Give Out Creek by JG Toews

Author:JG Toews
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781771613064
Publisher: Mosaic Press
Published: 2018-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

25

AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF the Nelson Police Department, a framed copy of a mission statement hung in the reception area. Stella couldn’t make sense of it. At that hour, there was no one behind the desk so she had come to the foyer to call home and speak to Joe in private. The wall clock struck midnight as she hit the number for their landline.

Ben McKean had brought an entourage to the scene of Nina’s death. Outside an officer had unrolled yellow crime-scene tape. Inside the repeated flash of a camera had punctuated Stella’s vigil in the kitchen. She had moved to allow a man and woman garbed in papery jumpsuits to check the position of Nina’s body and take a series of measurements. The female officer tucked the insulin pump into Nina’s pocket, closed and bagged the laptop on the table. Stella rode to the station in near silence in the front passenger seat of Ben’s cruiser. On the way to town she had tried four times to reach Joe on the landline and his cell but he’d let all the calls go to voicemail.

Now, at last, he picked up on the third ring and the sound of his voice made her throat catch. When she told him about Nina he seemed subdued, almost apologetic. With the Pathfinder still parked at the yellow cottage, Joe offered to come to the station for her; he would call a neighbour to sit with the boys. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand Stella told him not to bother. She was fine, and surely one of the cops would drive her home after hauling her all the way into town to question her.

Ben had interviewed her with a policewoman present. Stella described each step that had led to the discovery of Nina’s body and her attempt at resuscitation. Constable Lewis, the female officer, appeared to hang on every word. She seemed almost too happy to lead Stella down the hall to fingerprint her.

After the call home, Stella caught up with Ben in his office. The laptop found near Nina Huber’s body was open on his desk. Without looking up, he said, “Suicide note and murder confession rolled into one.”

“I don’t believe it. Show me the note.”

“You shouldn’t even be in here, Stella. You found the victim’s body, which puts you in the frame for –”

“Ben. Show me the note.”

With a gloved finger, he swung the computer around. “Don’t touch anything.”

The note, all in caps, read:

I KILLED LILLIAN. WE ARGUED ABOUT HER ROWING TO VANESSA’S HOUSE. I LOST MY TEMPER AND INJECTED HER WITH INSULIN. TO LILLIAN, I WAS ONLY A HOUSEKEEPER. HER FRIENDS DON’T REALIZE HOW SHE TREATED ME IN PRIVATE. YES, I KILLED LILLIAN. BUT I CANNOT STAND THE GUILT AND LONELINESS SO NOW I MUST TAKE MY OWN LIFE.

Stella dragged the worn oak armchair up to his desk and sat down. “What do you make of it?”

“The alleged argument doesn’t seem like much of a motive for murder,” Ben said.

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