by Susan Harper
Lonnie wrung his wrists. “Okay, okay, fine. Just…come inside, and be quiet, would you?” he opened the door wide.
Felicity glanced around inside, assessing how safe it was, before accepting the invitation to enter. Felicity and Iris stood while Lonnie plopped himself down in a chair, still wringing his wrists. “Okay, Lonnie, why don’t you start by telling us why you took off?” Felicity asked. He shook his head nervously. Felicity put her hands on her hips. “No? Well, how about you just tell me what you know. You obviously know something, otherwise, why run off like this?”
“Because…” he said, but he was unable to say much more.
“Look, did you kill him or not?” Iris said impatiently.
Felicity elbowed her sister and shook her head.
“No!” Lonnie exclaimed. “But…I think I might know who did…”
“Start talking,” Felicity said firmly.
Lonnie huffed a bit, and he kept looking around like he thought someone was going to come busting down the door or jump through a window at any second. “I’m so stupid… Okay, look… Recently…Donald and I started working together. I was always busting him on pick-pocketing and making it difficult on him, so he finally started cutting me in on his profit. Mostly to shut me up, but I’d also send tourists his way. Talk him up like he was some amazing showman. That way, he had more people watching his street performances and more people he could steal from.”
“So, you played the part of the annoyed local, but really you were getting a cut of Donald’s profits,” Felicity said, and Lonnie nodded.
“I know, I know, it was bad,” Lonnie said. “I should have never gotten involved with them.”
“So, what happened?” Felicity asked.
Lonnie sighed heavily. “Okay, so, Donald started cutting back on everyone’s pay. We knew how much he was making off the heists, and he was the one who took care of the money. But he started getting really sketchy about sending payments to the rest of us. Then, recently, we struck gold. Literally. Donald took the jewelry he and Mick had stolen to sell it, but he was being real slow about letting us in on what he had managed to sell it all for. We knew it was worth a lot. Mick told us that he was worried Donald was thinking about skipping town, so the three of us talked to Donald—”
“Wait, the three of you?” Felicity asked. “There were four of you working the streets? We know about Donald and Mick, but who else was working with you guys?”
Donald took a deep breath. “Well—” He paused suddenly. His eyes widened. “I…I hear a car outside.”
“It’s probably juts Caleb,” Iris said. “We passed him on the way up here, and he—”
“Iris, hush,” Felicity said, motioning for her sister to be quiet so they could listen. Felicity heard a familiar sound. “Crud…” she said, and immediately dove toward her sister.
As the two fell to the ground, a hail of bullets came bursting in through the walls. Iris went to scream, but Felicity covered her sister’s mouth. Lonnie fell out of his chair, his eyes wide as he hit the floor.
“Is he…” Iris mumbled, but Felicity again hushed her.
Felicity pointed toward the cabin’s one cabinet, and they squeezed inside to hide.
11
Well, this is just great, Felicity thought as she heard the front door open. Lonnie was on the other side of the cabinet, and his killer was now waltzing about the cabin. Felicity kept an arm on Iris’s shoulder for reassurance, but she wasn’t sure if it made any difference. This was a rather nerve-racking situation they found themselves in. Lonnie had been afraid. Afraid of someone—whoever killed Donald. The fourth partner.
Felicity thought over what she knew and what Lonnie had told them. They knew that Donald used a bird as a distraction. He would get onto his bird for stealing something petty from his audience, and everyone would have a laugh—just like what happened when Lilly tried to steal Iris’s necklace. She and Iris had been incredibly distracted, having a good laugh about the greedy little bird stealing the piece of jewelry. Mick had told them that he would then swipe stuff from people’s pockets or purses while Donald kept them occupied. Lonnie would scope people out who came into his shop and send them Donald’s way if he thought they might have some money or something on them worth stealing. But, who was this mysterious fourth partner that had Lonnie so nervous?
