A Sweet Murder (17 page)

“
Please sit down,” Grace said.

Della snorted
but did as she was asked. She sat on a sofa opposite
Grace.

Grace could feel
Anna studying her. Surely she had recognised her by now? Anna
spoke, “Didn’t I see you in the shop today?”

“
Course you did!” Della boomed out. “She’s been spying on us.
She works for Nick, she’s trying to get our family recipe, the
special one. I hope you weren’t stupid enough to sell her any
sweets.”

Anna trembled.
She focused on the carpet and said, “Yes, but just the normal ones,
not the special ones, not the black ones.”

“
Stop talking!” Della ordered. Grace felt a flush of anger.
Della was a nasty bully.

Connie sat down
next to Della and looked at her as if she was looking at a
stranger. She said to Grace, “I don’t know why she’s talking to
poor Anna like this, she must be under a lot of stress.”

Grace arched an
eyebrow in reply. Stress was not an excuse. She turned her
attention to Della and said, “I don’t know who this Nick person is
but I certainly don’t work for him. A few days ago I found
something that belonged to the Flamingo Sweets, something I wanted
to return to the family. I went to the shop today hoping to speak
to someone there about it. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to
raise the subject with Anna.”

“
So
you thought you’d come here and break into my home,” Della said
with a sneer. “I should call the police.”

“
I
didn’t break in, the door was unlocked,” Grace said, glad she was
telling the truth. “I thought I might catch someone here. I came to
Flamingo Hall yesterday and Vincent told me I might find you here.”
Grace said the last part with conviction, hoping that her lie
wasn’t obvious.

Della looked
towards the living room window, the one that faced Flamingo Hall.
“I didn’t realise that Vincent knew I was staying here. I moved in
after Mum died.” She turned her attention back to Grace. “Your
story sounds flimsy, why were you at the factory the other
day?”

“
Hoping to speak to someone in the family about the item I
found. I got caught up in the tour. Sorry about the chaos I
caused.” Grace reached into her handbag and brought the recipe book
out. She held it up, she had no intention of handing it over to
Della.

Della’s mouth
dropped open. “Alfred’s recipe book! It still exists. I thought Mum
had lost it somewhere. Give it to me, it’s mine.”

Grace drew the
book closer to her. “No, it’s mine. I found it inside an old
chair.”

Della’s lips
drew back in a snarl. “It doesn’t belong to you. You just said you
wanted to return it to me.”

“
I
said I wanted to return it to the family, I didn’t specifically say
you,” Grace corrected.

Della stood up.
“I know what you’re after, you want money don’t you? I can see it
in your face. Well, you’re not getting any! Give me that book
before I rip your hand off!”

Anna put a
shaking hand on top of Grace’s arm. “Please give it to her, don’t
make her angry. You don’t know what she can do.”

Grace stood up
and stared Della in the eye. “Don’t threaten me.”

Della moved
closer. Grace could smell liquorice on her breath. “You should
listen to Anna, you don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“
I
know what you’re capable of,” a voice coldly said.

Mirabelle came
into the room, she took in the surroundings and then looked at
Della. “You may as well confess, dear Della, we all know what
you’ve done. Anna knows it and so do I. It’s time to
confess.”

Della frowned.
“Confess to what? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Get out
of here, this is Mum’s home, or are you planning to take this away
too?”

Mirabelle
laughed. “Poor Della, pretending to be concerned about Connie. Just
admit what you’ve done.”

“
I
haven’t done anything!” Della’s voice rose to a shout.

Mirabelle gave
her a false smile, then she turned to Grace. “I don’t know who you
are but you should know that Della here is a murderer.”

Della said, “A
what? What did you just call me?”

“
A
murderer,” Mirabelle repeated matter of factly. “Anna knows, don’t
you.”

Anna was looking
at the carpet again. Grace knelt next to Anna and put a hand on her
trembling knee. In a soft voice she said, “Anna, is there something
you want to say? Please don’t be scared, I won’t let Della hurt
you.”

