Drop Dead Beauty

by Wendy Roberts

  “It’s all her fault!” Zenia shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at Sadie.

  Zack walked over and crouched down to put a comforting arm around Sadie’s shoulders.

  “Thanks for coming to the rescue,” Sadie said. “How did you know where I was?”

  “I got a call from Detective Downey telling me that you’d just given her a big lead on a multiple-homicide home invasion. She expressed concern that there might be some retaliation and suggested I might want to keep a close eye on you.” He shrugged.

  “So you were following me?”

  “Yeah. Guess I should’ve told you.”

  “You’re not getting any complaints out of me,” she said. “Feel free to follow me anytime you feel like I might be in danger of even so much as a hangnail,” she joked, and then added, “Seriously, thank you. Detective Downey probably assumed we’re still a couple. She didn’t know she was asking you to go above and beyond the call of, um, friendship.”

  “Is that what we are? Friends?” he asked.

  “I know what I am. . . . I’m a pain in the ass.” Sadie rolled more onto her good hip and reached behind her to feel the wound. Her hand came away damp with blood.

  “I thought you fell. I didn’t know you were hit!” Zack exclaimed.

  He rolled her on her side roughly to examine her wound.

  “You’ll live. It looks like it just grazed you.”

  “Hurts like hell.”

  “Well, you’ve always been a pain in the ass,” he grumped. “Think of this as karma.”

  Zack chuckled and that brought on a full-fledged belly laugh until his eyes were damp with tears. Sadie couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard his laugh, and at that moment she thought she’d give up everything she had to hear it on a regular basis. Too bad she’d screwed that up by sleeping with Owen.

  The paramedics were busy with Zenia, who’d lost a lot of blood, but they were told another ambulance was on its way for Sadie.

  “Can you walk?” Zack asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Sadie said. She lay back down on the hard-packed grass. “But that’s okay. I think I’ll just stay here awhile and count my blessings.”

  He smiled and scooped Sadie up off the ground and into his arms.

  “Umph,” Zack groaned. “You’ve gained weight.”

  “Hey!” she protested.

  He carried her around to the front of the complex, where the second ambulance was just pulling in.

  “You need to tell them that Zenia killed Jane. It wasn’t Dean.” Sadie nodded toward the officers as Zack handed her over to the EMTs. “Make sure they know that it wasn’t Dean.”

  “They know. All the coroner results came back, so they’ve now got a pretty good idea of exactly how it all went down. I can talk to you about that later.” He pushed a weary hand through his thick dark hair and shook his head. “Sometimes you should have enough faith in the police and let them do their job. They were already tailing Zenia. You were only in the way.”

  “I couldn’t just stand by and let Dean take the rap for it. I owed him more than that.”

  “I know. You’re a good friend.” He placed the palm of his hand on her cheek and looked at her sadly. “This was a close one. I don’t ever want to be that close to losing you again.”

  He turned and walked away, leaving Sadie in the capable hands of the paramedics, who knew how to bandage her butt but who were no help at all in sorting out her love life.

  ***

  After receiving a half-dozen stitches in her rear end, Sadie was waiting to be released, lying on her stomach on a gurney in a curtained-off area, when she was mobbed. The emergency room was suddenly filled with familiar faces: Dawn, Maeva, and her mother. She looked past them all, hoping for Zack, but he wasn’t there.

  “Oh my God. You’re going to give me twelve heart attacks!” her mother cried as she wrapped Sadie in a big hug. “And why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant? I had to hear it from your sister!”

  Sadie shot Dawn an angry glare.

  “Sorry, but I panicked when I heard you’d been shot. Zack called me and I was at Mom’s at the time,” Dawn protested. “It just slipped out.”

  “It’s not the kind of secret you can keep forever,” Maeva said with a smile. “Eventually everyone is either going to think you’re pregnant or that you’ve eaten a helluva lot of cookies.”

  “I know, but I didn’t want to steal Dawn’s thunder,” Sadie told her mother. “And . . .”

  “And you thought I’d be ticked off with you because you’re not married.” Her mom folded her arms tightly across her chest and scowled. “A baby is always a blessing. Of course, I’m not thrilled you’re not married. It’s ridiculous. You two should’ve tied the knot years ago.” She threw her hands up. “I really don’t know what you’re waiting for, but now, no more excuses. Zack will just have to make an honest woman out of you.”

  “You’re right.” Zack stepped through the curtain with a big bouquet of red roses.

  Sadie was still on her stomach, and she hoisted herself up on her elbows. “Sorry about that.” She nodded toward her mom. “She doesn’t know the situation, so—”

  “What’s to know?” Zack said.

  “Zack . . .” Sadie whispered. “Don’t say anything you’ll regret. Owen’s going to want to be a part of the child’s life. He’s going to be visiting and calling and writing and—”

  “Do you love him?” Zack asked.