Carefully and quietly, Felicity pulled out her phone, making sure the volume was turned all the way down before texting Bonnie the address of the cabin, followed by SOS and a million explanation points. She wasn’t sure how quickly Bonnie could get there, but if she saw the text message, hopefully she would know the two sisters were in trouble and would get there quickly.
The culprit’s footsteps could be heard just beyond the cabinet door. Iris’s breathing had gotten a little heavy, so Felicity made her look in her direction. Once Iris was looking at her, Felicity held her finger to her lips to let Iris know she was being far too loud. I definitely should not have brought Iris up to this cabin, Felicity thought, scolding herself for her error in judgement. The last thing she wanted was for her little sister to get hurt because she didn’t take a case seriously. By now, Felicity knew that she needed to treat every case with a sense of delicacy and with a proper amount of fear leading the way. Being too brave and not always assuming the worst-case scenario was liable to get her killed or to get someone she cared about killed. She had been caught in a pickle one too many times to have not learned this lesson, and now she felt foolish. She would give anything to rewind the clock so that she could have told her sister to just stay with Lilly at their cabin.
I guess it’s too late for what-ifs now, Felicity thought with a slight sigh.
They heard groaning, and Felicity’s eyes widened. Lonnie was alive!
Not for long. Almost as soon as they heard the man groan, they heard two more shots. The loud and up-close sound caused Iris to jump, and Felicity instinctually reached out and threw her hand over her sister’s mouth to keep her from gasping or crying out in horror. They heard a chuckle from the killer, and Felicity could see Iris go from scared to downright angry. Felicity shook her head, silently telling Iris that there was nothing they could do.
They heard footsteps, and it sounded like the culprit was leaving. Thanks goodness, Felicity thought, already contemplating how much time they should wait in the cabinet before it would be safe to emerge. But, evidently, Iris had other plans. Before Felicity realized what her sister was doing, Iris had already cracked open the door in an attempt to get a peek at Lonnie’s assailant. “No…” Felicity tried to tell her in a hushed tone, but it was too late.
The cabinet door creaked when Iris opened it. “Get down!” Felicity cried as she saw the figure at the front door spin around on his heel, raising his gun.
The man fired several shots in their direction, and the two of them fell back into the cabinet, screaming. After firing off three or four shots, the man bolted. Felicity got a good look at the attacker, but he was dressed in all black and wearing a black ski mask as well. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Iris was still screaming long after the man had bolted out the door and down the road.
“Oh my gosh is right!” Felicity shouted as she crawled out of the cabinet. “Are you out of your mind! You could have gotten us both killed!”
“I’ve been shot!” Iris wailed, and Felicity felt her stomach drop.
Iris exited the cabinet behind Felicity, gripping her left shoulder.
“Iris!” Felicity yelped.
“It hurts!” Iris cried.
Felicity reached out and grabbed her sister’s left wrist to keep her arm still. “Move your hand, let me see,” Felicity said.
Iris moved her somewhat bloody hand, and Felicity sighed in relief. “It just barely grazed you. You’re fine,” Felicity assured her.
“Fine?!” Iris exclaimed. “I was shot!”
“There’s no bullet, and you’ll probably just need a few stitches,” Felicity said. “It barely got you.”
“I’ve been shot!”
Iris said again. “There’s blood!”
“You’re barely bleeding. Calm down,” Felicity said, almost laughing at the miniscule injury. “You had me thinking that we were going to have to amputate your arm or something.”
“You’re acting like I didn’t just get shot in the arm!” Iris complained.
“You did. You did. I’m not saying you aren’t hurt… I’m just relieved that we’re probably not going to have to rush you into surgery or anything,” Felicity said, shaking her head. “Thank goodness you’re okay. What were you thinking?”
Iris sighed. “I thought I could be quiet enough to look,” she said. “I was just trying to help. I shouldn’t have done that. We both could be dead right now.” Iris glanced toward the chair where Lonnie had been sitting. “He came in here to make sure Lonnie was dead.”
“He did,” Felicity said and went over to Lonnie to check for herself. She shook her head. “He’s gone.” She stood and came back over to Iris, putting a hand on her good shoulder. “Let’s go wait outside for Bonnie, okay?”
