Chapter Forty-Five

Blue and red lights pulsed and flashed over faces and shelves, shimmering through the windows in ghostly hues. Percival stood on the pavement outside, doggedly refusing to let anyone through. He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted slightly on his heels. If Gary wasn’t completely off the mark, Perce was quietly whistling the Prelude to Wagner’s Lohengrin.

Gary stood to the side and watched. It was only a matter of time before Kate revealed the truth.

“Let me get this straight.” Marcus leaned against the counter next to Kate and blinked slowly. He had arrived at the store in record time and hadn’t left her side since. “Ryan Delaney is married, but was a member of a gentleman’s club that provided costly services catering toward nympholepts with a propensity for violence. Our pseudonymous friend Mr. Wendell—gambler, weak-willed and morally challenged scoundrel—gathered evidence of this unfortunate fetish in all its digital, inkjet glory and reaped the benefits of his fortunate happenstance for a year, using and losing it to finance his love for the game.”

“Right.”

Marcus continued, “Finally Delaney snapped, and spiced up the old pickle stock with deadly flair. When lo and behold Wendell’s vitality was arrested by a timely heart attack as he was unscrewing the very lethal concoction meant to sever his mortal coil. Coincidence or fate, Delaney thanked his lucky stars, before being seized by the fear that those documents of shame would return to haunt him again by falling into the hands of another—specifically yours. He followed you to see what you knew. Luck was on his side yet again when he cleverly convinced Roselyn to turn over Wendell’s belongings to him. However, there was no laptop. Knowing there had to be a computer on which the pictures were stored, he broke into the house to search for it, only to come upon an empty room. There is no longer so much as an incriminating crumb of pulverized potato crisp dust or an empty can of cheap beer, let alone negatives of the blackmailer’s prized photographs. You came upon him and he bopped you over the head. Fearing for your safety, Gary cornered him in an alley, appearing from the darkness like a well-dressed vigilante, and gave him a two-fisted warning, impossible to misinterpret. Our desperate villain, however, was not easily frightened, or simply daft beyond all belief—”

“Pissed off.”

“Or that. Either way, he decided to seek you out, throwing caution to the wind. Our villain performed the ultimate faux pas and entered your store after closing, bent on—”

“Burning my store to the ground and killing me in the process of taking the laptop back.”

Marcus blanched. “Quite so. Destroying evidence, the cretinous poltroon.”

Kate laughed, then winced. Every muscle had begun to ache. “Poltroon?”

“A coward.”

“I’ll have to remember that one.” She rubbed chilled fingers against her jeans. Her voice sounded detached, as if she was watching something from a long way off that had nothing to do with her. Delayed shock.

“With your usual panache, you beat him to a bloody pulp,” Marcus finished. He looked like his mind was reeling.

Gary said, “Money and fear are strong motives, and he had both.”

“This could only happen to you, Kate.” Marcus gazed blankly at the entrance to the store. “When exactly did he break your door down?”

“He didn’t. That was Gary.”

Marcus’s eyebrows arched to an impossible height and shot a glance at him. “What?”

“The door was locked from the inside and Gary broke it down. I had it covered. I don’t need anyone to save me or Sir Percival over there.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” Gary said dryly. Tonight proved that she did need to be protected. The hero just wasn’t meant to be him.

Marcus looked from the gaping doorway to Gary and back again. “I’m impressed at the valiant attempt nonetheless.”

The store had quickly filled with a small crowd. Tim and Will had their backs pressed up against a shelf to the side, hoping to remain unnoticed. They gazed at the activity with unabashed delight. “The door is shattered,” Tim murmured. “Kate is going to be so mad.”

Dr. Garreth stood in the center of the store, feet planted firmly, hands on hips, and scowling. His head swung from side to side, taking in the situation with open disgust. When he dropped his leather satchel at his feet with a bang, splinters of wood and glass rippled outward across the floor.

A figure jogged across the road toward the store, was about to enter the store when an arm, the size and width of a tree branch blocked the way.

Jeremy glared at Percival. “I’m with the doc.”

“Credentials,” Perce demanded.

“Ow! God damnit!” The exclamation exploded through the store.

Delaney was on his feet, hands cuffed behind his back, and was scowling and swearing furiously. Henry held onto him with one hand while a strip of packing tape dangled from the other. He looked at him patiently.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Henry rattled off Delaney’s rights as he marched him to the door.

“You’re arresting the wrong person.” Delaney spun suddenly, staring straight at Gary. “He’s the one you want! He killed him!” He all but spat the words at him. “He killed Wendell!”

