by Maddie Day
I waved my hand to distract him. “Jamie, back off.”
Nothing changed. I could almost smell the smoke from their ears.
Corrine stepped smack between the two, facing Geller. “Cool it, gentlemen, and that’s an order.” She held up her right hand, palm out, in front of the doctor’s face. With her left hand she gestured backward with her thumb to Jamie. “Enough.” She did not smile, waiting until both of them lowered their fists.
Whew. Corrine to the rescue, effective where I hadn’t been. The remaining networkers in the room quieted, staring, murmuring. Geller muttered something under his breath and shot me a flared-nostrils narrowed-eyes message of hatred. How had I earned that? He turned on his heel and limped out, pushing past a female shopkeeper so hard she had to grab her friend to stay on her feet.
Chapter Fifty-Three
I’d never been so glad to leave a gathering. I hurried toward home through the dark, uneasy from witnessing the near fistfight between Geller and Jamie. Jamie had left not long after the doctor, but not before Corrine secured a promise from him not to harass Geller or anyone else with his unwanted photographing. Shouldn’t Jamie have learned his lesson yesterday? The dude was at least a decade older than me, and I had no clue why he kept trying to provoke people like that. To me it seemed like stupid behavior. I guessed some folks were slow learners.
Pans ’N Pancakes was only a few blocks away and I was always careful to stick to well-lit streets when I walked alone at night. The canister of pepper spray in my pocket was a reassurance. Abe had strongly urged me to carry it whenever I went out. I wasn’t hard to convince, given what I’d been through in the past. He and I had actually practiced together, so I knew exactly how to grip the container the size of an asthma inhaler, point it straight-armed away from me, and activate it with my thumb. It was a shame to think sleepy South Lick could hold danger, but I’d had to face it more than once. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
I paused outside the restaurant to text Abe.
Leaving to walk home from restaurant. Will text you when I get there.
He was at banjo practice but texted back.
Be safe.
At least the sidewalks were still wet, not icy. The just-past-full moon had risen and was casting pale but welcome light on my path. Small blessings, and I’d take every single one of them. As I walked, I couldn’t keep my thoughts off murder, though, including what I’d discovered today.
I pondered Tibor Csik’s long journey. To be a concert violinist with an erudite professor for a wife and have to leave everything—family, home, possessions, language, a rich culture—to escape persecution must have been impossibly wrenching and tragic. And then to lose your wife in childbirth, and your son and grandson to prisons? I couldn’t even imagine the pain. I would love to get to know the little gentleman better, if Shirley would allow it. Or even if she wouldn’t.
And then there was Geller’s supposed confession to Octavia about taking Kristina’s body to the attic. Was that true or a smokescreen for the real story? Add to it his display of anger at the mixer and I wasn’t sure what to think.
My steps slowed. What was the consistent thing about this case besides secrets? Tempers. Well, except for Shirley. She didn’t have a temper that I knew of. I ticked through the other people I considered suspects. The rumors about Marcus? I felt comfortable ignoring them. He seemed sincere about dealing with his issue. Jamie was foolhardy and rude, but he didn’t seem dangerous, even though he’d been willing to defend himself a little while ago.
William Geller was the one who had acted with extreme vitriol. I shuddered, thinking of the look he’d given me at the mixer. He had to be the killer. He’d struck out to protect his reputation as a doctor. To uphold what he considered his honor as a husband. And he’d definitely run the risk of gaining a criminal record, which would ruin all of it. His public behavior a few minutes ago had been a shock. Maybe it shouldn’t have been, after what I’d witnessed at my own store. I didn’t know how he’d killed Toni, but he certainly had easy access to drugs and might have had a key to his sister-in-law’s place. I glanced around, but nobody seemed to be following me, especially not him. I would call Octavia the minute I was securely inside. I wasn’t stopping now to do it.
