Dagger in Dahlias

by Dale Mayer

  “Right. I just heard that, but also that he’s headed to a hospice or might have passed on recently,” Doreen said. “Was he married? Did he raise his son alone? Do you know?”

  Mack gave a long-suffering sigh.

  She could hear the click of his keyboard. “Oh, can you access your cop stuff from home?” Excitement lit up her voice.

  “No,” he snapped. “Hornby, Alan is the only son. Mother died when he was sixteen. Old Man Hornby never remarried.”

  “No other siblings?”

  “No,” he said. “Just Alan.”

  “Thanks.” She picked up the pace as she headed toward the creek. “I’m coming home again.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Trying to talk to Penny,” she said, “but there’s no sign of her, and one of the neighbors said he saw her take off with a suitcase.”

  “If you think about it, that doesn’t seem very sinister,” he said, snickering. “She’s probably had enough of all your questions.”

  She frowned into her phone. “That’s not very nice.”

  “True,” he said.

  “I imagine she’s still looking for answers, particularly for George.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “But what if they weren’t that happily married couple, as you initially thought? Or maybe George killed his younger brother in a fit of rage.”

  “I did consider the idea,” she said, “but then tossed it. George spent way too many of the ensuing years trying to find the truth. … I did consider Penny,” she said after a moment. “But I don’t think she could’ve done it alone. She could have killed him, you know, by hitting him over the head when he was sitting there, unsuspecting. But she certainly wasn’t strong enough to move the body on her own.”

  “So what now? You have an imaginary lover helping her out? A man no one has seen or heard of? What motive could there possibly be?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons why I tossed away that idea.”

  “Huh. Well, I agree with that. It also doesn’t make any sense for Penny to contact you after all these years, asking you to look into it if she’s the guilty party.”

  “I know,” Doreen said. “That just added to it.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” he said.

  She skirted around the outside of the cul-de-sac and headed for the creek, all three animals in a single line behind her. “I do have another theory though. I’ll hang up now and call Nan. Bye.” She clicked off and dialed Nan’s number as she headed down the creek toward her home. Nan didn’t answer. “Come on, Nan. Pick up. Please pick up.”

  But there was no answer. She tucked away her phone and marched as fast as she could back home. Thankfully the critters approved of her pace.

  As soon as she saw the creek again, she felt a huge sense of relief. She could barely contain a sudden nervousness. She dialed Mack as she realized part of her unease. “I know you said he was shot and in a car accident, but just how badly injured is Hornby?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Do I need to check for you?”

  “Yeah,” she said, “you do.” She hung up on him. Inside her heart warmed that he took her concerns seriously.

  When she reached the back of her house, she was happy to see she had truly set the alarm. She disabled it, stepped inside, then checked the front door, also relieved to see its alarm was set. With all the animals inside, she shut the door and turned on the alarm system again.

  She couldn’t explain it, but, all of a sudden, she had this horrible sense of urgency. She looked around her house, wondering how safe it was. Just because the alarms were set, that didn’t mean her house was impenetrable. But it was better than what she’d had before.

  Taking off her shoes, she did a quick check of the lower level. Everything appeared to be normal. Mugs wasn’t upset in any way.

  She glanced at her watch. It was later than she’d expected. Still, her mind buzzed uneasily. She crept upstairs, trying to miss the squeaky stairs, still hoping it was safe up here. She slipped into the spare bedroom and listened. No way she could hide the animals’ presence, and that was a problem. She waited a long moment, checking the spare room, finding nothing here. A bathroom was across the hallway, but Mugs had gone in there and came back out again, his tail wagging.

  She eyed him suspiciously. The only person he’d wag his tail for would be Mack. Still Mugs headed toward her, so that was good too. She probably was going crazy, but the last thing she wanted to do was go into her damn bedroom.

  Goliath, however, had no such qualms. With his tail twitching, he sauntered into the bedroom and disappeared from her sight. Mugs followed him. When she didn’t hear anything, she sighed with relief. She stepped into the bedroom with all its chaos and found nobody there.

