“You took your time,” she whispered around screams that slowly faded to a persistent whimper.
“He was holding a gun on you,” Joe said. “I didn’t want to startle him. Besides you were doing a very nice job of badgering a confession out of him.”
“Is he dead?” She tried to peek around Joe’s shoulder, but he moved to block her.
“No. I think he fainted.”
“But you did shoot him.”
“Barely. I just grazed him—enough to make him drop the gun. I prefer my prisoners alive and as uninjured as possible.”
As he talked, Joe toed the pistol aside and knelt next to the semi-conscious man. He double-checked Oscar’s injuries as he rolled him onto his stomach and handcuffed him.
“You must be pretty confident of your marksmanship,” Jesse said, watching intently.
“I’m a damned fine shot,” Joe agreed.
“So you could have shot him sooner,” she accused.
Joe shrugged. “You seemed to be having such fun matching wits with him. I hated to interfere.”
“But he could have killed Cynthia.”
“He’s had a lot of chances to kill Cynthia.” Joe moved on to the woman who still wasn’t moving. “I think his heart wasn’t really in it. Until the end, there. I think that last shot was going to be a serious one.”
“Why isn’t she moving?” Jesse stared down at the inert woman on the floor, barely a foot away from the man who had begun to stir. “If Oscar didn’t shoot her, what’s wrong with her?”
“I think she fainted again,” Joe said as he checked for unseen injuries, rolled Cynthia onto her stomach and cuffed her.
“Well, I guess they’re both going to be pretty surprised when they come to.”
Joe straightened, pulled Jesse into his arms, and whispered as he rubbed the top of her head with his chin. “I also think she fakes some of her fainting spells. She seems pretty tough when she wants to be.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. Did they ever check her out at the hospital?”
“Yep. Bump on the head and a mild concussion. Low blood sugar that she ran away before they could treat
. Plus she had sedatives in her system, and by the time you found her, she was probably just sleeping it off. Sure wish I could find something good to charge her with.”
“According to Champion, she ran Ronnie’s car off the road.”
Joe shook his head. “She may have left him out there on that road, but she’s not the one who killed him.”
“She was selling someone else’s art as her own.”
“Nope.” Joe stepped back, explaining, “We’re going to have a room full of people in here in a minute,” as he put distance between them. “Besides, she and Stanton were married, and he willingly allowed her to act as his agent.”
“She held a gun on me and tried to steal a cashier’s check.”
“That she did, and I was a witness. Bingo.” He smiled and shook his head in wonder. “That must be some check.”
“It’s not for that much,” Jesse assured him. “I don’t get it myself. It’s like two dogs fighting over a bone.”
“Well, it gives us more than enough to charge them both with.”
Just then a knock at the front door was followed by Deputy Frank Haney’s entry. “Ambulance is here.” His big hand was around the bicep of Tommy Stanton. “And I found this guy hanging around outside. He says he was waiting for his wife.”
“Ah, Mr. Stanton,” Joe Tyler said. “Do you happen to have a license for the gun you gave your wife?”
“Uh, excuse me?”
“The gun,” Joe repeated. “The one she carried in here and held on Ms. Camden. Do you have a license for that gun, Mr. Stanton?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Did you give that gun to your wife, Mr. Stanton?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Joe turned to his deputy. “Arrest him. Take him down to the station. We’ll need a deputy to go with Oscar Champion to the hospital. He’s got a minor gunshot to his shoulder and is being charged with murder. And I need a second ambulance and a deputy for Mrs. Stanton. She’s under arrest, and I want her handcuffed with a deputy in the room while at the hospital. Whether she appears to be unconscious or not.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Wow.” Seated at one of the many dining room tables, Jesse rested her head in her hands and listened to the silence.
Everyone was gone, except for Sheriff Joe Tyler who was overseeing the transportation of everyone who had been arrested that evening. Two were on their way to the hospital and would later end up at the jail. One was under arrest and on his way to spend the night in a holding cell.
As for Jesse, she was hungry but too tired to eat, too tired even to care. She might have fallen asleep with her forehead cupped in her palms. She wasn’t sure. The next sound she heard was the scraping of chair legs on the wooden floor and the words, “You’re an idiot.”
She lifted her head and blinked her eyes to clear the black velvet fog that engulfed her. Looking around she saw Joe Tyler seated across the table from her and no one else in sight.
“I’m assuming the idiot in question is me,” she said.
“We have to come to an understanding here, Jesse. You can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?” She struggled not to yawn. “I thought tonight worked out rather well.”
“Then you apparently didn’t notice the gun that not one, but two, people pointed at you while you did everything in your power to irritate them into shooting you.”
He was clearly upset. The brown of his eyes was a storm-warning shade of dark chocolate, a color she had learned to be wary of.
“But they confessed,” she said. “And you were there to protect me.”
“When you knocked that gun out of Cynthia Stanton’s hand and it went off, it could have shot anyone in the room, including you. It just so happens, the bullet hit the wall two feet from where I was standing.”
