Murder at the Bellamy Mansion (26 page)

“
Not when I’m in a wedding, I don’t. When will you ever learn to be courteous to me?” I asked, mad at myself that I had answered the phone.

“
Oh,” he said. “Sorry. I forgot all about the wedding. That’s today, right? Well, sorry, but I’ve got some important news for you.”

“
Can’t this wait? I’m at a wedding reception. I’m enjoying myself. Or I was enjoying myself before you called.”

“
No, it can’t wait, Ashley!”

“
OK, then shoot. What is so important?” I picked up a shrimp with my fingers and began to nibble.

Kimberly approached my table with a bottle of wine and started to fill my glass. I didn’t have time to tell her I wasn’t drinking wine anymore.

Nick went on urgently, “We now have the cause of Brian Hudson’s death. Remember that cigar you picked up and gave us? We sent it off to the state lab in Raleigh. And it was the cause of death.”

“
The cigar caused Brian’s death!” I exclaimed. “But how?”

“
There were oleander seeds imbedded in the tip of the cigar. Brian ingested one of them. Oleander is highly toxic.”

“
How did oleander seeds get into the cigar?” I asked. “Oh, I get it. You mean someone put them in the cigar. To poison Brian.”

Kimberly spilled some of the wine, set the bottle down, and began mopping the spill with a napkin.

“
That’s exactly what happened,” Nick said and explained in a rush, “You know how a smoker clips off the end of the cigar before lighting up. Well, that’s because there is a blob of tobacco glued to the mouth end of the cigar to hold the leaves in place. So it’s that blob that the smoker is clipping off. Well, someone had tampered with the cigar. Removed the tobacco blob, inserted three oleander seeds into the cigar, then glued the blob back onto the cigar.

“
Then Brian, unknowingly, clips off the blob, lights up, sucks in, and sucks one of the seeds into his mouth. And then, without thinking, swallowed it.

“
That’s what killed him, Ashley. The symptoms fit with oleander poisoning. So, I just wanted you to know and to thank you for being so observant . . . Wait a minute. Heck, I’m being beeped. I gotta go. Thanks again, Ashley.”

And he was gone.

Kimberly was staring at me. And I was staring at her, remembering a scene I had witnessed the night of the party when Brian had collapsed.

My mouth dropped open. “Ahhh. It was you,” I blurted out without thinking. “I saw you passing the box of cigars. I saw you select one and hand it to Brian. But why? Why, Kimberly?”

In answer, she reached under her long black apron and into her pocket. Then she moved the apron and showed me the gun she held in her hand.

“
I don’t want to hurt you, Ashley, so don’t make me.” She looked around inside the tent at the guests at their tables. “And I don’t want to shoot up this place and hurt a lot of people unnecessarily, so just do as I say.”

Involuntarily, my hand went to my stomach. “Kimberly, please, I’m pregnant. Don’t hurt me. Tell me what you want. I’ll do anything.”

“
We’re going to take a casual walk up the stairs and into the mansion. We’ll go up to the third floor. I know just where to stash you.”

“
I’ll go with you,” I said. “I’ll do anything. Just don’t shoot my baby.”

“
OK, get up and let’s go. If anyone stops us, you just say we’re going to the bathroom. There’s one of the second floor. No one will think anything of it.”

Kimberly had changed. She was no longer the shy, eager to please girl.

No one stopped us or even seemed to see us as we went up the stairs to the porch, into the mansion, and directly up to the second floor. Kimberly followed me, her hand under her apron. “I’ve got this gun trained on you,” she warned me, “so don’t go doin’ anything stupid.”

On the second floor we passed one of the guests coming out of the bathroom, but she just said “hey” and went on down.

As we mounted the stairs to the third floor, Kimberly started to talk nervously, as if coaching herself. “I’m all packed. Elaine paid me earlier. Even gave me a tip. Nothing to stop me.”

Then to me, “If’n you don’t go yellin’ or something.”

