Toxic

by Debra Jupe

  Krystal squeezed her shoulders as she stepped inside, her nose wrinkled. “Why in the world are you here?”

  “I’ll explain everything later. Please, let’s leave now.”

  She pointed to the rim of the building. “My pickup is parked in the front.” Krystal looked past Gracie and into the room, her expression still disgusted. “Did you bring anything, like an overnight bag or a purse or something?”

  Gracie snatched up Ethan’s shirt twisted on the bed and held her arms out her sides. “I’m packed.”

  ****

  “Thanks for coming all this way,” Gracie said, once they settled inside Krystal’s vehicle and were headed out of the lot.

  “That’s what friends are for. Although the drive isn’t too far. I was at the nursery when I got the message. We’re only ten minutes away.”

  “How’d you know where to find me?”

  Krystal gave her an odd look. “You texted me.”

  “How can that be? I don’t have my phone.”

  “Don’t know. Tell me how you ended up at the Deluxe Inn.”

  “I need a soda first.” Gracie shot a final glance at the dreary building as they sped away. “I thought I knew the area, and although old, this place is new to me.”

  Krystal gave her another side-glance. “It’s a hideout.”

  “For?”

  “All sorts of things. Mainly the motel’s reputation is where extra marital activities happen.” She paused. “I assume you need to go to your office.” Krystal didn’t wait for her to reply but made the turn toward Gracie’s work.

  “I’m not sure how I’ll operate today. I’m without a truck or a cell. I don’t even have my ID.”

  Krystal reached behind for a white bag, sitting it on the console between them. “Donuts will make your day better.”

  “Always.” Gracie opened the sack and sniffed the fresh baked pastries.

  “Okay, I can’t wait for you to have your soda fix. So tell me, what the hell happened after we spilt up?”

  “I’ll give you a brief rundown and fill in the blanks later. Betty’s going to want every detail, and I’d rather relive my humiliation just once.”

  ****

  Krystal drove her vehicle around to the rear of the Gracie’s small building.

  The two women glanced at each other and back to her personal parking space—where her truck sat. Gracie opened the door, jumped from Krystal’s pickup, and rushed to her own. She tugged at the handle, but it didn’t budge.

  “At least he didn’t keep it.” Krystal had followed her. “Can’t get in?”

  “Locked. No worries. I keep a spare set of keys in my desk.”

  Relieved, she led Krystal into her office.

  Betty leaped from her chair the moment they entered. “I thought you two might be together.” Hands on her hips, she gave Gracie a stern going-over. “You could’ve at least let me know where you were so I could tell your customers something.” She shuffled her desk and picked up her empty coffee cup for a refill. “Been lying to them all morning,” she muttered, then louder asked. “Why in the world didn’t you take your stuff with you?”

  “Stuff?”

  “Your purse and keys are on your desk. You left your phone. I didn’t snoop, but your bag kept ringing, so I’m assuming your cell is inside somewhere. You never do that.” Betty’s eyes narrowed as she spun to Gracie, carefully holding her full cup. “You’ve been with him, haven’t you?”

  “If you give me a second, I’ll tell you everything.”

  She stepped around Betty, hurried to her office and onto her fridge, snatching two drinks from inside. She handed one to Krystal, who’d trailed behind, with Betty in the rear. Gracie popped the top of her soda can and took a lengthy sip.

  Krystal and Betty were already seated across from her desk, Betty’s filled coffee cup balanced on the chair’s wooden armrest.

  Gracie lowered into her chair, checked her purse for keys and her phone, not even wondering how Ethan got her things inside. He obviously had his ways. Once reassured her possessions were intact, she proceeded to tell what had transpired after the group broke up the evening before, incorporating some of the particulars for Betty’s benefit, and to avoid sticky questions later.

  Betty gave her a sharp glare. “Goodness, girl, where’s your mind these days?” She shook her head. “People dying, goons trying to kill you, spending the night at the Deluxe Inn of all places. I hope your mama never finds out.”

  “You’re the one who told me I needed to find a guy and have some fun.”

