by Casey Mayes
“I hate leaving you here by yourself, but there’s no way I can bring you along,” Zach said.
“Don’t worry about me. If the killer’s there, I have to be safe here. Why don’t you go, and I’ll phone Jenny to come by and get me. She can be here in a few minutes. Would that make you happy?”
“Probably, but I still want to wait with you here until she shows up.”
I hated being coddled. “Zach, go on. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.”
He looked like a puppy, he was so eager to go. “Go on.” “If you’re sure,” he said.
I threw him my car keys. “I’m positive.”
He caught them midair, and then said, “I’m not going anywhere until you call her. If she can’t come, I’m staying with you.”
I called Jenny. “Hey, I need a ride.”
“Sure, where are you?”
“I’m at Pullen Park.”
“The carousel’s not open now,” she said. “I don’t think the boat dock is, either.”
“I’m not asking you to go on a picnic with me,” I said. “Can you come get me?”
“I’m on my way,” she said.
After I hung up, I said, “See, she’ll be here in no time.”
“If you’re sure,” Zach said as he kissed my cheek.
Before I could answer, he was sprinting down the path toward the parking lot. My husband could be such a child sometimes.
I was marveling at how Cary could have killed her husband when I suddenly realized that the police had to be wrong. Mindi may have been blackmailing Cary—that didn’t surprise me one bit—but her sense of self-preservation was too strong to risk her own freedom just to get back at Cary. And then I remembered how Cary had reacted to the mere mention of a knife being used on her husband. Cary hadn’t been acting then, I was certain of it. She might have bludgeoned her philandering husband with something, but I doubted seriously that she would stab him.
And if I was right, then neither Cary nor Mindi had done it.
That left Brady and Kelsey, my last two suspects. Kelsey certainly had the most to gain from Derrick’s death, but only if she’d known she would soon be getting his job, instead of being about to be fired herself. How could she have possibly known that she’d end up taking over for him, though? Could there have been anything romantic between them? I doubted it, no matter what a hound dog Derrick was. He liked his women flashy, and he proved it with both his wife and his mistress. I doubted that he’d ever take a second look at Kelsey. I honestly couldn’t see her doing it.
But what about Brady? He had nothing to gain by Derrick’s death on the face of it, but he did stand to lose everything he cared about. Kelsey had told me herself that he was the jealous type, and I didn’t doubt he might have suspected Derrick had made a play for his girlfriend. That alone might not trigger an act of violence, but couple losing his livelihood with an active imagination, and he could have easily killed our syndicator.
It all made sense when I looked at it that way, but how could I ever prove it?
I was about to telephone Zach to tell him my suspicions when Brady stepped out from behind the bush where Zach had originally stood. He had a gun in his hand, which he showed me just before sticking it back into his pocket, though it was clear it was still pointing at me.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Brady said, and there was something in his voice that told me that every last one of my suspicions had been right. “If your husband had stayed around much longer, I’m afraid you both would have died tonight.”
“I’LL TAKE THAT PLANNER,” HE SAID. “AND YOUR TELEPHONE, too.”
I looked around, but there was no one within shouting distance of us. What a time for the park to be deserted.
“Take it easy, Brady. I’d be glad to give this to you. There’s no reason anyone has to get hurt.”
He laughed at that. “I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that, Savannah. Derrick wouldn’t change his mind, so I had no choice. He had to be dealt with, and so do you.” He looked around us, and then motioned me with his head. “Let’s move over by the lake. I want it to look like we’re a couple out enjoying the evening.”
“Sorry, I’m not that good an actor.”
“Just do it, Savannah.”
I couldn’t argue with that. As we moved toward the white railing that guarded the lake from the pathway, I had to buy myself some time. If I could draw him out, I might be able to save myself until Jenny could get there. “You stood Kelsey up at the hotel so you could kill Derrick. You never had any intention of talking him out of anything.”
“How did you know about that?”
I shrugged. “My husband and I have been asking questions, you know that. You told me you couldn’t find Kelsey, and she told us the same thing. That was pretty clever of you to put suspicion on her, too. Was that her idea, or yours?”
“Don’t talk about her that way,” Brady said, his voice becoming agitated. We were a few feet apart now, with the railing in front of us, and the water just beyond it. Brady kept glancing back over his shoulder, as if he were expecting someone. So was I. He said, “Kelsey wasn’t involved in it at all. She still has no idea that I did it for her, and if I have my way, she’ll never find out.”
“It worked out pretty well for you, didn’t it?” Where was Jenny? I was hoping she’d see Brady with me and call Shawn Murphy, or Zach, or anyone who could help, for that matter.
“Do you think that was just a coincidence? I gave Cary the idea to hire Kelsey and suggested she give her a chance to take over for Derrick. The woman was so pliable, it was almost too easy.”
I kept scanning all around me, but the closest people I could see were on the other side of the lake. They were so far away, Brady could have probably shot me and they’d just think that they’d heard a car backfire.
“Come on, Savannah. Hand me your telephone, or I’m going to take a chance and shoot you to get it. Neither one of us wants that, now do we?”
