He sat up and rubbed his beard. “I can’t think. All I’ve had to eat since I’ve been in here are a bunch of cookies, chips, and some canned soup. You wouldn’t go get me a sandwich or something, would you?”
Of course I didn’t want to. I wanted to just get the whole thing over with as soon as possible, but, on the other hand, I was actually pretty hungry myself. What was another hour or so going to hurt? (As it turned out, Ricky wasn’t the only one entertaining the D&D boys.)
“Okay, I’ll run over to the coffee shop and get us a couple of sandwiches. Do not go anywhere, you hear me?”
He held up two fingers in what I guess was intended to be scout’s honor. “I promise. Where the heck would I go anyway? You said yourself everyone in town is looking for me. It’s not like I’ve got a car or anything. If I took off, I know you’d have your boyfriend on my be-hind so fast I’d be lucky to get down to Pilazzo’s.”
I didn’t trust him, but I grabbed my tote bag, snagged my phone out of the office, and went over to the coffee shop. There were two messages from Charli, telling me to call her asap, that she had more gossip info. I called her while I waited for the food, figuring it was probably just a waste of time. Boy was I wrong.
“Marty,” Charli said without even saying hello, “you are not gonna believe what I found out. First of all, that deal that cost Vivi her job was huge. For some reason, it’s being kept all quiet for now because of Beauline Tileman’s involvement, but Vivi was about to be charged with investment fraud.”
“Well, that sure makes the money angle seem more likely,” I said. “If she was convicted, she’d be going to jail.”
“Oh, but there’s more,” Charli said. “Supposedly, the blind item I told you about regarding the sexual assault is on the money. It gets a little complicated here, but the gossip is that Beau’s married boyfriend is the director of the movie she’s making. At some point, before he and Beau got together, he supposedly assaulted Vivi. Vivi wanted to go to the police, but he said it was her word against his and that if she told anyone, he’d make sure she lost her job. She told Beau, of course, and Beau convinced her not to fight with him. She said no one would believe Vivi’s story since she didn’t have any proof.”
“Oh my God. That’s horrific. Poor Vivi.”
“I know. I’ve been sick to my stomach ever since I found out. Anyway, long story short, Vivi confided in her boss at the agency she worked for. That’s when she lost her job. The guy has some powerful allies because speaking up ended up costing her everything. She lost her job, her reputation, and all of Beau’s financial shenanigans got blamed on her.
“When Vivi found out Beau was sleeping with her enemy and had, in fact, helped him with the take-down, she decided she wasn’t going to keep quiet. She went to every gossip site in town and told them her story. She supposedly had proof, not only that the guy was a letch and a rapist, but also about Beau’s money troubles. The guy who put out the blind was the only one who’d agree to publish it. Everyone else supposedly is petrified of the guy and his allies.”
“This is unreal, Charli.” The girl working the coffee shop register handed me my food and told me how much I owed. “Hang on a sec,” I said. “I’m grabbing some food. I’ll call you back in two minutes.”
I hung up, paid for my order, and headed back across the street, figuring I’d wait until I made it safely to the other side before I called my sister back. I had just about reached the crosswalk when Otey’s Bengal tiger rolled past, heading east. On the back hanging on for dear life? That despicable, low-life, good-for-nothing, lying, shiftless, turd ball, idiot, ex-boyfriend of mine, Ricky Ray Riley.
26
I dropped the sandwiches and took off running. I was so pissed that I didn’t even care that my blisters were getting new blisters on top of them. I raced around back and hopped in my Mustang. Thankfully, it started on first crank. I hoped, prayed, they were heading to Otey’s shop. I took the back way to avoid the lights, but it still took me ten minutes to get there.
Otey’s bike was parked outside and it was still warm. I don’t actually know why I checked, but that’s what the detectives always do on TV, so I figured it might be important. I burst through the door. Another surprise. Otey and Ricky weren’t alone.
