Free Death By Bridle by Abigail Keam Page A

the waterfall and punched in another code to the steel front doors. Hearing the beep, I threw one of the double doors open and ran to my room as fast as my limp would allow me. Once inside I locked the bedroom door and dragged a chair over by the floor safe in the dressing area. Leaning over from the seat, I unlocked the safe and pulled out a copy of Tellie’s signed confession in which she stated that she had killed her husband, Richard. I compared it to the T on Larry’s postcard.
    A perfect match!
    I laid the postcard, confession, and title transfer of the Prius on the bed. All the T’s looked the same. So Tellie was contacting Larry.
    Unlocking the bedroom door, I went into my office and pulled out the files I had kept on Richard Pidgeon, Tellie’s murdered husband. Looking through my notes, I read where I had written that I thought Larry had lied to me about Tellie. He said he had stopped by her house and left a check from the Beekeepers Association in her mailbox. At Richard’s funeral, I saw Larry hand Tellie a piece of paper. When I asked him about it at Lady Elsmere’s dinner party, he said it was the check. He also said to mind my own business.
    There was another detail nagging at the back of my mind. I went through some more of my notes.
    Found it!
    When I had confronted Tellie about Richard’s death, she said she had lied to her friend Joyce; that she had met someone special and was going to meet him as a cover story for leaving town. Maybe there was truth to the story after all. Maybe she was meeting someone, but then I popped up and confronted her about murdering her husband. Her plans had to be changed after that.
    I didn’t turn Tellie over to the police because I believed her story that Richard had horribly abused her and she was fearful that he would try to kill her if she tried to leave him. Women get killed in this state all the time while the courts just slap the men’s wrists. I thought her story was true and justified.
    But maybe I was the sucker in this story.
    Maybe she did meet someone special and they decided to kill Richard partly because he was a dangerous nuisance, but also because of the insurance money and the inheritance that Richard’s daughter would collect from the death of Richard’s first wife, Agnes Bledsoe. That put a different spin on Richard’s death.
    One way was self-defense was how I looked at it. Another way was pre-meditated murder for profit – first degree.
    Larry and Tellie? Could that be possible?
    I dialed my cell phone. “Hi, Goetz. Got a minute? I need to know something. Was O’nan assigned to Richard Pidgeon’s case or did he request it? Huh? No, I won’t leave it alone. Just tell me, okay? . . . Thanks, Goetz.” I hung up the phone.
    I cradled my head in my hands. I was such an idiot. Couldn’t believe how stupid I had been. Hadn’t the honeybees taught me how everything is connected – earth, plants, bees, food, and humans? Nothing is coincidental. I should have connected the dots.
    I reached for the phone but stopped myself. I couldn’t call Matt. I had already driven a wedge between him and Franklin because of my neediness. I couldn’t call Asa. I had disrupted her life for almost a year. She had done enough.
    Oh, where was Jake? I really needed him.
    I sniffled. It didn’t take long for the waterworks to turn on full blast. I boohooed until I came up with a new angle. Dialing the phone, I held my breath until it was picked up.
    “Hello?”
    “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

14
    Franklin snorted, “What do you want, Josiah?”
    “I need you to drive me to Frankfort right now. I am worn out and afraid that I’ll wreck if I drive any more today.”
    “Oh, stop teasing me with good possibilities.”
    “Be that way. I’ll just call Matt and have him help me.”
    “NOOOO! I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
    “Good,” I sneered before hanging up.
    Then I dialed Clay. “Hey, Clay. Do you have any more pictures of your