Another thought struck me like a bolt of lightning. I left Miriam staring at me, trying to sort out all my disjointed thoughts. The same scenario I’d worked out if Derek had been the father of Nell’s baby worked if Keith Kincaid was the father of the baby. Only he hadn’t been in the country when Nell was killed. If Nell had tried to blackmail him into staying with her and becoming some kind of a family, he would have relied on the one person he trusted to take care of things.
I was back to Derek.
Only Derek had been at Billy Bob’s when Nell was murdered.
So who?
Where were Will and Sheriff McClaine? I couldn’t . . . I needed fresh air. Or better yet, the ladies’ room. Across the hall. Through the entrance. Up the stairs.
I stopped at the door, more pieces falling into place. Mrs. James had said something about another Kincaid wedding, hadn’t she? But Miriam wasn’t seeing anyone.
Keith Kincaid’s chastisement of Derek circled back to me. “Got one practicing over there,” he’d said. “Even gave her a ring, the fool.”
Mama had put Hoss’s ring on her right hand because she wasn’t ready to go public, just like . . .
I pushed open the door and stepped in before I realized I wasn’t alone. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. My purse sat on the sink, its contents spilled out on the counter. A blur of olive green chiffon. An acrylic-nailed, French-manicured hand held Josie’s first engagement ring.
The scene spun together, becoming a cohesive whole.
The door closed behind me with a quiet whoosh. My gaze lifted. And I stared at the face of a killer.
Chapter 53
My mind suddenly conjured up the voices I’d heard outside Buttons & Bows the night Nell died. Mama and I had overheard an argument. Snippets of conversation. One quiet voice we couldn’t make out, and another, agitated. It hadn’t been lovers.
It had been Nell and Ruthann.
She moved like a gazelle, effortlessly positioning herself between me and the door. “Why?” I asked, but I knew the answer. I’d heard it from Lori Kincaid herself, that first day in Buttons & Bows. It takes time and effort to maintain an image. It’s like a house of cards. One bent corner, and the whole thing comes toppling down.
“Was it the blackmail or the pregnancy?”
The vein at Ruthann’s temple pulsed. “Take your pick. Both? I had to do something. She was going to ruin things for me. The pregnancy was bad enough, but, look, I’m under no illusions. I know Derek really loves me. Men like the Kincaids cheat. And Nell went after him. Mrs. Kincaid learned how to deal with it—”
“Yeah, diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
She flashed the rock on her right hand. “This is my engagement ring.”
“No, it’s your payment for services rendered. He’s been working you, Ruthann. He got you to do his dirty work—don’t you see that?”
Ruthann let the ring drop into her hand, showing it to me on her palm. “Derek said Nell could keep it. It’s worth forty thousand dollars. She could have sold it, raised her kid, and everything would have been fine.”
“But she wanted love, not money.”
Ruthann had killed Nell to protect the reputation of a family she wasn’t even a part of. I didn’t have a sliver of doubt that she’d do it again to protect herself.
The only way out of the bathroom was the door I’d come through. And she was blocking it. I asked her another question to keep her talking while I figured out what to do.
“Do Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid know . . . what you did to Nell?”
“Derek and I planned it together. It was a game—who could come up with the better plan. When he showed me Miriam’s old sewing stuff, I knew it would work. I made sure he went out with friends that night. No one knew about me and him yet.” She smiled softly. “He said he wanted me to be his secret for a while longer.”
My heart went out to her. She really thought Derek would stand by her, and nothing I could say would change her mind. I looked at my purse. “How did you know I had the—”
“You are so talented, Harlow, but you’re not very smart. I watched you at the bar listening to Mr. Kincaid. I’d already put things together. When that shelf at your shop broke and the jars fell, I knew Nell had been trying to hide it, but Karen swept it all up first.
“Then when I saw you grab the jewelry bag from the street after the funeral, I knew you’d figured it out.” She looked at her reflection, then shook her head like she still couldn’t believe it. “You have such a gift. It’s too bad.” She methodically packed up my purse, all except the ring and the velvet drawstring bag.
My useless cell phone mocked me. I’d seen Gracie and Holly text without even looking. Me? I was quick when I was focused. Texting blind on a touch pad?
That was when I noticed it. A length of torn fabric braiding hanging from her hand.
She’d had the element of surprise with Nell, but she didn’t have that with me. I kept at her. “Miriam found out about the diamonds. This family’s coming apart. It’s too late, Ruthann.”
She swallowed, shaken. “What do you mean?”
“I mean—” I began. I heard someone approaching the restroom door. Blood pounded in my throat, but no one came in. My imagination.
“I mean, she knows that her brother is smuggling diamonds from country to country until he can bring them into the States. She knows that Nell was blackmailing the father of her baby and she was killed because of it. She told me everything,” I said, holding my arms out as she took a step toward me, “and I told the sheriff.”
Ruthann let out a guttural screech and lunged, but the door whooshed open, crashing into her. She fell forward, sprawling flat on the ground.
An energized Miriam careened in after her, landing on her back. I grabbed the braided cloth and wound it around Ruthann’s wrists just as Hoss McClaine burst through the door.
He took one look at us, made a quick retreat, and sent in the deputy sheriff in his place. “Let’s go,” she said, hauling Ruthann up. “You have the right to remain silent . . .”
Chapter 54
“You could have died,” Mama said after she’d heard what happened in the ladies’ room.
Ruthann McDaniels was arrested for murder. Keith and Derek Kincaid were taken into custody by the sheriff until the FBI arrived to haul them both away for smuggling conflict diamonds. Not the happiest ending for Josie and Nate’s wedding, but definitely memorable.
“But I didn’t. No one was hurt.” Except Nell.
The pink-streaked petals of the Easter lily quivered. It sat on the coffee table next to the little tin box.
“Mama,” I said with a hiss.
She snapped her gaze to the Easter lily, gave a quick little gasp, and lickety-split, fisted her hands.
Madelyn cocked a curious eyebrow. “What’s going on—”
Mama’s effort to stop wasn’t working. The flower whiffled its petals. I watched helplessly as the lily grew larger before our eyes.
“Oh!” Madelyn covered her mouth with one hand, pointing a giddy finger at the flower with the other. “Oh, look! Am I . . . is that real?” She looked at Mama, who’d cracked one eye to look at what her agitation about my encounter with a murderer was doing to the pretty flower. Madelyn’s husband, Bill, was in the kitchen fixing drinks for us. Thankfully. “I knew it!” Madelyn exclaimed.
“Mama, stop!” I ordered.
Her face was fully contorted now. She was no dainty Samantha Stevens from Bewitched, wiggling her pert little nose to put chaos in order. The streak in her hair looked more pronounced the more effort she exerted. Her face turned the color of a radish and she looked ready to blow.