| |
FORTUNE AND PEPPER put on their vests and Fortune handed her a gun. “You’ve had safety training and target practice out at the shooting range. Are you ready for this?”
Pepper nodded firmly. “Yes.”
“Okay, let’s go! We’ll take the Jeep.” They hopped inside, and Pepper told her where to drive. They decided to park around the corner just in case someone was watching from one of the houses on the side street Pepper had discovered.
“Should we tell anyone where we’re going?”
Fortune gave her a strange look. “Of course not. The only two people I would tell could very well be inside one of those houses. I’m not putting their safety in anyone else’s hands.”
Pepper nodded. Obviously 9-1-1 was off the table. She breathed slowly and deeply, going over every point of gun safety she had learned over the past few weeks. It was enough, yet it wasn’t. She wasn’t sure she could actually shoot anyone. But the gun sure did feel badass.
After Fortune parked the Jeep on a street a block over from their targets, they got out and moved through the side yard of the nearest house that backed up to one of their two target houses. They approached the first house from the back, crouching down next to the back porch and listening. They didn’t hear anything. Slowly, they made their way up the back steps and looked in the windows.
Pepper saw a kitchen, and it was completely empty. The cupboard doors hung open, as did the refrigerator and freezer doors. There were no dishes, not even paper plates or plasticware. She looked at Fortune and shook her head. There would be some signs of life in this room if anyone had been here recently. They sat on the porch, mostly hidden from anyone’s view if they should step into the backyard of the house behind them, and discussed their plan of attack.
“My guess is if Wendy is really behind this, she’ll have Lisa restrained in one room. I hope I’m wrong, but she could possibly have Gertie and Ida Belle also, although I can’t imagine how she would have gotten the drop on them.” Fortune shook her head in disappointment. “Our first goal will be to find and extract the old ladies. Once they’re free, they can help us take down Wendy. I only hope she’s working alone and not with one of the men. I hate the thought of walking into a place fortified by an explosives expert.”
“Wouldn’t all of their, uh, materials have been destroyed in the bus explosion?”
“People who know how to work with explosives can make a bomb out of almost anything.”
“Great. That’s comforting. Thanks.”
Fortune shrugged. “You asked. And it’s always better to be informed.”
Pepper wasn’t so sure about that. Sometimes life was better when you didn’t know everything that was going on. She’d had some pretty damn unpleasant surprises sprung on her during the past couple of months, and she was still processing a few of them. But that had nothing to do with the mission in front of them.
Fortune pulled out a small pair of binoculars and trained it on the house next door that was now their main target. The windows were covered with a thin fabric, but Fortune said movement might be visible if the inside light was bright enough. She was quiet for a few seconds, but then she grunted in surprise and laughed.
“What?” Pepper asked.
Fortune pointed at the house next door. Pepper didn’t need binoculars to see the bright red undergarment proudly displayed in the rear window on their side of the house. Either Gertie or Ida Belle had managed to take off their bra and hang it in the window like a distress signal.
“Seriously? How did they do that? They must not be restrained,” Pepper said without thinking.
“You can say that again.”
Pepper tried not to laugh. “That’s not what I meant. If their hands were tied, they couldn’t take off—”
“Never question how those two do anything. All we need to know is that must be the room they’re being held in, so it’s our target. We’ll go in through the window.”
“But that window is at least eight feet off the ground!”
“Come on. There’s a garage attached to this house. Let’s see if there’s anything useful in it.”
The garage had a back door, and it was on the far side of the house from the other property, so they didn’t worry much about being discovered. Fortune had the door open in about two seconds, and they went inside. The garage was old, with a dirt floor and at least thirty old metal gas and oil cans scattered around under an ancient grease-encrusted tool bench.
“Hmmm... change of plans,” Fortune said. “We might be able to do this the easy way.” She picked up each of the old cans, shaking them to see if there was anything inside. When she was done, there was a pile of partially full cans on the floor. After poking around on the bench, she came up with five rags in various stages of greasy filth.
“We’re not going to set anything on fire,” Pepper said.
