Twenty-two
Kissy pushed through the growing crowd of citizens all heading for the gazebo. She tried avoiding the walkways but the grassy wedges were just as crowded. Kimi and Moira shoved past her, ducking under people’s arms and straight through families. She watched them, loaded down with bags, making much better time than her.
Then she spotted Avi off to one side. He was gathered with the rest of the GinNtonix under a tree. The other four had their heads together. Avi was turned away. He took a box from a gangly kid with a wild afro who then ran back towards the gazebo. Kissy looked around and saw the square was filled with kids. She put her head down and shoved rudely through all the people, heading straight for the tree.
But when she got there, Avi was gone.
“Ho Ho Ho!” A man in a Santa Claus suit waved the crowd in. “Merry Winterfest! Come closer so you can hear the jubilant GinNtonix!”
The quintet in their dreadful sweaters mounted the stage and circled around the gazebo, waving at the crowd.
Kissy hit the transmitter button on her earlobe. “Avi! There’s a bomb—“ she began until the squelching in her ear told her she was too close.
Avi’s hand shot to his ear. He looked around and smiled, giving a thumbs up and waving to everyone. There was no way he’d be able to see Kissy. She screamed in frustration. When heads turned her way, she jumped up and down and tried to turn it into a scream of excitement. She could see from their faces she was not very successful. A father moved his family away.
When he did, she got a clear view of Tim escorting Coldman across the square. The councilwoman was greeting folks and pressing the flesh. Tim was friendly but his eyes kept searching the crowd and occasionally the gazebo. He had one hand stuck casually into the back pocket of his shorts. When he pulled it out, Kissy saw the flash of a syringe cupped in that hand. He must have proof Coldman was their lying client.
She started towards the pair to help. The father she’d scared moved his family out of her way but the rest of the crowd was not as helpful. She pardon me and excuse me’d her way through, a salmon swimming upstream as more and more people flowed toward the gazebo. When she looked up again, she saw the councilwoman had stopped walking. She was coughing politely into her hand. Tim stopped with her, but his attention was on the gazebo where Avi and his crew had begun singing a remix of White Christmas. Coldman waved him on but something Tim saw on her face made him stop.
The beginning of the GinNtonix set, the final performance of the evening, inspired the crowd. They stopped chatting with each other and everyone pushed closer to the gazebo. Kissy was easily able to shove her way through in the opposite direction now, using her shortness to her advantage as she’d seen Moira and Kimi doing. All eyes were focused on the fabulous fivesome playing with Santa Claus on the stage.
So no one noticed Tim supporting Patrice Coldman as she went into convulsions right there on the crowded square. Kissy slipped in and helped hold her up on the other side. She caught Tim’s surprised eyes.
“Right here?” she hissed. “Is this the best plan?”
Tim held his hand out and uncurled his fingers. The capped syringe sat in his palm, unused.
“Then what’s happening to her?” Kissy whispered. Then she screamed and jumped around like a crazed fan to cover Coldman’s flailing. “Woo Hoo! GinNtonix rocks!”
Tim jumped up and down with her. “I don’t know. And I don’t care. We need to get to that bomb. Vanessa only wants Avi but I don’t think she’d mind if all these people died too.”
“We need a distraction.”
At that moment, Kissy was bumped from behind. She lost her grip on the councilwoman and dropped her. Tim dropped his side and grabbed Kissy. She glanced at him sharply but followed his lead in letting the rowdy crowd shove them forward, away from Patrice Coldman.
She spotted an opening in the crowd to their right and dove for it. Tim kept a death grip on her hand and let her lead. Then he saw a opening and pulled her along. Bit by bit they made it to the very front of the crowd. When they found themselves at the base of the gazebo they looked up to see they were at the opposite side from the steps.
Mitch, the GinNtonix tenor saw Kissy and waved a cheery hand at her. Kissy half-heartedly waved back. Then Tim grabbed her. He pulled her violently to him and kissed her. It was a hot, urgent kiss and Kissy wanted to melt into it, but she pushed him away.
