"I hear Juliet," I said as voices sounded softly.
"Penelope?" asked Solomon.
"Can't see. I'm going to get closer." I edged forwards, craning my head to see through the crack. Penelope stood beside Rob and Juliet with her back to us. "Penelope is there. Rob, too. They're talking."
"To the special day," said Penelope, pouring champagne into three glasses on a tray perched on a workbench. "I'm so glad we got this moment to talk, and truly bond."
"Penelope, what's going on?" asked Rob.
"It's just a private moment between the three of us, now that we're going to be one big family." Penelope gave a dry laugh.
"We're not a family," said Rob.
"Sure we are. We have a child together, Rob. We'll always be family. And now Juliet will be part of that family. Isn't it just great that we all get along? Do you know how many people have congratulated me on how accepting I am? Or how great we all are to put Robbie first? This way, we can hang out and still do family days. None of that nasty animosity, or other stuff that happens when a guy ditches his loving partner for the newer, younger, richer model."
"That didn't happen, Pen. We split up long before I met Juliet. You know that."
Penelope shrugged. "I'm just glad you texted me to meet you both."
Rob and Juliet exchanged puzzled glances. "I didn't text you," said Juliet.
"No, Rob did."
Rob gave a quick shake of his head. "No, I didn't."
"I got a text from your phone. See!" Penelope pulled her cell phone from her purse and thrust it towards the couple. "You told me to meet you here. You said Juliet was going crazy, and you couldn't help her."
"I never sent that!"
"It's from your phone." Penelope dropped her phone into her purse, tossing it onto the workbench before reaching for the flutes. She smiled as she handed one to Rob and turned to pick up the second glass. Something tiny dropped from her hand and fizzled in the glass for a few seconds. "I know you've had such a hard time, Juliet. These last few months were really terrible. I can't imagine what's been going on in your head. You must have been ready to lose your mind."
"I have. I've driven myself crazy wondering why someone would do this to me."
"I know. You're so perfect, Juliet. Why would anyone want to hurt you? Look at you, you have everything. You enjoy the golden life."
"I've been very lucky."
"Lucky? Everything comes so easy to you; and you're so sweet, everyone always wants the best for you. They don't know the real you, Juliet. Not like I do. Here. Let's drink to you." Penelope handed her the flute, pressing it into Juliet's hand before reaching for her own glass.
"What are they doing?" hissed Lily.
"Talking." I whispered, squinting and staring at Juliet's glass. There was nothing but champagne and bubbles. Had I imagined something more? Did I desperately want more, something I could pin on Penelope? If her tone didn't sound so harsh, I would have thought I was eavesdropping on a private moment. As much as I stared, I couldn't see anything that looked abnormal. Scanning Penelope's dress, I couldn't see any outline of a gun either.
"I didn't send you that text," said Rob again, looking confused. "You told me Juliet wanted to talk to us alone. That's why I came to the garage with you."
"I came because you texted me, Rob. You said there was something wrong and we needed to talk," said Juliet as Rob shook his head.
"I think what Juliet wanted was your forgiveness, Rob."
"What for?" asked Rob, not taking his eyes off Juliet.
"For dragging you into her crazy world, I imagine. Really, who knows? Let's drink to the future."
"Penelope, I think you need professional help," said Juliet as she edged closer to Rob. "I want to put all this behind us. I want us to be friends, and I want to help you."
Penelope raised her glass. "You're right. Let's put it all behind us now. To the deserving couple!"
"The deserving couple," I repeated, frowning. It didn't feel right as I watched Rob and Juliet raise their glasses, seemingly as puzzled as I. Penelope wasn't looking at them both, but looking at Rob. As she stared, it became quite clear she wasn't toasting Juliet and Rob as the happy couple. She was toasting herself and Rob.
"Cheers," said Penelope as she knocked back her glass.
"Cheers," mumbled Juliet, raising the glass to her lips.
