"Unfortunately, Mother had to come by just then, and she saw me standing over Nila . She took the rat poison away and made me get out of there ---- and then, I suppose, she switched glasses so no one would find the poison in Nila's glass . I have to hand it to Mother ---- she's usually wimpy, but that time, she was pretty clever . She sure fooled you, and the doctors never even suspected Nila'd been poisoned ."

"On the other hand, Nila never drank enough of her cranberry juice to die, so I knew I'd have to try again . But, first, I had to get you out of the way . As soon as I found out you were the detective Uncle Charles had hired, I started thinking of a way to get rid of you ."

"I never even suspected you," Nancy said .

Cecilia's expression grew bitter . "Nobody pays any attention to me," she complained . "Their loss ."

"I could have died in that car," Nancy said, feeling the anger well up inside her .

"Yes should have died !" Cecilia shot back, her face reddening with fury .

Now it was Nancy's turn to smile . "I guess I'm just too good a driver," she said .

Cecilia ignored the comment . "I took the rag I'd used to wipe off my hands, grabbed Mother's key to Jack and Karen's house, and dumped it in his office waste basket ."

"That was you ?" Nancy asked . "I thought your mother had dropped it there ."

Cecilia shook her head . "Mother would never try to implicate anyone who was innocent," she said . "But I figure Jack deserved whatever he got . And he's so messy, he never throws out his trash, so it was easy ."

"Anyway, he wasn't the only one I was making look guilty . I had everyone thinking Nila was faking it all ." She giggled at the thought of it . "But when Uncle Charles made his new will, I knew I had to do something drastic . So I stole the copies . I was going to burn them ---- but Mother found me first and took the copies away . She locked them here in her room so I couldn't get to them ."

Cecilia frowned at the memory of it . "It didn't really matters anyway . I knew that as soon as Uncle Charles knew they were missing, he'd just make a new copy . And even if I get rid of Nila once and for all, he wouldn't leave us his money anymore . He was too angry by that point . That's why I had to kill him ."

She looked at Nancy with a frank, open expression as if that explained everything she'd done . Nancy quietly waited for more .

"I sneaked into his room and told him Nila'd sent me up to give him his medicine . Poor Uncle Charles, he never suspected anything . I took the bottle of pills and his water glass to the bathroom, and dissolved six or seven extra pills in the water . I watched him drink it . I'm sure he never even noticed . I thought he'd at least say the water tasted funny ."

"Anyway, I knew the police would think Nila had done it . She's the one who was named in the will, and she's the one who always gave him his medicine ."

"Your uncle isn't dead," Nancy reminded her .

Cecilia frowned . "No, that's true . But he will be . Or else he'll be brain damaged . The doctor said so . In either case, he won't be able to tell anyone who gave him the overdose ."

"What about the brick that nearly killed Nila ?" Nancy asked .

"I wanted her dead, just in case," Cecilia explained . "I mean, Mother still had the copies of the will . I figured she might decide to put them back in Uncle Charles's desk or something stupid like that . She's so honest . Anyway, I rigged the rope with the loop in it so I could yank the brick off the parapet from the second floor window . That was the most clever thing of all, I think . Because even if I missed, I knew everyone would think Nila'd pulled it down herself, just the way she'd faked everything else ."

"Brilliant," Nancy said . "I have to admit it . Too bad you didn't apply that wonderful mind of yours to better uses ."

Cecilia shrugged . "You can't tell me what to do with my life," she said . "Someday, I'll have a lot of money . And I'll make sure Uncle Charles's foundation has money, too . I like charities . You might say Mother and I have been one of Uncle Charles's charities . But no more . Mother's going to have lots of money, and someday it will all be mine ."

"What about Nila ?" Nancy asked . "You didn't kill her, you know . She's only unconscious . When she wakes up, she'll tell the police it was you who hit her ."

"No, she won't," Cecilia said, shaking her head and smiling . "She never even saw me . I hit her from behind before she knew I was there . I thought she was going to snoop in Mother's room . She had the keys in her hand . And I had to destroy the will before she got her paws on it ."

Cecilia shut the dresser drawer slowly . "And now it's all over," she said, glancing at the ashes in the fireplace . "That was pretty clever trick you played on Mother, getting her to confess like that . You really didn't know it was her because you couldn't have, could you ? I mean, it wasn't her ---- it was me !"

"So it's my word against yours," Nancy said . "And you don't think that's enough ?"

"No way," Cecilia said, coming slowly toward Nancy . "And you know it, too . Goodbye, Nancy . Nice try ---- and better luck next time ."

She brushed past Nancy, fluffing her hair as she walked into the darkened sitting room and then out the door into the hallway .

"There's just one thing," Nancy called after her .

Cecilia spun around . "And what is that ?" she asked .

Now it was Nancy's turn to smile . Out of her jacket pocket, she pulled her micro cassette recorder . "You forgot this," she said .

Cecilia went white . "No," she gasped . "You little sneak !" She lunged for Nancy, knocking the recorder out of her hands . Both girls dove for it, but it skittered out through the door into the hallway .

Nancy was the first to get up and run for the recorder, but Cecilia was right behind her, and now she had a sharp letter opener in her hand !

Nancy grabbed the recorder and spun around to tackle Cecilia . The two of them fell on the carpet, struggling for the weapon and the recorder .

But just then there was a commotion from the stairs .

"Nancy !" Philip was shouting . He came bounding up the stairs and into the hallway, followed by Karen and Jack . Quickly Nancy disarmed Cecilia and pocketed both the recorder and the letter opener . Before Cecilia could react, Nancy ran over to Philip's side .

He stopped briefly when he saw Nila, who was just sitting up, rubbing the back of her head and wincing in pain .

"Say, are you all right ?" he asked her, bending down next to her .

"I --- I think so," Nila said . "Someone hit me on the head ."

"With this, I'll bet," Jack said, touching the candlestick with his toe .

Nancy shot Cecilia a look, and Cecilia returned it innocently, blankly, as if their conversation had never even taken place . But Cecilia's eyes were on Nancy's pockets .

"Listen, Nancy," Philip said excitedly . "Listen, Nila --- great news ! Father's regained consciousness ! The doctor said it was a miracle, but it looks like he's going to be all right !"

Cecilia had gone dead white . "No --- no brain damage ?" she whispered hoarsely .

"Apparently not," Philip said . "Good old Dad --- he's a real fighter !"

Nancy was amazed at the sudden gush of filial love coming from Philip Pierce . Karen, too, looked radiantly happy . She and Nila embraced, both of them crying in each other's arms .

"No !" Cecilia cried suddenly . And then she was screaming it, both hands to her head, as she sunk to her knees . "No ! NO ! NOOOO !"

"Call the police, Philip," Nancy said, looking at the pitiful sight of Cecilia crumbling onto the floor . "Yes, Cecilia, you were right . It is all over ."

© All Rights Reserved