  “I created a monster.” Betty adjusted her glasses. “Krystal and I may need to do an intervention to get this man out of your system. You’re acting downright irresponsible. If I had any idea you’d behave so foolish over a fellow, I’d left you alone.”

  “Fat chance,” Gracie mumbled.

  “So did you discover who the blonde is?” Krystal asked.

  “No, he claims that’s not open for discussion at this time.” She gave her friend a grim look. “What’s going on at the nursery and the body? Did Bud sober up enough to come investigate?”

  “Nothing. There isn’t anyone, dead or otherwise.”

  Gracie frowned. “How can that be?”

  “We were mistaken. An allusion, perhaps? Our mind playing tricks with all of the craziness around us?”

  “I know what I saw,” Gracie insisted. “There was a corpse in that greenhouse.”

  “Someone was possibly knocked out,” Krystal suggested. “Then they got up and left after they came to.”

  Gracie tucked her bottom lip under her teeth. She refused to argue, since she had no concrete evidence to support her theory. But after what she’d witnessed at Ethan’s, she was sure the person in the greenhouse was dead and was probably killed by those gunshots.

  “I felt like a complete fool bringing Sheriff Bud out last night,” Krystal said.

  Betty chuckled. “Bet he wasn’t happy. He’d already settled in with his toddies.”

  “No, I had to go back and meet with him, and he was none too pleased. He accused me of being overexcited and said it was probably a neighbor shooting wild hogs. I went to where we thought we saw the body this morning. The plants haven’t been disturbed, no blood, or shell casings.” Krystal’s brows dropped. “As a matter of fact, the ground cloth looked swept clean.”

  Betty let go a loud sigh. “This whole thing keeps getting weirder by the second. I wouldn’t be surprised at anything that happens now. Use to be such a nice town.”

  Gracie circled the half-empty can with both hands, turning it slowly on her desks surface.

  “So how did Krystal get a text from you if you didn’t have your phone?” Betty asked.

  “Ethan must’ve sent it,” Krystal said.

  Gracie’s thought also. She glanced at her friend. Her complexion had paled, and she looked like she was going to be sick. “Are you okay? You don’t look well.”

  “I’m a bit queasy. I think the excitement plus the extra running around has run me down. After Mike’s death is solved, I’m going to sleep for a week. How about you? What are your plans for the day?”

  “A hot shower and a toothbrush.” Her stomach rumbled. She rolled her chair away from the desk and stood. “And some real food.”

  Krystal rose to her feet. “Stop by the nursery on your way after you get cleaned up. I’ll get lunch, and we can talk more about this. Maybe we can piece together some of this puzzle.”

  ****

  Clean and much better overall, Gracie entered the plant farm office’s main room. Krystal sat at the table studying a short stack of papers. She looked up as Gracie walked in, her eyes as big as serving platters.

  “What’s wrong?” Gracie seated herself across from her friend. Krystal pushed an opened folder toward her. “What is this?”

  “Mike’s will.”

  “How did you get a copy of his will?” Gracie didn’t wait for an answer but picked up the document to read a highlighted area. She lifte
d her gaze and stared at Krystal. “Wow.”

  “Crazy, right?”

  “Where’d you get this?”

  A huge bang came from behind. Gracie flinched and turned toward the front door. Quinn burst inside, her arms loaded.

  “Oh yeah,” Krystal said. “Quinn’s bringing lunch. I told her you were starved and to bring a lot.”

  Quinn dumped five sacks on the table in front of them, and onto the scattered pages.

  Gracie looked at Krystal “How hungry did you tell her I was?”

  “Careful, Quinn.” Krystal pushed the packaged food away from the paperwork. “These documents are important. We can’t afford to have them covered in grease.”

  “Sorrrry,” Quinn disregarded Krystal’s papers and dug into the bags and doled out burgers and fries to each one. “Where’s Vivian?”

  “Don’t know.” Krystal opened a packet of ketchup and squirted it onto a piece of butcher paper. “She should be here by now.”

  Quinn grunted. “What’s the important papers?”

  “Mike’s will.”

