I heard a voice call my name and looked over, finding Lidia sitting on her doorstep in the dusk. I couldn’t walk away now. I waved and approached, trying to pretend nothing was wrong.
Lidia was drinking a glass of soda with ice while Dahlia snuggled a doll beside her on the sidewalk, talking to it. Dahlia looked up and grinned at me. “Hi, Miss Tess. How are you?”
“I’m fine, kiddo. What’s your baby’s name?” I did my best to be nonchalant.
“Her name’s Vanessa,” Dahlia answered. “It starts with a V, like my mommy’s name.”
I glanced at Lidia out of the corner of my eye and saw her knuckles go white on the glass. I wondered how it must have felt for her, having her daughter refer to someone else as her mommy. The fact that she wanted children and hadn’t been able to conceive with her husband must have been painful. “Yes, that’s a pretty name. How long have you had Vanessa?”
“Two days. Auntie Lidia said she is going to be my new mommy and we’re moving to the ocean. She said I can call her Mommy if I want.”
“That sounds like fun. I love the ocean.”
“What brings you here tonight?” Lidia asked. “I heard they arrested Millie.”
“Yeah, who knew she had such a vicious streak? It’s crazy.” I had to stop my hands from fluttering at my side. “I was feeling restless, I guess. Went for a ride and realized how close I was to you, so I popped by. How is the packing going?”
“It’s coming along. I hope to have everything worth keeping either in storage or shipped by Wednesday so we can go home to Long Beach.”
I would take whatever opening I could get, so I could read her response. “I hear you’ve made that trip a few times. You must be getting used to it.”
Her eyes grew sharp, assessing. “Why do you say that?”
I leaned back against the porch railing. “No reason—Tad just mentioned you’d been here to visit your sister. That’s quite a drive, but the way should be familiar by now.”
Her wary gaze softened, as if trying to dispel any idea I might have that her question had meant anything. “Of course. You’ve been talking to Tad?”
“Yes. He said you’ve been friends for years. Six or more. I had no idea you’d known each other before last weekend.”
“Sounds like he’s been very forthcoming.” Her voice was even, but her eyes grew sharp.
I shrugged. “Yes and no. Unfortunately, he still has no idea who might have—” My eyes cut to Dahlia, then back, “—visited your sister that night. It doesn’t seem like Millie’s nature to do something like that for a few baubles, but I don’t really know her—and she does have the necklace.”
“That’s true, but if it’s not her, my bet’s on Tad. Who else had the opportunity?”
Strange how I hadn’t mentioned before that Tad had seen Valerie that night, and yet, Lidia took it as if she’d already known. I remembered that all the entrances to the hotel had cameras on them, unless there was a secret entrance through the kitchens that they didn’t bother to film. And if Lidia had thought to use that way . . . Now that Deputy Tingey knew who to look for, maybe he’d be able to prove Lidia had been in the hotel after all. That, coupled with the odometer readings, might be enough to get Millie free and Lidia where she belonged.
My head was still reeling, thinking about this woman possibly being a murderer.
“Did Tad have anything interesting to say?” Lidia took another sip of her drink. She seemed so calm until you noticed her hand shaking the glass, pale face and determined eyes.
“Just old news. From when you first met. Nothing important.” I pulled away from the railing, hoping to head back to my car. I yawned to give myself an excuse to leave.
She stood and stretched, smiling at her daughter as spoke to her. “Hey there, baby. It’s getting late. How about if you go change into your jammies for me?” she asked Dahlia.
“Not yet!” Dahlia wailed. “And you promised I could sleep over at Jenny’s tonight.”
She brushed a hand down Dahlia’s hair and a sweet smile popped onto her face as she looked at her daughter, her eyes glowing with love. “So I did, and if you change into your jammies, you can go over. Do you want me to time you to see how fast you can do it?”
“Yeah!” Dahlia jumped up and ran into the apartment, her doll tucked under her arm.
