Chapter 19
“What? It wasn’t me,” I lied.
We moved forward trying to get away from the destruction. The lady with the purse probably started it. Or made it worse.
The commotion behind us soon exploded forward as the crowds of people tried to figure out what the heck was happening.
“Delaney,” Dane said as he dragged us forward.
What was he upset about now? I glanced up, followed his finger, and gasped. A group of women pushed past us, tossing me onto him. The scent of pralines and roasted pecans drifted between vendor stalls. Now I wanted a snack. “Where’d she go?”
Dane stretched upward to get a better look, but a stream of people were moving on beyond us, making it difficult. “Why is everything chaos with you?”
“Me?” I pushed through the group of people, cutting a way for us to the Southern Hospitality Tours booth. “She’s gone.”
“Come on.” Dane pulled me forward as we zigged and zagged through the crowds. “She couldn’t have gotten far.”
He parted the thick crowd, pulling me with him. The air buzzed with chatter, some people shopping and the others trying to figure out what happened with all the noise. Someone bumped my shoulder, sending me flying to the left. Dane jerked me back onto the path.
We worked our way through two tables as we scanned the crowd. Tables of sweetgrass baskets and watercolor prints blocked the area. I ducked around a group of women in matching T-shirts.
My frustration grew. The heat pressed down in the small space, the crowd of people making it worse. Dane picked up his pace as a jazz band struck up a tune outside the building. It would have been perfect if we weren’t hunting a killer.
We neared the end of the building without seeing the killer.
Dane turned back to the main shopping area. “There are so many places she could have gotten out.”
A group of people pushed us out the other side we were in. “She saw us and knew. There’s no other reason to run.”
“Gee, if only someone had seen that happening before we came here,” he deadpanned.
Outside, we stepped to the side to get away from the crowd. It put us closer to the band, so I had to yell when I said. “You’re lucky you’re pretty.”
“And smart,” he answered.
We moved from the band. “And arrogant.”
I let my gaze roam over the people walking on the street by the market, but I highly doubted she ran from the building and then stopped. “Do we really think Donna Lee killed William?”
We’d only met her once—the day we’d gone to interview the CEO of Southern Hospitality Tours, Lonny Horwitz—but she’d seemed so nice. Sweet even. Sure, the two of them made an interesting couple, but not a killer couple.
And why William? He was by all accounts a star employee. Was it connected to the job at Boone Hall, after all?
“She didn’t have murder eyes,” Dane said.
We turned in a circle to see more of the crowd. “Murder eyes? What are you talking about?”
“All the murderers you highlight on the podcast have serial killer eyes.”
Dear, lord. “Yeah, that’s because we pick pictures where they look crazy. Everyone has at least one murder eyes picture.”
“Do you?” he asked.
I smacked his arm with my free hand. “Yes, and you too. That photo of you from Florida in 2018? Murder eyes.”
“You stalked my social media?” he asked, as if he didn’t expect that from a woman who researched murderers for a living. “I’m proud.”
“Where would she go?” We’d have time to discuss the other things on his timeline—like a weird obsession with the Detroit Lions—later. Right then, we had to find Donna Lee.
Dane thought for less than a second. “Not the office where we know they work.” No one is that dumb.
“No, definitely not.” Only a moron would run back to the tour office. “Let me find her address.”
Thank God for the internet. Addresses were one of the easiest things to find. I had Donna Lee’s home address in less than two minutes.
“Got it,” Dane said at the same time as me. “Let’s go.”
I stole a glance at the map directions on his phone. “It will be faster to run there.”
Dane cut right through a group of families. “Google says less than a ten-minute walk. We can cut it down with speed.”
He put his long legs to work, and I struggled to keep up. His power walk looked more like my quick jog.
“We’ve got to be smart about this,” Dane said without a struggle.
I sucked in air, trying not to die as I kept pace. “Yeah, but fast.”
Smart and fast.
If we snuck up on Donna Lee and caught her off guard, she’d be more likely to say something she’d regret later. And if she had nothing to hide, she wouldn’t mind a quick visit from two paying customers.
