SLAY PAIRS WITH ROSE (The Kelly's Deli Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Sophie Brent (phonics reading books .txt) 📕

“Is that why you had to kill her?  Because you wanted her to suffer for talking Harry into marrying her instead of you?” Erin demanded. “Or did you talk Harry into taking the blame for what you did?”

“Shut up!”

Maya’s scream echoed around the stone walls of the deli and the blade shuddered in her hand as Maya turned her attention away from Fiona and onto Erin.

“I would never, never hurt Harry.  He is my family and he still loves me, even after all of these years.  That’s why he left you a warning last night to scare you off. No.  Why don’t you ask Fiona why she let Emma get away with it? Why didn’t my so-called best friend stand up for me when your precious sister Emma seduced him and lied to get him to marry her? Why!”

Maya pointed to Fiona who had inched her away around the worktop until she was almost facing the door. Then she wrapped both hands around the handle of the knife and her voice suddenly turned icy cold.

“Stay where you are, Fiona.  I won’t say it twice.  You coward.  Emma couldn’t resist telling me your secret on Friday night, the minute you had all gone to bed. Oh, she loved rubbing it in. How could you? How could you not tell me that you had a sister after all of these years? I thought you were my friend but you’re just like Emma. A liar and a user. I could kill you for betraying me like that!”

In the distance, Erin recognized the sound of car tires screeching onto the lane behind the deli, but she had to focus on what was in front of her – a deeply disturbed woman holding a knife in her unsteady hands.

“Listen to me, Maya,” Erin tried to reason.  “I’ve been where you are now.  You lost someone you loved and so did I. When my dad died, I felt so angry and alone. If I hadn’t had my friends around me, I don’t know what I would have done. It’s taken me almost two years of mourning and grief to come to terms with the fact that I’ve lost him, but it never really goes away does it?”

Maya gazed into her face for a second before smiling across.  “You did the right thing.  You loved him.”

“Yes, I did love my dad.  But the last thing he wanted was for me to be stuck in the past. I can’t bring him back.  But you’re different. You have a chance to save Harry from a long prison sentence.  Walk away Maya and talk to the police.  Everyone in this tragic business has already suffered enough.  Just tell them that it was an accident. Emma goaded you into doing something desperate.  You made a mistake – but you didn’t kill her. Emma would never have survived after she fell inside the freezer.”

“An accident? Don’t you understand? I wanted to kill her for what she did to me. She even took away my best friend.”

Almost before Erin realized what was happening, Maya took a quick step to the right so that she could get a clear sight of Fiona and raised the knife high in her right hand.

In that millisecond before Maya threw herself at Fiona, Erin launched herself sideways and stabbed her elbow hard into Maya’s side. As Maya doubled up in pain, Erin took a firm hold of the sleeve on Maya’s outstretched arm, stepped quickly to one side and kicked Maya’s shin out from under her so that Maya fell face forwards on the floor.  Erin kept tight hold of her arm as she fell and twisted her wrist hard enough to make her release the knife, which fell clattering onto the floor.

“No!” Maya screamed, as she tried to twist up from the floor so that she could follow Fiona, who was running for her life across the kitchen and out of the back door.  Erin had other ideas and twisted Maya’s arm even tighter while kneeling on her back.

Maya was writhing around on the floor and crying out in pain, barely aware that Erin had already kicked the knife out of her reach.

Erin was focusing so much on keeping Maya on the ground that it took a moment to recognize Prisha, Matt and Constable Harris as they stormed into her kitchen.

She looked directly up at Matt, as he crouched down, blocking the brilliant afternoon sunlight that was streaming in through the window onto her face.

“Matt.  Good to see you.  Did I ever tell you that I was a member of the judo team at university? You never know when it might come in handy. Would you mind giving me a hand?  Maya is ready to have a chat with Constable Harris now.”

Chapter Sixteen

The promised thunderstorms had swept across Hampshire and the south of England during the week, bringing heavy rain and a marked drop in temperature.

When Erin opened the kitchen door late on Sunday morning, the air felt cool and fresh compared to the oppressive heat of the previous Sunday.

What a week!

Grabbing her tea, Erin slipped outside onto the patio and settled back to relax for five minutes and watch the village green and life in Kingsmede on a quiet Sunday. With one very special new addition.

Directly opposite her bench, parked neatly in the lane, was a brand new, sparkling white, delivery van, complete with an excellent refrigeration unit for her food and air conditioning in the front. All courtesy of a traumatized Harry Wilson, in exchange for her not pressing charges about the vandalism.

To be fair, it had taken a lot of persuasion from Matt, Carol and Prisha to persuade her to part with her dad’s old van, but when the garage