Deadly Notions - By Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page 0,18

what I’ve heard, there were more than a few women present at yesterday’s birthday party who expressed an interest in doing exactly what was done.”

She looked a question at him, her mouth suddenly too dry to speak.

“She was strangled, Victoria, remember? Which leads me back to my question. Do you know of anyone who may have wanted to kill Ashley Lawson?”

“Of course not,” she gasped. “Who would want to murder a little girl’s mother?”

“I can think of several people who might fit that description thanks to a witness who stood right outside this library yesterday evening and heard the threats.”

“The threats?” She leaned back in her chair, her mind rewinding back to the previous evening. The part of the party that had been outside had involved the cake and presents as well as time on the tire swing. And unlike the costume changes and subsequent little shows that had taken place inside the children’s room, that part of the party had needed little more than visual supervision, allowing the moms plenty of opportunity to talk.

And talk they had.

About Ashley . . .

And how they’d like to strangle her . . .

She gripped the edge of the desk as reality hit with a smack to the head. If a witness had conveyed what was said, that same witness had surely pointed fingers at specific people.

Like Margaret Louise . . .

And Melissa . . .

And Beatrice . . .

And Rose . . .

And Leona . . .

And Debbie . . .

And Dixie . . .

And Caroline Rowen . . .

And Samantha Smith . . .

And me.

She gulped. “Chief Dallas, people say things out of frustration all the time. Especially when they’ve been pushed the way Ashley Lawson pushed them both last night and during countless other events for their children.”

“Go on . . .”

“People say stuff like that all the time. It doesn’t mean they’re going to run out and do it.”

“Say stuff like what, Victoria?” the chief prodded.

“Like, she makes me so mad I could strangle her. Or like, sometimes I could just kill her.” She raked a trembling hand through her hair as she tried to convince him she was right. “It’s normal, Chief. Everyone says that kind of stuff at one time or another. It doesn’t mean someone is actually going to do it.”

Chief Dallas shifted in his seat, his unreadable gaze fixed squarely on her face. “But see that’s where you’re wrong, Victoria. Someone did do it. To Ashley Lawson. In the very same manner that was volleyed around by as many as ten people yesterday evening.”

“Ten?” she repeated as her mind began to count the culprits.

He nodded and flipped to an earlier page in his notepad. “Margaret Louise Davis, her daughter-in-law Melissa Davis, Leona Elkin, Beatrice Tharrington, Dixie Dunn, Rose Winters, Debbie Calhoun, Caroline Rowen, Samantha Smith . . .”

She mentally followed along with his list, her thoughts sifting through the various names in order to come up with anyone who hadn’t uttered a derogatory word about the high maintenance mom who’d stood poised and ready to ruin Sally’s party any number of times. That is until her boss had shown up and cast an evil eye over their fun.

Ashley’s boss. Regina Murphy. The woman who had pointed Chief Dallas in their direction.

“Oh, and you, Victoria.”

At the sound of her name she snapped her head up. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

His eyes narrowed to near slits. “Did you express a desire to strangle Ashley Lawson, Victoria?”

Pushing back in her chair, she stood, anger clipping her words. “Was I one of the ones who verbalized a desire to strangle Mrs. Lawson? No. I wasn’t. I did, however, speculate it was a good thing the rope from the tire swing had been secured by a former Boy Scout.”

“And why would you say something like that?”

“Because Ashley Lawson brought new meaning to the word rude. And in doing so she rubbed everyone at the party the wrong way, including me. Only instead of saying the words your witness overheard on the tongues of many, I simply took the joke in a different direction.” She walked to the door of her office and waited, her actions making her intent crystal clear. “And that’s what those comments were, jokes. Jokes made in an attempt to diffuse the unnecessary tension spread across a special event by the victim. Nothing more.”

Chief Dallas rose to his feet, stuffing his notepad into his back pocket as he did. With several long strides he met and