Triggered by Love

by Rachelle Ayala

  She posed for a few selfies and then took a picture of his feet next to hers. “Cool shoes.”

  “I saw them on that guy’s feet, and I had to have them,” Matt said, laughing. “Sorry if they’re not your design.”

  “No, no, it’s okay,” Avery said. “Which guy’s feet?”

  “The one who almost killed us in front of The Big Bean. He stepped out of the car right in front of me. I could have tackled him, but I was more concerned about you.”

  “Why, that’s awfully sweet of you.” Avery deflected from the shock in her heart. Jason had talked about the distinctive shoe, but he hadn’t gotten a good description from the witness.

  “Miss Cockburn, are you thinking of doing designer cross-trainers to add to your Cocky Heroes line?” a reporter asked.

  “I’m definitely going to be adding sports heroes,” she replied.

  “We’re definitely cocky,” Matt said, and everyone laughed.

  As Avery got into the cab, she wasn’t laughing. She texted the picture of Matt’s shoes to Jason with the message, Matt says the perp who did the hit and run job was wearing sneakers like this. Didn’t you say Larry Leach wore fancy ones?

  Jason was running late to the airport, but he had to check out the shoes. After getting the image of Matt’s cross-trainers, Jason recalled the guy who hit him in front of Popo’s apartment was wearing the same brand of shoes.

  He ran into an upscale sporting goods store and asked the sales associate about the shoe.

  “Oh, yes, we have them in stock. On sale for a thousand dollars, even, no tax today only.”

  “Thanks, I’ll just take a few pictures, but I have a plane to catch.” Jason took out his phone while the salesman smirked and walked away.

  He caught a cab and brought up the picture of Larry Leach’s shoes—the one he secretly took after questioning Larry about the box of chocolates.

  They were an exact match.

  Larry Leach. That sneaky bastard.

  He couldn’t get on the flight now. Not if he wanted to arrest Larry. It was too bad that Avery would have to go without him.

  He called her. “Hey, Ave. The shoes are an exact match to Larry’s. You know what? They also match the guy who clobbered me outside of Popo’s.”

  Avery gasped, then said, “No, no. It can’t be Larry. He has an alibi for both times. Remember, he was at Orson’s design seminar that Saturday? And the time you were talking to Popo, he was on the phone with me, and he was at home, because I heard Orson yelling at him in the background.”

  “I’ll have to check it out. I won’t be able to make the flight.”

  “Jason.” Avery’s voice held all kinds of warning. “I thought we agreed not to tip our hand. We’re going to get on the airplane and let nature take its course. I already flashed my five-carat ring. The news of me accepting the engagement will get back to the perp, and he’ll call me to finalize the deal. Meanwhile, the emails are going out to the abusers, and they’ll turn on the blackmailer. Tips will come in on the tipline, and you can sift through them and nail the murderer.”

  “I have to trust you on this, but I wish we had Saul’s memory card. He insists he left it in the camera and says Blade waylaid it.”

  “In that case, we’ll just have to catch the perp without it,” Avery said. “I’m sure you can do it with the evidence of the designer sneakers. You just can’t let the perp know, or he’ll throw his shoes away.”

  Jason took a deep breath and wiped his hand through his hair. “How am I so lucky to get a smarty-pants like you?”

  “I keep you from leaping before you look,” she said. “I’ll see you at the airport. I’m almost there. Had a photo op with Matt. He seems to have turned the corner and apologized for violating my personal space.”

  “That’s good, was the media there?”

  “What do you think?” Avery laughed. “Of course, Alida set it up. He was there to put a lei around my neck and wish me a good time in Hawaii.”

  Jason hit his forehead and gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to alarm Avery, but the entire reason for going to Avery’s brother’s secure resort was to get away from the killer. Now, everyone would know she was headed for Hawaii. Not good. Not good.

  But he couldn’t change plans now, and he wanted her to have fun, rest, and relax, and hopefully fall in love with him. He’d just have to protect her and take out any threats.

  The last thing Avery did before getting on the airplane was unleashing the email to Ivanna’s entire mailing list. The message was the same.

  I’ve decided to go public with your heinous deeds. There will be no hiding from the law. If anything were to happen to me or any of my family or friends or business associates, the diary that I kept will go straight to the press, the DA’s office, and the FBI.

  Do not try to contact me ever again. I will not be your pretty puppet.

  She didn’t sign, because every one of those men knew exactly who she was, and every one of them would die rather than out themselves. The only one angry enough to kill her would be the blackmailer. The one whose lucrative position of blackmailing the rich and famous would come to an ignoble end.

  “You’ve done it?” Jason asked, looking over her shoulder. “We’re boarding in a few minutes.”

  “He’s going to come after me. I know it,” Avery said.