Lidia watched her until she was out of sight, then stepped closer to me, her voice lowering. “If you think you can threaten me like this, you’ll soon find out how wrong you are.”
“You and Tad made a one-night mistake. It’s really none of my business, and what matters now is Dahlia’s happiness.”
A long moment of silence ensued as Lidia studied me, then she nodded. “You have it exactly. I want to take my daughter home with me, like I should’ve done in the first place. I made a mistake and I’ve lost out on years of time with her.” Her eyes were hard and dark.
I hadn’t felt menaced by her before. In fact, I hadn’t felt like she could be the least intimidating or dangerous, but now I wondered. This was a woman who would do anything to get her child back. Even murder her own sister. I inched farther away.
Dahlia ran back out, breathing heavy with her pajama top on backward and her feet bare. “I’m ready. Was I fast?”
“Oh my goodness, I think you were faster than lightning,” Lidia said as she scooped up her daughter and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Now can I go to Jenny’s?” Dahlia asked, giggling, but pushing away from Lidia.
“Yes, you can.” Though Lidia smiled, she looked a little disappointed as she set down Dahlia. “Run along.” She watched as Dahlia scampered to the apartment four doors away and rang the bell.
I continued to inch away. But didn’t want to turn and flat out run.
When the door opened, Dahlia said something fast and excited and went inside. A dark-haired woman stepped out and waved to us. “Thanks. I’ll call you if she gets scared, but they’ll have a great time.”
“I know they will,” Lidia said with an answering wave. As the door shut, she stepped closer to me.
I moved into the parking lot. “I guess that’s my cue to leave.”
“Yes, but not like you think.” She reached into a concealed holster behind her and pulled out a tiny black derringer. “I hoped to distract you, send you off in the wrong direction, but you wouldn’t stop or go away. I tried to scare you off the search, but that didn’t happen, even when your fiancé left that love note on your window.”
“My ex-fiancé,” I corrected for what seemed the thousandth time since his arrival in town. She ignored it and gestured for me to head toward her car. I don’t like guns, never did, and having one pointed at me freaked me out. I had to talk my way out of this somehow. “Look, right now all I know is that you’re happy you get to take your baby home.”
“If Tad doesn’t put up a fuss, and I just bet he will. But either way, I can’t have you running around looking for answers. You’re far too nosey for your own good.”
I took a couple of hesitant steps, keeping my eyes on the gun, which she had tucked up close to her body so no one would notice it. “I don’t think you want to do this.”
“I didn’t want to kill Valerie, either, but she didn’t leave me much choice.” Lidia opened the car door with a beep of her keychain and gestured for me to climb in. I did so against my better judgment and planned to jump out again before we left the parking lot.
She seemed to guess my plan, because when she got in beside me, she reached over and squeezed a spot on my shoulder. Her training as a masseuse must have paid off because the last thing I remember was her saying that I should have a nice catnap.
When I woke again, we were parked behind my building and it was dark outside. My hands, feet and mouth were bound with silver duct tape, making escape nearly impossible.
“Awake again finally? You must have been more tired than I thought. You need to do something about your schedule.” Lidia tsked.
She got out of the car a
nd I tried to open the door, but she’d locked it remotely before she got out, and in the dark I couldn’t find and push the button to unlock it before she stood on the other side. “You’re going to worry yourself to death if you aren’t careful.” She tsked again.
“Come on.” She pulled out a knife I hadn’t seen before and sliced the tape on my ankles, then pulled it off before grabbing me under the armpit and heaving me to my feet. The woman was stronger than she looked.
“I know if I let you talk you’d probably say you wouldn’t tell the police it was me, that you want Dahlia to have a secure future, but you’d be lying. It’s funny how police find pesky details like forensic evidence once they know what they’re looking for. So before you can speak to anyone else, let’s take care of this.” She reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys, then stood me against the wall of the courtyard at the back door to the shop, her gun trained on me as she flipped through for the right key.
