“Someone who has a personal vendetta against me,” I finished. “I’ve been wondering about that, too. I don’t know what to make of any of it.”
He pulled me in for a long hug. “I won’t let anyone take you from me.”
“Because you would miss me? Like Kirk missed Spock after he sacrificed himself to save the Enterprise?”
He groaned. “Oh, man. You’re going to keep this going forever, aren’t you?”
“Until they arrest me, or I find something else to catch my attention.”
“Well, at least you’re consistent.” One more kiss and then he pulled away. “Oh, and they’re not going to arrest you. I won’t allow it.”
“Those are bold words.”
“I stand by them.”
When it was just me in the kitchen, I finished throwing away the food containers and killed the main lights, leaving only the recessed bulb above the sink on dim. We’d gotten in the habit of leaving it on all night in case one of us needed something from the kitchen. Under the muted light, through the window, I thought I saw a hint of movement thanks to the neighbor’s flood lights.
I stilled, my body going ramrod straight. Was someone out there? I peered through the window, staring hard for a full two minutes. There was no further movement.
“I probably imagined it,” I murmured to myself. This whole thing was making me paranoid, and not in my usual good way. I couldn’t wait until this was over, one way or the other. Sure, I preferred the happy outcome to the other, but anything was better than living in limbo.
“Bedtime,” I announced to Rocky as he ribboned through my ankles. “It would be helpful if you didn’t snore in my ear tonight. I need my beauty rest.”
He shot me a look that told me he would be pouncing on my face in about three hours to remind me who was boss. Surprisingly, I was fine with that.
27 Twenty-Seven
Eliot was already awake and watching me when I opened my eyes the next morning. I wiped at my mouth and wasn’t surprised to find drool congealing at the corners.
“It’s creepy to watch someone sleep,” I announced, my voice gravelly.
He had a smirk at the ready. “Good morning to you, too.”
“I’m serious. Do you know what sort of books and movies feature guys watching women sleep?”
“Tell me.”
“Stupid ones. It happens in serial killer books and teen nonsense like Twilight. Do you want to be a Twilight character?”
“That depends. Would I have to sparkle?”
“Ha, ha.” I dragged a hand through my hair and eyed Rocky, who had positioned himself between our heads to sleep. “Do you get the feeling that we’re no longer in control of the house? It belongs to him now.”
“You’re crabby.” He poked my side and grunted as he struggled to a sitting position. He was shirtless, his muscles on full display. He didn’t look happy. “I was thinking we would go out for breakfast this morning ... or use that DoorDash app and have it delivered. I don’t feel like cooking.”
It was a rather jarring shift in the conversation. “I guess I could cook.”
“I’m not in the mood for cold cereal either.”
“I can make other stuff.”
“Oh, yeah?” He arched a challenging eyebrow. “Like what? Be specific.”
“I can make toast.”
“We have no bread.”
“That creates a hurdle.” I wasn’t in the mood to go out, but I was hungry. “Maybe we can go to that diner on the corner.”
“I thought you didn’t like the food there.”
“I didn’t like the coneys,” I corrected. “They make them wrong. But they can’t screw up breakfast. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible.”
“How can you screw up coneys?”
“They put the chili over the onions. Everyone knows that’s a no-no. It goes hotdog, chili, mustard and then onions. Any other order is unacceptable.”
“Sadly, I think you might be right on that one. We can try them for breakfast. They might surprise us.”
“Or we could go to McDonald’s and get that bagel sandwich I love.”
“That doesn’t sound very healthy.”
“We’re not healthy people.”
He eyed me for a long beat. “I have a better idea. McDonald’s is one of our DoorDash options. We can order the grease and have it delivered. You know, be really lazy people. That way we don’t have to leave and can wait for Jake to call.”
And that right there was why we were so well matched. “Sold.” I gave him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth and then rolled out of bed. “You place the order. I’ll get the newspaper. I shall meet you in the living room so we can watch the news.”
“Now that’s definitely domestic. You’re turning into quite the little housewife.”
“Keep it up.” I searched the floor for my robe and found it poking out from beneath the sagging duvet cover. “I’ll lick your hash browns if you’re not careful.”
“That sounds dirty. I might like that.”
He made me laugh. “I’m getting the newspaper. You start the coffee and order the food. I’ll meet you in the living room in five minutes.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
I held his gaze for a long moment, something unsaid passing between us. We were definitely domestic these days. We fit ... and I never saw it coming. How it happened was a mystery. Still, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so comfortable with someone.
“If you want to put off breakfast for a few minutes we could do something else first,” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows as he lifted the covers. “You know, just so you don’t feel too smothered by the cloud of domesticity hanging over the house.”
He knew me too well. “Okay, but the cat can’t watch. It freaks me out.”
THIRTY MINUTES LATER I WAS WRAPPED IN my Yoda robe, padding out to the mailbox in my Darth Vader slippers. I generally liked to match my slippers to my robe but was feeling too lazy to look for the appropriate pair.
