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That did make the case a little less brutal. Intent was everything. “Your guilt or innocence is something for a jury to decide. You were party to a kidnapping and murder, and you poisoned your ex-boyfriend,” Tom added. “I’m sorry to tell you that you’re under arrest. The deputy will read you your rights.”
While the deputy did that, Tom spoke to a distraught Downing. He didn’t mention his suspicion that she might have poisoned his wife as well. That would be another case if and when the district attorney decided to prosecute it.
“It helps a little that they didn’t mean to kill Julie,” Downing said curtly, “but I can’t forget the way she looked. Frozen to death. Poor thing. It was heartless.”
Tom nodded.
“I never liked May. She convinced me that Julie wasn’t doing what was needed for my wife. I loved my wife,” he added with grief in his very posture. “After she . . . passed, nothing much mattered anymore. I should have paid more attention to what was going on. I knew Julie didn’t like May and that it was mutual. May said my blood pressure was very high and needed careful monitoring.” He grimaced. “Maybe I just liked being fussed over. I missed my wife. She was always watching out for me, taking care of me until, at the end, I took care of her. Now Julie’s gone, too.” He sighed and looked at Tom. “Sometimes, life is so damned unbearable.”
Tom was thinking that, too. He’d be leaving soon, but his heart would live on in Raven Springs, in Annalisa Davis’s house.
* * *
May was taken to the detention center, unprotestingly and morose, then booked. Tom contacted his superiors to let them know what was going on. He left the sheriff’s office, and drove back to the motel and parked his car under Annalisa’s carport and tapped on the door.
She came running, her face brilliant with delight. His heart felt lighter than air. That expression on her face made him feel like a giant. He smiled and held out his arms. She ran into them. He hugged her close for a minute, then he tightened his grip, as if to prepare her for what was coming.
“I solved the case and made an arrest,” he told her.
He felt her whole body stiffen, as if she’d taken a blow. “Oh,” she said, putting all her misery into the one word.
He drew back and winced when he saw her eyes.
“Who did it?” she wanted to know.
“Billy Turner, with some help from May. She poisoned him, right in his bed in the hospital, with some tea in a thermos.”
“Gosh! Didn’t she have sense enough to clean it up?”
“Not really.”
“But if you got it from the house . . .”
“I took a search warrant with me, and Alice handed it to me in a paper sack. Criminals always make one stupid decision. Her own laziness was her downfall. She didn’t like to get her hands dirty, which is why Julie was doing most of the nursing while her mother was alive. It’s also why the thermos wasn’t washed, which gave us a great case. That’s where I was when I came over here late, after we decorated the tree,” he explained. “I had to take the thermos to Sheriff Ralston and he had it relayed to Denver. We had the results from the crime lab very promptly.”
“How did you manage that?” she wanted to know.
“Somebody pulled a few political strings,” he said with a grin.
“Want some coffee?” she asked.
He drew in a long breath and put his big, warm hands on her shoulders. “I do. But I won’t stay. I’m leaving town in the morning, Annalisa. I have to get back to work.”
She stood very still and schooled her face to lie for her, to look placid. “I knew you would,” was all she said. She searched his dark eyes. “You really are gorgeous, you know,” she said, trying to make a joke of it.
“And you really could be a pole dancer,” he teased. “But I’m very glad you aren’t. I’m happy that I got to meet you.”
“Oh, I could say the same thing.”
He traced a path down her cheek and his dark eyes were sad. He sighed.
“If only,” she said, trying not to choke on her grief.
He nodded. “If only, honey.”
He bent and kissed her, just once, barely touching her lips with his. “We have memories,” he whispered.
She laughed, but it sounded more like a sob. “Sweet ones.”
