by JB Lynn
“Let’s wait for the doctor to give us an update,” I said to Marlene gently.
“I don’t understand what happened,” she wailed like a lost little girl.
I led her to the waiting room chairs and sat her down, before asking Brian, who’d followed closely behind, “What do you know?”
“Three masked men entered the hospital and tried to remove your mother from her room. Your father defended her.”
“Is she hurt?”
Brian shook his head. “No. First the hostage taker, now this, and not a scratch on her. She leads a charmed life.”
“She resides in the nut house,” I reminded him drily.
“You know what I meant.”
I nodded. I did. In fact, there have been times when I too have thought she’s a lucky woman. That’s not a trait she passed down to me.
Angel, carrying Katie and dragging Leslie behind him, strode into the waiting room.
“You brought the whole gang,” Brian noted.
“Half the gang went to check on my mother,” I corrected.
“Well, at least everyone’s accounted for,” the detective said.
Suddenly an icy chill shot down my back.
Not everyone was accounted for.
Ripping my hand from Marlene’s grip I ran out of the room.
“What’s going on?” Brian yelled chasing after me.
“Zeke!” I shouted back, racing down the corridor, heading for the wing where his room was.
“Maggie wait!” Brian ordered.
“You’re going to kill me with all this bouncing,” God griped from my bra.
I ignored them both, focusing on the path ahead of me, dashing around people, barely avoiding collisions with those in my path.
I skidded to a stop outside Zeke’s room and ran in without bothering to knock. “Zeke?”
His bed was empty.
Not the kind of empty that would indicate he’d just gotten out of it. It was freshly made.
My heart sank. Had someone taken him from the hospital?
Brian, panting, arrived in the room.
“He’s gone.” I pointed to the empty bed shakily.
“That’s what I wanted to tell you. He’s been moved.”
“Moved where?”
“Long-term care.”
I shook my head and backed up a step. “No. They said they were just keeping him to err on the safe side.”
“Maggie,” Brian said stepping closer.
“They said they’d call if his condition changed.” My voice rose as hysteria gripped me. “I left him alone and now…and now…”
Brian grabbed my arm and shook me. “Shut up and listen.”
I blinked, surprised.
“He’s fine. The mob boss insisted on moving him. Said it was for his own protection.”
“Delveccio?”
Brian nodded. “Zeke’s sharing a room with his kid.”
“Grandson,” I corrected automatically, “Dominic is his grandson. Why didn’t you just tell me that?”
“I tried, but you were so busy running, then talking.”
“He did try,” God piped up.
Brian glanced at my squeaking chest and shook his head. “I swear, if I spend too much time with your family I’m going to qualify for my own rubber room.” His phone buzzed. “Don’t move,” he told me before answering, “What’s up?”
I glanced at the empty bed again, thinking that once again Delveccio had protected someone I love. The guy might be a career criminal, but he was a lot more dependable than my own dad had ever been.
Brian listened for a long moment before replying, “Yeah. Okay.” Hanging up the call, he said, “That was my uncle.”
“My mother’s okay?”
Brian nodded. “He wants everyone to reconvene at the B&B. Safety in numbers and all that.”
“But my dad…”
“Your father is under arrest,” Brian said gently. “We have video of him robbing those people while he was on the lam with your mother. Plus, he’s wanted for questioning regarding some other crimes. He’s handcuffed to his bed and he’s got an officer guarding him.”
“Probably the safest thing for him,” I murmured.
“I’m sorry, Maggie.”
I shrugged. “He’s the one who broke the law. You’re just doing your job.”
I wondered how long it would be until he had to arrest me too.
Chapter 17
Even by the rather warped standards of my family, the energy in the B&B was weird.
Loretta had returned, repeating over and over that she’d seen Darlene in the hallway outside of my mom’s room. Marlene was excited by the sighting. Susan was skeptical. I wondered what the hell Darlene had been doing there.
Doc picked up pizzas from the place Marlene works and everyone sat around the dining room table, trying to figure out the connections between the hostage taking, the car ramming, Zeke’s attack, and my mother’s near-kidnapping.
I stayed silent while everyone floated one crazy scenario after another, trying to find the threads that tied them all together. I knew that the car ramming had been the work of Vinny, which removed that from the equation and I had no reason to think that Adam, the hostage taker, had been working for Redcoat.