  Just to be sure, she checked the en suite bathroom and then, with a deep breath, plunged into the big closet to make sure nobody was hiding in there. There wasn’t anyone. Feeling foolish, she came out with her phone ringing. It was Mack.

  “Why did you hang up on me?”

  “Because I had this terrible feeling once I got inside the house,” she said. “I just finished checking under the beds and in the closets, and nobody’s here.”

  His voice turned grim. “I’m on my way over. Back your way out of that house for the moment.”

  She froze. “Why?”

  “Because Hornby is no longer in the hospital.”

  Chapter 24

  Sunday Late Afternoon …

  She hadn’t known her legs could carry her that far or that fast. But spurred by her, the animals flew behind her. She quickly unlocked the front door and stepped outside, racing down the front porch steps to the end of the driveway. There she danced around, waiting for Mack to show up. She hated that Hornby was loose.

  Why would Mack even assume that Hornby would come after her again? Well, maybe because he’d already come here twice, and the last time he’d threatened her. So what were the chances he would come a third time?

  Probably pretty damn good.

  She turned to stare out into the street, looking for Mack’s vehicle. When she still didn’t see it, she walked into her front yard and then around to the back of the house. Surely if somebody were here, Mugs would have picked up on it.

  As she walked past the side door to the garage, it burst open, startling her. A man jumped out, snatched her in his arms, one going around her neck to choke her. She couldn’t even cry out. She gargled, scratched him hard with her nails, tried to stomp on his toes, then kicked up backward, trying to hit him in the groin.

  When Mugs realized she was in trouble, he jumped on her attacker. Thaddeus came squawking down, landing on her attacker too, digging in his claws and pecking at his forehead. The man roared behind her, his grip loosening, cursing. And, dammit, she recognized Hornby’s voice.

  She spun around, her fist out, and clocked him one in the jaw. He stumbled backward, took one look at her, his eyes full of hate. “You’re all nuts,” he roared, brushing Thaddeus off his head. He disappeared, running as fast as he could through the backyard.

  Doreen snatched Thaddeus up, crooning to him, even as she tried to control Mugs.

  Just then Mack’s truck came flying up the driveway. Mack must have caught sight of them from the entrance to the cul-de-sac. He was out of the truck, racing toward her in a heartbeat. He wrapped her in his arms. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head. “Go after him. It was Hornby.”

  Mack had his phone in his hand. He ran behind her house. She grabbed Mugs again, fighting to keep him at her side. There was no sign of Goliath.

  “Go left,” she yelled to Mack. “Go left.”

  He changed direction and headed to the creek.

  She stood, looking at the outside garage door she couldn’t open fully before. She slid a hand around the wall, checking for a light switch. When she found it, she flipped it on, groaning because the garage was completely full of old furniture and boxes. But, from what she co
uld see, nobody else was in here. Nor was there any room for someone to maneuver through the mess.

  The door had been forced open and appeared to be planed off on the edge to make it easier to open and close. So he’d been hiding, right inside the door, waiting for her. Either waiting for her to go to sleep and would trigger the alarm or hoping to catch her outside, like he had. Because of Mack’s warning, she’d gone straight outside and had fallen victim to the maniac waiting for her.

  Shaking, she walked back inside the house and put on the teakettle. She couldn’t see Mack and had no idea if he’d called for backup or not. Just the thought of him out there with that crazy man made her quake in her boots.

  “What if Hornby has a gun?” she asked Mugs. “He could turn around and shoot Mack dead.”

  What she also had to consider was maybe the asshole was coming around again, back to her place. She made herself a cup of tea, and, as she turned, she heard a hiss. She spun around to see Hornby standing in the kitchen doorway. And, sure enough, he had a gun in his hand.

  She looked at him, knowing, when she’d come into the house, she hadn’t reset the alarm. “Damn it, Mack will be really pissed at me for this one,” she said with a bad attempt at humor.

