by Mary Maxwell
Ellen raised her gun, pressed it against Muldoon’s temple and pushed his head until he was looking back at me again.
“One more word,” she said. “And I’ll splatter your miniature brain all over Kate’s nice, clean floor.”
I shifted my eyes slightly to the left of Kate’s shoulder and saw the kid in the window again. He was gesturing toward the front door, but I didn’t let my gaze linger long enough to decipher what he was trying to tell me. I looked down and away from the front of the room while Kate repeated her demand that I call Trent.
“And no funny stuff,” she said. “Just get out your phone, dial his number and tell him to bring the flash drive…” She stopped, spun around and tilted her head to one side. “Did you hear that?” she asked. “Either of you hear a noise?”
Muldoon groaned. “Just your annoying voice, Ellery.”
Ellen flipped around, smashed the gun against his head and cackled with delight as he fell from the chair and sprawled on the floor.
“Don’t make me get really made!” she screamed. “That’s your last warning! One more stupid thing and I’ll shoot you right through the head!”
While she continued her tirade against Muldoon, I stole a quick glance toward the front door. It was opening slowly, and I prayed that Ellen wouldn’t suddenly spin around and realize that three brazen teenagers armed with skateboards and the invincibility of youth had crept into the foyer of the café. One of the boys gave me a confident nod as they slid along the floor and hid behind the partition that separated the dining room from the entryway.
Before Ellen had a chance to possibly walk toward where the boys were hiding, I decided to engage her in conversation. I hoped it would distract her enough to give the three boys a chance to sneak into the back and call 911.
“So anyway, Ellen,” I said. “How’d you get involved in this mess?”
The question made her left eye tremble. As I waited for her to answer, I studied the twitch and counted how many times it jolted before she finally reached up and pressed down on the trembling spot until it stopped moving.
“How did I get involved?” She glared at me furiously through mascara-edged slits. “The way all of my trouble starts—with a man.” A cold, bitter laugh slipped from her glistening mouth and she threw her head back briefly. “Men are the root of all evil,” she continued. “And all of my wealth.”
Muldoon grunted. “Not me,” he said under his breath. “I’ve been nothin’ but helpful to you.”
Ellen ignored the comment. She kept her eyes locked on mine and launched into a diatribe about men and money and sex and power.
“And then,” she said after a brief pause. “There’s the aftermath of all that stuff.” She winked at me and giggled. “Credit card debt. Bank debt. Loan shark debt. Owing money to family members and friends.” She walked around the table again, gliding on her heels like a cheetah circling its prey in the wild. “I owe so much to so many people that by the time I made Gianni Fabrizzio in Las Vegas, I would’ve agreed to just about anything.”
I didn’t doubt it, but I wasn’t going to share that thought with Ellen. I just kept quiet and waited while she smiled, put her Birkin bag on another table and smoothed a few stray strands of hair back against her head.
“You see, Kate,” she said. “When Gianni found out that I was coming back to Colorado, he asked me what city. I told him it wasn’t a city; I said it was a tiny smudge on the map called Crescent Creek. And the poor guy just about wet himself right there at the blackjack table. Because his boss had already called Gianni and ordered him to track you down and get the flash drive.”
Muldoon cleared his throat. “I always wondered how you got hooked into this deal,” he said. “When my boss called and said there was some local chick that was going to help us, I thought it sounded fishy. I mean, Gianni Fabrizzio is a top-notch crime boss from Naples. Why would he just all of a sudden ask you to help us get the flash gizmo thingy back from this Kate chick?”
“What’s on it anyway?” I asked, curious to see if either Ellen or Muldoon knew what
Ellen stared at me with a drowsy grin. “What’s on what?”
“The flash drive,” I answered. “If everybody wants it so desperately, it must have some pretty incredible information on it, right?”
“Who cares what’s on it?” she hissed. “Gianni’s boss is going to pay me ten grand if I can get it back from you.”
“I already told you, Ellen,” I said. “I gave it to Trent, so you’ll have to ask him to return it to you.”