“
Don’t say a word, you idiot!” Della hissed.

Grace carried
on, “Don’t pay her any attention. I can tell that you’re frightened
about something. Please tell us.”

Anna slowly
raised her head, she looked at Della and winced. She turned her
head and looked into Grace’s face. She said, “Della did murder her
mum, she told me that. And she made me do things, things I didn’t
want to do. She said she’d kill me if I didn’t do everything she
said.”

Grace looked up
at Della. “Is this true?”

Della gave her a
bored look and said, “Yes. So what?”

Chapter 37

Della sat down
on the sofa, folded her arms and looked between Grace and
Mirabelle. Connie sat back on the sofa, reached into her pocket and
took out a sweet. She didn’t show any concern over Della’s
admission. Was it because she already knew?

Grace felt a
trickle of liquorice slip down her throat. Did Connie have to be
eating liquorice at a time like this?

Mirabelle gave
Grace a satisfied smile, there was more than a hint of smugness
there. She pointed a manicured finger at Grace and said, “You heard
her admit it, you’re a witness, and so is that feeble-minded idiot
at your side.”

An uneasy
feeling was stirring inside Grace. Something wasn’t right. She had
suspected Della all along so why didn’t she feel satisfied now that
Della had admitted it?

Grace addressed
Della, “Why did you kill her?”

Della lifted a
single eyebrow and said, “I didn’t kill Mum but I told Anna that I
had.”

There was a few
seconds silence. Grace said, “Why did you do that?”

“
Isn’t it obvious? Anna thought I’d killed Mum and she thought
I’d kill her too if she didn’t obey my orders. Oh! You should have
seen her face when I first told her, it was like she shrunk three
inches, it was so funny. And you wouldn’t believe the things that
she does for me, I don’t even have to pay her! It’s like having a
robotic servant.”

Anna cried out,
“But I heard you all! In the shop that night, you were planning to
kill Connie, I heard you!”

So, it had been
Anna listening to the conversation that night, not
Connie.

“
I
know what you heard,” Della said. “And I know that you told Mum
about it. When Mum asked me what you were talking about I told her
you were losing your mind, becoming even more of a
simpleton.”

Grace could feel
her chest tightening with rage, Della was a nasty piece of work.
Connie was calmly sucking on the same piece of liquorice. Grace
felt another spurt of its juice in her mouth.

Mirabelle gave
Della a filthy look and said, “You’re lying, Della, and Anna knows
it. I’m going to phone the police.”

“
Go
ahead, you’ve got no proof.”

Anna had started
to cry. Grace reached into her handbag and took a tissue out.
“Here, please don’t let her upset you.”

Anna took the
tissue. “I don’t know what to think. If she didn’t kill Connie why
did she say she did? And why did she make me do those awful
things?”

“
What did she make you do?” Grace asked, although she
suspected that she already knew the answer.

Anna wiped her
eyes. “She made me sell special sweets, sweets that had drugs in
them. I had to go to nightclubs and sell them there, I was so
afraid of getting caught. I don’t like the people in the
nightclubs, they scare me when they eat the sweets. And then people
came to the shop for sweets, I don’t like them either.”

“
It
doesn’t matter now,” Mirabelle said, pointing her phone at Della.
“We’ll have her locked up soon.”

“
Don’t be stupid, I told you I didn’t do it,” Della said. “Why
would I want to kill Mum? She was the only one that ever supported
me, the only one who ever listened to me.”

Mirabelle said,
“You killed her because of your filthy drugs habit, and the fact
that you were selling Flamingo sweets laced with goodness knows
what. We have a reputation to uphold, we can’t have scum like you
bringing it down. Connie probably found out about your nasty sweets
and threatened to tell the police, that’s why you killed her. We
heard rumours about some dodgy Flamingo sweets but Vincent refused
to believe them. The rumours affected his business deal with a big
American company, they were going to pay us a fortune. Vincent was
planning on opening a museum and now he’s had to put everything on
hold until the deal goes through.”

