The Miss Fortune Series: Overdue (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Shari Hearn

  I hung up with Gertie and went back to my reading. Ten minutes later the door to the entrance opened. It was Mayliss Darby, the contractor who had been working on Lila Rose’s house. Crap. I should have locked the doors. In case I needed to confront CJ, I preferred an empty library.

  “Oh, my,” she said, approaching my desk. “It’s like a tomb in here. Am I the only one here tonight?”

  “Actually, I was just about to close early.”

  “Oh, shoot. There’s a book I desperately wanted. You don’t mind if I quickly get it and leave, do you?”

  She pointed in the opposite direction of the library from where CJ was sitting and typing.

  “Sure. If you can be quick.”

  “Five minutes. That’s all I need.”

  She hurried to the reference section around the corner. I noted the time on the clock. If she wasn’t back in five minutes, I was going after her. In case things took a turn for the worse, I’d prefer she not get in the middle of it.

  “Pssst. Jelly.”

  I looked toward the entrance of the library, but saw nothing.

  Seconds later I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I whipped around and found Lila Rose standing about six inches away. My pulse pounding in my neck, I jerked back from her.

  “Calm down, Jelly. It’s me.”

  “Lila Rose! Where’d you come from?”

  “The back entrance. The one the librarians use when they leave work. I routinely use the back entrance when I come to the library.”

  “Why are you here? I just sent Ida Belle and Gertie over to your house to tell you to call me.”

  “I’m here because you told me over the phone you needed my help.”

  I shook my head. “We never spoke, Lila Rose. You didn’t answer.”

  “Of course we did. And would you please stop calling me Lila Rose. She’s not here tonight. It’s me. Poppy.” She held up a file folder. “I thought I’d bring over the writer’s notes. There’s more I need to show you. Where do you want me to set up?”

  My phone rang. It was Ida Belle. I pointed toward the break room. “Why don’t you go back to the break room, next to the women’s restroom,” I said to Lila Rose, who was now calling herself Poppy. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Don’t be long, Jelly. We’ve got a lot of material to get through.”

  I picked up Ida Belle’s call as Lila Rose headed to the lounge.

  “We’ve got a few problems,” Ida Belle said into the phone. “Lila Rose is missing.”

  “She’s not missing. She’s right here. And she’s calling herself Poppy and me, Jelly.”

  “And she believes it too,” Ida Belle said. “We’re talking to her daughter, Janice, who just broke down and told us all about Lila Rose’s mental state. Her doctors call it a dissociative disorder.”

  “Like multiple personality?”

  “Along those lines, but not as severe. When she’s stressed out she switches back and forth between herself and the characters in her books. She was making progress in therapy, but then she decided to stop going.”

  “So, she really thinks I’m her protégé, Jelly?” I asked, remembering the storyline Gertie had told me.

  “Yeah. Mostly she just switches to Poppy, but certain things could make her react as other characters. Characters you don’t want around. And Janice is worried because she can’t find the dog’s fanny pack. Lila Rose must have mistaken it for her own when she left. You can’t let her look inside and find the dog’s tranquilizer syringe. Just keep her engaged as Poppy until we get there and you won’t have problems.”

  “What are the other things that set her off?”

  “Green wallets, bubble gum and guns. They all played a significant part in Jelly’s murder in her last book. It seems she can’t stop replaying what happened to Jelly. And another thing, when she’s taken on a character’s personality, she sometimes confuses people in real life with the characters she patterned after them.”

  “So the person she said was talking to Waddell…”

  “Was the mailman. Only he was the mailman character from one of her books. She had the right person, just the wrong universe. So whoever she patterned the mailman after, that’s who was talking to Waddell.”

  “The mailman was CJ Banks,” I said. “I read the description of him in her writings. Fit CJ Banks perfectly.”

  “I think you were right about him,” Ida Belle said. “I bet Waddell knew about the novels and was feeding him pages.”

  “But why would CJ kill Waddell if he needed the pages to continue to plagiarize?”

  “Maybe he found someone else with access to Lila Rose’s office.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Ida Belle said.

