“And you followed her?”

Babs nodded. “But first I looked around for Martin. After all, she was his wife, and he could have taken care of it. Martin and Shirley were both gone, so there was only one thing for me to do. I followed Brandi into the kitchen to confront her. I was going to make her put the knife back.”

“Was in the kitchen?”

“No, it was deserted. But the pantry light was on, and when I looked inside, I noticed the door to the parking lot wasn’t shut all the way. I stuck my head out and there she was, heading across the lot.”

“So you went out after her.”

“Yes. I thought about running back inside for my coat and boots, but I didn’t want to give her time to hide the knife. I hadn’t gone more than a couple of yards when I heard a car door slam and a motor start running over the sound of the wind. Brandi was in Martin’s car, and there was only one reason she would have started it. She was going to leave, and I had to stop her.”

Hannah reached out to pat Babs hand. The older woman was obviously upset. “Go on.”

“I ran through the snow and got to the car before she could back up. She must have seen me coming, because she hadn’t locked the driver’s door, and I pulled it open. There she was, munching on one of your cookies while the car heated up. I reached right past her to turn off the key and then I grabbed her arm and tried to pull her out of the car. She fought back, but I managed to do it.”

“What then?”

“That’s when I noticed that she was wearing my great-grandmother Dubinski’s ring, the emerald and diamond heirloom I gave to Martin and Shirley on their wedding day. I saw red and grabbed for the ring.”

“And Brandi fought back?”

“Like a tiger. She punched me in the chest and I went down in the snow. I was just getting up when she reached into the car, grabbed your mother’s cake knife, and slashed out at me.”

“Did she cut you?”

“No, she missed. And I managed to grab her wrist. We grappled for the knife, and Brandi slipped. That made me slip, and somehow I ended up on top of Brandi in the snow.”

“So when you got the upper hand, you stabbed her?”

“No! My hand was on her wrist, never the knife. I thought she was just stunned, that’s all. I got to my feet, slipped the ring off her finer, and looked around for the knife to take it back inside. I searched around in the snow for a minute, and then I saw that it was stuck in her chest.”

“What did you do then?”

“I reached down to feel for her pulse, but there wasn’t any.”

“So you didn’t call for an ambulance? And you didn’t come back inside to tell anyone what had happened?”