She pursed her lips and then they slowly formed a bright smile. “No, Kate,” she said in an icy tone. “That’s for you to do. Once he hears that your life is on the line, I imagine he’ll be more than happy to trade the flash drive for his stupid little high school crush.”
Between the sound of her voice and the dismissive comments, I imagined Ellen thought she was getting to me. But I simply waited until she finished and then told her there was no chance Trent would give up the flash drive.
“Besides,” I added. “You’re now implicated in the murder of Ben Carson. So, no matter what happens here today, there’s a very uncomfortable cell with your name on it in one somewhere in the federal prison system.”
She strutted forward, pointing the gun at me again.
“You think I won’t shoot you, Kate?” she demanded. “Do you think I’m afraid of you or something?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that at all, Ellen. But I know how these things go, and people like you never walk away clean.”
Her jaw began to tighten and the gun began to quiver. “I should’ve never…” She sighed noisily, swiveling her gaze between Muldoon and I for a long moment. “This was supposed to be simple,” she continued finally. “Until you came along, Kate! With your Girl Scout badges and Nancy Drew perkiness and that smug grin you always have on your face!”
I concentrated on keeping my lips pressed tightly into a flat line so my mouth didn’t suddenly form anything that might even vaguely resemble a grin.
“Like now!” Ellen sneered. “I can see it in your eyes, Kate! That stupid, conceited, overly confident smirk!” She jabbed the gun toward me. Luckily, her finger wasn’t on the trigger.
“She’s not smirking,” Muldoon said. “She’s just trying to—”
Kate hit him again with the gun. As he spluttered in pain and she went back to yapping at him like a rabid dog, the swinging door from the kitchen suddenly flew open and a skateboard rolled slowly into the dining room.
Ellen stopped yelling. Her mouth hung gaped open and her eyes trembled as she tried to make sense of the peculiar occurrence.
“What the heck is that, Kate?” she snapped. “There was nobody in the kitchen when I snuck in through the backdoor.”
I shook my head. “I’m clueless,” I said. “As far as I know, I was here alone when you two showed up.”
“Then will please tell me—”
A second skateboard interrupted her request.
And then, as Ellen turned to shriek at Muldoon again, the trio of teenage liberators blasted into the dining room from over her shoulder. They moved like a blur of red, blue and green, bouncing across the floor and tackling Ellen all at once.
“No!” she cried as she slammed against the linoleum. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to end!”
Muldoon sat silently in the chair, completely flummoxed by the fact that two young boys were holding Ellen Parker down while the third scooped up her handgun.
“Don’t move, buddy!” the kid squeaked. “We called the cops! They’ll be here any second!”
“No, no, no!” screamed Ellen. “Why are you brats ruining everything for me?”
The boy with the gun pointed the weapon at the floor and carefully removed the bullets.
Then he scoffed at Muldoon and warned him not to move.
“We also called a bunch of our friends,” the kid snarled. “They’ve got the place surrounded.”
CHAPTER 44
In
the end, the kid lied. Sky High Pies wasn’t surrounded by a horde of teenaged skateboarders. But they had called 911 and four Crescent Creek police cruisers arrived with sirens blaring within five minutes.
“Do you have us on speed dial, Kate?” Officer Dalton asked when he came through the front door. “This is getting to be a regular stop for us.”
I’d just finished tying Muldoon’s hands behind his back with a Sky High apron. Ellen Parker was squirming on the floor, two more café aprons knotted around her ankles and wrists.
“I didn’t call you this time,” I told Dalton.
The shortest kid stepped forward. “That was me,” he said. “Doing my civic duty!”
While Dalton, Bennington and the other two officers secured handcuffs on Ellen and Muldoon, I huddled in the corner with the three teenagers.
“That was pretty awesome, right?” one said. “I mean, completely awesome! I can’t wait to tell everybody how we just saved your life!”
