Killer Party

by Lynn Cahoon

  “You won’t even have a job in a few days,” he poked Jessica with the gun barrel. “Thanks to this she-devil. She will make sure her dead lover’s plans go on. Honoring his memory, isn’t that what you told that one over there?”

  He pointed at Lois, who shook her head, unable to talk.

  Jessica tried to turn her head to look at him. “I was talking about the money he left me. I didn’t even know that he’d bought The Castle until you told me last night.”

  “Then why is it in your name?” John growled.

  Jessica let a single tear drop from her eye. “Because he loved me, you idiot. He loved me and you killed him.” She jerked against the ties that held her. If she’d gotten loose, I thought she would have rushed him and knocked him over. And probably gotten shot for her efforts.

  “Likely story.” John turned away from her like he was bored with the conversation. He looked at me, and then back to Brenda. “Why isn’t she tied up yet?”

  Brenda nodded to me. “You need to sit down.”

  I didn’t look at Brenda when I responded. “I’m not going to sit.”

  John stepped away from Jessica and toward me. “I can’t depend on you for such a simple thing like tying this girl up. How can I trust you to take care of The Castle?”

  The doors behind him burst open and John jerked and dropped the gun he’d just pulled out. He followed it to the floor. Toby ran over and kicked it away, then put John’s hands behind him and cuffed him.

  Greg was holding me. I hadn’t even seen him walk in, I’d been too busy watching the show as John fell. He held me away from him and scanned my body with his gaze. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded, tears filling the back of my throat. But I wouldn’t cry. Not here, and not in front of that maniac. “He killed Levi.”

  Tim and Brenda were walking around the table, untying and ungagging the group. Lois piped up when I said that. “He said it in front of all of us. He killed Levi because he thought he was opening a nightclub here.”

  “Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s too far away from anything. Greg’s department would be getting rich on the DUI fines alone.” Butch grumbled, rubbing his wrists. He pulled Lois into a bear hug. “You okay kiddo?”

  “I have to pee.” She extricated herself and with Allison, MaryAnne, and Jessica, and disappeared out of the dining room.

  “How long have you been in here?” Greg asked Mikey.

  Mikey rubbed his wrists. “I think he started bringing us in about four yesterday. I thought everyone had taken a nap or something. I was one of the last ones to be knocked out and then dragged in here.”

  Greg looked down at John. “I wonder if he was on Terrance’s radar. He sure wasn’t on mine. I didn’t even think about him when I was listing off suspects.”

  “No one did. He was invisible. A guard for The Castle. But when things started to change, he reacted. I think he went a little mad.” I leaned into Greg’s side, watching as John slept propped up against the wall where Toby still stood over him. I saw Toby had added ankle shackles to John’s binding. I bet it was the first time Toby had gotten to use that particular tool from his police belt.

  “Well, I better get Terrance called in on this. I guess if John confessed in front of all these witnesses, he’ll probably do the same when he wakes up from the little nap Toby gave him.” Greg squeezed me. “Can I say, I’m getting a little worried about how I’m always finding you in these particular situations?”

  “Don’t blame me. This was all Aunt Jackie. She wanted to talk to Brenda about having her engagement party here.” I looked around for my aunt. “Where is she, by the way?”

  “Crap, I told her to lock herself into Brenda’s office and not leave until I came back.” He looked over at the group. Brenda, who had overheard, stepped closer.

  “Let me go get her. I don’t want to be here when Jill tells you it was me who brought her into the mix.” Brenda gave me a quick hug. “I’m so glad you were one step ahead of us all. I thought we were all going to die.”

  Greg looked at me. “Do you want to explain?”

  I told him about how we’d seen Lois banging on the windows and how I’d sent Aunt Jackie back to drive out of here and call him, but I realized I had her keys. “So, did she call from the office or did she figure out my phone?”

  He grinned. “She called 911 from the office. When Esmeralda answered, she said all Jackie did was gripe about how useless your cell phone was. It took her a couple of minutes to calm down enough to tell her what was going on.”

