Progressive Dinner Deadly: Myrtle #2

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Myrtle swallowed hard. "I suppose so, If you really want to visit, Simon. How's that leg of yours doing? That's a nasty bite Kojak gave you." 

Simon growled, "Stupid dog. I knew you'd figured out I killed Cullen when you were looking at my leg." 

"Willow told me that Kojak hated you. And I knew you were lying about cutting Cullen's grass because I saw Tiny Kirk doing yard work there the day of Cullen's murder. But you're wrong-I didn't put it all together until right before you walked through my door." She summoned up the old schoolteaching voice that used to have a quelling effect on Simon in the classroom. "This is stupid, Simon. Put that knife down. You're only adding to your problems." 

He shook his head, emphatically. "Math never was your strong suit, Miss Myrtle. I'm thinking if I get rid of you now then I'm actually subtracting from my problems. Everyone thinks Cullen killed Jill, either in a drunken rage or because he wanted to be free to marry someone else and couldn't afford a divorce. And then Cullen conveniently killed himself out of guilt. But you..." now his voice snarled, "had to start nosing around. Why'd you care? What possible difference could it make to you?" 

"The police already knew it was murder," said Myrtle, shifting her weight onto her cane. They knew right away, because of the note you wrote. None of this is my fault, Simon. It's your fault for writing the suicide note you did. It's your fault for being on bad terms with Kojak. And it's your fault for killing your brother." Myrtle was going to talk as much and as long as she could. The more she talked, the better a chance she had at getting out of this fix. 

"My brother." Simon laughed brokenly. "Half-brother by blood and never a real brother to me in any sense of the word."  

"I remember when you were both in school together," mused Myrtle. "You were always the dutiful older brother, weren't you? Always doing your homework, making good grades. And Cullen...." 

"Cullen was a loser. As always." Simon's voice was harsh. "He never did anything he was supposed to do. He cheated his way through school, and people always, always liked him. Our dad loved him." He stopped abruptly. Myrtle looked closely at him. It looked like he was choking back tears.  

"Surely he loved you, too?" said Myrtle, leading him on. 

"No! He never did. And when dad got sick, Cullen got to him with his lies. He told Dad that I..."  

Myrtle's mind whirled. What kind of lie was guaranteed to upset Joel Caulfield the most about his son? Drugs? That he'd gotten some girl pregnant? That he didn't want to join the family business? Then she had an idea. "He told your father you were gay. That would have been the unforgivable sin for Joel Caulfield, wasn't it? To him that would have been a direct slap at him. It would have undermined his own masculinity, and that was very important to him. I remember he was a big athlete and outdoorsman." 

Simon's eyes glittered. "It was all a lie. Cullen knew Dad would disown me and he could take the inheritance for himself. And that's what happened." 

"And it's been eating away at you for years," said Myrtle. "You hated your brother for that, didn't you?" 

"Not only did he turn my father against me, but he took the money that should have been mine and drank it away." Simon spat the words out. 

"Did your wife know you felt this way?" Myrtle did want to know. But she was even more interested in stalling Simon. Was there any way she could use her cane to dislodge the knife? 

The mention of his wife erased some of the lines on Simon's face. "Libba didn't know anything about it," he said. "She would just have been upset about Cullen's lies. She just knew I couldn't stand him."