“What the hell? We’ve got to—“ she stopped cold when her eyes caught sight of the counter on the black box at the base of the gazebo. The digital screen glowed with a 4.
Tim tried to push her away. He whispered, “Go.”
She shook her head, barely able to speak. “There’s no time.”
Together they fell to their knees ready to shield the crowd with their bodies as the glowing 2 became a 1.
Twenty-three
Avi felt the gazebo rock with the force of the triple explosions. Almost simultaneously, all three of Vanessa’s bombs detonated. The crowd screamed as one. The other four GinNtonix screamed with them, spinning as they tried to take in all sides of the gazebo at once.
Avi shot a double thumbs up to Conner when he glanced over. The kid grinned and then leaped back into the middle of a wild dance of joy with his friends trying to catch the popcorn and peppermint bits raining down from the sky. The wind caught the explosion of confetti from the north side of the gazebo and blew it over the surprised singers.
Scout grabbed Avi’s arm and pulled him into a huddle with the others. “Let’s pretend we planned it. Let’s do Winter Wonderland.”
“One second.” Kevin swallowed a mouthful of popcorn. “Count it off, Avi.”
The five spread out. Kevin, Kay, and Mitch vocalized the sleigh bells and when Avi judged they had some of the crowd’s attention back, he counted them into their remix. On the second verse, Scout changed the words. He danced around to each of the others and sang in their ears until they joined him singing “Walking in a winter candyland.”
Avi spotted Kissy at the base of the stairs and when Kevin took the fore with a beatbox breakdown he dashed down and kissed her.
“What the hell?” she asked when he released her. “Vanessa did this?”
“No,” he said. “My hoodlum geniuses made a few adjustments.”
He kissed her again and hopped back up the stairs as another scream of joy rolled through the crowd. Kevin flipped his solo into the intro to Here Comes Santa Claus and Avi jumped in with his bass line. But when the melody line came in, Kay took the lead singing “Here comes Mayor S, Here comes Mayor S, right through Winterfest square.”
Avi spun to see Tim escorting a pale but smiling Mayor Sutton through the parting crowd. Tears started to roll down his cheeks and he had to drop his bass line for a moment to catch his breath.
Terrance, the unlucky dunk tank victim, hopped down the stairs in his borrowed Santa Claus suit and led the mayor up the steps as the quintet all came together on the last line led by Kay.
“Cuz Mayor Sutton’s come tonight!”
The crowd went mad. Avi joined his group in waving at the crowd as the mayor circled the gazebo waving to everyone who surrounded it. He did a second circuit holding his hands out for them to settle down and stopped at the top of the steps. Avi and the rest of the GinNtonix stepped down so that everyone had a chance of seeing the mayor. Scout handed the mayor his microphone.
When the crowd had settled the mayor thanked everyone for coming. “I know there have been rumors that I was overwhelmed by the poker game. As you can see, it’s not true.”
A voice in the crowd yelled out, “Did you win?”
The mayor waited for the laughter to die down. “I did not win. I thought it would be rude.” After the second wave of laughter he went on, “I’d like to thank Police Commissioner Lee for organizing the poker tournament. We raised a lot of money this evening and our donation boxes are overflowing with clothing and food. Thank you to all of you. And a very special thank you to Mr. Trevor Bagwell of The C
offeeshop who would like to share his winnings with any Parkside kids who want to try circus classes.”
Kids yelled from all around the square but the loudest weren’t any Parkside kids. Moira and Kimi and their crew went absolutely ballistic. Avi watched as Terrence, in his Bagwell-loaned Santa suit, leaned over a back railing of the gazebo. He then strode over to the mayor and spoke with him for a moment. The mayor laughed and held onto Terrence’s arm as he brought the microphone up again.
He looked over the crowd for a moment, still laughing, and then said, “I think Trevor will be okay with sponsoring classes for kids of all ages, Adelyne Langdon.” He waited for another cheer from the kids and Mrs. Langdon and then announced, “Without further ado, let me introduce you to the winner of the first annual Winterfest Poker Tournament, Mr. Red Logan.”
Tim shook hands with each of the singers as he made his way up the steps. When he shook Avi’s hand, he leaned in and whispered in his ear, “how’d you do it?”
