Kylie froze again as Caroline walked out of the computer lab. But she didn’t appear to notice that Kylie was there in the storage alcove. Nobody did. Perhaps Kylie was just going to have to sit there for the next hour or so and pretend to be a mouse until Hilary left too. Because Kylie wasn’t used to doing this covert stuff and she was pretty sure she was going to muck it all up trying to sneak back out of this crowded alcove.
“You’re not hiding, if that’s what you think.”
Kylie nearly choked when she realized that Hilary was talking to her.
“Go on then, come out. I know you were listening. But then, you needed to listen.” Hilary looked up from the computer where she was working and pegged Kylie with a hard glare. “You think you can file a suit against me and get away with it, but you’re wrong.”
Kylie managed to untangle her foot from a set of spare HDMI cables and stepped out of the alcove. “Caroline was right,” Kylie told Hilary. But Kylie’s voice was a lot less firm than she would have liked. “You’re not going to be able to duck that defamation of character thing. And I don’t know what you have on Joe Turner, but you need to know I’m going to be letting my lawyer know about that too. Joe suspended me on no grounds. Even Detective Sellers agrees. Your own photo gave away the game.”
For just a moment, there was a flicker of something that might have been doubt on Hilary’s face, but then it disappeared and only the face of someone absolutely determined to get her own way showed. Hilary pursed her lips, but she didn’t say anything.
“What’s the matter?” Kylie pressed. “You won’t even defend yourself? You think you’re so above the law and above being held accountable for the words you write and the stories that get printed that you’re just going to stand there looking smug?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I do.” Hilary gave a shake of her head. “You have no idea what will happen if you try to interfere in what I’ve got planned. Titus Holbrook is a murderer. I told you that before.”
“He didn’t kill your sister.” Funny, but Kylie did not even begin to waver in being sure about that. “I don’t know what happened, but it sounds like you’re missing a lot of the facts. Funny, since you’re a reporter and facts are supposed to be your thing. But then, the sort of reporter you’ve become suggests you wouldn’t know a fact from a hole in the ground.”
“And the kind of ill-tempered wench you are suggests you’re just lying and scheming to get what you want,” Hilary said archly.
Kylie actually laughed. “You must be joking. I’m not the one who has managed to piss off every single person in this town. I’m not the one universally hated. I’m not the one managers of any tourist attraction in this town talk about when we get together. The one who makes us all want to groan and shake our heads would be you. They dread seeing you, Hilary Allenwood. They all hate you. It must feel awful to be so universally reviled as the Queen of Lies.”
“Shut up!” This time, Hilary didn’t sound so sure of herself. There was a note of something approaching panic in her voice. It was like she was beginning to unravel and Kylie just needed to find the right string to pull her apart. “You need to stop talking or I’m going to sue you. And you don’t have any rights as a member of the press like I do.”
“Oh, I get it. So, it’s being a reporter that makes you believe you have a lower standard of appropriate behavior and a license to tell lies and print them about anyone you want.” Kylie didn’t bother to hide her disdain. “That’s absolutely disgusting, Hilary. You must know that. You must know that we all groan and hide when we see you coming. Is all of this really worth it?”
“Yes!” Hilary said fiercely. “You didn’t see what happened to my sister! You didn’t see the blood all over her and the way she had been torn to bits by an animal. You didn’t see it!”
“No, I didn’t.” It wasn’t like Kylie could argue that point anyway. “But you can’t punish everyone else for what happened all those years ago. It has to be the law that punishes them. It has to be investigating the facts. And right now, you’re just drumming up a bunch of lies to put enough pressure on someone to make them break.”
Hilary was ready to fire right back. “That’s how it works when they won’t tell the truth on their own! I asked him to turn himself in. I asked him all those years ago to turn himself in and just end all of this being unsure or not. If he was a good man, that’s what he’d do. If you think he’s so great, you should tell him that.”
“Wait.” Kylie was losing track of this conversation. “You asked who? You asked Titus?”
