Pretty Is As Pretty Does

by Gen Griffin

  “I fell,” Trish said. “I'll be fine.”

  He didn't look like he believed her as he dusted glass off of her dress and brushed off her arms. She pressed closed to him, just wanting to feel the comfort of his warm skin against hers. He held her tightly in his arms and then kissed the top of her forehead.

  “Nellie sold me out.” She whispered the words in his ear. Hearing them come out of her mouth made them seem worse than they had when she'd been repeating them in her own head on the drive from the funeral home. “She tricked me.”

  “I know.” David kissed her again. “Believe me. I know.”

  “How did you find out?” She asked. The sirens were getting even louder now. The ambulance couldn't be more than a few minutes away.

  “She told me,” David said.

  Trish hesitated and then took a deep breath. “Did she feel guilty and send you to save me?”

  David kissed her again but he didn't answer the question.

  “David?”

  “No,” he said the word slowly and softly. “She told me that you were going back to him to work things out and that she was doing you a favor.”

  Trish whimpered as she began to cry. David stroked his hand through her hair. “Shhh. Its okay. We'll deal with her later. Shh.”

  The shot went off from behind them with a bang. Trish's heart jumped into her chest as she screamed. David ducked instinctively, pulling her down to the ground beside him.

  “What the hell?”

  A second shot blew past them, narrowly missing Trish's head. She screamed again as she saw the gun in Curtis's hand. He was still laying on the ground but he had gotten up onto one elbow. The hand holding the gun was covered in blood.

  They had nowhere to hide. David was on top of Trish, pressing her down to the ground and struggling to grab something out of the waistband of his jeans as a third shot fired.

  The sirens were screaming now. It would only be a minute or two before the police arrived. A minute or two might be two minutes too long.

  The next shot that rang out was louder than first three. Curtis's hand jerked and the gun he was holding fired wildly as the back of his head exploded in a burst of blood and brain matter.

  “Oh shit. Oh my god. Curtis!” Trish stared in horror at her ex as he slumped down to the ground with his brains oozing out of the side of his skull.

  “Shit.” David sat up carefully in the grass, still instinctively shielding Trish even though she was no longer in any danger. She followed his gaze to Cal, who was standing ten feet behind Curtis with a large revolver in his right hand. He slowly let the barrel of the gun drop.

  “Y'all okay?” Cal called out.

  “Yes.” Trish had to push David off of her so that she could sit up fully. “He didn't hit me. David, are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I think so.” David looked from Curtis to his best friend and then back to Curtis. “What kind of ammo are you using in the hand cannon?”

  “Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to,” Cal replied. “He was shooting at y'all.”

  “I noticed.” David slowly got to his feet and then helped Trish up. “Where did he get the .22?”

  “He must have had it on him when he fell,” Cal guessed as he put the gun back inside his suit jacket. “Y'all sure you're okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you kill him?” Trish was afraid she already knew the answer to the question as she hesitantly began walking towards Curtis.

  “I'm sorry.” Cal had genuine remorse in his dark brown eyes. “I was afraid he would shoot one of y'all and since he was laying on the ground there was no way for me to take him down without getting myself shot in the process. I don't shoot well enough to knock the gun out of his hand the way they do in movies.”

  “Not to mention that you're loaded for bear. Seriously, what ammo do you have in that gun?” David held out his hand and gestured for Cal to hand him the revolver he'd used to shoot Curtis.

  “Don't worry about it.” Cal kept the gun in his pocket.

  An ambulance came squealing into the driveway with the sirens blaring at top volume. The paramedics jumped out of the vehicle and Cal pointed them towards Curtis's still bleeding body. A chubby female EMT with dark brown hair and brightly flushed cheeks knelt down beside Curtis and pressed two fingers against his throat, looking for a pulse. She shook her head at her partner. “He's gone.”

  Trish felt her knees go out from under her as she crumpled down into the grass and cried.

