“I simply hate all these fad diets,” Katie bemoaned as she pointed the gun straight at Ellie’s chest. “I don’t eat this, I can’t eat that. Back in my day, we ate what was put in front of us and we were thankful for it.”
If the woman wasn’t pointing a gun at her, Ellie might have laughed. Katie Rollins couldn’t have been more than fifteen years her senior, and yet she was treating Ellie like she was some spoiled youth. It would have been comical if it wasn’t terrifying.
“If you’d just eaten the cookies,” Katie went on, “you’d have felt fine. I would have sent you home and in an hour, maybe less, your stomach would start to cramp. By then it would be too late, of course, but at least it would have been clean. Now I have to make a mess of you.”
Despite the panic that swarmed over her, Ellie managed to find her voice. “You can’t just shoot me,” Ellie told her. Somehow her voice was even and strong, which surprised her more than it did Katie. “The neighbors will hear. The police will come. You’ll go to jail and they’re bound to figure out that you were behind everything.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh please,” she said. “They may do a little looking around, but after I saw you climbing out of my backyard, I was sure to tell my neighbors and anyone who would listen that I swore I saw someone back there. I’m just defending myself against a burglar, and besides, you haven’t been doing yourself any favors by snooping around town.
“Don’t you try to deny it,” Katie stopped her before Ellie could argue. “You haven’t been doing a very good job hiding the fact that you’ve been running around playing detective.”
Ellie’s cheeks burned as her pride flamed up inside her. She thought she’d done an okay job in her snooping and being called out on it was almost as bad as being held at gunpoint. Almost.
“They’ll still know you killed Lilith and Abbie,” Ellie protested. “I saw those plants, you’ve been poisoning people. You tried to poison me!”
“Oh darling,” Katie mocked her. “You’ll be blamed for that, too.”
“What?” Ellie mumbled. “But how?”
“Well, you’ve been stealing from my greenhouse,” Katie said. “I’ve been complaining here and there that I think someone or something has gotten in and wrecked some of my plants. You see, while you’ve been snooping, I’ve been planting ideas, sowing the seeds of your guilt in the minds of the town. Your snooping is going to be seen as little more than a ruse to avoid suspicion. And when they find your body in my greenhouse, it’ll complete the tapestry.”
“I’m not in your greenhouse,” Ellie fired back.
“Not yet,” Katie said. With a flick of the gun, she began to guide Ellie in that direction. It was slow going, or it felt that way at least, as Ellie backed her way through Katie’s home. Several times she bumped into a chair, or a vase, or something else that was between her and the door for the greenhouse.
Once inside, the heat of the large greenhouse was overwhelming. Somehow it was even hotter than it had been earlier and sweat ran down Ellie’s face. Whether it was simply the humidity, or her fear causing the reaction, she wasn’t sure. What she did know was that she needed to ignore it and think of a plan to stall Katie. Her backup plan was sure to be kicking in soon, but with everything that had happened, Ellie wasn’t sure if a minute or an hour had passed. Time was moving in a strange way and it made determining the passage of it almost impossible.
“I don’t have a motive for killing either Abbie or Lilith,” Katie spit out. “Why would the cops think I did it if I don’t have the slightest shred of a reason to?”
Katie’s eyes narrowed, but then her face relaxed some. “Well, I guess I’ll just tell them my motive, and apply it to you. It makes enough sense.”
“Which was?” Ellie pressed. As terrified as she was, she still wanted to know exactly what the two women had done to make Katie think they deserved to die.
“I was wondering when you’d ask,” Katie said. Her gun was still pointed right at Ellie as she went on to say, “You know, I tried to get her to just leave. I told Lilith that if she was just going to complain about everything then maybe the book club wasn’t for her and she should quit. No one would have faulted her. Heck, everyone would have been delighted, I’m sure.
“But no, she refused. Instead she just whined about every book we tried to choose, bragged about her own choices, and turned her nose up at other people’s suggestions. I just couldn’t take it anymore. She had to go before she really ruined our club for everyone else.”
Ellie was gobsmacked. “You killed Lilith,” she said incredulously, “because she complained too much?”
“Thereabouts,” Katie said with an indifferent shrug. “I had to do away with Floyd because he refused to sleep in the guest bed when he started snoring so much. Sometimes people won’t listen to reason and need to be taken care of.”
Ellie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “And Abbie?” Ellie asked. Her breathing was getting harder, partly due to her panic and disbelief, and partly due to the humidity. “What could she have possibly done to deserve to die? Been too polite? Been quiet too often?”
“Oh, well, that I do regret,” Katie said, and to Ellie’s surprise, there appeared to be genuine remorse on her face. “Abbie was a sweet woman, truly. What happened there was a mistake. How was I to know that the punch I’d served to Lilith would then be handed to Abbie? I’d hardly call that my fault, but I do regret it.”
Between her fear, her disbelief, and everything else that she was feeling, it was Ellie’s anger that bubbled to the surface. “You mean you could have saved her?” she found herself asking. “You could have stopped her from drinking the punch when you realized the glasses were switched? She died for nothing! Less than nothing!”
“I agree it’s tragic,” Katie said, “but if I’d said anything, well, I’d be in prison right now and I can’t have that.”
“But you –” Ellie tried to protest before Katie cut her off.
“I’ve had enough of that,” Katie said. “You seem to forget who is holding the gun.”
Panic found its way back to Ellie at those words. She had to think of something or her goose really would be cooked. Her eyes darted around the greenhouse, but it was hard to see through the veil of humidity that filled the room. She thought she might be able to throw something at Katie, to maybe get her to drop the gun, but she wouldn’t be fast enough unless Katie was distracted.