“Yes!” Hilary shouted the word with such force that the other people in the room looked up in spite of their headphones. There were lots of frowns too.
Kylie had a hard time believing that Titus had a reason to turn himself in. He wasn’t a murderer, no matter what Hilary Allenwood said. But there were other ways that people could accidentally commit murder. Maybe it would be better to talk to Titus about that conversation.
“I bet that arrogant bastard won’t budge,” Hilary boasted. It was so odd. As if she didn’t actually want Titus to be contrite so that she could hate him still. “I bet you he thinks my sister deserved to die.”
No way. No. Way. Kylie was already shaking her head. “I’m not buying it, Hilary. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Titus never touched your sister. You’ve got your facts wrong again and you’re trying to hang the wrong man. That’s what you do. It’s what you’ve been doing in Branson all along and that isn’t how Titus is.”
“You don’t really know him,” Hilary insisted. “You don’t. You think that you do. But he’s really a monster inside. You’ll see. In bed. He’s a monster I bet. You just haven’t seen it because you’re not sleeping with him.” Then Hilary’s mouth twisted into a frown. “But you will be. Soon. And then you’ll see. And you’ll still be out of a job and everyone in town will know what a slut you are.”
And with those words, Hilary turned and snagged her bag before she flounced out of the computer lab. Kylie could not help but wonder if Hilary was really that deluded, or if Kylie was the one living in a fantasy world.
Chapter Fifteen
Titus had never been so glad to see the end of a day. At least not within memory. He found himself gravitating toward wandering the neighborhood. The mystery of the Hawthorne Street prowlers was solved, but the neighborhood didn’t actually know that. That meant there were still patrols out wandering the streets and yakking at each other about property values and expensive security systems. But none of those bothered Titus. He kept his patrols to the brush and the trees.
Eventually, he found himself right behind Kylie’s back gate once again. But this time, he knocked before just walking in. When she didn’t answer, he peeked over the gate instead of opening it.
The slider was open between the patio and the house. There was some kind of easy listening music playing on the speakers mounted to the underside of the decking. And several bottles of wine were chilling in a bucket of ice. There were bowls of fruit and all sorts of other goodies, including a crushed nut-covered cheese ball that smelled strongly of alcohol and several cheese spreads with some tasty-smelling crackers.
“Hey!” Titus called out. He finally gave up waiting for Kylie to come back outside. She was obviously prepping something in the house. So, Titus just walked into the backyard. “Kylie Overton, are you having a party in the middle of all this drama?”
Kylie poked her head out the sliding glass door. He wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that she didn’t seem to care one way or the other that he’d just let himself into her yard. “Shut up and come help me carry this stuff.”
“Carry what?” Titus moseyed his way toward the house. The basement had a little wet bar and right now every inch of counter space was covered in trays. “Holy cow, woman. Are you feeding a bunch of teenaged boys?”
“No. Twenty-something women,” she quipped. Then she shoved a few trays into his hands. “Take these outside and set them on the tab
le. Please? I totally forgot about my stupid once a month wine night. I can’t believe it’s actually Friday! Did you know it was Friday? I feel like I’m completely out of it right now. I don’t know what the day is or what the date is and probably couldn’t tell you if we’ve finally moved from August to September.” She sounded absolutely flustered.
Titus looked down at the trays in his hands. “Well, you must have remembered that it’s a Friday. The last Friday of the month, I assume. Because you’re all ready for your guests. Right?”
“Are you kidding me?” Her voice was getting higher and higher pitched. “If Rochelle hadn’t texted me to ask if I could bring home a certain kind of wine for tonight, I wouldn’t have remembered at all!”
Titus did not like the sound of that. Bring home a certain kind of wine? As if Kylie’s friend had the expectation that Kylie should just be able to deliver whatever at her own expense and trouble and her friends would show up to reap the benefits. The thought made Titus grouchy. “Maybe you should have just let them show up to an empty house,” Titus suggested. “Let’s go and grab some food somewhere across town and they can just stand outside and wonder why nobody is here to listen to them bitch and moan when they have no idea how much you’ve needed a little friendly love and support recently.”