  Quinn sat and peeled back the wrapper on her cheeseburger, disinterested.

  Krystal slid the folder to Quinn. “Mike’s lawyer messengered it to me a while ago. It’s the beginning phase, I’m sure, but…I’m overwhelmed.”

  Quinn opened the file and silently lip read. “What the hell?” She gazed at Krystal. “Mike left you the nursery?”

  “That’s what it says.” Krystal pushed her food away and rubbed her temples. “I’m so exhausted that I can’t even think. And I don’t have a clue how to run this place.”

  “You’ve run it all along.” Gracie smiled. “You’ll have no problem once everything is settled. Focus now on getting Mike’s murder solved and his name cleared because if his death is connected with this place, then your life could be in danger. Ethan might be right. All of our lives may be at stake.”

  “You’re correct, Gracie.”

  “What?” Gracie turned toward the voice, in mid bite. She stopped. An imposing barrel of a gun was positioned nearly eye level. And aimed at her forehead.

  Chapter 26

  “Well, this is a surprise.” Gracie feigned calm although her heart had leaped from her chest and lodged inside her throat. She did her best to remain still so as not to provoke the finger on the trigger to twitch as much as half a centimeter. “What’s with the gun?”

  “Should be obvious.”

  Gracie glanced at her friends. Krystal’s eyeballs were round. She stared at Vivian and the pistol pointed at Gracie’s temple while Quinn continued to munch on her meal.

  “You’re here to kill us?” Krystal asked.

  “I hoped to avoid doing anything to you because you’re my friends.” Vivian dipped her head toward the document lying in front of Krystal. “Things have become too complicated.”

  “Mike’s will caused you problems?”

  Vivian glared at Krystal. “He left the nursery to you, right?” Her fingers constricted around Gracie’s forearm as she pressed the gun’s barrel further into her head.

  Krystal returned Vivian’s look, her expression horrified.

  “Then yes, you inheriting the plant farm is a huge problem for me. I also take issue with the three of you snooping into my business, although up until seconds ago, I wasn’t too worried.”

  “You were the one blasting the gun last night?” Gracie already knew the answer, but she wanted Vivian to confirm.

  Vivian smiled. “That was me.”

  “Who were you shooting at?”

  “Quinn.”

  Quinn gagged, and coughed.

  Vivian’s face reddened. “Lucky for her she fell down when I pulled the trigger,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “I didn’t fall.” Quinn unblocked her throat. “Somebody pushed me.”

  “What exactly is going on, Vivian?” Krystal asked.

  “This is not the time for revelations, Krystal. Gracie. I want the details Ethan told you during your little pillow talk sessions.”

  Tiny needles pricked every inch of Gracie’s skin. Vivian’s concern over what Ethan had said could only mean one thing. He was involved.

  “Ethan didn’t tell me anything.”

  Vivian eyed her. “I don’t believe you.”

  “We rarely talked about his work. And I can’t remember an iota of what we did discuss with a gun pointed at my head.”

  Vivian slowly drew the hammer back. “I bet you would with a little extra persuasion.”

  “Gracie,” Krystal choked.

  “Vivian, this is crazy.” Gracie jerked from the woman’s grasp and shoved the barrel away from her face. “At least give me a chance to think. Or better yet, put up the gun and behave like a civilized human being.”

  “Fine.” Vivian removed the firearm further from Gracie’s head. “If you or anyone else does something stupid.” She waved the weapon in the air. “Consider yourself a goner.”

  Quinn wadded her empty wrappers and stuffed them in the bag she’d carried the food in. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked at Vivian. “So you offed Mike?”

  “Offed?” Vivian laughed. “You have such a crude way of putting things, Quinn. I’m not in the mafia. But yes, I killed Mike. His demise was a business decision, not so much personal. “

  “I thought you loved him.”

  “My feelings are not open for discussion. Besides, I discovered long ago, love is for fools.” Vivian scanned the group, her eyes wild. “Then again, this isn’t about sentiments or emotions.”

  “Or lack of,” Quinn mumbled.

