Sweet Charity by Elizabeth Ludwig
Special FOUR part series!
Part 4
Charity’s heart turned to ice inside her chest. “Ambrose, I can explain.”
Before she could utter another word, Luisa scrambled from beneath Charity’s heavy skirts. “It was all her fault!” she screamed. “She said she would make her padre fire me, toss me into the streets to beg.”
Clasping her bone-thin hands before her face, Luisa advanced steadily upon Ambrose. “Por favor, Señor,” she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes, “you no let them blame the senoritas death on poor Luisa. Only you can prove what really happened to the lady, to Miss Jasmine.”
For several seconds, Charity was too shocked to speak, and then, all at once, she sensed Luisa’s evil intention. Fear pounded inside her chest. “Luisa, no. You mustn’t.”
Luisa refused to be deterred. She edged closer to Ambrose, her black eyes gleaming. Darting forward, Charity grabbed the wily maid by the wrist and yanked. Turning with a shriek, Luisa’s hand thrust forward and an object, sharp and shiny, scraped down Charity’s arm.
Horror widened Luisa’s eyes as she realized what she’d done. “Oh, my chica, no!” She stared at the object lying on her palm, a silver pin, and then tossed it to the floor with a wail. She leapt forward, just in time to clutch Charity by the shoulders as she slumped to the floor alongside Jasmine.
“Why you did not let me finish him? Only the doctor, with his skills, could have proven our guilt. No one else would ever have known!”
Charity groaned as the curare she and Luisa had used to coat the pin entered her bloodstream. It would only be moments now, until she joined Jasmine in deadly repose. As two men from the crowd took Luisa into custody, Charity stretched her hand toward Ambrose, pleading.
With tears streaming down his face, Ambrose hunched next to Charity’s side. “Why, beloved? What possessed you to do such an evil thing?”
Smiling, Charity let her eyelids slip closed. “I could never let that vixen, Jasmine, sink her claws into you, my darling. I would have done anything to keep her from taking you from me.” She paused to draw a final shuddering breath then exhaled one last word on a sigh. “Anything. . .”
Stay tuned next week for a brand new Short Story Mystery!
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