by Ramona Gray
“Ruby, what are you -”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s time for you to listen, Maggie. Invite me in.”
Chapter Eight
Wyatt
I stepped into the diner, the smile on my face fading when I didn’t see Maggie. It was almost eleven and although I was taking an early lunch, it was too early for her to be on her lunch break. Natalia was walking by, her arms loaded down with a tray of dirty dishes, and she gave me a distracted smile.
“Hey, Wyatt.”
“Hi, Natalia. Do you know where Maggie is?”
She stopped and my pulse turned into a heavy drumbeat when she said, “She called in sick this morning.”
“She called in sick,” I repeated.
“Yes. Is something wrong?” Natalia gave me a worried look.
I made myself smile at her. “No, everything’s fine. Thanks, Natalia.”
“Sure.” Her face still worried, she walked away.
I turned around and headed out the door and straight for my vehicle. Dismay and a surprising amount of panic were swirling in my guts.
“Just cool it,” I muttered to myself as I climbed behind the wheel. “She didn’t leave. She just said last night that she was staying. She didn’t leave you.”
I wanted to believe that was true, but… she’d been saying for weeks that she wasn’t staying, and her sudden change of heart last night was a bit of a surprise. I’d been so insanely happy that she wasn’t leaving me that I hadn’t even thought to ask why she’d changed her mind.
It’s because you want to believe she loves you. Admit it.
I pulled out of the parking lot of the diner and headed toward Nana’s house. All right, maybe that’s what I was hoping, but, hell, you couldn’t blame me. I was stupidly, ridiculously, head over heels for Magnolia Blossom and the thought of her not in my life made me feel sick.
If she’s gone, you can just track her down and make her come back.
Jesus, my inner self had gone full-on stalker.
If she was gone, maybe I would use my connections as a cop to find her, but I would be respectful and understanding and just talk to her about coming back to me. I wouldn’t demand that she return, wouldn’t demand that she love me like I loved her. I would be…
You’d be a stalker, but a totally considerate stalker.
Panic still an unwelcome guest in my belly, I stepped on the gas. I didn’t want to believe that Maggie had left me, but she had seemed perfectly healthy when I left this morning. And if she had gotten sick after I left, why didn’t she text me and tell me?
As if my very thoughts had summoned her, my cell phone rang. I hit the speaker button, trying to keep the panic from my voice. “Maggie? Hi, where are you?”
There was silence and I was just about to say her name again when she said, “Hi, Wyatt. I’m, uh, I’m at home.”
“Are you sick? I stopped in at the diner and Natalia said you called in sick.”
“Yeah, I’m not feeling great.”
I frowned. Maggie sounded off, but she didn’t sound sick. She sounded scared.
Before I could say anything, Maggie said, “I hate to ask, but do you, uh, do you think you could pick me up some, um, Advil and drop it off. I have a terrible headache and I’m all out.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m on my way.”
“Okay, thanks.” Weirdly, there was dismay and guilt in her voice.
She hung up before I could reply. I drove down the slick roads, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. What the fuck was going on? Maggie could have easily texted Nana and asked her to bring over some Advil.
She’s running from someone, Wyatt.
I took a deep breath and turned down Nana’s street. Maggie denied it repeatedly, but I hadn’t been able to shake the idea that she was on the run. If she was on the run and they’d found her…
Fear spiked through me. I parked in Nana’s driveway and climbed out of my vehicle. Nana glanced out the big bay window of her living room and waved at me. I waved back and headed toward the guest house. I knocked and then opened the door, stepping inside and listening carefully.
“Maggie, I’m here.”
There was silence and then Maggie’s voice, small and undeniably afraid, drifted to me. “In the bedroom.”
Alarm bells went off inside my head. Without even thinking about it, I pulled my gun from my holster and walked quietly past the kitchen and living room. A chair was missing from the kitchen and while nothing else looked out of place, my spine was tingling, and my nerves were pinging.
Something was terribly wrong. I’d been a cop long enough to trust my instincts.
