"No, but you can get the passenger-side door for me."

As he opened the door, he said, "I can't believe you don't keep this thing locked."

I put the boxes in the seat and said, "Yeah, I know, because vinyl windows are such a good security system on their own."

"You've got a point," he said.

I closed the door, then asked, "Was there something you needed?"

He frowned, then said, "No, it's not important. I don't want to keep you."

"I just closed up the shop. I have time for you right now." I'd been wondering about the man since he'd first walked into my shop, so I wasn't about to pass up on the opportunity to talk to him when he was in the mood. Heather was just going to have to wait.

I leaned against the grill and said, "So talk."

He ran a hand through his hair, then said, "I just wanted you to know I'm not always this way around people."

I pretended to study him. "I don't know what you're talking about, unless you mean you're aloof, cryptic, and just a little acerbic at times."

That made him smile. "Okay, you got me. Honestly though, deep down, I'm a pretty good guy."

"Why is it so important to you that I believe that?"

He looked down at his hands, then into my eyes. "I'm not sure. I've got this feeling that we've met before, but I don't believe in deja vu, do you?"

I said, "You know, I've had the same feeling about you since the first time you walked into my shop."

"Maybe there's something to it after all," he said.

"I don't know about that. Did you ever go to school around here when you were a kid? Did you visit April Springs growing up?"

He shook his head. "No, the closest I ever came was Camp Camelot up in West Virginia. It was a summer camp for kids--"

"--of Union Carbide employees," I finished for him. "I was at the girls' camp, Carlyle. I can't believe you spent your summers on Blue Creek, too."

"Four in a row, until we moved away. How about you?"

I grinned. "My grandfather worked for Carbide, so I got to go, too." I studied him another moment, then said, "I think I danced with you one summer."

"You know what? I think you're right. That explains a lot."

"I feel better about it, too."

David smiled at me, then said, "Since you're off work, do you want to go grab something to eat? We can hash over old times around the campfire."

"I'm sorry, but I can't," I said.

"I understand," he said. "There's somebody else, isn't there? Of course there is. Why wouldn't there be?"

"There's just somewhere else I need to be."

"So then you're saying that there's not somebody?"

"No, you were right. There's somebody in my life right now. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. That's a good thing. See you later, Suzanne."

"Good-bye, David."

I hoped I still had time to catch Heather before she left. I doubted I could get her to confess if she did it, but maybe I could make her sweat a little before she took off.

"Hi, Suzanne. What a surprise," Heather said as I walked into Peg's house. "I was just getting ready to leave."

I looked around the living room and saw a lot of things boxed up and ready to go. There was a lot left, though. "What happens to all of this?"

"The Girl Scouts are taking care of it for me. I'm giving them a pretty nice donation, and they're having a yard sale with everything that's left. I've taken a few things with me, mostly sentimental stuff."

I nodded. "Peg would have approved." I unscrewed the top of the coffee carafe and asked, "Would you like some for the road?"

"Sure, that would be great. Just let me grab my travel mug. It's in the other room."

She went into the back bedroom, and I decided a little coffee would be nice as well. As I moved to a box near the kitchen in search of a mug, I inadvertently hit Heather's purse, spilling its contents to the floor.

"What happened?" Heather asked pointedly as she came back into the room.

"I'm so clumsy," I said. "I didn't mean to knock over your purse. Sorry, it was an accident."

I started to gather her things together when Heather pushed me aside. "That's all right. I'll take care of it myself." She must have seen the expression on my face, because she suddenly asked me, "Suzanne, what's wrong?"

"What? Oh, nothing. I just feel a little faint. I think I stood up too fast."

"Let me get you some water," she said as she moved into the kitchen.

There was a clear path out, and I started for the door. "That's all right. I just need a little fresh air."

"I don't think so," Heather said behind me. Her voice was calm and clear, but I could tell that something was wrong.

When I turned back to look at her, she was holding a knife on me.

CHAPTER 14.

Heather was moving closer toward me as she asked, "You saw something in my purse, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, doing my best to sound believable.

Heather laughed. "Suzanne, you're not that good an actress. You might as well tell me what you saw. Lying isn't going to do you any good at this point."

I couldn't believe I'd allowed myself to be caught just as I'd figured it all out.

"It was the candy," I admitted.

"You're kidding me, right? I don't know many women who don't have some kind of candy in their purse."

"Not that particular brand of caramel," I said. "I checked, and they don't sell it in April Springs. I'm willing to bet you got it while you were away at college."

"So what?" she said. "It's not illegal to eat candy."

"No, but it is incriminating. I found a wrapper near Peg's body, and everybody knew her weakness was my donuts. This morning I found one at the donut shop, but I never linked them to you until I saw them in your purse."

She shook her head. "So, you figured it out because I'm addicted to caramel. I don't believe it."

