Digging Up The Dirt

“I’m sorry,” An’gel said, “but I’m not really sorry. They wouldn’t stop her, so I decided to. Sometimes you simply can’t treat a woman like a lady, and it takes another woman to treat her like the witch she is.” She strode back into the parlor, her heart beating furiously from the aftermath of her actions. She dropped the mace in her purse and sat abruptly.

Dickce and Coriander were looking after Reba until an ambulance arrived. An’gel prayed they arrived in time. She hoped the bullet hadn’t hit a vital artery.

Thank the Lord this is over now. Lottie was obviously completely crazy. A woman her age thinking she could bear a child. An’gel wondered how long she had been this way, and none of them suspected. She felt sorry for Lottie, and for Reba too. Both women had wasted years of their lives on unrequited passion for one man.

An’gel looked at Hadley. He watched helplessly while his wife and Dickce ministered to Reba. She had loved Hadley herself once, and she still was very fond of him. But was he worth all this? The destruction of several lives?

No, he wasn’t, she decided. No man was.

CHAPTER 35

“I was never so surprised in my life,” An’gel said. “I thought for sure after what happened at Ashton Hall that Lottie was the murderer.”

“Me, too,” Dickce said. “If it hadn’t been for Reba’s confession, though, she would have gotten away with it.”

“Maybe not,” Benjy said. He fed Peanut another tidbit, then gave one to Endora. “You said that her son talked to Deputy Berry at the hospital. Didn’t he tell them he knew she’d killed Mrs. Turnipseed?”

An’gel didn’t normally allow Peanut and Endora to be in the dining room while they ate, but tonight was an exception. Tonight was a celebration that the horrors of the past few days were mostly over.

“Yes, you’re right,” An’gel said. “But would Martin have sat there in court and testified against his mother? I don’t know.”

“I think that’s why Reba confessed,” Dickce said. “She didn’t want Martin to have to go through that. Plus she thought she was dying.”

“It might have been better if she had,” An’gel said. “Though I have very little sympathy for her, frankly.”

“I don’t either,” Dickce said. She picked up her wineglass and finished off the contents. She reached for the bottle and refilled her glass. “She killed three women, put another in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and forced one of her victims to try to kill you.”

“She either used Mrs. Turnipseed’s car or had Mrs. Turnipseed herself run Arliss off the road,” An’gel said. “I don’t know which. That Turnipseed woman was a nasty piece of work.”

“Why was she blackmailing Mrs. Dalrymple?” Benjy asked. “Did you find out?”

“I think it was because she knew Reba killed Callie,” Dickce said. “What did Kanesha tell you about that? You haven’t said.”

An’gel sighed. “It’s all so very sad. It took Kanesha a while to get this part out of Reba, but this is apparently what happened.” She paused a moment. “You remember Coriander told us she saw a car in front of the house when she left for Memphis?”

Dickce nodded. “I’ve told Benjy all about that.”

“That was Reba’s car,” An’gel said. “She had just found out that Hadley was gone, and she drove out to Ashton Hall to confront Callie. She was furious with her because she knew Callie was the reason Hadley had left. He was gone, and she was desperately in love with him. She found Callie and Hamish already having an argument over Hadley. Callie was allegedly pleading with Hamish to allow Hadley to come back, but Hamish wouldn’t budge. Then Reba arrives and immediately starts screaming at Callie. She told Hamish that she knew Hadley and Callie had been having an affair—I think she was more than a bit unhinged back then, because I think it was a lie.”

“Hamish probably went ballistic over that,” Dickce said.

“He did,” An’gel replied. “Reba said he was so enraged that he struck Callie and knocked her down, then he ran out of the room, crying. He thought he’d killed her because she struck her head.”

“Didn’t he?” Benjy asked.

“No,” An’gel said. “Reba did. Callie was in bad shape and might have died, I think, but Reba made sure she did. She picked up Callie’s head and slammed it against the floor. Callie died then.”

“So did Reba make Hamish think he’d done it?” Dickce asked, obviously appalled by the story. She had another sip of wine.

“She did, and she told him she would never tell anyone. She convinced him to bury Callie there at Ashton Hall. Everyone would think Callie had run away to join Hadley, and no one would ever know he killed his wife. Reba said she would make sure the rumor spread.”

“That’s sickening,” Benjy said. “How could she do something like that? Especially since Hadley was long gone.”