About to trudge up the front steps of Pans ’N Pancakes, I stopped short and stared. I could swear I’d left the porch light on for myself. Inside the store the tiny white lights I’d strung around the windows sparkled, and they were on the same switch. The bulb in the porch fixture must have burned out. Still, I pulled out the pepper spray in my right hand and the door key in my left, shivering a little as the bad woo-woo feeling returned.
I tried to insert the key in the lock but it didn’t go in. Unlike some, I was not a lefty. I leaned over and peered at the keyhole, finally getting it right. Before I could unlock the door to safety, a faint wisp of a human-made sound came from the darkness to my left. I sucked in a breath. I caught a whiff of stale cigarette smoke. Smoke? The only person I’d run into recently who smoked was—
An iron grip clasped my left wrist. No! I snapped my head in that direction.
William Geller’s gaze of fury burned at me. “You were trying to ruin my life. You couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
Exactly what I’d feared. “What are you talking about?” I yanked my elbow back. He didn’t relinquish his grip. My heart hammered. My palms sweated inside my gloves. An arctic chill raced down my spine. “Let go of me!”
“As if. You’ve been asking questions. Lying to patients. Digging, digging, digging. You women are all alike.” He nearly spat the word “women.” “You would wreck my career and think nothing of it. I’d be locked up and you’d go back to making your little flapjacks for terrorists. Well, I’m not having it.”
I struggled to twist away. His hand was bigger and stronger than my wrist and I couldn’t free myself. I didn’t have enough light under the porch roof to aim a good kick. I flipped my thumb under the cap of the pepper spray, but I was too close to him. I’d practiced from farther away.
He lifted a fat syringe in his left hand. Enough moonlight reflected in to see that much.
I sucked in a breath. This was not happening. I couldn’t let it happen.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be an easy death,” he snarled, his tone low and ominous.
I pointed the canister before he could jab me. I jammed my thumb onto the button. The pssshhht of the spray filled the quiet night. He screamed and let go of my wrist. I kept spraying a circle of the stuff into his face as I backed away. He clawed at his eyes, at his face.
I raced down the steps and back toward town. After a block, I slowed to a speed walk, pulled out my phone, and jabbed 911. My own eyes watered.
“Brown County,” the dispatcher said. “What’s your emergency?”
“William Geller attacked me at Pans ’N Pancakes. Nineteen Main Street, South Lick. I pepper sprayed him. He’s on the front porch. Send someone to get him. He’s the murderer. Hurry!”
The dispatcher started talking to me. I disconnected and pressed Buck’s number. I resumed jogging toward safety, grateful for my excellent lung capacity from bicycling and my flat-heeled boots.
“Robbie, what’s—?”
Breathing hard, I slowed again and told him what I’d said to the dispatcher. “I think Geller murdered both twins. I called Dispatch, but please go catch him. I don’t know how long the spray lasts.” I’d never had to use it before. My eyes stung. Some of the spray must have drifted or bounced back at me.
“Got it,” he said. “Stay on the line.”
I heard him give quick, terse orders.
“Where are you?” he asked me.
“I’m jogging back to Hoosier Hollow. I was at the Chamber mixer.”
“Okay. Sit tight there until you hear from me.” The call disconnected. I was in the Hoosier Hollow block now and I slowed to a fast walk. No way could Geller recover so quickly from having his eyes burned with capsaicin. Could he? Sirens wailed into life. Usually
when I heard public safety vehicles take off for an emergency, I felt uneasy. Right now? That whooping alert was the best sound in the known universe.
Chapter Fifty-Four
I stood in front of Hoosier Hollow waiting to hear back from Buck, breathing hard. I was still warm from my escape, and the last thing I wanted to do was return to mingling with business associates. I texted Abe, instead.
Had a scare at my store. I’m fine. Back at Hoosier Hollow waiting for Buck.
I didn’t want to worry him, but I knew he’d be concerned if I didn’t follow through with a message about getting home safely. My legs came down with a case of the shakes as my adrenaline ebbed. The candy store next door, still open for evening shopping, had a bench in front of its gaily lit window, so I lowered myself to sit on it. I leaned elbows on knees.