  “They’ve had a contractor working in her office for a month. Mayliss Darby, and both CJ and Mayliss are here now. And here’s something strange. Lucy had to leave for home because her doghouse was set on fire. Maybe someone wanted me here alone tonight.”

  “We’re on our way,” Ida Belle said, hanging up.

  “Everything okay?”

  I turned to find Lila Rose approaching. “I have all the notes spread out on the table back there, Jelly.”

  “Lila Rose, I’m not Jelly. You’re not Poppy. Those are characters in the books you write. But you need to go home, okay? It isn’t safe for you here.”

  I thought I heard a noise from the history aisle. Instinctively I went for the gun in my waistband and pointed it toward the shelves, but didn’t see any movement. I relaxed my stance, lowered my weapon, and turned back toward Lila Rose—who swung the computer monitor into the side of my head, throwing me off balance. I stumbled backward and tripped over one of the swivel chairs, landing on the floor. My gun and phone slid from my hand.

  “You killed my brother, Jelly,” Lila Rose said in an uncharacteristic gravelly voice.

  “What the hell?” When I looked up from the floor Lila Rose was pointing my weapon at me. Crap, Ida Belle had mentioned that a gun was one of the things that made her go into a different character.

  “You don’t recognize me, do you, Jelly?” She moved her mouth as if she had a wad of chewing gum in it. “You killed my kid brother, Tooky, and now you’re going to die.”

  “Lila Rose,” I said in my most commanding voice. “I’m not Jelly. There is no Tooky. They’re characters in your book. They’re not real. But CJ and Mayliss are real. And they stole your unpublished works and killed Waddell. And they’re in this library. So I’m just going to get up off the floor and you’re going to give me my weapon and we’re going to get you out of here.”

  I started to get up.

  And that’s when she fired a shot. I felt a slight burning sensation in my right calf.

  “Shit!” I reached down and lifted my pant leg. It was minor, just a grazing. Not much blood. But just enough to draw Lila Rose’s attention.

  “Oh my goodness, you’re bleeding,” Lila Rose said. The Irish brogue she now spoke told me she had made another switch.

  “Yeah, because you shot me.”

  Ida Belle hadn’t mentioned blood as one of the things that would make her go into a different character, but it made sense since blood would have factored into the character of Jelly getting shot.

  “You’re terminal, Jelly.”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s superficial. Just stings like hell. I want you to give me my gun now, okay?”

  But she didn’t. She calmly unzipped the fanny pack she wore around her waist. The pack Ida Belle had said not to let her open.

  “No, Lila Rose, look at me.”

  She dropped the gun inside the pack and smiled as she pulled out the syringe that was meant for her dog to calm him down. “I came prepared. You won’t be forced to linger on life support, luv. Nurse Vickie won’t let you suffer. Don’t worry, your trip to the afterlife will be painless, I can assure you.”

  Nurse Vickie? Then it struck me. The story Gertie had told me. In the PB&J Murders, Nurse Vicki
e was a crazy nurse who considered herself the angel of mercy. She was the character who killed Jelly in Lila Rose’s last book.

  “I’m not dying,” I said to her. “See, I’ll just get up.” Before standing I turned away from her to reach for the phone I had dropped.

  “Pleasant dreams, Jelly.”

  I felt a jab in my shoulder. Felt the sensation of something being injected in me.

  “Damn!” I reached behind and grabbed the syringe with one hand, pushing her away with another. “You are one bat-shit crazy lady!” I yelled as I yanked the needle out of my shoulder and threw the syringe under a table. “What was in that?”

  “A tranquilizer. You should feel the effects soon.”

  “Why? Why did you do that?” I wasn’t sure if it was the power of suggestion or if the tranquilizer was starting to work, but I felt a little woozy.

  “I had to,” she answered calmly. “So you’ll be asleep when I inject you with the heart-stopping drug. So you won’t feel any fear.” She looked inside her fanny pack. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, where is the other syringe?”

  She looked back at me. “You just relax and go to sleep now, luv. I’ll have to go to the nurse’s station for the other syringe. But, don’t worry, I’ll be back shortly and soon this will all be behind you.”