Tim and Will gasped. “So cool,” Tim whispered on a sigh of sheer bliss.

“Ace,” Will agreed.

Gary’s face remained impassive, giving away nothing. He could feel the tension radiating off Kate.

Henry looked at Dr. Garreth questioningly. “It would mean a lot of paperwork, if what he’s saying is true.”

Dr. Garreth stared at Delaney. Then he slapped his thigh and broke into raucous laughter. “That’s a first!” He wagged his finger at Delaney. “Trying to turn a natural death into a homicide. If the fellow died of anything other than a heart attack than I’m John bloody Wayne. Better stage a postmortem because I must have missed the bullet.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Anyone want to exhume the body? Be my goddamn guest.”

“But—”

Henry pushed Delaney roughly toward the door. “I don’t want any more stories from you. Wait until the lads at the Yard hear about this,” he muttered happily. “Ha! Always bragging about gang wars, brawls, and murder. This’ll wipe the smirk right off their faces. Culpam poena premit comes.”

“Huh?” Will frowned.

“‘Punishment presses hard onto the heels of crime.’” Tim translated the Latin without a second thought, it being obviously a well-worn phrase in the Smith household. Something casually used over the mashed potatoes and gravy.

Tim suddenly squinted at something over Will’s shoulder. He gasped, eyes alight with excitement. He stretched on his toes and gingerly removed a book from the shelf the way an archeologist would remove a fossil from the earth. He brushed over the cover, then held it aloft for Kate to see, a triumphant grin crossing his face.

From where he was standing, Gary could see the blue and brown cover, with bold white typeface and two boys deciphering mysterious symbols carved into a stone slab.

“The Mystery of the Mayan Warrior,” Will breathed reverently. The boys sat on the floor, backs to the shelves, and Tim flipped the cover open. They leaned over the book in anticipation.

Delaney limped past them as Henry led him out. Jeremy stared openly at Delaney’s blood-stained face and his crooked nose. “What happened to him?”

“Kate did,” Gary said.

“Blimey.” Jeremy shook his head pityingly. “Let’s patch you up then, shall we?”

“Jeremy,” Dr. Garreth barked. “Take care of his face. And twinkle toes,” he added to Kate, “you’ll need to be treated for shock. You can go to hospital with us via ambulance or by a designated driver of your choice. Take your pick.” He hefted his bag, glanced once more around, harrumphed, and followed Jeremy out.

Marcus jingled his keys in his pocket. “I’ll take you.”

“No one gets in there,” Percival rumbled suddenly. He braced his hands against the doorframe, blocking the way.

Neil simply pushed the other man aside with one hand as if he was brushing aside a curtain, and barreled his way through. In the other hand, he was carrying a take-out cup from the Old Firehall Café. Percival had met his equal when it came to size and stature. After a moment’s shock, Percival swung around, stretched one giant hand out, and grabbed a fist-full of Neil’s shirt.

“It’s okay, Percival,” Gary said.

Percival released his captive abruptly.

Neil glared at Percival before crossing the room. He shoved the paper cup into Kate’s hand. “Hot toddy from the café,” he said gruffly. “Thought you’d need it.”

Kate cupped her hands around it gratefully. “Thanks, Neil.” She took a sip.

Rubber soles clomped over shards of glass and wood. Percival pushed the intruder out onto the sidewalk and barricaded the doorway with his bulk. “No.”

Thwack! A cane sliced down and whacked him sharply on the forearm. Percival’s broad back tensed. “Ye’ll move aside. Noo!”

“No.”

“Remind me to give Percival a raise after tonight,” Gary murmured.

The cane poked Percival in the side. He growled and his fingers tightened on the door frame.

There was a tense pause.

“Who doo ye think ye are, blockin’ my way? I’ll no tolerate it! Not from anyone, least of all a knuckle-headed lout like you.”

“I bet he was after a book.” Tim peered at the destruction, keeping a firm hold on his own find. “A book with a secret code that was sold by accident and he needed it back. To find the treasure.”

Will nodded solemnly. “Diamonds?”

“What else?”

Will suddenly dug a fist in his pocket and came up with a handful of wrapped candies.

Tim studied them for a second, then chose a green-colored one. He picked a piece of fluff off, thoughtfully unwrapped it and popped the candy into his mouth.

“When are you gonna tell your dad?” Will asked, rolling the candy around his mouth.

“When he gets home. You can come over.” Tim paused. “It’s Mum I’m really worried about,” he confessed.

“If the bairn can get in, then so can I!” Penelope snarled.