  “I forgot about the lock. Don’t cell phones let you call 911 without keying in the code?”

  He shrugged. “If they do, Jackie couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I think she threw it across the parking lot. I bet you’re going to have to buy a new phone.”

  “If I do, she’s paying me back.” I glanced around the room. The friends were all gathered in a huddle, whispering. “I think your friends need some Greg time.”

  He shook his head. “I need some Jill time.”

  “I thought you were calling Terrance?” I asked as we walked out of the room and toward the pool area.

  “Toby can handle it. I want to take a few deep breaths before we go back to the station to this cluster.” He pulled two chairs close and faced them toward the large Grecian designed pools. “So what’s your plan for the weekend?”

  “Studying. You wouldn’t believe how much homework they gave me on Monday. I’m kind of scared to go to my Thursday class.” I ran the tip of my finger over the back of his hand that he had on my jean-clad leg. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I think we should drive up to Napa, find some little bed-and-breakfast, and walk around the city, drinking wine and buying trinkets until we have to drive back on Sunday.” He stared out at the pool. “What do you think?”

  I leaned my head on his shoulder and watched the birds flying over the water. “I think I can study later.”

  CHAPTER 22

  The next Monday was our monthly staff meeting. We sat around the table, drinking coffee and eating what was left over of last week’s desserts. Deek watched my every move, following me from table to counter and back as I brought over the food. Finally, when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I spun around and confronted him. “What do you want?”

  “Man, I can’t believe you did that. Weren’t you scared? From what I heard, you all but wrestled the gun out of that guy’s hands.” Deek’s eyes widened. “Were you shot?”

  Toby started laughing, then he was choking, and finally, after my aunt slapped his back a couple of times, he groaned and stared at me, a small smile still on his face.

  “Okay, that’s just stupid. Do I look like I was shot?” I sat the chocolate cheesecake with mini chocolate chips on top of the table, then pushed Deek into a chair. “Look, can we talk about business, not what happened at The Castle last week?”

  “I’ve got a few items on my list.” My aunt took a sip from her coffee. “First, I want to know how the holiday festival committee is going. Deek, do you want to update us?”

  “I thought we’d talk about what happened at The Castle.” Deek looked at the three of us. Toby, Aunt Jackie, and I had all been in the middle of the take down. John was in the Bakerstown jail after Terrance and Greg talked a while about turf jurisdiction. Honestly, I think Greg was glad to release him since his station only had a small holding area and he would have had to pay the county for John’s stay while the court system decided what to do with him.

  The man was crazy. There was no doubt. But he did kill Levi. As well as kidnap and hold eight people hostage for more than a day. Well, nine, if you count me, but I was only there for a short time. From what I pieced together from the others, he went around and either drugged or knocked out everyone who was at The Castle on Monday afternoon. He sent all the staff home, saying Brenda was upset about the overtime. And when the hostages woke up, they’d been tied to a chair in the dining room.

  He claimed he ju
st wanted to find out who the new owner of The Castle was, since Brenda had been informed that morning that the property had been sold. She’d been in shock and had confided in him. She thought John would be an ally in her grief over losing The Castle since he loved the place as much as she did. But really, he loved it more. More than anyone could have known.

  “We caught the bad guy, he’s in jail, discussion ended.” I smiled at the other two. “I’m paying you to come to this staff meeting so we can talk about the business, not South Cove gossip.” I took a bite of the chocolate cheesecake, then waved my fork at him. “So tell us what’s going on with the festival.”

  “Jeez, you guys keep your secrets close.” Deek muttered and took a sip of his coffee.

  Toby elbowed him. “I’ll tell you all about it after the meeting. I’ll even show you how I cuffed the guy.”

  I shook my head. Knowing Toby, he’d leave Deek cuffed out in front of the store while he took care of some made up business. “Don’t let him put cuffs on you,” I warned. “You might not get them off for a while.”

  Toby grinned. “You’re ruining all my fun.”