Geller’s voice had dripped with disdain and dislike when he said the word “women.” I’d bet anything he killed both Toni and Kristina. Maybe Toni had suspected he’d killed her twin all along and had threatened to expose him after her bones surfaced. My hand flew to my mouth. Octavia had said Toni died of an injectable toxin. Now all the lab had to do was analyze what was in the syringe Geller almost killed me with and they could look for traces of it in Kristina’s remains, too.
The restaurant door opened, and Corrine sailed out, calling good-bye over her shoulder to someone. She turned in my direction and halted, looking surprised.
“Why, Robbie, I saw you leave a little bit of a while ago. What are you doing setting there in the cold?” She hurried toward me.
“Can you sit down for a minute?” My teeth had started knocking.
“You’re cold, hon.” She plopped down next to me and extended her arm around my shoulders. “Don’t you want to go back into the restaurant?”
I shook my head, pressing my lips together to keep my teeth from chattering.
“Then we’re going in here.” She gestured behind us with her thumb, then stood and took my hand. “Come with me, girl.”
I let her guide me into the warm, fragrant candy store, into a corner at the front but away from the door.
“You look like you’ve been through a crisis of some kind.” Corrine spoke softly but looked worried. Raising her voice, she called out a greeting to the woman behind the counter. She turned back to me and murmured, “You’re safe here. Tell me what happened.”
“Geller attacked me on my porch,” I whispered.
Her eyes widened. “He didn’t.”
“He did.” My voice came out in a quavery scratch. “I pepper sprayed him and got away.”
“You poor thing.” She whipped out her phone. “Did you call it in?”
“Yes.” Now my whole body was shivering.
Corrine wrapped me in a big Hoosier hug. “You’re going to be fine, Robbie. You’re safe here. You’re going to be fine.”
After a minute or two, her warmth and mantra did the trick. The warm store helped, too. I disengaged, wiping my eyes. “Thank you, Corrine. I needed that.”
She peered at me. “Get some of that spray in your eyes, too?”
“I think so.”
She snorted. “One of the hazards of the sh—uh, stuff. Same thing happened to me a couple few years back when I was obliged to fend off a idiot man up in Chicago. Still, it’s pretty darn effective, ain’t it?”
“It is,” I said as a cruiser pulled up at the curb. “That’s probably Buck. I told him I’d be in the restaurant.”
“I’ll go get him.” Corrine bustled out, returning in a flash with a worried-looking lieutenant.
He laid a hand on my shoulder, craning his head down to look into my face. “Did he hurt you, Robbie?”
I extended my wrist, now red from Geller’s grip. “Only when he grabbed me here. Did you catch him before he recovered from the spray?”
“We catched him, acowering right there on your front porch. Got him locked up as tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach. He’s not happy about it, ’course. Yelling he’s innocent and complaining about every little whatnot.”
The shopkeeper hurried over. “Is everything all right here?” she asked Buck.
“Yes, ma’am, thank you. Could you package me up a two-pound box of chocolate truffles, pretty please? Or heck, make that two boxes. I’m thinking my sainted wife could use some sweets right about now.”
She looked at all three of us as if she didn’t believe we were simply candy shopping, but she didn’t ask any more questions. “Certainly, sir.” She headed back to the counter.
I kept my voice low. “Can you find out what he was about to inject me with?”
“Sure’s as my name’s Buckham Hamilton Bird.” He nodded with satisfaction.
I stared. “That’s your full name? I had no idea.”
“Yepperoo. Anyhoo, the doc ain’t as smart as he thinks he is. Had a vial of some drug right there in his coat pocket. Hang on a little minute. I took a picture of the label so’s I’d remember it. Some long medical-type name, of course.” He pulled out his phone and found the photograph.
“Succinylcholine.” I sounded it out. “I wonder what that does.”
Corrine was already looking it up on her phone. Her eyes widened. “Says here it’s used in anesthesia for surgery. Too much leads to respiratory paralysis, and if a patient takes digitalis, too, this suksenna-whatever can cause cardiac arrest.”