Avi shrugged. “I asked for help. How did you do it?” he asked, flicking his eyes to the mayor.
“I always have the antidote.” Tim turned away and then back. “Could you tell your friend Davies there’s a body back there on the path? Probably just someone had a little too much to drink.”
“Coldman?” Avi breathed the name.
Tim smiled and hopped up the last steps to accept the mayor’s congratulations. Avi slipped down and over to where he saw an ecstatic Officer Davies holding a double handful of popcorn and peppermint bits.
“Hate to ruin the moment, but I saw someone fall down back there.” Avi said. “You might want to check it out.”
“Ha!” Davies reluctantly looked away from the mayor’s speech. “Nothing could ruin this moment.”
He had a broad grin on his face, handing off the treats as he made his way back through the crowd. From the gazebo Mayor Sutton was trying to congratulate the poker tournament’s runner up.
“Councilwoman? Does anyone see councilwoman Coldman? She must be in the crowd. She was such a gracious loser this evening. Patrice?”
A blood curdling scream told Avi that someone had found Patrice Coldman.
Twenty-four
Kissy ducked under the back stairs of town hall’s executive wing while Tim went to work picking the lock. She joined him with the bottle of Pappy just as he opened the door. They slipped inside. Kissy led the way to the mayor’s door where she pulled out the sock monkey sheathed key Tim had given her earlier that evening. Tim stayed back as Kissy burst through the door with a faux drunken stumble.
She immediately leaned back out the door and whispered, “All clear.”
He nodded and started into the office, pulling his blade from one combat boot. Kissy stopped him in the doorway. She held out her folding knife.
“Use mine.”
“I’m good.” He showed her his serrated titanium blade.
“We can explain why I’m in his office if we need to. Why the hell would Red be here?” She raised her eyebrows at him.
Tim slipped his knife back into his boot and took hers. “You are so sexy.”
Kissy rolled her eyes as she turned back into the office, but Tim saw a blush on her cheeks. He followed Kissy across the sultanish collection of rugs to the desk. She pointed to the wall and set the half full bottle of bourbon on the desk. Something about the bottle caught his eye but Kissy was already at the paneled wall, searching a groove with her fingers. She looked back to make sure he was ready and he had to give her his full attention.
Tim readied the knife and balanced evenly on the balls of his feet. Kissy pulled the door open. Tim saw a dark passageway but it was empty. Vanessa was not there. He pulled his smart phone from a back pocket and flipped on the flashlight function. He could see about six feet down the passage before it turned left.
“Clear.” Tim folded her knife and gave it back to Kissy. “Now I think you should show me exactly what happened with Coldman.”
Kissy fell for it. She closed the secret door and led him behind the desk.
“I came behind the desk to pour and she kind of sidled up to me,” Kissy explained.
Tim slipped an arm around Kissy’s back and pulled her close. “Like this?”
He searched her elfin face trying to see the girl he’d known in high school hiding behind the facade of the brilliant, sexy woman in his arms. Kissy started to laugh but then she caught his eyes.
She swallowed, “Not exactly like this.”
Tim had meant to trap her in a kiss as a joke but he felt his breath coming quicker. Heat rose up his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stood. A forced a grin but only one corner of his mouth responded.
“Then what did she do?” he murmured.
Kissy’s lips parted to speak. She paused and it was everything he could do to hold himself back. She ran the tip of her tongue over her teeth.
“She,” Kissy brought a hand halfway up to her face, “touched my face.”
He covered one of her small brown eyes with a hand and smoothed her eyebrow. “Like this?”
A short laugh escaped her, “No. The back of her hand. On my cheek.”
He followed her instructions.
She nodded. “And then she held my neck.”
He watched himself caress her delicate ear, admiring it as he slid his hand past the dangling pom-pom of her kitten cat hat and under her thick braid along the back of her neck. His eyes flicked back to her face when he saw her lids half close in pleasure. He pulled her gently closer.
“And then she kissed you?” he asked.