The street was quiet. Most everybody had already left for work and school. Those left behind were obviously busy with other things. We were getting far enough into the season that the mornings were chilly. Snow was right around the corner, maybe thirty days out, and then the long nightmare of winter would be upon us. While I like the turning of the leaves and Halloween, the months between November and March are my least favorite time of year.
I checked the mailbox, but it contained only a few catalogs and two bills. I grabbed the newspaper from the slot under the mailbox and turned back to the house, gasping when a figure lurched to a stop directly in front of me.
“Becky?” I felt as if I was caught in a dream. The woman, wearing the same clothes from the day before, had a wild look in her eyes. “If you try to kill me I will scream.”
She blinked several times. “Does that robe have ears?”
“Um ... yeah. I’m Yoda.”
“From that Star Wars movie?”
The dippy question irritated me. “Do you know another Yoda?”
“I don’t know anything about him, other than he was a puppet. I don’t really like those movies. They don’t make any sense and the actors are annoying.”
I glared. “Well, thank you for stopping by my house to serve as a movie critic.” Seriously, there was something wrong with this woman. Everybody loves Star Wars. Okay, I’m sure there are a few cinema snobs somewhere who don’t like the movie, but nobody cares about them. “Speaking of that, what are you doing at my house? I’m pretty sure the sheriff’s department is looking for you.”
“I know.” She wrung her hands and glanced around, as if expecting someone to jump out of the bushes and grab her. “Is there someplace we can talk?”
I’d seen enough thrillers to know that was a very bad idea. “Sure.” I gestured toward the house. “You first.”
She immediately started in that direction. “This is a nice house. Do you rent?”
“No. We bought it.”
<
br /> “You and the long-haired guy you were with? He would be good-looking if he cut his hair.”
First she insulted Star Wars and now Eliot’s hair? She was clearly crazy. “I happen to like the hair.”
“Are you married?”
“No.”
She kept chattering away. “Are you going to get married?”
“We haven’t really talked about it.” In truth, Eliot had started laying the groundwork. He’d mentioned that he was going to propose eventually. He made it sound as if it was a foregone conclusion I would say yes even though the mere thought of marriage made me itchy. Still, I wasn’t ruling it out, even though I probably would’ve a year ago. I didn’t see my life moving forward without Eliot, and at some point he would demand the big commitment.
“I bet you get married.” She flashed a smile that I swear made her eyes cross for a moment. “You two really seem in tune with one another.”
“Uh-huh.” Once we reached the front door, I kept my eyes on her as I turned the knob and threw it open. “You first.”
She stepped over the threshold without hesitation, allowing me to give her a long once over to see if it appeared she was packing. The fit of her coat was too loose for me to be certain.
“What took you so long?” Eliot called from the kitchen. He didn’t realize I wasn’t alone. “I was starting to miss you. I sent in the food order. They must be busy, because they’re almost an hour out.”
“That’s okay,” I reassured him. “I think we’re going to be busy for the next hour anyway.”
“Oh, yeah?” His tone was playful. “If you want to go again, I guess I can be persuaded. You’ll have to do all the work, though. In fact ... .” He broke off as he strolled into the room carrying two mugs of coffee. “Red alert.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing at his reaction. “You remember Becky,” I said brightly as I gave her a wide berth and headed toward the couch where Rocky was sleeping. I wanted to make sure she didn’t try to hold him hostage or anything. “She decided to stop by for a visit.”
“Actually, I came to talk to you about what happened yesterday,” she countered, no hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“Uh-huh.” Eliot handed me a mug of coffee and then used his free hand to direct me toward the couch, positioning himself between Becky and me. “That sounds ... interesting. Would you like some coffee?”
“Oh, no thank you.” The smiled she offered up was bright. “Caffeine makes me act wonky.”
“I wonder what that’s like,” I said dryly as Eliot shot me a look.
“Have a seat,” Eliot instructed, gesturing toward the chair on the other side of the coffee table. He clearly wanted to keep room between Becky and us. That was probably a smart move as Becky struck me as the sort of woman who might try to eat her own face without supervision.
“Okay.” Becky plopped down on the chair as Eliot directed me to sit in the spot furthest from her. That was usually his spot, so I was flustered.
“I can’t sit there,” I complained. “That’s not my spot.”
“We don’t have regular spots,” he argued.
That was a ridiculous lie. “We do so. I always sit on the right.”
“Well, today you’re sitting on the left.” He gave me a light shove. “Since when did you turn into Sheldon Cooper anyway?”
I decided to let the comment slide and focus on Becky. “So, I thought you were getting iced tea yesterday. You must’ve had to go to a store or something, huh?”
“No. I ran away from you guys because I was afraid.”
She was completely literal on pretty much every front as far as I could tell. It made me uncomfortable. If sarcasm and snark didn’t land properly, I was out of my conversational depth.
“Well, thank you for telling us,” Eliot offered, his smile never deviating. “What can we do for you today?”
“I think ... um ... I think you might’ve gotten the wrong impression yesterday. You stopped by because you figured out that Tad and I were blackmailing people together. That’s why I panicked. The problem is — and I only figured this out once I left — I also think you believe I’m responsible for shooting Tad. I didn’t.”
Oh, well, this was getting interesting. “So, basically you’re admitting to being a dirty blackmailer but not an attempted murderer.”