She was dropping her g’s, as she had the day I had caught her play acting that she was the lady of the mansion.

“
I won’t yell,” I promised.

“
See that you don’t and I won’t hurt you and that baby. I don’t want to hurt you, Ashley. I like you. You and Melanie and Elaine have been good to me. I don’t want to hurt none of you. So just shush up and listen.”

We were in the upstairs hall now and she was guiding me down the hallway. As if to remind me, there was a baby cradle on display up here.

“
You wanted to know why I did it. Well, I’ll tell you why. My folks used to live here in Wilmington. You didn’t know that, did you? They were one of the early settlers here.

“
My ancestors were so clever, they could do most anything to make a livin’. They were good carpenters. And they were good at plumbing too. They tried to get the job installin’ the fancy plumbing in this house. But no, those dang Hudsons underbid them. And they got the job. They were always takin’ the work away from my people.

“
So my great-granddaddy got fed up, disgusted with this town, and filled with hate for those Hudsons. He just up and left, moved his family to Virginia where they settled for a while. Then after he died, my granddaddy moved the family west to West Virginia.

“
About nineteen hundred the coal mines had started up and there was work. Those mine owners raped the land and treated the miners like dirt, but like my daddy said, the work put food on the table.”

We had reached the tank room.

“
So this is about revenge?” I said, trying to keep her talking. Was she going to force me into that tank? Oh, no. I hate small spaces. They terrify me.

“
Sure is about revenge, and I got mine. Settled the score for my family. I grew up hearing about how the Hudsons took work away from us, destroyed our livelihood. So I got even. Got rid of that Brian Hudson. And good riddance. The last thing the world needs is another lawyer. Too bad I missed the old man.”

I stared at her. “You? You shot Willie?”

“
Sure ‘nuff. I’m a crack shot. My daddy used to take me huntin’ with him. Taught me how to use a gun and I was a right good marksman. And we didn’t hunt for no sport either, like most of those jackasses do. We hunted for the food. We needed that game to keep us fed.”

“
But what about Candi? She wasn’t a Hudson. Why did you kill her?”

“
That woman was nasty. Garbage. I was here alone one day, just strollin’ around, thinking how nice it would be to live in a house like this. I may have been talking to myself.

“
All of a sudden, she appeared. And she started screaming at me. How this was going to be her house. How I was trespassing. She yelled at me to get out. Screaming at me that I was white trash, and wasn’t fit to wipe her shoes. Nasty stuff.”

Kimberly looked around wildly. “I had this gun in my fanny pack. I told her to shut up and when she wouldn’t, I pulled out the gun. I couldn’t shoot, too many people would have heard. So I gave her a good whack on the head. Just to shut her up. And then . . . well, I got carried away. I hit her some more.

“
She deserved it. She was evil. And she was such a little bitty thing, I carried her down to the basement and hid her under a tarp in the area way.”

She laughed. “People walked by her all day, and didn’t even know she was there. After dark, I came back and dumped her into the cistern. I was pushing the slab back over the opening when that security guard showed up, and I had to skedaddle before he saw me.”

Kimberly was crazy. I tried to remain calm. “Kimberly, I’m sorry. I can understand how you feel. Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. This will be our secret. And you’ll be far away.”

“
I can’t do that, Ashley. Wish I could, but I can’t risk it.”

We were alone on the third floor and she had exposed the gun, now pointing it directly at my belly.

“
Come on.” She stepped over to the tank and reached up to the top to slide the moveable cover to the open position. “Just enough room for you to climb in there. It won’t hurt you none to be in there. Someone will find you later. But by then I’ll be gone. And I was careful not to tell anyone exactly where I am going.”

“
Kimberly, please don’t make me get in there. I can’t stand small spaces. I panic. I have claustrophobia. I’ll scream. I won’t be able to stop myself.”

