“You don’t want to do this, Tim. Lynn isn’t worth a first-degree murder charge. She’s cheating on you.” These were things he already knew, but unfortunately, the woman must’ve had a magic vagina, because Tim didn’t blame her. He blamed Sawyer and himself, and he didn’t care that his black widow wife was the biggest culprit of all.
“We were trying to call from the office phone, and you tripped and hit your head,” he said as he moved closer. “You’ve been a bit wobbly tonight. I mean, you nearly passed out in the hall. It will be a tragedy.” He sounded disconnected from his emotions, and insidious fear coiled in my gut.
“They won’t believe you, Tim. You won’t get away with it.”
He smiled. “I got away with it for twelve years. I like my chances.”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I yanked on the cord. A space heater sitting on top of a file cabinet clambered to the floor. The front grate busted away from the appliance and skid across the tile. Tim barked a sound of surprise and jumped sideways as I yanked the cord again, and the heater smashed against the cabinet and made an impressively loud bang.
Adrenaline gave me wings, and I flew to the door. Before I could rotate the slide bolt, Tim had his hand on my sleeve. He yanked me hard. I yelped as my dress tore, and I stumbled sideways into the office window. I pushed the blinds aside and could see guests in the corridor, including an angelic vision in a ruched red dress. “Gilly!” I bellowed. “Gilly in here!” I banged on the glass. “Help!”
She looked in my direction, but Tim grabbed me, and the blinds closed. He swung the paperweight at me, and I ducked.
I’d grown up as a cop’s daughter, I’d been a cop’s wife, and I was now dating another cop. I’d picked up some self-defense moves over the years. When Tim swung on me again, I rotated into the blow and swung my elbow around to smash him in the face. It hurt both of us when the strike landed. I followed with a stomp on his arch, wishing like hell I’d worn hard-soled boots instead of sneakers.
There was pounding on the door as I dropped down to the ground and rolled away from Tim. “You hear that, you son-of-a-bitch? They’re coming. They’re coming for you. No more getting away with it.” I panted with effort as I got to my knees.
“I’m gonna kill you,” he seethed. He rushed at me, and when he raised his hand to pummel me, I punched out with all my might, and nailed him in his family jewels.
Tim howled as he doubled over and dropped the stone paperweight. I picked it up before he could and smacked him across the temple with it, sending him all the way to the floor. The unconscious bastard landed across my lap. I kicked him off me and crawled to the door. I used the handle to pull myself to a stand, then unlocked the door.
Gilly was the first to rush in. “Nora!” Her horrified, worried expression told me all I needed to know.
I hugged her tightly as she wrapped her arms around me.
“Cripes, you had me so scared,” she said. “We couldn’t get in. That door had to be designed for war.”
“Nora!” Pippa exclaimed as she joined in on the hug.
Jordy rushed past us, grabbed the cord I’d used to save my life, and hog-tied Tim Dean.
“You hurt?” Pippa asked me.
“Nothing but my pride.” I’d really thought Tim had been the injured party in this plot. Turned out, he was a killer, and he’d been prepared to kill again. “Thanks to my heroes,” I told her.
Gilly leaned back and glanced at the knocked-out, tied-up bad guy on the ground. “Babe, you’re your own hero.”
“You found me. That made all the difference. If you hadn’t seen me,” I said, my voice and body shaky now that the adrenaline had worn off. “It could’ve ended differently.”
“But it didn’t.” She gave my back a brisk rub.
“Ezra needs us,” I said. “He has Daffney.”
“I know,” she told me. “That Biff guy found us. He sent Scott down there.”
“An ambulance?”
“Tony Morton called. He said his phone had all the bars, and when we couldn’t find you…” She made a fist and shook it in Tim’s direction. “Is it bad to kick a guy when he’s down?”
I cracked a smile. “He’ll get his due in prison.”
“I’ll go check on Ezra and Scott,” Jordy said. “Are you guys all right here?”
I nodded. “Tell Ezra what happened. Tell him I’m okay.”
“I will,” he said.
Morton came into the office after Jordy departed. “The police and an ambulance are on the way.” His eyes widened as he took in the prone figure of Tim Dean. “He was always such a quiet man.”
