A Wonder Springs Cozy Mystery Omnibus: Books 1, 2 & 3

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A Wonder Springs Cozy Mystery Omnibus: Books 1, 2 & 3 Page 19

by B. T. Alive


  “And maybe she regretted her decision?” I said.

  Kitty didn’t reply.

  The doors rumbled open. We stepped inside, Kitty pressed a button, and the doors whined shut.

  Once again, the ancient machine lurched and creaked and sloshed (seriously, the slosh thing could not be good), but to my surprise, on this second ride, the elevator didn’t seem scary, just old. Maybe it helped to be in there with two other people.

  Or maybe the narrow escape just now from having my entire life wrecked had put outdated elevators into perspective.

  “I’m not ready to accuse her with certainty,” Kitty said. She was fighting to keep her composure, and I wondered what it would feel like to discover that your grandmother had murdered your cousin. “But the problem is… the whole truth might come out. Everything. And the estate’s already nearly gone.”

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  “I mean the casinos,” she said. “If there’s even a chance that they could launch some crazy clawback lawsuit, our whole family would be devastated. We’d all be on the hook for a lifetime nightmare of debt.”

  “I can’t imagine an actual lawsuit,” I said. “Prove telekinesis? In court?”

  “We’re talking millions,” Kitty said. “They’d try.”

  “But what if it was her?” Tina said. “What if she hurts someone else?”

  “I know,” Kitty said. “That’s why I need your help. Hypothetically, if she is… guilty, how could we expose her, but keep her power secret?”

  “I don’t think we can,” I said. “That sounds… impossible.”

  Silence.

  Except for Kitty muffling a sharp breath, like someone trying not to cry.

  The moments dragged, and the strain tightened as the elevator crawled. At last, Tina said, “Oh. I think we’re going up.”

  “Sorry,” Kitty said. “I must have been mixed up, I meant us to go down to the lobby.”

  She reached to press the button for bottom floor, but Tina was reaching too. The tips of their fingers touched.

  Tina gasped.

  “Oh!” she cried, jolting back and literally touching her heart. “Oh, Kitty! You loved him.”

  Kitty recoiled. Her face flashed stricken, then grieved, vulnerable…

  “Oh, Kitty,” Tina said again. “This must be so hard…”

  Nyle? I thought, reeling. Kitty was in love with NYLE?

  Then I remembered.

  The very first minute I’d met the woman, when she was setting up her video call and Nyle was across the dining room… what had happened? Tina had seen Nyle and had thought he was cute, because she was feeling it from Kitty.

  Kitty’s attraction had been so intense, it had empathically infected Tina, several feet away. Wow.

  “He never knew, did he?” Tina said. “And he was your cousin.”

  Kitty frowned, and Tina winced.

  “I mean, no judgment,” Tina said quickly. “But that must have been super awkward.”

  “Yes,” said Kitty, and she hit the big red button marked STOP.

  The elevator lurched. Both Tina and I lunged for the ancient side railings to catch ourselves. I was too surprised to think straight, but I did wonder why no alarm was sounding. Was that not a thing with these old elevators?

  Instead, a grating clattered to the floor.

  Where had that come from? I looked up to see a gaping hole in the ceiling.

  “What’s that?” I asked Tina, but she just shrugged, bewildered.

  Both Tina and I had fallen toward the elevator’s back wall, but Kitty was leaning on the opposite side, four or five feet away, staring at her phone and frowning with concentration.

  “Kitty?” I said. “What is it?”

  Tina shrieked.

  Because a tray was unsteadily lowering through the opening. By itself. In the air.

  The tray was clear plastic, like a casserole dish, but larger and deeper, and it was full nearly to the brim with a liquid that sloshed yellow. The tray teetered above Tina and me, hovering over our heads.

  Tina reached up to try to take it, but Kitty spoke in a tight voice that made us both freeze.

  “Careful, sweetheart,” she said. “That’s bleach.”

  Chapter 39

  We were trapped in an elevator, on the top floor, with a telekinetic woman who was holding a tray of bleach over our heads.

  “You,” I said, dumbstruck. “It was you.”

