“Oh, we’re here for you,” Bay answered calmly. “The FBI and Chief Terry are running a joint operation to draw out a killer. Looks like it worked.”
Green’s shoulders stiffened. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Yeah, what is that supposed to mean?” Phyllis asked, her eyes shifting to Bay.
“It means that you’ll be okay, Phyllis.” Bay offered the woman a half-smile. “Landon and Chief Terry will be here any minute. They only spread the word about new evidence at the scene to draw out the killer. It worked … obviously. Apparently it worked too well, because it caused Jim here to chase you through the woods. Speaking of that, why was he chasing you?”
Phyllis’ expression was hard to read, but when she locked gazes with Green a chill washed over me. A lot was said with the glance, none of it was good. I opened my mouth to warn Bay, but it was already too late.
“He’s not chasing me,” Phyllis replied, shuffling closer to Bay. “He was following behind me because we had something we needed to do together. There’s a difference.”
Bay realized her mistake. I could see the realization register on her features. She didn’t back down, and I admired her courage. All I could think to do was run, but leaving Bay to fight the duo on her own simply wasn’t an option.
“You’re in this together,” Bay mused, tilting her head to the side. “I guess it makes sense in a roundabout way, huh? You killed Penny and then panicked. You needed help getting rid of the body. You went to school with Jim and the two of you were tight. I saw photos of you together in the yearbook.”
“We were in love,” Green corrected, his voice dripping with disdain. “We were meant to be together until … well … until Bob ruined everything.”
Bay arched a dubious eyebrow. “Bob ruined everything? How? No one forced Phyllis to marry him.”
“He confused her,” Green spat. “He made her believe things that weren’t true. I tried telling her back then that it was a mistake, but she wouldn’t listen. She wouldn’t … see him for what he was then. He only grew worse over the years.”
I tugged on my ear – a nervous habit from when I was a kid that I thought I’d outgrown – and ran the series of events through my head. It made sense … and yet it didn’t. “You were in love with Phyllis when you were in high school, but she broke up with you because of Bob. You pined for her all of these years, didn’t you?”
“I don’t believe ‘pined’ is the word I’d use to describe it,” Green replied stiffly.
“But it’s clearly not the wrong word, is it?” Bay licked her lips and flicked her eyes to Phyllis. The woman didn’t look to be armed, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t. I could practically see Bay’s mind working. If it came down to it, fighting off Phyllis probably wouldn’t be an issue. She was a bit chunky in the hips and thighs and had a few pounds on both of us, but we could outrun her. Green was the wildcard.
“I made a mistake,” Phyllis offered, her demeanor suddenly grown eerily calm. “I should’ve followed my heart, but Bob twisted my head and I made a bad decision. I’ve regretted it ever since. Jim knows that. He accepts that. He … forgives … me.”
The excuse sounded well-rehearsed but I didn’t believe a word of it. “Let me hazard a guess as to how all of this played out,” I interjected. “You fell for Bob because he was the hottest guy in your class. Isn’t that what you told us over dinner last night while we were looking at the yearbook, Bay?”
Bay nodded. “He even won that award in the mock election. It was in the yearbook.”
“So he was considered the hottest guy in your class and everyone wanted him,” I said. “Even though his prospects weren’t great for making a living, once you were out of school you couldn’t get him out of your head. So when he flirted with you one night you thought you had a chance to nab him.
“You were more than happy to dump Jim here, because you wanted Bob. You thought he’d go further,” I continued. “You dated Bob, married him and even had a couple of kids. You thought you had everything you wanted … but you couldn’t keep him faithful.”
“Bob is a good provider,” Phyllis huffed. “He’s a good … man.”
“No, he’s not,” Bay argued. “He has a certain reputation around this area. He’ll nail anything with a pulse – including older women, young women, fat women, skinny women, ugly women and pretty women. He doesn’t care as long as he gets off.”
