Danielle, Lily, and Heather sat at the kitchen table at Marlow House on Tuesday evening, sharing two cinnamon rolls between them, while Walt and Ian visited in the parlor with Connor.
“I can’t believe we’re eating these before dinner,” Heather said before popping a bite of the sweet sticky roll in her mouth. She glanced over at the Crock-Pot sitting on the kitchen counter. Walt had started a large pot of chili for dinner while Danielle joined Brian at Gemma’s house. They were waiting for Brian and Joe to get off work before eating, because Walt hadn’t just invited her and Brian to dinner; along with the Bartleys, he had also invited Joe, Kelly, Adam, and Mel.
Lily pulled off a piece of one roll they shared. “We need to eat them before Connor walks in here and demands some. He doesn’t need the sugar.”
“What about the calories? All that running for a cinnamon roll.” Heather let out a sigh and took another bite.
“Well, I read on the internet that breastfeeding can burn up to 700 calories a day. So I figure that means I could burn 1,400 calories a day. And I also read an average cinnamon roll has 250 calories, so that means I can have almost six cinnamon rolls a day.”
Lily gave a snort yet didn’t comment.
Heather looked at Danielle. “To begin with, Old Salts are not the average cinnamon roll. Second, not even you would eat six cinnamon rolls while you’re nursing. Otherwise, the only thing you’d be feeding Addison and Jack is sugar water.”
Lily gave another snort, and Danielle giggled.
Now finished with her portion of cinnamon rolls, Lily licked off her fingers and asked, “What happens if Gemma decides to lawyer up and gets the confession tossed out? After all, she hadn’t been read her rights.”
Danielle grabbed a nearby napkin and wiped off the corners of her mouth before saying, “I asked Brian about that. He said a spontaneous confession is typically admissible even if a person hasn’t been read their rights. Brian doubts that even with a lawyer, her confession will be thrown out. No one asked her if she killed Betsy. And while she gave her confession in defense of her husband, her husband has been dead for years.”
“So what now?” Lily asked.
“Brian said they’re calling Betsy’s brother to get the contact information for Betsy’s daughters,” Danielle explained. “And they still plan to do the DNA, but they don’t doubt the remains belong to Betsy.”
Heather stood up and began removing any evidence from the table that they had been eating cinnamon rolls.
“I can’t imagine how those girls are going to deal with this,” Lily said as she handed Heather her wadded-up napkin. “How would you feel learning the only mother you grew up with murdered your real mother?”
Heather dumped the trash in the kitchen garbage can and glanced over to Lily. “It doesn’t sound like Gemma had a terrific relationship with them, anyway. Not like they are about to learn something horrible about a person they loved. They haven’t seen her for years.”
Lily nodded. “True.”
Heather returned to the table. “I wonder why Dan never tried to divorce Betsy. It’s a no-fault divorce. Weren’t they a thing back then?”
“I have a theory,” Danielle said.
Lily grinned at Danielle. “One thing I love about you, Dani, you always have a theory.”
Danielle rolled her eyes at Lily and continued, “Gemma could have discouraged him from getting a divorce and suggested they just tell people they were married. I don’t know what reasons she would have given him, but I can see not wanting to open that can of worms. If he started looking for Betsy to initiate a divorce, even if he didn’t need her cooperation, he might start wondering why he can’t find her. Why she never contacted her brother or other friends. He might suddenly realize his wife was a missing person.”
“Or Dan secretly hoped Betsy would someday come back to him, and he didn’t want to be legally bound to Gemma when she did,” Lily suggested.
“Yes, that’s another possibility,” Danielle agreed.
“You both could be right,” Heather said. “It’s possible Dan didn’t want to start a divorce for the reason Lily suggested, and Gemma didn’t press the matter, because like Danielle said, she didn’t want to open up that can of worms.”
* * *
The five couples sat around Marlow House’s dining room table, enjoying Walt’s chili and the cornbread Adam and Melony had brought over. Connor sat in his highchair between his parents, eating a peanut butter sandwich with a sippy cup of milk and slices of pear.
Adam had just told everyone about Bill bolting the door shut to the tunnel from the Crawford side yesterday morning, while Clay was obviously already in the tunnel.
“At least we know some troublesome spirit hadn’t been moving the books around.” Melony snickered and then told them about how Adam was freaking over the rearranged books, but now they knew Clay had been the responsible party.
“Like I keep saying, there is a logical explanation for everything,” Joe insisted.
“Sometimes there is also an illogical explanation,” Kelly countered.
“We’ve found our explanation for what was responsible in the nursery,” Danielle announced. “And we believe it is no longer an issue, which is why the twins are again napping upstairs.”
Melony looked at Danielle. “You think whatever was happening has stopped for good?”
Danielle looked at Ian. “Maybe you can explain.”
“We’ve been researching this type of phenomenon and believe it wasn’t a ghost—” Ian began, only to be cut off by Joe.
“Exactly what I have been saying,” Joe said.
Ian smiled at Joe but continued, “It wasn’t a ghost, but it was possibly the energy created from the trauma of Betsy Francas’s murder, transferred to her quilt.”
“Oh brother,” Joe groaned. “You aren’t serious?”
