“What . . .”
“You ask a lot of questions,” Jo said. “You’re not in any position.”
“Sorry,” Cora said. “I’m just trying to understand.”
Jo turned away, and the room’s silence pressed on Cora. What did Stan and Zee and Lulu have in common? It had to have something to do with the theater. Or music?
Sorting through things people said over the past few days about him, she had to wonder ... were Jo and Stan an item? Dare she ask? She thought the better of it. Jo must not comprehend Cora’s awareness of her killing Stan. She’d play stupid. Pretend this was all about Zee and Lulu.
But then her body began to take over. It was the most frightening thing about panic attacks, the way the body knew, the way the body responded and took over. Her breathing exercises were no longer doing her any good. She gasped, choking on air as her chest squeezed.
“Cora?” Jo turned to her.
Her eyes widened in shock, as Cora struggled for air.
She grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her. “What’s wrong?”
Cora was beyond speaking. Her chest burned and her body gave in. Jo sobbed. Cora tried to lift her head and breathe, but her eyes blurred, she didn’t feel as if she was getting any oxygen. If only she could get enough air to speak, maybe she could talk with Jo. Calm her. How could she help Jo when she struggled so hard herself? Finally, she gave in and let go, her head falling forward.
Chapter 56
Jane, Annie, and Vera entrenched themselves in the paper arts room. Most of the others milled about the living room and kitchen. Some worked on finishing their beading projects. Others knit. The three of them were making more artist trading cards.
“Elizabeth is going to love this,” Vera said. “I can’t wait to show her.”
“London has made some interesting cards,” Jane said, grinning. “It’s perfect for kids because it doesn’t take a long time to finish one.”
“But you know, those cards you shared would take a little longer, wouldn’t they? I mean, they were like art,” Vera said.
Jane nodded. “I’m intrigued by this man’s art, I must admit. He’s coming through Indigo Gap next week, and we might meet.”
Annie’s eyebrows lifted. “You should be careful meeting people online.”
“Yes!” Vera added.
“I realize that, but I feel like we’ve known each other for a long time. We’ve been exchanging cards for about six or eight months.”
“Oh,” Annie said. “Well, at least take Cora with you.” She cut some yellow-checked washi tape and placed it on her card.
“I plan to,” Jane said.
“Speaking of Cora,” Vera said. “Where is she? I’ve not seen her in a while.”
Jane glanced at her watch. It had been at least an hour. She said she wouldn’t be gone long. “She’s probably gabbing with Zee and lost track of time,” Jane said.
“Zee?”
“Yes,” Annie said. “She’s the one who arranged the flowers in the foyer, right?”
“And the one who was in jail briefly,” Vera said.
“Right,” Jane said, pasting the word Joy onto her card. It was becoming quite an addiction for her. Before she slept at night, she thought of new designs to attempt. “She found Zee’s purse this morning and went to return it.”
“Was that Zee’s bag?” Annie said.
“Yes,” Jane replied, only half paying attention, as she was trying to focus on placing the word just right.
“How did you know about it?” Vera asked Annie.
“I found the bag during my walk. I meant to tell you all about it, but it just slipped my mind,” Annie said.
Jane dropped her card. “What?”
“Yeah, yesterday I went for a walk and found the purse,” Annie said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Jane said. “Cora just assumed Zee left it here yesterday when she dropped the flowers off.”
“Oh,” Annie said. “I brought it back here, meaning to say something, but just forgot.”
Jane continued with her project, but thoughts rolled through her mind. Evil thoughts. Why would Zee’s bag be on the streets? Why wouldn’t she realize it was gone? Maybe she did. Maybe she filed a report with the police.
“What’s wrong?” Vera said. “You look worried.”
Annie sat her card down. “I’m worried, too.”
This was exactly what Jane didn’t want. A couple of worried retreaters.