  She turned and walked back to the break room. I tried to lunge for her, but stumbled. I could already feel my muscles succumbing to the effects of the drug.

  No gun. And half a syringe of tranquilizer in me. Not a great position to be in. I looked around for my phone.

  “Well, will you look at that?”

  I stopped. Mayliss Darby peeked over the circulation desk and stared down at me. It was then I realized how much she looked like Francine. Seconds later, CJ Banks appeared.

  “Waddell was right,” CJ said. “Lila Rose is insane.”

  I struggled to pull myself up, working against the strength-draining effects of the drug. “Call the hospital.”

  “And ruin a golden opportunity to kill you and frame Lila Rose for two murders?” Mayliss said. “I’m afraid we can’t do that… Luv.” She laughed.

  CJ nodded in agreement. “You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong and now you’re going to have to pay for it.”

  “I knew we were going to have trouble with you when I saw you at Lila Rose’s house yesterday. You spoke with her and she told you the same things she told me, didn’t she?”

  “You said you didn’t talk to her.” I grinned. I couldn’t help it. I felt as if I had just downed an entire bottle of SLS cough syrup.

  “I lied. Sue me. I knew it wouldn’t be long before you pieced it all together and called your friend, the deputy.”

  I pointed my finger at them. “You killed Waddell.”

  CJ sneered. “He threatened to tell the world about our little arrangement if I didn’t start paying him more for Lila Rose’s pages. It was self-defense.”

  Mayliss smiled. “Luckily I stumbled upon Lila Rose’s file drawer filled with her treasures while redoing her office. I read some of the pages and instantly recognized them as CJ’s Pancake Junction. Never one to let an opportunity slip by, I approached CJ with my findings and offered a better service.”

  “They’re not your books,” I said to CJ, finally pulling myself into a standing position. I felt dizzy. Wobbly. But oh-so-relaxed. “You’re a two-bit hack. A thief. And a murderer.” I laughed as I wiggled my finger at him.

  “And soon, you’re going to be a dead Yankee,” he said.

  Mayliss opened her purse and pulled out a syringe and held it up. “I’ve already planted the syringe that killed Waddell in Lila Rose’s house,” Mayliss said. “My original plan was to ‘discover’ it tomorrow while painting her walls and call the police. But after seeing you at her house, I realized you had to be put down as well. Lucky for us Lila Rose is crazier than anyone imagined, another fact I stumbled upon, having overheard her daughter talking to Lila Rose’s doctor on the phone.”

  “You’re the one who called Lila Rose tonight,” I said. “You pretended to be Jelly.”

  Mayliss nodded. “I needed her here so she could kill you.” She laughed. “We’ll tell the police Lila Rose turned into that crazy nurse from one of her books and we tried to save you by calling the paramedics.”

  “Unfortunately for you,” CJ said, “you’ll be dead by the time they get here. Poor thing.”

  Though all I wanted to do was drop to the ground and sleep, I put up my hands to fight. What more could I do? “Lady, there’s no way you’re going to get that needle in me.”

  She smiled. “You’re a little unsteady on your feet. Give it ten more minutes and the doggie tranquilizer will have you where I want you. You won’t really have a choice. Waddell didn’t have a choice either because of the sedative that CJ slipped in his coffee. He didn’t put up much of a fight when I came to polish him off.”

  CJ pulled out a small pistol from his pocket. “If you decide to put up a fight, my little friend here will put an end to that.”

  But Lila Rose had other plans.

  “Your ‘little friend’ might want to say ‘hello’ to my big friend,” she said as she sauntered out of the break room, holding my nine. Pointed directly at CJ.

  Chapter Eleven

  CJ stared at the gun Lila Rose clutched, the color draining from his face.

  “Poppy Boone, PI,” she said. “In case you’re wondering, I haven’t had my quota of shooting bad guys for this little story we find ourselves in today.”

  “No no, you’re Nurse Vickie,” he said, obviously hoping he could get her to change from the Poppy character to the crazy nurse. “We’re your assistants, don’t you remember? From the hospital.”

