Recipe Foe Murder (standard:mystery, 4814 words)
Author: Jim Keim	Added: Aug 24 2016	Views/Reads: 2956/1841	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Gillian does away with her husband & it appears the police chief does it for her - a perfect recipe.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

her and got her over to the sofa. Still, partially conscious, she kept 
screaming to Sam how she'd been right. After Gillian had calmed down, 
she asked them if they knew anything about Stacey's car. “No ma'am. We 
ran a search for it but haven't come up with anything yet. We'll let 
you know. We still have to question your neighbors and find out if they 
saw anything unusual, while you were gone. We'll keep you folks posted 
if we learn anything new.” Just as soon as the police left the house, 
Gillian went upstairs to Josh and Jena's rooms to make sure they were 
doing all right. Josh seemed to be okay but Jena wasn't handling things 
as well. After all, she did find the body; something a 10 year old 
child isn't going to forget easily. Gillian spent some time with her, 
mostly talking about the fun she had playing at Grandma's farm in 
Maryland. She loved the horses and sheep and playing in the hay inside 
their barn. Jena finally managed some little giggles, after which 
Gillian told her and Josh to come downstairs. She was making their 
favorite supper, hot dogs with macaroni and cheese. Unlike Sam, Gillian 
lived for these kids. They were her pride and joy. The kids were from 
her previous marriage. Sam hated them and took no interest in them at 
all. Later, just as we all sat down to eat, there was a knock at the 
door. Sam went to answer it and there was some conversation going on in 
the background. Gillian told the kids to sit still while she went to 
see what all the commotion was about. “Oh, officers. What is it?  Did 
you learn anything new?” “Yes ma'am, we may have. You see, the ax we 
took back to examine had Sam's fingerprints all over it and the blood 
on it was definitely Stacey's.” “What are you saying?  You think Sam 
did this?  That's impossible. We've been on vacation for a week. 
Besides, Sam uses his ax all the time, to cut wood for our wood-burner 
stove.” “Well ma'am, that's where the problem comes in. The watch that 
Stacey was wearing was shattered. It had stopped at 8:15 A.M and the 
date showed June 16. We checked things out and that's the time you 
folks left here on the 16th. We're afraid Sam's going to have to come 
along with us.” Sam told me not to worry, that this has to be a big 
misunderstanding and he'll have things straightened out in no time. 
They took Sam away and Gillian had to return to the dinner table and 
explain to the kids that Sam had to go down to the station and talk 
with the police about some things. 

