Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(90)

There was a loud rumble of thunder and then he answered. “The first time? Or the time I actually killed her?” he asked.

And then he gave a laugh that chilled Hannah to the bone. It was clear that Roger had slipped over the edge. He was crazed, insane, homicidal, dangerous, maniacal, psychotic . . . but she didn’t have time to think of all the words that applied to Roger now. She had to keep him talking until Mike arrived.

“I want to know about the first time,” Hannah yelled out between claps of thunder. “How did you get her up here alone?”

“That was easy. She was already here. I just moved a barricade and told her that since she was with me, she was perfectly safe and I’d show her the view.”

Hannah waited until the rumble of thunder had faded away. “The view of her house?”

“Of course.”

“But why did you try to kill her?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out by now, Hannah. Everyone says you’re smart. It’s because she’s my half-sister and she was going to get part of my inheritance. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“So you attacked her?”

“Yes, with a hammer. Move closer, Hannah,” Roger said, noticing that she’d stopped the forward motion of the cage. “You’re delaying.”

“It’s just because I want the whole story. Did your father actually write a will that gave Barbara half?”

“Of course not. He gave her a fourth. He knew how hard I’d been working for him and he knew I deserved the lion’s share.”

“Of course you did,” Hannah appeased him. “But why kill Barbara when you got so much more than she did?”

“Because she didn’t deserve anything!” Roger howled above the sound of the wind and the rain. “She’d done nothing! I gave my life for Dalworth Enterprises!”

“Really?” Hannah asked, knowing full-well she had nothing to lose. “I thought you made a good living from your father’s corporation.”

“Oh, I did, but not good enough. I’m worth much more. I’m worth more than a hundred percent and Barbara was cutting into my share.”

“I see,” Hannah said, hoping that the door would crash open and Mike would arrive.

“Come closer, Hannah. And then I’ll tell you more. I know you want to know everything.”

“I do want to know,” Hannah said, sliding the control knob to forward. The cage moved slowly a few feet toward Roger and then she stopped it. “Why did you need so much money?”

“Because I had debts! It’s not easy running Dalworth Enterprises. You have to pay off everybody to get the permits you need. My father never understood that, so I had to play some games with the books. Everybody does it. And then there were expenses. You have to look like you have money when you’re playing with the big boys.”

He cooked the books, Hannah’s mind said, and I’ll bet most of those mythical payoffs were for him. But Hannah didn’t say that. Instead, she tried to sound very sympathetic. “I understand,” she said.

“Good.” Roger sounded pleased that she understood. “Come here, Hannah. I don’t think there’s anything more you need to know.”

“Oh, but there is!” Hannah said, moving another foot or two closer. “I have to know why you killed Doctor Bev.”

“She was a leech! And she was a cheat! She was blackmailing me once she found out I tried to kill Barbara. She came up in the elevator and she saw me hit Barbara. And then she saw Barbara jump off the roof.”

Suddenly the fact that Lisa had heard the penthouse elevator squeal shortly before Barbara jumped made sense. Doctor Bev had gone up there. She’d sent Barbara’s button to Hannah as insurance, intending to explain it if Roger failed to give her what she wanted. But Roger had killed her before she could explain and Hannah had been left with a mystery.

“She was smarter than you are,” Roger said. “She figured it all out and she demanded millions from me.”

“And of course you didn’t want to give her those millions.”

“Why would I? I could have anyone I wanted, not a run-down forty-year-old broad who thought she was hot stuff.”

Hannah felt a moment’s pity for Doctor Bev. She’d picked the wrong guy. “But you lost your Maserati when you killed her.”

“It was insured and there’s plenty more where that came from. And now I’m tired of talking. You’ve got time for one more question before I come out there and haul you in.”

“Where did you get the tranquilizers you used to kill Doctor Bev?”

Roger laughed so loud that it boomed in her ears almost louder than the thunder that was rumbling overhead. “I know where to go and I’ve got connections. I can get anything for a price. Are you going to come closer, Hannah? Or do I have to come out there and kill you?”

“You have to come out here,” Hannah said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. Where was Mike? Where was Bill? Where were Lonnie and Rick? Had she been left to deal with a homicidal maniac all by herself?!

And then Roger smiled the most terrible smile she’d ever seen. It was a smile born of monsters, just the way Barbara had described him. He stepped out of the hinged pane and onto the track that led to her cage, and he moved like an acrobat toward her.