Mint Cookie Murder

by Leslie Langtry

  We ordered dinner and the conversation turned to the weather and the restaurant—normal, boring stuff. I took this opportunity to study Angela. She might look like a dragon lady, but in reality I knew I could easily take her in a fight. This woman used words in battle, not fists. I started to fantasize about dropping her. She'd probably come at me like a girly girl—flashing her exquisitely manicured nails and employing tactics like scratching and hair pulling.

  I'd grab her by her right wrist and turn it sharply to the left, causing her to flip over her own arm and fall on the ground, where I'd step on her throat and squeeze until she tapped out. And she would tap out…

  "…so interesting, Merry!" I heard the tail end of Angela's comment.

  Riley seemed to understand what was going on. "Yes, I got to help her with her troop meeting earlier. The kids are really cute."

  Okay—he wouldn't say that normally so he's speaking in code to let me know the woman was asking about me being a Girl Scout leader.

  "I love it," I said. I told them all about having four Kaitlins—each one spelled differently. They chuckled over that. I sent a mental thanks to Riley. Wouldn't telepathy be awesome for spies?

  We ordered dinner, and I listened carefully from then on. Angela talked about the conference she was here for. It sounded boring to me, but apparently it was awesome to her. Rex had to see how much more interesting I was, right?

  Both he and Riley paid Angela a ridiculous amount of attention. I didn't like it. But she hadn't been rude to me. No Dragon Lady had emerged. She gave me nothing to actually hate her with, damn her.

  "Excuse me for a moment," I said as I stood up. I needed a little alone time. The bathroom was always a good spot to decompress and think. Everyone nodded, and I fled. Yes, fled is definitely the word I'd use to describe it.

  The bathroom, like all restaurant, mall, and public bathrooms, was located near the back exit as the perfect opportunity for kidnappers. I wondered if psychopaths had a niche market in designing public places as I plunked my purse on the counter and stared at my reflection.

  I wasn't bad looking, was I? I mean, I'd had boyfriends before and more than one double agent try to seduce me. I was the same size as Angela, except for her huge boobs. But I certainly wasn't as polished as she was.

  Hating her was useless. Even obsessing over her was just going to make me miserable. I'd just have to face facts. Women like her got whatever they wanted. Women like me were "best friends" for guys. That's it. That's why my relationship with Rex was stalled out in Cuddle Land. That's why Riley blew me off for months. I may be fun to hang out with, but I wasn't girlfriend material, I guess.

  This was stupid. A few months ago I'd been happy with my quiet little life. Now I wanted everything from the adoration of two men to more adventure. That seemed to err on the side of stupid. Did I really want that?

  I did miss my job because I'd loved it. I'd thought I'd be a spy forever. Now I was getting a little action and enjoyed it. Granted, I didn't like the idea of my cat being in danger, but a little cloak and dagger could be fun.

  No. I wanted too much. And it was going to break my heart in the end. Time to tell Rex and Riley I just wanted to be friends, because if they both dumped me at the same time, I'd lose it. Yes. That's what I had to do. I didn't need a man anyway because now I had a cat. That's right—look on the bright side.

  "You are very pretty." Angela's voice came from behind me, and I spun around into a defensive position. You really shouldn't sneak up on spies. I tried to assume a casual pose by using my fists to fluff my hair. It didn't work.

  "Thanks. But you are gorgeous," I responded awkwardly.

  Angela nodded and pursed her lips in the mirror. "Rex is quite taken with you, you know."

  I stared at her. "Why do you say that?"

  "Because you are all he's talked about for two whole dinners." She took out lipstick and expertly swiped her lips.

  "Oh. Really?" I asked a bit too hopefully.

  She gave me a strange look. "I don't think he's aware he's been doing it."

  I didn't know what to say to that. I was still stunned about her admission.

  "Anyway," Angela said as she fluffed her hair. "Don't take it too fast. He's had his heart broken before."

  "I didn't know that," I said. "I care about Rex a lot."