“Don’t yell at me, Marty,” Otey said. “I swear, I didn’t know a thing about this until a little while ago when Beau came to see me. She told me what an’ all is going on. She said she’s got everything all figured out and knows how to fix it.”
I shot Ricky the evil eye. “You lied to me. You said she wasn’t in on this.”
He looked sheepish. “She’s not. I mean, she knew about it, but she wasn’t in on it. I told you Marty, I love this sweet girl. And she loves me. Isn’t that right, babe?”
He grabbed Beau’s hand and kissed it. He wasn’t even aware that she jerked it away. I was, though.
I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh. I hated to hurt the guy. Well, okay, maybe I didn’t exactly hate it.
“She doesn’t love you, Ricky. She’s just using you. Just like she was using Vivi. Just like she uses everyone. Ask her about her director. About how she’s sleeping with him. About how she sold out her best friend. About how she killed the woman she called her best friend.”
Otey’s eyes bugged out. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
I looked at Otey, but my words were directed to Ricky. “Yes. I’m saying that Beauline Tileman killed Vivi Anne.”
We all looked at her.
“Babe,” Ricky said, “tell her she’s full of it. Tell her,” he pleaded.
Beau put her arms around him and did her eye and her lip thing. “Of course she’s full of it, Richie. You know me better than that.”
He didn’t see her pull out the pocket taser. She zapped him twice. Otey didn’t see it until too late. She hit him three times and when he was down, did some sort of martial arts move that knocked him unconscious. It took a few seconds to register all of this, but finally, when I did, my brain told me to RUN.
I flew out the back door and headed straight for the back of the playground, thankful I was able to navigate it in the dark. Well, mostly. I turned a corner next to one of the rope climb walls a little too quickly. My left shoulder slammed into it, nearly knocking me to the ground. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out from the pain and slowed down a bit, feeling my way to the series of concrete tunnels all the way at the back of the lot.
Beau’s stun gun evidently had a high-powered flashlight on it, too. I saw it flashing around the playground. “You can run, but you can’t hide,” she said. It sounded like she was reciting a deranged nursery rhyme. “I’m going to get you.”
I crawled into the opening of the first of the concrete tunnels, eased my phone out of my pocket, and crouched over it in an attempt to hide the light. Thankfully, Tim had insisted on downloading and setting up one of those personal safety apps after my last go round with the Bimbos of Bane. I hit the alert button.
Beau’s flashlight blinded me just as I stuck the phone back in my pocket. “Well, look who I found,” she snarled. “You should have minded your own business.”
I probably should have been afraid, but I wasn’t. As far as I could tell, the only weapon she had was the stun gun. I’d been face to face with a couple of actual guns. A little electrical shock was nothing. Still, I crawled out of the tunnel, safe in the knowledge that my cavalry was on its way.
27
Beau grabbed my right arm and yanked me toward her. For a little waif of a thing, she sure was strong. “Get inside. I’m not done with you yet.”
“Why’d you do it?” I asked, my voice surprisingly calm. “Was it the money? Or was it because of that man? Your director. Is he the reason you killed her?”
Her face looked demonic in Otey’s bluish porch light. “Neither.” She cackled. “Both. You can’t prove it and they’d never believe you over me anyway. I’m Beauline Tileman, superstar. Future Best Actress award winner. You’re Nobody McNobody.”
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“Oh, they’ll believe me all right. You’re going to pay for this,” I said, knowing that she was right, of course. Still, a girl could hope.
A siren sounded off in the distance, but clearly getting closer. My hero was on his way.
Beau cocked her head to one side and smiled, then gave me what I’ve come to realize is one of the three facial expressions she uses when she’s acting. She gently bit the right corner of her bottom lip and cut her eyes up and over to the right at the same time. I don’t know, maybe she thought it made her look smart or cute or something. Trust me, it didn’t.
“So, Marty, it’s been real. Hope you have a nice life. I mean that.” She leaned over and pecked me on the cheek before I could pull away, then let go of my arm and sashayed around the corner of the building. I heard what I assumed was the motorcycle she’d been riding when she attacked me over on Skillet Road start up and roar off.