  Chapter 55

  “We probably shouldn't be doing this,” Addison muttered to Cal as they walked up to the front door of Deputy Kerry Longwood's massive showpiece of a house. Kerry was the only schmuck Addy knew who had a full on shopping mall-style fountain in his front yard.

  “She didn't want him dead.” Cal cast a glance back to where David had gotten Trish semi-calmed down. She was sitting on the tailgate of Grover's truck with David's suit jacket draped over her shoulders. Someone had brought her a coke from the refrigerator inside the house and the EMT had given her something to calm her nerves while Frank Chasson confirmed the details of what had happened in the time between Grover's funeral and Curtis's death.

  “She's a sweet girl.” Addison began pulling the kitchen drawers open. All the silverware and cooking utensils were neatly in place. “All she wanted was for him to leave her alone. She didn't ask for none of this to happen. She took her clothes and an ancient car with her when she left him. She wasn't fighting him for any of their belongings or that Lexus he wrecked the other day.”

  “She just wanted to walk away.” Cal rolled the sleeves up on his button-down shirt and tugged off his tie. He leaned heavily on the kitchen island, using it to support his weight.

  “Are you okay?” Addison asked him, noting that his friend looked a bit pale.

  “I just killed a man.” Cal held one hand up level to his chest. Addison saw that he was shaking ever so slightly.

  “You need to sit down?”

  “I need a stiff drink and a two hour visit with Pastor Gene.” Cal put his hand back down on the counter. “I saw he was moving around some on the ground and we knew he wasn't dead, but I didn't think he had a gun. Even if I had known he had a gun, I wouldn't have thought he'd be dumb enough to draw down on Breedlove and Trish. You have no idea how scared I was. I was trying to pull the gun out of my jacket and it was kind of wedged into the inner pocket. I couldn't get it loose at first. He got off two shots before I could even draw. He got off a third shot while I was aiming for him. All I could see was David and Trish laying on the ground. I didn't know if they'd been shot. I couldn't tell.”

  “Pulling the trigger was the right choice,” Addison said. “That crazy bastard wanted her dead and he didn't care who he had to kill to get to her. Personally, I'm glad you shot the bastard. He shot me. He kidnapped Trish. She may feel bad about him dying, but he never would have left her alone. He would have followed her forever.”

  “Thanks. I needed to hear that.” Cal eyed the slightly messy kitchen with wary curiosity. “Trish's sister said that Curtis has been living here with Kerry while they worked to prove his innocence.”

  “I definitely didn't see that one coming,” Addison mused. “The Callahan County Sheriff's Department has not been trying to prove Curtis innocent. I'm an officer of the law and he shot me. I very clearly remember him shooting me. That's an instant go to jail free card.”

  “At this point I figure we have two possible options for what happened here.” Cal held up two fingers. “Either Curtis forced Kerry to help him or Kerry's dirty.”

  “I'm kind of wondering if Kerry is even still alive,” Addison said. “Curtis drove Trish back here in Kerry's cruiser.”

  Cal walked over the refrigerator and pulled out two cans of coke. He tossed one across the kitchen to Addison. “We in here looking for Kerry's body?”

  “I don't know.” Addison opened the drink without waiting for it to de-fizz. Soda spilled out onto the kitchen floor. “Let
's just see what we can find. Trish said that Curtis took her into an upstairs bedroom. Maybe we'll find some evidence up there.”

  “Can't hurt to look.” Cal picked up his soda and headed for the staircase. Addison followed after him.

  The room at the top of the stairs had clearly been in use recently and whoever had been using it was a total slob. There were food wrappers, empty drink cups and crumbs everywhere. A gigantic pair of men's tighty-whiteys were laying on the floor beside an equally huge pair of muddy slacks.

  Addison cringed as he bent down and checked the size on the tags. “Kerry doesn't wear a size 54 pant.”

  “No. I don't even wear a size 54 pant,” Cal said. He was going through a handful of scraps and receipts on the top of the dresser.

  Addison walked over to the window Curtis had fallen through and looked down. The fall hadn't killed him, but it still looked nasty. He let out a low whistle under his breath.