Chapter 3 

A couple of days passed and Gillian was able to go down to the station
and get Sam out on bail. It seems as though the police had a talk with 
their neighbors and came up with some loose ends in the case. It turned 
out their next door neighbor did see someone on that date, somewhere 
just after 8:00 A.M. enter their house, from the back where Stacey's 
private entrance was. She also said this happened after the Masseys had 
driven off in their van. She said the person looked a little like Sam, 
but she didn't have her glasses on so she couldn't say for sure. 
Although, she thought the man was taller than Sam. Gillian was so 
frustrated at this point that she decided to hire a private 
investigator to take a look at the whole mess and see if she could get 
any answers. She loved her sister dearly and at least getting some 
answers would help smooth the pain somewhat. The next morning after 
getting the kids off to school and her husband off to work, Gillian 
drove into town. She remembered seeing a private investigator's office 
across the street from where she gets her hair done. She went in and 
talked with the woman. She explained everything that transpired since 
their vacation and asked if she could help her. The P.I. told her she 
normally doesn't get involved in murder cases but she'd see if she 
could find out anything. Gillian signed a contract and gave the woman a 
retainer check. She told Gillian to give her a few days, and she'd be 
in touch. Gillian decided not to mention any of this to Sam, fearing 
he'd go though the roof over it. He's already evil enough. She'd just 
spent $1000.00 and Sam never was fond of Stacey living with them, under 
their noses. Gillian wished she'd never met Sam to begin with, that her 
life would be different and all of this would probably never have 
happened. She'd thought about divorce but then that would only 
complicate things with the children. She felt like she was stuck in a 
rut. A couple of days passed and she got a call from the private 
investigator. The call came in, just as Sam was coming in the door from 
work. She quickly explained to the woman that she couldn't talk at the 
moment, that she'd call her back shortly. Sam started bitching to the 
kids about trivial stuff and to Gillian about not having dinner ready 
to eat. “I'm making your favorite meal honey, but I ran out of potatoes 
and had to make a quick trip to the store for them. Otherwise, 
everything would have been ready.” Sam screamed at her, something about 
the grocery list and then stormed out to cut some wood for their 
wood-burner stove. This gave Gillian the opportunity she needed. She 
quickly called her private investigator back and explained she had only 
a few minutes to talk. “Well, Mrs. Massey, I did find out some 
information that may help you. I thought I'd start by examining your 
sister's phone bill and with the help of the local phone company, I 
came up with some things. Your sister has been getting numerous phone 
calls from a man, usually from two different phone numbers. Finding it 
unusual, I traced them and found they belonged to the chief of police 
here in town. He's been calling her from the station and also from his 
home. To be frank with you, Mrs. Massey, it looks like he may have been 
having an affair with your sister.” “But, how could that be. She was 
living right under my nose all this time?” “Are you saying you never 
saw her come and go?” “Well, I wouldn't necessarily know. I mean, she 
had her own private apartment. You see, when we bought our house, it 
had a small one bedroom apartment attached to the rear of it. I thought 
it would come in handy some day, in case I ever needed to have a place 
for my aging parents to live.” “Well, Mrs. Massey. It seems very likely 
this is what's been going on. After all, Stacey had her own private 
entrance and she had a car.” “But I don't understand. What does this 
all have to do with Stacey's murder?” “Well, there's more. I also found 
out the chief is on wife number two. Seems as though he divorced his 
first wife about 5 years ago. She caught him having an affair and it 
wasn't more than a week later that she died mysteriously. The county 
coroner couldn't find any reason for her death but speculated it was 
some unknown type of poison. Something attacked her immune system and 
some substance showed up in the blood but they were unable to determine 
its source. Now, Mrs. Massey, I'm only speculating at this point, but 
with all of this information present, it's very possible your sister 
could have threatened him with some kind of blackmail and maybe he had 
to kill her. Bear in mind, I'm only speculating.” “Oh my god, but he 
wouldn't . . .” “Hey, if he'd done it once and gotten away with it, 
there's the possibility he could have done it again.” “Well, where's 
that leave me now, at this point?” “Like I explained to you ma'am. I 
told you I'd see if I could try to find out if anything unusual was 
going on and this is about all I can do for you. I can't do anything 
about murder. That's not my expertise. You'll have to take that up with 
the police authorities. With that, I wish you luck and you can stop by 
my office to pick up the balance of your unused retainer.” Gillian hung 
up the phone and sat there, staring at the phone. She was trying to 
figure out what to do next, when a brainstorm came into her head. It 
would be dangerous, but it would all be worth it to her. About then, 
Sam walked in with an armload of cut wood and asked what the hell she 
was doing sitting on the sofa, staring at the phone. She explained it 
was nothing; it was just an obscene phone call and dinner was ready to 
be served. 

Chapter 4 

The next day, after the kids and Sam were off on their way, Gillian was
ready to set plan number one into motion. The first thing she did was 
to make some phone calls to find out where the police chief's home was 
located. She also found out his wife worked for a financial firm and 
would be working all day. Before Gillian was married, she used to work 
for her uncle as a locksmith. He taught her the trade of coring locks, 
making keys and oh yes, one other thing, how to open a lock if one had 
lost their key, by picking it. She left the house, making sure she had 
her set of lock picks with her, along with a pair of rubber gloves. She 
drove across town to the suburb of Evergreen Estates, made two right 
turns and followed Poplar Avenue all the way down to the end. It was 
quite secluded there. The home was gorgeous. It was styled like an old 
English two-story half-timber. She followed the driveway around to the 
back and parked her car. She was about to enter the home of the local 
chief of police. Her heart was pounding and the adrenaline was flowing 
as she took out her pick and put on the rubber gloves. She approached 
the back door; carefully looking around to make sure no one was around. 
Perfect. Not a sound anywhere except for some birds chattering in the 
trees. A few jiggles of her pick and the door opened easily. Once 
inside, she stood still and listened intently. Only the sound of a 
ticking clock could be heard in a distant room. Gillian roamed about 
until she came upon the den, which Chief Madden used as an office after 
work. Being careful not to disturb anything, she looked through the 
desk drawers, having to pick each one of them open. She found what she 
was looking for in the lower right-hand drawer?a small handgun. She had 
a feeling he would have an extra gun around somewhere and with a little 
luck, she found it. She tucked it into her pocket. On his desktop was a 
container of business cards, of which she took one. As she turned 
around to leave, there was a sound coming from the next room. Her heart 
was in her throat; beads of perspiration were forming on her face. She 
made her way over next to the doorway and pulled the gun out, checking 
its clip. Sure enough, it was loaded. She quietly clicked off the 
safety and held it between her trembling hands. Suddenly there came a 
thump followed by a meow. As she cautiously peered through the doorway, 
she noticed a cat had knocked over a candleholder on the mantle. 
Without further ado, Gillian promptly exited the house and headed back 
home. 

