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Maggie felt something sticking painfully into her side.
Delia’s eyes opened. She smiled at Maggie, and whispered, “You found me. Don’t make any sudden moves or I’ll shoot you.”
Maggie’s heart began to race. She opened her mouth to speak, but Delia put her finger to her own lips and said, “We won’t talk here. Not with possible witnesses. Let’s go somewhere quiet. Don’t cry out for help or anything silly like that. Do you understand?”
Maggie nodded.
Delia shoved the gun harder into Maggie’s side as they stood up. Delia leaned against her, and said, “There are some people who are eager to see you. This way.”
Maggie didn’t say a word as Delia forced her into the woodland area. Delia led her along a well-worn dirt path, then changed direction and headed into the trees. They walked through scratchy bushes and over soggy ground. At one point, they waded through a shallow stream. Maggie’s feet got soaked, but she didn’t say anything. It would be foolish to complain to your captor when they had a gun pressed into your side. Maggie didn’t know for certain it was a gun but she wasn’t going to ask Delia to confirm it.
They’d been walking for about twenty minutes when they came to a small clearing. The clearing wasn’t empty. Two people were tied back to back, and were sitting on a fallen log. They turned stricken faces to Maggie. Their faces were covered in bruises but that didn’t stop Maggie from seeing the absolute fear in Elliott and Polly’s eyes.
Delia threw Maggie to the ground. She brandished her weapon at her. Maggie’s heart sank when she saw the weapon. It was a gun. She’d been hoping Delia was bluffing.
Maggie looked at the bound couple, and asked, “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Apart from your faces?”
Delia let out a sharp laugh. “Of course they’re hurt! Stop talking to them. Look at me. I want your full attention.”
Maggie looked at Delia. “I’m listening. Is this the part where you gloat about killing your brother?”
“I’ll get to that in a moment or two. You’ve been very slow to find me. I’m disappointed. I’ve left you lots of clues. Didn’t you see the leaflet about this area in my kitchen? I even put a circle around this clearing.” Delia tutted. “You would make a terrible treasure hunter.” She moved over to the fallen log and perched on the end of it. “Go on then; tell me what you’ve found out.”
Maggie didn’t feel like talking, but she needed to buy time until help arrived in the form of DCI Dexter or Sam.
She began, “Your brother fell in love with Polly. They were going to get married. You didn’t want that. You liked how Harvey confided in you about everything. If he married Polly, you’d be on your own.”
Delia nodded. “I hated Polly from the moment I saw her. I saw how men became simpletons around her. I thought Harvey would be different. But he was a fool just like the others. When he told me he was going to marry her, I knew I had to put a stop to it. I tried talking him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“So, you murdered him. That was a bit extreme,” Maggie said.
“Not really. He died on a treasure hunt, so he died happy. I’d rather see him dead than married to a woman like her.” She shot Polly a filthy look. “I didn’t want to see him become a simpering wreck like the other men she’d dated. Now, I have nothing but fond memories of my brother. Thanks to his planning, his engagement party was easily turned into a remembrance party. Did you work out those coded messages I left at the party?”
“Saying you killed Harvey? Yes, I worked those out.”
Delia smiled. “I thought that was a nice touch. Harvey would have liked that.” She looked over at Elliott. “Elliott helped me with the murder. Of course, he didn’t know it was a murder. He thought we were just playing a trick on Harvey. He made sure, via Polly, that Harvey knew about Elliott’s next secret hunt. He even left some plastic gold coins on the ground to make it look more authentic. When Harvey turned up, I was already in the tree. I called out to Harvey and claimed Elliott had tied me up. Harvey was furious and climbed up the tree.”
“And then you pushed him out,” Maggie said.
“I did. Thanks to those branches I’d cut through, he fell easily enough.” A glazed look came into her eyes. “He didn’t scream. I was expecting him to scream. But he didn’t. He just stared at me as he fell. Almost like he knew I would kill him one day. I could see forgiveness in his eyes too.”
Maggie doubted that. She said, “You got Elliott to confirm the mugging. There never was a mugging, was there?”
“No. Not long after Harvey died, Elliott worked out I’d murdered him, and came to see me. I told him if he went to the police, I would deny everything and put the blame on him. I had enough evidence in Harvey’s notebooks to convince them how much Elliott hated Harvey.”
Maggie didn’t point out Elliott had an alibi for the time of Harvey’s murder. She asked, “What about Toby? What part does he play in your scheme?”
Delia’s smile was wide. “Bless him. I told him Polly had mugged me because I had photos of her and Harvey, and she wanted them for herself. He went crazy with jealousy, and said he’d phone the police. I wasn’t expecting him to confess to a murder! He must have thought Polly had killed Harvey, and he took the blame for her. The fool.”
Maggie said, “Why don’t you continue to let him take the blame?”
Delia stood up. “Because I have a plan.” She sauntered over to Polly and held the gun against Polly’s temple. A whimper came from the young woman.
Maggie called out, “Don’t shoot her!”