The news hit Jesse with a jolt. Dear God, she could have gotten Joe shot. Not to mention the fit her mother would have if she saw a bullet hole in their dining room wall. Jesse pressed a hand to her pounding heart as she quickly did a body check of the man across from her. Pressed, immaculate shirt molded by muscles that looked a little tense at the moment. Relieved and horrified at the same time, she felt like crying, but if she started, she might never stop.
“Do you have something to say?” Joe demanded.
“You’ll have to show me where the hole is. I need to get it patched before Mom sees it.”
“That’s it?” His brows shot up and she could see lightning bolts flashing in the storm clouds of his eyes.
“I’m really glad you didn’t get shot.” And she really was. More than she wanted him to know.
His brows went higher, and Jesse knew she had to offer more. He wanted contrition. He wanted her to change. They hadn’t even had their first date yet, and already she needed to become a different person. This wasn’t looking good, and she was way too tired to deal with it right now.
“This isn’t a game, Jesse.” He sounded more disgusted than angry. “You can’t keep flinging yourself at murderers and hoping the consequences bounce off of you. You’re going to get hurt, or you’re going to get someone else hurt. Tonight could have gone very wrong, and there’s nothing you could have done to get out of the way if it had.”
“I know.” She tried to sound sorry, but it came out sounding hollow instead. And in her heart, she knew she’d do it all over again if she had to.
“You’re not very good at this.”
“I’m really…” She searched desperately for some promise to offer and was almost grateful when he interrupted.
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” he said. “Because I know you’re not. You got what you wanted, and you’d do it again.”
“I had to do it,” she said in a near whisper.
“You know that. Champion practically admitted he was coming after Misty next. I couldn’t…”
Joe’s hand closed over hers and squeezed as he leaned in across the table. “You don’t have to save the world by yourself, Jesse. Let somebody else help. Let me help.”
“I’ve never done that.” She tried to imagine what it would be like to let someone else fight her battles for her. It should feel good, but all she could feel was scared. “I don’t know how.”
“Well, work on it. Because I can’t keep going through this. And you seem to be a lightning rod for disaster.”
“That sounds a lot like a threat.” She wished he would throw his arms around her, and just hold her, and tease her, and tell her everything would be all right.
“Looks like maybe we’re both someplace we’ve never been before,” he said, not sounding like a man who was going to give her what she wanted.
“But it worked,” she said, feeling a lot like a gutted fish must feel. “We caught the bad guys.”
“We’re both tired. Let’s get some sleep.” He released her hand and stood up. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
His fingertip stroked her cheek. Then he turned and walked out the door at the same time Sophia walked in, passing him on the way. She paused in the foyer to stare after him.
“Oh, dear.” She turned and started walking toward Jesse. “Did something dreadful happen? Marla gave me a ride home. She said they arrested three people and one of them confessed to the murder. I thought you’d be in a wonderful mood. I was hoping to scold you for your foolishness while we had some wine and talked. What in the world just happened?”
“Somebody beat you to the scolding. Other than that, Marla’s right. Oscar did it, and Cynthia and Tommy are both under arrest for being generally odious. And Joe apparently blames me for everything.”
“Alpha men,” Sophia commiserated as she gave her daughter a quick hug. “I suppose you got everyone to confess and then handed them over to him with little bows tied on them.”
“No,” Jesse exclaimed. “Joe actually shot Oscar. Well, grazed him, anyway.”
Sophia stepped back, looking shocked. “Well, then he should be happy!”
“That’s what I thought!”
With a disgusted shake of her head, Sophia started toward the kitchen. “Merlot or Pinot Noir?” she asked over her shoulder.
“How about a Malbec?”
“Oh, good choice. Why don’t you grab the glasses, and I’ll meet you upstairs?”
Jesse gathered two elegant wine glasses from the hutch in the corner. “How’s Misty?” she asked, pausing at the door to the foyer.
“Sound asleep. She and Peg both. I told SueAnn we’d drive back out in the morning to have breakfast with them. Does that sound good to you?”
“That sounds wonderful to me.” Suddenly feeling as if a weight had lifted from her heart, Jesse started into the empty hall. She still had her family, and she now knew they would be safe. Tomorrow morning, they could begin planning for Misty’s future. And in the afternoon Jesse would find Joe, and they could work out a solution for their latest disagreement. She had to believe that or she wouldn’t sleep a wink.
Jesse had one foot on the staircase when she heard a rustling on the front porch. All thoughts of tomorrow evaporated, and her heart gave a silly leap of hope as she set the wine glasses on a console table and hurried to the door.
With her hand on the doorknob, she stopped, closed her eyes and cautioned herself that when she opened the front door, she would probably find a cat prowling across the porch. But she didn’t. When she opened the door, Joe stood with his back to her, staring out toward the street. Her heart was pounding like a jungle drum as she stepped outside and pulled the door closed behind her.