That left Zeke, my mom, my missing nieces, and me with the assignment to kill Redcoat, despite not knowing where to find him.
“You were quiet,” Angel said as we cleared the pizza dishes.
I shrugged. “Nothing to say.” Then I looked up at him. “Did you ask your uncle to move Zeke to Dominic’s room?”
The corner of Angel’s mouth lifted. “I thought it might help you relax if you knew he was being looked after.”
“But you didn’t tell me.”
“Only because all hell broke loose and then I couldn’t very well chase after you when you ran out of the emergency room. Someone had to keep an eye on Katie and Leslie.”
“Thank you for that.”
“That’s what I get paid the big manny bucks for,” he joked.
“Can we feed Mike?” Katie asked wandering into the kitchen.
“If he’s around, but he might not be here,” I told her.
“Oh, he’s here,” God complained from the safety of my bra. “He’s a self-proclaimed mooch.”
I got a slice of bread, zipped up Katie’s jacket to her chin, and took her outside. Leaving her sitting at the picnic table, I walked around the yard to open the cellar storm doors to let DeeDee out of the basement.
As expected, she bounded out. Unexpectedly, Piss zoomed out behind her.
“Mike!” I called. “Mike, are you here?” I called when I realized that Katie was still sitting alone at the table.
“He won’t pass up a free meal,” God proclaimed scrambling up onto my shoulder.
“He earned that meal by saving your ungrateful butt,” Piss reminded him.
A flash of black shot across the sky and landed on the table only feet from Katie. The crow dropped a piece of aluminum foil at her feet. “Why hello there, dollface. I brought you a treasure.”
“You brought a piece of garbage,” God drawled. “Literally a piece of trash.”
Katie, giggling her delight, tore off a piece of bread. “Here you go, Mike.” She tossed it to him and he caught it midair.
“Did you see that?” she marveled with wide-eyed appreciation. “He caught it.”
Some of my tension melted away as I witnessed her simple happiness. “I saw.”
“Catch DeeDee can too,” the dog whined, affronted that the bird was getting credit for a trick that she did on a regular basis.
“I know.” I patted her head. “You’re a good girl.”
Katie tore off another piece of bread and placed it right in front of her.
Mike moved closer and gobbled it up.
“I think he likes me,” she grinned.
“I do too.”
“I think he’s playing both of you for fools,” God opined haughtily.
<
br /> The crow turned his gaze on the lizard. “Shut your trap, buster. This here is what’s called a mutually beneficial relationship. Kid feeds me. I make her happy. That’s a win-win where I’m from.”
“Did he just use three words with more than three syllables correct in a sentence?” God whispered.
Poor DeeDee sighed. “Likes anymore DeeDee no one.”
“You don’t like us?” I asked, alarmed.
“No, sugar,” Piss corrected. “She said, ‘No one likes DeeDee anymore’.”
“Oh, DeeDee.” I dropped down to my knees so that I was eye level with her. “Don’t you think that for even one instant. We love you very much.”
The dog tilted her head to the side. “Do you?”
“I do,” I promised.
She licked my face. “Loves DeeDee Maggie.”
“This love fest is making me queasy,” God groused, running down me to jump onto the ground and scamper away.
Tires squealing in the driveway got my attention. Standing up, I saw Armani’s car careen to a stop. I hurried over to it.
“Get in, chica,” she ordered.
I looked back at Katie who had Mike literally eating the last of the bread out of her hand. “I can’t.”
“You can if you want to save the other two,” Armani countered.
I jerked my gaze back to Armani’s.
“Your other nieces need your help,” my friend said to me.
I didn’t even ask how she knew about them. I didn’t ask where we were going. I just started rounding the car, yelling, “DeeDee get Katie inside.”
“No,” Armani shouted. “We need her.”
“DeeDee in the car,” I ordered.
The dog stood still, confused.
“I’ll get her inside,” Piss promised hurrying toward the kitchen door.
I focused on the little girl. “Katie go inside with Piss.”
“No. I want to stay with Mike.”
“Time for me to scram,” the bird announced and took off, flying out of sight.
“In the house, Katie,” I ordered. “DeeDee in the car.”
The dog, eager to please, ran right over and hopped in through the door I held open.
As Katie limped toward her, Piss yowled at the top of her lungs, “Let us in! Let us in now!”