“I’ll call Cora,” Jane said, and dialed her. No answer. “She’s not picking up. But Cora . . . well, if she’s involved in a conversation, she will completely ignore the phone.” Jane attempted a smile.
“Maybe we should walk over to Zee’s place,” Vera said. “Just to check.”
“Is that necessary?” Annie asked.
“No. I’m sure it’s nothing. But I’m going to call our detective friend to see if Zee filed a report or something,” Jane said.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Annie said.
“You can’t be too careful, with all the strange things that have been happening over the last few days,” Vera added.
Jane picked up her cell phone from the table and dialed Brodsky. Annie and Vera went about making their cards, only half listening, or pretending not to.
“Brodsky,” his voice said.
“Hi, this is Jane Starr.”
“Yes?”
“Um, I was wondering. Did Zee file a report yesterday about her purse missing?”
“Why?”
“Well, Cora spotted it in the foyer this morning and took it back to her. In the meantime, a guest said she picked it up on the street yesterday and brought it in. It seems odd that Zee wouldn’t notice it missing,” Jane said.
“Hold on,” he said. “Let me check.”
He was away for a few minutes.
“No,” he said. “I don’t see anything here. We’ve not heard from her.”
Jane’s stomach dropped. “Cora’s been gone for over an hour.”
“What’s your concern?”
“Jo is still at-large, isn’t she?”
“Okay,” Brodsky said. “Why would Jo bother with Zee or Cora for that matter?”
“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling. I guess I’ll just go over there and check on the situation myself,” Jane said. “The missing purse? I’d know if my bag were gone.”
Annie and Vera looked over at her.
“Not a good idea for you to go over there. Cora’s been a bad influence on you,” Brodsky said, sighing heavy into the phone. “I’ll check it out.”
“Please let me know when you know something,” Jane said.
Thirty minutes later, no phone call from Brodsky and the three of them were unsure of what to do.
“It can’t hurt for us to walk down there,” Vera said.
“Right,” Jane replied. “We can just see what’s going on.”
“Okay,” Annie replied. “Let’s not do anything stupid. If the police are there, we just need to leave them to it.”
“Agreed,” Jane said. But that seemed to be a big if. She couldn’t believe Brodsky hadn’t phoned her back. She refused to allow herself to wonder what that could mean.
Chapter 57
Muffled sobs came from the couch. Cora forced her eyes to open. Zee was awake and crying, with her mouth taped.
Where was Jo?
Zee’s eyes met Cora’s, whose mouth felt cottony, tongue thick. Cora breathed in and breathed out. “Try to calm down,” she whispered.
Zee nodded, her stomach lifting and falling.
Jo left Cora’s mouth uncovered. She didn’t want to shout because she didn’t want to draw attention to it.
Jo’s absence confused Cora, unsettled her. Had she taken off again?
Zee poked at Lulu, who didn’t stir. Was she dead? Or merely unconscious?
“Where is she?” Cora mouthed.
Zee shook her head and tried to move her shoulders.
&
nbsp; The place was quiet. No creaking floorboards. No soft footfalls. Nothing.
The sun was streaming through the window, and its light gleamed on the piano. The room stood watch. What would happen next?
Voices erupted into the quiet. Women’s voices—and they were getting closer. Footsteps shuffled along on the front porch. Someone laughed. The doorbell rang.
Caught between wanting to yell out in fear and the fear of drawing attention to herself, Cora did nothing. Not knowing where Jo was, she didn’t want to get anybody else involved—or to anger Jo. Her eyes searched for answers in Zee’s, who was shooting angry glares at her, eyebrows wrinkled on her forehead.
“Come in,” Cora yelled. “Help!”
The doorknob twisted. And the door opened.
A group of women entered the living room.
“What the—” Jane said, rushing to Cora.
“It’s Jo,” Cora said.
“Where is she?” Annie said as she and Vera ran to Zee and Lulu.
“I don’t know,” Cora said as Jane untied her. “I passed out and when I came to she was gone.”