The heavyset kid held up his phone. “Done and done,” he said. “I just tweeted an amazing shot of the cops putting cuffs on those two.” He checked his phone and grinned widely. “It’s already got fifteen retweets, you guys!”
The trio slapped one another on the back and asked if they could collect on my offer for free pie.
“You mean right now?” I asked.
“Heck, yeah!” the short guy said. “Saving your life made us hungry!”
I couldn’t disappoint my knights in shining armor, so I asked what type they’d like and headed for the kitchen.
An hour later, after the boys started working on their fourth slice of pie, I headed outside for some fresh air. My head felt like it was going to explode after the chaos and emotional roller coaster of the day. I’d hoped to enjoy at least a few minutes of peace and quiet, but Trent and Dina arrived just as I was sitting in one of the rocking chairs. I watched as Trent parked the black Jeep Cherokee in the street and they both walked across the lawn to the steps.
“How are you?” Trent called. “We heard there’s been a little excitement here again.”
Dina followed him up the stairs and they both came toward me.
“It didn’t seem possible when we heard the call,” she said. “I mean, three times in one week?”
“It’s the trifecta,” I said. “Or the third strike. Depending on how you look at it.”
Trent pulled another chair closer. He motioned for Dina to do the same, but she leaned against the railing across from where I sat.
“We picked up the British woman,” said Trent. “Your buddy Chet Kozlowski had called earlier to bring us up to speed. I guess you and I realized that his CI had gone rogue.”
I started to say something, but Dina jumped in first.
“I don’t think she was going rogue, Trent. I think the woman actually thought joining Muldoon and Carson was the right move. She was grateful to Kozlowski for the help he offered her in exchange for working as an informant. And when they headed to Colorado to find Kate, she decided her role was sticking right by their side.”
Trent smiled. “A loyal woman,” he said, raising one eyebrow. “That’s a very rare and wonderful thing in the world these days.”
Dina frowned. “Is that directed at me?” she asked. “Because, as I recall, you were the…”
She stopped, sighed loudly and forced a smile. “Kate,” she continued. “I’m just really glad that you’re okay. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must’ve been to be in the same room with Ellen Parker while she’s holding a loaded weapon.”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad. And my knights in shining armor arrived just in the nick of time, so it’s all good. The worst thing she did was put a hole in the dining room ceiling.”
Trent looked at Dina. “Do you want to tell her?” he asked.
She nodded. “Ellen confessed to Ben Carson’s murder on the drive to the station a little while ago.”
I was left speechless for a few seconds. While I processed the news, I asked if they knew why Ellen had stabbed Carson and how the knife from Sky High Pies ended up in her hands.
“Muldoon told us that he took it the first time he delivered balloons,” Dina explained. “He said it was a silly prank that day. But then later Ellen found the knife in the motel room during an argument she was having with Ben Carson about how to get the flash drive from you. He was drunk. She was angry. It ended up being a lethal combination. When Carson flopped on the bed after he thought the fight was over, Ellen grabbed the knife and punched a few holes in his back.”
I shook my head and thought about Ben Carson and I sitting on the front porch just a couple of days earlier. I glanced down toward the chair he’d used, empty now and covered with water from the lawn sprinkler.
“And so Ben Carson and Muldoon worked for—who? The Italian guy that Ellen mentioned?”
Trent nodded. “Fabrizzio’s a nasty bit of business. Interpol was looking for him, but he gave them the slip and ended up in Chicago. Somehow he met a corrupt lawyer who handles business for one of the senior executives at Gustave Landecker. One thing led to another and Rodney somehow caught wind of the shady stuff happening at the company. He’d barely started working the case when someone on the inside slipped the flash drive to him. I doubt he even had a chance to really study what it contained before they killed him in an attempt to get it back.”
As I listened to Trent’s voice, I pictured Rodney in my mind. A happy, smiling Rodney from the recent past. I couldn’t believe he was gone. And I couldn’t believe he’d died as the result of something as simple as the greed and avarice of a bunch of sleazy corporate executives.