  “Who’s Owen?” Sadie’s mom asked, but she was shushed into silence by Maeva and Dawn.

  “No.” Sadie shook her head. “I don’t love him and I told him we’d never be a couple, but—”

  “No buts,” Zack said sternly.

  He got down on one knee and grabbed Sadie’s hand in his.

  “The most important thing is that I love you, Sadie Novak, and I want us to be together.” His eyes were warm and his voice pleading. “If you let me, I want to make a mixed-up, messed-up family with you and this baby. What do you say, will you marry me?”

  Sadie looked over at her sister, her friend, and her mother, who all held their breaths and had a combined look of hope for her future. Then she looked Zack in the eyes and saw the truth there. He meant it. He did love her. She closed her eyes and listened to her own heart.

  “Yes.”

  There was much whooping and hollering and Sadie would’ve gotten up and done a dance except for the fact that her butt was so sore she could hardly walk.

  Maeva leaned in and whispered in Sadie’s ear, “Guess I won’t be needing the red conjure bag I got from Rudie. It was a love potion I was planning on giving to Zack.”

  Sadie could only laugh so hard it hurt.

  When they left the hospital, Zack bundled Sadie into the passenger seat of his Mustang so that she could comfortably lean against the window and not rest on the right sore half of her bottom.

  “Before we go home, there’s something I need to do first,” she told him. “I’ve got unfinished business at Jonelle’s Spa.”

  To his credit Zack never asked and never argued. Maybe that was the best part of being with someone who truly got you and everything messed up that you stood for.

  When they arrived at Jonelle’s they did some fast-talking to allow Sadie into treatment room nine. The entire spa was in a state of confused chaos because news had spread about Zenia going to jail. It was Emilio who waved Sadie and Zack inside. The sexy masseuse had lost some of the spring in his step and now just looked like what he was: an aging, over-tanned, over-muscled man who tried too hard.

  “I’ll take it from here,” Zack told Emilio.

  The masseuse shrugged and went on his way. Zack stayed outside the treatment room while Sadie stepped inside, slipping the new aqua conjure bag over her head as she did so.

  Almost immediately, Jane’s spirit ap
peared.

  “Hi, Jane,” Sadie said, offering the woman a tight smile.

  “Finally!” Jane let out a long breath. “You’d been here so many times before that I was beginning to wonder if all those stories Dean told me about you were true!” She smiled. “I guess they are. . . . You do talk to ghosts.”

  “It’s true, but I was just having some, um, issues before.”

  “Well, you’re here now so that’s what’s important!” Jane smiled at Sadie, even though a large portion of the spirit’s head was missing. Then her smile faltered as she became serious. “You need to know that this wasn’t Dean’s fault. It was my fault for getting a little extra on the side with Emilio.” She shook her head. “I’m embarrassed about that, but it’s the truth.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Sadie protested. “It’s all on Zenia because she’s a dozen degrees of crazy.”

  “That’s true, but it’s so sad it had to end this way.” Jane sniffed morosely.

  “I know, but you can’t undo what’s happened.” Sadie spread her arms wide. “And it’s time for you to move on. There’s no use in you hanging around the spa like this.”

  “Yeah, what kind of ghost wants to haunt a spa anyway?” Jane sniffed through tears. “But I don’t know if I can leave. . . . I don’t know how.”

  “You’ve got some unfinished business that’s keeping you here, and I’m going to help you with that,” Sadie promised. “You just have to trust me.”

  Jane’s spirit was tired of hanging on to this dimension. It took little help from Sadie to assure her that she’d be happier on the other side. Before long, Jane’s spirit had shimmered and then faded for good.

  When Sadie left Jonelle’s Spa for the last time, she felt empowered that she was able to help Jane move on. However, there was still one more person on her agenda.

  “Tell me everything you know about what happened to Dean,” Sadie said to Zack as he steered his Mustang up her street.

  When they reached her driveway she turned to Zack, carefully avoiding sliding on the sore side of her rump. She listened intently to everything Zack had to say regarding police information and coroner’s reports and it all fell into place.

  “Are you sure that you want to come inside while I take care of this? You can always just let me deal with Dean on my own and then come back in a while,” Sadie suggested.

  “I’m coming in,” Zack answered firmly. “This is part of you so that makes it part of me. The good, the bad, the ugly . . .” He muttered under his breath, “And the dead.”

  So they walked inside Sadie’s house together, and Zack picked up Hairy and settled on the sofa with the rabbit. Sadie called out for Dean but he didn’t appear to be around. She walked into the kitchen and found him there.

  “It’s taken care of,” she told him. “The killer was Zenia, who co-owned the spa. She was pissed that Emilio bonded with Jane and when you were there fighting she saw an opportunity and took it, but she’d already blown a gasket. She would’ve killed Jane anyway.”