Iris nodded, and the sisters walked onto the porch and sat on the steps. Felicity pulled out her phone and called Bonnie. Immediately, the woman’s voice rang in her ear. “I’m on my way! Are you okay?”
“We’re fine,” Felicity said. “But we found Lonnie Egrit, and someone shot up his cabin…with us inside. Iris was grazed by a bullet.”
“Geez!” Bonnie yelped. “Okay, I’ll be there in five. I’m calling for an ambulance.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Felicity said. “I’ll drive her to the hospital once you get here.”
“Is the shooter still there?” Bonnie asked. “Are you in a safe location?”
“Well, we’re sitting out on the porch,” Felicity said. “We really don’t want to be inside with Lonnie. He’s dead.”
“Go back inside and hide right now,” Bonnie ordered, so Felicity and Iris had to re-enter the bloody mess that was the cabin. They hid out in the cabin’s bathroom so they wouldn’t have to look at the crime scene.
Bonnie arrived moments later, and only then were they permitted to leave their hiding place. Once they were outside on the porch, Bonnie took a look at Iris’s injury first, and she shook her head. “You’re definitely going to need stitches,” Bonnie said. “But it’s not too bad. You’re lucky.”
“I don’t feel very lucky,” Iris said.
“You sure you don’t want me to call for an ambulance?” Bonnie asked.
“No, I’ll drive her now,” Felicity said.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital once Helen’s forensic team gets here, and I’ll take your statement,” Bonnie said.
“Okay,” Felicity said. “Whoever did this arrived in a car. We heard it pull up.”
“Thanks. I’ll have the team measure the cars tracks, then,” Bonnie said. “Go on and get your sister to the hospital.”
Felicity thanked Bonnie for getting there so quickly, and she and Iris went and got in their car. Bonnie had had a first aid kit in her car, so she had wrapped Iris’s arm up in a bandage to keep her from bleeding all over the place on their ride to the hospital. Felicity shook her head as they pulled out. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to explain to our parents that you were shot,” Felicity said.
“Well, it was my fault, not yours,” Iris said. “I should have stayed put.”
“That’s right. You should have,” Felicity scolded. “But let’s not think about that too much right now. You’re okay, and that’s what’s important. And we did manage to get some information from Lonnie before he was killed.”
“That’s true,” Iris said. “There’s a fourth partner. Mick’s in jail, so he’s probably not the one killing off the team. So, whoever this mystery partner is, well, that’s our guy.”
“Exactly,” Felicity said.
“So, all we have to do is get Mick to ID the other member of their four horsemen team, and this case is pretty much solved,” Iris said.
“More than likely, yes,” Felicity said. “It’ll probably be enough for Bonnie to get a warrant for our fourth...horseman, as you put it…and she’ll be able to search his place for evidence. If his car tires match the tracks he left by the cabin, then that just might be enough to bring our mystery killer down.”
“Excellent,” Iris said, sounding quite satisfied.
The emergency room at the hospital didn’t have much of a wait, so Iris was seen fairly quickly. She only needed a few stitches, and the doctor prescribed her some strong pain medication. Bonnie arrived shortly after Iris started acting a little goofy from the medication. Iris was sitting up in her little hospital bed, talking her head off to Felicity about how cute she thought Caleb was when Bonnie arrived.
“I have a team at the cabin doing cleanup,” Bonnie said. “I scavenged the place for evidence, and there were plenty of bullets lying about. I can’t believe you two managed to walk out of there.”
“We’re pretty tough girls,” Felicity said with a grin.
“So, did you manage to learn anything useful from Lonnie before his cabin got shot up?” Bonnie asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Felicity said. “We know that Lonnie was working with Donald. He would send people to go see his performances, and Donald would give him a cut.”
“So, Mick, Donald, and Lonnie were a team,” Bonnie said.
