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Cora stood in her way. At first, this just annoyed Beatrice. After all, she was holding a heavy log. “Excuse me,” said Beatrice brusquely.
But Cora didn’t move. Beatrice shifted the log and looked more carefully at the woman. She was very still, pale, and her expression was unreadable.
She couldn’t know, could she? She couldn’t realize that Beatrice suspected. She’d only glanced at her that one time after seeing the snow-covered boots.
“I need you to move,” said Beatrice, keeping her voice from shaking with some effort.
Cora gave a short laugh. “Not going to happen. I can see you’ve figured it all out. Your friend was right—you apparently are a pretty good detective. Too bad you’re not good at poker faces.”
Cora was, though. There was no hint of her intent.
Beatrice opened her mouth to scream, but just then the whole lodge exploded with happy shrieks and screams. Apparently, they must have heard that help was on the way. Or perhaps the power had come back on with particularly bad timing.
So Beatrice did the only thing she could. She twisted around and drove the log straight into Cora’s midsection. Cora left out an “oof” as her breath whooshed out. Beatrice dropped the log and ran.
She slipped and slid through the icy snow, desperation keeping her moving forward. Cora gave a furious grunt and headed silently toward her from the storage shed to the lodge.
Beatrice yelled out, “Help! Help!”
But the sound was still drowned out by the happy sounds inside. What was more, the wind was gusting so hard that it picked up her cries and carried them away.
Cora was a younger, stronger woman. She caught up with Beatrice. Then one of her feet shot out from under her and she fell, hard, on the icy surface of the ground.
Beatrice continued for the lodge, propelling herself inside.
The happy sounds stopped abruptly as the women all stared at Beatrice.
“Mama? What’s happened?” asked Piper in a fearful voice.
“Cora,” gasped Beatrice. “It’s Cora.”
Nicole stood. “Is something wrong with Cora? Is she hurt?”
“She’s the murderer,” said Beatrice. “She’s behind all this.”
Cora pushed through the door, gazing at Beatrice with loathing. She spat out, “Beatrice is the killer. She attacked me out there. I’d just gone out to help with the wood. She jammed a log into my stomach.”
Cora moved her clothing aside to show a huge red mark that was clearly going to bruise quite a bit.
“Did you do that?” asked Nicole, narrowing her eyes at Beatrice.
Beatrice tried to catch and control her breath. She was still winded from the run through the snow and all the screaming. “I did,” she said quietly. “Cora was going to kill me. Like she killed Aspen and Olive.”
Nicole put her hands on her hips. “It sure sounds to me like you’re the dangerous one.”
There were sounds of dissent from the Village Quilters. Savannah bellowed, “Not true!” Meadow stood up, unable to hear a word against Beatrice. “Beatrice didn’t even know those women.”
Nicole snorted. “Like Starr didn’t know Aspen?”
Starr winced from her spot in front of the fire.
Cora said, “All I know is that I went out to help, and the next thing I know, Beatrice is attacking me for no reason.”
Beatrice said in a quiet tone, “It was a sort of odd time to come help, wasn’t it? Piper had just received a phone call. Help is, presumably, on the way. You told me you realized I knew you were behind the murders. That was your only chance to eliminate me before I could tell the police what I’d figured out.”
Posy, her brow furrowed, said, “What did you find out, Beatrice?”
Beatrice said, “Well, for one thing, this wasn’t the first time Cora tried to get me alone to get rid of me. When I was taking a nap this afternoon, someone tried coming in through the door.”
“It was probably your daughter,” scoffed Nicole.
Piper shook her head, her face ashen. “I was here in the lodge.”
“At any rate, it’s a good thing I locked my door. There were footprints leading away.”
“But why?” asked Maggie. “Why on earth would Cora want to kill you?”
“That’s what I want to know,” said Cora with a huff. Her eyes were slits, and she looked at Beatrice with what might have been a warning.
“Well, there were clues scattered along the way,” said Beatrice. “I’ll admit that I didn’t really put them together until I was in the lodge and saw that Cora’s boots were the only ones that still had fresh snow on them. She was obviously the one who had come to the cabin.”
Ivy said in a petulant voice, “Why didn’t you say anything, then? You let us all hang out with a murderer this afternoon?”
Ivy was clearly already fine with having someone named as the killer. Even if it was one of her own guild members.
“I wanted to speak with some others first to decide how we were going to handle it if Cora was really the killer. At the time, if you remember, no one had been able to reach anyone from the outside. It’s not as if we could safely confine Cora somewhere here. There isn’t any heat.”
“We still don’t have any heat,” said Ivy gloomily. “And no power, either. We just were able to hear from the cops that they’re going to try to get here.”