  “The festival?” Aunt Jackie prompted.

  Deek swallowed hard, glancing side-eyed at and then actually moved his chair away from Toby an inch. “So, yeah. We’re expanding Santa’s workshop to include stations up and down Main Street. I said we would talk about opening the food truck in front of the store and only selling hot chocolate and some sort of holiday cookie. We’d need to make it reasonable enough for the kids to buy.”

  “It’s going to mess up traffic on Main Street.” My aunt shook her head. “I’m not sure it’s safe to have the food truck out front. It’s too big.”

  “Oh, I should have said, we’re closing Main Street from Beal to Diamond Lille’s. It will be pedestrian only, except for the train.” Deek bounced in his chair.

  “The train?” Toby looked at him like he was crazy. “We don’t have a train.”

  “Harrold said he knows a guy who runs a trackless train for a traveling circus. I guess the place is shut down for the winter, and the guy will run it on weekends for us for the entire festival.”

  “You’re closing Main Street for six weeks?” I shook my head. “Seriously?”

  “Just for the weekends. They already checked with the pigs,” he glanced at Toby, “I mean, the cops and they have a second way out of town that won’t be blocked. That’s why we have to stop at Beal Street. If we closed all of Main, it would block all traffic out of South Cove.”

  I wondered if Greg had been the one to approve this plan or if it had been our mayor and Greg was going to just have to work around it. But I didn’t want to curb Deek’s enthusiasm for the process. “So what else should we know?”

  “There isn’t much left to tell, a lot of the stuff is still in the planning stage.” He looked at his notebook, scanning the next couple of pages. “One more thing, we’re all dressing like Santa’s elves from Thanksgiving until New Year’s.”

  “I’m not.” Toby didn’t even look up from the book he was scanning. I’d brought out all the Advanced Reader’s copies from the back, put them in the middle of the table, and told the group everyone had to take at least three. “I already have to wear a uniform for one job, I’m not dressing up in a costume for the other one.”

  My aunt sniffed. “Red and green just aren’t my colors.”

  They all turned and looked at me. “There is no way I’m going to be the only one dressing like some stupid elf. Maybe you could suggest we all wear Happy Holiday T-shirts or pins.”

  “Ha, gotcha.” Deek slapped the notebook down on the table. “Darla wanted the elf thing, but everyone voted her down. Including that old dude next door. He didn’t find it funny at all.”

  “If Josh had a different disposition, he could be an excellent Santa.” My aunt pulled a book out of the pile Deek had made. “I’ll take that one.”

  “Now, Aunt Jackie, Josh has lost a lot of weight. I don’t think you could call him Santa size anymore.” I didn’t comment on his demeanor. The guy was definitely more of a Grinch type.

  Deek pulled a new book out of the pile to replace the one my aunt had stolen from him. “The guy is cool. He knows a lot about old stuff.”

  “If we’re done talking about Josh Thomas, maybe we could get back to the meeting?” Toby picked up a second book and started scanning. He loved reading nonfiction, so having him even pull a few of the novels we’d been overwhelmed with was a surprise. We really missed Sasha, especially in the reading and reviewing part of the job. “I’d like to grab a nap before I have to go in tonight.”

  We finished up our meeting with the few items I had and the many items my aunt wanted to remind everyone about. Including turning the pots off when they closed. After the guys had left, I confronted her. “What was that? You’re the only one who closes. Why did they need to sit through a through explanation on how the close works?”

  “Because they may need to do it someday.” My aunt filled her travel mug with the last of the coffee. “What if I’m gone?”

  “Then I’ll close.” Sometimes she took this preparation thing way too seriously.

  She walked over and checked the lock on the door, again. “And what if you’re gone?”

  “When are we ever both gone on the same day?” I watched her as she kept her back to me. “They won’t remember anything you told them and now they got an hour’s overtime so you could explain your job. So what’s really going on?”

