“Natasha?” a deep voice croaked hoarsely.
I blinked and looked to the side. Baldy knew Natasha? He was staring at her like he’d seen a ghost. “Wait,” I said. “You know her?”
“I used to work with her at Interludes.”
“Let me guess,” Nik said to him in disgust. “You’re a bitter ex-employee out to seek revenge?”
“More like the other way around,” the big man said, making eye contact with me. “My name is Marcus Cantrell, and the reason I’ve been trying to find you is because I’m your new PR person. Natasha Newlander was fired two weeks ago.”
CHAPTER 24
* * *
“Don’t even think about it, Detective,” Natasha growled out in the most menacing voice I’d ever heard as she grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back, pressing the sharp edge of my fabric scissors against my jugular.
I gasped. Damn, I should have been more careful in where I’d left them. I had worked in the living room last night, setting them on the end table when I’d finished, having been too tired to clean up. That was so unlike me. I lived my life by a certain set of rules, and tidiness and order were at the top of the list. But I’d been so frazzled lately, and look at what happened. Now I was paying the price.
“Natasha, what are you doing?” I was having a hard time processing the fact that she was fired two weeks ago yet had shown up anyway and had lied to me all along. Why? What could she possibly want? It wasn’t my fault she got fired.
“Shut up!” she yelled at me. I stood very still when she pressed the scissors harder. I’ve worked too hard not to get what I deserve. Erickson treats Marcus better because he’s a man. That’s not fair, dammit. “I’m taking what belongs to me.”
“Is this about my book?” This couldn’t be happening to me. It dawned on me that I’d only given her my new cell, assuming she was going to pass it along to Mr. Erickson and the rest of the Interludes staff. No wonder Marcus hadn’t been able to reach me. I tried to appeal to her feminist side. “You were right all along when you said it’s so hard to make it in this business. I had no idea, and I can only imagine how you must feel after how hard you have obviously worked. If you let me go, we won’t say a word. You haven’t done anything yet. There’s still time for you to do the right thing by letting us go, and then you can be on your way.”
I could feel her hesitation. Maybe I could make a run for it. They don’t know everything yet. As long as they can’t link me to that guy’s death, then I should be—
“You killed Scott?” I blurted, then mentally smacked myself when her arm stiffened again.
“How’d you know that?” she shrieked, sounding on the verge of a mental breakdown.
“A hunch,” I said.
“You can’t prove anything.”
“You were looking for the book, weren’t you?” Marcus said in an accusing tone. “Erickson was right to fire you after he found out you were leaking information to our biggest competitor. I just can’t believe you were desperate enough to kill for it.”
“Oh, my gosh,” I said, feeling sick as the truth dawned on me. “This whole time the murder had nothing to do with Scott or Jaz. It had to do with me and my book of designs. First Full Disclosure, then Jaz’s car, and then our house. All because of a silly little book.”
“That wasn’t just any book. It was going to help take Interludes to the next level. I couldn’t let that happen after what they did to me. Their competitor was willing to pay me big bucks to beat Interludes to the punch. They appreciate what I can do for them. That guy just caught me by surprise and got in my way. I couldn’t let him live after he’d seen my face. The fashion business is war, and there are always casualties when it comes to war, Ms. Ballas. I suggest you get used to it,” she snarled. “I should have finished choking the life out of you when I had the chance. Now give me the damn gun, Detective.”
“Easy,” the detective said, carefully setting his gun on the floor in front of him. “No one else has to get hurt.”
“Kick it to me,” she hissed. After he complied, she said, “Now handcuff yourself to Marcus.”
“Listen—”
“No, you listen. Do it now, or I’ll slice her throat.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, doing as she asked with slow careful movements. “Just calm down.”
“It won’t matter,” Marcus said. “She’s going to kill us all anyway because we’re the only ones who know she’s the murderer.”
“Very good, Marcus,” Natasha said. “You’re not as dumb as you look.”
“And I’m not as helpless as you think,” I said as I jabbed my elbow into her stomach, catching her off guard.
She stumbled back a step but didn’t drop the scissors. I bolted to the nearest exit, which happened to be the door to our deck. Running down the stairs, I headed toward the front gate when I heard her behind me.
“Freeze, unless you want to get shot.”
I jolted to a stop, holding my hands up and slowly turning around to face her. Just as I feared, she had picked up Detective Stevens’ gun along the way. She continued walking down the steps, looking around to make sure we were alone, then she positioned herself between me and the gate with her back to the fence.
I had her exactly where I wanted her, and she didn’t even know it.
“Did you really think you could get away from me so easily?” she asked, looking a little crazed. I hoped I never let the fashion world turn me into a monster like her.
Trying to reason with her hadn’t worked, so I did the next best thing and stalled, hoping my hunch was right. Nik couldn’t help because he was handcuffed to Marcus, so I had to get creative and find help from other sources. “Did you really think you could get away with murder?”
“I already did.” She raised the gun.
I swallowed hard and prayed my instincts were right. I spoke a little louder. “One time was a fluke. You can’t possibly kill three more people and think you’ll just walk away.”
