"A Murder In Milburn", Book 3: Death In The Library by Nancy McGovern Page B

we’d have lunch immediately.”
    “Why is that an error?”
    “Those mushrooms take at least two hours to act,” Nora said. “If we’d had lunch immediately, Lila’s plan would have worked. It would be appear that the sautéed mushrooms had killed him. But because you fought with your father, Johann, we delayed lunch for two hours. By the time he sat down to eat, the mushroom powder had been digested, and he died on the table. Now, the delayed action is a fact that the police haven’t thought of yet, but will soon. Especially after I tell them about it.  
    “I didn’t think of it either, until Maria said something about how she delayed actions, and regretted it. The phrase delayed action led me to Google, which led me to realize that the poison was never in the plate! After all, why would anyone start the dishwasher before we’d even had lunch? It was almost done when you kicked it, remember Johann? Why was it started? It doesn’t make sense, unless someone wanted to wash away the poison from the glasses!”
    With a scream, Lila sprang at Nora, but Johann held her down. Struggling and cursing, Lila clawed at him, still trying to escape. Nora shut her eyes, but Maria acted. She punched Lila right in the jaw.
    The three gaped at the matriarch, who stood over a now-unconscious Lila with a gleam in her eye.  
    “I never liked her one bit,” she said. “Reynold should never have forced you to marry her, Johann!”
    “Why did she do it, though?” Johann said sadly. “I just don’t understand.”
    “If you’d quit, Lila would lose the luxurious lifestyle she’s used to,” Nora said. “She understood that there was no way she could dissuade you. I have a feeling that you’d have divorced her if she tried. Your marriage was weak enough already. The best thing, then, was to get rid of Reynold and pin it on Petyr. You’d inherit everything, and she’d live the golden life she was used to.”
    Johann nodded, his eyes filling with tears once again.  
    “She almost got away with it. That’s the scary part. I would have been chained to her all my life!”
    “We’re all free now,” Maria said. “The truth has that power.”

    *****

Chapter 10
    Katya and Petyr were married two months later, in a simple ceremony in Portland. Nora served salmon and roast leg of lamb to the forty guests gathered there. Johann, as best man, made a touching speech about how marriages that were built on a bedrock of truth and love would last forever, while Maria cried softly in the corner, tears of happiness.
    There was much laughter as Katya and her father did a little dance as they came down the aisle, and a little sigh from the women when Petyr said his vows. The intense look of love he gave Katya had every woman swooning. Harvey, who’d come as Nora’s date, was rather a hit on the dance floor, when he did the tango with Katya’s great-grandmother, a grand old lady of 97 years.
    As they finished up that day, Katya gave Nora a big hug, and with tears in his eyes, so did Petyr.
    “Don’t think that we forgot who helped bring this about,” Petyr said. “If it wasn’t for you, Nora, my life would be a mess.”
    “Anytime,” Katya said with emphasis. “Absolutely any time you want us, just give us a call. We’re both going to be grateful to you forever.”
    “Yes,” Petyr agreed. “We mean it now. Anything you want to ask of us, any favors we can do you, feel free to ask. We owe you the world.”
    “Well, there is one favor you can do me,” Nora said with a smile.
    “What’s that?”
    “Live happily ever after. You’ve earned it.”

    The End

    *****

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