  “It’s probably nothing, but my doctor wants me to see a specialist about the arthritis.” She stood looking out the window onto Main Street. “I just may need to take some time off, that’s all. And besides, there’s the wedding to think about. Who’s going to close when Harrold and I are in Europe?”

  “Do you want me to go to this appointment with you?” She still wasn’t looking at me, so I knew she was concerned. Which may have been why she was so crabby lately. I’d put it all on the stress of the wedding. I put a lift into my voice, trying to lighten the mood. “We could make a day of it. Maybe lunch and shopping at the art galleries you love?”

  “Don’t be silly, Mary’s coming with me.” I saw move her hand toward her face to wipe at her eyes. Now I was concerned. But when she turned back, a smile curved her lips. I knew it was fake. “Although I do appreciate the offer. You always were such a sweet girl.”

  “If you’re sure. I can adjust my schedule and go with you and Mary. Just let me know.” I’d lost this battle even before I knew we were fighting. My aunt prided herself on her independence. For her to be seeing a specialist, well, that would seem like giving up to such a strong-willed woman. I walked to the office and grabbed my tote and a light sweater. “I’m going home. I’m tired, grumpy, and I have a ton of homework to do before tonight’s class.”

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Aunt Jackie started up the stairs, then paused. “Thank you. I know you care but I want to do this on my own.”

  I used the back door to leave, locking up after myself. My mind was on Aunt Jackie and why her primary doctor was sending her to someone else. I didn’t know much about her health issues, just what she’d let me know, but the next time we talked, I was going to sit her down and hear the whole story. She didn’t need to be keeping all this to herself. Or maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she and Harrold talked about these things. I shook my head, knowing the answer before I even thought of the question. Mary was going with her. If she’d have told Harrold, he would have been the one to go. She was holding back on both of us.

  I checked the lock a third time before heading to my car. I didn’t need people getting into the shop and either joyriding through my supplies or sleeping in the back room. We didn’t have a homeless problem in South Cove, but every once in a while, Greg found someone sleeping on the beach. Then he’d take the guy to the holding cell and let him sleep there. The next day, he’d tell the guy to get out of town, and so far, everyone had. I was hoping our luck would hold.

&nbs
p; But as everyone knows, luck only takes someone so far.

  The pretty silver and blue doll I’d admired when I brought the women from the bachelor party to town was gone from the window when I approached Russian Collectibles. Someone must have bought it last weekend. Had it only been just over a week since Levi’s death? So much had happened.

  The small blond girl came out of the store with her jump rope. She took one look at me, dropped the rope, and ran back into the shop. I could hear her yelling for her papa. I picked up the rope and was about to put it on the table that sat on the sidewalk when Alana, Vladimir, and Jessica stepped out into the morning light. Jessica stepped forward and took the rope from my hands. “Jill, so nice to see you. We were going to visit you at the coffee shop.”

  “The shop is closed on Mondays.” I brightened my smile. “But we’ll be open at six tomorrow morning and I have a great kid’s book collection. I’m sure your sister will love shopping for books with us.”

  “That’s not why we were coming to visit, but yes, we’ll bring her there soon. She needs to read more to learn about her new home.” Jessica waved the little girl closer. “We have a gift for you for helping me get out of that terrible situation.”

  Vladimir stepped aside and Alana stepped forward, a large gift bag in her hands. She smiled shyly at me and said, “Thank you for saving my cectpa.” She glanced at Jessica who shook her head. “My sister,” Alana corrected.

  I knelt to her level and took the bag. Sitting it on the ground, I pulled out the doll I’d been admiring. Someone, probably Vladimir, must have seen me focus on that particular item when we’d walked through town that day. He’d be a terrific shop owner because he watched and paid attention to details. Like what doll I liked.

  “This is lovely, but I didn’t…”

  Jessica held up her hand. “I know you didn’t mean to rescue us from John, but we’d been in that room for over twenty-four hours by the time you arrived. I think much longer and he would have started shooting.” She glanced down at her sister and stroked the little girl’s hair. “I don’t know what I would have done.”