by Ada Bell
The only reason I didn’t keep looking into her was that…she’d been working. Alone with one other employee.
Everything clicked into place. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it earlier.
Julie killed Earl.
And Rusty, the one who’d confirmed her alibi, had to be in on it.
Chapter 23
My mind raced. Julie killed Earl. Rusty must have been covering for her. He’d told me Julie was working at the time of Earl’s death, and that couldn’t possibly be true. I didn’t know why he’d protect the woman who killed his favorite uncle, but maybe he lied about their relationship, too. All I knew was: Carlos and I were bowling with killers.
I couldn’t breathe. I needed to calm down. Elements starting with the letter A: Aluminum. Argon. Oregano. No, wait, not that. What was happening to me?
“Aly? Aly, is everything okay?”
Rusty’s voice penetrated the hysterical fog slowly enveloping me as I stepped back, away from the bowling ball. My feet skidded out from under me on the slick surface, and I went down on my butt. Ow.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he didn’t know why he was covering for Julie. Maybe he hadn’t put the times together. Or maybe police were wrong about the time of death. I didn’t know. But I had to get out of here.
Rusty said my name again, and I realized everyone was staring at me. The truth sprang to my lips, but I was very aware of Julie and Carlos watching us from less than five feet away. There was no way for me to communicate what I’d seen in front of them. “S-sorry. I, um, had a stomach cramp. I should go to the restroom.”
He shot me a quizzical look. “Sure. Did you want to check your phone to see if Kevin called? Make sure Kyle is okay?”
Right. The plan. The plan wherein I would leave Carlos in here with a murderer and her accomplice, my supposed friend, while I went out into the freezing cold to dig through the trash looking for the very item currently rolling at a snail’s pace toward the gutter. The only way to get it back was to race out into the lane, which seemed like a bad idea.
“Good idea!” I said, a little too loudly.
He reached down one hand and helped me up. As I brushed off the back of my pants, Julie asked, “That looked like it hurt. Want a do-over?”
Nope. Not even a little bit. I wanted out of this building, ASAP. Instead I shook my head, “Thanks, but I’ll take the zero. You’re up.”
“You still have another ball,” Carlos said. “You can make up the points if you get a strike.”
“A strike?”
“That’s when you knock down all the balls at once,” Rusty said.
Right. Getting a strike was less likely than a jack-in-the-box popping up at the end of the lane, and I said so. Carlos snorted. “Come on. You can’t give up after one ball.”
It occurred to me that he probably had no idea he’d come here with a killer, so I needed to play it cool I came up with some way of getting him away from her and Rusty. Taking a deep breath, I went to the shelves of bowling balls that separated the bowling area from the lobby. There was no way in hell I was going to touch Julie’s ball ever again, so I grabbed the first one I saw without thinking. Seven pounds. I hefted it, pretending to test the weight.
“You don’t want to use the pink one again?” Rusty asked.
“No!” I answered too quickly. The look he gave me clearly told me that I needed to calm down. “That one’s too heavy. This is fine.”
It took all of my limited acting abilities to return to the lane, sight the pins, toss the ball, and pretend I cared where it wound up. Five pins fell down, which was honestly better than I expected. Julie cheered for me, and I resisted the urge to scream at her. How could she be so happy and bubbly only days after smashing a man’s skull in? It didn’t matter if she’d been afraid of him, that didn't make what she did okay.
Instead, I walked to my phone as Rusty walked over to the machine that held all the balls and picked one. He clearly had done this before. As expected, I really did have missed calls from Kevin. But instead of “going outside to call him back,” I faked a loud gasp.
“What’s wrong?” Carlos asked.
One hand went to my mouth before I hastily lowered it. No need to over-act. “It’s Kyle. He’s sick. I’m so sorry. I need to go.”
Rusty tilted his head at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to go outside and call Kevin? Ask if he needs you to come home? I’d hate to cut our date short if we don’t have to. We’re having such a great time.”
“Positive. I have to go. You stay here. I’d hate to ruin your evening, too.”
Once I got outside, I could call the alley’s main line and ask to speak to Carlos. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all I had.
I changed back into my regular shoes in record time. I barely managed to stop and throw the rented pair onto the return counter as I high-tailed it out of there.
“Aly, stop!”
Rusty’s voice rang out behind me. I couldn’t stop. Couldn’t talk to him. Couldn’t let him corner me in a dark alley. If only I could make it to Kevin’s car, I’d be fine.
I ran. Made it about ten paces before a hand on my arm dragged me to a halt. That’s what I got for giving up exercising after moving to Shady Grove. If I lived through tonight, I was getting a gym membership.
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down there, Speed Racer. What happened to the plan?” Before I could say anything, Rusty paused and looked me up and down. “You’re trembling. Aly, what happened in there?”
“Nothing. I’m fine. Sorry to take off like that.”
His expression changed. “You had a vision.”
My hands went up to shield my face. “Please don’t hurt me! I won’t tell anyone.”
“What are you talking about? Seriously, what’s wrong? Come here.” He wrapped his arms around me.