Piper said, “After Ash was able to get through to me and we realized there was a signal, Meadow reached the police dispatcher. They said help was on the way.”
Beatrice nodded. “I wanted, privately, to come up with ideas for our next steps.”
Nicole said, “Okay. So that’s why you didn’t tell anybody. What I want to hear is what made you decide Cora was the one who’s been terrorizing the conference center. I haven’t heard you say anything that would convince me she’s behind all this.”
Beatrice took a deep breath, still trying to recover from her sprint outside. “Well, let’s look back at our first evening here. Aspen was bragging about her car, house, and lifestyle. Cora broke a glass.”
“You call that a clue?” asked Nicole in disbelief. “Come on. I’d have probably thrown something at Aspen if I’d overheard her talking like that. It was typical Aspen. Besides, Cora can be clumsy. I’ve seen her drop things all the time.”
“There were some pretty strong emotions playing across Cora’s face. She looked furious,” said Beatrice calmly. “And that made me wonder why.”
Cora was staring implacably at her from across the room.
Maggie stepped in, impatiently. “Because she was jealous. We were all jealous of Aspen. Who wouldn’t be? And furious, probably, because Aspen was being tacky enough to brag when we were all trying to make good impressions at a quilting retreat.”
Beatrice shook her head. “But I think it was more than that. Cora has talked a little about her mother since we’ve been here. About her memory impairment and how she’d had to take her in. It’s been very impactful on her.”
Cora’s face was still expressionless. A chill went up Beatrice’s spine.
“Well, of course it has. It would for anybody. It doesn’t mean that Cora killed Aspen because Aspen was rich and Cora wasn’t,” said Maggie.
Ivy glared at Maggie and Nicole. “I’d like to hear what Beatrice has to say. Don’t you want this to be over? Because I do. If she’s figured out who’s behind all this, I’m going to be totally relieved.”
Cora finally spoke up, spitting out venom toward Ivy. “That would suit you just fine, wouldn’t it? Sending an innocent person off to jail. You’re the one who had more motive than anybody.”
Ivy gave her an icy look. “I certainly did not. Like I’ve said before, I wasn’t happy about my husband’s affair with Aspen. Clearly! But Aspen did me a favor in some ways because I figured out exactly what kind of man he was. It would have been even worse if I’d been the last one to know and everybody in town had been laughing at me. What a fool I’d have looked like. I had nothing to do with this. Nice try, Cora.”
Miss Sissy growled at Ivy.
“What is with you?” Ivy hissed at Miss Sissy. “What’s that sound supposed to mean?”
Beatrice remembered the argument Miss Sissy had mentioned. “She’s remembering that you had an argument with Olive.”
Ivy blew out a gusty sigh. “Over firewood. Olive wanted me to go on firewood duty. I reminded her that we are paying guests of the retreat and it wasn’t my job to keep everybody warm here. Hardly something to murder someone over, despite what nutty old ladies think.”
Miss Sissy growled again.
Beatrice said, “Ivy is right. Cora is trying to distract our attention.”
Ivy sniffed.
“Going back to the glass Cora broke when Aspen was bragging about her lifestyle,” said Beatrice. “Aspen made a comment at the time that Cora had trouble concealing her jealousy.”
“As did most of us,” said Nicole in that same, insistent tone.
“Later, I found out a little more about Cora. I found out more about everybody, of course, since we’ve all been stuck together. But one thing I found out about Cora was interesting. Her mother had lost her savings from internet scammers, due to her memory impairment. Cora’s mom had to move in with her. I got the impression that Cora was very upset about this for a variety of reasons. She’s having to do a lot of caregiving, for one, that she wouldn’t have had to do if Cora’s mother still had her savings.”
Posy gave Cora a sympathetic look.
“Independence is important,” said Cora in a level voice.
“Of course it is. And you’re right to be upset. That’s a horrible thing someone did to your mom,” said Beatrice.
Cora snorted. “You have no idea. You can all pay lip service to feeling sorry, but you don’t know what it’s like to have your mother have her savings stolen from her. And these people don’t care. They don’t care at all who they hurt. It’s like they’re looking at their scams like a game—to see how much money they can get.”
Nicole now sounded impatient. “Okay, I understand about Cora’s mom. Yes, that’s awful. But what does this have to do with Aspen or Olive?”
Meadow said huffily, “Beatrice is getting to that.”
Beatrice said, “Aspen was one of those scammers, wasn’t she?” She looked directly at Cora.
Cora pressed her lips together in a thin line.
“Wait. How do you know that?” asked Maggie. “Are you just guessing? Because it takes quite a big leap to draw that conclusion.”
“After Aspen died, I went back to her cabin. The one she shared with Olive. I took a look at Aspen’s computer,” said Beatrice.
