Frank was first, with his hands raised. Then Elinor.
Then Andrew, with a gun.
45
I FELT SICK. I was quivering with fear and exhaustion, but I had to think of something. Maybe I could get inside the house and use the phone. But would anyone get here fast enough to save Frank and Elinor?
I looked out at the cliffside. Could I be seen or heard by someone below on the beach? Not likely. I noticed some ships out on the water. Maybe I could do something to attract their attention. Something that would also distract Andrew Hollingsworth and give Frank and Elinor a chance to escape.
Suddenly I remembered the propane tanks and the newspapers in the basement. If no one was in the hallway, I could probably get down there long enough to start a good-sized fire, one that could be seen from the water. It would be risky for Frank and Elinor, but with luck it would provide enough of a distraction for them to get out safely.
I crouched low and made my way to the side patio. I leaned up against the wall of the house. The kitchen windows were closed, but I could hear voices — mainly Andrew’s, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. If they were in the kitchen, it would be hard to sneak into the basement without being seen or heard. I couldn’t think of any other way into the house that would be any more quiet, so I went ahead and slowly turned the knob on the door leading into the house.
I slowly pulled the door open and was relieved to see the door to the kitchen was closed. I opened the basement door and went softly down the stairs. It was dark, but a little light came through a small window. My eyes got used to it and I found the propane tanks. I looked around the room for items that would burn.
I found newspapers and some matches. I opened both propane tanks just a crack, so that the hissing would not be loud enough to attract attention. If I went upstairs and tossed a match down here as I left, I figured I would have the distraction I was looking for. I was on my way up the stairs when the door suddenly opened.
I saw the gun first. Then I realized Elinor Hollingsworth was the one pointing it at me.
“Thank God you’re safe!” I said, feeling relieved.
“Oh, you’re the one who’s in danger. Come on up and join your friend. You’ve been making enough noise down here to wake the dead.”
She laughed a strange laugh, still pointing the gun. I finally caught on.
“Don’t try anything foolish, Irene. I’m an expert with firearms.”
I walked up the stairs and she prodded me into the kitchen. Andrew held a gun on Frank. I guessed from Frank’s empty shoulder holster that Elinor had his. Frank looked over at me, and for a moment we exchanged a look of mutual fear for one another. He forced a smile and said, “Come on in, Irene. We can wait here and watch the Hollingsworths get arrested.”
“Shut up!” Andrew said.
“Now, now, Andrew,” said Elinor, cool as ice. “There aren’t going to be any arrests. And even if I believed for a moment that the police were on their way, I have the comfort of knowing that these two will not live to see their would-be rescuers. Stand a few feet away from Mr. Harriman, please, Irene. The two of you will be very much together soon.”
“Let me guess,” Frank said. “Looking at old Andrew quiver and quake here, I’d lay money you were the one who killed that girl.”
“Of course I was. Do you think I was going to let some little white trash strumpet from Arizona spoil my wedding plans? And Andrew was going to marry her! Can you believe it?”
A pained look crossed Andrew’s face. Elinor smiled and went on.
“She shows up in town one night, tells him that she’s pregnant. She says it was from his visit to her on spring break. That was rather naughty of you, wasn’t it, Andrew?”
Andrew’s eyes glazed over, as if he had mentally withdrawn from us.
Elinor smirked. “She tells him she’s written a letter to her cousin, naming the father-to-be. What does he do? He tells her he’ll make an honest woman of her!”
Elinor hooted over this. “He came to tell me we would have to break off our engagement. I told him not to worry, to leave it all to me. And convinced the little whore that she should meet me under the pier and the rest has been history in this town for thirty-five years.”
“Not exactly,” I said, finding my voice.
She shot a hard look at me.
“What did you do with her hands and feet?”
Andrew blanched, but Elinor cackled.
“Oh, that was inspired. What better place for a pair of feet than at the end of a pair of legs?”
“She buried them under the Las Piernas cliffs,” Andrew said quietly.
Frank and I looked at one another.
“As for the hands, well, I made a very special wedding present of them to my dear husband.”
“Elinor! For God’s sakes!”
“They want to hear the story, Andrew. You know, Andrew thought I had just paid her off to leave town until the story came out in the paper the next day. I called him to remind him that I knew where he had eaten dinner with her, that he was the last one to have been seen in public with her, and that I could easily provide the link between the two of them. Who in Las Piernas wouldn’t take my word over his? Why, at that time, no one would have thought of a woman doing such a thing anyway.”
Even now it was hard to believe. Elinor had great physical strength and an iron will. A lady who always got her own way. “Why not just pay her off?” I asked.