“Ow!” Zee said as Annie ripped the tape from her mouth.
“Sorry, it was the best way to do it. Believe me,” Annie said.
“I doubt that!” Zee replied, holding her red face.
Vera attended to Lulu.
Jane worked at untying Cora’s arms. As her arms fell free, she stretched them.
“Is she in the house?” Vera said, eyes wide.
“She could be,” Cora replied. “This is a big place.”
“Well, surely she heard us. We weren’t quiet,” Annie said.
“We need to know,” Zee said, sitting up, groaning, trying to get up from the couch.
“No,” Annie said. “You stay there.”
Jane turned to Cora. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” Cora replied. “I think we need to find Jo.”
“She’s probably long gone,” Jane said. “I called the police. I’m surprised they’re not here.”
“Maybe something else came up. An emergency?”
Jane winced. “Yeah, I guess we couldn’t know this was going on.”
“You can’t get any more of an emergency than being tied up by a disturbed person,” Vera said. Lulu was awake and sitting up. Dazed.
“I’ll get you all some water,” Annie said. “Which way is the kitchen?”
Cora pointed in the direction. “Be careful. We just don’t know where she is.”
“There’s one of her,” Annie said. “Six of us. I’m not worried.”
“Did she have a gun?” Vera asked. Annie stopped in her tracks.
“No,” Cora replied. “I don’t think so.” Annie continued to walk.
“What’s going on?” Cora asked after a few minutes of silence. “What does Jo have against you?”
Annie walked back into the room with water.
“It’s a long story,” Zee said. “And it happened such a long time ago.”
Annie handed her a glass of water. Vera sat next to Lulu, with her arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Mean,” Lulu said. “We were so mean to her.”
Cora couldn’t believe Zee would be mean to anybody, but Zee sighed loudly and said, “You’re right. We were despicable.”
“I’m confused,” Cora said. “You’ve been the nicest person to us.”
Jane sat down on a chair next to Cora.
“Time has a way of softening people. We were young, thought the world owed us something. And we all loved to party. I’d developed quite the habit. Cocaine,” she said. Cora winced. Sweet-faced, white-haired Zee had a coke problem.
A shuffling noise above silenced them.
“She’s here,” Jane mouthed. Lulu sobbed and grabbed onto Vera.
“Jo isn’t the woman she used to be,” Zee said quietly. “She’s broken, and I’m afraid I had a part in it, as did Stan.”
Suddenly, a whooshing noise came from near the glass sliding door. A man dressed in black emerged with a rifle. “Quiet, ladies. I’m a police officer.”
Jane grabbed Cora, whose heart pounded.
Another man stepped out from behind him.
How long have they been here?
He placed his hand to his mouth signaling quiet. No worries, Cora thought, I couldn’t put a sentence together right now if I tried.
I’ll just stand here and try not to pee myself.
Where was Brodsky? This wasn’t his turf, though, was it? He was a homicide detective, not a member of the SWAT team. And did they need a SWAT team to take down one woman? Just how dangerous was she?
Cora’s thoughts raced. She reviewed the weekend in her mind. The way the first day of the retreat Jo stood out from the others. The way she left early because she said she missed her kids. The way Cora fell for it, even though it unsettled her—after all the retreat was billed as a weekend for moms needing time away from their children—as they all did, from time to time.
Zee and Jo had known each other long ago. Ruby had mentioned that Zee ran with a different crowd. Ruby probably had no idea what was going on there, just that she wasn’t part of it. She was too busy being a single mom, trying to make ends meet.
The man dressed in black shepherded all the women into the same corner in the living room. “Stay here,” he whispered.
A tingle of fear shimmied along Cora’s spine, as she held Jane’s hand. What would these men do to Jo? What happened to Jo to push her over the edge? So much that she killed Stan and came here to the Blue Note for revenge on Zee and Lulu? How much pain was Jo in?