“You shut your mouth,” Phyllis hissed, spittle forming at the corners of her mouth as she glared at Bay. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“But she does,” I argued, drawing three sets of eyes to me. I figured the longer we could keep Phyllis and Green engaged in conversation the more time we bought for ourselves. Landon would come looking. He was too wired into Bay to abandon her. “Bob has quite the reputation. I’m new to this town, but at least five different people mentioned it to me.” That was a bit of an exaggeration, but Phyllis didn’t need to know. She looked easy enough to derange, which could only help us if it came down to a battle.
“You’re a liar!” Phyllis’ eyes flashed hot. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Just … shut your mouth!”
“No, don’t shut your mouth,” Bay countered, shaking her head. “I think Phyllis needs to hear this. Of course, I think Phyllis hearing this over and over is what caused her to kill Penny. What happened? Did Bob sleeping with someone who worked at the resort hit too close to home?”
“Oh, please,” Green scoffed. “Everyone Bob slept with worked at the resort. He slept with guests and workers. He didn’t care. The man was a walking billboard for Viagra, for crying out loud.”
“Stop saying that,” Phyllis hissed, glaring at Green. “That’s not what happened.”
I sensed an air of discomfort building between them. It was obvious they had different goals. I decided to play on that. “You killed Penny in an act of rage, didn’t you, Phyllis?”
Phyllis jerked her eyes to me and swallowed hard. “It was an accident.”
“Of course it was an accident,” Green interjected. “You don’t have a mean bone in your body. You could never purposely hurt someone. This is all on Bob. He’s to blame for all of it.”
Green was either deranged or blind to Phyllis’ true nature. I couldn’t decide which. “What happened? Did Penny confront you? Did she try to drive a wedge in your relationship with Bob?”
“That little tramp told me to let him go so she could have him,” Phyllis replied icily. “She said that he loved her and wanted to be with her, and the only thing holding them back was the fact that he didn’t want to create a hostile work environment by leaving me for someone else who worked at the resort. Can you believe that?”
Actually I could. Penny hadn’t sounded like a very good person from everything I’d heard. To be fair, it wasn’t that she was a bad person. It was more that she was a lost person. “What did you say to her?”
“I told her I’d weathered far worse than her,” Phyllis replied. “Everyone at the resort knew about her. They knew she’d sleep with anyone to get ahead. Hell, do you think Bob was the only one she seduced?”
I shook my head. “No. She seduced Jim and Shane Norman, too. She also slept with a bunch of the grounds workers and bellboys. She wasn’t discriminating.”
Green grimaced at mention of his name. “She was a harlot! I had no idea she was sleeping with Bob and Shane. I didn’t find that out until much later, until it was too late. I never would’ve touched her, but … she tricked me.”
“Tricked you?” Bay’s expression reflected doubt. “Did she trip you so you accidentally fell into her?”
“No one’s talking to you, you foul-mouthed whore!” Green exploded, causing me to shrink back. Bay, however, remained standing steady. She didn’t so much as let a muscle twitch.
“I bet I know how this all went down,” Bay pressed. “She figured out you were still in love with Phyllis and used that to her advantage. That’s what happened, right?”
“She wanted us to join forces,” Green offered. “I thought she was crazy when she suggested it. She thought it would work out well for both of us if we broke up Phyllis and Bob. She brought it up after sex one night, as if it was nothing. Can you believe that?”
“What? You didn’t tell me that?” Phyllis’ surprise was palpable. “What did she want?”
“She said that if I helped her get Bob that you would come running to me,” Green replied. “I considered it, but I wasn’t sure it would really happen. We never really got past the planning stage.”
“You were going to help her?” Phyllis’ confusion turned to rage. “You were going to help her steal my husband?”
“You said you never should’ve married him,” Green snapped, his attention focused on Phyllis. His distraction gave me a chance to meet Bay’s gaze. I couldn’t read her mind, but her intent was obvious when she gestured to the high branch over Green’s head. I knew what she wanted me to do, but wasn’t sure I could do it. My abilities hadn’t always worked on demand.
