Margo lay in a hospital bed, the lump on her forehead swollen and red, the gash covered with tape. Her cheeks and nose were ruddy from frostbite, her fingers bandaged. She had concussion. She also had a wicked hangover.
“Did one of them hit your head on the door frame when they put you in the car?” Roxanne was sitting by her bed. Brian Donohue leaned against the windowsill.
“I don’t remember. Do you think they shoved the car into the ditch with me in it?”
“It looks like they pushed it with their truck. You’ve got a cracked back fender. The car’s being checked out for paint scrapes and for traces of blood on the frame.”
“I don’t think I’ll be keeping it.” Margo shuddered, thinking of how close she had come to dying in her little Honda. “How long was I out there?”
“Brad Andreychuk came along around nine, so it would have more than three hours.”
Brad had been out on his skidoo, skimming along the ditches, heading home after a day’s fishing and drinking. He’d had a few beers out on the lake then some more with his pal Billy while they gutted their catch, so he’d taken the back roads home to avoid being caught driving drunk. He had spotted the flashing red lights and gone to check them out. He had saved her life. Now he was a hero, redeemed in the eyes of the village.
“You got lucky,” Roxanne said. “No one lives out on that road. You were cold, but it could have been a lot worse. It went down to minus forty-two last night. People were out looking for you by then, but it would have taken them a long time to find you, where you were.”
“So would I have frozen to death?”
“You wouldn’t have made it through the night.”
“Then Annie’s plan would have succeeded.”
Margo had been hypothermic when she arrived at the hospital, and the alcohol in her system hadn’t helped. But she hadn’t been outside long enough to lose any fingers. She would recover.
“You think it was Annie’s idea?” Roxanne asked.
“I know it was. Annie was the killer. She found a knife in my kitchen. My best boning knife, it’s really sharp. She wanted to kill me with it, right away, but Panda talked her out of it. She said they needed to make it look accidental. So they taped my arms behind the back of the chair with duct tape and Panda held the brandy glass up so I could drink. I had poured myself a glass of wine. I think seeing it on the table gave them the idea of making me drink it, but Panda said they needed to get me really drunk, and faster. She found the brandy in my kitchen cupboard. I used it for cooking, at Christmas. Hardly any of it was gone. Annie said she’d stab me if I didn’t drink all of it. She meant it. I knew she did.”
“Why did she want you dead?”
“Can you pass me that water?” Margo gestured to a glass with a straw that was out of reach. Roxanne held it to her lips. “Rehydration.” Margo sipped tentatively. “I haven’t been able to hold anything down, even water, until now.”
“It all started yesterday afternoon? There was a lunch at your house? Panda and Annie were there?”
“They were. That’s when I realized that they’d done it. Killed Stella. I was sitting on one side of the table. Annie and Panda were opposite me. I don’t think anyone noticed what happened except Panda and me. It just took a moment. Someone asked Annie a question about Brandon, what she knew about the town, and she didn’t reply right away. She stalled. Avoided answering. She looked across the table at Panda. Not a look of alarm or anything, more a warning—a ‘keep-your-mouth-shut’ kind of look. And I saw it. Panda turned her head and looked across in my direction. She caught me looking. It all happened so quickly. I knew, instantly, that they were hiding something, and I didn’t know how or why, but I was certain it was to do with the murders. Panda carried on talking like nothing had happened. I hoped she hadn’t noticed, but I suppose she had.
“There was another moment. It had happened earlier. I said something about Panda knowing that something was wrong with Stella’s accounting and she froze me out. She just didn’t want to talk about it.
“I thought about it all through the rest of lunch. Why would Annie not want to talk about Brandon? She was a nurse, you know, before she was an artist.”
Roxanne remembered Annie springing into action when Phyllis got sick at Angus Smith’s funeral.
“She grew up in Virden, west of Brandon,” Margo continued. “It made sense that she’d have gone to Brandon to train as a nurse. She could easily have been there when Stella had her baby. She’s a few years older than Stella so she’s the right age. Then she’d have known Stella’s secret. Turned out I got that part right.”
“Did they tell you that?”
“Panda did, while I drank the brandy. I choked if she gave me too much, so it took a while.”
“It’s pretty well gone.”
