No Accounting for Murder

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Both men stared at her, their mouths hanging open. Carly would have laughed at the picture except for the seriousness of the situation.

Bert gathered his wits first. "What do you mean, you know who did it? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Right before I fell asleep last night, my brain connected all the dots. I know who and why." She leaned back on the pillow. Her head started to throb again and she really wanted to go back to sleep. "I don't know exactly how to prove it, that's all."

Mike paced the room, something he always did when trying to work through a problem. "This isn't one of your little mysteries you watch on TV. This is someone's life." He whirled to face her. "You can't accuse someone without evidence."

"I know I don't have actual evidence. But I do know who did it and why, and I'm pretty sure I know how." She turned to fix her stare on the hapless Sheriff. "The tricky part will be getting the person to confess in front of Bert."

Bert tried to avoid her gaze.

She pressed on. "Isn't that right, Bert? If I can get them to confess, that's all you need?"

Bert cleared his throat "Look Carly, you had another close call with death, by person or persons unknown. I don't want to discourage you, but I also don't want you to mess up this case, either."

"Mess up this case? You wouldn't have a case if it weren't for me." Carly face grew hot. "You were ready to close it as a suicide until I started looking into it."

Bert cast a quick glance at Mike.

Mike sat and leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. "Not getting between the two of you." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "That could be more dangerous than whoever is out there gunning for-" He swallowed hard. "I can't believe this is happening to us, to you."

Bert strode to the window. "We appreciate all you've done to help us out. But someone has tried to kill you twice. You've been threatened. And it's because you're getting too close to the ones who are involved. This is bigger than you and bigger than me. I'm going to call in the State Bureau of Investigation in the morning and let the big guys take over. And-" He turned to fix a glare on Carly. "-they will want you out of this altogether."

Carly listened calmly to Bert and then spoke as if he hadn't said a word. "See, I think if I can get the person to admit what they did, and you can arrest them, I'll be safe. Then I can focus on the board meeting at the school tomorrow and clearing Denise's name." She folded her arms and smiled at the Sheriff. "How does that sound?"

Mike and Bert looked at each other for several moments.

Finally, Mike shrugged and turned back to his wife. "I suspect if we don't go along with you on this, you're going to try to do it yourself and then we might not be here to help if things get out of hand." He squeezed her fingers. "Am I right?"

"I'm no damsel-in-distress who needs rescuing." She sat forward and straightened the blanket covering her legs. "I think a jury would be more likely to accept the ear-witness testimony of a peace officer than only my word. Am I right, Bert?"

"Unfortunately, she's right, Mike." Bert sighed loudly and sat in his chair. "Tell me what you have so far and I'll decide if it's enough to go forward with the next step."

"Well, let me tell you who I've eliminated and see if you agree with my reasoning."

Bert pulled out his notebook and pen. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"Okay, first, although Mr. Daniels had means, since he has experience with cars and could have tampered with my brakes and he had a possible motive with Midwest connections from his last job, he had no opportunity. I checked with his secretary and he was teaching a class at the time Mayor Wells died."