Melony gave Joe a dismissive wave before looking back at Ian. “Oh, hush, this is interesting.”
“And now that Betsy’s murder has been exposed, her murderer confessed, she can be at peace.” Ian didn’t mention that his research included information from Eva passed on to him.
Joe let out a sigh and grabbed another piece of cornbread.
“And this means we’re moving into Marlow House in a couple of weeks so they can come in and finish up the construction,” Lily announced. “And I will not worry about something throwing stuffed animals at me.”
“Are you sure it will be safe here?” Kelly asked.
“If things start flying around Marlow House in the next couple of weeks, we’ll reconsider, but I think we’re good.”
“Have you contacted the family of Betsy Francas yet?” Melony asked Joe and Brian.
“Joe called the brother,” Brian said. “He really fell apart.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Lily said. “The guy just found out someone murdered his sister.”
Joe shook his head. “It wasn’t just that. He reacted like someone who had just learned that the person he helped send to the electric chair was innocent.”
“It’s not like he was responsible for her murder,” Kelly said.
“I can understand his reaction,” Heather said. “We told you how Chris and I met him when we were trying to help Danielle learn more about the quilt. He really had issues about his mother, who abandoned the family. And then he’s told the sister he loved did the same thing to her kids. I suspect that’s why the guy is still single. He’s got some genuine anger issues. And then he learns the sister he’s hated for years—the same sister he once loved—didn’t deserve the hate.”
“What about the daughters?” Melony asked. “How did they take it?”
“They said little,” Brian said. “I think they were in shock. One asked about her mother’s remains. We explained she had been buried at the local cemetery.”
“I wonder if they’re going to want to move the body,” Ian asked.
Brian shrugged. “They didn’t say.”
“I talked to Chris tonight,” Heather said.
“When’s he going to be back?” Adam asked.
“He’ll be back in the morning. And I’ll have to go back to work.”
“At least you had a few extra days off to relax,” Adam snarked.
Heather chuckled. “Yeah. Work would have been more fun. Anyway, Chris said to let the daughters know the foundation will pay for a new headstone for their mother’s grave. They just need to pick it out. And if they want to move their mother’s remains, the foundation will cover it.”
Adam shook his head. “It has certainly been a crazy couple of weeks.”
“And now the local jail is full,” Ian said.
“Not really. They transferred Clay and Rodney to a more secure facility. And Gemma is under observation at a hospital,” Joe explained.
“Why would they need to put Gemma under observation?” Adam asked.
“Not sure what Brian and Danielle did to her, but when she got to the station, she started hysterically sobbing and wouldn’t stop,” Joe said.
“To be fair, she started sobbing the moment she confessed,” Danielle corrected.
* * *
After everyone went home on Tuesday night, Danielle took her shower and then sat in a rocking chair, nursing her babies, while Walt sat in the rocking chair next to her. Also in the room were Eva, Marie, and Betsy, who had been in the nursery with the twins all evening, while Danielle and Walt had been downstairs with their guests.
“We were really close as children,” Betsy told them when discussing Gemma’s confession. “When Dan and I started dating, I thought Gemma was jealous of Dan because he was taking more of my time. But I eventually realized it was the other way around. She was in love with him. That’s why I wanted to move.”
“Did Dan know how she felt?” Danielle asked.
Betsy nodded. “Yes. We discussed it. It made him uncomfortable. When Dan and I started dating, Gemma became more clingy around him. She was always finding a reason to touch him, like take hold of his hand or lean against him. It was as if she thought she was dating him, too. In fact, after we got married, he told me Gemma was acting bizarre, as if she thought we were both his wife, and he said he didn’t want two wives. So when I suggested we move after the babies were born, he was all for it.”
“What happened that day?” Danielle asked. “The last day you saw her.”
“Dan was at work, and I had just finished feeding the babies when I heard the doorbell. When I answered it, there was Gemma, all smiles. Of course, I let her in the house. I assumed it was a surprise visit. I didn’t even entertain the possibility that she had upped and moved to Frederickport. But as soon as she was inside, she said something like, surprise, I’m your new neighbor, and then announced she had bought a house right up the street from the one we were buying.”
Danielle cringed. “I can’t even imagine how you felt when you realized she was going to be your neighbor.”
“I snapped like I had never snapped before. I yelled at her, told her to leave us alone, that Dan was my husband, not hers. And that we had moved to Frederickport to get away from her. Obviously, it was a stupid thing to say, considering what happened next.”
“I wonder if she often regretted slapping you. If she hadn’t, you wouldn’t have fallen and hit your head, and she wouldn’t be where she is now.”
Betsy frowned at Danielle. “She never slapped me. I turned around to get the phone to call Dan when she hit me over the head with one of Elenore’s iron statues. I remember falling to the floor, my head throbbing, and I looked up and saw her holding that statue over me. I tried to get up, and she hit me again, and I fell back down and couldn’t move. She picked up my left hand, and I could feel her pulling off my wedding rings. Everything went black, and then I woke up as she was pushing me into the root cellar.”
“She knew you were still alive when she put you in the root cellar?” Danielle sounded horrified at the thought.
Betsy nodded. “She knew.”