  “So that’s the end?” Petrovich exhaled with relief.

  “It’s over.”

  Sadie went to the drawer and withdrew the roll of antacids and popped one in her mouth.

  “Why are you walking like you’ve been riding a horse for a week straight?” Petrovich asked.

  “Zenia shot me in the ass when I was running away from her. Zack took her down with a bullet to the shoulder.” She chewed the chalky tablet. “It could’ve been much worse.”

  “I appreciate all you did to clear my name.” He looked puzzled. “But how did she get my gun?”

  “Remember when you went around to the back of the spa to wait for Jane? I’m guessing you weren’t done with your argument. You were hell-bent to wait for her to come out so you could finish and settle things once and for all.”

  “Sure.” Petrovich nodded. “Jane had been avoiding me and I was done tracking her down.”

  “Right. Well, you passed out there on the back concrete steps. Then Zenia saw you there, saw your holster, and took it upon herself to relieve you of your weapon while you lay there dying.”

  “Dying?” His eyes got big and he took a step back. As he backed up his image was briefly absorbed by the kitchen cupboards. Then he stepped forward and shook a finger at Sadie. “You’re wrong. Here I am.” He waved a hand down his translucent body as if that was proof. “Besides, I don’t remember passing out.”

  “There’s a reason why you chose to come here and hang out with me,” Sadie told him softly. “I’m the only one that can see you, Dean. You know that.”

  His eyes were wild as he stalked around the room and angrily tried to thump a fist against her kitchen counter, but it simply dropped right through, failing to make contact.

  “What . . . why . . .” He turned to face Sadie and his shoulders slumped in resignation. “How did this happen?”

  Tears pricked her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. “You should’ve gone to see a doctor.”

  “Why? I’ve always been fit as a fiddle! No hanging out at donut shops for this old cop.”

  “No. You’re not fit as a fiddle, Dean, and you haven’t been for a while. All that heartburn you’ve been having for weeks?” She pressed a fist to her own sternum, where she could feel the pain that he had at his death. She sighed. “That pain in your gut? A bleeding gastric ulcer. Serious stuff. It caused you to faint.”

  “How would you know that?” he asked, pacing the floor while wringing his hands.

  “Zack told me. He got a look at the autopsy report. You passed out because the bleeding in your belly had caused you to be so anemic you just collapsed, hit your head on the concrete steps when you went down, and cracked your skull.” Sadie rubbed the back of her neck. “Guess I only felt the heartburn because you were already unconscious before you hit your head.”

  “An autopsy report? So it’s true then. . . . I’m . . . dead.”

  “As a doornail,” Sadie said firmly and evenly, even though she was fighting back tears.

  She watched the emotions cross over his face: fear, disbelief, and finally, resignation.

  “You know I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this,” Sadie told him. “The second you first appeared to me I knew I’d have to help you clear your name before I could tell you the truth about your situation. You wouldn’t have been able to move on to the next dimension until your name was cleared. It should be easier for you now.”

  Petrovich panicked and disappeared, but there was no fading, and no shimmer, so Sadie knew he’d be back—just like he’d kept coming back and forth for the last week. Eventually he’d be ready to move on and she would be ready and able to help him.

  Sadie walked into the living room, sat on the sofa next to Zack, and put her feet up on the coffee table.

  “Is it done?” he asked.

  “No. He panicked,” Sadie told him. “But he’ll be back.”

  “So you’ll just live with him in your place until he’s ready to move on?” Zack asked.

  “Yes. Are you okay with all this?”

  She slid closer to him on the sofa and winced as she tried to get comfortable without hurting her sore rear end.

  “Because this is me. This is my life. I’m always going to either have a pain in the ass, or be one. And before long there’ll be more than just me.” She rested her hand across her stomach. “So if you need to hightail it out of here and never look back, I’ll try and understand. I’ll be okay.”

  Zack turned and lifted her chin with the tip of his finger. “Well, I’m not okay with that,” he told her firmly, and then he continued formally, “I, Zack Bowman, hereby take you, Sadie Novak, to be my wife forever and for always. In sickness and in health. With ghosts to dust up and move on and with a baby. . . .” He put his hand on her stomach. “The complete package. I take it all.”

 
Zack kissed her slowly, deeply, and thoroughly. Sadie felt the heat of pure joy well up in her chest.

  As they kissed, she opened one eye and regarded Dean Petrovich’s ghost watching them from across the room.

  Sadie closed her eyes and kissed some more.

  Ghosts could wait.

  They always did.

  Wendy Roberts is an armchair sleuth and a fan of all things mysterious. She lives in Surrey, British Columbia, with four teens and a tenacious terrier. She is hard at work on her next novel. You can visit her on the web at www.wendyroberts.com and follow her on Twitter @authorwendy.