Smokey Eyes
Page 14
Kathy spoke to Sonny without taking her eyes off us. She backed up a step. “Get this body over the side. The concrete pad next to the dumpster will make a good landing spot.”
Her backward step erased the few inches I gained plus added a foot and a half more. I was farther away than ever. Sounding like a line from a bad movie, I said, “You can’t get away with this.”
“Sure I can. After Cod, you and Lizzy and that ugly hound are going over too. One of those unfortunate accidents that happen in an old building, especially on a slippery wet day.”
No time for easing closer. A bull rush was becoming my only option. “That’s ridiculous. Nobody will believe that. How do you think you’re going to get that dog over the railing without a fight?”
“You’re right. I’ll have to shoot the mutt first. Sonny, aim for the dumpster when you pitch them over. Pickup is this afternoon. We’ll throw a couple of those smaller mattresses on top of them. They can all be buried in the county dump before anybody even starts looking for them.”
She turned the gun toward WonderDog. Lizzy still had her hand on his collar and yanked him so hard he somersaulted backwards. The bullet hit the spot where he’d been sitting.
I leaped at Kathy, screaming a circuit-blowing, lunatic yell. She jumped sideways onto the fire escape platform. I skidded by her and fell down. She turned the gun towards me. Her face became the face of fear, not unlike a Scream mask.
Was my makeup that bad? But she wasn’t focused on me. She was looking over my shoulder. I spun around. The ghost form of a pirate stood in the shadow of the elevator equipment shed.
“The ghost!” she shrieked. “The ghost!”
She stepped back against the rail. A burst of windy rain slammed her eyes shut. She tried to step back again but the railing stopped her… momentarily.
With a creak, it gave way.
Kathy windmilled trying to keep her balance.
Gravity won out.
She wasn’t kidding about the loose railing.
“Kathy!” Sonny yelled and jumped onto the fire escape platform. ”Kathy!”
His shoes took him across the wet metal grating like he was waterskiing—almost to the brink. He was able to snag the remaining section of upright railing. His momentum swung him around and inward. I heard him thud on the steps below.
I crept next to Lizzy and WonderDog huddling by the parapet and took another peek. The ghost was real. As real as any I’d seen at a theme park.
“Poshookly!” The pirate ghost removed her hat with a sweep of her hand. “I promised I’d confess, but this is even better! Chip’s gonna be so proud of me.”
My foot slid on slimy seagull poop as I walked to Grayson’s body. I heard a soft moan. He was alive!
Lizzy and Jaimie took Grayson’s head and shoulders, I pushed his butt and we slid him in the doorway to the top of the inside stairs. His eyes blinked open, then closed.
“Call Kal! I’m going to see if Kathy and Sonny are alive.”
“Don’t!” Lizzy yelled.
I ran to the fire escape.
Chapter 33
Sonny wasn’t on the fourth level or the third. I paused to think this out. I was risking my butt to see what happened to two murderers. If I caught up with Sonny I could be his next victim. Stupid! But I couldn’t help myself.
I slipped a lot on the wet unstable stairs but stayed upright until I reached solid ground where I fell and slid and rolled. I came up coated in beach sand like a pretzel stick.
The sight of Kathy sent me into a full-body shiver. I forced my kneecaps against the ground to still them.
Sonny sat weeping at his sister’s side. She looked like a gory version of a Picasso painting.
By the time an ambulance and two Starfish Cove police cars arrived, Grayson had come around. Aside from the split along the side of his face, he’d make it. A scar would add to his image.
It was Brent’s dare to Jaimie that ultimately saved our lives. He goaded her to haunt The Billows as a pirate ghost. It was part of his plan to drive business from the hotel.
Always up for a prank, Jaimie had borrowed a costume from the Jose Gasparilla festival, painted her face with fluorescent paint, and met her father-in-law’s dare scaring away the honeymoon couple. When Jaimie told Chip, he insisted she confess.
