Or at least I thought Daisy made it past Ancarrow. When I finally found my legs, ready to run, it was way too late. Ancarrow stood with an arm encircling Daisy’s waist, holding her close to him while she struggled. The instant he spotted me, a gun appeared in his right hand, complete with silencer, and he pressed it up against Daisy’s temple.
“Stay right where you are, Miss Reynolds,” he said in a particularly nasty tone. Daisy froze at the first touch of his weapon against her blanched skin.
“Let’s not do anything we’ll all regret.” I tried to make my voice sound confident, but even I could hear the stark terror in it.
“Regret? Oh, I don’t think I’m going to regret any of this. I’m going to be done with this fiasco once and for all.”
“Mr. Ancarrow, I know you’ve been under a great deal of stress losing your partner and all the mess he left behind, but taking your problems out on us isn’t the answer.” My bravado slowly returned, maybe because my brief tenure at Daley & Palmer had helped me deal with nut cases who’d gone over the edge. The key was to maintain a calm tone and not show fear. If my deodorant was working, he wouldn’t see the river of perspiration that I knew must be pouring down my sides.
Ancarrow held Daisy so tight, that I was afraid he was going to break one of her fragile bones. “You know, the first time we met, I thought you were an idiot. It’s nice to know that my impression was correct.”
I decided to let his insults go. Although, under the circumstances, I’m not sure I had much choice. “We see this all the time at D & P. Everything is going along okay, you think you’re dealing with your stress just fine and then, bam!” I clapped my hands together loudly, a bit too loudly, because Ancarrow flinched, and the finger the poised on the trigger moved. I saw it all like it was in slow motion. “Easy there, Mr. Ancarrow. I’m just trying to make a point. Bad time to talk with my hands. My point is that you think you’re handling things and then they get out of hand and you snap. Like today.” I really needed to sit down before I passed out. I was definitely feeling light-headed. But I didn’t think Ancarrow would go for the fainting woman ploy.
“Stress? You think I’m under stress and have had a…what do you call it these days? A breakdown?” he asked with a snotty tone to his voice.
I was starting to think this guy was beyond help. And here I thought I’d gotten pretty good with patients in crisis. Only problem, Ancarrow wasn’t a patient.
“Breakdown works.” If I could just keep him talking until Ryder got back, everything would be okay. Ryder was a big guy. He’d know how to handle Ancarrow. Or at least maybe he could get the jump on him and defuse the situation. Oh, and a not-so minor detail—save Daisy and me.
He smiled, but without any warmth in his crazed face. It’s funny how some people dealt with grief. He and Robert O’Malley must have been a hell of a lot closer than I’d thought.
Daisy struggled helplessly in his arm and winced in pain at what must have been a crushing grip.
“Let her go,” I begged, hating to see Daisy endure any more pain.
“I wish I could, but that’s not possible. It’s a shame she was here with you. Now I’ll have to kill you both.”
Kill us? But didn’t depressed people usually turn their anger inward? Damn it, then Mr. Ancarrow needed to turn that anger inward and shoot himrself! “Let’s just put the gun down and talk this through rationally and calmly. I’m sure there’s a solution to the problem. There usually is. And if we just explore the possibilities, we’ll come up with an answer that works for all of us.” I flashed him a tentative smile to let him know that I was on his side, even if he’d gone over into loony-tune land and beyond.
“A solution? Oh, I have a solution for my problem, as you call it. You’ve got to die, Miss Reynolds, and unfortunately, this beautiful young lady will have to die, as well.”
“I don’t get it. What could you possibly have against me? We barely know each other.” Now he was making me mad. Like it was all my fault he’d flipped out.
“Have against you? Oh, that’s funny. I believe it’s the other way around.” He motioned for me to move away from the doorway, and he backed up slightly with Daisy so he could have a better view of the door. So much for my hope that Ryder would come back and get the jump on him. No, where Ancarrow stood, Ryder would be a sitting duck. He’d see Daisy held hostage, and he’d rush to her aid. Ancarrow would shoot him. And it would be all my fault, even though I still had no idea how I’d set him off. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot with a person.
“I really don’t understand.” I moved to where he indicated I should stand.
“You are incredibly stupid then. Surely you didn’t think that I’d let you live once I found out you could identify me.”
Daisy twisted and turned in his grip, her face showing nothing but blind panic.
“Identify you? Why wouldn’t I be able to identify you? I’m really good with names and faces.”
“A bit too good, I’d say. Especially from closet supply rooms.” He smiled wickedly, and it finally penetrated my poor working-on-one-cylinder brain. He was right. I’d been incredibly dense.
“That was just something I made up to flush out the killer. I really didn’t see anything,” I blurted out.
He laughed. He actually threw his head back and laughed. And in that moment, Daisy must have felt his grip ease because she bent and bit his wrist with all she had in her.
He screamed. “You little bitch!” He backhanded her, knocking her to the floor as if he were swatting a bothersome gnat.