  “You killed the man you loved?” Tina gasped.

  “How dare you,” Kitty snarled. She’d slipped the phone back into her huge purse, and she was glaring at Tina with eyes on fire. “You can have any man you want. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

  To my utter shock, I felt the impulse to agree. My mind crowded with images of Tina and Cade, so happy and perfect together, and me the lonely exile.

  Then I thought, don’t even try to tell Kitty you’ve been in the same boat.

  I might be lonely, but I still had enough in the looks department to catch guys giving me glances. Even with all my career priorities, and no matter how much I loathed getting come-ons from creeps, there were still days where I lived on the secret assurances that I was still mildly hot. The honest truth was that if those looks ever stopped, I wasn’t sure how I’d survive.

  Meanwhile, Tina just stared. I could tell she was wrestling with the waves of Kitty’s hatred, but she was also trying to wear a look of compassion.

  Bad move, Tina. Kitty only scowled in deeper rage.

  “I’ve wanted Nyle since I was twelve,” she hissed. “I lived for these stupid reunions; they were the only time we got to meet. He brought girl after girl, but we’d still talk, we had real conversations. I always thought, give it time, one day he’ll see. But Mercedes… she was the one to get the ring. He wanted to buy my future house, the family house, to have her.” Her pale face was splotching red.

  “That tool didn’t deserve you—” I started.

  “Shut up!” she screeched. Above our heads, the tray wobbled, and the acid lapped. “She didn’t even love him! Why did she pretend? This was all her fault!”

  My mind was shrinking to a single loop—get out get out get out—but I strained think logically, step by step.

  Yes, she was telekinetic, and yes, she was raging out. I still wasn’t sure how the magic stuff worked, but my guess was that the less control she had over her emotions, the less she’d be able to control the bleach. Great.

  If she’d been holding a gun, I could have chanced rushing her and zapping her out. But this was a floating tray of bleach, in a tight space. If I zapped her now, the acid might splash us all.

  She had planned this way too carefully. Just like the murders.

  “Just so I’m clear,” I said, all calm and normal, like I was reviewing the details on a contract. “The poison thing with Nyle was before you knew Mercedes didn’t want him?”

  “Of course!” she snapped. “Didn’t you see her? Taking damn selfies the day after he died.”

  “Oh, I saw her. That potted tree almost hit me, by the way.”

  “No one asked you to butt in.”

  “Trust me, I’d rather not have been involved,” I said, still sounding nonchalant, although every muscle in my torso was shaking. “But I had to do something about that poison in my room. No biggie, but you did frame me.”

  And I realized now that she hadn’t even had to sneak into my room. No wonder the sheriff hadn’t smelled her. She must have stood outside and just floated it up through the open window. That time I was with Cade in the solarium and she’d walked in… she’d probably done it just before then.

  “So what if I did frame you?” she snarled. “Didn’t you want him dead? That was the first thing you said to me. So much contempt that anyone could even think of being attracted to him.”

  This hurt my brain. But from her perspective… maybe she had a point?

  “Okay,” I said. “That’s fair. I apologize.”

  “Because I’
ve got a tray of bleach over your head,” she said. “Industrial strength, by the way. This isn’t the lightweight kitchen crap you can rinse off without a burn.”

  “Okay,” I said again, wrenching my voice to keep sounding normal. “But you haven’t dumped it, right? Because you want something. There’s something we can do for you. What can we do?”

  Kitty’s face spasmed with some fresh lethal passion… envy? Hate? Humiliation? I had no idea who she’d first planned to torture in this tiny prison, but in this moment, she had ultimate power over two women who were stand-ins for all the pretty flirts who’d ever stolen away Nyle.

  The power didn’t seem to be easing the pain.

  I glanced to Tina for help, but I cringed. Tina was terrified, her face distorted with both her own fear and also the horrors she was feeling from Kitty. She was visibly trying to shield, her brows clenched in concentration and her face shining with sweat, but she looked like she was failing.

  Losing Tina scared me.