I paused at the closed door and keeping my gun raised, turned the handle and lightly pushed the door open without entering. I could see the empty bed but nothing else, and I stepped into the room.
“Maggie, are you -”
All of the breath got sucked out of my lungs as I stared at the gun held to the head of the woman I loved.
“I’m sorry, Wyatt,” Maggie whispered. She was sitting on the kitchen chair a few feet back from the bed, rope and duct tape wrapped around her slender body to bind her to it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to call you, but she threatened to kill Nana if I didn’t, and -”
“Hush, Maggie.” The woman holding the gun said. “It’s time for you to listen, remember?”
“What the fuck?” I said. The woman could almost have been Maggie’s twin. Her hair was cut and styled the same, she had blue eyes like Maggie’s, her makeup was identical right down to the shade of lipstick on her mouth, and she even had the same cluster of freckles on her left temple.
Even weirder - she was wearing Maggie’s uniform from the diner.
The woman frowned at me. “Such foul language, Wyatt.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I had my gun pointed at her and she made a little tsking noise.
“Be careful, Wyatt. You’re not the only one with a gun, remember?” She pressed the barrel of the gun against Maggie’s temple.
Maggie moaned quietly, and I immediately lowered my weapon and raised one hand. “Okay. It’s fine. No need to do anything rash. Let’s talk. You know me, but I don’t know you. What’s your name?”
She smiled at me before standing behind Maggie and gently stroking her hair. “My name is Ruby, and Maggie is mine. She’s mine, Wyatt. You can’t have her.”
“He doesn’t want me,” Maggie said quickly. “I keep telling you, Ruby, he doesn’t mean anything to me. All right? He was just a fling, that’s all. Just let him go, and you and I will leave together. We’ll go wherever you want.”
Ruby sighed. “I know you, sweetie. I know everything about you.” She leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against Maggie’s cheek. “I know your every thought, Maggie. You can’t hide from me.”
“So, you’re in love with her,” I said. “I understand, but -”
“In love with her?” Ruby gave me a look of impatience. “It’s not – God, men are so stupid.” She kissed Maggie’s cheek again. “Why you would ever want him over me… why you would even be attracted to men, is beyond me. They’re idiots, Maggie. All of them.”
She straightened and gave me a look of disdain. “It isn’t just about love, Wyatt. It’s about knowing what she wants and needs and being the person to give it to her. I am exactly who Maggie needs. I know everything about her. I love her, but I also… am her. Do you understand?”
Cold fear ran down my spine. The woman was batshit insane.
“No, help me to understand, Ruby,” I said. I needed to keep her talking, needed to figure out how the fuck I was going to save the woman I loved.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she said irritably. “Why do you even love him, Maggie?”
“I don’t,” Maggie said. “I keep telling you that I don’t.”
“Lies!” Ruby suddenly screamed. She slapped Maggie hard across the head with her free hand. “Stop your fucking goddamn lying, Maggie! You know how I hate it when you lie to me!
”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Calm down, Ruby.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she snarled. “Don’t ever tell me to do anything, Officer Wyatt.”
I made a small sound of acquiesce and she stared sullenly at me for a moment. “I asked Maggie to be with me, did she tell you that? I even got her drunk one night and tried to show her how much better sex would be with me than with a man. But she refused. She just kept saying, ‘No, Ruby. I’m not into you that way. We’re just friends, Ruby. I’m straight, Ruby.’” Her upper lip curled up and she scowled at me. “I know you fucked her. Did you like it? She was a virgin, right? She never came right out and told me she was, but I knew she was. I liked that about her. Liked that she’d never been fouled by the touch of a man.”
She stroked Maggie’s hair again. “Although, that’s changed now, isn’t it? She’s no longer pure, but that’s okay. I still love her. I still want to be her - I mean - be with her. She made a mistake and when the people you love make mistakes, you forgive them. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes,” I said. “How did you and Maggie meet?”