Delia lowered the gun, turned around, and said, “I’m not going to shoot Polly. I’m going to shoot you. And Elliott. I’ll make it look like Polly did it because you’d found out she’d killed Harvey. I’m going to knock her out before I phone the police to make it look like we had a scuffle. I’ll tell them how Polly forced me from my house at gunpoint, and then confessed to everything. Between me and you, I might just shoot her.”
“Why would Polly kill your brother?” Maggie asked as she glanced towards the trees behind Delia.
“I’ll claim she was scared of him, and was worried about the advances he was making on her. He was becoming a stalker. I haven’t worked the finer points out yet.” Delia noticed where Maggie was looking. “Don’t expect any cavalry to come charging through the trees to save you. I’ve sent both of your suitors on a wild-goose chase.” She shook her head at Maggie. “Don’t you think it’s a bit greedy to have two suitors? Either go for the inspector or the surveillance man. Don’t be like Polly and have lots of men on the go all at once. You’re better than that.”
Maggie didn’t bother arguing with Delia. She said, “I took in your washing yesterday. I saw some hunting-type clothes on the line. Do they belong to you?”
“They do. I often joined rival groups so I could report back to Harvey.” She jabbed her gun in Polly’s direction. “I can’t imagine this floozy would do anything like that. She only ever thinks about herself. She’ll have plenty of time to do that when she’s in prison. How’s Christine?”
“Christine?”
“My neighbour. I’m assuming you spoke to her yesterday if you brought my washing in. As soon as I saw that heavy rain yesterday, I thought about her and her hips.”
“She’s fine, but worried about you,” Maggie admitted grudgingly.
“I’ll call on her soon. Shall we get on with it?”
“Get on with what?” Maggie already knew the answer.
“With your death. Then I can get on with my life plans. I’m going to keep Harvey’s treasure-hunting group going in his memory.” She looked left and right. “Where would be the best place to kill you? I think we should make it look like a struggle.”
Maggie gave her a resigned look. “I’ve no idea. I don’t think your brother would approve of this.”
“Approve? He would love it. It’s been one clue after another for you. And all the time, the murderer was right in front of you.” A malicious look came into her eyes which made Maggie’s blood run cold. Delia said, “I chose you to look into Harvey’s death. I saw how you solved that other murder, so I made sure Harvey’s murder would take place near your house. I’ve been watching you for weeks. Your routine is very predictable. I soon worked out the perfect time to kill Harvey. When I came to see you playing the grieving sister, I knew you’d fall for my act.”
Maggie felt sick to her stomach as she realised how gullible she’d been. She asked, “Did you take Harvey’s website and posts down?”
“I did. And I put those branches in your neighbour’s garden for you to find. And when you downloaded Harvey’s app, a tracker was downloaded too so that I knew where you were all the time. You were so easy to manipulate. It’s been fun, but now it’s time for you to go. Let’s find you a good spot.” She looked to her left again. “I think this would be ideal. Then I’ll put Elliott at your side.”
As quick as a flash, Maggie jumped to her feet, rushed forward and slammed into Delia. Thanks to Maggie’s heavier stature, Delia went flying backwards and landed on the ground.
Elliott yelled, “The gun! Get the gun!”
Delia lay stunned on the ground, the gun inches from her hand. Maggie kicked it into the bushes. With a snarl and surprising speed, Delia lunged at Maggie’s legs and brought her down, knocking the breath out of her.
Before Maggie could retaliate, a strange two-headed figure attacked Delia. It was Elliott and Polly, still tied together and working as one. They pinned Delia to the ground. Delia wriggled wildly but couldn’t free herself.
Elliott shouted to Maggie, “Quick! Untie us.”
Maggie did so. Then she phoned the police while Elliott tied Delia up. Polly went in search of the gun and soon found it.
Maggie’s maternal instincts took over and she checked Elliott and Polly for injuries. It was at this point that Polly burst into tears. Elliott looked like he wanted to cry as well. Maggie certainly felt like it too.
Five minutes later, the police came rushing into the area led by DCI Dexter. He looked Maggie over, gave her a tight smile, and went over to Delia.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of questions, and more tears from Polly. Maggie discovered Delia had kidnapped Polly the previous day, and had treated her roughly. Elliott fared slightly better, but he had been kept tied up with Polly for over twenty-four hours.
Elliott and Polly apologised profusely for lying to Maggie, but Maggie told them it didn’t matter. It did matter, but Maggie put it down to experience.
An exhausted Maggie returned home hours later to find Sam waiting in his van outside her house.
She got out of her car, and Sam got out of his van. They walked towards each other. The sight of Sam’s kind face brought tears to Maggie’s eyes. He opened his arms and she walked into his warm embrace.
She stayed there until her threatened tears went away. She reluctantly pulled herself free, smiled at him, and said, “I’m sorry for not phoning you back after you left a message for me earlier. How did you know I was coming home?”
He gave her a wry smile. “DCI Dexter phoned me.”
“He did?”
“Yes. He seemed to think you could do with some company. Will I do?”
“You will. Very much so.” Before she lost her courage, Maggie kissed Sam fully on the lips.