Luke groaned from his position on Gertie’s kitchen floor, and Dora’s heart clenched at the sound of the man coming back to consciousness. But at least he was still alive. Charles and Raúl were distracted by filling their bags with valuables, and Dora’s mind was racing with trying to sort out how she and Evie could overpower two men with their hands behind their backs.
Then she noticed Evie looking toward the master bedroom. Dora saw the door was ajar and Sunshine was peeking out of it. With a pair of scissors in her mouth! Just the tool Evie and she needed to release their zip-tie restraints. If the situation wasn’t so dire, Dora would have smiled. That dog continued to amaze her, and once they were out of this mess, she was going to have to see just how Sunshine could open a door.
The pup crept slowly toward Dora, who looked at Evie, and her friend cracked a smile. Dora had just managed to wrap her fingers around the cold metal of the sheers when Raúl glanced over at the women. His jaw dropped when he saw Sunshine. Dora gasped as silently as she could, wondering what he was going to do.
Fortunately, Raúl was afraid enough of Charles that he didn’t want to alert the man to the dog being free since it reflected his own incompetence. As he rushed over to deal with the situation, Dora clutched the scissors, hoping he wouldn’t notice them. And that’s when Raúl stepped in the donuts, squirting jelly and making his next step a doozy. His foot slipped like he’d stepped on a banana peel, and it kicked up into the air as he windmilled his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. It was touch and go there for a moment, but vanilla cream finally did him in. He landed on his back, cracking his head so hard he was knocked out cold.
Evie took the commotion as her cue, and she lunged forward toward Charles, who had turned to see what had happened. Sunshine got to Charles first and latched onto his ankle with her teeth. The man shouted and kicked trying to shake the dog loose. Evie jumped on his back and began to pummel him with her fists as she cried, “Don’t you dare hurt my dog!”
Dora had managed to get the scissors in the right position to begin to gnaw away at the plastic restraint, and she frantically tried to free herself faster so she could help Evie. But she soon learned her assistance wasn’t needed.
When Charles managed to throw Evie from his back, he was still struggling with Sunshine. That dog had teeth like a vice grip. And it was the perfect distraction for Evie. In a moment that seemed to stand still, Dora watched Evie pull her inner warrior forward. She lifted up her arms and poised for attack. A blood-curdling scream came from her mouth as she leapt into the air to kick out a foot Karate Kid style. She hit Charles in the forehead with such force he had to have been out cold before he dropped to the ground like a cut tree.
“Yes!” Evie cried as she pumped an arm in the air.
Somewhere along the line, Luke had gained consciousness and was sitting up and shaking his head as he said, “Whoa, classic movie dream.”
“Nope,” Dora said, beaming with pride over Evie taking down the bad guy. “I think that was the result of a raffle prize win.”
“Six free months of Krav Maga lessons,” Evie said with just as much pride. “The class was called ‘Your Money or Your Life.’”
Raúl began to stir from his position on the floor and whimpered. “Mommy? Mom—” His eyes opened, and he inhaled sharply before jumping to his feet.
But Dora’s hands were finally free, and she jumped up with the scissors gripped tightly in her fist like a knife. “Not so fast, Chef Boyardee. I believe it’s your turn to have a seat.” She waved the shears indicating he should sit in a kitchen chair.
Raúl glanced over at an unconscious Charles on the floor and then at the growling version of Sunshine before his shoulders slumped in defeat and he did as he was told. He dropped his head in his hands and let out a moan before lifting his face to Dora and Evie.
“This isn’t how things were supposed to go,” Raúl said through his tears. “Myrtle was like a mother to me. I came here over a year ago with nothing. She fed me, helped me start a career as a personal chef. The woman was a mastermind when it came to marketing.”
“We saw the cardboard cutout in your apartment,” Evie said as she grabbed a roll of duct tape from a pile near Gertie’s desk. She motioned for him to put his hands behind his back so she could tape them together. “Nice Photoshopping.”
“I know, right?” He waggled his eyebrows as he leaned forward in his chair to give Evie access to his wrists. “It was a hit with the ladies.”
Dora snorted as she stood at the ready with her scissors in case Raúl had plans to make a fast move. She was tempted to help Luke as he managed to drag himself to sit in another chair at the table, but she knew he’d want her to remain vigilant until Raúl was restrained.
Raúl continued speaking, “I wasn’t only a charity case to Myrtle and Gertie. We were friends. I really did clean for them, and run errands, too. We were so close.” He hiccupped. “Myrtle put me in her will. And Gertie”—he paused to sniff—“was such a sweet old woman. She—”
Dora had heard enough of his sob story. “Sweet old ladies? Raúl, you killed them.”
