“But why here? Are you hiding?”
Ashley looked at something on the ground. I followed her gaze with my beam.
“Holy crap! Is that your knife?” Cause there was definitely something sticking out of the top of her cute, little boot, right in the laces.
“You were right, okay?” she said, shaking her head. “I dropped it. I was chasing after Brody, and I slipped.”
“Wow.” I knew I should probably try to morph my expression from its horrified state to something more neutral, but it was really bad! And it’s not like I wanted this to happen. Not like the hyena probably looking down at us right now. Laughing. “Have you, uh, tried to, you know…” I yanked my own foot into the air.
“It hurts too much to move.”
“Okay, listen, now that I know you’re here, I’ll try to get you help,” I said dragging my eyes from her impaled foot. “But I have to go find Kyle first. Have you seen anyone else go by?”
“I thought I saw two people,” she said, shaking her frozen braids. “They were fighting, so I didn’t call out to them.”
“Was it Kyle?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to see with the storm.”
“Okay,” I yelled turning back. “I have to—”
“Wait! My mom was mumbling something about an assassin? That you think Brody hired him?” She squinted up at me. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t. You need to find him.”
“Ashley, I—”
Just then Ronnie groaned and put her arm more tightly around her daughter.
“Stay put,” I said before looking back down at her foot. “I mean … I’ll be back.”
I ran back over to the lodge’s porch and crept up the back steps, once again dropping to my hands and knees to do a sweep of the place. I hated wasting time, but my mom was right. My getting killed would not help Kyle, especially if he was already …
Nope.
I had to be smart.
I stopped again at the front of the lodge, leaning my back against the wall just underneath the window. I carefully placed my flashlight on the planks of the porch to get a two-handed grip on the gun. I slowly inched up and cranked my head to get a peripheral view into the room.
I tilted my gaze down.
Kenny was still on the couch.
My eyes swept the rest of the room.
Empty.
No Kyle.
Crap. I couldn’t see any other way around it. I had to go inside, despite that slippery feeling in my gut that seemed to suggest my stomach, at least, was really, really against the idea.
Just then a blue light poured up into the darkness of the kitchen, catching my eye.
What the hell was that?
My mom’s phone! Who would be calling my mom’s phone?
I had forgotten all about it. I felt around in my pockets for Ronnie’s cell, but I had left it back at the twins’ in the craziness of the fire. What if someone was trying to get me and was calling or texting her number as a last resort? Rhonda? Or Freddie? What if they needed to tell me something? Like The killer’s right behind you! I whipped around. Nope. But it could be something else important … or it might a subscription renewal email from Vegans R Us.
I chewed my lip. It didn’t matter what it was. I was going in either way. I was Kyle’s only hope. If he still had one. I had to at least look. Maybe he was tossed into a closet too.
Unfortunately, most of my anger had drained away. My inner bear had gone all bunny rabbit.
I clenched my fists and scurried over to the front door. It was slightly ajar, shuddering in the wind. I pushed it open and slid inside, quietly side-shuffling toward the phone still glowing on the counter, my gun pointed to the floor. Someone could still be in here. I couldn’t take any chances. My eyes jumped to Rayner’s body still lying in the same position. I then looked over to Kenny. Nope, he hadn’t moved either. Not that Rayner could move. I mean—
Focus, Erica.
I hustled over to the counter. I wasn’t really expecting to see anything useful, but when my eyes dropped down to the screen.
The glowing snippet of the new message made my insides sink.
It was an email from Freddie. The subject line all in capitals.
I shook my head.
No. No way.
I quickly swiped the screen and scanned the contents before whipping back around to look at Kenny … and the person slowly rising up from behind the couch.
I yanked my gun into the air.
“You’re … you’re another love child.”
Chapter Fifty-one
“Just wait,” Julie-Kimberly said raising her hands in the air, “I need you to listen to me.” The gesture of putting her hands up would have been much more reassuring had she not been holding a gun in one of those hands.
But at least it wasn’t pointed at me. Yet.
Where did she get the gun?
Why did everybody have guns?
“It isn’t what you think.”
“I can’t believe you just said that,” I spluttered, raising my gun an inch higher. “That’s what every guilty person says.”
“I can explain.”
I waved the gun at her face. “Making it worse.”
“I was just hiding back here” she said, patting the sofa. “I don’t know what you think you know, but—”
“I know that you hired a lawyer and that”—I stopped to catch a breath—“that lawyer just filed, proceedings, today, to get a court-ordered paternity test.”
“Okay, that’s right. I am Rayner’s daughter. My mother never told him. He never knew.” Her eyes darted over to the body still on the floor. “I was going to tell him tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, it would have been the most epic season finale ever.”
“What would be? You killing everyone? Is that how you win the money?”
“No!” she yelled with a lot of indignation—which meant absolutely nothing to me. Whoever could do all this was pretty twisted. Being a good liar would have to be on his or her short list of skills. “Don’t you see? When they were all dealing with the fall-out of Rayner changing his will, I was supposed to hit them with papers of my own.”
“That’s insane.”
