Killing the Carnations (A Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery) (9 page)

“
You know exactly why I wanted to see you,” Amanda said with a growl. “Just because Charleston's dead doesn't mean that our deal doesn't still apply.”

“
You can't be serious,” he scoffed and shook his head. “Let's talk about this,” he suggested and stepped into the room. Vicky's heart was racing. She had suspected that it wasn't Emily who had committed the crime, but someone she was willing to protect. Someone like Jeremy Minkle. Watching him disappear into the very room where Charleston was killed, but this time with Amanda, made Vicky very uneasy. She crept up to the door to listen in.

“
Amanda, you don't want to toy with me,” Jeremy said with that confident arrogance.

“
I'm not toying,” Amanda shot back sharply. “Charleston blew his money as fast as it came in, he was counting on that CEO position. I won't even get his properties because we weren't married. I want the money you were going to give him. I won't say a word if you just give me the money.”

“
What words will you say if I don't?” Jeremy asked gruffly, Vicky could tell that he had moved closer to Amanda by the volume of his voice.

“
I'll tell them all about you,” Amanda threatened. “I'll tell the police that you're the one that killed Charleston, and why.”

“
And you think they'll believe you?” he growled. “I'm a very powerful man. There is nothing that is going to stop me from retiring and living a life of luxury. You, you're just a gold digger, they'll see right through you.”

“
Really?” Amanda countered. “Are they going to see through your little girlfriend, too? Weak Jeremy. You picked someone like that to waste your time with? You could have had someone like me.”

“
The last thing I would ever want is someone like you,” he nearly shouted, then Vicky heard something slam against the wall. She couldn't wait any longer. She knew that whatever dirt she had on Jeremy he was willing to kill to cover up, he had already done it once after all. Without thinking too much about the danger she was about to put herself in Vicky opened the door to the room. She caught Jeremy with Amanda pressed against the wall. When Jeremy glanced back to see who had opened the door, his eyes were full of rage.

“
Get out of here. Can't you see we're having an intimate moment?” he demanded.

“
Doesn't look too intimate to me,” Vicky countered and met Jeremy's eyes directly. He was trying to figure out how much she knew. She was trying to figure out how to get his hands off Amanda's throat.

“
All right, all right,” he nodded a little and released Amanda. “I think I've had too much to drink. Right Amanda?” he asked as he shot her a glare.

“
Yeah,” Amanda rubbed at her neck which was already bruising. “He had far too much to drink.”

Nervously
, Amanda walked past Jeremy, who looked like he'd rather grab her again then let her go, but he didn't want to risk it in front of Vicky. Vicky waited until Amanda was safely out of the room, and then was about to follow her, when Jeremy slammed the door shut by leaning forward from behind her. She stared at the suddenly closed door and drew a sharp breath.

“
You know, I warned you about my lawyer,” he murmured beside her ear as she stood frozen. “Now, do I need to warn you about anything else?”

“
Did you give Charleston a warning?” Vicky asked as she turned around to face him. He was towering over her, one hand still placed firmly on the door.

“
Charleston wanted to meddle in my future, in my retirement plans,” Jeremy explained. “I was going to make him CEO, set him up for life, but that wasn't enough for him. He and his greedy fiancée wanted more. They wanted everything I had saved up to live out my life in luxury, now why would I give that to them?”

“
Because they had something on you,” Vicky replied, her heart racing. She knew that if Jeremy was willing to tell her so much, then he had no intention of letting her out of that room alive. “What was it Jeremy?” she pressed. “Were you hiding some dark secret?”

Jeremy sighed and rolled his eyes.
“It takes a lot of money to get where I am. More than I've ever had. So I borrowed some from the company, just to give myself a little cushion. I didn't want to have to work until I was dead. But, when I wanted to retire too early, Charleston got suspicious. He started looking into my finances, the company's finances, and one day he just walked into my office, plops the proof down on my desk, and declares that he owns me.”

Jeremy balled his
free hand into a fist. “No one owns me,” he said sternly. “But I'm a reasonable man,” he added, his tone softening. “I made him an offer, he could take over my position, no questions asked, he could keep pilfering some extra money off the top and set himself up for a luxurious life, too. At first, he was fine with it,” Jeremy admitted. “But then suddenly he wants more. I think it was Amanda that put the idea in his head. So, he asked for too much. He paid the price,” Jeremy shrugged a little.

“
But how?” Vicky asked, trying to prolong their conversation. “How did you get in here to kill Charleston? How did you have an alibi?”

“
You don't even know your own inn, do you?” he chuckled. Suddenly they heard voices out in the hall. Vicky didn't have time to try to figure out who they were as Jeremy grabbed her harshly by the arm and thrust her towards the wall. Instead of slamming into the wall however, he nudged the portion of the moulding that opened up the hidden door, and flung her inside. Then he jumped inside with her, and closed the door behind him. He lunged towards Vicky, and she knew this was her last chance to escape. She began to run down the corridor. As she ran she banged on the wall, hoping to get someone's attention. But she knew that everyone was sleeping, and the security and police officers would never hear her.

She was terrified as she heard his pounding footsteps behind her. She recalled the way his hands had been around Amanda's throat, and knew that she would be next. As she neared the end of the corridor she hoped she would be able to get into Emily's room. Maybe Mitchell and Emily would still be there. But Jeremy was gaining
on her, and she couldn't get her feet to move any faster. She wished then that she had been a little more cautious, but it was too late for that. She knew that Jeremy had everything to lose if he allowed her to survive. As she neared the doorway that would open into Emily's room, she had no idea where the lever was to open it. She had found it by accident the last time, and she wasn't having that same luck this time.