Out of nowhere Higgins leaped at Ancarrow, snarling and growling like an attack dog instead of a pampered cat. Out came the cat’s newly manicured claws, aimed straight for Ancarrow’s face. Time seemed to slow. Ancarrow and Higgins both wailed and clawed at each other, Ancarrow in an attempt to peel the cat off his face, Higgins in an attempt to flay Ancarrow alive.
I didn’t waste any time. I rushed to Daisy’s side and yanked her to her feet. Daisy staggered, still dazed. The way Ancarrow had hit at her, it wouldn’t surprise me if she were seeing double.
“C’mon, we’ve got to get out of here,” I whispered to her.
If Higgins could keep Ancarrow busy just a few more seconds Daisy and I had a good chance of making it to the door to the hall and out the suite. Adrenaline surged through my body as I propelled a stumbling Daisy toward the suite door.
Ancarrow managed to rip Higgins off his face and hurled him to the floor. The unmistakable sound of breaking bones made my stomach clench.
“NO!” Daisy shrieked and ran toward Higgins crumpled, lifeless body. “NOOOOO!” She cradled the inert cat’s body to her and openly wept, her grief beyond consolation.
I didn’t hesitate. I dove to cover her. I didn’t know what else to do. My instinct for survival had momentarily deserted me. I was numb and dumb. What a combination.
But in the few seconds all of this unfolded, Ancarrow regained control. He wiped the streaks of blood off of his face with the back of his hand and leveled his gun directly at me.
In movies they always have the person’s life flash in front of them before they die. I have to admit either I’d had a really boring life or what they portray in movies is a big, fat lie. Nothing flashed before me. All I could see was the gun. It appeared to be ten times bigger than it really was. It was going to be the last thing I would ever see. I was going to die. All because I’d lied and set myself up in an attempt to catch a deranged killer. The irony was that Granddad had always told me that someday my little fibs were going to catch up with me. I’d never believed it until now.
“I never quite got the too stupid to live thing. Not until I met you, Miss Reynolds. Now it makes perfect sense.” Ancarrow steadied his hand, and I shut my eyes tight. I refused to beg for my life. It wouldn’t matter to this guy. He’d probably laugh as he fired the gun. Plus, I was damn tired of his insults. If he was going to kill me, go ahead and do it. Get it over with. He didn’t have to keep insulting me.
My mind raced in a hundred different directions. Somehow closing my eyes helped me calm down for just a moment. Or maybe blocking out the sight of that gun made the difference. I don’t know. All I knew was that my will to live hadn’t deserted me. If I was going to die, I was going to die fighting. I would not cower here like well, like a coward.
I opened my eyes and stared at Ancarrow. He seemed amused, seemed to be enjoying my anguish. And something snapped in me. I rose to my feet, still blocking Daisy and Higgins, although in the case of the cat that was purely accidental. I swayed, unsteady. “I want to be standing when you kill me.”
“I don’t care whether you sit, stand or lie down. You’re going to die. And then I’m going to kill your pretty little friend here.” He motioned with the gun toward where Daisy and Higgins huddled behind me.
“If you get away from here, you’ll have to answer to Ryder. He won’t care all that much about my death, but he’ll hunt you down and make you pay, big time, if you harm his sister.”
“His sister? Well, well, well. It just gets better and better.” I think he was being sarcastic, but in my current state, I couldn’t be sure. He leveled the gun at me.
Ryder, where are you?
“Daisy’s the one who saw you,” I said, stalling like crazy.
He frowned, and I kept talking.
“She was the one in the closet, not me. Daisy was terrified of you, and she probably would never have told anyone who you were.”
“Nice try, Miss Reynolds, trying to finger someone else as the eye-witness, but it’s not going to help you. Or Daisy. You’re both going to die.”
“I’m not lying. Daisy may have told Ryder. What are you going to do, kill him, too?”
“If I have to. But by the time R. J. discovers your bodies, I’ll be gone. And I doubt his sister said anything to him, or he wouldn’t have left her alone.”
Damn. Good point.
“Now, Miss Reynolds, enough talking. I’ve had all of you I can stand. My patience and my time are running short.”
I turned toward the suite door. “Ryder, thank God.” Ryder wasn’t there, of course, but it gave me that split second I needed to distract Ancarrow, because he took his attention away from me, his gaze flashing toward the door.
In that fraction of a second, I lunged for the gun.
A shot rang out. Loud and clear. I thought silencers didn’t make sounds, but maybe when you were dying everything seemed louder.
Ancarrow and I were still holding on to each other. I don’t know who appeared more surprised. I snuck a peek at the sticky wet substance spreading across my best white shirt and almost fainted when I saw the crimson bloodstain.
Funny, I didn’t feel any pain. Maybe this dying stuff wasn’t going to be as bad as I’d anticipated.
And then Ancarrow sank to the floor, his eyes wide.
Daisy stood in a perfect shooter’s stance, Ryder’s gun leveled at where Ancarrow had stood. She must have gotten it when Ancarrow and I were talking.
Ryder burst through the door and raced to Daisy, taking his gun from her and wrapping her shaking body in his protective arms. “It’s okay, sis. It’s okay.”