“And pretty great television. Think about it,” she said, shaking her head. “Why would I go through all the trouble of hiring a lawyer to start proceedings if killing everyone was my plan?”
“To make yourself look innocent. Like you’re doing right now,” I pointed my gun at the right now spot on the floor—before I jerked it back up! Keep the gun pointed at the murderer, Erica. “I don’t buy it.”
“Look, everybody at work was in on the plan. How do you think I got this big of a job at my age?” she asked. “I just wanted to meet my family and maybe advance my career at the same time! Whoever came up with this murder scheme—”
“Interesting that you would use the word scheme,” I said pausing to bite my lower lip. “You mean, scheme, like lie about your identity to a whole bunch of people, come up with an elaborate ruse about doing a TV show so that you could then wait for just the right moment to—”
“No!” Her face twitched. I guess that had pissed her off. “This was how Third Act wanted it to play out. That’s all.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t.” Actually, truth was, I didn’t know what to think. She had lied. She had motive. But was that enough for me to … what? Shoot her? “What happened with Brody when he broke in through the kitchen?” I asked jerking my chin into the air.
“He broke in,” she said. “He ranted around for a while, fought with Ronnie, but then he left again. He got spooked. Said he heard something outside. He thought the killer was coming. Tell her, Kenny!”
My eyes widened then whipped down to the unconscious form on the sofa. “Kenny?”
He didn’t move. Uh-oh, was Julie-Kimberly having conversations with unconscious people now? Because—
“Kenny!” she hissed.
“She’s tell
ing the truth,” he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.
“Oh my God!” I stepped back toward the kitchen, moving the gun back and forth between the two of them. “How long have you been awake?”
He mumbled something.
“How long?” I shouted.
He shot up on the couch, “Does the exact time really matter?”
“What? Why would you…?”
“It seemed like a good way to live.” He dropped back onto the sofa and muttered, “Still does.”
Julie-Kimberly-looked down at him, a strange new expression of her face. “He wasn’t awake when you all were still here—”
“Well…”
“Kenny?” she snapped, color rising in her cheeks. “You said—”
“I didn’t want to embarrass you after”—he paused as he scratched the stubble at his chin, eyes still closed—“you confessed your love.”
Her eyes widened. “You heard that?”
“It’s okay, Julie, Kimmy, whatever we’re calling you now,” he said, peeking one eye open. “I am very lovable. I can see why you both fell for me.”
“Son of a—”
“Stop it! Stop talking!” I took one hand from my gun and clutched my forehead. “What is the matter with all you people?”
“I didn’t know that numbnuts, here, was conscious until after you left, Erica,” she said, sticking out her non-gun holding hand. “Swear to God.”
“Like that means anything to me!” I took a quick, shaky breath. My face was tingling again. “So what happened after Brody left?”
“Ronnie went after him to find Ashley. And then your cop friend showed up.”
“Where is she?” I said jabbing the gun at her. Then a horrible thought hit me. “Is that her gun?”
“It is,” she said, nodding, then slowly moving her free hand to push her glasses up her nose. “She gave it to me.”
“Why? Why would she do that?”
“I wasn’t going to leave Kenny, and she said she needed to go back and check on you and Kyle at the boat. She didn’t want to leave me without any way to protect myself. I was in the military. I know how to handle a weapon.”
“The military? Come on. You’re asking me to believe you went from the military into reality T—” I shook my head. “Actually, never mind, that doesn’t sound too far off.” I didn’t know what to make of any of this. Giving Julie-Kimberly the gun did sound like something Rhonda might do. She would sacrifice her job and herself before leaving someone else in a dangerous situation unprotected. “But I heard gunshots!”
“I can explain those,” she said, shaking her head, hands back up. “Kenny startled her one of the times. I think she thought he had come back from the dead, and the other, she thought she heard someone outside, on the porch, and she wanted to scare him off.”
“Where is she now? That was a long time ago.”
“I don’t know. But I swear, I didn’t do anything.”
I cocked my head to a dangerous angle. “Then where is she?”
“I don’t know! Maybe the assas—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!”
“Okay. Okay,” she said, jerking her hands even higher into the air. “Maybe she saw something. Maybe she found Ashley and Ronnie. She could be chasing shadows, for all I know,” she said half-turning to the window.
I pinned my lips together. I wasn’t exactly at the sharing information trust level with these two yet, but it was possible Rhonda had seen the fire and went to investigate.
“Erica, you have to believe me—”
“Where’s Kyle?”
“What?”
I threw the question at her not really thinking she would have the answer—or tell it to me if she knew—but I had to try.
“Where’s Kyle?”
“I’m here!” a voice called out from the back of the retreat. “I’m here!”
I caught the look of surprise on Julie-Kimberly’s face. “Kyle? Where are you? Are you all right?”
“I climbed in the bathroom window! But he’s coming! We need to go!” I heard him rushing down the hall.
“Stay there!” I snapped. “Don’t come out here!”
“Why?”
I held my gun on Julie-Kimberly, but turned a little to shout, “Did the man say anything? Did he tell you who hired him?”