“Oh, it’s the most wonderful meet-cute story.” Ruby’s eyes glowed with happiness. “We met at the library. We literally ran into each other at the corner of biographies and true crime. Maggie’s arms were loaded down with books and they all went flying and they made the loudest noise when they landed. Everyone in the library was staring at us. I looked at her and she looked at me and we both got the giggles. Do you remember, Maggie?”
“Yes,” Maggie said.
“It was the best day of my life. I knew that Maggie was meant for me. Has that ever happened to you, Wyatt? Have you ever just met someone and knew they were destined to be your soul mate?”
“Yes.” I stared at Maggie and Ruby made an angry sound of disapproval.
“No. Not Maggie. She’s my soul mate. Not yours.”
“She left you,” I said.
Ruby’s face drew down in a scowl. “That was a mistake. She was – was confused, that’s all. But now that we’re together again, she understands that she needs me. Isn’t that right, Maggie?”
“That’s right,” Maggie said. “So, why don’t you untie me, and I’ll grab my things and we’ll leave. We’ll get out of this stupid town and we won’t look back, Ruby. Just you and me. Together forever.”
“Mmm, I don’t think I’m quite ready to trust you yet, sweetie. You did after all, put a restraining order against me.” Ruby giggled and gave me a I-did-a-bad-thing look. “I guess I’m kind of breaking the law, huh, Officer Wyatt?”
“How did you find her?” I inched a little closer and Ruby shook her head before running the barrel of the gun through Maggie’s hair.
“No, no. Don’t do that, Wyatt.”
I backed up a step. “Tell me how you found her.”
“Oh, you’ll love this. So, I have a friend. His name is Frank. I fuck him from time to time, but not because I enjoy it or want it. Oh God, he has the smallest dick, I swear. But the benefits of fucking small-dick Frank, is that when I need something computer related, he’s my guy.”
She gave me a thoughtful look. “I suppose he’s what the movies would refer to as a hacker. He lives in the basement of his mom’s house – Lord, he is just the biggest cliché, isn’t he?” She laughed before continuing, “Anyway, he lives in the basement of his mom’s house and spends most of his time watching porn and using his computer to find out all sorts of information he really shouldn’t know.”
She leaned down, keeping her gaze on my face, and kissed the top of Maggie’s head. “Maggie was pretty clever though. Do you know she hasn’t used her credit card or her debit card once since she ran away like a coward? Not once, Wyatt. I was so worried about her. Where was she sleeping? Was she eating enough? How was she getting money? For a while I even worried that she was,” she lowered her voice, “prostituting herself like a dirty little whore. I told Frank to keep looking though, because I knew sooner or later, she’d fuck up. She couldn’t help it.”
She kissed Maggie’s head again. “And she did fuck up. By getting herself a ticket for a burned-out tail light in some backwater, pissant little town. Frank came across the ticket and I figured it might be worth it just to take a drive out to your little town. You never know, right? And wouldn’t you know it… my very first day, I decided to stop in at the Farmhouse Diner for a bite to eat and who does my spying eye see through the window? Sweet Maggie.”
She smiled happily. “I’ve been here for a week, being a sly little mouse, just staying out of the way and never poking my nose out too much. I’ve been watching you come and go from this awful little,” she gave the bedroom a look of disdain, “house for days now, Wyatt. Just between you and me – you’re not a very good cop. You didn’t even notice me.”
She studied me carefully, a sly grin crossing her face. “Ah, Officer Wyatt, you look so upset. Are you just realizing that you’re the reason I found my Maggie again?”
“Maggie, baby, I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It isn’t your fault.”
“It kind of is,” Ruby said cheerfully. “Now, I think I’ve done enough of the proper movie villain thing and spilled all the details of my nefarious plans. Don’t you, Wyatt? I mean, I’ve given you plenty of time to come up with a plan to stop me and you’ve got nothing. Isn’t that right?”
“Let’s just leave, Ruby,” Maggie said again. “Please. I swear to you that Wyatt means nothing to me. You don’t have to hurt him, okay?”
“Oh, sweetie,” Ruby said gently, “I’m not going to hurt Wyatt. I am going to kill him though.”