Chapter 5 

Today is a very special day, time for plan number two. Oh yes, she
almost forgot to mention it was their fifth anniversary. She never 
thought to bake a cake, but then she had a bigger surprise in store. 
Everything was perfect. Today was Saturday and Aunt Geri was picking 
the kids up for the day and taking them to Kennywood, near Pittsburgh. 
Aunt Geri arrived for the kids just as they all finished eating 
breakfast. She said they'd be back by 7:00 P.M. Gillian told her kids 
to have a good time and to behave themselves. They always did; they 
were little angels when they were with their aunt. Sam left for work 
and was expecting her to have lunch on the table when he got home. He 
only had to work until noon on Saturdays. She tidied up things around 
the house and made sure everything was ready to go on the table for 
lunch. Now all she had to do was wait it out. Gillian tried to curl up 
on the sofa with her book, but she was too nervous to read, so she 
turned on the television and watched a soap. Soon, it was nearly noon, 
so she turned off the television and started putting the food on the 
table. She finished, just as she heard Sam close the door on the BMW. 
She felt like a little child, eager to run downstairs on Christmas 
morning to see what Santa had brought. Gillian met Sam at the door, 
embracing him with a big hug and a kiss. “Here's your card, honey. Hope 
you like it?” “Card . . . for what?” “Why it's our anniversary?five 
years today.” “Oh . . . oh, that. Yea, I suppose it is.” Sam laid the 
card down on the end table, without opening it and started complaining 
about how his day at work went. Next he bitched about the tomato soup. 
He said he was sick of it and wanted something else. I put it aside and 
agreed to make him some chicken noodle, after which he screamed at me 
to hurry it up. He wanted to eat so he could watch the baseball game in 
a little while. As soon as we finished eating, it was finally Gillian's 
time to shine. She was ready to take her stand on the podium and 
receive her gold medal. “Honey. You have an hour yet, until the ball 
game comes on. I was cleaning up the mess in Stacey's apartment and I 
need you to move one piece of furniture for me so I can clean up the 
bloodstains on the carpet. Can you spare me about five minutes?” “Yea, 
I guess so. Come on. Let's go around back. Show me what you need done.” 
Gillian unlocked the door and Sam followed her into the living room. 
She pointed to the sofa and asked him to help move it to the edge of 
the carpet. Just as soon as it was moved, he started for the door. 
“Honey, just one more thing. I have a little surprise for you and I 
promise, this will be over before you know it.” “Well . . . what the 
hell is it?  I ain't got all day.” “Come. Follow me into the bedroom 
for a moment.” She had Sam follow her. She told him to stand over near 
the wall by the dresser and close his eyes for just a minute, until she 
told him to open them. Sam bitched about this being so childish, but he 
did what she asked. Gillian put on her rubber gloves, removed a bed 
pillow from the bed and the gun which was lying under it. She backed up 
by the doorway, pointing the gun at Sam with the pillow tightly over 
the barrel. “All right Sam, time to open them.” As Sam opened his eyes, 
she fired a shot into his hip, sending him hurdling to the floor in 
agony. He tried to get up but was unable to stand, as he cried out in 
pain. “What the hell is this? You bastard. I'm gonna kill you.” “No, 
that's where you're wrong. I'm gonna kill you. Well actually, Chief 
Madden is going to kill you.” “What the hell do you mean by that?” “Oh, 
this happens to be one of his guns. You see, I stole it from his home 
yesterday; wearing rubber gloves of course. His prints are all over it. 
You see, I found out he was having an affair with Stacey. Now, either 
his wife or Stacey were probably blackmailing him, and I really don't 
care who. All I believe is the fact that he probably had to kill Stacey 
to avoid trouble, and maybe his wife was going to be next. After all, 
his first wife died of mysterious causes after he was caught having an 
affair.” “What the hell does this have to do with me?” “Opportunity, 
you bastard, that's what.” Gillian fired another round, this time 
taking out his left kneecap, as he laid there screaming. “You see, in a 
few minutes, I'm finally going to be free of you. After I report the 
murder, I'll probably take the kids and move back home to Maryland.” 
She fired another round, this time to the abdomen. Sam went into 
convulsions, almost choking on his blood. “Just two more rounds honey 
and it'll be all over. The five rounds are for each of the hellish 
years I've gone through with you. So enough said. The next round will 
be to the center of the chest. Just in case it misses the heart, the 
final round will be to the head. Gillian fired the next one to the 
chest. It must have found its way to the heart by the massive amount of 
blood that was pumping out of him. She almost walked away but then she 
figured why short change herself. She put the fifth round right between 
the eyes. Gillian hid the chief's business card between the mattress 
and the headboard and on the way out through the living room, knocked 
over the end table and lamp.  She exited the apartment, leaving the 
door unlocked on the way out. She tossed the gun in the bush outside 
the door. She waited about an hour, before calling the police. In a 
matter of minutes, there was an EMT vehicle and three squad cars out in 
front. 

