Murder in the Valley: A Lady Margaret Turnbull Cozy Mystery (International Cozy Mysteries Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

tears.  “Don't
soften the blow for me, Maggie.  Just tell me out right – like tearing a band
aid from a wound.”
    “The detectives believe Winston was in the way of that
developer so he had to die.”  Maggie sat down beside Lucy.  “It would be the
only way for the developer to get the house. That debt package was simply a way
to lure him into working for the developer.  If Winston had seen the benefits
he would get from the debt collection and working with such a powerful ally, I
imagine he would let go of his home and land.  What the developer didn’t expect
was Winston was honest and compassionate.  He must have been preparing to
forgive the debts instead of demanding payments.”
    “The developers never approached us,” Lucy said.  “If they
had, we may have sold.”
    “That $500,000 must be a drop in the bucket to them.  They
clearly wanted the property.  You said he owned it out right – that it had been
in his family for generations.  The only way to get it was to kill him.”
    “The developer can’t get his hand on the land by killing
Winston,” Lucy blurted out. “It’s been mine from the beginning. I asked
Winston’s put it in my name as soon as he acquired it outright.  It was a way
to...safeguard...the property and not tie it directly to him. Now I can do
whatever I want with it.”
    “That was certainly a convenient break.”  Maggie bit her lip
and tried not to let any suspicions shine through.  She always had her doubts
about Lucy but now this complete lack of compassion after finding out about her
husband's death, increased these doubts tenfold.   She could cry at the drop of
a hat for any other thing about the case but not shed one tear for Winston's
death?
    Something was going on.
    Lucy smiled, though it was far from a warm gesture.  The
best word Maggie could use to describe Lucy's smile was calculated.   “Isn't it
though?   Now I can sell property to the developer, move out of this horrible
village, and retire to the Cayman Islands. “
    “So soon?”
    “Why not?”  Lucy suddenly became defensive.  “Wouldn’t you
want to leave an unpleasant chapter of your life behind you? You moved here
from England, now I'm going to move far, far away too.”
    “Are you sure you've been telling us the whole story, Lucy?”
    Her nervous fidgeting returned in force.  “I don't know what
you're talking about.”
    “I think you haven’t been telling us the whole story,”
Maggie said.  “I think you lured your husband into the scheme yourself and
might have even killed him during one of the latest visits at the abandoned
house.  
    You knew where he was all along, didn't you, Lucy?  It was
all part of the plan. Except Winston got cold feet. You couldn't have that. 
Not with all your dreams of getting away from the village hanging in the
balance.”
    Lucy opened her mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn't
come out.  She opened and closed her mouth like a fish gasping for air before
finally spitting out:   “What do you think you know?”
    “Plenty.” 
    Maggie felt in her pocket to make sure her cell phone was
handy.   If Lucy was a killer, she didn't need to be the latest victim.  
“You're not as good as covering your tracks as you think you are.   I knew you
already owned the house instead of Winston.  All that took was some public
records searching. On top of that, your reaction to hearing news of Winston's
death was not one of grief.  You knew. You knew before any of us did.”   Maggie
stood and moved across the room.
    Even with one hand on her cell phone, putting more distance
between her and Lucy wouldn't hurt any.   She hit the re-dial button while
keeping the phone hidden.  The last person she called was Detective Sullivan. 
He picked up on the second ring.  Maggie made sure to speak loud and distinct
so Sullivan could hear.  She needed witnesses or it would just be her word
against Lucy's.
    “I admit, you had even me fooled early