Nicole threw her hands up in the air. “Well, that’s just great. When the cops finally do get here, you’ll have contaminated the crime scene.”
“That’s not the place where Aspen was murdered. And I did use my gloves so as not to tamper with any evidence. I saw webpages that didn’t make any sense to me at first. Later, Olive told me I was looking at the dark web.”
“The dark what?” asked Meadow, looking confused.
“Web. It often acts as a sort of marketplace for illegal activity. Like purchasing credit card numbers or someone’s identity.”
Meadow’s eyes opened wide. “Aspen was the one who stole from Cora’s mom?”
“We don’t know that. That’s something the police could find out. She might not have. But whether she did or not, her activities made Cora furious. That’s why she broke that glass. She was mad, and her fingers just reflexively tightened on the glass.”
Everyone stared at Cora. Cora’s mouth trembled a little.
Beatrice said in a gentler voice, “It might even have been an accident, right? Aspen had gotten up in the middle of the night and gone to the conference room. Maybe she was going to get started on a new quilt that would get everyone talking. Cora got up, too. I’m guessing that wasn’t planned. Were you just wanting to go work on your quilt?”
Cora didn’t speak, and Beatrice continued, “I couldn’t sleep that first night, either. It’s tough in a new place, isn’t it?”
Cora stayed quiet, but Beatrice could see her wavering a little.
Beatrice coaxed, “So you went to the conference room, and you saw Aspen there. I’m guessing Aspen wasn’t pleasant when she saw you since Aspen wasn’t really pleasant to anyone. Did she needle you over something?”
Cora was silent still.
Beatrice said, “You were still bothered about Aspen’s illegal activities. When she was bragging about all the stuff she owned and the trips she went on, all you could think of was your mother and how someone like Aspen had robbed from her. How did you find out about Aspen’s scams?”
Cora said quietly, “I was at her house one day before the trip. I was collecting everyone’s quilts for a service project the Sew and Sews were doing. Aspen walked into the back of her house to get the quilt, and I noticed that her laptop was open to something that looked really different. I walked over to take a quick look.” She flushed and shrugged. “We were all sort of curious about Aspen. How she made so much money and could pay for the lifestyle she had. When I saw what was on her laptop, it looked fishy to me. I took a picture of the website with my phone. Later, I realized what she was doing.” Her voice was bitter.
Everyone was silent in the lodge. You could hear a pin drop, despite the number of people in the room.
Beatrice continued softly, “It made you angry. Maybe you were waiting for a good time to approach her about it. When you walked into the conference room and saw her alone, it was the perfect opportunity.” She paused. “I’m thinking you told Aspen you were going to tell the police about your suspicions. Maybe you were planning on showing the cops the photo you’d taken. Get them to investigate.”
Cora nodded. Her voice was indignant. “She attacked me! Aspen was going to kill me. She changed in a split second.”
“You didn’t realize how dangerous she was,” said Beatrice.
“No. She’d do anything to stop me from telling the police. She didn’t want to go to jail.”
“Tell us what happened next,” said Beatrice.
Cora took a deep, shaky breath. “Aspen had a knife. I don’t know why she had it on her. It was one of those wilderness-looking knives. Maybe she thought she’d be hiking, and it would be good to carry. Or maybe she was just the kind of person who walked around carrying a weapon. Anyway, she came at me with the knife. I was shocked. Totally knocked off-guard. All I could think about was trying to get away from her.”
The women stared at Cora.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Cora. “I thought Aspen would be defensive about her stealing. Because, it was stealing, just as much as if she’d gone to a bank and robbed it. She just stayed behind her computer and took people’s identities and their credit card numbers. So I knew Aspen wasn’t going to just roll over and tell me to just call the cops. But I figured she’d simply clam up and say I’d gotten everything wrong. Or maybe go and try to erase all her activity on her laptop. When she took that knife out, I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t think.”
Cora’s hands were clasped and had tightened until they were white knuckled.
Nicole was staring at her in disbelief. “And then you killed Aspen.”
Cora stared at her blankly, as if still living the moment with Aspen. “No. It wasn’t like that. It was self-defense. She was attacking me, Nicole. Aspen was going to kill me with that knife and then erase all the clues leading to her.”
“So what happened after Aspen pulled out that knife?” asked Meadow in a breathless tone.
Cora turned to her. “She lunged at me with it. I was still in total shock that Aspen planned on killing me. That was the last thing I thought she was going to do. I somehow got out of the way and deflected it with my arm. But Aspen was quicker than I was and much younger, too. She came right back at me again. It wasn’t like I had any time to get away. I was pressed back against one of the long tables. I reached behind me to try to get my hands on anything I could use against her. The first thing my hand was able to grab were those shears.” She paused. “You know the rest.”
