Chapter Sixteen ...

 PART TWO

The Messenger

I’m not asleep; instead, I hear voices downstairs and wonder what’s happening. And then I hear something that made me pay better attention.

“Are you sure she’s asleep?” I hear a guy ask.

“Yeah, I gave her Melatonin, which she says is the only thing that helps her sleep. She’ll be out for hours,” My nephew says. I hear silence for a few minutes, and then another guy starts talking. At this point, I tiptoe to the door very quietly, so I can hear better.

“So, do you have the address?”

“Yeah, but we have to be smart about this. We have to case out the house and see when she leaves, and it has to be at night, so we’re not seen,” my nephew says.

I hear the words case, night, and not seen, and my mind goes on overdrive. What are they planning?

“Okay, you know what you need to get then?” My nephew asks.

“Yeah, what’s to get? A shovel, the necklace, and, well, his body,” a woman’s voice chimes in. I clamp my hand over my mouth. Did they kill someone?

“Don’t be a smart ass,” my nephew’s tone is harsh. “It’s not going to be as easy as you might think, especially getting into her home. Getting his body won’t be as hard. No one knew anything different since Troy was headed to the cabin to work on some repairs, and Melinda was going to Florida for the week. Good thing arsenic can’t be detected. It was quick, nasty, but quick. Now that he’s dead, we just have to wrap up a few things and then take him.” He acted so nonchalantly, with no feeling. 

They did kill him, and now they’re going to bury him. Suddenly I can’t breathe well. My heart is racing, and I feel like I’m going to pass out, but I have to hear this. I try breathing deeply.

“When do we get the money?” Another male voice asks.

“When the guy is buried in her backyard, duh,” the woman says.

“Remember, you can’t leave any DNA on her necklace. It must be Deanna’s, and it has to be placed on his chest right before we bury him.,” my nephew says.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I just need to pick up my lock-pick equipment from the shop on the 17th. I will be in and out in a few minutes. We already know she doesn’t have a security system from when I called pretending to be a telemarketer. That was too easy,” she laughs.

What has he gotten himself into? I mean, murder? I know he’s been arrested before, but I never thought he was capable of committing murder.

Okay, slow, down … breathe. I back away and get back into bed. What do I do? If I go to the police, they will know it was me. I can’t take that chance. After I calm down, I mull this plan over. I don’t think they thought this through so well. What did they think would happen when Deanna found her husband’s body, that they would arrest her and immediately charge her as guilty, and it would be over? That’s not how this works, and he should have known that. But taking her necklace and then framing her for his murder is not a half-bad idea.

I need to know more, but I can’t be directly involved. However, I know someone who can help. She’s good at this murder mystery stuff. I have to stay anonymous, or it will destroy my family. And as I type this, I realize the person I thought I knew I really didn’t, and that’s hard to square, especially when it’s part of your family.

I sent the first message, and yes, it was cryptic, I admit, but I know this woman is smart and will get it. So, now, she knows about asters and their secret. That’s a good start. It’s a good thing these people don’t think there is any way I would say anything. All they know is that I’m mostly deaf and legally blind, but it’s not that bad; I just pretend it is.

I also pretended as if I was asleep after being given Melatonin, but that stuff never works with me, even though I said it’s the only thing that helps to sleep. They have been murmuring for days now, whispering when they didn’t think I could hear. This is the first time I have heard it all clearly, however. I know more now and when they plan on dumping his body – June 25 after Deanna and her kids went camping. It was a perfect time. When they dig up the plants to bury him, they will shoddily plant the flowers, so one day, she would see that the flowers are dying and dig them up. That’s when she discovers Troy, and with the necklace tied to her, they would arrest Deanna and get away with murder.

But how do they know Deanna is going camping? And how long has Troy been dead? And why kill him? None of this makes sense.

I need to wait until after they bury Troy, and then I can start giving more clues to Patrice Summers. She could piece together their plan and let the police know.

I started watching her on YouTube about four years ago. I’m a gardener too, but she knows so much more than I do, so I follow her channel and get to see her videos. She did some with Troy a few years ago because he was also a gardener and did much of the digging while Trice recorded him, and then they would switch, and she would plant, and he would record. That’s when I discovered his name was Troy Carmicheal, and his wife was Deanna.

I also learned from my son, who is a police officer for Grantsville, that she has helped Gray Errington, Chief of Police, on a few cases, even helped solve them, so I knew she would be the one who could figure it out with the clues I would give her.

My nephew doesn’t know that Patrice won’t accept that Deanna murdered her ex-husband unless she had proof, and she would do everything to clear her friend. I have to be careful I don’t give myself away.

I hear them leave and can breathe freely again. I put on my bifocals and look outside my window just as they drive away.

I think about what might have led my nephew to do something like this. He’s had a rough childhood. His mom left his father, him, and two younger siblings, his brother and little sister. After that, his father was never the same. He started drinking and would come home drunk most of the time and beat him. They never touched the younger ones, just him. I took him in when he was 16 and got custody. After that, my brother never saw my nephew again. It’s been over 15 years now.

I tried to get him therapy and set him straight, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He flunked out of high school and started selling drugs. I tried to warn him that I wouldn’t tolerate his drug dealing, but he spun a tale to the police about how I had dementia and was a danger to myself and others. Instead of it being my home, he took over and used it for his drug dealing. I was “permitted” to stay as long as I shut my mouth. He threatened to kill me and then go after anyone I loved. I have five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, so you can see how I did what I was told. Now, I have this huge secret, and the only one I can tell is Patrice, and it has to be in riddles, and she can’t know it’s me – ever.

________________________________________________________________

I don’t hear anything until the night before when the group is together again. I feign being asleep when my nephew shuts my door. I wait until he’s back downstairs, and then I creep out of bed and to the door, listening again.

“Troy should have been getting back from the cabin tomorrow, and since I have his phone, I will text Melinda and tell her “I’m” on my way home around 7:00 p.m. It’s about 3 hours from Grantsville. She won’t suspect anything for at least a few hours after that, which gives us plenty of time to bury him,” My nephew says. “I wish I could see her face. She deserved this, and so did he,” my nephew spews out. I could hear the venom in his voice. What happened to have him hate this person so badly, and Melinda? And then it hits me. She must have been having an affair with Troy. This is what happened when his mother left. She was also having an affair and left to be with the man, abandoning him. It all makes sense now.

He’s out for revenge.

“Okay, Ely and Colton, tomorrow night you will dig the grave at 11:00 p.m. Petra and Greg will get Troy’s body from the cabin at 8:15, so when they arrive, the grave will be ready. You guys dump his body while Petra grabs the necklace. She places it on his chest, and you all bury him. That’s it. Now, if everything goes as planned, Deanna will find his body and get taken in for questioning. The necklace will have her DNA on it, so it will look like she killed him, just like we planned. After all, Deanna had the means, motive, and opportunity - his affair.” My nephew had it all thought out as if he had been planning this for months. And who knows, maybe he has been.

All I can do is watch it play out.