The Unkindness of Ravens M. Hilliard (popular novels txt) 📖

I listed my suspects. Because the police always put the spouse at the top of the list, I started with Vince. I added Ed Dexter and Millicent Ames, as both had a beef with Joanna. Underneath them went Felicity and Matthew Prentiss, because both were tied into what Joanna had been researching. Which one of these would have a reason to kill her?

Once again, I started with Vince. He had a large life-insurance policy on her, and there was perhaps some professional jealousy there. He had also been seen looking tight with his old flame, Felicity. But still, that didn’t hang together for me. Joanna was the brains behind their business, and also had the steady paycheck. Vince was going to be hard pressed to run a small business on his own while raising two young children. While he seemed to be genuinely fond of Felicity, I didn’t sense any great passion there. And if it was Vince, who had attacked him and why?

On to Ed Dexter. He and Joanna had fought, and if she was determined to get him fired, she wouldn’t rest until she’d accomplished her goal. If he was in line for a promotion to a major network or a bigger market, he couldn’t risk even a hint of scandal. With his ego, he might believe assaulting her was justified; he might have intended to scare her rather than kill her. The drugs were a wild card. All bets were off if he were high.

Millicent. A dark horse, in my opinion. While she and Joanna were on opposite sides in the new library debate, I couldn’t see her committing murder at this stage of the game. But there was that argument with Vince. I could still hear the venom in her voice when she said “blackmail.” Joanna had clearly been nosing around the archives. Did the two of them have something on the infinitely respectable Millicent Ames? I reviewed the vague rumors about wills and deeds. The James Family Trust. Millicent was tied into everything around the manor, according to Vince. Old sins cast long shadows. If there was some physical evidence tying Millicent to a scandal it could explain the attack on Vince and the interrupted search of his pockets. It could even explain Joanna’s death—an attack that went wrong. But there was the shoulder issue. I doubted she had the strength. I couldn’t rule out Millicent, though my theory relied on a lot of “ifs,” and I thought it unlikely that she was the killer.

This brought me to Felicity and Matthew. Matthew was planning on running for a local office, and Joanna had been investigating his past. The only things she had come up with were tragedies. Not only were they already known, if presented correctly they would engender sympathy. Unless there was something more to them.

What were the possibilities? The drowning seemed to be a tragic accident, witnessed at least in part by two people. What if they had goaded Carol into the water to teach her a lesson, with tragic results? Could they have maintained the lie this long? The boys had been questioned by the police at the time and their story had held. Vince acknowledged being first into the water, but Matthew was right there with him and may have saved the younger boy by ordering him out of the strong current. Or so they said. Vince’s recital of the events had the ring of truth, as did his statement that he didn’t see how it had any bearing. I was inclined to believe he was being straight with me.

Marjorie Douglas was another story. No witnesses. The only other people in the house were two small children and two adults, sound asleep after a day of shoveling and childcare. Mary Alice said Felicity had been exhausted and at the end of her rope for some time. Felicity had wanted help with the old woman, but had been denied. Felicity had been in charge of locking up, and apparently failed to secure the kitchen door. Felicity had then slept through the night, she said, hearing nothing.

Felicity. It was possible. A young mother with a toddler and a colicky infant, saddled with a mother-in-law whose dementia was advancing and who didn’t want her out of sight, may have reached her breaking point. Had she decided to set the stage for an accident? She would only be hastening an end that was inevitable, but one that would be excruciating to witness, exhausting to manage and could drag on by degrees for years. Had Felicity planted the suggestion in Marjorie’s mind that night, or unlocked the door and left the rest to fate?

I shuddered. I didn’t want to think it of her, but I couldn’t rule it out. If Joanna had figured it out, or was close, it gave Felicity a motive to silence her. I remembered the file on the flash drive labeled “FEL.” I’d thought it was typo, but maybe not. I scribbled my theory next to her name, and went back to my notes.

Everyone had a motive. Some were stronger than others, but motive alone would not give me my answer. So, who could have done it, physically?

I started at the top of my list, ignoring my new prime suspect in the interest of fairness. Vince had been downtown shooting the Haunted Albany documentary, but had come back to the village for a forgotten piece of equipment. The timing was tight but he could have done it, especially if the supposedly forgotten item was in his trunk all along. He was strong enough, and knew his way around the building.

Ed Dexter was known to be in the area and had the physical strength. While he had been seen at dinner with his co-workers and later at the Java Joint, not every minute of his time was accounted for. On the other hand, he would have had to arrange a meeting with Joanna in advance, and gotten in and out