“I couldn’t leave,” Joe said without turning.
“I’m… I’m glad. Look, Joe…” She stopped, not sure what to say next. She had gotten her wish. Now what?
He pivoted toward her. The light from the street fell across the brim of his hat, casting his face in shadow. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I never meant to go poking around in anyone’s murder,” she said, feeling like the words were wrenched from the pit of her stomach. “It wasn’t what I wanted. Not any of it.”
“I will admit that you have an uncanny track record for people falling dead practically at your feet.” He took off his hat and tossed it onto the seat of a rocker next to the door. Then he held out his arms. “Why don’t we…”
Jesse was across the porch and into his arms before he could finish.
“…discuss this from a little closer together?” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.
“I don’t want to make you unhappy,” she whispered into his shirt front.
“And I don’t want to be the horse’s hind end who asked you to change who you are.” Joe scrubbed his chin against the top of her head. “I didn’t get off the porch before I realized that was what I was sounding like.”
The fist that had been knotted around Jesse’s heart relaxed, and she felt like she could breathe again. “I don’t do change well,” she admitted, pushing the words out through welling tears of relief.
“I’ve noticed that. But then I don’t either, so I guess that’s something we both get to work on.”
She lifted her head and hoped it was too dark for him to see the riot of emotions raging through her. “Mom calls that sort of thing an opportunity for personal growth. She seems to think I need more of them.”
He laughed. “I’ll let your mom deal with that. You and I can just focus on avoiding conflicts of interest or things like you interfering in an ongoing investigation.”
“Or Frank Haney catching us kissing,” Jesse said.
“Yeah. That.”
“Misty totally busted us.”
“Seriously?”
“She said she sensed a vibe between us. And then she said I looked all goofy when I was around you.”
Joe grinned. “Really? Well, that’s nice. I didn’t notice you looking all goofy. But I definitely sensed a vibe.”
“You’re not going to think it’s so funny when your deputies start noticing.”
He nuzzled her cheek. “I guess we’re destined to spend our time sneaking around in the dark then.” His lips slid over hers and he whispered, “I can think of worse ways to spend my time.” A board creaked inside the house, and Joe paused. “Your mother?”
“Probably. I’m supposed to meet her upstairs.”
He kissed her, a quicker kiss than they either one wanted, and stepped back. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Maybe in the afternoon I can have a talk with Misty and her grandmother. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help in the meantime.”
Jesse retrieved his hat from the rocker and handed it to him. “Tomorrow.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
She laughed. “I think I can manage that for a few days at least.”
Joe put his hat on his head and walked down the sidewalk and into the night. She watched him go before she turned and went into the house.
Sophia sat on a lower rung of the staircase. A bottle of wine sat on by her feet. “You get everything worked out?”
“Please tell me you weren’t listening.” Jesse’s thoughts immediately went to the bullet hole in the dining room wall and all of the evening’s events her mother wouldn’t be happy hearing.
“You weren’t talking loud enough.” Sophia scooted toward the railing and patted the stair next to her. “But you’re looking a lot happier.”
Jesse tucked herself in next to the wall, shoulder to shoulder with her mother. “I am.”
“Does that mean he’s happier, too?”
“He is.” She still couldn’t believe her luck. He hadn’t asked her to change. He didn’t expect things to be perfect. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d thought.”
Sophia laughed and nudged Jesse’s shoulder with her own. “You sound so surprised.”
“Well, up until now, things haven’t been exactly mellow between us.”
“Oh, now, dear, even I have to admit that we’ve trampled all over his investigations more than once, especially you. At least he hasn’t arrested you.” Sophia slipped her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “What do you think about leaving the wine with the glasses and heading up to bed?”
“What about our talk?”
“Tomorrow’s soon enough. You need sleep, and you’ve been through enough without having to rehash tonight’s events for me.”
Jesse leaned her forehead against her mom’s and asked, “Have I ever told you that you’re the best mom in the world?”
“Yes, you have, dear.” Sophia stood and held out her hand to Jesse. “Usually right after you’ve done something that you know I really wouldn’t like.”
Laughing, Jesse joined hands with her mother and started up the staircase. “Thank you for postponing the confessions until tomorrow.”
“You’re welcome. And the first thing I’ll want to hear about is that hole in the dining room wall.”
—The End—
Dear Reader,
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Other cozies from the Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mystery Series are:
Murder, Mayhem and Bliss (Book 1)
Murder Most Thorny (Book 2)
Murder on a Silver Sea (Book 3)
Also, the Anthology: Happy Homicides 5: The Purr-fect Crime
Featuring the short fiction: Deadly Purr-suasion: A Little Bit of Magic Mystery by Loulou Harrington
(A brief excerpt is featured at the end of this book.)
Don’t Miss the RECIPES on the next page!
Recipes from the Gilded Lily Tea Room
A Misty Morning Murder (Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mystery Book 4) Page 21