“Charles made me do it,” he pleaded. “He was going to kill me if I didn’t get the money. I had it, you see? I mean Myrtle had that heart scare a couple months ago, and we all thought she was at death’s door. I just needed time. But he wouldn’t let me wait, and Myrtle was talking about lawyers and paperwork. So, I did some research and found an herb concoction that would interfere with her heart medication.”
The murder-by-poisoning theory was confirmed, but Dora still wondered something. From what Evie and she had discovered, Myrtle had plenty of money. He didn’t need to off Gertie as well. She asked, “Why did you kill Gertie if Myrtle had put you in her will?”
“I needed to test how much of the herbs were needed. From cleaning her place, I knew Gertie was taking heart pills on the sly and that she had the same condition Myrtle had. Since the herbs had a funny flavor and Myrtle was picky about her food, I needed to make sure one or two bites would work.”
Luke croaked out. “Raúl Crawford, you’re a disgrace to chefs everywhere.”
“I gave those women a peaceful death in their own home, where they both wanted to die,” Raúl said with conviction Dora suspected he didn’t feel. “Their time was coming after all.”
“And so is yours,” Luke said. He held up his phone. “A quick email to the local police with the voice recording of your confession, and I believe this case is wrapped up.”
Raúl hopped up to his feet, but Sunshine was on him like white on rice, and he quickly sat back down.
Dora’s heart surged with the warmth of her feelings for Luke. He practically tied up the murders of Myrtle and Gertie with a big red bow. “Oh my god!” she said as she bent down and threw her arms around her man. “You’re brilliant.”
Evie let out a little huff as she stood up after taping up the still-unconscious Charles. But Dora knew her friend wasn’t really mad at her for thanking Luke instead of the bestie who’d knocked out the bad guy and had a thumb that was now swollen to twice its size from being yanked out of its socket. When Evie was in Cirque du Soleil, Dora had been down the dislocation road with her a few times. She let go of Luke and asked her friend, “Want me to snap your thumb back into place for you?”
“Got a bottle of tequila for me to down first?”
Dora suspected Evie was only half joking, but she knew alcohol was the last thing she needed. Dora took a deep breath, grabbed Evie’s thumb, and quickly shoved it back in its socket.
“Mother of …” Evie let out a long string of profanity that didn’t make any sense but definitely helped her state of mind and made Sunshine shake her head in disapproval.
Dora glanced over at the bags Evie and she had packed in preparation to leave for California. While she was definitely ready to leave New Orleans, she had a moment of nostalgia. She looked around the apartment where they had lived for a few days, learning about a woman who had died. They’d come to get a piggy bank containing evidence that could clear her name, but instead they’d ended up solving two murders and doing what they could to find justice for Gertie and Myrtle.
Then Dora gazed at Luke and let out a sigh. “It’s goodbye again.”
He nodded as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “Not forever, Dora. I’ll wait however long it takes.”
She smiled up at him as her emotions threatened to overflow. Dora believed Luke, and she refused to let any self-doubt niggle its way into her thoughts. “I know. Thank you.”
Luke leaned in and brushed his lips against hers before he said, “Let me make a call about your new ride.” He grinned. “I think you’re going to love it.”
Dora chuckled, wondering what he had up his sleeve, but she could wait to find out. She trusted she’d be pleased with whatever he had in mind. Their relationship had a slow-burn quality to it that made her believe it would stand the test of time. The way her and Evie’s friendship had. “Do me a favor?”
“Anything,” he said.
“Myrtle’s cash is stashed in the legwarmers. Can you sneak it back into her apartment so her heirs will find it?”
“Of course.” He laughed. “Legwarmers. Of course.”
She turned to her friend and frowned with compassion, imagining the pain her hand must be causing. “Are you okay?”
Evie nodded. “The worst part is over. Let’s see about cleaning this place up for whoever comes to deal with Gertie’s estate. I’m pretty sure she’d want them to have fresh linens.”
“They’re in the hall closet,” Raúl said with sadness in his voice. Dora looked over at him and truly believed he had cared for Gertie and Myrtle. While she wasn’t excusing the fact that he’d planned and executed two women’s deaths, she did understand how someone could do things out of desperation.
She’d recently done a few questionable things herself. Dora didn’t like unfinished business, and the weight of her situation was heavy on her shoulders. Never in a million years had she expected to have a warrant out for her arrest. It made her stomach churn with angst that there was nothing she could do to fix it right away. It was frustrating that Evie and she had to drive across the country chasing after a flash drive before she could turn herself in to the police and clear her name.
Dora let out a sigh and did the one thing she could do. She walked over to the pantry to grab a broom and mop and get started on the donut mess in the kitchen, a place she knew she could set things right.