“No!” Maggie cried. She rocked against the ropes and the duct tape, trying desperately to free herself. “Ruby, no! Please! I am begging you, let’s just leave. Okay?”
“For someone who says she doesn’t love him, you’re awfully concerned about good ole’ Wyatt.” Ruby grinned.
“Because I’m a decent human being who doesn’t want to see someone die. Jesus Christ, Ruby,” Maggie shouted, “for the last time, he means nothing to me, and I mean nothing to him. Let’s just leave!”
“Calm down, sweetheart,” Ruby said. “No one likes a hysterical woman. The thing is, you can tell me all you want that you don’t love him, but you’ve forgotten how well I know you.” She gave Maggie a tender look. “You can’t hide anything from me, sweetie. You love him and he loves you. It’s written all over his face.”
She glanced up at me. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yes,” I said. “I love her.”
“Wyatt, no,” Maggie moaned.
“It’s all right,” Ruby said. “I already knew, Maggie. I already knew.”
She kissed Maggie’s head again. “Time to say goodbye to him.”
“No,” Maggie said, her voice on the edge of hysteria. “No, Ruby, please don’t.”
“Shh,” Ruby said. “It’s what’s best for you.”
“NO!” Maggie screamed. “Ruby, goddammit, no!”
Ruby flinched and plugged one ear. “Jesus, Maggie, that’s kind of shrill. Tell you what, I love you so I’m gonna be sweet and let you give Officer Wyatt over there one last kiss goodbye. Okay?”
“Please, Ruby.” Maggie was crying now, and Ruby lovingly wiped away the tears on her face.
“Shh, sweetie, don’t cry. Say goodbye to him and make it a good kiss. It’s the last one he’ll ever get.”
Ruby straightened and pointed the gun at me. “Toss your gun to the middle of the bed, please, Wyatt.”
I hesitated and she gave me a weary look. “Either you toss your gun to the bed and I let you say goodbye to Maggie, or you die right now. Your choice.”
I tossed my gun to the middle of the bed, watching as Ruby backed away until she was in the furthest corner of the room. She kept the gun pointed at Maggie as she said, “Now you head on over to that far corner, just behind Maggie, please.”
I did what she asked. Th
e distance between us was too much for me to even try and tackle the gun away from her. I passed by Maggie, she was still weeping softly, and stood in the corner as Ruby moved to my spot in front of the doorway.
“There,” she said. “Aren’t I clever, Wyatt? I’ve watched a lot of movies and I know better than to let you get anywhere close to me. That’s how we lose guns.” She laughed in delight before making a ‘go on’ motion with the gun. “Go ahead and give Maggie a kiss goodbye.”
I crossed to Maggie and crouched next to her chair. She gave me a stark look of despair. “I’m so sorry, Wyatt. I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”
“I know, baby. Shh, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”
“It isn’t,” she whispered. “I can’t – I can’t live without you.”
“You won’t be,” I said. “I’m not dead yet.”
She studied me, her eyes glistening with tears. Her voice so soft and quiet I could barely hear her, she said, “I love you, Wyatt.”
“I know, baby.” I cupped her face. “I love you.”
I kissed her, tasting cold fear and salty tears on her mouth. My heart was a jittering, out-of-control beat in my chest and sweat was sliding down my back. I pulled back and made myself smile at Maggie again. “I love you, baby. Don’t ever forget that.”
I stood, and Maggie made a loud sobbing cry that tore my heart wide open.
“Please, Ruby,” she sobbed, “please don’t kill him. I’ll do whatever you ask, just let him live. Please.”
“I can’t do that, Maggie,” Ruby said as she raised her gun and pointed it at me.
My gaze skittered to the bed, wondering if could dive forward and get my gun before she shot me dead.
“Sorry about this, Wyatt,” Ruby said with a small smile. “It really isn’t anything personal, in fact, I -”
There was a hollow thudding noise. I watched in disbelief as Ruby’s eyes rolled up in her head and chocolate chip cookies flew past her face. She crumpled to the ground, falling flat on her face, the gun falling from her hand to land on the floor with a heavy clunk.