My body didn't feel like my own as I pushed forwards. It seemed like I was watching myself in slow motion when I burst through the garage door. "Don't drink that!" yelled a voice that turned out to be my own, but not. "It's poisoned."
Reality snapped back into place as Penelope whirled around, her jaw dropping down. Her glass fell to the floor, splintering into thick shards as she grabbed her purse. I ran forwards, reaching out for Juliet's glass.
Penelope rushed me, knocking into me so hard, we tumbled to the ground. My elbow jarring painfully against the concrete floor. "You shouldn't be here," wailed Penelope, raising a fist. "You'll ruin everything."
I tipped my head quickly to the left, feeling Penelope's blow glance off my ear and hearing her painful yelp as her knuckles connected with the concrete. Above us, someone screamed. Penelope tightened her grip on me as she punched again, connecting with my wound. I tried to wriggle out from her tenacious grasp, sending a jolt of piercing pain all through me. "I should have finished you off," hissed Penelope, against my ear.
With all my might, I wrenched my knee upwards, driving into soft flesh as she grunted. A flash of steel on my right drew my attention and I saw the gun pointed towards my head. Her finger was closing around the trigger. Powerful hands reached around Penelope and made me blink with their swiftness.
"Gun!" I yelled, groping for Penelope's hand. I wanted to push it away as she continued to flail at me with her other hand. I closed my fingers around her wrist until she pulled her hand away, twisting it to loosen my grip. She wriggled, bucking and kicking, as an arm closed around her and I fell from her grasp. Someone grunted and Penelope fell forwards.
The shot echoed around the garage.
I watched my reflection in Penelope's eyes. My eyes widened in fear, and my mouth parted in a faint gasp. Then my reflection vanished as we slumped together.
Chapter Twenty-One
"Lexi? Lexi?"
From very far away, someone kept calling my name. I blinked, looking for something to focus on as my vision wavered. Above me, wooden beams and a roof came into view. A face appeared between those beams and I blinked again. Lily.
"Lexi? Are you okay?" she yelled.
"I'm fine," I gasped.
"I think you got stunned, or something. I don't think you passed out. You just lay there with your mouth gaping like a goldfish."
"She shot me. Again!"
"No, she didn't. She shot herself. Again." Lily's mouth struggled to remain worried as the edges curled upwards. "You have no idea how lucky you are. Again!"
"My mom should be so proud."
"She is."
"Scrap that. Don’t even tell my mom that I took you to a shooting! She will never ever let me forget how I put you and the baby in danger."
"You didn't. You promised to protect me, remember? And you did. I stayed outside the whole time."
My hands felt like dead weights as I lifted them upwards, checking my body for any stray holes. My fingertips touched something wet and I winced. "I think my wound reopened."
"You're bleeding," Lily confirmed. "I changed my mind. I don't want to borrow that blouse anymore."
"Penelope?"
"Rob's got her. He pulled her off you."
"Is she..."
"Dead? Nope. But she's got more holes than Swiss cheese now."
I wanted to ask her more, but someone dressed in black dropped next to me, his hands reaching out for me. "Lexi?" Solomon's panicked eyes searched mine.
"Lexi one, perp zero," I said as I smiled.
"You scared me."
"I like to keep you on your toes. Can you help me up?"
> "Stay still. Paramedics are on their way."
"Hurrah! I bet I get a discount now."
"You're still on company insurance."
"Double hurrah!"
"Lexi?"
I looked around for the new voice, connecting with Juliet. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I thought she killed you."
"No, not me..." I struggled to remember any pertinent information. My head hurt from where I hit it on the floor. A monster bruise would probably arrive very soon if the throbbing were any indication. "Solomon, check Juliet's drink. I think Penelope slipped something in it."
Solomon twisted on his knees. When he turned back, there were two glasses in his hand. He sniffed one, then the other. "Smells like almonds," he said. "It's very faint, but it's definitely there."
"What does that mean?"