Dane’s phone rang. He put it to his ear as if we were on a simple stroll. I hated it. “How far out is our closest man?”
No way was I stopping to wait for the SEALs to converge. Donna Lee might be halfway to Florida by then. “What are you doing? There’s no time,” I said.
He pretended not to hear me. “I’m in a mayday situation.”
The person on the phone said something, but I was too far away and winded to hear.
“See if you can get Eli here. Pinpoint me based on my phone,” Dane said.
I pointed ahead at a tall, old Victorian-looking home in the middle of a block right off from the tourist areas. “We’re here.”
Dane slowed. “I’ve got to go. Get Eli in pursuit.”
“I’m not waiting for Eli,” I said with my sights set on the house. We were so close. I wouldn’t let Donna Lee get away from us now.
Innocent people didn’t run.
They stayed around and let me ask them questions.
Dane’s steps slowed even more as we reached the front porch. He placed his hand on my arm in a silent command to be quiet.
Duh.
The door of the old Charleston home stood ajar just an inch or two. It swung wider, the hinges creaking, as we approached.
“That seems like we need a welfare check,” Dane said.
I nodded in agreement.
The house was still—no voices or movement. Just the sounds of traffic on the street. Dane pushed the door open with one hand, keeping the other out so I couldn’t run in before him. Probably smart. The adrenaline of solving this case had me itching to move faster.
We stepped inside together. The foyer was large but dim, the air in this part of the home stale. The quiet continued. My instincts were on high alert. Something wasn’t right. Not at all.
Was Donna Lee lying in wait for us? Did we walk right into a trap?
A frantic, “Shit,” came from deeper in the home.
Dane and I glanced at one another, and he pointed in the direction of the speaker. I pulled out my cell phone and started a video, keeping it at my side. We inched in that direction, passing a dining room and the start of a long hallway, until finding the woman in question in a side parlor.
The old, thick, dark wooden trim of the Victorian home framed her as she stood, back rigid, one hand curled around a small glass with brown liquid. Donna Lee’s blonde hair was frizzed, like she’d just run through the streets of Charleston.
She threw back the drink in one gulp. The room behind her was pristine. If I hadn’t been worried about our lives, I’d have been envious. She had the room full of vintage furniture. It looked like Jane Austen could have come for tea.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Donna Lee said, speaking first. Her voice wobbled.
Dane took a step in front of me. “The door was open. We thought you’d want to talk to us before we go to the police with our evidence about William’s murder.”
She snorted. “I’ve already talked to the police about Will’s suicide. You saw the video. He’d lost his mind. It was a tragic loss.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I breathed. She didn’t have a gun, but I also didn’t want her to chuck that thick glass at us.
Donna Lee’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I had nothing to do with William’s suicide.”
“You knew he was about to leave the company for the job at Boone Hall,” Dane said.
She lifted her left shoulder. “You can’t prove that.”
“Yes, we can,” I lied. We had enough evidence to at least suggest she knew. The cops could do the rest of the dirty work. “And we have a note pointing to you as the killer.”
A silence stretched out between the three of us, each waiting for the next to make their move. It was probably only a minute but felt like a full year.
“I can make whatever problems you have go away.” Donna Lee set her empty glass on the waist-high table beside her. “Money solves a lot of issues. No one would ever need to know where it came from.”
“We don’t want your money,” I cracked.
Dane slid his body more in front of mine as if he expected her to do something. “Why did you do it, Donna Lee? That’s the only question left.”
“You don’t understand.” Her lips quivered, the first break in her composure. “If Lonny finds out, it will break him.”
“Lonny will never have to know,” I said. He was definitely going to find out at her murder trial, but if thinking she got to keep a secret made her spill the beans, I’d run in that direction. “We won’t tell him. Ever. I promise.”
Donna Lee glanced to her left, her eyes going wild with guilt or fear. Maybe madness.
“Do you hear it?” she whispered.