  Hornby’s gaze just glinted.

  “What did I ever do to you?” she asked.

  “Asked too many questions,” he said. “I wondered how much trouble you would be. But when I saw you continuously talking to Penny, I realized you would be a bigger problem than I thought. Once I saw you coming out of Julie’s house, I knew you would be a huge pain in the arse. One I had to get rid of.”

  “Interesting,” she said, leaning against the counter behind her, her hot cup of tea in her hand. She judged the distance between them. Boiling water was a poor weapon against a gun, but it was what she had. “So what did you do? Break Johnny’s neck?”

  He just shrugged, not saying anything.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to tell somebody after all this time?” she asked. “Or do we have to bug your father for the real answers?”

  “You leave my dad alone,” Hornby snapped. “He’s a good man.”

  “Yep, he sure is,” she said. “Does he know what you did? Did he help you out with that?”

  He glared at her. “You don’t know anything.”

  “If that was the truth,” she said, “if I really didn’t know anything, then why would you be worried about me?”

  He took two steps forward, and she switched her hold on the hot tea in her hand, readying herself.

  And then she heard footsteps. Mugs woofed several times at her feet. “You could attack him,” she said to Mugs.

  Mugs woofed several more times. This time his neck bristled, as did the hair along his back.

  She studied it in interest. “He really doesn’t like you, does he?”

  “That’s okay,” Hornby said. “After I shoot you dead, I’ll make sure I kill all three of these friggin’ animals.” He put a hand to his head. When he pulled away his fingers, she could see blood on them.

  “Ooh, yeah. That’s Thaddeus. His beak is hard. And, when he’s pissed off, you really don’t want to get in his way,” she said, chuckling.

  “What the hell are you laughing about?” he roared. “You should be pleading for your life. You’re one crazy-ass lady.”

  At that, Mugs raced toward him.

  He lowered the gun to shoot the dog.

  She stepped forward, crying out, “Don’t!”

  He raised the gun toward her, but it was too late. The hot tea flew in his face. She bent over and tackled him as his arm went up to wipe at his face. She hit him in the belly and down he went, his gun going off and firing into the ceiling.

  She heard a roar behind her and saw Mack had arrived. But it was too chaotic to keep an eye on him. Mugs busily chewed on Hornby’s arm. Hornby screamed for help, and Mack stomped on Hornby’s gun arm, kicking away the weapon.

  She, on the other hand, sat on Hornby’s chest and plowed her fist into his face. “You were going to shoot my dog.” Then the pain hit, and she cried out, staring at her throbbing hand.

  Goliath, sitting on the fifth stair up, came through the railings and jumped on Hornby’s face. Then he jumped off, leaving huge claw marks across it.

  Hornby screamed as the claws ripped open his skin. And then he started to sob. “She’s crazy. Somebody needs to lock her up, and somebody needs to shoot these animals.”

  She couldn’t help herself. She smacked him across the face with her injured hand. “I am not crazy, and nobody is hurting my animals.”

  Mack reached down, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Easy,” he said. “He’s not going anywhere. I’ve got him. Can you please get off him and let me flip him over to put cuffs on him?”

  She stared up at Mack, loving that worried expression on his face as he stared down at her. She smiled. “I’m okay, you know?”

  He nodded. “I know you are, but you might want to take another look at yourself.”

  Frowning, she saw she was now covered in Hornby’s blood from Goliath’s claws. She reached up to pat her cheeks and sighed. “Now I’m really upset. The last thing I want is to get covered in this crazy man’s blood.”

  “Who are you calling a crazy?” Hornby roared. “You’re the crazy one.”

  “Really?” she snapped. “You’re the one who broke your friend’s neck and stuffed him in your dad’s garbage truck and then used the truck to smash his body in with the trash, so nobody would see him. When your dad went out the next day to collect garbage, not knowing Johnny’s body went along for the trip, Johnny was then taken to the landfill at the end of the day. That’s how crazy you are. Why would you do that?”