“
Aw, that stuff is just in your head. Now, go on, skedaddle in there.” She glared at me, the kid gloves off. “Unless you’d rather I shoot you. Then I’ll just shoot anyone who gets in my way. I don’t care how many I have to take out. Don’t care a bit.”

“
OK, OK. I’ll do it.” What choice did I have? I hoisted myself up onto the tank, maneuvered my legs in through the opening, and dropped down inside.

Then it was just like that dream that I’d had in the car. I was the baby inside the trunk and the lid was closing, closing, blocking out the light and the air.

But there was air, I knew that. I was familiar with the construction of the tank, and I knew the sliding door did not fit tight. I had air. I would not suffocate. But then why did I feel like I couldn’t breathe?

33

I was hyperventilating. Crying, and screaming, and praying all at once. My heart raced.

And then Aunt Ruby’s voice spoke clearly inside my head. “Child, you must stop this carrying on for the good of your baby. Now, calm yourself. Jon will find you.”

“
OK, little one,” I spoke to my child. “You and I are in this together. All we have to do is sit tight and wait for Daddy to rescue us.”

The inside of the tank was dark and grimy, but a little light and air filtered in. I made myself as comfortable as I could, sat with my back against one side, and my legs stretched out to the other. And I waited. While I waited I said baby names to myself. First girl names, then boy names, then all mixed up.

I had no idea how much time had passed. Then I heard the voice I had been listening for. Jon’s voice.

“
Ashley! Ashley! Are you up here?”

“
Yes,” I hollered. But would he hear me? I kicked the side of the tank and sent a shower of grime falling all over me. I kicked again.

Suddenly the tank cover was opening. And then there was Jon’s face - Jon’s beloved face - looking down at me. “Ashley,” he cried, his voice full of fear.

I was able to stand up. My head and shoulders out of the tank. I took a deep breath of clean air. Jon reached for me. And somehow, by sheer will power, lifted me out of the tank. He was in a very awkward position, but between the two of us we got me out.

In a rush, I told him the whole story. “We’ve got to call Nick,” I said. “He’s got to find her. She’s a psychopath. Who knows how many more people she will kill?”

“
But what kind of car does she drive?” Jon asked.

“
Elaine will know,” I answered.

I slept, and slept, and slept. At times I’d whimper in my sleep and Jon would reach for me, comfort me, hold me. Sometime in the night, he whispered to me, “Nick called. The state troopers caught her on interstate forty. She was ranting and raving like a lunatic and confessed to everything, even tampering with the belvedere railing.”

In the morning, I woke as Jon carried in a tray with breakfast.

“
How are you feeling?” he asked.

“
Like new,” I said. And realized that was true. One chapter of my life had closed, another had opened. And I knew, deep in my heart, even without a pregnancy test, that I was carrying our baby.

“
Our friends and family have been calling all morning. I’m surprised the phone didn’t wake you. I told them you were fine but resting. They’ll all be over this evening, bringing food.”

“
Good,” I said, “I’m ready to celebrate.”

I ate my breakfast with him watching my every move. “Thanks. That was good. I was famished. Now I’m going to take my shower.”

“
I’ll be downstairs working on the computer,” Jon said. “Call me if you need your back scrubbed.”

I enjoyed my long, warm shower. I washed my hair and dried it. Rubbed on body lotion, sprayed on perfume.

Then I went to the top of the stairs and called down, “Jon! Jon, I need you.”

I went over to the bed and reclined on it in what I thought would be a provocative position. I arranged two long silk scarves over my body. One covering my breasts, the other covering my lower abdomen.

Jon stopped just inside the door, surprise registering on his face. Surprise and delight. “What did I do to deserve this?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“
Get over here,” I said, “and I’ll tell you just what you did.”

And in two swift strides, he was at my side, then on the bed with me, then stretching out beside me.

I took his hand, lifted it to my lips, and kissed it. Then I placed it on my belly.

“
Papa Bear, meet Baby Bear.”

###