“He hurt kitty,” she told him.
Ryder turned to where Daisy pointed, and they bent to check on Higgins.
“Hurt kitty?” Granddad rushed into the office honing in on just those two words. “Where’s my baby?”
I pointed to where Daisy and Ryder were clustered, and Granddad raced toward them. I checked my bloody shirt and the body on the floor, both of which Granddad had ignored in his haste to get to his cat. It was kind of like having an out of body experience. I was there, but I wasn’t really. Not if you took into consideration how everyone was treating both me and Robert O’Malley’s dead partner.
“My God, Becca, are you all right?” Max stopped just inside the door when he saw me standing there with Ancarrow sprawled unnaturally at my feet.
I didn’t say anything. Shaking all over, I stepped over the dead body and walked slowly toward Chernov. He reached out and took me in his arms. It was then that I lost it. All the fear, all the drama had finally taken its toll on me. “Oh Max,” I sobbed. “He was going to kill us.”
“It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you, moya lyubov.” He continued to hold me and softly whispered words of his native Russian in my ear.
I finally calmed down enough to get out, “Daisy shot him. She saved my life.” And I continued to cling to Max like Saran wrap to a container of Tupperware. He was my lifeline.
“Call 9-1-1!” Granddad shouted. “Higgins needs an ambulance.”
The room erupted in conversation. Max and Ryder were shouting orders at each other. I heard my name taken in vain a couple of times. Granddad yelled for medical attention for the cat, while Daisy tried to console Granddad in her own unique way, murmuring and stroking him the same way she did the cat.
As Max and Ryder’s argument heated up—shifting to the subject of Ancarrow’s body and the status of Higgins, I drifted out of the suite and left them to sort it out. After all, I was late for work. Again.
Somehow I made my way back across the hall to Daley & Palmer. The two docs stood by my desk, their backs to me
“Marcy, we can’t keep her. Just look at her desk. It’s a mess. We’ve had nothing but problems since she came to work for us. She’s never on time. She’s not suited for this kind of work.” Even using his inside voice, I heard every word Dr. Dick spoke.
“I know, I know. And I agree with you in theory,” Marcy said.
Wait a minute, she did? Man, that hurt even worse than getting shot, if I’d actually gotten shot.
“In theory?” Dr. Dick snapped. “Obviously you haven’t been paying attention to practical application of theory.”
“She’s good with the patients and she tries. She really does.”
Dr. Dick snorted.
I sighed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so defeated.
“It’s okay, Dr. Dick,” I interrupted. I’d just save them the trouble of firing me and quit. It would make all of our lives a lot less complicated. “Just let me get a few things, and I’ll be out of your hair.” I moved past them and they made way for me. Opening and closing the desk drawers, I removed a few personal items.
“I’ll get the rest later. Right now, I think I just want to go home.”
They stared at me like I had grown multiple heads. Then I remembered my white shirt, covered in Ancarrow’s blood.
“Oh, I can explain this.” I held the disgusting shirt away from my body and pointed at the dark red stain. “It wasn’t my fault. Not really. Well, maybe a little bit. I should never have put out that small fib about being the eye-witness to a murder. Let me tell you. My granddad is right. A lie will come back to bite you on the butt. But in my own defense, Mr. Ancarrow brought it on himself.”
“What are you babbling about?” Dr. Dick asked.
Marcy seemed unable or unwilling to speak.
“Mr. Ancarrow is dead,” I said without trying to make it sound gentle.
Marcy Palmer swung around to give the room a swift, sweeping look, as if expecting the dead body to be stashed somewhere nearby.
“It’s okay. He’s not here. He’s over at Ryder’s office.” I hitched my thumb in the general direction of the suite across the hall.
“Thank God,” Dr. Dick replied. His inside voice sounded a tad shrill. “Not that the poor man is dead. Just that it didn’t happen here.”
Dr. Palmer and I both stared at him.
“Tell me you didn’t kill him, Miss Reynolds,” he added.
“No I didn’t. Why would you think that?” I asked.
“Perhaps because you’re covered in blood.”
“Well, yes, it is his blood. But Daisy shot him, and he kind of fell into me and bled all over the place.” I did a little pantomime in an effort to make the picture clear.
“Daisy, R.J.’s sister Daisy, shot someone?” Marcy asked incredulously. “That little mouse couldn’t harm a fly.”
Well, showed you how much she knew about the human psyche.
“Ancarrow injured my granddad’s cat. Daisy took exception to that. And she shot him.”
Dr. Dick slumped into the Queen Anne chair. “I guess Ryder knows plenty of good defense lawyers.”
I wrinkled my brow before figuring out where Dr. D. was coming from.
“No, no. It’s okay that he’s dead, really. Not only did he try to kill us, he was responsible for the deaths of Anna Blake and Robert O’Malley. I solved the case. Sort of. Too bad it almost got me killed, huh?”
They didn’t jump in and disagree like I’d hoped, so I took that as encouragement to leave. So, I did.