“No wonder I feel so lousy. Anyway, Annie took off for a while into the garage. She siphoned off the gasoline in the car so it would be almost empty when they left me in it. And she took everything away that would have helped me. The survival kit in the trunk. Paper and a pen in the glove box. She came back and told me she’d removed them. They wanted to wait until it was really dark before they took me out in the car. Panda told me the rest of the story while Annie was busy. She said that Annie recognized Stella right away when they moved here, to the Interlake. Annie has a great memory for faces and Stella wasn’t someone you’d forget easily, not even after all these years. She also recognized Erik. He had shown up in Brandon at the hospital, right after Stella had the baby, screaming and yelling that he wanted to see her. He was breaking things. Drunk. They had to call the police. Stella wouldn’t talk to him so they made him go away. Annie hadn’t forgotten.”
“How did that lead to Stella being killed?”
“Panda told me all about that too, later, when she was driving me to the ditch. We were in her truck. They’d blindfolded me so I couldn’t see where I was going and put tape over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. Annie must have driven my car. I think Panda needed to tell someone. Once she started she couldn’t stop. That’s what Panda’s like, she needs to talk. She said it all started as an accident. Can I have some more water?”
Roxanne held out the glass and she sipped again.
“I hope I remember this right. I was so drunk. I really had to concentrate on what she was saying, so that I would remember. She said it all happened at their house. Stella came to visit them, the day before she was supposed to leave on her trip. George Smedley had told Stella that Panda knew something was wrong with the StarFest accounts. One of Panda’s clients had made a big donation and Panda had spotted that the amount in Stella’s books was less than it should have been so she’d asked George about it. Stella tried to convince Panda that it was a mistake. She told her that she would never cheat, but Panda didn’t believe her. Panda said the books needed a proper audit. Then Stella said that maybe Panda could audit them for her. Stella would pay her really well for doing it.
“Panda told her that she wouldn’t do that. That she didn’t like cheats and liars. And Stella just laughed in her face. That’s when Annie got involved. She said that Stella had better listen to Panda, or she’d tell Stella’s other little secret. She’d tell everyone how Stella and Erik Axelsson had a baby years ago. She said she’d bet his wife, Roberta, would like to know about that.
“Stella’s face went white, Panda said. Stella stepped towards Annie and raised her hand, like she was going to hit her. Panda stepped between them and pushed Stella away. That’s all it took. But Panda was strong and Stella fell backwards. She hit her head hard, on the corner of that big cast iron wood stove that they have.
“Panda said she should have called for an ambulance right away. She hadn’t meant to hurt Stella. It was an accident. She’d tried to defend Annie. But Stella wasn’t moving. She was making this awful sound. Annie said she was in a coma. That she’d never wake up. She’d seen it happen to someone before when she was nursing, a girl who’d been thrown from a horse and hit her head. Stella was going to die and Panda would get the blame. Annie grabbed a pillow and pressed it over Stella’s face until the noise stopped.
“Panda said that Annie thought Panda would get locked up and she couldn’t stand that, so that’s why she did it. Panda could never stop Annie doing what she wanted to do. She tried to excuse Annie, because Annie had a hard time growing up. Her dad was strict and she was the only Chinese kid for miles around. ‘Annie’s quiet,’ she said. ‘But inside she’s a burning furnace. That’s what makes her a great artist.’”
“She did drawings,” said Roxanne. “Stella’s head, then Angus. She did a big painting of him going down into the lake. Did you know that she made some drawings of you too? In the car, in the ditch. As if you were dead.”
“She did? Well, that was a bit premature.” A wry smile flickered across Margo’s face. The dimples appeared on each frostbitten cheek. “What do they look like?” Roxanne took out her phone and showed her the photographs. The red nose wrinkled in disgust. “I was terrified.”
“You had good reason to be scared,” said Roxanne.
Margo shifted on her pillow. “I was mad at them too. You know, they were too clever. That was their problem, wasn’t it? They tried so hard to hide Stella and Angus’s bodies. It was so calculated, but it was over-complicated, too. So it made it more likely that they would make an error. Did they leave Stella’s body outside to freeze? Do you know?”
“Not yet,” Roxanne replied. “Her body could have been stored in an outside workshop that Panda had. It wasn’t heated. Our forensic guys have been checking it for evidence.” Brian nodded his head in agreement.
“Then they drove to Winnipeg,” she continued, reflecting that after what Margo had been through, she deserved a complete explanation. “It looks like Annie took Stella’s Toyota and left it at the airport. It was early Saturday morning by then. Panda probably drove their own truck and waited outside the parking lot to pick Annie up and bring her home. They had all of Saturday and Sunday to take Stella’s body over to Angus Smith’s workshop and cut it up after it was frozen.”