  “Hey Malone, I found something.” Cal held up a yellow piece of paper that had deep crease lines showing where it had been folded.

  “What is it?”

  “Pawn ticket from a shop up in Silver City. Looks like they pawned the jewelry they sole from Trish's house yesterday for thirty grand.”

  “Dang.” Addison closed the distance between them and peered over Cal's shoulder so he could read the pawn ticket. “Wait, Kerry signed this.”

  “Uh huh.” Cal passed the ticket to Addison. “He's dirty. He's got to be. No victim would have signed this pawn ticket willingly. He could have signaled the pawn shop owner to call the cops.”

  “I honestly didn't see this coming, did you?” Addison scratched his head and pocketed the pawn ticket.

  “I thought he was trying to take Curtis down on his own.”

  “Lone ranger style?”

  Cal nodded. “David and I talked about the possibility that Kerry was involved after Granny Pearl mentioned seeing his cruiser parked in front of Trish's house around the same time it got trashed. We considered Curtis might have an accomplice helping him, but we couldn't figure out who. If Kerry was working with him then it explains how he slipped away from David on Monday.”

  “What?” Addison was lost.

  “They tried to sink your truck. David got to the landing literally within minutes of when the truck went into the water. He should have seen Curtis escaping but he didn't. Kerry was there though. Kerry beat David to the landing.”

  “Kerry helped Curtis sink my truck.” Addison ran his tongue across his teeth and then folded up the pawn ticket and tucked it into his pocket. He rubbed his hands together. “I'm going to kill him.”

  “He still hasn't turned up,” Cal said. “Curtis may have already done it.”

  “I hope the whiny little bastard is dead.” Addison meant every word as it came out of his mouth. “He's put us through hell for the last year. Now we discover he's actually working together with the guy who shot me. He better pray he's already dead because it's not going to be pretty if I get my hands on him.”

  “You going to give the pawn ticket to Frank?” Cal asked.

  Addison hesitated and then shook his head no. “We can't. What can Frank really do about stolen jewelry that has been restolen by several different parties in the time since the original theft?”

  “Good point.” Cal sat down on the edge of the bed. “This entire situation is so screwed up.”

  “And you don't know the half of it,” David said from behind them.

  “What's gone wrong now?” Cal turned to face David. “Don't tell me that Frank is charging me for shooting Curtis?”

  “No. Thankfully not. But we do have a bit of a dilemma on our hands.” David looked as tired as Cal had ever seen him.

  “Spit it out,” Addison told him.

  “Whitt Jones just called from the funeral home. He's found a body in his janitorial closet.”

  “Was it Kerry?” Addison perked up.

  “No. It was Grover.” David crossed his arms over his chest and waited for his words to sink in.

  “Grover?” Cal was lost. “Grover was already dead.”

  “I know. In fact, they went ahead and buried him while we were busy rescuing Trish.”

  “Maybe he had a dead twin brother?” Addison suggested.

  David ignored Addison's cockamamie suggestion. “Whitt swears up and down that there was a body in the coffin he buried in Grover's grave. Either the zombie apocalypse has officially begun, or we have a major problem on our hands.”

  “Is it sad that I'm hoping for the zombie apocalypse?” Cal asked.

  “Is it sad that I'm pissed off that we're now going to have to bury Grover twice?” David countered. “Come on y'all. Frank wants us to go help him dig up a grave.”

  Chapter 56

  “It didn't have to end this way.” Trish was staring out the window of Grover's truck as they drove 80 miles an hour down the rural county road that would take them to the cemetery where Grover's body was supposed to be buried. Trish felt stupid for crying over Curtis's death but she couldn't seem to stop.

  “Curtis was going to kill you.” David had one hand on the steering wheel and the other tightly holding onto Trish's fingers. “Cal didn't want to pull that trigger any more than you wanted him to do it. Trust me.”

  Trish took a deep breath. “I wasn't talking about Cal. He did what he thought was right. I get that. He probably saved our lives. It's just...”