  “What can you do?” Kitty said. “Nothing! You keep wrecking everything that I try to do. I had this brief hope that your crazy accusation of Nana might satisfy the police, but I’m realizing now that that’s ridiculous. Why would Nana want to kill Nyle? And how would she have seen into the kitchen to add the poison? I needed a camera in there, or I’d have been lost.”

  Oh… I’d completely forgotten that, that a telekinetic out in the dining room would still need to see what she was doing in the kitchen.

  That explained the sticky gunk under the kitchen cabinet. I’d used the same stuff to attach our camera to the TV.

  And just as we’d watched our camera feed on Tina’s phone, Kitty must have been watching her feed on her phone… all while she was chatting it up with her Aunt Delilah on the video call. That entire time, she’d been watching her phone screen for the right moment to tip poison into Nyle’s breakfast.

  This woman was a psychopath. And she was freaking out again.

  “Nana couldn’t have set up a camera!” she cried. “Not in a million years! I’m the techie… they’ll know… if it ever comes out that Nana’s got the power, they’ll start checking the rest of us…”

  The tray was wobbling hard now, like a raft slipping into harder waves. A tiny bit of bleach sloshed over and splattered out, an inch from my sneakers.

  “Kitty, listen, you’re overthinking this,” I said. “That sheriff just wants this over. Make his arrest, get the town off his back. No one has to know about the telekinesis. Wait… what about the chef? He could have done it, and your Nana could have paid him.”

  “That’s true!” Kitty cried, with a sudden, awful hope.

  But Tina was horrified. “Summer!” she said.

  I wanted to stomp her foot. Of course I wasn’t actually planning on sacrificing two innocents to save myself… right? This was hostage negotiation. I was only thinking as far as getting both of us out of this death room.

  But Kitty turned to Tina and snarled across the small space. “You really don’t get it, do you? You still think you’re a princess in a magic bubble… nothing really bad can ever really hurt you. I’m sure everyone’s always been so nice to you, so kind and caring to a pretty little girl…”

  The tray lurched sideways to hover directly over Tina.

  It moved fast, too fast, and more bleach sloshed over the side. The acid splashed the tip of Tina’s shoe, and she cringed and drew back with a yelp of terror.

  I hate to say it, but some dark part of me felt a rush of satisfaction. Because Tina really had had a pretty perfect life.

  Sure, she might have tasted lots of other people’s problems. But she could always come home to a gorgeous body, a sweet personality, and a family who loved her. For her, that was the real world.

  Then I realized Kitty was eyeing me with interest.

  Oh, crud. Sometimes I really forget to keep a poker face.

  “You want me to,” Kitty said.

  I blustered. “I don’t know what you’re—”

  “You hate her too, don’t you?”

  “I do not—”

  “I bet she makes you feel fat. And boring. And ugly.” Kitty cocked her head, bemused. “You really don’t think you’re pretty. I saw how you were looking at that Cade guy in the sun room when he deigned to tell me hello. I bet Tina here could snap her fingers and he’d come running.”

  My face was burning.

  “Wait, what?” Tina said. “Summer, what happened with Cade? Did you—”

  “Shut. Up,” Kitty barked.

  The tray angled up, until the bleach was pooling a few millimeters from the rim.

  Tina blanched and froze.

  But Kitty turned to me and smoothed her face into a smile. “I have an idea.”

  I couldn’t speak. My mouth was dry.

  Kitty kept talking. “I know you’re telling yourself that I’m this insane serial killer, but this was supposed to be a one-time thing. It’s not my fault you two kept hassling me. And I know that sweet little Tina here would never keep her mouth shut… but you? I might be willing to take a chance. If I have leverage.”

  I worked my tongue, trying to get enough spit to speak. “What kind of leverage?” I rasped.

  She nodded at Tina.

  “Bleach won’t kill her,” I said. “She’ll still report you.”

  “Not if someone wipes her memory.”

  Oh, I thought. Damn.

  “I saw what you did to Nana,” Kitty said. “You can make Tina forget this entire conversation, that the three of us ever met here… and also the real reason why she’s not quite so pretty anymore.”

  I realized I was starting to breathe faster. Too fast.

