Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #2: Books 5-8 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (types of ebook readers txt) 📕

There was absolute silence. I spread my hands. “But that got me thinking. It didn’t make a lot of sense. Her son-in-law is walking out on her daughter, and she is providing a home away from home for his mistress! Providing a place for them to meet and hook up! It didn’t square.”

Mel stammered, “I had no idea, so help me God…”

I went on, “So what, how do we explain all of this odd behavior?” I looked at Pat, at Anne-Marie, at Mo. I pointed at him. “You had thrown in your job, Kathleen and Isaac were making the bare minimum. Money was in very short supply.” I sighed, shook my head and turned to look at Mel. “Especially since your insurance pay off from your first husband had started to run out. In fact, the biggest provider in the family was Pat, with her income from selling dope for Sly and Coy.

“But then she went and blew it. The one big earner you had went down the chute. And Greg made it clear. He would protect Pat from El Coyote, but he was cutting her off. She would not sell for them anymore. Your goose had laid her last golden egg. What to do?”

Mel had gone very still. I pointed at her. “You know? You are one of the most charming people I have ever met, Mel. A bit too charming. Because one of the first things that struck me when I first met you was that, even though I was there to discuss your daughter’s murder, rape, and decapitation, all you could think about was whether I would have a cup of tea and a biscuit.” I gave a small, humorless laugh. “It wasn’t like she’d died twenty years ago.” I frowned. “Even then, it wouldn’t have made much sense. But five years? After such a brutal murder? And then I started to put the pieces together: you provided a home for your son-in-law and his mistress; you moved, from a small house on Rosedale Avenue to this big, comfortable home in Morris Park, and brought your son-in-law and his mistress with you. You felt no grief, no resentment, no compunction… In fact, you felt nothing.”

Her face was drawn, hard. “That’s not true.”

“When your husband died, leaving you comfortably off thanks to his life insurance, he had no idea that in doing so, he had planted the seed for his daughter’s murder. The solution was simple. Mo, acting as always on your instructions, took out the insurance. To cover himself, he took it out in your name. You, the matriarch, would take care of everybody. But…” I laughed. “You were audacious! Two million bucks! Enough, with the sale of your old house, to move to this place and have a comfortable income for the four of you for the rest of your lives. Not luxury, but comfort. Enough to invest in a small business for Mo and Anne-Marie. Enough never to have to worry again about paying bills.”

She shook her head. “No…”

Anne-Marie had collapsed on the sofa and had covered her face. Mo seemed to have slipped back into a catatonic state. I went on.

“But it had to be planned very carefully. “Mo and Anne-Marie would provide alibis for each other. The fact that they were both having an illicit affair would explain away any secretiveness on their part, any reluctance to be forthcoming or give details about their movements.

“Dumping the body in Lee County was clever. I’m pretty sure that was down to you, Mel, right? Not only was it a different jurisdiction from where the crime had taken place, it was a remote jurisdiction with few resources. So a major investigation was never likely to get under way. It was just another unexplained body dumped in Lefthand Canyon. If Sheriff Watson hadn’t kicked it back to us, if Mo hadn’t beheaded her, if he hadn’t kept the machete, we might never have got this far.

“And even the insurance was smart. Mo never figured as the beneficiary. And the beneficiary was not only her mother, but did not even take out the insurance, and could claim ignorance of it.” I sighed. “But the monthly premiums, they were what gave it away. Kathleen was on such a limited income. Mo had no income. And the premium on a two million buck insurance policy are high. So the three of you were splitting the payments. It’s right there in your bank records. The three of you set up the insurance, knowing that you were going to kill her. That takes a very special kind of evil, Mel. A very special kind of coldness.”

She turned to look at me and her eyes were hard and cruel. I believe if she could have killed me right there and then, she would have.

“It was for the best. Her and that streak of parrot’s piss, Isaac, were never going to get us out of that shit hold we was living in. Sure, wasn’t Kath living in one feckin’ room with a bathroom, and wasn’t Isaac and Anne-Marie the same? What way is that to live? She was better off dead. The only ones with any balls to try and get out of the mess was Mo and Anne-Marie!”

“And me…” I turned. It was Pat, staring at her mother with a pleading face. “I did my best…”

Her mother looked at her with venom in her eyes. “Ah, feck off, you gobshite! If it wasn’t for the likes of you, we’d not be in this mess in the first place! And you!” She scowled at Mo. “If you’d done it like I said, we’d’ve got away with it, you stupid, feckin eejit!”

I stood. It was as good as a confession. “Melanie Vuolo, I am arresting you for conspiring in the murder of your daughter, Kathleen Vuolo. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may