I struggled, and his arms grew tighter. After a moment, I realized that he was soothing me, not smothering me. He whispered assurances and stroked my hair. The longer we stood there, the more I wanted to believe that he wasn’t involved. That I could trust him.
After all, Rusty was the one who wanted to help me develop my abilities to find the killer. Why would he do that if he knew who it was, and he was protecting her? I had to be missing something.
I took a deep breath. “I’m okay. Back up, and I’ll explain.”
“Okay.” He sounded hurt, but he dropped his arms and stepped back toward the parking lot. When he was about ten feet away, he spread his arms wide and held them out, palms up.
“You said Julie was working in the coffee shop when Earl was killed. You lied.”
His face turned bright red. “I couldn’t tell anyone where she was.”
“But you knew we were trying to find a killer! And covering for her… makes you look very suspicious.”
“What?” When I didn’t answer, he let out a sigh. “Julie had a stalker. She said she was going to Maria’s on Wednesday afternoon. She didn’t want anyone to know what was happening, so I covered for her. But I swear, I thought that’s where she was.”
My instincts told me to believe him. “Did you ever ask Maria?”
He shook his head. “Why?”
“Julie killed Earl,” I blurted out. Not exactly the way I’d hoped to tell him, but now I was committed.
“No, she didn’t.” He burst out laughing. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
His reaction was like a knife in my heart. My first instinct was to turn and walk away, but with Olive in jail, I needed someone on my side. “I know. I thought the same thing when I first wondered if she’d done it. But… I saw it.”
The smile slid off Rusty’s face. “The vision.”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“I don’t believe it.” He moaned. “I’ve known Julie since she moved to Shady Grove. We were roommates until she got the coffee shop off the ground. She’s not just my boss, she’s my best friend. This is like losing Uncle
Earl all over again.”
Poor guy. My heart went out to him. I helped him back toward the steps leading to the entrance, and we sat. It was cold, but he wasn’t in any condition to come with me to the police station. At the same time, I couldn’t leave him alone.
“Is there someone I can call to come get you?”
He hesitated. “Call Doug.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll call the police after I get you home.”
“Two birds. Doug will take me home,” he said. “And you need to get home to your nephew. Poor kid.”
Maybe my acting abilities were better than I’d thought. “I lied before. Kyle’s not sick. He probably hasn’t woken up since I left.”
“Right. Sorry. I mean, that’s good. I mean…” He let out a sigh. “I just can’t believe it. Why would Julie kill anyone? Least of all Earl? What possible motive could she have?”
“I’ve been wondering if Earl was her stalker.”
“For the past three minutes since I mentioned it?”
“No, I overheard her talking to Maria yesterday. She didn’t say who,” I admitted. “But she was afraid of someone. Now I’m sure it was Earl. Benji told me he saw them talking during League Nights more than once, and she looked trapped.”
Rusty sucked in his bottom lip that made me absolutely positive he regretted kissing me earlier. Then he pushed off the step and walked toward the alley.
A glance through the glass front doors showed that Julie, Carlos, and Benji had all vanished. That couldn’t be good. “You’ve got to get Carlos out of there! If Julie figures out I’m onto her, he’ll be in trouble.”
“Carlos was captain of the wrestling team for all four years of high school. He can hold his own against Julie Capaldi.” He paced back toward me. “There’s got to be a mistake. Tell me what you saw. You got a vision when you touched Julie?”
“No, not Julie.” Now Benji was watching us through the glass, which made me realize how weird we must look standing here. I pulled out my phone and started tapping away so he’d think I was texting Kevin.
Then I grabbed Rusty’s hand and pulled him around the corner, by the service entrance into the bowling alley. “When I picked up that bowling ball, I had a very clear and accurate vision of someone holding it up and hitting Earl over the head with it. I saw your uncle. I’m sorry. It was him.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I were.”
“And you’re sure it was that specific bowling ball?”
“I am. No other ball could have triggered a vision.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Even if I weren’t, I saw it. Hot pink, big eight on the side. The same ball Julie handed to me. That’s why I dropped it.”
“In your vision, did you see the person holding the ball?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t work like that. I’ve got the same point of view as the person using whatever the object is. But Julie said it was her ball.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, when she handed it to me. ‘Here, use mine.’ Who else could it have been?”
Rusty was quiet so long, I wondered if he’d learned to sleep standing up. I was about to snap my fingers in front of his face when he put his hands on my shoulders and turned me toward the alley.
“Okay. Right. I need you to go back to the car right away, lock yourself in, and wait for me there. I’m going back inside.”
“What? Why?”
A voice rang out from the doorway behind us. “Because he knows that ball doesn’t belong to Julie.”
Chapter 24
A shiver went down my spine at the coldness in that tone. Instead of the pleasant customer-oriented person I’d spoken with earlier, this voice was filled with steel. Hardly daring to breathe, I turned.
Benji stood in the open doorway. In his right hand, he held a gun. My eyes zeroed in on it, and the world collapsed around me. Never in my life had I seen anything as dark and menacing as the barrel of that gun. All I saw was death, looking back at me. In a blink, I could cease to exist.
My arms went up automatically in the universal symbol for “Don’t shoot.” Beside me, Rusty did the same.