Percival swung his head around and looked toward Gary with a pained expression on his face.

Gary shrugged.

“Percival is a brave man,” Marcus said without tearing his eyes away from the scene in the doorway. “That is one job you couldn’t pay me to do. Not for all the money in the world.”

Kate laughed. “I agree. You can call Percival off now, Gary. He’s suffered enough for one day. I still don’t know why you thought I needed him to protect me. The villain just limped out of the door in handcuffs thanks to me.”

In a flash, Gary grabbed her wrist and yanked up the sleeve of the jacket, revealing the long shallow gash running the length of her lower arm to her elbow.

“Hey!” Kate tried to pull back.

“Then what the hell is this?” Gary clenched his jaw.

Marcus took a quick step forward, animosity emanating from him. “Let go.”

Gary released her abruptly. “That was luck. You could have been killed. Has that thought even registered with you?”

“Yeah, it has, but I’m fine besides some scrapes and bruises. You can’t save everyone, Gary.”

“Obviously.” Gary fought to keep his voice distant and dismissive. “I should go. There’s enough going on here. You don’t need me, Kate.”

“Hold on—”

Gary continued out the door as though he hadn’t heard.

****

Kate shoved the cup of tea into Marcus’s hands.

“Kate—”

“I’ll be right back.” She hopped off the counter, skirted around Tim and Will, avoided Marcus’s questions and poked Percival firmly in the back. “I need to get outside.”

Percival glanced at her warily, simultaneously managing to keep the street in view. “I’m not sure about that.”

“See how Delaney walked out of here?”

He nodded grudgingly, suspicious.

“That could be you if you don’t let me through. Got that?”

He stepped aside.

“Thanks.”

Penelope stood on the pavement, peering at the police car, the ambulance, the broken door frame, the jagged glass, and Percival. Her lips were pressed together tightly and her eyes were bright, razor-sharp, and piercing. She stomped her cane on the ground imperviously. Judgment had been passed. “Girlie! What’ll be the meanin’ of all this fracas?”

Kate shoved past her.

Penelope gasped in outrage. Percival reached out and grabbed hold of the cane just as she was about to charge after Kate. She swung around on him and bared her teeth. “What do ye think ye’re doin?”

They glared at each other.

Kate sprinted to catch up with Gary. “Hey!” She grabbed his arm and brought him up short. She stepped in front of him and blocked his path. The blue light of the cop car throbbed over his features. The air felt cool and slightly damp on her skin. She handed him his jacket. “You forgot this. Why do I have the feeling that you’re walking away for good?”

Gary paused, his jaw set and his eyes unreadable. “I watched her get shot. I watched you hit the floor through a sheet of glass, covered with blood.”

“Not my blood. Well, mostly not.”

“It doesn’t matter. The point is that I could have prevented it. Instead I set everything into motion.”

“Delaney would have killed Wendell if you hadn’t.”

“And that makes it better?”

The words hung suspended between them. Emotion caught at her heart.

“Kate.” A breeze twisted past, tugged at their clothes before sliding away through the buildings and on. “You don’t trust me. You don’t know me. You think you do, but you don’t.” A wry half-smile teased at his mouth and fell short of his eyes. He stepped closer and looked down at her.

Her heart clenched painfully. “Don’t put words in my mouth.” The scratch on her arm stung. “You’re a better person than you think you are, Gary. I hope one day you’ll realize that.”

“I said it once and I’ll say it again. I can’t give you promises. I don’t have any left,” he said simply.

Kate hugged her arms around herself. “So this is it?”

“I know what loss is, Kate. I still miss her. I see her every time I close my eyes.”

The confession rang in the air, lingering on like the clash of bells.

“There’s no competing with a ghost.”

He laced his fingers through hers. Raised her hand and pressed a careful kiss to her wrist, above the wound. It tingled up her arm, hummed through her pulse. “You of all people should know that the girl in the fairy tale never ends up with the killer.”

“This isn’t a fairy tale.”

“I’d have to agree with that.”

“You offered once to be my partner in crime. What if I need your help solving another mystery?”

Gary grinned. “I’d wager a tenner it won’t be long before you stumble on another mystery. We’ll see what happens then. We might have to discuss it over dinner.”

“There’s always a way to lay the ghosts to rest, Gary.”

“If you discover the secret, let me know. Stay out of trouble, Kate.”

“You too.” Kate lifted her chin. This wasn’t the end. She’d see him again.

Gary walked into the darkness and the night, thick with the scents of autumn.

He reached into his pocket for the necklace. His fingers closed around the pendant.