"Cyanide." Solomon turned and handed the glass off to someone, instructing him to watch it until the police arrived to bag it as evidence. "Good save. Whoever drank from this flute would have been dead in a matter of seconds."
"Do we have enough evidence now?" I asked, my head whirling at the unexpected wave of dizziness and nausea. I didn't know if it was because of the bump to my head, my wound, or just finally catching Penelope in the act.
"Plenty. Stay still, Lexi."
"This isn't fair," wailed Penelope, a few yards away. I rotated my head. She lay on her back. Rob knelt at her side, holding one arm. Delgado was at her other side, holding her other arm. Someone else bent over her, pressing a bloody cloth over her wound. He moved his head and smiled. "Hey," said Maddox. "Nice work."
"Hey, yourself."
"Juliet deserved it. She ruined everything!" hissed Penelope.
"I...I..." stuttered Juliet. She stood between us, wrapping her arms around herself. "I am actually lost for words. I don't know what to say. How could you? How could you be so cruel to me? To Rob?"
"I did it for Rob. You destroyed our family! You deserved everything you got!"
"But... I didn't."
"I did everything right. I gave him his space. I let him move out, but we always talked. We did, Rob. We said we'd always be a family, and you promised you'd always be there for us. And always love me."
"Not like that, Penelope," said Rob, softly.
"Then she came between us! Her with her fancy education and her fancy job; and you just turned your back on us."
"We were over, Penelope. We were over long before I met Juliet, long before I even moved out. You know that."
"You said you never loved anyone like you loved me," wailed Penelope.
"Because you're you," said Rob. "Juliet's different. You're two different people and I love Juliet. I can't believe you'd do this to her. She helped you get a job and you tried to have her put in prison! You made people think she was crazy."
"She tried to kill me," added Juliet. "Twice."
"You don't deserve him," shrieked Penelope, wrestling against the arms that restrained her. "It should be me in that wedding dress, not you!"
"Seriously?" yelled Lily. "You want to argue over a man who doesn't want you? Don't demean yourself. You have enough problems without adding that to the list!"
"Very true," I agreed. "At least twenty years worth of problems."
"Shut up!" screamed Penelope. "Don't you see Juliet deserved it? She had everything and she still wanted more. It's not fair! All I wanted was Rob but you had to take him! You thought you would be Robbie's mom when he's mine, not yours! I just wanted to have our family back together but you lured them away with your money and fancy life, and all I got was your charity."
"We're having a baby. Did you ever think about our child? You would have killed our child along with Juliet. And our son? What about him? Did you ever think of him in any of this?" said Rob. Disgust simmered in his eyes as he released her arm. He began edging away moments before the police burst through the door, with Detective Donahue in the lead. A young, uniformed officer stepped into Rob's place, kneeling next to Penelope as she began to sob.
Rob got to his feet, hurrying to Juliet and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm so sorry," he murmured. "She'll never hurt you again."
"Penelope Cera," said Donahue, bending on one knee next to her. "You're under arrest..."
~
The diner near Maddox's office was quiet in the post lunch hour; all the local workers had already drifted back to their offices. All, that is, except us. Steaming cups of coffee on the table were in various stages of being drunk. Mine was the one with pink lipstick on the rim. Maddox's was almost empty, and Lily had something herbal that smelled putrid. Judging by the expression on her face, it tasted just as bad too.
Seeing my oldest brother enter, I raised a hand and waved to catch his attention. "What happened at the station, Garrett?" I asked, taking in his tired face as he approached our table.
"Haven't been there. Been parked at Montgomery General all night, thanks to your perp. She didn't stop talking until she went under for surgery; and then, she didn't stop talking once she was conscious again. It's one crazy story."
"I spoke to Donahue. He says all charges against Juliet have been officially dropped," said Maddox. "Penelope confessed enough information to link her to the fraudulent insider trading too."
Garrett nodded. "Penelope admitted everything, almost proudly. She spent a lot of time planning to set Juliet up. A jury will have no problem in convicting her."