I kept my eyes moving, looking at her, around the area, back at her, then around again, desperately hoping for a weapon I could snatch up—even while my hands were taped together. What was I thinking when I went to her apartment? Did I think the police couldn’t catch her without my help? Stupid.
After a couple of tries, she found the key and got the door open. She pushed me into the building. We crossed to the front and she pulled down the sunshades before flipping on the light in the kitchen area.
She pushed me into the chair and began to talk while she moved around, opening drawers and cupboards. “You never had to make a decision about keeping or giving away a child, did you? Even if I had no better choice, you blame me for cheating on my husband, for giving up my child, then for killing Valerie when she refused to be reasonable. She wanted everything I had and was sucking the life out of me. It was only a matter of time before my husband noticed the money disappearing from our account. It couldn’t go on this way.”
I looked behind me and saw her kneeling at the wall where the oven would go, messing with something. I had a very bad feeling when I thought of that exposed natural gas line.
She stood. “So I’m solving my problem, and I’m taking Dahlia home where she belongs. I’m sorry you’re not going to be here to run this business—I think you could have made a go of it.” She looked around. “I love what you’ve done with the paint.”
I growled low in my throat.
She looked at the tape over my mouth and smirked. “Sorry, I can’t risk removing that. The fire should burn it off though, and the explosion will destroy any evidence.” She pursed her lips and frowned. “Too bad about the fabric store next door, but sacrifices must be made.” She touched her fingertip to her chin. “I hope they have good insurance.”
She sniffed. “Do you smell that? That’s natural gas, from the line hanging out of the wall. I noticed it when I was in here before. Don’t worry—it might kill you before the fire hits, but if not, the explosion will be instantaneous. You won’t feel a thing.” She ran her fingers over the edge of my counter.
I wished I believed her, but it was hard to accept her words when I could already imagine the flash of heat as it scorched, the pounding of equipment as it hit me, as I hit the wall. Terror rose inside me like nothing I’d ever felt before.
She pulled out a lighter, selected one of the emergency candles that were still stacked on the counter, and lit the wick. She set it on a shelf near the window, as far from the natural gas as possible, and higher than my head. I might really die from the gas before the world went white after all. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
I watched her every move, desperate, knowing I couldn’t allow this to happen and that I needed to take a chance. I looked everywhere for anything that would help me pull off the tape, and my eyes caught on the razor blade still sticking out of the cabinet. I’d completely forgotten about it in the stress caused by Detective Tingey’s request for fingerprints. I glanced at Lidia again, saw her back was turned and rubbed the tape along the blade, wincing as it cut my skin as well.
“I really did love that cake. It was fabulous. I wish I could get the recipe, but I suppose it’s a secret, written down only in this building, where it’ll be destroyed. Pity.”
I felt the tape rip and rejoiced inside while I watched her. I carefully separated my wrists, waiting for a moment to take her down. A glance said the cut wasn’t bad, thank goodness, and though it was bleeding, it wasn’t much.
The smell of gas grew stronger and my stomach turned. I felt the sweat begin to trickle down my temple. Stress always makes me sweat. It was so irritating.
Lidia looked around with satisfaction, her hands on her hips, her dark hair flowing down her back in a long, shiny braid. “I guess I ought to go before it gets any later. I want to be long gone before the fire trucks arrive, alas, too late to save you. It wouldn’t be right for my car to be seen anywhere around here.” She twirled my keys on her finger. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your car ends up in your parking lot. I need to get my beauty sleep—I have a funeral tomorrow.”
I saw a shadow against the window, and then there was a knock on the glass of the front door. She whirled toward it. I took the opportunity of distraction to knock her down. The gun went off as our bodies collided with the ground and I felt a tearing sensation in my shoulder.
I sucked in air through my nose and tried to focus through the pain. I had to get out of here alive.
“Get off me,” Lidia screamed as she twisted and tried to flip us over so I’d be on bottom.