“…rest of it later,” Trent was saying. “I mean, after you’ve had a chance to get your feet back on the ground. Does that sound okay to you, Kate?”
I blinked. “Sorry, but I didn’t hear all of that.”
“It’s okay,” he said, smiling. “There’s always tomorrow.”
I didn’t say anything, but I disagreed. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed for anyone. Just ask Rodney. And Ben Carson. And now, Ellen Parker and Muldoon.
“Oh, whatever happened to the British woman?” I asked.
Dina rolled her eyes. “She’s a piece of work. I was more than delighted to turn her over someone from the U.S. Marshals. They’re escorting her back to Chicago so she can face charges there for violating the terms of her parole.”
“Oh, so she was on parole as well as being Kozlowski’s CI?”
“Yes, indeed,” said Dina. “I think your friend Chet will be a little more careful the next time he trusts an informant quite that much.”
We sat and listened to the leaves overhead rustling in the breeze. It was soothing and comforting; the exact opposite of what I’d experienced during the past couple of hours.
“Speaking of being a little more careful,” Trent said. “Where are the three musketeers?”
I nodded toward the front door. “They’re inside gnawing their way through another slice of pie. Bennington said it was okay for them to have a bite before they go to the station and give their official statements.”
“Did he call their parents?” Dina asked.
“He did indeed,” I answered. “Two of the mothers and one father are also inside enjoying some complimentary sweet rewards.”
“That’s really kind of you, Kate,” said Trent. “I mean, letting those ruffians eat their weight in pie.”
“How could I say no?” I asked. “Those guys just saved my life. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I’ll gladly give them free slices of pie for the rest of my days here. I know most people consider Ellen Parker a flake, but there were a couple of minutes earlier when I thought she might actually put a hole in my head.”
Trent frowned. “Well, I’m glad she didn’t.”
“That makes two of us,” Dina agreed. “And now…” She motioned toward the entrance. “We should probably get inside and hear what they have to say, Trent.”
He nodded and started to walk away. But as
Dina disappeared through the door, Trent stopped, glanced back at me and smiled. “I’m glad you don’t have a hole in your head, Kate.”
“That makes two of us,” I said. “Now, go do your job, Deputy Chief Walsh! I’ll talk to you soon.”
CHAPTER 45
When the alarm rang the next morning, I was a million miles away in a comforting dream about Nana Reed and Cocoa Loco Cupcakes. I didn’t want to surface from the warm memory, but the droning buzzer made it impossible to keep sleeping.
“I hate four-thirty in the morning,” I mumbled, slowly dropping my legs over the edge of bed. “Maybe I should make Sky High a late-night dessert place instead of breakfast and lunch.”
After a few more muttered complaints, I climbed out of the bed, jumped into the shower and rushed through my morning routine. Even though it wasn’t my first morning at the helm of Sky High Pies, it somehow felt that way. Knowing that Trent and Dina were working with Chet Kozlowski to resolve the Gustave Landecker case made the new day feel even more momentous than my official debut as keepsake of the family legacy.
“Don’t you look cute?” Julia gushed as I came down the back staircase from my apartment. She was standing beside the backdoor with a massive bouquet of daisies and a pale blue envelope. “These are for you,” she said, holding out the flowers. “Just a little something special to celebrate your first week in charge of Sky High.”
I took the bouquet and gave her a hug. “That’s so sweet, Jules. Thank you for being so nice to me.”
She smiled. “How’d you sleep last night?”
“Like a baby,” I said. “How about you?”
She giggled. “Exactly the same. When the alarm went off, I didn’t want to get up.”
“Amen,” I said, unlocking the door. “That makes two of us.”
“But it’s going to be a great day!” Julia said brightly, following me inside. “No burglaries. No threatening phone calls. No dead guys at the Moonlight Motel.”
“And no bloody knives on the back steps,” I added.
“Oh, gosh!” She shuddered and made a face. “I could’ve done without that being mentioned! It still gives me the creeps when I think about it.”