"There was a lot more to it than that," I said. "You dyed your hair at Peg's after you realized I'd spotted you at Marge's when you were waiting for your aunt to come outside. I'm willing to bet that a lab will confirm that your hair was dyed red before the recent change. When you weren't arrested right after the murder, you must have realized that I hadn't seen your face, but that I could have easily seen your hair. That was pretty clever of you to dye it before you came to see me at the donut shop. Grace even found the box you used in Peg's trash can, but we both just assumed it had belonged to Peg and not you. I didn't think a thing about it when I saw that your hair tint matched hers perfectly. I just assumed it was genetic, and not out of the same bottle of dye."

"Nobody else will get it."

I said, "Don't kid yourself. If I put it all together, the police are sure to be able to as well."

"I doubt it," she said. "By the time they make the connection--if they ever do--I'll be gone. There's not nearly as much here as I'd hoped, but I did manage to find Peg's hiding place, so I'm not leaving empty-handed." She took a banded stack of money from a hidden section in her purse and fanned the money with her free hand. "I thought for sure you saw this, and it would be a little hard to explain, given how broke Peg and I apparently were."

"You're not going to kill me, are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "If I were going to do that, you'd already be dead."

There was something in her eyes that made me realize she was lying to me. I was going to have to fight for my life, or I'd never make it until sunset.

"Why me? I didn't do anything to cause you to come after me, yet you've been hounding my steps for days."

She laughed. "If you can believe it, I thought you were on to me. That's why I started watching your house, but you never put it together, did you?"

"You were on my list," I said, defending myself.

"With Peg gone, now you're at the top of mine."

"Did you bring the poison with you from school? It must not have been that hard to steal one of my donuts the morning I wasn't at the shop, but the poison has me puzzled." I had to stall her. Maybe someone would come back before Heather stabbed me. If anyone did, I had to be ready to act. I'd only get one chance, and I had to make it good. As I talked to Heather, a plan started to formulate in my mind. It was a long shot, but it was the only chance I had of getting out of this alive.

Heather said, "It was in her shed out back. You know how she felt about your lemon-filled donuts. It was the one thing I knew she couldn't turn down, so I took one from her stash."

"I still can't believe you killed your own aunt. She was family."

"Some family. I don't have to tell you that my aunt was no angel. When I needed help with tuition, she turned me down, even though I knew she had money. Look at the way she dressed. And she didn't have to work. She had time to run all of those charities. It wasn't fair. I figured I'd just speed up my inheritance a little when it could still do me some good. When I slept over here a few months ago, I found her ledger in her office after she was asleep. I still can't believe she tricked me like that!"

"I think she was lying to herself more than anyone else. She bought most of her clothing used," I said, "and she was skimming off charity proceeds to finance her standard of living."

Heather bit her lip, then said, "You don't think I found that out as soon as I started really looking at her bank accounts and her credit card statements? I realized I'd made a mistake pretty quickly after I killed her, but by then, it was too late. I had to salvage what I could, so I took the jewelry and some of her nicer things, but I knew she had money squirreled away somewhere around here, and I was right."

"Why did you agree to have Grace and me help you, if you were looking for Peg's hidden money?"

"I wanted you to be the one to find the ledger, and it took you long enough," Heather said. "I nearly had to help you myself."

"But why did you need me?"

"I figured it would look better for me if someone else found it. Fat lot of good it did me."

"But you're not coming away empty, are you? Where'd you find that cash, in the cookie jar?"

She frowned at me. "My aunt was a lot craftier than that. It took me forever to find it, but I finally did. One baseboard came off at my touch, and I realized she'd used magnets to secure the trim in place instead of nails. That's where I found the money."

"Are you sure you found it all?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?"

I was stalling--that was pretty clear--but I hoped her greed would supersede her caution. "I just discovered this morning that your aunt skimmed over three hundred thousand dollars in the past two years. The chief of police came by my shop an hour ago and told me the audit was complete. Did you find that much?"

It was all a lie, but I knew Heather couldn't exactly call Chief Martin and ask him. "No," she said a little warily. "Nowhere near that, but after all, she had expenses."

"That much? Peg didn't live in luxury, that's pretty obvious. My first thought is, what did she do with the rest of it?"

Heather scowled. "After I've taken care of you, I'll keep looking."

So much for that tactic. For all I knew, there might still be money hidden in the house, but it appeared that I wasn't going to live long enough to see it.

If I was going to make it out of there alive, I needed to do something, and do it fast. I looked for anything nearby that I could use as a weapon, but the only thing within reach was a stack of old books. Not much of an arsenal, but it was all I had.

Before Heather could stop me, I lunged for the book on top, an old mystery.

At least it was a hardcover.

My movement was all the incentive Heather needed to strike. She made a hard backhanded swing in the air at me with the blade, nicking my hand as the knife flew past. I felt a brief sting, but I couldn't let that stop me. I swung the book at her head, trying my best to break her nose with it.

She was too quick for me, though.

With a sudden jerk, Heather ducked enough for the book to glance off the top of her head instead of making a solid impact with her face.

Even worse, the book slipped out of my hands and fell when it failed to find its target.

Heather looked at me with a new level of rage.

I could rush her and take my chances, but that meant facing the blade in her hand with no weapon of my own, and the way she was looking at me, she was ready to kill me.

I really had only one option.

I had to run.