“Now,” Katie said as her finger moved to the trigger. “Any last words?”
Ellie’s mouth moved to open. To say something, anything, that might save her. But as she opened her mouth, it wasn’t words that came out. Instead, the melodic charms of her favorite nineties pop song flowed from her pocket as her cell began to ring.
Ellie was startled, but not as much as Katie. For a split second, her attention wavered and gave Ellie the chance she needed. While Katie momentarily tried to figure out where the music was coming from, Ellie grabbed the closest flower pot and heaved it at her.
With a clatter, the pot connected with Katie. Before all the pieces of broken pottery hit the ground, the thundering boom of a gunshot rang in Ellie’s ears. Without thinking, she dove behind a table of flowers and scrambled below it.
Katie was yelling at her from somewhere in the greenhouse, but Ellie couldn’t make out the words over the ringing in her ears. She’d only ever heard gunshots in movies and on TV. In real life it was nothing like she expected and she feared losing her hearing if she ever got out of the greenhouse alive.
“Come out, come out,” Katie called as the ringing in Ellie’s ears began to subside slightly. Seconds felt like hours as Ellie continued to scramble under the metal tables in hopes of not being caught by the madwoman that Katie turned out to be.
“There’s nowhere to run,” Katie called, her voice becoming clearer with each second that passed. “Just come out and we can end this.”
Somewhere, Ellie swore she could hear something else, but with the ringing in her ears still buzzing slightly, she couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t until the other voices got closer that she realize they were no longer alone.
“What in the world?” she heard Katie yell before she heard another familiar voice.
“Katie Rollins,” Will Murphy's voice boomed through the greenhouse. “You’re under arrest for the unlawful discharge of a firearm.”
“And attempted murder,” Ellie called from her hiding spot. With her hands up as a precaution, Ellie shuffled her way from her hiding spot. “She tried to shoot me.”
“She broke in!” Katie said as a uniformed officer handcuffed her. “I was defending myself.”
“She invited me in,” Ellie insisted. “I came by for a visit and she tried to poison me like she did Lilith White and Abbie Ainsley. When I wouldn’t eat the poison, she was going to shoot me and make it look like I was breaking in.”
“Looks like we’ll be adding murder to those charges,” Will said before he turned to the constable. “Read Ms. Rollins her rights and take her in. I have a feeling we have a long night ahead of us.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” the officer began as he led Katie out of the greenhouse. Will was busy barking instructions at the other officers, pointing out what needed to be tagged, what needed to be taken into the lab, and what needed to be dusted for prints. Ellie wasn’t sure what she should do, so she decided getting out of the way was her best bet.
“You stay there,” Will growled at her. Ellie froze in place as a new kind of panic crept up inside her. She had a feeling that this wasn’t going to go well.
Once Will was done giving instructions, he pointed at Ellie and then wordlessly gestured for her to follow him out of the greenhouse and into Katie Rollins’s home. She followed him without speaking, and they didn’t stop until they reached the kitchen. It was the one room on her main floor that didn’t have cops traipsing through it.
“What were you thinking?” Will scolded her. He wasn’t yelling, but she had a feeling if there wasn’t an audience in the next room, he would have been.
“I just wanted to have a look,” Ellie tried to assure him. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and I certainly didn’t think she’d pull a gun on me.”
“You were reckless,” Will said. “You could have been hurt. Do you have any idea how worried I was when your grandmother called me? If we hadn’t gotten here when we did, you could have been killed. When I heard that shot go off, I... I panicked.”
“I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “I was only trying to help.”
Thankfully, Will relaxed some at that. “I can’t deny that you did help,” he admitted. “We would have gotten enough on Katie eventually. Hearing the gunshot gave us probable cause to enter the house, and by the looks of those plants, there’s a good chance we’re going to discover some deadly ones.”
“I’m sure you will,” Ellie agreed. “And maybe look into Floyd, Katie’s late husband. She mentioned taking care of him, too.”
“Oh great,” Will said with a sigh. “Don’t tell any of the boys this,” he added with a whisper, “but now that you’re safe I have to admit that you really helped us out on this one.”
“I did?” Ellie asked. She knew he was being honest, but it sure was nice of him to say so.
“Yes,” He confirmed. “But that’s not permission to do something like this again,” he added as a warning.
“Don’t worry,” Ellie let herself laugh. “Beyond this, there isn’t much for crime in town. It’s pretty peaceful here, usually.”
“Good,” Will said. It looked to Ellie like he was about to say something more, and she felt something flutter in her belly. Hope? Something else?
Instead of something more personal, Will turned the subject back to the matter at hand. “We will need to take your full statement,” he told her. “And there will be a court appearance in your future.”
“Okay,” Ellie said with a sigh. “I can do that.” She expected to be more disappointed by what Will said, or what he didn’t say, but instead she found herself more relieved than anything.
***
Several calls to her grandmother and many hours spent at the station later, Ellie found herself free to head home not too long before dinner. Will, still very busy interrogating Katie Rollins, had one of the young uniformed officers drive her home. It was an exhausting day, but the idea of being with Ma’May and Beau again filled her with energy.
“Oh, sweetie!” Ma’May greeted her as Ellie walked in the front door of the shop with a giant hug. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
“You heard?” Ellie asked. She had only told her grandmother the bare basics on the phone and nothing more. How had she heard?
“Oh you know how gossip spreads,” Ma’May replied. “Now don’t you worry about a thing,” she went on. “Head upstairs. Beau is waiting for you.”
Ellie was too tired to argue. She moved through the shop, well aware that the few shoppers browsing the shelves were staring at her as she went. All she wanted in that moment was a glass of wine, a good book, and her best friend Beau.