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BEATRICE SWIFTLY GOT out of the car and took a step toward Colleen, who took a step backward.
“Give those back to me,” said Beatrice in a steely voice. “You can’t keep me from getting to that hospital.”
Colleen said, “I want to talk to you. I saw your face. You know something, don’t you?”
Beatrice lunged at Colleen, who backed off again with the keys.
Colleen ran a few yards away while Beatrice glared at her. She pulled her phone out of her pants pocket and started dialing for help. Colleen interrupted her by lunging at her and knocking the phone out of her hands.
Colleen repeated, “You know something. I could tell you were snooping around. You sure were asking a lot of questions.”
Beatrice raised her eyebrows. “As I recall, I wasn’t asking a lot of questions. You were offering a lot of information.” She thought quickly. Wyatt said he was on his way and, being Wyatt, he probably left immediately, not wanting to waste any time. If she could keep Colleen talking, maybe he would arrive soon, and it would be two against one.
Colleen said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What kind of information?”
Beatrice said, “I thought it was very interesting that you knew so much about Gerald’s personal life.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I was very involved in his personal life, as I think I told you,” Colleen said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s one thing to know information about what’s going on with his close family members. But it’s another to know that Gerald didn’t have a prenup. And another,” said Beatrice, trying to sound as sure as she possibly could, “to try and blackmail someone.”
Colleen gave a short laugh but there was a shred of worry in her eyes now. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I’m simply saying that you blackmailed Gerald. You knew he was in a vulnerable spot, and you tried to press your advantage,” answered Beatrice.
Colleen snorted. She threw a hand back to indicate the huge house behind her and jeered, “Why do you think I need to blackmail anybody? I sure don’t have to commit crimes to earn a little spending money. Don’t you see where I’m living?”
Beatrice nodded and said in a quiet voice, “I see exactly where you’re living. Where you’re living is making me wonder if maybe you’re over-mortgaged. I also understand that you haven’t paid the church fee yet for your daughter’s wedding.”
Colleen rolled her eyes. “That’s called being busy, not being stretched for cash.”
Beatrice calmly continued as if there hadn’t been an interruption. Wyatt should be there soon. “It makes me wonder if there are other, more important and pressing, bills that you haven’t paid. That would explain why you felt you needed to resort to blackmail. I have the feeling, though, that Gerald wasn’t one to be blackmailed. He didn’t strike me as the kind of person who would take very kindly to it. He wouldn’t have wanted to be a victim.”
Colleen said, “Wait, back up. You haven’t even told me what I was supposed to be blackmailing Gerald over. What kind of leverage could I possibly have had over him? Oh, hold on—you probably think that I was threatening to tell Laura about Gerald’s and my affair.”
Beatrice said, “If you told Laura about your affair, it would have given her good reason to legitimately ask for a divorce, as the wronged party. And, with no prenuptial agreement, as you pointed out, Laura would be able to make out like a bandit from any divorce settlement.”
Colleen’s voice was a little higher when next she spoke, which told Beatrice that she might be getting close to the truth. “And you think that Laura would have wanted to divorce Gerald? But everyone in town always thought that they were the perfect picture of a happy couple. That they were so good together.”
Beatrice said, “In some ways, they were good together. I think they had a successful partnership. But Mark believes that Laura is also seeing someone else. She’s certainly happy to leave Dappled Hills behind; she’s been packing up since before the funeral. If you’d told Laura that Gerald was having an affair with you, she’d have quickly been talking to a lawyer. And Gerald, proud as he was, would have felt thoroughly humiliated at being left. Plus, he would have taken quite a financial hit.”
Beatrice moved closer to Colleen, and Colleen took a few steps back.
Colleen said, “What you’re saying doesn’t even make any sense. If I had been blackmailing Gerald, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to kill him. That would have meant that I wouldn’t have gotten any more money from him.”
Beatrice said, “Oh, but as I pointed out, Gerald wouldn’t have wanted to be blackmailed. He would have hated being embarrassed over his wife leaving him, and he would have hated losing money that could have gone back into his business. But he also wouldn’t have wanted to be a victim. I think he pointblank refused to talk with you about it. What’s more, he likely announced he was going to turn the tables on you by calling the police and reporting that you were attempting to extort him.”
Colleen snorted. “I see. And then I just tied up Gerald with some rope I conveniently had on me?”
Beatrice was quiet for a couple of beats. “Well, you’ve just confirmed that you knew how Gerald was murdered. And that wasn’t public knowledge.”
Colleen froze, and her eyes grew so wide that Beatrice could see the whites of them. She lunged for Beatrice and shoved her backward, making her stumble back a few steps before recovering. Before Beatrice knew it, Colleen was in her car and thrusting the keys in the ignition.
Beatrice hurried toward her but Colleen had already put the car in drive and was heading toward her through the yard, a wild gleam in her eyes. Beatrice barely had time to scramble out of the way before the car flew past her. Colleen was clearly intent on mowing her down.
She ran to her phone, still lying on the ground, and called Ramsay, who picked up immediately. “Any news from Piper?” he asked urgently.
Beatrice gasped out, “She’s having some labor pains, but it may be nothing. But Ramsay, Colleen is the killer. She’s trying to run me down with my car.” She gave him the address.
“I’m not far. Hang on,” he said in a grim voice before ending the call.
Colleen, in her eagerness to try to run Beatrice down, was in the middle of her large yard and was now swinging the car around for another pass at her. Beatrice bolted for a grove of trees and stood in the middle of them, trying to catch her breath.
Colleen hit the accelerator again, and then the car screeched to a stop. Colleen stood on the accelerator, and the engine roared but the car didn’t move.
Colleen was totally focused on revving the engine and trying to move past the stump. Beatrice jogged up to the car, pulled open the door to the backseat, and grabbed Len’s demolition bar just as Colleen, in a panic, was climbing out.
“You’re not going anywhere,” snapped Beatrice, repeating what Colleen herself had said to her just minutes before. And Colleen sank back down in Beatrice’s front seat as two cars, one with a siren screaming, sped down Colleen’s driveway.