I thought about using it as a weapon, maybe try to hurl it at his head enough to distract him so I could run away, but I doubted I could throw it hard enough to have any real impact.
I reached into my pocket for my phone, hitting the 2 button as I did, which would call Zach.
“Now,” he commanded.
I hoped the call had time to go through, as I had run out of time to stall. I tossed it toward him, missing his outstretched hand on purpose, and it landed at his feet. Before I could say anything, Brady took the heel of his boot and smashed it into a dozen pieces. When he was satisfied that it was dead, he swept the remnants of it into the lake water.
“I need some of those numbers,” I protested.
“If you don’t hand me that planner, you’re not going to need anything ever again.”
I looked at the folder in my hands. What would he do when he discovered the truth, that Zach and I had been using it as a ruse? I had a feeling that when he looked at those papers, I wasn’t going to live long enough for them to leave his hand and hit the ground.
“Why do you need this?”
“If you’d had any brains, you would have found it yourself.”
I thought about the entries I’d read. “Sorry, I still don’t get it.” And then I remembered the note I’d found written in someone else’s handwriting, a note that didn’t match Derrick’s scrawl, or the usual yellow paper he liked. The words on the lime green paper virtually glowed in front of my eyes.
“You were the one who threatened him,” I said. “I bet you were surprised when you saw that he kept your note.”
“He was hitting on Kelsey,” Brady said. “I couldn’t let him take her from me. Derrick had two women already. Why did he have to go after my girlfriend, too? She’s all I’ve got, and I wasn’t going to let him have her without a fight.”
“And then on top of that, he fired you,” I said.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea it was coming. I went to my car afterward, just like I said I di
d. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I couldn’t let him get away with it. He hadn’t signed the papers yet, he told each of us that, so if I couldn’t get him to change his mind, there was another option. Cary doesn’t care about the business end of things, and from what I’d seen, she never had. I knew I’d have a fair shot at getting her to keep Kelsey on, if I had the chance. Savannah, can you honestly say the world’s not a better place without that louse in it?”
“That’s not up to me to say,” I said. “That was a cute trick with the trash can by the door.”
I was surprised when he smiled. “I had to get that note back. It’s the only thing that links me directly to Derrick’s murder.”
“Not quite the only thing,” I said.
He shrugged. “Without the note, it’s going to be a case of he said/she said. All of us hated him.”
“Not enough to kill him, though,” I said. “Did you really try to kill Kelsey, or was it just staged?”
He smiled. “I had to muddy the waters a little. Besides, she was never in any real danger. I’m getting tired of this. Give me the planner,” Brady said. “I’m not asking you again.”
It was now or never. I started to offer the folder to him when I pretended to trip on a stone. The papers came out, and Brady instinctively used both hands to reach for them, leaving the gun in his pocket.
That was my one chance. As he tried to react to the fallen papers, I threw myself at him, doing my best to drive him over the rail and into the water.
I almost made it, too, but he managed to fend me off and right himself before he went over the edge.
And that’s when Jenny jumped out and hit him, too, sending him over the railing and into the water.
“Run,” I screamed, and I glanced over to see that Jenny was right behind me.
“It was Brady?” she asked breathlessly.
I glanced back to where Brady had gone into the water.
With one hand, he’d managed to grab the top rail, and he was quickly pulling himself back out of the water.
We were in serious trouble now, with nowhere to go that he couldn’t catch us. Jenny’s car was in the opposite direction, so we didn’t have a chance running for it. We were going to have to come up with something else if we were going to live to see the next sunrise.
“He’s coming after us, Jenny,” I said as I led her to the shuttered carousel.
“How are we going to get away?” she asked.
“Run to the other side.”
We did, and as we rounded the corner of the building, I saw that Brady was much closer than I would have expected. There was a look of fury on his face that was clearly driving him on.
As I looked back, Brady fired a shot at us, and it buried itself into a wooden pillar of the building less than two feet away from me.
“Run,” I screamed at Jenny again.
When we got to the other side, I saw that she’d done something to her ankle.
“I think it’s sprained,” she said quietly. “Go on. Save yourself.”
“Not a chance,” I said as I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. The only thing I saw was a long worn wooden stick with a nail poking out one side. It was clearly used to pick up trash on the ground, but I was going to use it for something else, or die trying to save my friend.
The only hope I had was to catch him by surprise. Running around the other side of the rounded building, I held the weapon in front of me as though it were an ancient lance, and I was on horseback.
I caught up to him just as he turned toward Jenny.
Brady barked out, “Where is she? Don’t try to save her, or you’ll die, too.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway,” she said.
I heard Brady laugh, a sound that was completely devoid of humor, or even humanity. “You know what? You’re right.”
As he lifted the gun, I knew I was going to be too late. I was fifteen feet from where he stood, and I didn’t have a chance of getting there in time.
But my lance did.
I threw it with everything I had, praying that it would find its mark. I’d been aiming for his head, but I struck his leg instead. It found some purchase in the muscle and flesh there, and Brady went down in a heap, clutching his leg. The gun had clattered out of his hands on impact, and we both dove for it.
As our hands touched, I heard the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my life.
