Chapter 31 #2
“Oh, I know. I put up with her for a long time,” Annabel muttered. “I mean, I was in Devon’s life as much as I could be, but, man, Birdie was hard to take.”
“So, let me get this straight. You went to all this effort, dating Devon, drawing up a new deed or Birdie a new will, and you still didn’t get the house, and she ended up dying?”
“That’s not on me,” she declared, with a shrug. “I didn’t kill her.”
“You gave her the dose that put her in the hospital, and then she subsequently died. I’m pretty sure that comes under the banner of murder.”
Annabel paled and then shook her head. “Nope, not me,” she repeated. “That is not how it happened.”
“It’s what you just said,” Doreen stated, frowning at her.
“Yeah, but it’s not like you’ll tell anybody that,” Annabel replied, with a snort.
“Ah, right, because, once again, … you’ll try to kill me so that I go away, and you don’t have to worry about that either.”
“Yep,” she agreed, “and I won’t have to worry about that old folks’ home.”
“Did any of them see you?”
“A couple times, … yeah,” she admitted, “but I don’t think they knew who I was, outside of the fact that I was there visiting.”
“So nobody saw you visiting Birdie?”
“Nope, not at all. Otherwise … I would knock them off too. I wondered about one old lady, but she couldn’t have seen anything because she could barely see two steps in front of her.” Annabel laughed. “God, it must suck to get old.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” Doreen said, now laughing at her.
“Why not?” she asked, turning to her.
“Chances are you won’t make it there,” Doreen declared, with a shrug. “You’re living a crazy lifestyle where you just kill people, and, at some point in time, somebody will come back and hurt you.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been hurt a lot already,” she snapped.
“Yeah, so why did your boyfriend kidnap you and tie you up?”
She stared at her and tilted her head. “I don’t want to deal with that anymore.”
“Why did Mike do it though?”
She sighed. “He was upset because I told him that I was getting the house. He wanted me to give him half the house, and he planned to keep me locked up until I agreed.”
“Interesting, considering that you weren’t getting the house anyway.”
“That’s the problem though. Once I told him that I had been lying, he didn’t believe me.”
Doreen laughed. “That’s the way of it, isn’t it? You cheat somebody, and they really don’t appreciate that you’re lying, and then they can’t believe you when you’re actually trying to come clean.”
“They’re all crazy,” Annabel exclaimed, with a high-pitched laugh. “I just want to get out of town and go back East.”
“I’m sure you do,” Doreen said, with a smile. “I don’t think that’ll happen now.”
“I know. … I have to stay for the stupid court case.”
“And Mike will talk about Devon’s house and what you did and all that good stuff.”
“No, he won’t,” she argued.
“Then there’s his boss.”
“Yeah, you’re not going to get him,” Annabel announced, with a laugh. “He’s been operating in this town for a very long time, long before he moved here.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” she stated, “and he’s the least likely person for you to ever consider.”
Doreen groaned. “Well, that’s not fun.”
“No,” she smiled. “It’s not fun, but he won’t be around for long anyway,” she added, laughing.
“So why don’t you make good with him, have him be your new fake boyfriend, and maybe he’ll leave you something?”
“Eew, gross. No.”
“But he’s the big boss, so he would have more money than Mike,” Doreen noted. “And you’re after security, right? Or is he on to you and your ways?”
“He’s got his money wrapped up. He is good with business. I want to do that for myself.”
“Of course,” Doreen agreed. “So why were you working with him?”
“Why? Because he has long fingers, dipped into many pies, and he has a name. In many ways, it’s an honor to work for him because he doesn’t screw you over. Yet, if you screw him over …” She shuddered. “Yeah, it’s all over and done.”
“Of course.” Doreen had a horrible thought pressing in on her and asked, “And what about you? Will you escape his wrath?”
“I didn’t do anything to him.”
“No? Are you sure?” she asked quietly. “Because I highly suspect that he found out what you did to Birdie.”
She paled at that and shook her head. “No way he would know.”
Doreen stared at her and asked, “What if he did know?”
“He couldn’t,” she snapped, anxiously looking around the house.
“But he does know, and that isn’t something he would have gone for.”
Annabel glared at Doreen. “How do you know so much?” she cried out. “You shouldn’t know any of these people.”
“No, I probably shouldn’t. I mean, I’m sure they’re not exactly the most positive people, nor the type I would want to have at my dinner table,” Doreen noted. “Yet, if I’m right, that person will be looking for you.”
She swallowed several times and then shook her head. “No, he can’t know.”
“I’m afraid he does though,” Doreen stated. “I might have let it slip that Birdie died of a drug overdose.”
Annabel stared at her in shock, immediately backing up. “No, no, no, no, no,” she muttered. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I didn’t know for sure,” Doreen clarified, “until just now, when you explained it to me.”
Annabel stared at her in confusion. “No,” she wailed. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t.”