Murder Has a Sweet Tooth - By Miranda Bliss Page 0,73
to McLean emergency services.
The paramedics had arrived in short order. So had the cops. Through it all and a haze of tears, I’d stood aside and kept out of the way, just like they told me to. I hadn’t even realized I was swaying on my feet and nauseous, too, until Tyler showed up out of nowhere, told me to sit down, and proceeded to make sure I didn’t throw up and spoil the pristine landscaping.
After a couple more minutes, the pressure of Tyler’s hand decreased and I dared to raise my head. I was just in time to see the paramedics wheel Beth out on a stretcher. There was a white sheet over her face.
My stomach swooped again and this time, I didn’t need Tyler to tell me what to do. I hung my head between my knees and tried to block out the clinking and clanking as the stretcher was loaded into the ambulance.
It wasn’t until the ambulance pulled out of the driveway that I picked up my head. “What are you doing here?” It was a stupid question at a time like that, but I wasn’t about to argue with my more sensible self. If I focused on facts, I could avoid thinking about everything I’d seen there in Beth’s foyer, how that beautiful ecru tile had been dotted with color. Some of it was bits and pieces of Michael’s art glass collection. More of it was blood. “How did you—”
“I just so happened to be having lunch with one of the guys I know on the McLean department, and I heard the call come in. I recognized Beth’s name, and the address. I told my buddy whatever happened here might have something to do with a case I was working on.”
“In other words, you lied.” In other circumstances, I might have given him a one-upmanship smile. This time, I didn’t even try. “Do you think it has something to do with Vickie’s death? It can’t be . . .” The word stuck in my throat. I cleared it away. “It can’t be murder, can it?”
Tyler glanced toward the house. “Too early to tell,” he said. “But I did hear a couple of the crime scene techs talking. There’s evidence of what might have been a struggle at the top of the steps.”
“Someone pushed her?” I closed my eyes, but that did nothing to erase the image that formed in my mind. I gulped down the sour taste in my mouth. “You think the two murders are related?”
“A little too coincidental if they’re not.”
“You thought Beth murdered Vickie.”
He sucked on his teeth, stalling before he admitted he was wrong. “It was a theory. I never said I knew it for certain.”
“But Beth couldn’t have been the murderer. Not if someone murdered her.”
“We’re getting way ahead of ourselves.” Tyler sat down on the porch steps next to me. The steps were wide and we were way off to the side, the better to keep to ourselves and not get in anyone’s way. “Last night, you said Beth was blackmailing Edward Monroe.”
I nodded. “She wanted her husband to get a promotion. And she wanted her son to play soccer, too. Edward’s the team coach, and Jeremy’s an awful soccer player. She said that if Edward didn’t let Jeremy play—”
Tyler held up a hand to stop me. “Are you saying she was blackmailing him about soccer? It’s that important?”
“To these people it is. It all is. Where they live and who they know and what their kids have accomplished. Or not accomplished. Do you think Edward could have killed Beth?”
“Can’t say. It’s way too early to tell.” He looked like he wished he could say more. “But I’ll let my friend on the force here know what’s been going on. I’ll tell him to check out Monroe’s alibi. And the whole blackmailing angle. I don’t suppose you have any proof that Beth was telling the truth about that?”
“Not a shred. She did say she mentioned it to Edward and he acted like he didn’t know what she was talking about. So she wrote him a note. She tucked it in a sympathy card she sent after Vickie’s death.” The look I gave him was hopeful. “I don’t suppose—”
“That he kept it? Nobody’s that stupid.” Tyler looked disappointed that it was true. He stood. “That doesn’t mean the local guys can’t check it out. In fact—”
He stopped midsentence when a car sped into the driveway. Its driver, Michael, slammed on the