“It’s always the quiet ones,” Gilly said solemnly.
Tim groaned and began to stir.
Gilly looked at me. “Are you sure I can’t kick him?”
“It would, like, be, like, a rad move against a really bad dude,” Pippa said.
Gilly snickered. “He’s totally grody to the max.”
My heart filled with love for my two friends who always had my back no matter what. “You guys are totally bitchin’ besties.” I glanced down at Tim then back to Gilly. “Do you want to make a citizen’s arrest? I think Ezra promised you that.”
She grinned. “I absolutely do.” She walked over to Tim, toed him with the end of her shoe, then balled her fists on her hips. “Okay, dirtbag, you have the right to remain silent.” She glanced back at me. “Maybe I should wait until he’s awake.”
I crinkled my nose at her. “However you want to play it. It’s your birthday, after all.”
I’d never been so grateful when the ambulance and the police showed up. The police arrested Tim Dean, and after I gave them my statement, they took Lynn Gleason and Sawyer Johnson in for questioning. I had a feeling Tim was going to give them an earful about his wife and her lover. I hoped all three got their just dues.
The paramedics had gotten Daffney’s bleeding stopped and had hooked her up to an IV. They looked at me, but other than a few bumps and bruises, I was fine. Ezra, however, had needed to be treated for minor burns. Velma had already headed to the hospital in her own car. I stood with Ezra as they loaded Daffney into the ambulance. She refused to look in Ezra’s direction.
“You saved her life,” I said. “Why is she acting like she’ll turn to stone if she captures your eye?”
He chuckled. “She propositioned me.”
My eyes widened as I realized what he said. “She what?”
“After you left the room with Dean, she came around. She asked me how much I cost.”
“I don’t understand.”
He grinned. “She thought I was a prostitute, Nora. She wanted to know how much I charged for my services.”
I couldn’t hide my shock. “No.”
“Yep.” He raised his brows in amusement. “Imagine her surprise when I told her I was a cop.”
“I can imagine.” I turned to face him. “This means…” I put my fingers over my mouth. “Oh, my gawd. She thought I’d hired you to be my date.”
He laughed out loud at that. “Yep.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her that I’d never loved anyone the way I love you, and that I’ve never been loved better by anyone before you.” He took me in his arms. “I’m so happy you didn’t get hurt.”
“Me too,” I said. I kissed him.
“Excuse me,” a man interrupted. “What is going on?”
I looked over my shoulder to see Robert Forester standing behind me. Ezra practically vibrated.
“You,” he said, his voice full of accusation.
I’d nearly forgotten about the vision I’d had when the man had crossed paths with me earlier. I stepped away from Ezra as he quickly moved around me, grabbed Forester and shoved him against the side of the ambulance. “You’re under arrest,” he said.
“For what?” the actor sputtered. “I haven’t done anything.” He’d lost his upper-crust accent, and it had been replaced with something that sounded more like he’d come from the south.
“You killed a man,” I said. “You stabbed him with a knife.”
“I never!” he exclaimed.
“Sonny,” I told him. “Does that ring any bells?”
He coughed. “Sonny. You mean, Sonny Carolla?”
“Maybe,” I admitted. There’d been no last names in my vision.
“Carolla?” Ezra asked.
“What? Have you heard of Sonny Carolla?” I asked Ezra.
“Millions of people have heard of Sonny Carolla,” the actor sputtered.
“Oh my.” I let out a slow breath to still my excitement. Had I just broken some great unsolved case? A zing of thrill zipped through me as I imagined his poster coming down from the FBI’s most wanted billboard.
Ezra looked flummoxed as he eased his hold on the older man. “Uhm, I’m afraid there’s been a mistake.”
“I’ll say.” Forester took a few steps away. “I’ll never get away from Victor Patrone.”
“Victor Patrone?” Was Forester in hiding from another bad guy?
Ezra frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think we need to—"
The actor snarled. “That character ruined my life.” He raised his fist and shook it. “Do you know how many death threats I got daily from disgruntled housewives who wanted to kill me for executing their favorite character?”