She tilted her head back against his hand, giving the barest of nods. She opened her eyes and her lips and Tim couldn’t resist any more. He crushed her to him, kissing her not as a joke or as a friend, but as a man who’d dreamt of her touch for a decade. He risked it all, putting everything he’d ever hoped for into her hands. He offered her himself honestly and entirely.
And she took him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, bruising his lips with her passion. Tim flung a hand out to hold onto the bookshelf, afraid his knees would give out.
His brain barely registered the quiet click of the door opening. But the bounding, barking giant of a dog leaping awkwardly into the office was impossible to ignore. He broke away to shield Kissy.
“Killer!” Kissy shoved past Tim and fell to her knees to greet the shaggy puppy.
Tim saw her use the moment to fix her shirt and straighten her hat. He took a deep breath and plastered on a Red Logan devil-may-care grin to face the mayor who followed the puppy into his office. Tim caught the knowing grin on Sutton’s face an instant before it was wiped away by the man’s typical geniality.
“Hello Red. Miss Kissy, thank you for cleaning up in here.” The mayor stayed by the door. “I think you know Mr. Kee.”
Avi stepped in behind the mayor. Tim’s heart dropped.
“I’ve asked Mr. Kee to act as my bodyguard until my official state assigned trio return to work tomorrow.”
Tim sauntered around the desk, his hand out. “Mr. Kee. I think I’ve seen you at The Freckled Dog.”
Avi shook his hand. “How do you do.”
“Thanks for meeting here.” The mayor tapped his ear and looked around the room. He looked questioningly at Tim. Tim nodded. The mayor was telling him the office was bugged. “I know you’re collecting your winnings tomorrow at the bank, but I thought it might be a good idea to get you your new dog before he gets trapped in probate.”
Kissy came around the desk. The dog followed, his eyes glued to her coat pocket.
“Does he have a name?” she asked the mayor.
“Oh, he’s young enough,” the mayor answered. “I think you can call him anything you want.”
“You’re a good man, Sutton.” Tim held his hand out to shake the mayor’s.
The mayor handed him a sheet of paper. “This is what he’s been eating and what I know about his history in case he shows any behavioral issues.”
&n
bsp; They both looked over at the dog. Kissy was crouched beside him, her hat askew on her head. She was giggling madly as the dog licked her hair.
“I’ve got no explanation for that,” the mayor said. “I’ve got to go take a look in Patrice’s office to see if there are any files I need before the new head councilperson moves in. Mr. Kee, you can wait here for me. I’ll be just down the hall.”
Kissy stood up. The dog stood up on her.
“Sit.”
The dog’s butt hit the ground so violently the rug they were on shifted.
She handed the leash to Tim and walked over to hug the mayor. “I’m so glad you’re not dead.”
“As am I, my dear. As am I.”
The mayor flashed a look from Avi to Tim. Then he pushed away from Kissy and headed out the door.
“Alright, Avi,” Tim let his poise fall like Killer’s butt, “Spill.”
“Yeah,” Kissy added, “How did you manage to screw Vanessa this time?”
Avi shook his head at Kissy’s language, but he explained, “They were shrapnel based bombs. Conner figured out how to manipulate their payload. They just replaced the nails and screws with popcorn kernels and candy canes. Then while the others were turning the canons around, Kimi gave the original shrapnel to Santa Claus for the Parkside rebuilding committee.”
“This calls for a drink.” Kissy jogged over behind the mayor’s desk. She pulled three glasses from the bookshelf and hoisted the half full bottle Pappy.
Avi held out a warning hand. “Kissy, that’s a fifteen hundred dollar bottle of bourbon.”
She set it down again. “What? It didn’t taste that good.”
“You’ve had some already?” Tim flipped open the bag still hanging from Avi’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” she turned to Tim, confused at his tone. “That’s what Coldman and I were drinking before—“ her voice trailed off and Tim saw a little red creeping up her neck. She avoided looking at either man. “Coldman downed two glasses like it was water.”
“That explains a lot.” Tim crossed to Kissy and stabbed her in the upper arm with a syringe. He fully depressed the plunger before she could pull away.
Killer on Call 6 Book Bundle (Books 1-6) Page 33