  “We’re several steps ahead of him.”

  “What I still don’t get is why he sent me that box of poisonous chocolates. What does he get if I died?”

  “He still has the blackmailing of the famous men,” Jason said. “And he gets rid of your potential bean spilling, like you’re threatening to do.”

  “Still, why upset the applecart?”

  “You’ve already upset it by falling in love.”

  Avery felt herself deflate. “I signed Brando’s death warrant.”

  “You couldn’t have known.” He tugged her from the lobby seat. “We face the facts, but we can’t blame ourselves for not being clairvoyant.”

  “I wish I knew what would happen next,” Avery said. “I’m afraid for you.”

  “You’ve never told me you love me, so I’m safe.” He grinned, except to her eyes, it was more of a grimace of pain.

  “Give me time,” she said.

  “Always.” He kissed her on the lips.

  She let herself relax in the last minute of calm before takeoff. She would soon have to shut off her electronics and wonder how the fallout was unfolding. Every molester and their lawyers would be in a panic. Some would be calling her father, hoping he wasn’t aware.

  Her parents would be incognito, of course, and so would her brothers. Mrs. Bonet was on a separate flight with Kerry and Finn with a different layover location. She had to keep them as safe as possible, not that she wanted to endanger her fellow passengers.

  Hopefully, things would be okay.

  Right before she had to turn off her phone, Richie called.

  “Where are you?” he asked. “You’re wearing my ring, but you’re running off to Hawaii without me? Are we getting married or not?”

  “Depends.”

  “On what?” he barked.

  “You saw the reward my father offered? Turn in the murderer and you’ll have a shot.” She ended the call.

  One mystery solved.

  “Richie was the one who sent the box of chocolates,” she told Jason.

  Her phone rang again, and it was from Larry.

  “You got my note. Have you chosen? Eenie, meenie, miney, moe.”

  “Sorry, but you didn’t give me a ring. Why should I choose you?” she asked, perplexed, since it seemed Richie was the one who sent the box.

  “Because I’m the tiger king,” he said. “I can guarantee your father wins the election. I have the goods to force Overton to resign.”

  “So do I,” she said and hung up. Turning to Jason, she said, “Weird. Larry just called and quoted from the catch a tiger by the toe message.”

  “I heard your end of the conversat
ion,” Jason said. “Maybe he touched the box when putting in his chocolate.”

  “You mean someone held a collection?” Her phone rang again, and after a lot of throat clearing, Professor Leach spoke.

  “Avery, my girl. Flee at once—all is lost.” He coughed and sputtered. “I guess you didn’t take my poison pill, but your shameful secret is about to be exposed. Goodbye, my little pet. Let’s take the pill together. All is lost. Flee with me.”

  “Wait, Professor—” The call ended.

  Avery tapped Jason. “I have to get off the plane. The professor’s about to commit suicide.”

  “You can’t. They just shut the door,” Jason said. “There’s nothing you can do to stop him if that’s what he’s going to do.”

  Her phone rang once more, and she was surprised by the voice on the line. “Tatiana?”

  Jason’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline at that. He bent over to listen in.

  “You go, girl,” Tatiana said. “I can’t tell you how I got it, but you have everything Orson collected. You can take him down.”

  “The memory card? That was yours?” Avery gasped. “What’s in it for you?”

  “Let’s just say I was also a pretty girl growing up in a pretty house in a pretty town. Good luck, Avery and Jason.”

  “Wait, who collected the chocolates?”

  “Someone who enjoys drama and is a grifter,” Tatiana said. “Even though it was a joint gift, I’m sure everyone paid full price. Then he combined everyone’s gift into a single box.”

  “Wow, that’s cheap. Does he wear snazzy cross-trainers?”

  “Yes, that’s him. Good luck, I have to disappear,” she said.

  “Thank you. I hope we meet again.”

  “I hope not,” she replied. “All the best.”

  It was time to turn off all electronics. Avery’s stomach soured. How was she going to keep track of the rest of the perps? The ones who sent the quill, the cyanide, and even filled one of the truffles with chicken shit?

  “Let it go,” Jason said. “We’ll know more when we get to LA.”

  “Who do you think it is?” Avery asked. “She says someone who likes drama.”

  “And wears cross-trainers. Agile enough to climb walls and outrun me.”

  “Wears aviators to disguise his trendiness.”

  “Has a motive to kill you, now that his father’s dead and you inherit part of the estate.”

  “Harvey Leach,” Avery and Jason exclaimed at the same time a pair of shining silver and black shoes strode down the aisle toward the back of the plane.

  Chapter Sixty

  As soon as the airplane reached cruising altitude, and the captain had turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, Jason told Avery he was going to stretch his legs. He kissed her and adjusted the tiny pillow for her. She hadn’t slept well, and with the steady hum of jet engines, she had finally relaxed enough for a catnap.