“Don’t yell at me. You’re the one who chose to live at the end of a dead-end road. There’s no one out here except the detective, and he’s tied up at the moment while Jaz and his partner are still at her store. In fact, pretty much the entire town is at her store.” She stared me down. “I know. I checked.” Then she laughed harshly. “That means it will be a while before anyone finds you three, and I’ll be long gone with your book by then. I’ll make it look like Marcus was the killer all along. He showed up to attack you and the detective came to your rescue, only to wind up dead as well. How tragic. Case closed. End of story.”
“None of us are ever truly alone,” I said as much for my benefit as hers. I had to count to ten and breathe deep to maintain my composure, feeling a major panic attack coming on.
“How philosophical of you. Pity. We might have actually worked well together. Unfortunately, you’re up first, darling. Any last words?”
“Yeah, I’m sick of people trying to control my life,” I said loudly, then waited a beat.
“Okay.” She frowned. “Is that all?”
“No,” I said, feeling real fear set in, realizing things might not go according to plan. “I’m tired of people attacking me!” I yelled, then waited again.
“Sorry to say, but that’s life.” She aimed the gun at my head.
Oh my God, I really might die! “You’re an animal. A beast. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, dammit!”
“Honey, I think you’re crazier than even I am,” she said, and started to squeeze the trigger.
“There’s a method to my madness, honey, and I think you’re going down. Your reckoning is coming!” I slapped my hands on my thighs, and a loud howl and crashing noise sounded behind Natasha.
Her eyes sprang wide, and she whirled around all in one motion. The fence that Nik had resurrected came crashing down upon her, knocking her to the ground and the gun out of her hand. With my heart pounding, I scrambled to retrieve the gun, then pointed it at her, but she was out cold.
�
�Good boy,” I said, as Wolfgang stood on top of the fence, keeping his hostage secure. Nik came home for lunch most days and let Wolfgang out. When he’d surprised Marcus, I’d assumed he’d stuck to his same routine, so it was a safe bet that Wolfgang had still been outside. And I knew from past experience that no fence, no matter how big, could keep him out when he set his sights on me.
He started his habitual wiggle all over from head to tail when his eyes settled on me. His muscles bunched like he was about to pounce. Panic started to seize me, but then I realized I was stronger than I thought. I was through with letting everyone and everything control my life. It was time I took charge for a change and push my fear aside.
“Don’t you dare!” I pointed my finger at him. “Stay right there until I tell you that you can get up, mister.”
He let out a big whine and then plopped his humongous fanny down on the fence, wearing the biggest doggie pout I had ever seen. The expression on his face was pathetic, and yet I felt my heart crack and begin to melt. But then I saw a stream of saliva ooze from the corner of his mouth, drip off his jaw, and land on Natasha’s forehead.
I gagged and called 911, then snapped my phone closed.
“Listen, Wolfy, you and me … we need to have a talk.” His tail whipped wildly and he still shook a bit, but he sat right there obediently, listening better than any human I’d ever met.
After all the scary things that had happened lately, the emergency crews arrived in record time. Detective Matheson was first on the scene. I gave him a quick version of my report just as Natasha was coming to.
She gasped. “Elephant … on my chest … get it off,” she rasped.
Boomer went to grab Wolfgang’s collar.
“That’s okay,” I said confidently. “I’ve got this,” I continued, shocking him judging by the arch of his sky-high eyebrows.
“You sure?” Boomer asked, looking skeptical.
“Positive. The beast and I have come to an understanding, so to speak. I will show him a little affection, and he will absolutely positively refrain from licking me.”
“And he agreed?” Boomer’s brows lifted even higher. “How can you tell?”
“Instinct.” I shrugged. “Sometimes you’ve just gotta have faith.”
“Kill me already,” Natasha wheezed.
“That would be too easy,” I snarled at her. “No one takes something that belongs to me,” I snapped. “Wolf, come,” I said, and he immediately obeyed. I held up my hand. “Okay, okay, that’s far enough.” I petted the top of his head, and his eyes rolled back beneath his fur. He plopped down onto the ground and rolled over, squirming back and forth with his bare belly beckoning me. I nearly gagged again as I eyed his stomach. “You’re pushing your luck, buddy,” I managed to say. “That one’s gonna take some time. Come on, let’s go see Daddy.”
Wolf rolled back over at the word Daddy and bolted up the steps of my deck, charging through the open sliding door and out of site.
“As I live and breathe …” Boomer’s jaw practically hit the ground it hung so low.
“Killer … unhandcuffed … danger …” I pointed to Natasha attempting to slide out from beneath the fence.
“Right. I’m on it.” He snapped to attention and did his job.
Meanwhile, I followed Wolfgang up the steps and inside my house to see him sprawled out on top of Detective Stevens, slobbering all over his face as Nik pleaded with him to get down, to no avail.
“Wolf!” I snapped. “What did we just talk about?”
He immediately backed off and sat down at my feet, whining pathetically, his fanny wiggling nonstop. I stroked him between the eyes and behind the ears this time, and he looked as though he were having a seizure. He rolled onto his back one more time and gave me a hopeful look.
“I told you we’ll renegotiate that at a later time, depending on how well you behave, but it’s not going to happen today. So you may as well go lay down.”