Chapter 6 

Gillian sat weeping on the sofa while three officers were trying to ask
her questions. She told them how she was coming home from shopping and 
a jogger stopped her and asked what all the noises were around the rear 
of her house. The woman said it sounded like muffled gun shots. She 
jokingly told Gillian she's been told she has a vivid imagination, but 
she was sure that's what she heard. Gillian said she'd go around and 
have a look. She told the police she found the door unlocked and when 
she went inside . . . well, that's when she discovered the horror. She 
called the police immediately. The police did a thorough search of the 
apartment and the first thing they found was the gun in the bush near 
the door. They said it looked like the killer was in a hurry and when 
he knocked over the lamp table, he must have lost his weapon on the way 
out or maybe thought he'd hide it for later to pick during the night. 
They said a pillow was used to muffle the gunshots and that may be what 
the jogger heard. Five minutes later an officer came out of the bedroom 
with a business card belonging to Chief Madden. He said it was found in 
the bedding. The police said they'd take the gun along with them as 
evidence and examine it and they were also going to post an officer 
outside her house for protection. Before the police left, one officer 
asked Gillian if she knew why her husband would have been back there in 
the apartment. She told them she didn't have a clue, other than the 
fact that maybe he was trying to clean up the mess from her sister's 
murder. She added that her husband mentioned yesterday how he'd like to 
get the apartment in shape to rent out again, as soon as possible. The 
police said they'd be leaving and if she needed anything, to call 
immediately. They said they'd be in touch with her just as soon as they 
knew more. Later that evening when Aunt Geri returned with the kids, 
she sat down with them and broke the tragic news. Aunt Geri went into 
shock and the kids were uncontrollable. It took her a while to get them 
all calmed down. She asked Geri if she could take the kids for a few 
days or more, until she could get matters handled. She also said she'd 
be keeping them out of school for a while. Geri told her no problem, 
she'd be only too glad to help. After they left, Gillian went to bed 
that night, ready to face the first day of her new life in the morning. 
She felt a great sense of release, of total satisfaction. After Gillian 
finished her breakfast and did a few household chores, she called Geri 
to check on the kids. They all got on the phone and talked a while and 
things seemed to be going all right. Next the doorbell rang. It was two 
of the police officers who talked with her last night. They had some 
news for her and she asked them to please come in. “Ma'am. We just 
wanted to tell you we've made an arrest pertaining to your husband's 
murder. We have Chief Madden in custody.” “Chief Madden?  But, how 
could that be?” “Well ma'am. It seems the gun we found at the scene had 
his prints all over it. It had been fired five times into the victim 
and ballistics all matched. His business card found in the bedding, 
indicated either he had been there before or his presence thereabouts 
was known. Of course, he denies killing your husband, but we did manage 
a confession out of him for killing your sister. We are also holding 
his wife as an accessory. It seems Stacey began to blackmail Madden for 
money. In the process, his wife found out about the affair and told 
Madden to either get rid of Stacey or she'd expose him to public eye. 
We're sure he'll confess to your husband's murder, it's just a matter 
of time. After all, he's already facing murder one. We just thought 
you'd want to know what we found.” “Thank you very much officer.” 
“You're welcome ma'am. We're deeply sorry for your loss and we hope 
things work out for you. You take care ma'am.” Gillian spent the next 
two days taking care of some important matters. She called in a 
professional cleanup team to restore the apartment and then she put the 
home up for sale. She made plans to move back to Maryland and buy a 
home near her parents. She closed out her bank accounts and assumed her 
husband's account with over a million dollars in it, since she was the 
surviving widow. She decided to keep the BMW and Geri bought the van 
from her. Oh, and one last thing . . . she had a funeral to attend. 
Wow?Isn't life wonderful? Even when murder interrupts its process. 

The End 


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