I saw her hand coming down toward my good shoulder, aiming for the pressure point again, but I wasn’t going to let her do it. Before she could get a grip, I grabbed her wrist and dug my fingers into the pressure points on her hand that I’d learned in my self-defense classes. Her fingers opened reflexively and I had to turn my head as her other wrist broke from my grasp and she aimed at my temples. I caught the blow behind my ear instead and winced. Words I didn’t normally utter ran through my mind and would have poured out of my mouth, if I didn’t still have duct tape on it.
I saw her gun a couple feet out of reach, and not sure if it held more shots or not, I rolled us away so she couldn’t grab it—which put her on top, but gave me better leverage. I thrust a knee in her groin—not as effective as it would be on a guy, but women aren’t exactly immune to pain in that region, either.
She groaned and weakened for a moment, and I took advantage of the break. The pain in my shoulder screamed, but I did my best to ignore it. The natural gas smell grew stronger in the air around us and I longed for fresh air as I struggled to breathe enough through my nose. Lying on the floor right now was not the best choice, all things considered. I twisted toward the cupboard, knocking Lidia’s head against the side. She grunted and came back swearing.
I saw her glance toward the gun and lunge that direction. I followed with a punch to the side of her head that had me wondering if I had broken my hand—hadn’t I learned anything from hitting Bronson? Still, she screamed and began yelling more invectives at me.
It occurred to me to wonder who had knocked at the door and where they had gone, but the thought was fleeting as I threw myself on top of Lidia again, grabbing her arm, trying to keep her away from the gun.
“Police, open up!” a voice called from the other side of the glass.
I yanked off the tape from my mouth and wanted to cry as it ripped all of the hair off of my face. I ached all over, and this didn’t help. “Help! She’s got a gun! Come around back!” I yelled before Lidia started to rise onto her knees. I guess letting her get on her stomach was a bad move on my part.
“Shut up!” she yelled and grabbed my hair.
Blood dripped from my wound onto her shoulder, and between the smell of that and the gas filling the room, my stomach roiled. I was starting to feel light-headed and was afraid I might hurl, but the hair pulling helped focus my attention again. I rose up enough to bring my elbow down on the back of her skull as hard as I could, which forced her
forehead to hit the ceramic tile floor. Pain radiated up my arm, followed by the tingling that meant I’d hit my funny bone nerve. It made the gunshot wound on my shoulder burn even worse, but she collapsed beneath me.
The police burst through the back door into the kitchen, guns outstretched. “Hands in the air!”
I rolled off Lidia and pushed myself up so I leaned against the cupboard. I lifted a throbbing arm and pointed to the natural gas valve. “Could someone turn that off before we blow everything sky-high?”
The first officer was already taking care of Lidia, who groaned and started moving around again. He pulled out handcuffs and slapped them on her.
A second officer flipped the valve and came over to me. “You’re bleeding all over.” He grabbed a nearby rag and pressed it to my shoulder. “Is your back or neck hurt?” When I shook my head, he helped me stand. “Let’s go outside where we can breathe and you can tell me what happened.”
As I looked up and met his gaze, I recognized the man who had responded when my tires were slashed, Officer Lambert. “She killed Valerie. She’s behind everything.”
“Okay, Come on, let’s go out.” He wrapped my good arm around his shoulder and helped me through the door.
Detective Tingey was getting out of his squad car when we exited the building. “Can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” he asked.
“Apparently not.” I was grateful when the officer sat me in the chair on the back patio. The other officer took Lidia straight to a squad car and put her in the back seat, then climbed in the front and pulled out his notebook.
Detective Tingey turned my attention back toward him. “Anyone else in there?”
“No, it was just her and me, duking it out.” I ached all over and desperately wanted something for the pain in my bleeding shoulder. “There’s a candle burning inside.”
The detective turned to the road officer. “Tell the paramedics they can come over.” He turned back to me. “What about a candle?”
Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1) Page 21