“He talked to someone on the phone. I thought I heard him say the name Katie.”
I didn’t move.
“Or maybe it was Kimberly.”
Chapter Fifty-two
The producer whipped her gun at me faster than I thought possible.
“But I don’t know who that is,” Kyle went on. “Erica?” I heard his footsteps in the hallway again.
“Stay in the other room.”
“But—”
“Stay in the other room!”
“Erica,” Julie said calmly, gun pointed at my face. “I am saying this for your own good. You do not look comfortable with that firearm, and I am a very good shot.”
“She is,” Kenny said. “I’ve seen her shoot. She’ll take you out. And can you guys just hang on a moment till I get out of the crossfire?”
“I wouldn’t get cocky,” I said, keeping the gun steady on her, well, as steady as I could what with all the shaking in my hands. “How hard can it be? People accidently shoot people all the time.”
“Look, this is getting way out of control. I don’t know what Kyle heard, but I am not working with the assassin,” she said moving out from behind the sofa—which I did not like at all—but she was also lowering her gun. “I’m going to put this down now.” She turned the weapon sideways and placed it on the table, sliding it toward the far end. “Let’s figure this out.”
Suddenly the front door swung open, crashing into the wall …
… and an enormous silhouette filled the threshold.
I’d like to say I stayed cool. I’d like to say I raised the gun and took a deliberate shot.
But I didn’t.
The shock of the door slamming open spun me around, sending me toppling over a chair. My gun skidded across the floor.
On some level I saw—heard—Julie go for her weapon, but the man fired at her. Wood splintered at the wall near her head. He fired again.
She screamed and hit the floor.
The man’s arm swiveled toward me.
He was moving so slow.
But at the same time too fast for me to even—
BANG!
Chapter Fifty-three
I had just enough time to put up my forearms before the man’s enormous body hit me, crushing me against the floor. He wheezed a breath into my ear, right before his weight slumped.
“Erica!” Kyle shouted. “Are you all right?”
I squeezed myself out from underneath the man, and pushed myself to my feet. I grabbed Kyle and hugged him to my chest. “You saved my life.”
He mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out. His face was buried in my armpit. I jerked him away when I realized how dangerous the situation still was. We both stepped over the man’s legs toward the door. “How did you … where did you get the gun?”
Kyle shook his head. “The table. I just grabbed it.”
“Oh my God! Julie!” I spun around. Sure, I had just been holding her at gunpoint, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to actually get shot. At least, I didn’t think I did. Everything was so confusing!
Kenny had her in his arms on the floor. She was clutching her shoulder. Blood seeping out from between her fingers. “I’m okay. I think. I—”
“Everybody freeze! Police!”
All eyes whipped to the door as Rhonda came barreling in, flashlight pointed at us.
Kyle and I jerked our hands into the air … for the flashlight’s sake?
Rhonda lowered the beam as her eyes trailed over the scene. “Whoa, Doom. What did you do?”
“Me? Nothing!”
She pointed to the man on the floor. “Is that…?”
�
��Rayner’s bodyguard. The assassin.”
She wasn’t listening though. She was too busy picking up the hitman’s gun off the floor and securing it in her holster. She then pressed her fingers against his neck.
“Careful,” I said.
“I can’t feel a pulse,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ve still got my weapon?” she asked, looking over to Julie-Kimberly.
“Kyle used it to shoot the … him,” the producer answered, briefly dropping her eyes back to the enormous man.
“Good job, kid,” Rhonda said as Kyle passed her the gun.
“Thanks,” he mumbled.
She stood and moved to holster her gun too, but couldn’t find a free place to stick it, giving me time to say, “You might want to keep that one out a little longer.”
Rhonda froze and looked up at me, “Why?”
“Julie, here, is actually Kimberly Winters, and it turns out she’s another love child of Rayner’s.”
I felt Kyle startle at my back. “What?”
“Yup.”
Julie didn’t say anything.
“Wow,” Rhonda whispered under her breath. “So she hired this guy?”
“No!” Julie shouted.
Rhonda looked to me.
“I don’t know.”
“Right, well, maybe we should sort this out back on the mainland. Like with a chart. It’s hard to keep track of all these Boatrights.” Rhonda took one last look around, then said, “Okay, well, no point staying here with all … this. The storm’s quieted some, and you both need medical attention.” She made eye contact with Julie-Kimberly and then Kyle.
“I need medical attention?” he asked.
Rhonda flashed me some uh-oh eyes. “Erica, will explain it on the ride over.”
“Thanks a lot,” I muttered under my breath.
“But what about Brody?” Kenny asked. “He’s still out there.”
“He’s secure,” Rhonda answered. “I found him huddled and rocking in the shed these two were in earlier.” She jerked a thumb at me and Kyle. “I handcuffed him to one of the support poles. He’s not going anywhere.”
“We have to get Ashley and Ronnie, though,” I said jumping in. “They’re by the canoes.”
“Hiding?”
“Kind of. Ashley impaled her foot to the ground with her knife, and Ronnie’s passed out on top of her. For warmth.”
Snowed In with Murder Page 23