  Angela smirked. "I know. And believe me, the feeling's mutual." She looked me up and down and then left me standing there wondering what had just happened.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I was now confused. Angela told me Rex seriously had a thing for me and monopolized their last two dates with me as a conversation point. I analyzed this. She didn't seem too happy about it. And I was okay with that.

  Feeling a little more bounce in my step, I opened the door to the hallway and wove my way through the tables. Our dinner was being served, and I was glad because this night was exhausting, and I was ready for bed.

  I was just about to sit down when an alarm went off in my brain. Something was wrong. I didn't know it, but my mind did. Something I'd seen was out of place. The sensation of danger rippled through me, and I immediately began scanning the room. The waiter moved away from our table, and I saw that against the back wall, sitting at a table by himself and looking directly at me, was Bobb.

  He'd seen me looking at him, but he didn't budge—just winked and went back to his dinner. I slid into my seat and kicked Riley under the table. He looked up slowly, and I nodded toward Bobb. His eyes followed mine and narrowed when he spotted our would-be assassin.

  "What do you want to do?" Riley leaned toward me and pointed at my steak to make it look like he was talking about my food. Rex and Angela were deep in conversation about something, and for once tonight, I didn't care.

  "Keep an eye on him until he leaves," I said softly. "He knows that we know he's here. It hasn't spooked him."

  "Good idea. If he does move, I'll offer to bring the car around, and you slip out the back." Riley said before leaning back and nodding. "Mine is excellent. I could eat here every day."

  Suddenly, whether or not Rex was into me or Angela was a bitch wasn't important anymore. Would Bobb pull something here? He hadn't attacked yet, but that meant nothing. I picked up my steak knife and felt its weight. It wasn't balanced enough to make a good throwing knife, but I could use it in close fighting. The peppermill was marble so that would work as a weapon, but again, only in close quarters. I guess I could always hurl Angela at Bobb. Hopefully, he'd be holding a chainsaw at that moment…

  Did Riley have his gun? We used to have code words for this so that it wouldn't be detected in polite conversation. But we'd also served together in some strange places so saying things like, "Do you have the hairy, black eels?" or "Are you wearing your lederhosen today?" wouldn't make sense here, and Rex would become suspicious.

  We could tell him. He knew we were being stalked. But what could he do? There wasn't enough evidence to arrest Bobb. And he'd probably try to protect Angela, and that was out of the question.

  Instead, I pressed my hand to the middle of Riley's back. Oh good. His gun was there. Riley nodded, and I wondered if he too had been trying to make "Are you eating the boiled marmot?" work.

  So we had a weapon. I ate quietly while trying to keep an eye on the target across the room. The steak really was fantastic. I wish I could've enjoyed it more, but that was pretty much impossible with a guy who tried to kidnap your cat sitting in the same restaurant.

  Bobb made no move to go anywhere. He ordered dinner and wine and just stared at us, which made me wonder if our food had been poisoned or our table sabotaged. I dropped my napkin and under the premise of picking it up, checked out the underside of the table. No bombs.

  Our car could've been tagged. The possibilities were endless. Oh, the paranoid life of a spy. Still, it's always a good mantra in the business that when life gives you assassins, you make dead assassins.

  Angela's laugh brought me back to the reality that we were at a dinner party.
Rex was staring at me oddly. What happened?

  "You said that?" he asked me.

  I looked from him to Angela, who now had a very smug expression on her face. Uh-oh. Riley gave me an imperceptible headshake. He'd missed it too. Damn.

  "I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I missed that. What did I say?" A major lesson of spy craft—don't try to pretend you'd been listening. Embarrassment now is better than dead later.

  Rex opened his mouth to speak then closed it. Angela gloated. Uh-oh. Whatever it was I'm supposed to have said was really bad.

  "You told Angela that she and I made a great couple?" Rex looked hurt. Angela looked like a conniving jackal.

  Oh, she was going down now! "Wait! I…"

  "Merry? Merry Wrath? Is that really you?" Bobb loomed over the table. Because of Angela, I never saw him sneak up on us. I hoped if he killed any of us, he'd kill her first.

  Riley was completely on guard. Apparently he'd missed it too.