I shivered again, but this time not from the cold. “Geller told me mine would be an easy death. Not being able to breathe is an easy way to go? I doubt it.”
“Toni took some kind of medicine for her heart,” Corrine said. “He musta known that. Being her brother-in-law and all.”
“Look, there’s Abe.” I pointed out the window at him standing on the sidewalk, looking both ways. What was he doing here? I’d told him I was fine.
Buck rapped on the glass and gestured to him to come in.
Abe hurried in and took my face in both hands. “Are you all right, my sweet? I couldn’t find you at Hoosier Hollow.”
“I’m all right,” I said, although my throat thickened around the words. “I didn’t need you to leave practice.”
“You didn’t answer my text. You mean way more to me than playing music, Robbie.” His eyes filled.
“I’m sorry, sugar, I didn’t realize you had sent a message back.”
“Robbie here was single-handedly responsible for apprehending a double murderer tonight,” Buck murmured proudly.
Abe blinked in astonishment. “You were?”
“Thanks to the pepper spray you got me, I was able to get away from William Geller after he attacked me on the porch of my store. Buck and company were the ones who apprehended him, thank goodness.”
The proprietor brought Buck’s boxes of chocolates. She gave Abe a look. “Can I help you, sir?”
He smiled. “I’m with them, thank you, ma’am.”
Buck followed her to the counter to pay, then returned to our little group, boxes in hand.
“Let’s get you home, darlin’,” Abe said. He glanced at Buck. “Can we go in the front door of the store?”
“Octavia’s people should oughta be done with it by now. It’s not a homicide scene, thanks to Robbie.”
I blew out a breath. “Come with us if you can,” I said to Corrine and Buck. “I have Four Roses.” I had finally recovered enough to smile without shaking.
Chapter Fifty-Five
We four sat around my biggest table. I’d cranked up the heat and lit the tree, while Abe had started carols playing softly. We were all nibbling on the truffles from one of the boxes Buck had bought and sipping bourbon, tea, or both. Actually, nobody was drinking unadulterated tea.
“I know I telled that lady both boxes of chocolates were for my wife, but I thought you deserved a goodly portion, too, Robbie.” Buck grinned as he stretched out his giraffe legs toward Ohio.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad I’m alive to share them.”
Abe pressed his knee ag
ainst mine. “I am, too.”
I was about to ask Buck a question when the bell on the door jangled. Adele pushed through followed by Octavia.
“I invited the detective to join us, Robbie,” Buck said. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. Come on in,” I called to the two. Adele would have heard about the arrest on her scanner, which she never turned off.
Adele hurried over and gave me a big hug. She grabbed two more mugs from the kitchen, then sat across the table. Octavia hung back.
I stood. “Please pull up a chair and join us, Octavia.” My former animosity toward her seemed to have evaporated.
Still looking a bit wary, she came over to me, hands clasped in front of her. “Thank you. I’d like to apologize for not apprehending Doctor Geller before he attacked you. We were this close.” She held up a half-inch gap between thumb and forefinger. “And then he evaded the tail I’d assigned to him. He’s not going to do that again, believe me.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “I’m just glad I was able to get away, and that he’s behind bars where he belongs.”
“For the rest of his living days, if I have anything to do about it.” Octavia gave a grim, low-watt smile.
“Set yourself down and have a drink, now, Octavia,” Adele said.
The detective took a deep breath and let it out, then sat next to Adele, who proffered the bourbon and poured after Octavia pointed to her cup.
“So that story Geller told about finding his wife already dead was hogwash and a half,” Corrine said. “I’ll tell you, I’m glad to hear Toni didn’t murder her twin sister.”
I was relieved, too.
“I suspected the story was a sham,” Octavia said. “But I didn’t want to let him know how close we were. And you know, he only limped here in South Lick. To see him move around that hospital, you’d never know he had a prosthesis.”
I looked at her. “You’re right. When I saw him in the waiting room, he wasn’t limping. That didn’t register until right now.” How could I have not noted his smooth stride?
