Edward had grown increasingly unstable. She was sure any
slight movement could set him off. She couldn’t run and leave Elizabeth. Shaking or
not, Edward could be capable of shooting her as she ran. Elizabeth wouldn’t be able
to move very fast if at all. And no one knew where they were. She hadn’t told anyone
where she was going—not even Sophie.

As if he could read her mind, Edward turned to Lucky. “You know I can’t let you or
Elizabeth go free. My entire life has been a prison sentence. I have no intention
of spending my last years in another sort of prison.”

“A prison of your own making, Edward,” Elizabeth said.

“That may be, but my only regret is that I didn’t dispose of them all years ago. They
weren’t entitled to the years they had, the years they took from Johnny.” Something
in his face shifted. His eyes were grim. “Now walk.” He indicated with the gun.

“Walk? Walk where?” Lucky croaked.

“Into the woods, follow that path.” He indicated a well-worn path into the trees away
from the house, away from the car, away from escape. Lucky felt her knees start to
shake. He planned to march them into the woods and what? Shoot them? Had the man lost
touch with all human feeling?

Elizabeth straightened up. A jolt of anger ran through her slight frame. “You’ll never
get away with this, Edward.”

“Oh, but I have gotten away with it. For years I’ve gotten away with it.” He laughed
softly. “I made sure Danny Harkins died in that wreck twenty-seven years ago.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened and a look of shock registered on her face. “What do you
mean?”

Edward smiled at the memory. “It was quite by accident really. I was driving home
and passed his car on the road. He had run off the road and hit a tree.” He chuckled.
“It’s true you know, that old saying, ‘God looks after fools and drunks.’ Danny reeked
of alcohol and yet there wasn’t a scratch on him. The idiot had been drinking and
missed the turn. His car was in the ditch, but he was conscious.”

Edward barked a short, harsh laugh. “He actually thought I had stopped to help him.
The gas tank was leaking. Fuel was everywhere. Killing him was so easy. But it was
important to me that he was conscious and knew what was happening to him. And he knew
I did it for Johnny. He begged and screamed as I lit the match and watched him die—die
just like my Johnny.”

Another scream, wild and primitive, came from the trees. Maggie flew at Embry. She
was like a beast of the forest. Taken by surprise, he hadn’t had time to even raise
his gun. She lunged at him, knocking him to the ground, screaming, clawing at his
face, his eyes. He shouted and struggled, but Maggie had called upon superhuman strength.
Edward tried to get to his feet, to raise the gun and aim it at Maggie. But she clung
to him, fighting him with all her strength, uncaring that she might cause her own
death. She grasped the weapon and, groaning with the effort, turned it against his
chest. The gun fired. Birds screeched and flew from the trees. Lucky’s ears rang and
finally all was quiet.

No one breathed. Time seemed to halt in the frozen silence. Maggie slowly climbed
off the body of Edward Embry and stood, devoid of expression, staring at the dying
man. The gun dropped from her hand. Edward’s mouth opened and closed, but no words
came. Blood bubbled from his lips. Staring at the trees above him, his eyes glazed
over and his body was still. A sudden violent wind bent the treetops. And then the
rain came.

Lucky approached softly and, reaching down, picked up the gun. It wasn’t safe to leave
it. She didn’t know what reaction if any Maggie might have to what she had just done.

Lucky took Elizabeth’s hand. “Let’s go,” she whispered. They stumbled out of the clearing,
leaving Maggie in the rain still staring at Edward’s body. They followed the path
out of the trees and reached Sophie’s car. The heat from the burning house was intense.
By now, someone would have seen smoke and reported a fire. Lucky only hoped the downpour
would quench the fire before it spread. When they reached the car Lucky eased Elizabeth
into the passenger seat. She climbed in on the driver’s side, started the engine and
reversed down the drive. She backed up the road a good distance away and hit the brakes.
Reaching behind her, she grabbed her purse and rummaged for her cell phone. She punched
in the first few numbers, then heard the sirens. She grasped Elizabeth’s hand, leaned
her head back and waited for the cavalry.

Chapter 36

“
I
KNOW I
said I wanted some time with you, but this is ridiculous.” Elias chuckled as he threaded
a suture through the fleshy part of Lucky’s forearm. “This isn’t quite what I had
in mind.”

“Just keep sewing, will you?” Lucky did her best to study the acoustic panels on the
ceiling of the Snowflake Clinic. “It makes me sick if I look.”

Elias looked up quickly. “Any pain?” His demeanor was immediately professional.

“Yes, you’re a terrible seamstress . . . seamster . . . what’s the right word?”

“Whoa there. Don’t be casting aspersions on my abilities as a doctor. I’ll have you
know my mother taught me to sew!” Elias declared in mock indignation.

“Really? So did mine. Our mothers must have had a lot in common.”

Lucky felt no pain after the anesthetic had been injected, but the tug on her skin
was disconcerting. All things considered, she had no complaints. A jagged cut to her
arm from the wooden boards of the hatch was minor compared to what could have happened.

The door from the waiting area flew open and Sophie marched into the examining room.
“Hope you don’t mind. This is taking way too long . . . visiting hours will be over
soon.” Sophie smiled. “How is she?”

“Worst patient I ever had,” Elias mumbled without looking up. He tied off the last
suture and covered the wound with an antiseptic ointment and a sterile bandage. “Come
back to the Clinic in a few days. I want to check that there’s no infection.” He leaned
over and planted a light kiss on Lucky’s lips. “I know it’s no good to tell you to
stay out of trouble, but try to stay out of trouble.”

“How did you know where to find me?” she asked Sophie.