“Don’t be so hard on them,” Kylie said defensively.
He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve heard you be worse!”
“Right.” She looked chagrined. “I’m sorry. I’m just stressed. Can you help me grab the rest of those trays and bring them outside?”
“Sure. Should I go dig out a tux and be your waiter for the evening?” He was trying to be sarcastic, but he could tell she was ultra-stressed because for a moment, she looked as though she might be considering the idea. “I was kidding, Kylie. I’ll just help you set up and then leave.”
“No! Don’t leave,” she pleaded.
Her strange begging and whining took him by surprise. For a moment, Titus was pretty sure she was about to cry into the bargain. “What happened, Kylie? Is this the only thing stressing you out?”
“Yes. No. I don’t have time to talk about it now. All right? I overheard some stuff while I was at the library today. It was all really weird.”
Titus immediately felt his concern for her rising. But at that moment, the front gate of the back yard, the one with the path that led up to the street level, burst open and a young woman with long legs, a painfully thin build, and short, spiky hair came flying into the yard.
“I’m here!” she said as she did a little twirl. “Kylie darling, pour the wine! The party has started!”
Behind her were four more young women. They were all laughing and chatting to each other as though they were in a wine garden somewhere in Branson and had reserved a private room for the evening. In Titus’s opinion, they were all bitches. Not a single one of them came into the house to offer to help. They all took their seats as though they were reserved just for them, and then they proceeded to pour an open bottle of red wine sitting in ice and chat together while poor Kylie continued to slave away in the kitchen.
“Go,” Titus told Kylie tersely. “I’ve got this. Go entertain your guests. I can see they’re a little on the high maintenance side.”
“Thank you!” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
The tiny bit of contact seared him to the core. He wasn’t sure what it was about this woman, but he felt as though it only took one tiny peck or one brush of her fingers to reduce him to nothing but a panting pile of hormones ready to whisk her off her feet for a night of passion.
That was not going to happen right now as Titus was busy gathering the rest of the trays. He put a few more crackers here and there, then added a few more utensils and some napkins before carrying them all outside in what was probably a bit of an attempt to show off. Not for the strangers. Mostly just for Kylie.
“Oh my God!” The first woman who had entered the yard tittered behind her wine glass. “Kylie, you bitch! Did you hire entertainment? I would have stopped at the bank to get some dollar bills. Does he strip?”
“No, he does not,” Titus said wryly. He put enough ice in his gaze to frost the sass right out of the woman. “His name is Titus and he happens to be a friend and a neighbor of Kylie’s.”
“Oh.” The young woman tossed her head and looked as though she were trying to pretend that she hadn’t just peed her designer panties. “Well then, Titus, my name is Rochelle. This is Mylie, Jacey, Penelope, and Starla.”
“Nice to meet you all.” Titus gave a nod before he set down the four trays he’d balanced on his hands and arms. “Kylie, I will be inside if you need anything.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Titus.”
He went just as far as the porch and stopped. Then he leaned against a newel post in the deep shadows and waited. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what they were all going to start talking about.
“Your neighbor? Kylie you unbelievable beeyotch!” Starla gushed. She was blonde—too blonde—and wearing a very short skirt and a skimpy top that made it look like she might or might not have come ready to go in the jacuzzi. “You have to set me up. You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Titus isn’t really your type,” Kylie began slowly. She took another breath to speak but was cut off by Mylie.
“What? He’s not male?” Mylie giggled and seemed very determined to win the award for the most annoying.
But Jacey apparently wanted that crown for herself. “I think he’s hot. I don’t care which team he plays for. I want to watch. I love to watch.”
“Hey, guys,” Kylie broke in. “He’s got really good hearing. You should probably keep it down.”