She bobbed her head. “Exactly. Whew. That was easier than I thought it would be. I’m glad we got that out of the way.” She moved to stand, forcing me to incline my chin toward Eliot.
“You wanted the power seat,” I said to him. “That means you have to do the heavy lifting.”
He shot me a quelling look before focusing on Becky. “We’re not quite done here.”
“We’re not?” Becky’s expression was blank. “All right, what else do we need to talk about?”
“For starters, let’s talk about Leona Garvey,” I said. “Did you write the note to her?”
“I did. And was Tad angry about it. He said I did it wrong.”
Yup. Weirder and weirder. “Did you blackmail anybody else?”
“No, Leona was the first.” Becky was matter-of-fact. “Tad said we had to get our acts together before we could do it again. He really wanted to go after you. I was all for that because you’re so mean to him, but he was upset because he couldn’t find anything good.” Her gaze was fixed on me. “Then, when you did what you did at the news conference, he was more determined than ever to find something on you. He was ranting and raving that night. I just assumed that you shot him. Now I’m not so sure.”
“And what changed your mind?” Eliot prodded.
“You came to my house. You were looking for more than a blackmailer. You wouldn’t be looking for someone to blame for Tad’s shooting if you were guilty.”
I wanted to explain that someone trying to cover up for various misdeeds might do exactly that. Now didn’t seem the time to overbalance the obviously rocky route of her brain, though. “Well, it’s good you figured that out.” I rubbed my hands over my knees, uncertain how to proceed. “Did your brother know about the blackmail?”
She nodded. “I told him when he showed up at my house. Apparently there was a file on me in Tad’s house, which I don’t understand.”
I did. “He wanted to make sure he had something to hold over your head in case you ever tried to tell someone about this,” I explained. “He figured you might have a guilty conscience at some point and tell the cops what you did. He couldn’t risk that.”
“I didn’t have a guilty conscience.” Becky was sincere. “We blackmailed Mrs. Garvey, but she had it coming. She did a bad thing.”
“She did,” I agreed, “but Tad has done a million bad things, and you seem fine hanging out with him.”
“He says all those things were made up.”
“Oh, well, if he said it, then it must be true.”
Her smile was happy as she nodded. “So, is that it?”
“Not quite.” Eliot’s fingers were busy on his phone. I knew he was texting Jake, who would no doubt be here within minutes. “When was the last time you saw Ludington?”
“He’s in the hospital.”
“I know he’s in the hospital.” Eliot looked as if he was chewing on his patience. “The day he was shot, what time did you last see him?”
“Oh, um ... I guess it was about an hour after the news conference. He was ranting and raving about Ms. Shaw and how he was going to make her pay. But because he didn’t have any information to use against her I figured he was just talking to hear himself talk.”
“That’s pretty much all he ever does,” I offered.
She ignored the statement. “I couldn’t help him, so I decided to go.”
“Was anyone with him?” Eliot asked.
She shook her head. “No. If you’re asking who shot him, I honestly can’t say. I’m just as confused as everybody else. I assumed it was Ms. Shaw ... or maybe you. But you came to my house thinking it was me, so I guess
that’s not true.”
Eliot slid his eyes to me. “Well, any more bright ideas?”
Unfortunately, I was fresh out.
JAKE ARRIVED TO TAKE BECKY INTO custody. She was straightforward when it came to answering questions and didn’t deny her part in blackmailing Leona or her brother’s part in helping her cover it up. By the time Jacobs arrived, Jake had already cuffed her. Jacobs screamed at Jake to remove them to no avail.
“This is over,” Jake hissed once she was in the backseat of Derrick’s cruiser, keeping his voice low so as not to upset her. She clearly didn’t understand how this was going to affect her brother’s career. I almost felt sorry for her. “You’re done here.”
“I’m not done,” Jacobs shot back. “I won’t be done until that one is in jail for shooting Tad Ludington.” He jabbed his finger in my direction. “We both know she’s guilty. You’ve been covering for her for years. It’s common knowledge in this county.”
Even though I saw the muscle twitching in his cheek, Jake remained calm. “You like to throw around accusations for a guy guilty of doing exactly what he claims others do. You do realize your career is over, right?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Jacobs hissed. “I ... didn’t do whatever it is you think I did.”
“I think you found the blackmail file on your sister before you turned the rest of the evidence over to the tech team,” Jake replied. “I think you wanted to protect her, which is noble, but you went about it the wrong way. She wasn’t going to get in any trouble for what went down with Leona Garvey. She didn’t make any demands. She didn’t grasp what she was doing.”
Jacobs hesitated. “You can’t take her to jail. She doesn’t understand any of this.”
“I have to take her in.” Jake refused to back down. “You know that as well as I do. I’ll make sure she’s in a cell by herself. I’ll get her arraigned as soon as possible. It’s doubtful she’ll get more than community service. I have to go by the book.”
“Oh, really?” Jacobs’ eyes flashed with fury. “Do you go by the book with her?” He was back to glaring at me. “It seems to me that you preach to others while ignoring the same rules when it comes to your pet reporter.”
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