"I want to cheer, but it's pretty sad," I said. "She's a mom."
"Being a mom isn't enough to exempt some women from doing bad stuff," pointed out Maddox. "We just don't expect that as a society, and it's always more shocking when a woman turns out to be the perp, and even worse when she's a mom."
"Do you really think so?" asked Lily, rubbing her bump.
"I do, but you'll be a great mom," said Maddox.
"Thanks."
"Did Penelope say how she did everything?" I asked my brother. "I have some ideas, and Lily and I figured out how she bought tickets at the airport by impersonating Juliet, but I don't know all of it. I don't know how she got away with it for so long. I also don’t know why. Not for sure."
"Why?" asked Maddox. "Money?" he guessed.
"Jealousy."
"Lexi's right," cut in Garrett. "Penelope was simply jealous of Juliet. Apparently, it was also very easy. With Penelope and Juliet employed by the same firm, Penelope had no trouble gaining access to Juliet's passwords as well as her computer. She even had spyware installed so she could send emails remotely, thereby enabling her to do the rogue trades. She had access to all of Juliet's accounts and her phone and used them all to alienate people, leaving Juliet no one to turn to. We picked up Juliet's home computer and I'm sure we'll find evidence on that one too. I don't think the lamp with the cut cord you found will help, unfortunately."
"Shame, I'm sure she sabotaged it. Penelope was always in and out of Juliet's house," I told them. "She had no problem copying keys and could enter as she pleased. In the garage, she even said she took Rob's new keys the day she took him and Robbie to the park. She made an imprint to copy later. She was relentless. But she was greedy too. When Donahue searched her house, he found all the fraudulent bags and clothes ordered on Juliet's credit card at her home. Her aunt lived next door to the vacant house, where she had everything sent, and personally identified her."
"She masqueraded as the perfect friend just so she could ruin Juliet's life?" asked Maddox. "That's sick."
Lily reached across and laid a hand over mine. "I would never do that to you."
"Thanks."
"I don't have the energy."
"Good to know." I waited a moment, wondering if Lily was about to change her mind. When she didn't, I asked Garrett, "Did she move the car?"
"Car? Hmm, she rambled something about moving a car and messing with Juliet's house. She's a mean piece of work."
"She can't have always been like that. She and Rob were in love once."
"She probably wasn't; and I don
't think love has anything to do with this. Jealousy does bad things to people. We all have jealous traits from time-to-time, but Penelope's went into overdrive. She turned nasty and obsessive. Instead of making her own life better, and letting go of the past, she thought she could take Juliet's identity and make it her own. So she infiltrated Juliet's life, always looking for a way to get rid of her and restart what she considered was her family all along," said Garrett.
"Penelope said all that?"
"Pretty much."
"Did you think to give her a sedative?" asked Lily.
"No, but we made sure to record everything. Listen, I gotta go. I'll keep you updated with what's happening," said Garrett, rising and buttoning his jacket. "Donahue would appreciate any files you have on the case. We have Penelope on fraud, assault, and attempted murder, but he's still unraveling the financial aspects that got Juliet into hot water."
"No problem. I'll talk to Juliet later and drop them off as fast as I can."
"Solomon's files too?"
"I'm going to his office soon, but I'm sure either he or Lancaster Friedland already turned over whatever he has."
"I'll call Donahue and tell him you'll be by."
"Does this mean you're on the case?"
"Only for the attempted murder part of it. If work gets slack, I know who to call to speed things up," Garrett said, shaking his head at me.
I grimaced, then remembered what I meant to ask him. "Sorry. Can I have my gun back now?"
Garrett leaned over to hug me. "Soon. Don't ever make me investigate another attempt on your life," he said, kissing my cheek.
"I'm kind of worried about joining a mom and baby group now. What if they're all homicidal maniacs just waiting to break free? Ugh, bathroom break," said Lily, sliding out from the booth. "The baby seems to think my bladder is a squishy pillow."
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