“That’s not all,” Felicity said. “There was a fourth partner, but Lonnie was shot before he could tell us who it was. Donald had started hoarding their shares from the thefts, and the other three guys were starting to worry he would leave town. My guess is whoever this fourth player is killed Donald to keep him from running off with the money and then killed Lonnie to keep him quiet.”
“Well, then Mick is lucky that he’s in jail right now,” Bonnie said. “He could be a target as well.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Felicity said. “But he should be able to tell us who this fourth guy is, and that will probably be all we need to solve this case.”
“Excellent work, Overton,” Bonnie said with a smile. “I’ll head to the station to talk to Mick now.”
“Hold on, we want to see this thing through until the end,” Iris complained. “Can’t we come?”
Bonnie shrugged. “I suppose there’s nothing wrong with you coming to the station.”
“The hospital wanted a cop to come speak with them before we’re allowed to leave, since Iris had been shot,” Felicity said.
“Of course,” Bonnie said. “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ll bust you both out of here.” Bonnie winked at them and laughed before heading to speak with the doctor who had stitched Iris up.
“We’re about to solve a case,” Iris sang somewhat excitedly.
“Looks that way,” Felicity said and smiled at her sister, who was currently so high from the pain medication that she was wiggling her fingers in front of her face and giggling about it. “You are really sensitive to pain medication, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yes, very much,” she said. “I get dizzy from Tylenol, let alone this…Vicodin? Ha! That’s a funny word. Vi-co-din. They pumped me full of morphine too before giving me the Vicodin. Ha! I said it again.”
Felicity shook her head. She couldn’t resist getting a little bit of her sister’s goofy ramblings on her phone to show her later. Bonnie returned, and the doctor was quick to discharge Iris. Felicity followed Bonnie’s patrol car to the station, and Iris was acting a little more like herself by the time they arrived.
Bonnie was kind enough to help Iris out of her seat. “I’m okay, really,” Iris kept insisting, but she was still acting like she was floating a bit.
The three headed inside, and Felicity and Iris found themselves a seat in the station’s lobby. Bonnie told them to wait while she went to go request that Mick be brought into the interrogation room. They were told that they would be able to watch the interrogation from a two-way mirror, which excited Iris a bit. “I feel like I’m on a crime show,” she said, and Felicity laug
hed.
Moments later, Bonnie came back, looking quite annoyed. “Everything okay?” Felicity asked.
“No, not really,” Bonnie said. “Mick made bail. He’s been gone since this morning, and no one bothered to tell me.”
“Since this morning!” Felicity exclaimed. “Geez, and here I thought we were narrowing this down.”
“What’s this mean?” Iris asked.
“It means that Mick could have shot up Lonnie too,” Felicity said. “So, we really don’t have any idea who could be responsible for killing Donald or for killing Lonnie. It could be Mick or whoever this fourth partner of theirs is.”
“Exactly,” Bonnie said with a sigh.
“Great,” Iris moaned. “So, what are we supposed to do now?”
Felicity put a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Now, we find Mick.”
12
They arrived outside of Mick’s home, a small place just outside of Helen, but no one was home. The door had been left unlocked, but that didn’t seem to alarm Bonnie any. It was a safe and quaint neighborhood that Mick lived in. Felicity assumed that he probably had a job other than pick-pocketing to afford himself a nice place. Since the door was unlocked, Felicity took it upon herself to go snooping around. Bonnie, a law-abiding officer, remained outside.
Unfortunately, there was nothing Felicity found after nearly half an hour of searching that would be of any use to their case. She exited the home, closing the door behind her. Iris and Bonnie were sitting on the hood of the patrol car that the three of them had driven in from the station. “Anything?” Bonnie asked hopefully.
“Nothing,” Felicity said. “The guy’s pretty clean. He could use an interior decorator, though. His furniture clashes.”
Iris laughed. “Yeah, sounds like a bachelor pad to me.”
“Pretty much,” Felicity said. “Two boxes of half-eaten pizza in the fridge next to a six pack of beer. The place screams bachelor pad.”
“So, now what? Are we just going to sit here and wait around to see if Mick comes home?” Iris asked.