“
This is it,” Jeremy said as he slowed down, knowing that she was trapped. “When I stayed here last year, Emily showed this place to me. She made sure the room it opened into was empty so that she could use the passageway. One day I caught her coming through the wall. We shared the secret then. I had no idea how useful it would become to me,” he grinned. “Sometimes things just work out for the best,” he added as he withdrew a short but sharp knife from his pocket. Vicky opened her mouth to scream, but Jeremy placed his hand over her lips to silence her.

“
These walls are pretty thin,” he mumbled and placed the blade against her neck. Vicky swung at his hands and tried to knee him in the stomach, but Jeremy was solid. He didn't seem to be bothered by her attempts.

“
It's nothing personal, Vicky,” he said quietly. “Perhaps you shouldn't have been so nosy.”

Vicky felt the sharp edge of the blade beginning to prick her skin as he moved it, but before he could continue, the door to Emily's room swung open. A large picture frame came crashing down on top of Jeremy's head, followed by a swift kick to his wrist to dislodge his grip on the knife. Vicky gasped greedily for air as his hand fell away from her mouth. She heard the knife clatter to the floor. She turned to see Aunt Ida standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed and damning.

“Oh, you messed with the wrong family, honey,” she said flatly and pulled back her foot to kick him again.

“
Ida,” Mitchell said from behind her and pushed past her. He had his gun drawn and trained on the man who was sprawled out on the floor of the corridor.

“Sorr
y about killing the carnations,” Aunt Ida said to Emily as she looked at the damaged painting on the floor next to Jeremy.

“
Oh no, Jeremy!” Emily gasped, and covered her mouth with both hands. She was too upset to hear Ida’s apology. She looked horrified. But when she saw the dribble of blood on Vicky's neck, her expression changed. “He tried to kill you?” Emily cried out in horror.

“
He's not the man you thought he was, Emily,” Mitchell said after cuffing Jeremy securely and checking him for weapons. “Look in the bottom of your closet.”

Emily walked over to her closet and looked inside. When she saw the rolled up pillowcase she picked it up. Inside she found the corkscrew.

“He put this here?” she murmured quietly. “He was going to set me up.”

“
He tried with Nicholas at first,” Aunt Ida explained. “But then he thought why not let you take the fall?”

Emily's eyes filled with tears as she hurried over to Vicky. She dabbed at her neck with a tissue she had snatched from the box on her bedside table.

“I'm so sorry, Vicky,” she said quickly. “I didn't know, I swear.”

“
You knew enough not to tell Mitchell what really happened,” Vicky reminded her. “How did you ever get involved in all of this?”

Emily sighed as she passed a worried look in Mitchell's direction. She knew that she might suffer some serious consequences. Vicky sat down at the end of her bed and patted the space beside her, while Mitchell looked on.

“It's time to tell the truth, Emily,” she said firmly. “This isn't a simple matter, a man has died and another man is going to jail.”

Jeremy was still out cold from the picture frame to his head, and Mitchell had called paramedics to have him evaluated be
fore they transported him to jail.

“
How much did you know about what was going on with Jeremy?” Vicky tried to persuade Emily to speak without giving her too much information.

“
We had a bit of a fling, the last time he was here,” she explained shyly, her cheeks so red that they resembled tomatoes. “He pursued me, and by the time he left he had me convinced that he truly liked me. About a week ago he called to let me know that he was coming back. He wanted to see me, and he asked me to make sure he had his favorite room booked. I did what he asked,” she sighed and shook her head. “Everything seemed fine until Charleston turned up dead. I knew, from how his body was blocking the door, that someone must have used the passageway to do it. I was sure only Jeremy and I knew about it, but I rationalized that maybe someone else knew about it, too.”

“
But you knew better,” Vicky supplied and met the young girl's eyes. “You knew what he had done.”

“
I didn't know for sure,” she insisted. “But when I confronted him about it earlier tonight, he admitted it. He explained the situation, told me that if he hadn't taken care of it, they would have ruined his life. I didn't agree with it,” she said quickly. “But the deed had already been done, and,” she hesitated for a moment.

“
He scared you?” Vicky suggested. It was easy to see how Jeremy could do that, he had terrified her as he chased her through the passageway.

“
I was concerned that if I told the truth he might try to kill me, too,” she laughed darkly as she glowered in the direction of her closet. “Turns out he had other plans for me.”

“
I'm sorry, Emily,” Vicky said gingerly. “You didn't deserve to go through all of this.”

Mitchell
, who had been silently listening for most of the conversation, stepped up beside Emily.

“
Are you willing to come down to the station and make a statement?” he asked her calmly.

“
Yes,” she nodded nervously. “It's what I should have done the first moment I suspected that Jeremy was guilty.”

Once the paramedics had checked out Jeremy and woken him with smelling salts, he was led out to a waiting police car. He scowled at Vicky and Aunt Ida as he walked past them.

“Nothing's changed. My lawyer will get me out of this, and I will still end up destroying this place,” he threatened and struggled against his handcuffs.

Ida and Vicky stared back at him with hardened glares. Neither even batted an eye
lid. Jeremy grunted as he was pushed along the pathway. The sun was just beginning to rise, and its light was sparkling on the leaves in the garden.

“Are you ok?” Mitchell asked with concern. “I was worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Vicky replied with a sigh.

“
I'm going to take Emily down to the station now,” Mitchell said to Vicky quietly. “We'll talk about your little excursion, later, hmm?” he met her gaze with a quirked brow.

“
How about we talk about those plans instead?” Vicky suggested as she accepted a bandage from one of the paramedics. The cut on her neck was barely more than a scratch but it was still bleeding a little.