The Trap (18 page)

“You haven’t … gone to see them?”

“Not yet. I had to see you first.”

As I let out a sigh of relief, she rested a hand on Gabe’s telescope. “The gleam on that thing shot me
right in the eyes that day I left the Crouches’ house. I knew Mr. Hollister had spotted me. I had to stop him from tellin’. I couldn’t count forever on his not rememberin’ what he saw and eventually figurin’ things out.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself, but my voice still trembled. “Does Ashley know that you murdered Mr. Crouch and Mr. Barrow? And that you tried to kill Uncle Gabe?”

“No. She only figured out what I was doin’ with the pearls and probably the other stuff,” Millie Lee answered. “She didn’t realize I was doing it for her.” She sighed again. “Why couldn’t you have let well enough alone? Up until yesterday I was careful not to take things from the people I worked for on the days I was at their houses. I never came close to bein’ caught, ’cept when I thought Mr. Crouch had gone shoppin’ with his wife and her cousin, only he hadn’t. He walked in on me goin’ through his wife’s jewel box. I had to do somethin’, didn’t I?”

“How about Mr. Barrow?” I asked. “He surprised you too, didn’t he?”

“Nobody woulda thought anythin’ about either of those men if it wasn’t for you, Julie. You shoulda let matters alone. Nobody else asked questions, and Mrs. Barrow and Mrs. Crouch will go back to livin’ the way they liked to live before. You might say I did them a favor.”

Her voice dropped even lower. “What happened had to happen, and none of it was my fault. But what’s goin’ to happen next is your fault for deliberately gettin’ in the way.”

Millie Lee wasn’t thinking rationally, and I didn’t
know whether she would listen to what I told her. Even though my hands were sweating and I was so scared that my legs wobbled, I said, “Sooner or later you would have been caught … you
will
be caught. Those men had the right to live longer.”

She didn’t argue. She just said, “Turn around.”

I didn’t. I said, “You told me Ashley called Deputy Foster. He’ll come. He may be here now.”

She laughed. “Not with the creek high as it is. No one’s comin’ in or out.”

“Myrtle did.”

“All by her lonesome in the only vehicle they’ve got that can get through high water. The deputy’s not goin’ noplace.”

“The killings have to end,” I told her. “Killing me and killing Uncle Gabe won’t help you.”

Her low, raspy laughter was so terrifying, I had trouble breathing and had to lean against the wall for support. Her voice came out in a chilling whisper. “I’m not tryin’ to help myself. It’s too late for that now. What I’m after now is to get even … with you and with all the others. Everybody who lives up here has more than they want, more than they need. It wouldn’t have hurt them none if I took a little of it.”

I gave one more try. “You’ll go to prison, Millie Lee.”

“Stop talkin’ and turn around!” she shouted at me.

Sick with fear, I knew there was no reasoning with her. I didn’t answer. I didn’t move. I tried to figure out what she planned to do. If I did what she ordered and turned around to leave the observatory, she’d probably run after me, pushing me down the stairs. I thought
about that cement slab at the bottom of the stairs and gulped.

“Turn around!” she shouted again.

I did the only thing I could think of. I flicked on the flashlight, aimed its beam at Millie Lee’s face, and turned it to high. For a brief moment she couldn’t see clearly and her face was distorted with anger. She leaned forward, squinting into the light, both hands gripping a handgun.

In an instant, before she could react, I turned off the beam and threw the large flashlight at her. I heard her yelp as I dashed out the door.

She would come after me, shooting, I knew. If I ran down the stairs, I’d be an easy target. I curled into a ball on the step below the top one, trying to blend into the deep country darkness, and waited.

I didn’t wait long. Millie Lee flew out of the door, heading down the steps, as I hoped she would. She didn’t see me until it was too late. As she stepped out, I grabbed her ankle, pulling her off balance.

She slammed across me, facedown on the steps, and the gun flew out of her hand. It hit the carport slab and went off, the noise of the shot echoing in my head.

I held tightly to Millie Lee’s ankle, but she didn’t move. I knew she wasn’t dead because I could hear her steady breathing. I was relieved. I had only wanted to disable her and couldn’t have borne it if she’d been dead.

“Julie? Where are you?” I heard Ashley shout.

Glenda frantically called my name over and over.

“Here I am. I’m okay,” I shouted.

They appeared at the foot of the stairs, wide-eyed in their flashlights’ gleams. Luis appeared behind them.

Glenda gasped as she saw Millie Lee, but it was Ashley I had my eyes on. “Ashley, I’m so sorry,” I said.

Ashley scrambled up the steps. She placed Millie Lee’s head in her lap and brushed the hair from her eyes. “Gran! Oh, Gran!” she cried. “What did you do?”

“She must have knocked herself out when she fell, but she should come to soon. She’s got a strong pulse,” I told Ashley.

I looked down at Glenda and said, “Please call Deputy Foster, Aunt Glenda. Tell him to come as soon as he can.”

I could see confusion in Glenda’s eyes. “What shall I tell him? What happened? Who tried to shoot you?”

There was no point in trying to hide the news from Ashley or Glenda. I took a deep breath. “Millie Lee was the thief. Then she killed Mr. Crouch and Mr. Barrow because they caught her stealing their wives’ jewelry. She even tried to kill Uncle Gabe because she thought he had seen her leaving the Crouches’ house. A few minutes ago, she tried to get rid of me.”

Ashley stared, her face turning pale, her lips parted as though she wanted to speak but couldn’t.

“Oh, Julie!” Glenda said. “My goodness, you’ve been in such danger.” She took a step toward me.

“I’ll be okay,” I said.

“Ashley,” she said, “is this why you came to us? You didn’t tell us why you were so upset.”

“Please hurry, Aunt Glenda,” I told her. “Call the deputy and an ambulance.”

As Glenda turned and began to hurry toward the house, Millie Lee gave a little moan and began to stir. I tightened my grip on her ankle.

Ashley sat up and looked at me, and I could see the tears spilling down her face.

“I’m sorry, Ashley,” I said again.

Luis stared up at us. “Julie,” he said, “tell me what I can do to help.”

“Why are you here?” I asked him.

“I’ve been trying to protect you, of course. You haven’t realized that I have been faithfully at your side,” Luis answered.

Maybe it was the pompous tone in his voice that set me off. “You’re kidding,” I said without thinking. Then, quickly, because of the hurt expression on his face, I added, “Come up here on the steps, Luis. I’ll tell you and Ashley everything.”

Glenda returned, the beam from her flashlight wobbling as she hurried. Carefully, she climbed the steps and sat with us. “I told Deputy Foster what Julie said. He’s got access to a helicopter. He can land on the ranch’s airstrip, and he’ll be here in a few minutes.”

She reached for Ashley’s right hand and held it tightly. “I also spoke with him about Child Protective Services. If it’s all right with you, Ashley, Gabe and I could become your foster parents. The sheriff said he could make the recommendation. There shouldn’t be any trouble since you’ll need a new home.”

Ashley burst into sobs, but she kept saying over and over, “Thank you. Yes.”

Glenda looked at me and said, “Julie, you are a special girl and I don’t know what this family would do without you. Wait until the relatives hear about all this.”

I smiled, then turned to Ashley. She was my friend—practically family now—and she was hurting.

Later I’d tell them what had taken place in the observatory. And I could envision telling the same story over and over.

First, I’d tell it all to Robin. Because she was my best friend. I wouldn’t point out to her that she merely read murder mysteries and I had actually solved one. The rest of the summer was still a mystery to me, but I was no longer worried about how it would turn out.