He blew out a snort that was in a word—disgusting—and got to his feet, then walked over and eyed my couch. I would have to mop with bleach at least three times. Prissy reappeared, let out a loud hiss, and vaulted to the highest part of the couch she could reach. He turned his sights on her with almost as much affection as he had for me.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said, stabbing my finger at him, “because that, my friend, is a total deal breaker.”
He plopped down onto the carpet and let out a huge sigh that said oh, woe is me, his tail thumping the floor steadily, but he wasn’t fooling any of us.
“Okay, who are you and what have you done to my dog?” Nik asked, his face etched with a mixture of shock and total amazement.
“Let’s just say we’ve come to an understanding.” I unlocked his handcuffs.
“Good,” he said as he got to his feet and rubbed his wrists. “Because there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
The rest of Saturday had been a whirlwind of interrogations and paperwork, so Nik and I had to put our talk on hold. Sunday he picked me up for church, and we went together for the very first time, much to the delight of the mamas. Then we went to my parents’ house for our family brunch as usual. There was no getting out of that one, and we both knew it. Only nothing was same ole same ole anymore.
For one, his dog and my cat lounged under the same tree together. Granted Wolf was at the base and Prissy was high above in the branches, but still … progress was progress in my book. Then there was Jaz and Boomer. After he’d arrested Natasha, he’d shown up at the house and threw Jaz over his shoulder, not taking no for an answer. She hadn’t come home all night long. Now they were together, looking like a happy set of love birds.
Marcus Cantrell, my new PR guy, sat at a table with all the mamas, getting grilled on his plans to take me to New York the next week now that my book was done. Anyone else would have needed rescuing, but the gentle giant held his own. If I wasn’t mistaken, I’d swear he captivated a few of the women with his magnetism and charm.
Oh, he was good! I had high hopes my new spring line would be a huge success.
Nik wandered off to get us a drink. While the mamas were occupied, I continued to take in the scene unfolding before me. Eleni was there with her boyfriend, and even his sister Marigold who had put the voodoo curse on Jaz and had had a crush on Sully was there, but she wasn’t alone. To my utter shock, she was there with Max. He shot me a wave and a wink. I was happy for him, but I had to admit, I was a little jealous and just hoped our friendship stayed the same. Ana was no doubt off somewhere still licking her wounds, and he was better off without her. Jaz had told me she’d convinced Marigold to lift the voodoo curse, and I suspected she used her connections and hooked them up.
Just then Sully walked in with Maria of all people, but I wasn’t surprised. I’d heard he went to see her after she was arrested. They’d always been friends, but she’d been with Jonny and he’d been hooked on Jaz. With other options taken away, they must have realized what had been before them all along. Each other. Maria had been cleared of all charges and released early this morning.
Needless to say, the mamas were thrilled with all the matches they had made this spring, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a slew of summer pregnancies popped up. Spring fever had a way of doing that to people. The only match they were still unsure about was between me and Nik. They stopped talking to Marcus and focused on us, then put their heads together.
That couldn’t be good, I thought.
Nik came back and saved me by handing me my drink.
“Thanks,” I said. “What is it?”
Instead of saying the name out loud, he leaned over and whispered a name in my ear that made me blush. God, he smelled amazing and looked amazing and, let’s face it, he was amazing!
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying not to sound breathless.
“Just following orders, kind of like Wolfgang.” He shrugged, wearing a lopsided grin. “He’s not the only one who adores you, you know
.”
“What do you mean following orders?” I asked, trying not to sound desperate this time.
“Oh, just doing what you told me to do in the future.” His blue eyes darkened. “Remember what that was?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes,” I said weakly, feeling my knees start to get wobbly. “How could I forget?”
“Good.” He stared hard at me, his eyes so intense I felt them clear to my soul. “Guess what time it is?”
“The future?” I squeaked.
“You’re one smart cookie, Ballas.” He winked. “The case is solved, and I’m in desperate need of a distraction.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking.” I bit my bottom lip.
“What can I say? I have a gift,” he said, and for a moment, I wondered if he’d figured out my secret. But then I realized that was unlikely.
“Me too,” I responded daringly. Part of me wanted to tell him everything. “Imagine that. What a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in destiny.” He tweaked my nose. “Something tells me we might just be a perfect match.”
“Careful, Detective. That sounds an awful lot like grounds for a relationship. With strings, no less.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint the mamas.” His gaze dropped to my lips. “Heaven forbid we give them something to talk about.” He raised his eyes to mine. “You reading my mind?”
“I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s on your mind.” I giggled. If he only knew.
“If we were someplace private, I’d make it perfectly clear exactly what’s on my mind.”
“Is that a dare, Detective?”
“That’s a promise, Ballas.”
My smile came slow and sweet and I said with barely more than a whisper, “Prove it.”
He didn’t hesitate and kissed the sense right out of me as if he’d waited a lifetime to do so, then scooped me into his arms and carried me away while his thoughts started a dance of seduction throughout my every cell, and suddenly …
The future had never looked so bright.
Peril for Your Thoughts (Mind Reader Mystery) Page 21