  I slid my chair back to give me room to pounce if I needed too. "Um, I'm sorry, have we met?" I asked. He was still only inches away from me, and I had no idea what he planned to do.

  "We went to high school together! Same year. I had algebra with you." Bobb looked at me earnestly.

  "Oh…yeah…" I tried to look like I was struggling with the memory as I got to my feet and held out my hand. "Bobb, isn't it? Sorry. I can't remember your last name."

  He took hold of my hand and shook it twice, dropping it quickly. "That's right. And it's Andrews." He gave a quick look at Riley, whose last name, not coincidentally, was Andrews. Bobb knew who both of us were. That wasn't good.

  "Well, you folks have a nice dinner. I didn't mean to interrupt." Bobb nodded and left.

  "Excuse me." Riley stood and went toward the bathroom in the back. He was going to get the car. Since we were still eating, I'd have to stay here and wait for him to come back. Great.

  Rex's eyes followed him, then looked back toward where Bobb had gone.

  "Is everything all right?" Rex asked me.

  No, everything was not all right. A bad guy just escaped. My date left to follow him. My boyfriend thought I was playing matchmaker with him and his old girlfriend, and I still had steak on my plate and no time to finish it!

  "It's fine." I forced a smile and looked at my cell. Following target was the message he'd just sent. "Although I think Riley will be a little while."

  Rex frowned. Something was up, and he knew it. "Angela—would you see if you could find the waiter and ask for our check?"

  As Angela got up to go search, he leaned in close. "What was that all about?"

  "Okay, I'll tell you. But first, about what Angela said…"

  Rex held up a hand. "We'll talk about that later. Who's Bobb?"

  I really, really wanted to tell him about how his friend was a lying, manipulative bitch, but we were running out of time. Angela was pointing to our table. She'd be back any second.

  "That's the guy who broke into my house and tried to kidnap Philby." There wasn't any point in lying to Rex. He was a detective. If I didn't tell him, he'd figure it out.

  "The assassin? That's him? Why didn't you tell me?"

  "Oh right." I snorted. "I should've introduced him to the table as the man who might be trying to kill me and my cat. That would've gone over big."

  Angela returned with the waiter, and he set the check on the table. I scooped it up. I felt a little responsible for the way things had played out here.

  "I've got this." I said, handing it back to the waiter with my credit card and trying not to "accidentally" throw my knife at Rex's bimbo.

  "I'm going to run Angela back to the hotel," Rex said. He didn't look happy. "I'll call you," he said to me.

  "It was a pleasure meeting you, Merry," Angela oozed.

  "Nice meeting you too," I said but in no way meant.

  I watched sadly as the two of them left the restaurant. While waiting for my receipt, I drank the rest of the wine. And not just mine. It helped. A little.

  Riley texted minutes later. He'd lost Bobb and was coming back for me. I waited outside, and when Riley pulled up, I got into his SUV.

  "What happened?" I asked.

  "He raced a train and got across the tracks just before it blew through. He was long gone when the train had fully passed." He sounded as dejected as me.

  "That sucks," I said.

  "It really does." Riley answered as he drove us to my house.

  "Suzanne is going to stay overnight. I didn't want to lead Bobb there. He already knows where you live," Riley said.

  I nodded. "Fine." We pulled up into my garage and went inside. Riley swept the house, and I poured two glasses of wine.

  "That was a strange dinner." Riley said when he'd joined me. He accepted the wine without question and drank half of it.

  I didn't want to talk about Rex or Angela. Especially not with Riley.

  "Why did Bobb come up to us like that?" I wondered. "Seems like if he wanted to kill us, he could've any number of times."

  "It doesn't make sense," Riley agreed. "Bobb wants us to know he's here. Maybe he thinks intimidation will get us to hand Philby over?"

  "Have you found any connection between him and Lenny Smith?" I asked. "There has to be something that ties this all together."

  "I haven't found anything yet. But I was wondering if there's a connection to Midori."

  I looked at him. "Midori?"

  He shrugged. "We never found out why Midori was dead in your kitchen a few months ago."

