I looked over the railing and could see a faint light. The odor of gasoline was everywhere. I got panicky and slowly descended the stairs.
To my horror, I saw Maggie and Allison sitting in chairs, bound and gagged. I ran over to Maggie, she had a horrified look on her face as she frantically shook her head.
I knelt and took her gag off.
"Kate behind you!" she screamed.
I turned and jumped at the same time.
Something hit me and I went flying into a bunch of boxes that came showering down on me. I was stunned but still able to kick the boxes away. As I struggled to get to my feet, preparing for another attack, I saw Sarah, wild eyed and smiling wickedly.
I made a move toward her then abruptly stopped when I saw she had a small handgun pointed at my midsection. It was a definite equalizer. I straightened and stood perfectly still.
"Good girl, Miss Ryan, though you"re not as stupid as I hoped. Now, step over there, into the light." She motioned with the gun.
I slowly made my way toward the desk and stood by the desk lamp.
Maggie and Allison sat right in the line of fire. As Sarah moved forward, I noticed a kerosene lamp on another desk. She saw me looking at it.
"Be careful, scarecrow," she said, pointing to the gasoline can. "You are tenacious. I"ll give you that. I thought you"d give up," she said sweetly.
"When, Sarah? When you broke into the house the other night and left that sick note on Maggie"s pillow?"
She gave me an approving look. "Very good! You figured it out. What gave me away? I thought the disguise went well. I love disguises. I do so love Halloween," she said maniacally.
My mouth was completely dry as I tried to swallow. This woman was nuts. "Your perfume," I said. "I thought you were wearing it at Hannah"s party as well. You were, weren"t you?"
"Yes, yes, I was. You"re very good. That was stupid of me." She laughed then stopped abruptly. "You know I have to kill you now."
"Please, Aunt Sarah, you don"t want to do this," Maggie pleaded.
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Oh, but I do, dear. You have no idea how much," she said and pointed the gun at her.
I took a step and Sarah turned the gun on me and said playfully, "Ah, ah, ah. No sudden movements or I"ll blow your meddling head right off."
She turned back to Maggie. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you"ve caused? Between you, your wh.o.r.e of a mother and the whole Winfield family, it"s been quite an exasperating twenty years, I must tell you," she said, shaking her head.
She walked over to Allison and took the gag off. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" she asked flatly. "You are a grave disappointment to me, Allison. I had such hopes for you," she said, almost sadly as she stared off into the distance.
"Sarah, please don"t do this," Allison pleaded.
"Shut up, you useless cow," Sarah said then sighed with mock exasperation.
We all were silent for a moment; I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I cautiously looked around for something-anything.
Then the crazed woman blinked. "Where was I? Oh, yes, Maggie dear," and she stared off again, but this time she had the gun pointed at Maggie.
"Sarah, why did you kill Miranda?" I asked quickly.
I noticed Maggie and Allison were completely shocked. It was all clear to me now. All the pieces fit. A little late, but...
Sarah whirled around to me and stiffened. Her face looked pained and white.
"So, you figured that out, too. My, my, you have been a busy bee."
She gave Maggie a disgusted look. "Did you know your wh.o.r.e of a mother was sleeping with your Uncle Nathan-my husband?" she asked. "And-"
Maggie interrupted her. "Yes, I did."
Sarah screamed at her. "Don"t interrupt me again!"
Spittle flew from her mouth, making her look like a rabid animal. I instinctively took a step then stopped.
"Good thinking," Sarah said viciously without looking at me.
Clearly, this woman hated interruptions.
She took a deep breath and put a hand to her hair to straighten it. "Did you also know that your uncle is also your father?" she asked, laughing helplessly. "Oh, the trouble you"ve caused."
I looked at Maggie. She was ashen. Sarah looked from Maggie to Alison.
"I"ll take your vapid looks as a no," she said, obviously very satisfied with herself. She looked at me. "How about you? I bet you knew."
I watched Maggie who looked sad and confused. She undoubtedly was thinking about her life.
I gave Sarah a hateful look. "I had an idea," I said, with disgust. "It seemed a plausible conclusion from Nathan"s affair with Miranda and from the pictures in her locket. I"m sure a paternity test would eliminate any doubt. However, I have a bigger question: Why did you fight Jonathon over something as stupid as the clinic?"
It was then I realized my mistake. Never say stupid to an insane woman with a gun. Especially when it"s pointed at you.
"Stupid? That clinic was my life, Miss Ryan. It was mine, all mine. The only thing in my life that was my own. Except for Charlie. Alexander f.u.c.ked me and then took it and gave it to Jon, who was going to f.u.c.k me and sell it to a big medical group in Chicago. And you know I simply couldn"t let that happen."