  “Imagine it,” Kitty said. “You go out for drinks, and the guys find her repulsive. All they want is you.”

  It was horrifying. Right? Yes. Absolutely.

  Also, the whole plan was flawed. Kitty didn’t know how the Touch worked. She thought I could erase whatever memories I wanted. In reality, this conversation had been way too long; there was no way I could prevent Tina from remembering that Kitty was the killer.

  However… Kitty didn’t know that.

  She thought that after my Touch, Tina really wouldn’t know she was a killer. She also thought that I’d never say anything about it, because if I did, Kitty could tell everyone how I’d joined her in torturing Tina with acid. Or at least, that I’d sacrificed Tina to save myself.

  Kitty was wrong. No matter what I did, Tina would remember she was a killer.

  But… I realized… Tina wouldn’t have to remember about me.

  If I went along with the bleach, and then wiped Tina’s memory, Tina could still wake up with no idea precisely when the tray had dumped, or why only she had been horribly scarred, and not me. It could look like an accident, or Kitty’s crazy whim.

  Tina would never have to know why the Universe had finally come to collect on her lifetime of unfair princess luck… and women like me could finally be around her without hating ourselves.

  I mean, this wasn’t my idea, was it? If I tried to refuse, we’d just both get disfigured for life.

  “Your call,” Kitty said. “Say the word.”

  “Summer?” whispered Tina.

  Chapter 40

  At Tina’s voice, Kitty scowled, and the tray dipped. Tina whimpered and tried to shield her head.

  “You’d better decide,” Kitty said, frowning and glaring at the trembling tray. “This thing’s no potted tree, but I’ve been going for awhile now, and I’m getting tired. I’ve got maybe a minute left, two max.”

  “You’d really let me go?” I said.

  She shrugged. “If you ever talk, I’ll talk. But I can also just kill you both. All three of us, actually. I’m not leaving this elevator until I’m 100% certain that I’m never going to rot in jail.”

  “Kill?” I said. “That sounds… messy.”

  “Not with the bleach,” Kitty said. “Why do you think I took us to the top floor?”

  St
ill eyeing the tray, she dug into her huge purse, fished around, and pulled out a detonator.

  It was black and blocky and old-fashioned, like an ancient walkie-talkie. It looked absurdly prosaic and real. Which made it terrifying.

  Kitty admired it. “You’d be amazed how easy it is to rig the brakes and cables on these old elevators.”

  My vision went tight, a narrow circle pinpointing the black device that could kill us all. My legs and arms tensed, and my whole body coiled for a desperate lunge.

  But Kitty yanked the detonator close, clutching it to her chest. “Stay back, Summer. No sudden moves. We can both walk out of here, but only if you wipe Tina’s memory. And first you have to you help me dip her, so I know you’ll stay discreet. You’ve got ten seconds. Call it.”

  “Summer, it’s okay,” Tina murmured. Her eyes were nearly shut and she was wincing. Her hands were up by her face, defensive, but whether she was bracing against the bleach or Kitty’s onslaught, I couldn’t say. She swallowed, then said, “It’s stupid for us both to die.”

  I seethed inside. Of course Tina would say that.

  “Five seconds,” Kitty snapped.

  “All right!” I said. “All right, fine!”

  Tina gasped. Shocked. That I’d actually taken her at her word.

  “Excellent,” Kitty said.

  “But what about me?” I said.

  Kitty frowned. “Just come over here and stand by me. There’s room. I’ll be careful.”

  “I mean, after. I have to touch her, remember? How am I supposed to touch her if she’s covered in bleach? Oh! Wait, I have a trash bag.”

  I dug frantically in my disaster purse.

  “You don’t need a trash bag,” Kitty said. “I’ve got gloves—”

  “No, it’s fine.” I yanked out a massive black plastic bag and shook it out. “I’m never going to clean out this damn purse. I bet your purse is all organized and spotless, right?”

  “What?” Kitty said, glancing down at her open purse.

  That’s when I struck.

  I whipped the bag over Tina’s stunned head, and yanked it down past her shoulders as far it would go, barking, “Stay down!” Then I twisted on my feet and lunged for Kitty.

 

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