“Favorite character? I’m really confused,” I said. I looked to Ezra for answers.
He gave me a half-grimace, half-smile. “As The Globe Burns,” he said. “It was a soap opera in the nineties.” He gave Forester an apologetic shrug. “I’m afraid my mom was one of those angry fans.” He softly laughed. “Damn, I forgot all about that. She punched a wall when you killed off Sonny.”
“Young man,” Forester said, straightening his jacket and adjusting his dignity. “I didn’t kill him off. The writers did. If you want to manhandle someone, I will happily give you their names.”
“Nope. All good.” Ezra tilted his head and gave the man a tight-lipped smile. “Again, I apologize.”
Before Forester could walk away, I asked him, “Why are you wearing that cologne?” Surely, not all the straight guys were sleeping with Lynn.
The older man, still acting wounded and offended, sniffed his displeasure. “It was…available.” Ah, he’d used either Tim’s or Sawyer’s cologne. That made more sense as to why I was getting hits of them off Forester. The actor yanked his collar up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go meditate…again.” I couldn’t blame him for wanting to find his Zen again. He’d been taken to task over an almost thirty-year-old grudge.
I wrapped my arms around Ezra’s waist. “Your mom used to watch, huh?”
He kissed my forehead. “I might’ve caught a few episodes here or there.”
“Only a few?” I grinned and slid my hand up the back of his shirt.
He stiffened at my cold fingers against his skin. “We don’t need to tell the others about this, er, misunderstanding, do we?”
“It’ll be our little secret,” I told him. “How about we get the gang and pack it in? I think this murder mystery weekend is a bust, and I’m ready to go home and get in my own bed…” I kissed him again. “With you.”
“That sounds like an event I can get into.” He nipped my lower lip. “Admission free.”
“You’re so bad.”
He reached down and cupped my butt with both hands. “I’m ready to show you just how bad I can be.”
“Excuse me,” Gilly said. She was standing with Scott, Pippa, and Jordy. “I figured out who the killer is. You know, the one who killed Biff the jock.” She arched her brow and with her best detective voice, she said, “The murderer is Leah Standish.”
“Ironic,” Pippa said. “You know, since she orchestrated the death of one husband and was trying to off another.”
Gilly gave her a don’t-ruin-my-moment stare. With a lot of enthusiasm, she said, “From the clues, I deduced that Leah was in love with Mr. Moore, who had stopped seeing her when Biff blackmailed him. Moore broke up with Leah, so she caused trouble between Mary Jane Masterson, Brian Bender, and Biff. It was her way of throwing suspicion away from herself. She hit him with a trophy that was hidden in one of the rooms and strangled him with a rope covered in chemical powder to get revenge on the teacher who dumped her to save his job!” She smacked the bottom of her fist against her palm. “Boom! Birthday girl gets bragging rights.”
“Okay,” I said. “Congratulations. I mean, I solved a real crime, but sure, I’ll give you this one.”
Pippa rolled her eyes. “Is it really fair to say Gilly solved the fake case if Tony Morton told her the solution.”
Gilly backhanded Pippa’s arm. “Spoilsport.” Gilly looked around. “I hope Tony and Tina, who I found out are total BFFs since college and partners in School’s Out for Murder, keep the event going. They said they had full bookings clear through to the fall. They’ll just need to find a couple of actors…” She turned her eager stare at me.
“Have fun with that,” I snorted.
“I’m tempted,” Gilly said. “Especially with the twins off to college. But I probably won’t. I need another full-time job like I need another hole in my head.” She sighed. “Ah well, let’s get our crap and get the heck out of here. We can eat birthday cake at my house tomorrow.”
Scott put his arm around her from behind. “Cake is always a reason to celebrate.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. I glanced around at my circle of friends, feeling damn lucky to have them in my life. My besties had fought to try and save me, the same as I would do for them. I nodded to Gilly. “And as far as I’m concerned, you get total bragging rights.”
“Good,” she said. She took a large metal button from her pocket and put it on her coat. “Because I have the super sleuth badge, and I plan to wear it with pride.”
“As you should.” I laughed. “Happy birthday, super sleuth.”