"So, you took Maggie"s car and went to Chicago," I asked. It was all becoming clear to me.
"How did you...?" She stopped and took a deep, angry breath. "Bedford. I hate that guy. He was the rat in the Winfield woodpile. Allison tells me you found a notebook."
Maggie shot a look at Allison, who hung her head. What a dupe. "Don"t blame Allison," Sarah said. "She can"t keep her trap shut. What Charlie saw in you, I will never know."
Sarah leaned against the desk. I stole glance at Maggie and Allison: Both looked petrified.
"We found a man"s coat b.u.t.ton in Bedford"s apartment. That was you?" I asked.
"Yep. I was looking for the same thing you were, earlier that morning. I thought if I dropped Nathan"s coat b.u.t.ton, someone would find it. Allison told me you thought the intruder was a female, so I needed to throw you off the track. Clever?" she asked, giggling.
It was then I noticed her hand was shaking. I figured it was not a good time to aggravate her any more. "Yes, it was very clever."
"Thank you," she said and curtsied politely.
She was just plain nuts and I was running out of time.
"Okay, enough talking," she said tiredly. "You bore me."
She picked up a gasoline can from behind her. She began to pour it all over the floor and on the boxes.
"Now, Miss Ryan, come over here please. Come, come, don"t be shy," she motioned with the gun.
I glanced at Maggie; she had tears in her eyes.
"Katie, no," she pleaded, quietly.
"Very touching," Sarah said impatiently.
"Why Sarah?" I asked again, looking for time. "Was it so horrible that Maggie would have control of the clinic now that Jonathan was dead?"
She glared at me and I thought for sure she was going to shoot me right then and there.
"Yes, it was!" she spat out angrily. "Do you have any idea what I"ve done for that clinic? I gave my life, and deserved to have it, but no, that old fop Winfield had to give it Jon, who had to give it to Maggie, who will now, give-it-back-to-me," she said emphatically, then sighed. "They all talked about me behind my back, you know," she said with psychotic frankness. "They did. They thought I couldn"t hear them, but I heard them. I heard them all the time, plotting to get Miranda-the-Lovely in. Miranda-the-Lovely, Miranda-the-Wh.o.r.e. I even heard them in my sleep. But I got them in the end," she said, glaring at me.
I was petrified and my heart beat like a drum. Okay, Steve, anytime.
Sarah continued, wiping the saliva from her mouth. "Well, I hated her," she said. "I hated her so much I wanted her dead! Do you understand me, dead! But I got the old fool and Jonathan to get me on the Board. I deserved it. Then Nathan had to wh.o.r.e around and get Miranda pregnant. They were ruining everything, all my plans. Everything was fine until a few months ago," she said vehemently. "Jon was a greedy man, just like his father."
She was now pacing like a caged lion. She then stopped and looked at me.
"I wanted it all. I wouldn"t let them destroy what I planned." She gave me a quizzical look. "Did you know I seduced Maggie"s grandfather? He thought he could discard me, so did Jonathan. Well, I proved all of them wrong.
"Maggie is the only stumbling block, and soon she"ll be out of the way. She"d already be dead if you hadn"t come along last Thursday, you and your stinking dog. That put a crimp in the weekend festivities," she said and looked at Maggie. "You were supposed to die on Halloween, like your mother. But no! Nature girl had to show up. But no matter."
"Why did you kill my mother?" Maggie asked.
"Why did you kill my mother?" Sarah repeated in a whiny voice. "G.o.d, you are such a little sap," she said, appearing completely exasperated. "You are like your father." She looked at me. "Go ahead, you tell her," she said and rolled her eyes in a psychotically comical fashion, waving her gun in the air. "No, let me, we"re running out of time. Quite simply, Nathan was going to leave me, and that could not happen. And she came so willingly," she said almost reverently.
"Why did she come so willingly?" I asked. The question bugged me this entire week.
Sarah looked down, raised her eyebrows and smiled like a child. "Well, I told you I liked Halloween. I left her a note on her pillow, too, as if it were from Nathan, saying that he loved her and needed desperately to talk to her. I put on Nathan"s clothes and the stupid idiot thought I was Nathan and came to me with open arms," she said, chuckling in disbelief. I was terrified.
"So you buried the jewelry?" I asked. She was nuts enough to answer all my questions. I was biding time until the cavalry got here.
She laughed. "Yep. Tried to get your little cur, but, boy, that dog is fast." She shook her head in amazement.