“I never should’ve married him. But that doesn’t mean you should’ve helped that terrible woman try to break up my family,” Phyllis snapped. “What were you thinking? I can’t believe you’d betray me like that.”
“Betray you?” Green was beside himself as I narrowed my eyes and focused on the only target I had, willing myself to calm down and work the thick branch free from the stout trunk. “You broke up with me! You betrayed me!”
“I didn’t betray you,” Phyllis shot back, furious. “It was high school. No one marries their high school sweetheart.”
“That’s true,” Bay said, trying to draw their attention back to her and free me to drop the branch. I could feel my power licking at the point of connection, yet nothing happened. My emotions were too wild for the magic to take hold. I needed to center myself. “You were holding onto the past, Jim, and Phyllis was looking forward to the future.”
“What future?” Green sputtered. “She was never going to have a future with Bob. It was only a matter of time before he knocked up someone else and everyone in town found out about his extracurricular activities. We even had bets on when it would happen. All of the workers at the resort had a pool going. Bob was a disgusting piece of filth.”
“Oh, trust me,” Bay said, “that memo was sent out a long time ago. But get back to Penny. Phyllis killed her and then what? Did she come to you for help?”
“She killed her on the eighteenth green of the golf course,” Green gritted out. “Everyone uses the ambulance codes to get back there. That’s where Penny and Phyllis met to hash things out. Penny was already dead by the time I got there. I had a choice. I could either help Phyllis or leave her to do it herself and possibly go to jail. I refuse to let her go to jail, so … I helped her.”
“But how did you do it?” Bay asked. “The medical examiner said there was foreign DNA in the wounds. I’m guessing you used that knife there to open the wound a bit. Although … did you stab her in the throat, Phyllis?”
“I didn’t mean to.” Phyllis managed to regroup a bit as she stared at her hands. “I told her I had no intention of divorcing Bob, but she wouldn’t stop verbally attacking me. She kept saying that he loved her and not me, and that I was pathetic and clingy. I couldn’t stand the sound of her voice.”
“So you decided to shut her up,” Bay deduced.
Phyllis nodded. “I didn’t have a lot in my purse, but I did have a nail file. I stabbed her in the throat. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until she was bleeding like a stuck pig. I stabbed her again … and again … and again. The wounds were small, but she went down quickly. But she wouldn’t die!”
Bay pressed her lips together, horrified. “Oh, my … why didn’t you call for help when you came to your senses?”
“And go to prison? That’s exactly what she wanted. She eventually died. It was almost four in the morning. I sat there and waited for her to quit breathing. I wanted it to go quicker, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurry things along. I didn’t know what to do when it was over, so I called Jim.”
“And he came running,” Bay muttered, shaking her head. “Then what happened?”
“We had to move her body,” Jim answered, a form of grim detachment settling over him. “I carried the body to my truck, and then we did some brainstorming. I figured that someone would eventually notice Penny was gone and I would be a suspect because people knew we slept together. The fact that she slept with everyone gave the police plenty of other suspects to consider. We wanted to avoid becoming suspects altogether. That was our main goal. That meant we needed to make it look like an accident or … .”
“The ‘or’ was easier,” Bay surmised. “You took Penny out behind the Dandridge and opened the wound in her throat with your knife. What about the DNA?”
“I hunt,” Jim replied. “I had a few carcasses in my garage, so I rubbed the pelts into the wound. I thought if I could confuse the medical examiner enough he simply wouldn’t be able to decide if it was an animal or human, and they’d have no choice but to let it go.”
“And you almost got away with it,” Bay muttered. “Then you heard a whisper on the trail, right? You heard the cops found some evidence, so you came out here to see if you could figure out what it was.”
“Pretty much,” Jim confirmed. “I planned to dump the knife in the lake. I bought a similar knife and planted it in Bob’s truck so he’d become a suspect if the cops ever bothered to search. All I had left to do was dump my knife. That’s when we found you.”