Fortune looked at her in surprise. “It’s for a good reason.”
“It’s arson. Something we could actually go to jail for.”
“How in the hell did such a goody-goody get to be friends with Ida Belle and Gertie?” Fortune shook her head in disappointment.
“How did a librarian become a gun-toting firebug?” Pepper shot back.
Fortune actually chuckled at that, and Pepper felt the tension break.
Pepper looked around the old garage. She had an idea that might work just as well as Fortune’s idea, but most likely wouldn’t land them in jail. She really didn’t want to give Carter a reason to put her back in that place. The last time had not ended well. She had been kidnapped by the mob, Ida Belle had been shot, and three people had died after Fortune rescued her. Therefore, staying out of jail was a major priority.
Pepper offered a compromise. “How about if we put these cans & rags into that old crate and set it in the front yard next door? Close to the porch, but not too close. Set a match to it, Wendy will run to the front, and we’ll go in the back.”
“That could work. Too bad you didn’t think to grab some of those smoke bombs you guys used the other night.”
“Yeah, that would have been easier. But smart women are never defeated, right? We always come up with a solution.”
“Okay,” Fortune said, raising an eyebrow. It was obvious she was no longer sure about working with Pepper, who for some reason had turned into Mary Sunshine on ethics pills.
Fortune and Pepper picked up the crate full of their homemade incendiary devices and crept around the side of the garage, keeping watch to make sure nobody saw them. Before they could cross the tall grass to reach their target, they heard two explosions. In disbelief, they watched as the front windows of the house next door shattered and glass blew out all over the front porch and lawn. They looked at each other, dropped the crate, and ran for the house.
“Guess the old gals were a little faster than us today,” Fortune said.
Pepper just tried to keep up. Damn, she hated running—even the hundred and fifty feet or so it took to cross the open grassy yard. By the time she got to the house, Fortune was running up the front steps. Pepper ran toward the back, thinking just maybe Wendy would try to escape that way.
She was partially correct. As she tore around the corner, Wendy flew out the back door. She had a phone in one hand and a gun in the other. Pepper stopped cold and pulled her gun. “Stop!” she yelled.
Wendy did stop, probably because she was so surprised to see the woman she knew only as a waitress at Francine’s pointing a gun at her. However, she stopped at exactly the wrong time, with one foot hanging off the side of the porch, and the other planted on a rotten floorboard. Before she could decide which way to run, the floorboard gave way, and she fell through. Or at least one leg went through. Her arms flailed as she attempted to catch herself from falling. Unfortunately, she must have forgotten she was holding a gun. A shot rang out, Wendy dropped the gun and the phone on the grass, and Pepper watched in disbelief as a red stain appeared on Wendy’s leg. Somehow, she had managed to shoot herself!
Fortune ran out the back door, followed closely by Ida Belle and Gertie.
“Good shooting!” Ida Belle said approvingly.
Pepper shook her head. “Wasn’t me. Wendy managed that one all by herself.”
“Here!” Gertie shouted and tossed Fortune a zip tie from her giant bag. Pepper understood everything now. Wendy had made the monumental mistake of not confiscating Gertie’s purse, which contained god-knew-what in the way of self-defense items.
Fortune caught the zip tie and bound Wendy’s hands. There was no reason to try to pull her out of the porch. No doubt an ambulance and fire truck were already on the way, and they would be better equipped to handle a woman who was quickly becoming hysterical.
In fact, Wendy’s wails of self-pity were enough to make Pepper wish she had some ear protection. There would be no getting information out of the woman right now. That was a disappointment, because she would have liked to hear the story first-hand, but at least Carter would have the satisfaction of performing the interview without his suspect being compromised. If you didn’t count the gunshot wound, that is.
Pepper was still staring at Wendy when she felt Fortune take her gun. “Give me the vest, too,” she whispered.
Pepper got herself out of the bulletproof vest and handed it to Fortune, who dashed back across the yard to the other house. Pepper assumed she was hiding any evidence of them coming to the scene armed and prepared for battle. That probably wouldn’t go over well with Carter.