“It was self-defense,” breathed Posy.
Miss Sissy barked, “Poppycock!”
Nicole looked wryly at the old woman. “I agree with you for the first time, Miss Sissy.”
Cora said, “It was self-defense. It was killed or be killed.”
“Sure,” said Nicole. “But what about Olive? And what about the fact that you apparently were going to eliminate Beatrice outside just now? Would you call those times self-defense? Because I wouldn’t.”
Maggie said, “Tell us about Olive. I can’t believe what you did to her. She was your friend.”
Cora’s expression once again had that blankness that made Beatrice shiver. “It was the same thing, Maggie. I had to defend myself.”
Nicole looked skeptically at her. “So Olive threatened you with a knife? Because somehow, I just can’t see Olive doing that, Cora.”
Cora shook her head impatiently. “You don’t get it. She wasn’t threatening me with a knife. She was also threatening me with a loss of independence. With jail. What would happen to my mom if I were locked up and couldn’t take care of her? She’s the innocent party in all this. Mom doesn’t deserve any of this.”
Beatrice asked, “What did Olive know?”
Cora glared at Beatrice. “Well, apparently, she knew about the dark web stuff. You clearly came back to her and told her about it. She was able to put two and two together and realized Aspen was doing illegal stuff online. And, I guess, that I’d found out about it. Anyway, I knew I was going to have to keep Olive from saying anything to protect my mom.”
“And Beatrice?” Meadow sounded very indignant now. “What were you going to do to Beatrice?”
Cora shrugged as if that was completely inconsequential. “It was the same problem. I needed for her not to tell the police what she’d found out. I knew if Olive had figured it out based on hearing about Aspen’s activities, that Beatrice probably would, too. It was just hard to get Beatrice alone. You’re all like pack animals.”
Piper reached out and held her mother’s hand, giving it a squeeze.
Beatrice said, “You tried to slip into my cabin while I was sleeping. The same thing was going to happen to me that happened to Olive. Except you didn’t doctor my drink like you doctored Olive’s. You were getting bolder.”
Cora didn’t say anything in response.
Nicole said slowly, “You said you locked the cabin door? So then Cora had to try to kill you when you were outside getting wood. But your daughter was there.”
Piper squeezed Beatrice’s hand again.
“Right,” said Beatrice. “But Piper’s phone rang inside. We could hear the ringtone from out at the shed. It was a sign that we could get a signal. She hurried off to get the phone. I guess Cora was watching and knew I’d be by myself with Piper inside the lodge.” She shrugged. “I had to use self-defense, myself. I don’t know how Cora was planning to kill me because I didn’t give her the chance. I hit her with the log before I could find out.”
The women all stared at Cora again. Her face was inscrutable in the light from the fire.
Cora finally said, “Okay. So here’s the way it is. Aspen and Olive aren’t coming back. They’re gone. I’m really sorry about Olive. Aspen was something of a waste, as far as I’m concerned. There’s no point in telling the police you’ve figured this out. It’s not going to bring those women back. All it’s going to do is to make things tough for my mom.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. “And for you. Because you’ll be in prison.”
Miss Sissy snarled.
“You can’t tell the police,” Cora explained calmly. “My mother doesn’t deserve to lose me.”
“I somehow didn’t realize how totally narcissistic you are,” said Ivy.
That was pretty remarkable, coming from Ivy. Beatrice’s opinion of Ivy was that she was fairly narcissistic, herself.
“You’re right, Ivy,” said Nicole. “That’s exactly what Cora is. Look at it this way, Cora. Olive didn’t deserve to lose her life. I don’t think Aspen did, either. Aspen was a pain, and she obviously broke the law and hurt a lot of people in the process. But she didn’t deserve to die. She deserved to spend some time in jail. And you’re not a judge and jury—you don’t get to determine who lives and dies. That’s for courts to decide. So of course we’re going to tell the cops.”
“You can’t,” said Cora, sounding ominous.
“You can’t take all of us on,” said Nicole with a short laugh. “Good luck. Even if you could, don’t you think the police would find it a little obvious who the killer was if you were the only one left?”
Beatrice said, “What’s more, the police would have to run their own investigation. They’d likely draw the same conclusion that Olive and I did. But it would be much worse if they decided that an innocent person had been involved in those deaths. There were others here with motives.”
Cora was resolute. “Not going to happen. I can’t have this happen to my mom.”
Nicole threw up her hands. “Your mom is going to be fine. She has memory impairment. I’m sure the authorities can find a good memory care unit for her to go where she will have excellent care.”
Cora was shaking her head. She suddenly made a dash for the door and struck out into the wintry weather.