  Vivian shot an angry glare at Quinn but didn’t respond. She raised the pistol. “I need each of you to put your cells on the table. Don’t try anything funny either, like alerting someone. I’ve killed before. I’m not afraid to do it again.”

  Quinn leaned down and dug inside her purse sitting next to her chair, then slid her phone across the flat surface toward Vivian. “Don’t see why it matters since we never have a signal out here.”

  Gracie and Krystal also turned over their cells.

  Vivian picked up the devices and dropped them on the floor. She aimed her gun downward and pointed to a phone, then she pulled the trigger. Loud blasts echoed through the small room as plastic, remnants of carpet, and unrecognizable components splintered from the explosion. A sulfur odor filled the air as she continued her target practice on the remaining phones.

  Quinn leaped from her chair and leaned over the table. “Hey, I just signed a new contract.” Vivian spun and aimed the pistol at her. Quinn quickly sat down. “I don’t think my insurance will cover this.’

  “Up.” Vivian motioned with her gun. “Everybody stand.”

  Gracie exchanged a worried look with Krystal as they rose from their seats.

  She always thought Vivian was strange, though she never would’ve guessed she was downright nuts. She was certifiable. Her plans were to kill them unless they found a way to overpower her, and with her in possession of the lone weapon, that idea was doubtful.

  Vivian continued to use her pistol to direct. “This way.”

  She nudged them toward Mike’s office. The three followed her instructions. Vivian walked at the end of the line, her weapon ready. She ushered them into a windowless, stinky, storage closet in the back of the room. They crowded inside and huddled close together.

  Vivian stopped at the doorway’s edge and flipped a switch to on. A small, yellow light beamed from the top, lighting the drab space with a faded dimness. Empty shelves were lined on either side of the long, narrow straightway. The ceiling hung low, the entire area was tight and closed in.

  Vivian lowered her gun and levelled the barrel at the lower wall. A pop followed by a hot breeze whizzed past the backside of Gracie’s knees. A blast exploded behind her.

  Gracie eyed the new hole pitted in the sheetrock. Fragments of dark paneling spread across the faded linoleum as the smoke from gunpowder overwhelmed the tiny area.

  “Why did you
do that?” Quinn asked.

  “I’m making a point.” Vivian’s weapon arm dropped to her side. “You ladies enjoy your time here. I’ll be back for you later. You may quietly talk among yourselves. No screaming or yelling. The door will be locked from the outside, and I’m posting a guard with strict orders to kill anyone who misbehaves.” Her eyes narrowed at Quinn before she closed the door followed by a soft click.

  “She’s lost it,” Krystal said after several moments of quiet.

  “The woman’s evil on steroids. Though it doesn’t matter where her malice comes from.” Quinn’s gaze shifted from Gracie to Krystal. “Nothing changes the fact we’re about to end up dead.”

  “What is she doing so secretive that she thinks she needs to kill?” Krystal asked. “I’m assuming she has something to do with the missing plants.”

  “I had an idea,” Gracie said. “Last night, Ethan and I passed a truck pulled over by border patrol. It was full of people, you know, trying to get into the country illegally. I wondered if maybe somebody was using this place for smuggling, and the missing plants are a cover.”

  Krystal pulled at her chin. “That actually makes sense.”

  “I thought so too, but Ethan didn’t agree.”

  Quinn threw her an aggravated glace. “Why would you say anything to him, Gracie? I’m telling you again, that guy is bad news.”

  “This isn’t the time, Quinn,” Krystal said. “If we come out of this alive, we’ll need to give the police something. Let’s concentrate on what she might be trafficking. I’m thinking drugs.”

  “No drugs.” Quinn rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Guns.”

  Both women turned a surprised gaze at her.

  “Guns are banned in Mexico, so I’m betting she’s running them over the border. They’re worth a lot of money over there.”

  “Never would’ve thought of weapons,” Krystal said. “Where did you get the idea, Quinn?”

  “On the Internet. People pay big bucks for ’em in Mexico because they’re unable to own them in their country. I’m sure there’s a substantial profit involved for her to want to murder us so she won’t be discovered.”