Finding my note on her vodka bottle, she drove to The Billows in full pirate regalia ready to confess to Lizzy and me. Instead her prank saved four lives.
Epilogue
Lizzy and I stood on the steps of Nonna’s Cold Cream shop waving off the last of our guests who deemed the Open House a great success. Over six hundred folks signed our guest book—amazing for the tiny community of Starfish Cove. Grams Dingler gave our celebration front-page coverage in the Silverfish Gazette.
In exchange for an exclusive tell-all —Murder at the Marina—the Gazette provided us a half-page ad which we used as an invitation to our event. The grainy color photo of Lizzy and me standing on our shop’s step was placed right under the Gazette’s slogan—“Catch the news before it crawls away.”
The community of Starfish Cove shared mixed feelings about the wrecking ball set to arrive on site at The Billows. The grand old structure was deemed no longer fit to stand the elements. Considering its dark history over the past months with the death of Brent Toast and Kathy Angel attached to it, a fresh start to the beachfront seemed fitting.
The lovely Tiffany glass works and ornate fixtures of the hotel were sold at auction. The money realized would fund Sonny’s long-term care in a private hospital for the criminally insane.
Grayson turned in a glowing report on Chip Toast declaring him to be of first-rate character and good heart. On the day Chip turned thirty-five he inherited his grandmother’s vast estate.
Chip’s insistence on Jaimie’s confession is what sent her to The Billows. She arrived in full pirate regalia just in time to save our lives. Count on the Loud Mouth of the South to make a theatrical entrance.
I still haven’t learned to swim but Peroni women are much happier on dry land.
Nancy Nemo is spending less time at Crabby Nancy’s Fried Fish taking pleasure from her sailboat instead. Dave is now the full time manager and hopes to buy the restaurant from Nancy when she retires.
Lizzy bought fifty-two finches to fly loose in her new home as she missed having a pillow finch.
WonderDog received a special award for bravery in the face of the Angels. The bronze medallion with the image of a Starfish never left his collar—he wore it day and night.
Officially an item, Myron and Ivy fit together like pastrami and rye. He spends more time in Starfish Cove, but needs me less. It’s a good feeling when your patients move on.
The biggest and best surprise of all was the phone call we received from Sophia Napoli’s assistant. Who could have guessed the famous actress, now retired, was a subscriber to the little Silverfish Gazette!
Nonna’s Cold Cream, had caught Miss Napoli’s interest. She invited Lizzy and me to her private estate in Miami—at our convenience!
On our way to a goodbye breakfast with Grayson, the giggles hit Lizzy and me.
“No pantyhose?”
“Never again!” She embellished our humiliating first meeting with him—increasing the tale until it became so silly I had to pull off the road to control myself.
Lizzy leaned against the passenger window tears of laughter pouring down her cheeks.
The true fountain of youth is the creativity you bring to the lives of people you love.
The End of Book 2
Smokey Eye Shadow
Easy Peasy
Instructions
Equipment:
Activated Charcoal capsules (usually purchased to relieve an upset stomach! Hah!)
Eyeshadow brush (one end pointed for lining and one end rounded to achieve smoky effect)
A small glass container with a tight lid (available on line)
Begin:
Open capsules and empty into contain
er. Add enough capsules until you fill to halfway. Shake and then let sit. To use as eyeliner, add a drop of water. The charcoal last all day and is chemical free.
Ta Da!
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COLD CREAM MURDERS SERIES
With love and laughter!
Barbara Silkstone
Soap On A Rope
Coming Spring 2019 – Book 3 in the COLD CREAM MURDER SERIES
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“Barbara Silkstone is beyond clever. She's an engaging writer who, with great skill, manages to make her skewed world ring true. The best thing about her characters is that they are not caricatures; they are real with all their dimensions intact. The best thing about Silkstone is that she manages to exhibit equal measures of talent and imagination.”
Barbara Silkstone is the author of the COLD CREAM MURDERS cozies, also the Florence Nightingale Comedy Mystery Series, light-hearted Victorian mysteries.
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