Rochelle picked up a wine bottle. “Where’s the chardonnay I asked you to get? I wanted to try it. You said it was new.”
“I wasn’t at work today,” Kylie said lamely. She was sitting on the edge of her seat. If anyone had paid a bit of attention, they would have noticed that she didn’t look as though this was much fun. “Actually, I’m going to have to ask you guys to leave early tonight. I’ve been really busy. It’s been hectic.”
“Yeah,” Rochelle giggled and smirked at the others. “We all saw your lovely article in the paper. That was a great picture.”
Penelope sniggered as she laid down an enormous layer of cheese spread on a selection of crackers on her plates and ate olives directly from the bowl. “Yeah. That picture was definitely worth a thousand words. You’re throwing wine on the customers now? Kylie, I didn’t know you had it in you!”
“No doubt!” Jacey agreed as she plucked a cracker from Penelope’s plate and stuffed it into her mouth.
“You guys actually believe that’s what happened?” Kylie sounded absolutely appalled. “You honestly think that I would just randomly spray a customer with wine from a bottle because she was rude?”
“I would have,” Rochelle announced. “Have you ever been to one of those places? They’re so incredibly gauche! And the people are all so low class. They probably deserve a good wine dousing.”
“But that’s not how I am!” Kylie insisted. But it was obvious the women didn’t care. They were talking over her.
“I would totally imagine it necessary to take those losers down a few pegs,” Mylie agreed. “Unless they were good-looking men. Those are the ones you want to give good service to.”
Starla nodded her head. “Service. Yeah, we all know what kind of service you’re giving out, Mylie.”
Tons of giggling and teasing went on and on. It was strange because Titus couldn’t actually see Kylie being friends with any of these people. They were shallow, vapid women who did nothing but complain about their boyfriends, their parents, and anyone else who wouldn’t give them what they wanted. They were spoiled little brats and there was no way in hell that any of them were good enough to hang out with Kylie.
“I got suspended from my job because of that newspaper article!” Kylie shouted all of a sudden. She shot to her feet and stared arou
nd the seating area at her friends. “I don’t understand it. Not a single one of you called to check up on me after that article. I’ve known all of you since grade school. We have been friends all our lives. Rochelle, I even went to all of your engagement parties! But none of you could spare five minutes to see if I was all right or to call and ask if I needed anything? You just thought the article was for your amusement or something?”
Rochelle looked taken aback. “Well, it was amusing. It seemed like another one of those silly nonsense stories that Hilary Allenwood likes to call news. It’s like our town newspaper is a total rag. A tabloid. But if you got suspend, well then, I’m sorry. It probably explains why you didn’t get the chardonnay.”
The chardonnay! There was no way Titus was going to let this go. They were just sitting out there stuffing their faces with food that Kylie provided them and pouring her wine down their gullets. They were horrible and he knew a way to make it stop. Maybe.
Stepping into the kitchen, Titus picked up ammunition. He grabbed more than a few crackers smeared with spread, black olives, and even a few strawberries. Then he headed back out to his shadowy hiding spot and waited for just the perfect moment. They were laughing again. Everyone but Kylie. The idea they might be laughing at her expense was just too much for Titus to handle. He drew back his arm and threw an olive with deadly accuracy.
“Hey!” Rochelle stopped laughing and put a hand to her forehead. “Who threw that?”
The others looked around, their faces set in varying degrees of confusion. But it was Jacey who answered. “What are you talking about? Nobody did anything.”
Another missile. This one aimed at Starla. The cracker covered in cheese actually stuck to her chest above her low cut top. She gasped in horror and stood up. But before she could even ask who had done it she grabbed her wine glass and threw it in Mylie’s face.
That seemed to be all it took. The food was suddenly flying all over the yard. The women were shouting at each other and throwing cheese balls and spreads and little mini quiches at each other interspersed with flying glasses of wine that drenched their neighbors and usually themselves as well.
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 106