I’ve never hated anyone so much in my life as I hated that girl in that moment. I wanted to cry or scream or beat the crap out of something. Someone. Well, okay, not just someone. Her.
I don’t know what else had happened inside, but before I could go in there, Ricky Ray stumbled out the door. He stopped when he noticed me, but he didn’t say anything. He looked broken. Not at all like the famous musician or the hot-blooded jerk who’d left me at the altar. In that moment, he looked like the skinny twelve-year-old boy I’d fallen in love with way back when.
He plopped down on the ground and leaned back against the wall of the building, his long legs stretched out in front of him. I sat down next to him. He threw his arm around my shoulder. “I, I, I don’t know what to say, Marty. I’m such a fool.” He began to cry, huge, wracking sobs. Sobs that sounded like they were coming from the depths of his soul.
I did, in that very moment, the very last thing I should have done, but, really, the only thing I could have done: I put my arms around him and hugged him to me, trying to comfort him the way that I knew my mom would do.
The problem, of course, was that he, being Ricky Ray, mistook my intentions. Before I knew what had hit me, his lips were on mine. And then, I managed to compound my stupidity by, just for the briefest of moments, almost kissing him back. I swear it was less than a second before I came to my senses and pulled away from him. It was a second too late, though.
“Marty?” Tim said. “What’s going on?” He sounded almost as hurt as Ricky had sounded.
I jerked completely away from Ricky Ray, staggered to my feet and turned around to face the man I loved. His face was a mask of pain, pain I recognized because I’d seen it in his face multiple times over the years, always, always, always caused by something I’d done.
“No, Tim. It’s not like that. I was, I only, I...”
I didn’t know what to say to make things right. Telling him the truth about what had happened and why Ricky was crying certainly, but would he believe me?
“I love you,” I finally said. “Just you.”
“Tim,” Ricky said, “bud, please, believe her. If there’s one thing I know about Marty, it’s that she loves you. She’s a good girl. A good woman. If you want to blame someone, blame me.” He’d climbed to his feet while he was saying that.
His right eye was nearly swollen shut from where I assumed Beau had hit him, and there was a goose egg popped up in the center of his forehead.
Tim sized Ricky Ray up and, for a second, I thought he was going to add to Ricky’s injuries by slugging him. But, being a cop and an all-around good guy, he didn’t. “What on earth happened to you? Did Marty do that?”
Ricky glanced over at me and back at Tim. He hesitated, but just for a second. “Yeah. Yeah, she did. I tried to put the moves on her and she wasn’t having it. What you saw there at the end, that was me trying one last play on her. Trying to get her sympathy with a big old lie. I think she was fixing to knock me upside the head again when you showed up.”
Tim looked from Ricky Ray to me and back a couple of times while I made up my mind.
“No, Tim. That’s not true. Ricky didn’t put the moves on me before and he wasn’t really doing it then. He had a huge, horrible thing happen to him today and he was upset about it. He was broken, not just physically, but emotionally and I was comforting my old friend. That’s the truth. I hope you believe me.”
Tim studied my face. “I want to believe you, Marty, I truly do. And maybe, one of these days, I will. But not now. You’ve lied to me one time too many.” He bent down, put his palm under my chin, lifted my head slightly, and kissed me gently on the forehead.
“Good-bye, Marty.”
With that he turned and went inside, closing the door gently behind him. That’s when I broke. It started with a “noooo” and I don’t know when or how it finally ended.
28
I stood at the starting line of the race, right in the middle of Main Street, just in front of the coffee shop, chatting with Otey. A lot had happened since that crazy night at the playground.
Rose and Sugar agreed to stop harassing me in exchange for my dropping the kidnapping charges against them. I was glad that Rose did not have a broken nose, but immensely satisfied to know that Sugar’s truck did.
Ricky spent hours talking to Detective Winger, apologizing to his folks, apologizing to the police, apologizing to pretty much everyone in town. His face was plastered all over the news for a couple of days, but, as usually happens, some other celebrity did something stupid and the gossip rags and news media moved on.