  I commanded my over-relaxed self to muster up the energy to save my life. “You’re not a nurse,” I said, looking her in the eye. “You’re badass PI, Poppy Boone. And they’re bad people.”

  Mayliss held out the syringe. “Don’t you remember? You went to look for your other syringe. I have it right here. You need to help poor Jelly to the other side.”

  Lila Rose’s face was a mixture of confusion.

  “Poppy,” I croaked. “They stole Lila Rose’s books. They killed Waddell. They’re trying to frame you.”

  I began to sway.

  “Look, Nurse Vickie,” Mayliss said, again offering up the syringe. “She’s in bad shape. End her suffering. Now.”

  From the changing expression on Lila Rose’s face, their appeal to one of Lila Rose’s internal characters seemed to be working. I grabbed onto a desk for support as my rubbery legs began to give way. It felt as if my body were melting. My mind as well. If I couldn’t bring back the Poppy character quickly, I was going to share the fate of Jelly.

  Lila Rose took a step toward Mayliss. Then another. One hand held my gun. The other was reaching out toward the syringe that Mayliss let dangle from her fingers. Her eyes remained on me the whole time. “Your suffering will be over soon,” Lila Rose said with Nurse Vickie’s Irish brogue.

  Pushing through my haze, I looked into her eyes. “Poppy, it’s me, Jelly. You remember me, don’t you? You took me in when I was three. Raised me like your own… your own daughter. Don’t let them kill me, Poppy. Don’t let me die again.”

  Lila Rose stopped. Blinked several times and then lowered the hand that had been reaching for the syringe. The Irish brogue disappeared. Her voice deepened. “I’m not going to let you down this time, Jelly.” She pointed my weapon at CJ and Mayliss and shot. And missed. But it sent them scrambling for cover. CJ fired at us from behind a shelving cart. Luckily he was just as bad a shot as Lila Rose.

  “We have to get out of here,” I said to Lila Rose as she started to pull me up.

  “Can you walk?” she asked.

  “Barely. My legs are like rubber. That was strong stuff you put in me.”

  “Then sit on the chair. I’ll push you.”

  She pulled me up and dropped me in one of the chairs on wheels.

 
“Time to blow this taco stand, Jelly,” she said as she began pushing my chair around the circulation desk.

  I spotted my phone on the floor. “My phone. Need my phone.” I dropped my hand to the floor and scooped it up. “Keep firing to cover us,” I said, fumbling with the phone, hoping I had just dialed Ida Belle.

  Lila Rose fired several shots back at CJ as she pulled me toward the entrance doors.

  “What the hell?” Lila Rose said. A small bike lock had been secured around the door handles. Mayliss must have attached it when she entered the library.

  “They locked the doors,” Lila Rose said, pulling frantically on the lock.

  CJ fired again. This time the bullet whizzed inches past us and into the wall. Lila Rose shot back and then yanked me toward the children’s section, several yards from the library entrance. “There’s more cover in there.”

  She pulled my chair under the archway to the children’s library. Curious George, Winnie the Pooh, the Grinch, and characters I didn’t recognize, all smiled down at me from the archway. And I bet any one of those papier–mâché characters could have shot better than Lila Rose. As soon as we passed through the archway, one of the bullets she shot to provide us cover struck Curious George, slicing him in half. He was curious no more.

  “Bye-bye, monkey,” I said, waving. By now the tranquilizer had me feeling pretty good. I had to fight the feeling, telling myself to buck up or die.

  I heard Ida Belle’s voice on my phone as I held it to my ear. “Fortune. We just pulled up in front.”

  “Doors locked,” I said, hoping my words weren’t too slurred for her to understand. “Come to window of children’s section.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “CJ has gun. Nurse Vickie shot me with tranq…” I took a breath, “…uilizer.”

  “Nurse Vickie? From Lila Rose’s book?”

  Lila Rose wheeled me behind the papier–mâché Harry Potter, since repaired by Lucy, and released my arm.

  “Who are you talking to, Jelly?” she asked.

  “Reinforcements,” I said, feeling the goofiest, tranquil grin forming on my face.