"Broken Hearted Killers" - Chapter Eleven

The following blog entry is one chapter in “Broken Hearted Killers,” a serial novella written by 16 Writers Who Kill. To read the complete story, please begin with Chapter One, published on the WWK blog on February 2, 2023.

By Paula Gail Benson

Helen’s cell phone buzzed. The caller ID read Melody Smart, A Likely Story.

“Melody?” Helen answered.

“Oh my gosh. Thank goodness I reached you. Are you close by?”

Helen looked at Gus. “I’m at home,” she told Melody, figuring nearby counted.

“Is there any possibility you could come to the store? Now?”

“Certainly. What’s wrong?”

“Thank you, Helen. I’ll explain when you get here.”

Helen heard the phone disconnect. “That was Melody Smart. She asked me to come to the bookstore immediately.”

Gus nodded. “I’ll drive you.”

They didn’t speak on the way. Perhaps we each have too many questions. I guess we’re both Iris’s victims, Helen thought.

Gus stopped just outside the store. As Helen got out, he said, “I’ll figure out the best way to coordinate with the department.”

“Thanks. I hope Detective Torres won’t be angry about us snooping into police business.”

Gus gave her his ruggedly handsome smile. “I’ll blame it on your insatiable curiosity.”

Helen grimaced as she closed the car door. Turning toward the store, she ran directly into Renee Peabody.

“Excuse me,” Helen began, but Renee interrupted her.

“I thought Friday night would be quiet and serene in the bookstore after this terrible day, but it’s a mad house in there. I’m going home and locking myself in.”

Before Helen could say another word, Renee dashed down the street. Shrugging, Helen started inside. She stopped when a voice asked her to wait.

“Do you mind holding the door for me?”

A gigantic potted orchid hid the requesting woman from view. “The Garden Club’s Fair Exhibition Committee is meeting tonight. I’m hoping for some tips to win a blue ribbon this year,” she said gasping for breath from carrying the plant.

“Of course.” Helen stood back and let her enter. When she followed, she saw members of the Garden Club gathering in the glassed-in room where the Page Turners usually met.

Melody was with them, setting up snacks and helping them to get things organized. Looking out into the store, Melody saw Helen and hurried to greet her.

“I can’t thank you enough for coming. I didn’t know who else to ask.”

Helen gave her a hug. “What’s happened?”

Melody returned the embrace. “Most times, I would be happy for all this business coming through the store. I’ve had more customers today than usual and I received that shipment of wildflower books, so I needed to contact the people who pre-ordered. Most were from the Garden Club, but when I saw Gus’ and Ashley’s names on the list, I thought maybe the Page Turners had selected it for the November meeting.”

“No,” Helen replied. “Is it the latest edition of Wildflowers: Friendly and Toxic?”

“Yes. Do you want one?”

Helen didn’t want to admit having the library’s copy. “I’ll look at it. But why did you call me?”

Melody closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know how to begin. My clerk had extra lectures at the college today, so I’ve been trying to handle the business all by myself.”

“How can I help?”

Melody opened her eyes. “Don’t hate me for asking. I just thought with your teaching experience and that you know Ashley, maybe you wouldn’t mind….”

Helen squinted. A major part of this likely story was missing.

Seeing her confusion, Melody held up her hands. “Okay. Let me start at the beginning. When I was trying to contact the wildflower book pre-orders, this bug-eyed woman came in asking if I knew anyone interested in buying high-end real estate. She said anyone throwing away their cash on books had to have some big bucks socked away. Maybe I could recommend a millionaire or two for her to approach.

“It was so out of the ordinary, so outlandish. I just stood there looking at her with my mouth open. Then, your neighbor, Renee Peabody, came in and greeted her. Called her Betty and pulled her aside into the children’s area, where they sat and spoke quietly. I had forgotten about them when Ashley came in. She had the twins in their stroller. I thought she was coming in to pick up her wildflower book, but she was in a mad rush. ‘You don’t mind looking after the twins while I have a quick chat with a friend, do you?’ she asked, then practically shoved the stroller at me and ran outside. Through the front window I saw Philip Seaforth waiting for her. They went off arm in arm, smiling and laughing.”

Ashley and Philip, Helen thought. Did they know that Iris is dead?

Melody continued. “Then suddenly, bug-eyed Betty is back in my face, demanding to know who that gray-haired man with Ashley is. Again, I don’t have time to speak before the twins start crying and a group from the Garden Club arrives. Renee says she’ll handle Betty. I wheel the twins into the stock room, get them smiling again, take a moment to call you, then help the Garden Club set up.”

Finally, Melody took a breath. She pursed her lips and looked pleadingly at Helen. “I know you’re retired from working with young people, but could you help me out, just this once, watching the twins, until Ashley returns?”

“Of course,” Helen agreed. “Let’s check on them now.”

Helen followed Melody into the darkened stock room. They walked past a row of carts holding sorted books and the worktable, loaded with several large boxes needing to be unpacked. Helen wondered at the unnatural quiet.

“That’s odd. I thought I left the light on,” Melody said.

Melody reached up to pull the cord hanging from a fixture in the ceiling. Helen heard her gasp.

Inching around Melody, Helen found Betty August lying on the floor, her head bloody and gashed from the dented fire extinguisher beside her.

Please let Betty be breathing, Helen thought. Like Charles.

Just beyond Betty was Ashley’s twins’ stroller. Empty.

# # #

A legislative attorney and former law librarian, Paula Gail Benson’s short stories have appeared online in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable and Kings River Life as well as in the electronic and print anthologies: Mystery Times Ten 2013; A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder; A Shaker of Margaritas: That Mysterious Woman; Let It Snow; Fish or Cut Bait: a Guppy Anthology; Love in the Lowcountry, Volume 1 and Volume 2; Heartbreaks and Half-truths: and An Element of Mystery. In Killer Nashville Noir: Cold Blooded, she co-authored “A Matter of Honor” with New York Times Bestselling thriller writer Robert Dugoni. Her work appears in four of the Red Penguin Collection’s publications: The Empty Stage; Once Upon a Time; Stand Out: the Best of the Red Penguin Collection, Volume 2; and My Robot and Me. Her short story “Reputation or Soul” is in Malice Domestic’s Mystery Most Diabolical. Paula’s website is http://paulagailbenson.com.