The sex pictures never showed up, according to Charli, and I assume they were either locked in Beau’s safe deposit box or, more likely, had just been a ruse she had cooked up to bilk Ricky out of some of his hard-earned money. Whether Vivi was in on it or not, I guess, will be one of those things we’ll never know.
In an attempt to atone for his transgressions, Ricky added a couple of free shows to his tour schedule. They were to be held around Christmas over in Roanoke and, of course, as usually happens when it comes to golden boys and their foibles, all was soon forgiven and he was right back to being the home-town hero.
As for Beau, she lawyered up about two seconds after she left Glenvar. Good thing, too. When I showed Izzy and May Lynda the photos Vivi had left in her suitcase, Izzy got into contact with a couple of Vivi’s friends and former co-workers, and managed to track down the rest of the evidence Vivi had on L.J. and Beau.
The sisters immediately held a press conference and told the world that the famous director, L.J. Johnson had sexually assaulted their sister and that Beauline Tileman was complicit in covering it up, and that they had the receipts to prove it.
Within hours, other girls started coming out of the woodwork, telling their stories about the director. The next day, he announced he was going into rehab for sexual addiction. Charli’s gossip gang came through once more and told her, though, that as soon as he got back from his stint at rehab, he was going to be charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse and rape.
I surely hoped they were right. I wanted Vivi’s courage, and the courage of all those others like her, the brave ones who decided to take a stand, to have not been in vain.
Detective Winger told me he agreed that Beau was the one responsible for Vivi’s murder, but I couldn’t prove it and, despite his best efforts, neither could the good detective. At least not yet. I had faith, in him, though. Sooner or later, Beauline Tileman is going to find herself back in little old hick-town Glenvar, facing a charge of first-degree murder.
Miss Guydie decided to quit her part-time job at the police station so she could move to Nashville since Ricky Ray had hired Izzy be his new publicist. To keep it all in the family, May Lynda was to take over running the fan club. Otey actually seemed a bit relieved by this turn of events.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, just as the race coordinator announced three minutes until starting gun went off. “Nervous?”
I swayed from side to side, then bounced up and down on my toes. “Nope. I’m good.”
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br /> “Marty, hey Marty!” My sister and her husband pushed through the crowd toward us. Tim trailed behind them.
“What are you doing here?” Charli said when they’d reached us. “Did you come to cheer us on?”
I pulled my half-zip off, handed it to Otey, and straightened my number. “Nope,” I said. “I’m running.”
Charli’s eyes bugged out.
I winked at Otey. “And I’m going to make you eat my dust.”
Tim was sort of awkwardly hovering on the other side of Charli. He jerked his head around and gawked at me.
“But you hate running,” Charli said.
I smirked at her. “I used to hate running. But that was the old me. You’re looking at Marty 2.0. And, she’s a flat-out, running beast You’re gonna wish you were this good.”
The starter raised his gun. “Runners take your mark,” he shouted.
“Not on your life,” Charli shouted into my ear. “You can try all you want, but you’ll never catch me.”
The gun fired and we were off.
So, I didn’t beat Charli, (and much to my chagrin, Giselle either, who was the winner of our age group) but I didn’t tank either. As soon as I saw the finish line in sight I sped up, determined to give it my all. I closed my eyes and raised my arms as I crossed it, reveling in my private victory. When I opened my eyes, Tim stood at the end of the chute, waiting for me with open arms. I collapsed into him, hugged him hard, and we headed, arms around each other’s waists, to the water station.
“I’m really proud of you,” he said.
“I’m proud of me, too.” I slugged down a cup of water and refilled it. “You know, when I started this, I thought I was doing it for you. To surprise you. As it turns out, I was actually doing it for me.”
“That’s the best reason to do anything,” he said.
I pulled him over toward a park bench and we sat down.
The Doom Diva Mysteries Books 1 Page 80