“At least she shot herself with her own gun,” Gertie said. “Ballistics won’t come back to any of us.”
How did Gertie know about ballistics? She must watch too much police drama on Netflix, Pepper decided.
“What happened? How did she get you? What was that explosion? And where is Lisa?”
“Oh, crap, Lisa! She’s still inside!” Ida Belle said, and she ran back into the house. The other women finally heard the muffled sounds that must have been Lisa calling for help. A few minutes later they emerged back onto the porch. Lisa was crying too hard to talk, but not too hard to walk up to Wendy and kick her in the arm.
Gertie looked at Ida Belle and cleared her throat. Ida Belle sighed in frustration and said, “Out with it, Gertie! I know you have something to say to me.”
“You might want to retrieve your undergarment before Carter arrives.” Pepper could swear Gertie somehow injected a tone of prudishness into her voice as she uttered the words.
Ida Belle’s face instantly turned red, and she ran back into the house again. When she came out this time, she was stuffing the red bra into her purse. Gertie sniffed in disapproval, and Ida Belle let loose with, “You don’t have to act so prissy just because I saw it first in that pile of church clothes and called dibs. It’s not like I put my own brassiere in the window.”
“You kind of did, since you called dibs and thereafter it belonged to you. Every time you wear it, I hope you think about who may have been the previous owner.”
“Shut up, Gertie.”
While Gertie and Ida Belle argued, Fortune pulled Pepper aside. “Story time,” she said.
Pepper nodded. She knew the drill. “Already on that. You and I were walking around Sinful, looking for a new place for me to live, when out of nowhere, glass flew out the front windows of the house it just so happened we were going to look at because it seemed like it might be empty.”
Fortune nodded in approval. “I ran in the front just in case someone was there. I was shocked to find Ida Belle, Gertie, and Lisa.”
“And I ran around the back, where I saw Wendy trip and shoot herself.”
They high-fived, knowing each would stick to their tamed-down version of what had happened. Then they made their way back to Ida Belle, Gertie, and Lisa.
“Okay,” Fortune said, “Carter will be here any minute. What the hell happened, and what did you blow up? I think we deserve to know the story before the rest of the town.”
Lisa spoke first, her voice shaking from a mixture of shock and relief at being rescued. “Last night Wendy said we were going to have a girls’ night, which I was totally up for because the last couple of days have simply wreaked havoc on my complexion. And the water here is awful!” Fortune made a motion for her to keep talking and get to the point. “Oh, right... Wendy showed up at the church to pick me up. When we got outside, I saw she had a couple of drinks. She said we should explore the town before heading back to Celia’s.”
“Where did she get drinks?” Gertie asked.
“I don’t know! It was some kind of stuff in a pretty bottle. I thought the label said cough syrup, but it certainly packed a punch. After three sips, I could barely walk. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair in this place. She’d put a gag in my mouth so I couldn’t scream.”
The other women looked at each other. “She must have drugged the cough syrup,” Gertie said with a sniff. “Can’t believe you fell for that.”
“Oh, like you’re one to talk,” Fortune said. “How did you two end up in her clutches?”
“That’s much more logical,” Ida Belle insisted. “Wendy called this morning and said Owen was thinking about buying a place in Sinful. She wondered if we would show her a few places that might be available. When we got here, she wanted to go inside, said it looked perfect for Owen. Once we were inside, she pulled a gun on us and tied us up. Of course, she didn’t do a very good job, and we were just waiting for our chance to take her out this morning.”
“The bra?”
“A signal in case someone felt the need to investigate,” Gertie said with a wink.
“It was a lucky find in that pile of clothing rejects—I mean, donations,” Ida Belle confirmed.
“What if some teenagers had investigated?”
“Unlikely,” Ida Belle insisted.
Fortune smiled, then asked, “Why didn’t you text me?”
“Bitch took our phones. We had to wait until she fell asleep to do anything, but by then our phones were dead.”
Fortune asked, “Is that when the explosions happened? Wendy finally fell asleep?”