A stronger dose
of liquorice burst inside Grace’s mouth. She blinked. It tasted
slightly different. What was it?

It was a
metallic taste.

Grace’s breath
caught as she realised what it was. She looked closer at Connie.
Connie met her look, her expression as cold and calculating as
Della’s.

Grace felt a
chill as she realised what was going on. She said to Della, “Your
mum knew about the sweets, didn’t she?”

Della slowly
smiled. “Of course she knew about the sweets, she encouraged me to
make more. She was amazed at how much money I was making. She used
to try some of the sweets too. I’d make special ones for her – some
to help with her arthritis and some to help her sleep. We were
planning on expanding to other towns.”

Connie swallowed
the last of the liquorice and said to Grace, “Don’t look so
shocked, we were running a business.”

Mirabelle looked
towards the fireplace, she seemed to be thinking about something.
Then she walked towards the living room curtains and closed them.
She moved to the door, locked it and put the key in her
pocket.

“
What are you doing? There’s no need to lock me in, I told you
I didn’t kill Mum,” Della said.

Mirabelle smiled
down at her and said, “Yes, I know that.”

Grace suddenly
recalled the smell in the bathroom. It was the same expensive scent
that Mirabelle wore. Connie had told her that she didn’t know where
the candles had come from on the night of her death. And Mirabelle
had just admitted to knowing about the American money and the
museum but didn’t Vincent say he hadn’t told her yet?

Grace stood up
and faced Mirabelle. “You killed Connie, didn’t you?”

Chapter 38

“
I
had to,” Mirabelle said in a smooth voice. “She was going to ruin
everything. Vincent had this great deal lined up, it was going to
change our lives. I’d already put a deposit on a villa in France.
But Connie wouldn’t agree to the deal. Vincent said he would talk
her round but I wasn’t convinced. I knew there was something going
on with Connie and Della, I knew they were up to something. I had
to put a stop to their drug business.” She tutted. “Della, you
should have kept these curtains closed of an evening, I could see
what you and Connie were up to from my bedroom, all that messing
about with syringes. And it didn’t take me long to find out where
you were selling dodgy sweets. You’ve already damaged our
reputation, I couldn’t let it go on. I had to get Connie out of the
way.”

Della jumped up
and sprang towards Mirabelle, her hands like claws ready to
attack.

Mirabelle moved
swiftly to one side. Della swayed on her feet, her arms still
outstretched. A moan escaped from her pale lips and she seemed to
fold in on herself as she collapsed to the floor.

Connie
screamed.

Mirabelle said,
“I wondered how long it would take to work. That’s a shame. I
wanted the police to arrest her first. Oh well.”

Grace said,
“What have you done? Quick! Call an ambulance! She can’t
breath!”

“
Della!” Connie rushed over to her daughter’s side.

“
Good.” Mirabelle walked over to the fireplace and picked up a
silver box from the shelf above it. She opened it and took out a
syringe. She held it up and tapped her index fingernail against it.
“This is what Della’s been using for Connie’s sweets. I’ve been
watching them. Della used to inject some of this into Connie’s
sweets on an evening. I presumed that’s what helped her sleep. It
was usually the liquorice sweets but sometimes the strawberry
bombs.”

“
Did
you put some in Connie’s sweets on the night that you murdered
her?” Grace asked.

“
I
did. I put plenty in, I wanted her to be as sleepy as possible. She
was a tough woman, she would have fought me back if she hadn’t been
drugged so much. It took a few attempts to get her to quieten down
in that bath, she really struggled. She made such a mess, ruined my
blue silk dress.” Mirabelle smiled as she examined the syringe.
“And earlier on today I put some in those sweets that Della has
been scoffing. There should be enough to kill her, hopefully. It
would have been so much easier if I could have framed her for
Connie’s murder. I did put doubts in Vincent’s head but he’s such a
wimp when it comes to protecting family.”