  “Because he was taking off with my girl,” Hornby snapped back. “He had no right. Julie was mine.”

  “Julie and Johnny,” Doreen said with heavy emphasis, “were an item. Julie didn’t want anything to do with you. Even back then she saw what a crazy coot you were.” Her fists balled up on their own, and she went to punch him again.

  Mack grabbed her arm and stopped it just inches away from Hornby’s face.

  She glared at Mack. “Somebody needs to knock this guy out.”

  “Nobody will punch him, at least not again,” Mack said with a sigh. He tugged her forward and off his captive. “Besides, you hurt your hand.”

  She glared at Hornby, her throbbing fist still held back by Mack. “What about those friends of yours who died in the car accident? Did you kill them too?”

  “I had to kill them,” he said simply. “They saw me.”

  She gasped. “So, not only did you kill Johnny but you did it in front of others?” She shook her head in disbelief. “How stupid are you?”

  “You crazy bat,” he roared. “I am not stupid. I didn’t mean for them to see. I was in the back yard and knocked him out. He must have lost the medallion then. I got Johnny home by dragging him through the park. I decided to put him in the garbage truck right away, so nobody would know. And they happened to be coming by.”

  “What was the price of their silence?” she asked. And then she knew. “Johnny’s car, wasn’t it?”

  He nodded glumly. “Yeah, it was. But I knew that wouldn’t be enough, so, when I saw them on the road, I ran them off. At the time I knew it would look like an accident, or at least Susan would believe it was an accident because she’d been sleeping. She’d been out partying hard the previous night and was still stoned and drunk. She was the passenger in my car and had passed out. Only she woke up in the aftermath, and I gave her the explanation she ended up telling the cops. So she didn’t know anything firsthand.”

  “What about her identifying the multicolor vehicle?”

  He shrugged. “She glommed onto the image of a multicolored vehicle because that’s the one she was in. She was so stoned and still drunk that she didn’t have a clue. As for the rest, well, she just mimicked what I said to try to hide her mental state. Afterward she didn’t remember much at all. We w
ere witnesses to our friends’ death,” he said sarcastically. “And no blood or scrapes were on my vehicle, not obvious ones, so the police couldn’t do anything.”

  “Did you kill her,” she asked abruptly.

  “No.” He chuckled. “I thought about it but she was useless all her life. The only good thing she did was die early.”

  Mack hauled Hornby to his feet, snapped his arms behind him, and cuffed him.

  “Wait,” she cried out. “Did you break into my house trying to steal antiques? Were you working with Darth?”

  “No way would I work with him. I was getting in on the goldmine before he could.” He snorted. “Or would have if you hadn’t interrupted me.”

  Doreen looked toward the doorway to see two uniformed cops. She recognized both and shrugged. “Hi, guys.”

  Chester, the younger one, reached up and scratched his head. “Hi. So do you have access to our cold cases or something?”

  “Or does Mack just give you access,” Arnold said with a wide grin.

  She pointed her finger at him, grimaced from the pain, then just frowned. “Neither. Penny Jordan, Johnny’s sister-in-law, asked me to look into the case. What was I supposed to do, say no?” And then she understood another little piece. She turned to look at Alan Hornby. “You threatened her, didn’t you?”

  He glared at her. “Who the hell are you talking about now?”

  “Penny. You threatened her. That’s why she took off. My questioning her scared you. You realized it all came from her, so you threatened her.”

  “Hell, she was putting the property on the market anyway,” he said. “I just made a hard suggestion that she should do it sooner rather than later, before she didn’t have a chance to do it at all.” He sported a big grin. “Besides, you know how everybody talks about their great marriage? They fought all the time.”

  “Did it ever occur to you,” Doreen said quietly, “that sometimes fighting is people’s way of airing grievances. But afterward, things are good again.”

  “Whatever,” he said. “Personally I think she probably had a hand in George’s death.”