Murder Has a Sweet Tooth - By Miranda Bliss Page 0,85

making wasn’t enough to block out Chip’s shrieks.

“We never agreed to this. Not to this.” He was hysterical; he fell to his knees. “We never said we’d hurt a stranger. It’s going to get us in trouble, Edward, and it wasn’t part of the plan. We said we’d kill each other’s wives. We said we’d do it because they deserved it. They were sneaking around behind our backs. They needed to be punished. But this is too much.”

We were at that wide-open grave. I toed the edge, still struggling to keep as far away from the hole as I could, and when Scott and Michael tightened their grips, I knew they were going to heave-ho me down into the hole. Once I was down there, there was no way out. I needed a miracle, or a friend. I’d settle for either, as long as it was fast.

I was so busy struggling and praying and looking for a way out, it took me a second to notice when Scott loosened his hold. Michael did the same. They stepped away from me, and when I looked at them, both of them were staring, mouths open and eyes wide. It didn’t take me longer to figure out why.

Glynis and Celia had stepped out from behind a headstone, and the looks of stunned disbelief on their faces told me they’d heard everything. While the wives were still processing what they’d learned and the husbands were wondering what it all meant and what they were going to do about it, I made my move. There was a shovel nearby, and I reached down and grabbed it. I swung and I swung hard, and at that point, I didn’t care who I hit.

It turned out to be Edward, who staggered, stumbled, and fell into the hole, where he proceeded to swear a blue streak and demanded that his conspirators help him out. But with their ringleader gone, Scott and Michael lost their nerve. They took off running. Weeping, Chip crawled over to Glynis and made a grab for her hand.

She took one look at him and wound an arm through Celia’s; together, the women hurried to my side. They led me over to Celia’s SUV. It had one of those in-car phone systems and the reception was perfect.

Within seconds, we had the police on the phone.

Sixteen

“YOU HEARD? CHIP IS SINGING LIKE A CANARY!” I was in Tyler’s arms. We were dancing, of course! He’d just cut in on me and Alex, and now he twirled me. I waited until the familiar Bellywasher’s scenery settled down before I even tried to answer.

“I’m not surprised,” I said. “It was obvious all along that Chip was upset about something. He felt terrible about what was going on; Vickie’s murder, Beth’s, the idea that one of these days, Glynis was going to be next.”

“Apparently, that’s what he started out feeling so guilty about, knowing that his own wife was going to be murdered. But people like that are all alike. Selfish through and through. By the time it was all over, I think Chip was feeling less worried about Glynis and more concerned that he was going to get caught. It’s no skin off my nose why he decided to talk.” Tyler smiled. No, really, I mean it. Detective Tyler Cooper actually smiled! “Whatever gets him to squeal on his coconspirators is fine by me. They’ve all lawyered up, and it’s not going to do them one bit of good. We’re going to lock the whole bunch of them up for the rest of their days.”

The thought was enough to send a cloud skittering over what had been, until that moment, the happiest day of my life. Believe me, it wasn’t that I felt sorry for Chip, Scott, or Michael, and I especially didn’t feel sorry for Edward. Chip had confirmed my suspicion that the plot was Edward’s brainchild from the start. As soon as he found out what Vickie was doing on Tuesday nights, Edward began following her. And when he learned that the other women were doing the same thing . . . well, Edward was the kind of man whose personal power was hard to resist. He’d proved that when he convinced the other husbands that their wives needed to be punished.

“Poor Vickie and Beth,” I said. “And poor Celia and Glynis. I invited them to the wedding, you know. But I’m not surprised they didn’t come. They’re going to need a lot of time and some