  “Just?”

  “When I say that it didn't have to end this way, I mean-.” She stopped, struggling to explain herself. “Do you think I would leave you if you lost the shop tomorrow?”

  “Huh?” David was confused by the seemingly sudden change in topic.

  “Do you think I would leave you if your shop went out of business tomorrow?”

  He made a face. “I hope not. Going out of business might be a real possibility considering how little I've worked in the last two weeks.”

  Trish couldn't help rolling her eyes at him. “You know what I'm asking.”

  “No, Trish. You wouldn't leave me if the shop shut down.” He squeezed her hand tightly in his.

  “No, I wouldn't. We haven't even been together a month yet and you know that I'm not the type of girl to cut and run just because money gets tight.”

  “As best I can tell, you're not the type of girl to cut and run for much of anything short of attempted murder.”

  “Curtis and I dated for three years. There was a time in our relationship when I really thought I loved him. He could have been honest with me about failing the bar. We could have worked something out. My marriage to him wasn't contingent on him being a hotshot lawyer at some big firm.”

  “You didn't care about his career.” It was a statement rather than a question.

  “I was supportive of his career,” Trish corrected. “I would have done anything I could have to help him. He didn't need to lie to me and he definitely didn't need to steal my law license.”

  David sighed. “Trish, there's something else you need to know.”

  “What?” She looked at him curiously.

  “Frank Chasson came and talked to me and Cal this morning. He told us that Curtis didn't just use your law license to practice law. He also used it to steal a lot of money from the law firm.”

  “What?” Her eyes widened with horrified shock. “He stole money from the law firm?”

  “The Silver City Police Department says he did.”

  “Oh my god.” Trish swallowed an unexpected lump in her throat. “I don't believe it. Curtis wouldn't have taken money. Stealing from the practice would have ruined his entire career.”

  “His career was already ruined,” David said. “He may not have thought he had anything left to lose. You swear to me you didn't know anything about the money?”

  “Curtis and I didn't discuss our finances. He paid all the bills and I didn't ask any questions. I assumed he was making more than enough money to cover our expenses.” She pulled her hand free of his and stared at
him. “Do you really think I would have been driving a 15 year old car if I knew he was stealing thousands of dollars?”

  “Hundreds of thousands of dollars,” David corrected.

  “What?!” Her jaw dropped. “He stole a hundred thousand dollars?”

  David nodded. “Using your law license.”

  Trish slumped back in the seat and covered her face with both hands. “You can't think I knew?”

  “Cal and I both told Frank that we thought you were the innocent victim.”

  “I can't believe he...Though I don't know why I'm so surprised.” Trish sat back up in the seat and hugged herself. “I never would have guessed that he was capable of most of the things he's done. I never dreamed he would lie about passing the state bar exam. I admit I saw the cheating coming, but the fact that he cheated on me with Nellie completely blindsided me. I never questioned the money he brought home from the law firm.”

  “He killed people, Trish. At least, he's killed one person and it looks like he probably buried someone else in Grover's casket. My guess is that we're going to find Kerry in that pine box.”

  Trish wiped tears away from her cheeks. “I'm so stupid.”

  “What?”

  “I'm stupid. I fell for every lie that Curtis ever told me. My own step-sister betrayed me twice. The first time she cheated on me with my husband. The second time she led me into a trap. How dumb do I have to be to fall for that?”

  “You're not stupid. You're trusting and you tend to think the best of people. Its a quality I admire in you.” He reached out and took her hand again.

  “You like it that I'm a trusting fool?”

  “You have a good soul, Trish. You're a loving person who wants to help people. I love that about you. Maybe being trusting hasn't worked out the best in this particular situation, but I'm plenty suspicious enough to take care of the both of us long term. I need a little more trust and forgiveness in my life. We'll balance one another out.”

  Trish couldn't help smiling slightly. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Promise me you won't ever start lying to me and murdering the people I care about,” Trish gave him a teasing wink.