“Ghoulish.” Margo shuddered. But she was curious and dying to know. “So they must have gone to the dump that day to make sure Stella was buried in the landfill, but then it wasn’t.” She figured it all out aloud. “And Stella’s body was found right away so their plan began to unravel almost right away. And I hardly ever go skating. Angus could have been under that ice for another two or three months if my dog hadn’t spotted him that morning. Their plan to make it look like I had frozen to death didn’t work either, but only because I was rescued in time.”
“Annie made sure that Angus and Stella were dead,” said Brian. “Why did she take a chance that you would be found alive?”
“Panda did that. I don’t think she wanted me to die. They had such an argument about it. Annie would have had me dead in a minute but Panda insisted they do it this way. She left me room to survive. In a funny way, she maybe saved my life, too.”
Roxanne wanted to tell Matt Stavros that. He needed to know that his aunt hadn’t been entirely bad.
“How did the dog get locked out of your house?” Brian asked.
“I tried to close the door on them when they came back to my place but Panda pushed it open. The dog got between us, barking and growling. Panda threw him outside. Bob kept barking at the door. Annie wanted to kill him but Panda said that the plan wouldn’t work if she did that. She said it needed to look like I lost the dog and was searching for him but he found his way home. It might explain why I was out there, driving around drunk. Annie went and opened the door. She had the knife in her hand. I was so worried for him. But all she did was kick him and he ran away. Bob’s a bit of a wimp.”
“And he’s the reason we found out you were missing.” Roxanne fed her some more water.
“I did get lucky. Twice. First, that Bob was picked up and Sasha figured out something was wrong and, second, that Bradley Andreychuk happened to come my way. Other people weren’t so fortunate. Annie had a thing for knives. I could tell, just from the way she handled mine. She’d have liked to stab me like she did Angus Smith. That was scary. But they wanted it to look like I’d frozen to death, all on my own.” She shivered again and pulled a blanket closer. “Annie was deadly. Panda was just an accessory. I liked Panda a lot. And I did admire Annie. Used to.” It sounded like she was tiring. “It’s all so sad. Did you have any idea that it was them?”
“Too late,” said Roxanne. “Archie Huminski at the dump told me yesterday afternoon that Panda had visited Angus Smith’s workshop not so long ago. He had helped her mend the legs of an old table she was restoring. And earlier in the winter Angus had taken her and Annie out fishing one Saturday afternoon. They knew about the workshop and where to find Angus’s ice shack. So I did suspect them, but not enough to act on it right away. And it was difficult with Panda being Matt Stavros’s aunt. I’d decided to wait until Sergeant Donohue got here in the morning.”
“Angus went out of his way to help them and then they killed him?”
“I guess so. But they didn’t succeed in killing you, and you have answered a lot of our questions. We’ll go and let you get some rest.”
Roxanne could see Margo’s eyes beginning to droop. She rose from the bedside chair. Brian joined her. “I’ll write up a statement,” he said to Margo. Maybe you can sign it later?”
Margo waved her bandaged fingers. “If you can wait until these are mended I’ll write it myself. Maybe a couple of days?”
“She’s gutsy,” said Brian, as they walked down the hospital corridor. “And she did everything right. Are you staying here for another night?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ve got loose ends to finish up here. I need to talk to Matt and Izzy.”
“How’s he doing?”
“They’ve given him leave.”
“You know you’ve been recommended for a commendation?”
“I have?” She stopped at the hospital door, surprised. “For what?”
“For saving the Axelsson women from that attack.”
“Oh.” She was stuck for words. Was that one of the things he had been doing in Winnipeg? Maybe he wasn’t as self-interested as she thought.
“All the publicity you got helped. You’ll probably get promoted up to sergeant after this if you apply.”
“Can’t think why,” she said. “That woman in the hospital bed and two old guys at Cullen Village Dump figured out what had happened a lot faster than I did. I didn’t solve the case in time to stop Annie and Panda from dying.”
Two charred bodies had been retrieved from the burning house. The police were waiting for official identification but there was little doubt as to who they were.
“Hey,” said Brian. “You were on the right track. Take the credit while you can.” His car was at one end of the parking lot, hers at the other. “Why don’t you come over for dinner to our place Saturday night? Sally and I will have the kids for the weekend. You could bring your boy along.”
“Sure,” she said. “That would be great.” She’d missed calling Finn again last night. Her sister had not been pleased. “You can’t let him down like that,” she had said to Roxanne. “Well,” she had replied. “Something came up.” She’d be home tomorrow.