Chapter 58
Cora and the others stilled while gathered in the corner of the room, behind the baby grand piano. All her senses were on alert and yet she could not hear a footstep. These guys were amazing. She hoped they would not hurt Jo. She needed help—and the sooner they could get her help, the better.
Jane’s deep blue eyes were as wide as the moon, Zee’s teeth were pulling on her lips, and Lulu was swaying and pale. Annie and Vera huddled together, but they seemed as if they were okay, almost as if they were used to the situation. Odd.
Cora’s mind raced. How could I have prevented this?
She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. Someone was climbing down the column of the back patio. The person landed and turned.
“Jo!” Cora whispered.
“She’s getting away!” Vera said.
Annie sprang to action, unlatching the door, and chasing after Jo across the backyard.
SWAT team members entered the room, observed the situation, and also sprang to attention, one of them moving through the door and out into the spacious backyard.
“Oh my Gawd!” Lulu said. “I can’t believe this!”
“Annie!” Vera said.
Vera, Cora, and Jane watched from behind the glass sliding door.
“So typical of her! She thrives on danger!” Vera said.
“She’s fast,” Jane said.
“Jo can’t outrun her,” Vera said.
Just as the words came out, Annie tackled Jo, and the officer came alongside them with his gun pulled. Annie turned and looked at the gun, said something to the man, and he put it away. She helped Jo stand. The man immediately cuffed her. Jo’s face was twisted and red, tears streaming from her eyes. Her gaze dropped to the ground and stayed there as the officer led her away.
The women stood in silence for a few seconds, watching as Annie walked back toward the house, and Jo was removed from the property.
Someone loudly cleared their throat, and the women all turned toward the sound as if choreographed.
It was Brodsky.
“I thought I told you to stay at Kildare House,” Brodsky said.
Cora’s mouth dropped. She couldn’t find words. He was right. Jane had no business here. She’d jeopardized her life, and the lives of the others, by coming here.
“We didn’t hear back from you and got worried,” Jane said.
>
“I see,” he said.
Annie came back into the house, breathless.
“Can I get you some water?” Zee said.
“That would be great,” Annie replied.
“Can I interest you in a job? Great work out there,” Brodsky said, apparently trying to lighten the mood.
“What? Are you serious? I don’t think so,” Annie said, managing a smile.
“Seriously. That was incredible,” Vera said.
“She used to be an investigative reporter and ran into some unusual situations,” Vera said.
“Used to,” Annie emphasized, taking the water from Zee and drinking.
Something about the way she said it made Cora feel sad.
“Well, I’m going to need statements from all of you,” Brodsky said.
“What’s going to happen to Jo?” Cora asked.
“We’re arresting her for murder and several other charges,” Brodsky said.
“She must be ill,” Cora said.
“There’s not a thing wrong with that woman,” Zee insisted. “She’s just mean. Always has been.”
“I don’t understand,” Cora said. “She seemed like such a gentle soul.”
“She’s a hell of an actress,” Lulu said. “I looked into her eyes and saw nothing but cold. She was going to kill us, but first, she was letting us linger, just to torture us.”
“How awful,” Vera said.
“I’m sorry you all have been dragged into this,” Zee said.
“Well, she was a guest at our retreat,” Jane said.
“Yes, but . . .” Zee said, spreading her arms wide.
“Okay, ladies,” Brodsky said. “We need to get some statements and get the show on the road, so to speak.”
“First, I’d like to explain,” Zee said. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I’d like to hear the story myself,” he said.
Zee put her arm around Lulu. “Jo is our stepsister. Our mother married her father after we were in college.”
“What? Oh, I didn’t see that coming,” Vera said.
“Years ago, we lived together in New York City,” Lulu said. “We were young and so full of hopes and dreams. Jo was very young and going to school in the city at the time.”
Zee grunted. “Jo was the most ambitious of all of us.”
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