  "Lenny sold secrets. Maybe Bobb was the go-between?" I asked. "It's not a stretch to think the Japanese Yakuza would hire someone like Bobb. And Bobb knows who I am and where I live. Maybe he's just killing two birds with one stone by killing her and Lenny."

  "What would the Yakuza want with Lenny? I could see the Japanese government going after technology intel, but the Yakuza?" Riley shook his head. "Besides, the Yakuza only hires Japanese hitmen. They wouldn't even think of hiring this guy."

  "There has to be a connection between Bobb, Lenny, and Philby," I mused. "Lenny and the cat showed up at the same time. Bobb a few days later, looking for Philby."

  "Bobb must've coordinated the prison break and framed you with the visitor's log and video. It's fairly easy to do."

  I shrugged. "But why set me up? I didn't know Lenny or Bobb."

  "Somehow, there is a connection to you. I just don't know why, or what it is." Riley drained his glass. "And I don't like it."

  "Yeah," I snorted. "You and me both. You know—I thought retirement would be a lot quieter than this." I finished my glass and put both of them in the sink. I was a little tipsy and staggered a little.

  Riley caught me in his arms. But instead of letting me go, he pulled me closer to him. I looked up at his face. I couldn't read it.

  "I don't want anything to happen to you," he said before his lips came down onto mine.

  I was going to reply that I didn't want anything to happen to me either, but I couldn't. Okay, I didn't want to. The room was spinning, and Riley's lips were so firm against mine that I pretty much stopped thinking altogether.

  I kissed him back. It was so easy to give in. Riley's lips started a tingling in certain places, and I was lost in his touch. Oh, man! This is what I've been missing! I loved kissing Rex too, but Riley's kisses told me he wanted to take this to the next level…now. And my body was definitely responding to it. I needed a little attention, dammit!

  Things were getting pretty hot and heavy. Hands were starting to roam and a little moaning was going on. It was so good that we nearly missed the muffled crack of a silenced rifle as a bullet whizzed past our heads.

  Riley and I dropped to the floor and crawled to the other side of the breakfast bar. Five more shots rang out in quick succession. Bobb couldn't see us, so why was he still shooting? Everything this guy did didn't make sense. If he really wanted to kill us, why didn't he just do it at the restaurant? He was a terrible assassin. And this was in direct conflict
with his record.

  "It's coming from the backyard," Riley whispered, pulling his .45 from his waistband.

  "I hear something else though." I held onto his arms so he couldn't run off. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the sound.

  "He's laying covering fire!" I said. "He's chopping up the cement!" So Bobb was just shooting to keep us from coming outside to stop him from taking my fake dead cat's body.

  Four more silenced shots plugged into the wall overhead. The bastard was seriously shooting up my kitchen. I was glad Philby was at the safe house.

  "I'm going out through the front to loop around," Riley said. "You stay here."

  "But I can help," I protested.

  Riley responded by kissing me one more time. "I insist."

  I watched in surprise as he snuck out of the kitchen. The door shut quietly behind him, and I wondered what I should do. My gun was downstairs in the basement, so I didn't really have time to retrieve it. Then I remembered that I had my throwing knives in the kitchen. It took only a second to reach up into the drawer and grab them.

  Slowly, I crept out into the garage and cracked the door to the yard open a little. Bobb was there, in a hoodie. With one hand, he was firing the rifle into the house, while with the other hand he was hitting the concrete with a small sledgehammer. He looked ridiculous but was actually making a little headway.

  And while I didn't mind his grave robbing that much since all that was there was an old blanket, I seriously took offense to the whole shooting of my house thing. I didn't see Riley yet, but he had to be there somewhere.

  Should I wait for him to handle it? That really wasn't my style. I was just about to go through the side window when a shot rang out from the yard. I ran back to the door and flung it open, ready to throw a knife once I'd spotted the target.

  Riley stood there in the center of the yard. Bobb was gone. But he'd left a puddle of blood on the cracked cement.

  I walked over to join him just as Rex came tearing through my shrubs, gun drawn, holding his badge in the other hand. He stopped when he saw me and Riley. Riley reached down and mopped up the blood with a handkerchief as Rex ran over to me.