I jumped in the car and Armani gunned the engine before I even got to reach for my seatbelt.
“Stop mom,” she muttered under her breath.
“What?”
“Stop mom. You pulled those tiles,” she reminded me.
“And we stopped my mom,” I reminded her.
“I tried to tell you then that it wasn’t about her.”
“Then who is it about?” I asked as we careened around a corner, two wheels leaving the pavement.
“There isn’t time,” Armani yelled.
“For what?”
“There isn’t enough time,” she repeated.
I got the distinct impression she wasn’t talking to me.
Chapter 18
I’ve almost been killed a number of times since I took on this hitwoman gig, but never have I come so close to death as I did with Armani behind the wheel.
Not only does she really only have the use of one of her arms, but she appeared to be having an argument with some other worldly spirit.
That or she should have been my mom’s roommate.
While I screamed in abject terror every time she yanked the wheel, stomped on the brake or crushed the gas pedal with her lead foot, DeeDee woofed, “Wheeeeeee!”
While I was hoping that my death would be instantaneous and painless, the goofy dog was enjoying the ride, having the time of her life.
Every time I begged “Slow down!” or “Watch Out!” the dog would bark, “Faster!” or “Fun!”
Finally, after we’d sideswiped a guardrail and I’d yelled, “No one’s getting saved if we all die in a fiery crash!” Armani eased up on her speed demon tendencies.
“Almost there,” she said as we coasted to a stop.
I may have whimpered with relief.
“This is it,” she said, pointing to a closed bowling alley. “They’re in there.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I had a…visit.”
“Visit?” Usually Armani had visions or feelings or she just bugged people with that stupid purple bag of Scrabble tiles. I didn’t remember her ever talking about a visit before. Maybe she was talking about a real visit. “What kind of visit?”
“I think it’s your sister.”
“Darlene?”
“No.” I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “The dead one.”
No, she’d meant a spirit visit. “Teresa?”
“Do you have another dead sister?”
I didn’t respond. I just studied the building. I could tell from the light shining inside and the movement of shadows that someone was inside.
“You have to go now,” Armani urged. ”You’re almost out of time.”
“What about you?”
“I’m the getaway driver.”
I groaned at that thought. Even if I made it out of the bowling alley alive, there was no guaranteeing that anyone would survive the escape.
“Hurry,” Armani urged.
Against my better judgment, I got out of the car. DeeDee followed. Together we crept toward the building.
“There’s a door,” I pointed out as we grew nearer. “Wait here,” I told her as I stepped inside. “I’ll yell if I need you.”
I shuffled down a darkened hallway, littered with boxes of supplies, in the direction of a shining light and muted voices, keenly unaware that I had no plan, no weapon, and no idea what I was walking into.
Through a crack by another door, I saw a slender-framed man in a suit pacing as he fiddled with his phone, mumbling to himself. Behind him sat another significantly larger man, arms crossed, eyes closed, chin resting on his chest.
Beyond them, I saw my nieces.
The two little girls, backs against the wall, huddled together.
I hated to see them so frightened.
I slowly exhaled, trying not to do anything stupid or impetuous. I had to think this out. I needed to come up with a plan.
“There’s a car in the parking lot!” the pacing man suddenly shouted, rousing his partner-in-crime. “Somebody’s here.”
“Where?” the sleeping giant asked, getting to his feet.
“In the parking lot.”
“How do you know it’s not just a couple of kids making out in their car?” the bigger man asked. “I’ll go check it out.”
I waited while the big man marched away, out a door on the other side of the room.
This was my chance. There was no way I could take out both of them, but I might have a chance against the little guy. After all, I’d had a boxing lesson.
Once I couldn’t hear the big guy’s footsteps anymore, I counted to twenty and then burst through the door in order to use the element of surprise as my advantage.
Except the door didn’t open. It didn’t budge any more than the crack it was already open.
So all I managed to do was rattle it.
Loudly.
That resulted in the little guy yanking out his gun.
The girls screamed at the sight of it.
Covering my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream too, I held my breath, hoping he’d reach the conclusion that all he’d heard was a rat, a really big rat.
No such luck.
He pointed his gun at the door. “I know you’re in there.” He advanced toward my hiding spot.
The girls began to cry.
Backing carefully away from the door, I pressed my back to the wall beside it. I watched in horror as the door handle began to turn.