"She knows crazy when she sees it. Up your meds, Aunt Sarah," Maggie said sarcastically. Sarah glared at her and took a step.
Dammit Maggie.
"Now, Maggie," I said evenly and Sarah stopped and c.o.c.ked her head in my direction. "This took a lot of planning," I said with admiration, I hope.
Sarah curtsied again. "Thank you, again. I still have to kill you, but at least you appreciate me."
She walked over to Maggie and slapped her across the face, it sounded like a whip cracking. Maggie"s head snapped to one side and I flinched, but stood still. "That"s for not appreciating me," she said sweetly and turned away.
"Continue, Miss Ryan. I love to hear my exploits," she leaned against the desk, but kept the gun pointed directly at me.
I swallowed and continued. "You took the evidence didn"t you? Got us out of the house by duping Allison. She took Maggie for a walk and I"ll bet you even suggested the lake. When we all went to look for her, you grabbed the bags-but why hide them in the cellar?" I asked another nagging question.
She looked at Maggie. "Out of all the Winfields, I truly like Hannah, but she was a fly in my ointment that night. She followed me everywhere. Chattering away, blah, blah-blah, blah-blah. I swear if I had a gun, as I do now, I"d have shot her. So, when I had a moment to myself I tried to leave but there she was again, and got me in the kitchen. When she asked me to go get a bottle of wine, that"s when I had the idea. Clever, Miss Ryan?"
"Yes, very clever. You hid it on top of the wine rack then unlocked the cellar door. That"s why you offered to check the cellar, to make sure no one else would go down there. It was you who came back that night, am I right?"
She glared at me. "Yes, and you screwed that up for me as well. You are beginning to annoy me as much as Maggie." She lifted the gun.
"Sarah, why kill Bedford?" Allison asked quickly.
Sarah glared at her, and then looked at me. "Continue, continue. It"s all right so far. Not that it matters, you"re all dead," her voice was void of any emotion.
"Because he knew and threatened to expose you. I bet that"s what he was telling you after he fixed your horse that morning by the stable. Did you argue that night? So, you took a shovel, bashed in his skull and dragged him over to Thunder"s stall. It was supposed look like another accident," I said.
"And why didn"t it look like an accident?" she asked and waited for an answer.
"Because-" I started to explain.
Sarah interrupted me and screamed in my direction. "Because you are a meddling b.i.t.c.h!"
I flinched and took a step back. Who was I to argue? I"d been called worse, but never from someone this insane.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said calmly, "Okay. Now, Miss Ryan, as I said before, come over here." I didn"t move. "Fine. I"ll just shoot your beloved Maggie and be done with it." She pointed the gun at Maggie.
"Okay, Sarah, okay," I said quickly and started to move in her direction.
I purposely walked around both Maggie and Allison and walked away from them, to get them out of the line of fire, if there was going to be any. I noticed there was a sheet or tablecloth of some sort covering one of the boxes next to Sarah. If I could only fling it at her, maybe...
As I made my way over to her, we heard a noise. Someone was knocking and banging at the door upstairs. Sarah flinched for a second, which gave me just enough time.
I lunged for her and she fired in my direction, then quickly took the lantern and threw it past me. It crashed into the boxes, which immediately burst into flames. I tackled her and grabbed for the gun. We struggled and I was amazed at her strength. She was grunting and whining, trying to get the upper hand, as she did when we tangled before. Mercifully, the gun flew out of her hands.
By now, there was smoke everywhere, and the flames were engulfing everything in sight. I reared back and punched her dead in the face. She screamed and folded onto the floor.
I could barely see anything as I ran to Maggie and Allison. I fumbled with Maggie"s ropes and finally got her free. She threw her arms around my neck and I hugged her for dear life, then pulled away.
In the distance, I could hear someone coming down the stairs. From behind me, I heard a growl and then a scream. I threw Maggie out of the way and I heard a gun go off.
I turned and stared at Sarah, who was standing in front of me with a bewildered look on her face.
Then, all at once, blood oozed out of her mouth and she dropped face down on the floor. I watched for a stunned second, then ran over to Maggie, who was not moving. With all the confusion, I thought Maggie was shot by Sarah.
Steve was at Allison"s chair untying her, before he quickly guided her through the smoke and up the stairs.
I picked up Maggie and carried her to the stairs. Coughing uncontrollably, I couldn"t see a thing. I blindly climbed the stairs behind Steve, who had picked up Allison and now carried her.
Once outside, Mac met me and grabbed Maggie as I fell to my knees. Teri had her arm around my shoulders as I coughed.