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“The money?”
“Yourinheritance,” said Decker. He looked at Southern. “You wanted Carolineandher fortune. But there was no way you were getting that if Hugh found out about you two. That’s why you wanted to keep it secret. You knew what happened to Junior. You needed Hugh gone. So you fed us a bullshit story about Stuart McClellan lusting after Maddie Dawson and your theory that he had killed her. And that her husband suspected and picked now to exact his revenge. The puffer fish toxin was a neat touch. If we check the records, I think it will show that you obtained it somehow. Once he ingested that, it would have been easy for you to drive him out to where he was found and set up the carbon monoxide death trap.”
“But why kill Stuart?” asked Kelly.
“To give a motive for Hugh to kill himself,” replied Decker.
“But what about his suicide note?” said Dawson. “People said it was his handwriting.”
“We had an expert examine it. It was forged. By Liz. She’d known Hugh a long time. She’s probably seen many examples of his handwriting.”
“You have no proof, Decker,” said Southern. “Not a shred of it. But I have proof, of being slandered by you.”
“Well, in addition to Cramer’s car in your outbuilding, here’s some evidence that will knock your socks off.”
He pulled an evidence pack from his jacket pocket. Inside was a blouse. “We got a warrant to search your house in town. We found this and your slacks in your dry cleaning bag. This is the blouse you wore to the hospital when you came to check on Caroline, the same day her father was killed. You really should have gotten it cleaned right away.”
Southern looked nervously at the blouse, while Dawson looked on in confusion.
Decker said, “Caroline, I explained to you already my theory of how your father was murdered using the extra-long twine. Well, I had the FBI medical examiner analyze this blouse today. Do you know what he found?” When she didn’t answer, Decker said, “Your father’s blood. Perfect match.” He paused to let this sink in with the woman before glancing at Southern. “Even if you were a forensics expert, there’s never a way to really perfectly predict how blood and DNA spatters are going to fall with a shotgun in play, even if you were kneeling on the other side of the desk. You probably didn’t even notice the drops hit you. But the bottom line is, there is no way that trace would have been on your blouse unless you had been in the room when the shotgun was fired, Liz. So there’s your proof.”
“My God, Liz,” said Kelly, shaking his head in disbelief.
Caroline looked at the other woman. “My father, Liz. You did that to my father.”
Southern’s expression turned contemptuous. “A man who would have loathed you if he knew you had been with me. And look what he did to your dear brother. So was it really that big a loss?”
“I . . . I can’t believe you’re even saying that. You killed him!”
Southern shook her head, smiled, and said, “But, Decker, you’re not quite as smart as you think you are.”
“How’s that?” he asked.
“My neighbor told me about your visit to my house. And how you came out carrying some of my clothes.”
Decker looked warily at her.
“It’s why I told you we needed to get away to Canada, Caroline,” said Southern. “I thought Decker might be showing up soon.” She looked at Decker. “Remember when I told you my dad fought in Vietnam, and brought back some curiosities?”
“What about it?” said Decker.
“Here’s one of them.” Southern withdrew her hand from her pocket. In it was a grenade.
“No, Liz, don’t!” screamed Dawson.
Southern pulled the pin and threw it at Decker.
DECKER GRABBEDJAMISONand yanked her from the room and out onto the front porch.
The blast blew out the front windows, and the front wall partially collapsed on them, but it had also taken the brunt of the explosion, leaving them bruised but not seriously injured.
They staggered up and looked around.
“Where’s Kelly?” shouted Jamison.
They pushed through the debris and went back inside the house to find the front room demolished.
They saw Kelly climbing out a broken window at the rear of the room. He was all bloody and one of his arms was dangling by his side.