Zach said, “One more inch, and you’re dead. Just give me a reason. I’m begging you.”
Brady knew he was beaten. He stopped reaching for the gun and pulled the impromptu spear out of his leg.
“I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU,” I SAID ONCE HE HAD BRADY tied up with his own belt.
“You were doing fine on your own,” he said.
“Did you get my call?”
He looked puzzled by that. “No, I realized halfway to Murphy that I must have lost my mind leaving you alone. By the time I got here, I figured it had to be Brady, but I’m guessing you beat me to it, didn’t you?”
“I knew two minutes before he showed up,” I admitted. “I just ran out of time.”
He hugged me. “I think you did just fine. I called Murphy, and he’s on his way. He realized Mindi was lying to him the second he heard Cary’s story. Mindi was blackmailing her, but it had nothing to do with murder.”
“What else was it?”
Zach grinned. “I’m glad you don’t know everything. I was starting to get an inferiority complex. Cary was having an affair with a married man.”
“But Derrick was dead,” I said. “How could she blackmail her?”
“Well, I guess I should admit that my initial instincts were wrong. The man she was sleeping with was Frank Lassiter. Mindi told Cary if she didn’t pay up, she was going to the police with some fabricated evidence that Cary and Frank had conspired to kill Derrick.”
“So, his murder prompted yet another crime,” Jenny said as Zach helped her up.
“Throw a rock in a still pond and the ripples go all the way to shore,” he said. “Should we get you to the hospital so someone can look at that ankle?”
She laughed. “No, all I need is an ice pack.” Jenny glanced over at Brady, who’d been silent since I’d stabbed him. “What about him?”
Detective Murphy came up to us, with four uniformed officers. He took the scene in, and then said to Zach, “You were right.”
He shook his head. “She got it before I did.”
Shawn saluted me with two fingers. “Then you’re the one I owe an apology.”
“Seeing him locked up is all I need.”
“That we can make happen. Take him downtown.”
As two of the officers lifted him to his feet, he screamed, “My leg is killing me. That witch stabbed me. I need to go to a hospital.”
“Come on, Brady,” I said with a grin I didn’t feel. “I barely nicked you.”
After he was gone, I asked, “Does anybody mind if we go back to Jenny’s now? I need a long, hot soak in that tub of hers.”
“You’ve earned at least that,” Jenny said.
“Tell you what, ladies,” Zach added, “I’ll even cook for us tonight.”
I looked at Jenny and smiled, and as my husband helped her walk back to my car, I said, “If you really want to reward us, get takeout.”
“Hey, I’m an excellent cook,” he said, with a hint of faux hurt in his voice.
“Sure you are,” I said as I patted his chest, “but it might be nice if we’re all pampered a little tonight.”
Chapter 24
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE LEAVING,” JENNY SAID TWO DAYS later as she walked us out to the car. Her ankle was fine now, and from our latest report from Shawn Murphy, Brady was confessing to everything he’d ever done.
“It’s time. I’m behind on my puzzles, and Kelsey is turning out to be a real taskmaster.”
“How is she doing?” Jenny asked, as Zach finished putting our things in my car.
&nbs
p; “She still can’t believe Brady killed Derrick, but she’s not going to stop running things for Cary, at least for now.” I looked over at the now-empty house where Charlie had been. “Are you going to be all right?”
“He’s in jail, and even if he gets out, I doubt he’ll come after me again.”
“How can you know that?” I asked.
Jenny lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to know this, but Zach had a talk with Charlie in jail, and then Shawn spent a little time with him, too. I’d be amazed if he didn’t leave North Carolina when he gets out.”
Zach came back to us. “We’re ready.” He hugged Jenny, and then said, “Take care of yourself. Don’t forget, it’s your turn to visit us the next time.”
She smiled at him. “I might just take you up on that. Now that I’m a partner, I’ve got a feeling I might actually take a vacation or two every now and then.”
I hugged her. “You’re welcome anytime.”
Zach looked surprised when I tossed my car keys to him. “You drive.”
“Seriously? You hate it when I drive your car.”
“I’m learning to adjust,” I said.
We got in, and Jenny waved to us until we couldn’t see her anymore. “Don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine,” Zach said.
“I know she will. I’ll miss her, though.”
“We could always retire in Raleigh instead,” he said. “We’ve got some good friends who live here.”
“Don’t get me wrong; it’s nice,” I said as he pulled out of her development and onto the main highway that would soon lead us to I-40 West, going home, “but the mountains always call me home.”
“I’m glad, because I’d hate to leave our little place in the woods.”
I reached behind the seat and pulled out a legal pad and the special type of pencil I loved.
As I started creating a new puzzle, Zach said, “Hey, nobody said you could work all of the way home.”
“Would you rather talk about that job offer you got in Asheville instead?” I asked as I put my pencil down.
“No, do your puzzle, and I’ll drive.”
As I worked on a new puzzle, I kept wondering what he would do. A full-time job would dramatically change our lives, and not for the better, as far as I was concerned. But in the end, it was Zach’s decision, and I knew that unless I was dead-set against it, he’d make the best decision he could, for both of us.