Ida Belle nodded. “Lisa, Gertie, and I were being held in the kitchen at the back of the house. Wendy didn’t know Gertie and I had freed ourselves and were biding our time. She had that gun out and kept watch all night. Then this morning she went to a back bedroom, said she was going to freshen up. When she didn’t come back, we knew it was our chance.”
Gertie took over. “I just happened to have a couple of grenades handy in my bag—”
Lisa burst out, “You carry grenades in your purse? That’s what those explosions were? I wondered what you threw through that doorway.”
Gertie got up in her face. “Listen, little missy, if it weren’t for us, you’d still be stuck in that house, waiting to die. Just keep your mouth shut and go with the flow. Now, as I was saying, those grenades just happened to be in my bag, so Ida Belle and I put them to good use at the front of the house.”
Ida Belle grinned. “I wish I could have seen that explosion! You didn’t happen to catch it on video, did you?” she asked Fortune and Pepper.
“It’s probably better that we didn’t,” Pepper replied.
“Hmmm, I suppose you’re right.” Ida Belle’s voice held a note of disappointment.
Wendy’s wails were getting louder. Fortune walked over to her and biffed the back of her head. “Shut up! You’re giving me a headache!” Then she asked, “What were you going to do with them? Blow the house up and pretend it was an accident like you did with Courtney? Or were you going to shoot them like you tried with Owen? How did you get out on the bayou, anyway? And where did you get a gun?” So much for that uncompromised witness, Pepper thought to herself.
Wendy finally stopped crying and looked confused. “I didn’t hurt Courtney, and I didn’t think before going after Owen. I just accidentally found that gun in a canister on the top shelf of Celia’s pantry and went with my emotions when I found an unoccupied boat and saw Owen standing on that dock. But these women were getting in the way of my plans—they kept looking at me like they knew what I was up to. Bruce was the real star of the band. All I needed to do was make things difficult enough for Owen to quit. Once Owen was out of the way, Bruce would take me back and we could take over as a power couple. I had it all planned. We were going to be the king and queen of country music, even bigger than Tim and Faith!”
“Ha!” Gertie said. “You should have quit before you even finished thinking about that stupid plan!” Gertie made a dismissive gesture and turned away, muttering, “Thinks she’s better than Faith Hill? Not a chance!” Nobody could hear what else she said, but Pepper was sure it didn’t flatter Wendy.
“Was Bruce in on this?” Fortune asked.
“No. Once I found out he had planned to break up with me, I knew I had to step things up. This seemed like the only way to win him back.”
“Ri-ight,” Fortune said, rolling her eyes. “Kidnapping and attempted murder seems to be a logical reaction to a breakup.”
Wendy sighed in relief. “I knew someone would understand! Will you please talk to Deputy LeBlanc, sort of explain things?”
“Oh, you can be sure of it,” Fortune told her, turning away and mouthing crazy to the other women, who all nodded.
All six women heard the sirens at the same time. Pepper and Fortune looked at each other and nodded. So did Gertie and Ida Belle, which made Pepper question whether things had actually gone down the way they described.
Carter pulled to a stop in front of the house and came around to the back, gun drawn. When he saw the women, he took one look at the situation and dropped his head. He looked like his job had just become twice as difficult.
“Okay,” he said. “I don’t know why I’m asking, but who wants to tell me what happened here?” Gertie, Ida Belle, and Wendy all started talking at once, and he held up a hand. Wendy began her pitiful wailing again. Carter holstered his gun, handcuffed Wendy to the porch—not looking at all sympathetic about her gunshot wound—and led the rest of the women to the front of the house where it was slightly quieter.
“Don’t you need to keep an eye on her?” Lisa asked.
“Trust me, with that caterwauling, I’ll know if she goes anywhere,” Carter replied. “It doesn’t look like any of you are injured. Who shot Wendy?”
“She shot herself when she fell through the porch,” Pepper informed him. “Her gun is still in the grass.” Carter nodded, looking like he almost believed her.
“Is there anyone else in the house? Any dead bodies or the like that I should know about?” They all shook their heads, and Carter breathed a small sigh of relief.