“And now we have to kill you,” Phyllis added. “We have no choice. I told you to run. I wanted you out of our hair. Now I’m kind of glad you didn’t listen. You’ve made things easier. You stuck your noses where they didn’t belong and … it’s time to die.”
She was so matter-of-fact it caused me to jerk my head in her direction. She gripped something in her hand. It was small and silver, a pink handle poking out of her fist. It had to be the nail file she used to kill Penny. I opened my mouth to warn Bay, but that’s when I realized Green was moving in my direction. Somehow they’d managed to communicate with each other without Bay and I noticing.
I was too surprised to make a sound. I tumbled backward, tripping over a fallen log in my haste to get away. I saw Bay grappling with Phyllis, but I couldn’t risk focusing on her when I had my own problems crashing this way.
“I really am sorry about this,” Green growled, grabbing the front of my shirt as he brandished the knife. “I have no choice. We need time to run.”
My first instinct was to scream as the knife closed in on my throat. Instead, anger overtook me and I felt something powerful rip free from my chest and strike the branch over his head. I lifted my arms to protect my face. Green gave me an odd look before glancing over his shoulder.
When the branch hit him, he pitched forward. He was all dead weight when he hit me. Thankfully I managed to deflect the knife. I felt his breath on my face as I shifted. He was out, but not dead. His body was too heavy, though, pinning me to the ground.
“What was that?” Phyllis screeched, her hand tangled in Bay’s hair. “I … what was that?”
Bay didn’t allow herself to become distracted, instead planting her foot in Phyllis’ abdomen and launching the woman into the air as she kicked out. I couldn’t see Phyllis’ face, but I heard her hit the ground with a sickening thud.
“Is she alive?”
“Who cares?” Bay muttered, catching her breath. “I … .”
The sound of pounding footsteps drew my attention. I saw two figures pushing through the foliage. “Is that more of Penny’s harem coming to kill us?” I asked, shoving against Green’s prone body with everything I had. “Good grief. I think I’m suffocating.”
Instead of another potential killer, Jack’s face swam into view. He was pale – almost completely white – but he looked relieved when we locked gazes.
“Are you okay?”
“Jack?” I couldn�
��t keep the surprise from my voice. “What are you doing here?”
“Saving you,” Jack muttered, wrapping his arms around Green’s waist and tugging him off me. His hands were gentle as they roamed my shoulders and arms once I was free. “Is anything broken?”
“Just my pride,” I admitted, ruefully rubbing my sore behind. “I smacked my butt when I fell.”
“I saw.” Jack’s expression was hard to read, his dark eyes almost black as he stared. “You’re lucky that branch fell when it did. I was trying to get to you, but you were too far away.”
“You saw all of it?” Bay asked, her eyes accusatory as they fell on Landon. “Why didn’t you come in sooner?”
“Because you were busy getting confessions out of them. I thought I had more time,” Landon replied, stroking the back of her head. “We got here as fast as we could. It would’ve been helpful if you’d kept them talking a few minutes longer.”
“Oh, whatever.” Bay crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Chief Terry – I didn’t even see him arrive – slap a pair of cuffs on a disoriented Phyllis. “You could’ve been quicker. I’m all dirty.”
“Yes, well, that’s the important thing,” Landon teased, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.
I risked a glance at Jack and found him staring in the same direction. “How did you know to come?”
“I didn’t,” Jack answered, turning back to me. “Landon somehow knew.”
Landon nodded. “If there’s trouble, it always finds Bay.” He pulled his pouting blonde in for a hug, resting his cheek against her forehead. “She’s a trouble magnet.”
“I still can’t figure out how that branch fell,” Jack mused, shifting his attention to the broken limb on the ground. “I mean … what are the odds?”
I exchanged a quick look with Bay and then mustered a watery smile. “I guess we were just lucky.”
The Bigfoot Blunder (A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery Book 1) Page 28
