It wasn’t that I was brave or blind to the fact that she had murder in her heart. I knew Diana wasn’t crazy enough to kill me on the front steps of Ashley Knight’s house for everyone to see.
“You?” she asked disgustedly. “Why can’t you just mind your own stinkin’ business?”
“What do you want, Diana?”
“I came to see what’s-her-face, Charlie’s girlfriend. Is there some law I don’t know about that says I can’t see her?”
“She’s not home right now,” I said. “If you tell me what you—”
“Liar! I just want to tell her how sorry I am for her loss.” She stood in front of her car, feet apart, hands on her hips, in a defiant stance.
“I’ll tell her when I see her,” I smiled.
“If she’s not inside, then what are you doing here? Huh?”
Thank goodness I’ve always been quick on my feet and could talk myself out of most situations. “I came to get some papers her lawyer needs. Then she’ll be heading for the police department.”
“Papers? What kind of papers?”
“Look, all you need to know is that she’s not here, and there’s no reason for you to be.”
Slowly Diana walked over to Ashley’s truck. “Has anyone noticed that this piece of junk is almost the same color as my car? Did it ever occur to anyone that a bitter girlfriend might have gotten angry enough to run her cheating boyfriend down? Has anyone bothered to check it out?”
I refused to be tricked into getting any closer to her and stayed where I was.
“Are you saying that you and Charlie were having an affair?” I asked.
“You know, underneath all that dirt and uncouth exterior, he wasn’t that bad.”
I hoped Ashley wasn’t taking the bait Diana tossed out to get her to show herself.
“You’re not the type of woman who would ever get familiar with the hired help. You consider yourself in an entirely different class. Isn’t that right? Even if you had to buy yourself into the inner circle. What does it matter how you got there . . . as long as you’re there, front and center.”
“I started with nothing!” she shouted. “I put myself through college, earned two degrees by the time I was twenty-two . . .”
“Come on, I’ve heard your story a dozen times. Do you think you’re the only person who worked hard to get ahead in life? Everyone struggles. But not everyone kills.”
“Charles Kerrigan was a nobody. A criminal. A worthless, lying man who couldn’t take care of himself, let alone that girlfriend of his. And the way he complained about her? He was always going on about how all she was good for was money. He was going to ditch her as soon as he—”
The front door flew open with such force that I could feel splinters hit my back.
“Is that why you came here, Diana? To bad-mouth my dead boyfriend? The boyfriend that you killed? Because if that’s why, then go right ahead. Because Mrs. Sullivan and I will be listening very carefully to every word, just hoping you’ll say something that we can use against you at your trial.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself, I thought in admiration.
“I better be quick,” Diana said, “because I’m sure you called the police.”
“They’ll be here any minute.” I looked over my shoulder. “You did, didn’t you?” I asked under my breath.
Ashley looked embarrassed. “I was afraid I’d miss something.”
My cell phone was in my purse, in the house. The two of us had nothing to defend ourselves with. My only hope was that Diana wouldn’t be foolish enough to hurt us out in public. But then I remembered our fight in front of her house. And as I scanned the desolate street, my stomach sank.
Diana reached into her Gucci bag that hung off her left shoulder, taking out what looked like a .38 special. She held it down by her side, just for effect. “Now let’s go into the house and have a nice chat.”
Ashley was frightened, and even though I stood shielding her, not daring to take my eyes off of Diana, I heard her whimper and turn for the door. “We’re not getting in there alone with her,” I said.
“But she said to—”
“We’re not moving,” I shouted to Diana. “Just get in your car and drive away before the police come,” I bluffed.
I didn’t want to scream, to agitate her any further, or to get any innocent bystander hurt. So I turned to that good old standby: reason. “So far the only thing you’re guilty of—”
“Today,” Ashley added.
I continued. “The only thing you’ve done today is cause a scene. You haven’t touched either one of us or made a threat. Even if the police came, they’d have nothing to charge you with. But that gun just turned this situation into a felony.”
“I haven’t hurt either one of you,” she protested.
“But the intention is there. So just put that gun away and get in your car.”
I thought I had everything under control at that point. Diana’s shoulders slumped; she looked like a woman defeated. When she stared down at the gun, I sensed she was trying to figure out how to get rid of it. And I think I could have gotten her to leave if Ashley had just waited a moment before shouting, “And if you talk any more trash about Charlie, I’ll sue you for defamation of character!”
That got Diana going again. “Get in that house! Both of you,” she growled.
Ashley turned and ran inside. But still I didn’t move, blocking her entrance.
“No,” I said.
“I don’t have any argument with you, Mrs. Sullivan. Honest. And all I wanted to do when I came here was to talk with her.” She motioned toward the front door that now stood open.
“About what?” I demanded.
“I thought that maybe I could convince her that whatever that creep told her was all lies. That he was a professional con man. Naturally he’d try to blame everyone else for what he did. Charles Kerrigan couldn’t be trusted with the truth. Not ever.”
“If you leave now,” I bargained, “I’ll arrange a meeting someplace where the three of us can sit down and—”
“I still don’t understand why you have to be there,” she said. “None of this ever should have involved you.”
“When your husband kidnapped Nathan Walker, I got involved.”
I was preparing for another struggle with this woman when a white van stopped in the middle of the street. The driver got out and ran around to the other side.
“Are you all right?” Nathan shouted to me.