“Put the gun down,” he said. I didn’t know how he managed to sound so in control of the situation. Here I was worried that a panic attack might get me shot. “No one has to get hurt.”
“I wish that were true,” Benji said. “But we both know it’s too late for that. I’ve got your friends in here, and they’re awfully lonely. You should really come in to make sure nothing bad happens to them.”
My first instinct was to run. But I didn’t know how far I could make it before getting shot in the back. Now that we knew without a doubt who the murderer was, he didn’t seem likely to let us stroll away.
Theoretically, he couldn’t shoot both me and Rusty before he got tackled, but any plan that resulted in my only non-work friend getting shot wasn’t an option. My mind raced, but I didn’t see any way to avoid doing what Benji told us, at least for now.
He ushered us inside, where a “CLOSED” sign now hung on the front door. The pinkish hue on the snow vanished, meaning the neon sign must be off. Julie and Carlos were nowhere to be seen. I peeked into every corner, but couldn’t figure out where they’d gone. It seemed too much to hope that they’d managed to run out the front door while Benji was talking to us in the alley.
At his direction, Rusty and I moved back behind the shoe rental counter. Not surprisingly, it smelled like feet. The possibility that foot odor might be the last thing I ever smelled made me very unexpectedly sad. Almost sadder than the fact that I was about to die.
The high wood blocked us from view of anyone who might happen to drive by on the street, and with the closed sign out, there was no reason for anyone to come to the glass doors. When I moved around the corner, I discovered what had happened to Julie and Carlos. They both sat on the floor, backs against the row of cubbies, bound and gagged.
Tears prickled at the edge of my vision. This was all my fault. If only I'd had a better plan. Or if I’d been able to play it cool, everyone would be safe. Benji only started watching us because I’d been acting so weird.
“As soon as you walked out the door, Rusty figured out you must’ve seen something,” Benji said.
With a frown, I poked Rusty. Sure, I was about to die, but he’d betrayed me. “You told them about my visions?”
“It just came out. I’m sorry.”
“Rusty thought you suspected Thelma,” Benji said. “You’re new in town, so you wouldn’t know, but everyone else is very familiar with soap star Thelma Reyes and her flamingo pink bowling ball.”
Of course. It matched her house. “I don’t understand. Why was Thelma’s ball here?”
“She forgot it after practice on Sunday. I was going to deliver it to her after dropping Earl’s bowling trophy off, but I got sidetracked.”
“Sidetracked, like you had to stop and kill Earl?”
Rusty poked me in the ribs. I ignored him. We were already in trouble. The longer Benji kept talking, the more likely someone would come save us. No idea who that might be. He pulled two pairs of handcuffs out from under the counter. Before I could wonder why he had them there, he locked Rusty’s hands behind his back, dumping him unceremoniously on the floor. My friend grunted before rolling over, scooting into a sitting position.
A moment later, Benji did the same to me. Oof. Rusty cushioned my fall a bit, but his knee in my stomach knocked the wind out of me. At least he smelled better than feet. Or he would, if I could breathe. Our eyes met.
“You okay?” he asked
I wheezed. Rusty shifted his legs in a way that helped tilt me onto the floor. A little better. I still couldn’t see what was happening, but I could hear Benji pacing around on the other side of the counter. I didn’t know what he had planned, but things were looking grimmer by the second.
My mind raced. Julie knew self-defense.
Rusty had said that Carlos was on the wrestling team in high school. If I could figure out a way to untie one or both of them without Benji noticing, they might be able to take him down. I had to get him talking again, buy some time.
“What happened?” I asked. “How did you get from delivering a trophy to hitting Earl with a bowling ball?”
“No one answered the front door, but I knew it wouldn’t be locked, so I went in. I was going to drop the trophy on the back table, then cut across the lawn to Thelma’s and give her the ball. Earl was there, in the kitchen. He didn’t hear me come in.” Benji’s footsteps moved away from the counter. I took the opportunity to scootch closer to Julie and Carlos. “He had love spell stuff, spread all over the table. That’s when I knew: Thelma didn’t really love him. He’d put the whammy on her to make her stay!”
Oh, dear. What a horrible, tragic mistake.
“I confronted him. Told him I saw what he was doing and he needed to stop. Needed to free Thelma to love someone else. He just laughed and told me to get out before turning back around. Dismissed me, like I was nothing. I got so mad. All our lives, things came so easily to him. Now he had the girl I loved, and he was using magic to keep her. I realized, I had to free my girl from him, one way or another.”
“Did Thelma know how you felt about her?” Another inch toward Julie.
“Not yet! How could I tell her, with him always in the way? I saw the way she made eyes at him, knew how hard it would be to get her to look at me until they broke up. I never suspected it was all because he was using black magic.”
Part of me desperately wanted to tell Benji how he’d gotten things wrong, that Thelma might have been free to love him anyway if he’d just waited for Earl to break up with her. But it wouldn’t help. Not now.
“So what? You raised the ball and hit him with it?”
“I didn’t mean to kill him.” Benji came into view, and his eyes narrowed when he saw me. If he realized I’d moved, I was screwed. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even remember the elements of the periodic table.