31. Kathy Maybe Cursed

Kathy thought back to the day she discovered the dagger in the vines. Did the curse explain why it had been thrown away? Shaye had fallen and banged her face on a coffee table, so obviously the killer hadn’t held her gently as she died. Kathy had done that. Maybe they panicked and threw away the knife hoping to escape the curse. Brampton said this case was complex – he didn’t know the half of it.

Deborah was gathering her things. She took a last sip of tea. “I am fascinated by the Stormont dagger. I’ve written about it, I’ve held it, I find it so very interesting but,” she shuddered, “I kind of hate it now, too. Gun lovers like to say it’s not guns that kill, it’s people that kill. I’m not interested in guns but you know I love knives, and I guess you could say the same thing. A weapon isn’t evil, it’s the person that wields it.” She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. “But you have to wonder, can you actually have an evil knife? Can a knife really carry a curse? Brrrr!” She shook herself but was laughing now. “Do we need a Q and A, or did I cover everything?”

“That’s more information than I expected, and now there’s a curse involved? Why on earth would the family keep the damned thing around?”

Deborah sat back down and clutched her hair dramatically. “Wait! You held Shaye as she was dying!” she gripped Kathy’s arm. “Does that make you part of the ceremony? You have to talk to Gordon right away, find out what this means for you. Are you cursed? Does it even affect women? They say it affects the whole family.” She had started out joking but now looked genuinely concerned. “Seriously, this is worrying. Talk to Gordon.”

Kathy sat very still. She hadn’t thought about her involvement. She had been a good Samaritan, she’d tried to help the poor girl and she was helping to find her killer, but was she now mixed up in a messed up, ancient ceremony and a curse?

She didn’t believe in curses. But then she’d never been threatened by one before. She suddenly really wanted that glass of wine. She wanted to know which side of the curse she was on. She was a good woman. She’d held a dying woman and would have saved her if she could. Surely the stupid Stormont rules didn’t include cursing Kathy Chatsworth!

Deborah was watching her. “Hey, lighten up. We’ll talk about something else. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

Kathy managed a smile. “It’s freaky but intriguing. I’m not really worried, but I will definitely talk to Gordon. Go on then, pick a subject. Let’s talk about baseball. The Blue Jays,” she made a face. “We live in hope, eh?”

For the next half hour, they talked about sports, work and the Blue Jays’ dismal performance, but Kathy’s mind was churning. Deborah had been very forthcoming. She sure knew a lot about the ceremony, and about Shaye’s death, too. How did she know Kathy had held Shaye? Was that in the newspaper?

Her mind rolled over the information, halting at key points then racing on. Deb was still a suspect, but how did another woman fit into the legend? Deb hadn’t asked Shaye to marry her. Or had she? She let out a sigh, which stopped Deborah mid-flow as she was sharing ingredients for meatloaf. She gently rubbed Kathy’s arm. “Hey, come on. Don’t dwell on it.”

Kathy sighed again. The legend was getting to her. She’d only held the dagger for a moment but she thought about it constantly. The knife couldn’t be the cause of any murders. It was shrouded in mystery and history, but it was still just a weapon, cold and inert. The killer was a human being, with possibly no connection to the legend at all. She couldn’t wait to get home to that glass of wine.