“Well, you said you’d be back in a half hour. When more than an hour had gone by,
Jack and I both got worried. Jack’s in the waiting room by the way. I called Emily
at the library and grilled her. She told me about the conversation you had with her
and that she had given you directions to Maggie’s house. I wasn’t positive you had
gone there first, without me. It was a long shot, but it was the only thing I could
think of when you didn’t come back. I got really worried. I finally managed to reach
Nate and catch a ride with him. Nate got the report of a fire when we were headed
out there. That’s when he turned on the siren. And you know the rest. Oh, by the way,
Nate found Elizabeth’s car hidden way back in the woods behind Maggie’s house. We
never would have found it on our own.”

“I guess our efforts were for nothing.” Lucky shrugged and winced in pain from the
movement. Once Nate had taken charge of the scene, Lucky handed the gun over to him
and drove straight back to town with Sophie and Elizabeth. “Where’s Nate now?”

“He’s with the State Police at Maggie’s house. They’ve got quite a scene out there.
More to the point, where is Elizabeth?” Sophie asked.

“She’s right next door, getting her vitals checked.”

“I’ll go sit with her. Join us when you two are finished here.” Sophie smiled suggestively
at Elias. She breezed out and knocked on the door to Elizabeth’s examining room. A
minute or so later, Lucky and Elias heard gales of laughter. Lucky smiled. “Laughter’s
the best thing for her right now. Am I done? I’ll go see Jack. I’m sure he’s worried.”

“Go ahead. I’ll catch up. I need to see how Elizabeth’s doing. It’ll be a miracle
if she isn’t dehydrated. That’d be the most dangerous thing.”

“She told me Maggie gave her a large jug of water and fed her every day. Elizabeth
was worried though because the water was running out.”

“Whatever possessed Maggie to go along with Embry?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the shrinks can get something out of her. I doubt she’s well-balanced
so who knows what her mental or emotional competence is. Edward must have threatened
her. He must have told her he’d kill her if she let Elizabeth go. She was the one
he blamed for the boys not being charged with his son’s death. Obviously he never
told her what he did to Danny. He was sure she was still tied up in that burning house
when he confessed to us.”

“What was he doing in her house to begin with?”

“I think when he saw his opportunity to take revenge on Rowland, he didn’t want anyone
around to remember or rake up the past. After all, Maggie has done nothing but live
in the past all these years. Apparently, it was Maggie who had given the boys their
alibi. Edward said he had left her alone all this time, but always kept an eye on
her. Her own guilt must have tortured her terribly. Perhaps she felt there was no
one she could turn to for help. And of course he planned to kill her too. What he
didn’t anticipate was that Elizabeth would show up unexpectedly.” Lucky shuddered.
“Elias, he had poured gasoline all over the house. If I had gotten there a few minutes
later, it would have been too late.”

Elias quickly wrapped his arms around her, careful not to touch the injured part of
her arm. “If anything had happened to you . . .”

“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. And Elizabeth too. Another thing . . . Embry said he didn’t
kill Harry. He said he was sure Rowland had done it, and I think he was right.”

“Harry was dying. There are treatments, but it would have just prolonged his agony.
And the information I had from his specialist was that he refused any treatment.”

“Poor Harry. He must have felt the most important thing he had left to do was confess
what really happened to Edward’s little boy all those years ago. He must have told
Rowland what he intended. It all makes sense now. Why he told Pastor Wilson he needed
to speak to someone else first. He never got the chance to clear his conscience. Rowland
took even that away from him.”

Elias cleaned his instruments off the tray and pushed it out of the way. “Come on,
bad patient. Off you go. Elizabeth is waiting for me.” Lucky smiled and their eyes
held. Elias reached for her as she hopped off the examining table. He pulled her tight
in an enveloping embrace and buried his face in her hair. She could feel the beating
of his heart. He was completely silent, but Lucky knew his thoughts and his fears
without the need to say a word. She was so terribly grateful Elias was in her life.

Jack looked uncomfortable as he sat in one of the molded plastic chairs in the waiting
room of the Clinic. Rosemary, one of the Clinic receptionists at the front desk today,
was wonderful with patients and kept Jack chatting. When Lucky entered, Jack jumped
up and rushed over to her, enveloping her in yet another bear hug.

“It’s about time, my girl. You survived the rocks and shoals.”

“I’m fine, Jack, no worries. Elizabeth is too. She’ll be out in a minute.”

“Who’d have thought . . .” He trailed off, unable to put into words the absurdity
of Maggie Harkins keeping Elizabeth a prisoner in her cellar. He shook his head.

“I think it’ll take everyone in town a while to process what’s happened.”

“If it weren’t for you goin’ out there, Elizabeth and Maggie Harkins would both be
gone. And to think he held a gun on you. I would have killed him myself if he had
hurt a hair on your head.” Jack choked back a sob. “. . . and Elizabeth too. I just
can’t believe it. I can’t believe Edward Embry of all people coulda been capable of
something like this. Twisted. That’s what it is. His head just got twisted, and we
all thought he was doing fine.”

“Have you heard anything about Maggie?”

Jack nodded. “Nate called a few minutes ago. He’s been out there at Maggie’s house
the whole time. He just wanted to make sure you and Elizabeth were on the mend. He’s
gonna take Maggie over to the hospital in Lincoln Falls. They’ll probably admit her.
It was crazy what she did, but I guess she’s been half crazy all this time. We should
all be ashamed of ourselves that we didn’t keep a better eye on her.”

“You’re right, Jack. Maybe it wouldn’t have done any good, but all the same, it’s
like she slipped through the cracks, all alone with all that grief.” Lucky shook her
head. “You should have seen her. She was like a wild animal when she attacked Embry.
She was in the woods watching us. When she heard what he did to her son—that Danny
would still be alive if Embry hadn’t set that gasoline alight—she went crazy, crazy
with rage.”