  It wasn’t easy going to the back of the plane. Avery had booked first class seats for them, and the flight attendants kept directing him to the lavatories in front.

  “I have blood clotting problems,” Jason explained. “In my legs, and I need to do some walking. I’ll stay out of the way of the drink carts.”

  He was glad the airplane was a wide-body, but it also meant two aisles to explore and look for those distinctive shoes.

  Also, if Harvey was smart, he would not wear the shoes. Hadn’t he seen Avery and Matt talking about the shoes? Or perhaps they didn’t air that clip. Alida would have chopped it off because it featured a different designer’s wares.

  Jason completed one pass and didn’t see anyone wearing the snazzy silver and black shoes. The tread was unique, but it wasn’t easy to see the bottoms of people’s feet, especially if they were tucked underneath the seat in front.

  He had turned around at the rear lavatories when prickles buzzed on the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. He wished he had his gun, but of course, it was checked. Then again, Harvey, if he was on the airplane, wouldn’t have a gun either.

  What would he use as a weapon?

  Jason went through the list of TSA allowed items.

  Bare hands. Laptops. Cell phones. Baby bottles. Clothing and accessories that weren’t sharp. Would porcupine quills fit? They weren’t metallic, so they wouldn’t set off alarms. They could conceivably look like thin straws or coffee stirrers under the X-ray.

  Since he didn’t want to alert Harvey to his surveillance, he made his way forward and purposely got stuck behind a drink cart which was moving from front to rear. He kept backing up, looking sheepish while looking through the mirror app on his phone.

  One row from the back, he spotted a foot in the aisle with the designer cross-trainer. The owner of the shoe quickly moved it when Jason stepped over it, going backwards.

  “Excuse me,” Jason said. “Got stuck behind that cart.”

  He turned toward the lavatory and took a picture of the average-sized figure. It wasn’t a good angle, but the person appeared to be female with long, brown hair. Thin, slightly gangly, with none of the softness of a woman, but without going up close, he couldn’t tell.

  The owner of the snazzy cross-trainers appeared to be knitting. And then, it dawned on Jason.

  The TSA allowed knitting needles.

  What if the poisoned quills were inside the hollow needles?

  He went back to his seat and put on elbow-length leather gardening gloves that were thorn proof and used for pruning roses, cacti, and blackberry bushes.

  And then, he waited, sitting in the aisle seat and blocking access to Avery’s exposed skin.

  Jason fought his heavy eyelids, jerking himself awake, and even slapping himself. His hands were sweaty underneath the heavy gloves and his palms itched. He didn’t see how that woman would attack Avery, but at the same time, he could see how a drama king like Harvey Leach would dress as a female and create an opportunity to get Avery.

  If she woke and needed to use the lavatories, he would block the aisle and make sure no one approached her. He was totally prepared, and sure enough, Avery woke and asked him to step aside.

  The coast was clear, and Jason took a quick look back. No one appeared to be coming from his aisle, but now, the wide-body jet was a disadvantage. He couldn’t see the other side, and the flight attendant would not allow him to hover outside the lavatory.

  “Sorry, sir, but you can use an available one in the middle of the plane,” she said.

  He started toward the other side and planned to double back when Avery emerged from the lavatory and came toward their seats. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when someone shouted in a high-pitched voice, “Miss, you dropped your earring.”

  Avery turned around, still too far away for Jason to defend her. She took a step toward the “woman” whose bone structure was definitely manly, then felt her earlobe.

  Looking puzzled, she said, “It must be someone else’s earring.”

  “No, I’m sure it’s yours.” The creature lifted his hand and plucked a thin quill from his wig. It was a barbed porcupine quill, no doubt tipped with pufferfish poison.

  “No, it’s mine!” Jason shouted and charged the short distance across the bulkhead of the plane through the galley.

  He made a flying leap, reaching forward with both gloved hands and landed on his chin.

  Screams erupted from first class, and Jason scrambled up just in time to see Avery rip off Harvey’s wig and palm heel strike him in the nose. Harvey went down to his knees, and Avery kicked him in the groin, finishing him off.

  “I’m a police officer,” Jason shouted at the flight attendants. “This man is a wanted murderer named Harvey Leach. Call NYPD or the FBI and tell them I have him in custody.”

  “Jason, are you hit?” Avery was busily tying Harvey’s hands behind his back. “He had one of those poisoned porcupine quills.”

  “I’m good.” Jason peeled off his glove where the quill was embedded. “I might be prickly, but I have thick skin.�
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  Avery leaned her first-class seat back and held Jason’s gloveless hand across the console between them. The layover in Los Angeles was a news sensation, and even though they missed their initial flight, due to all the statements they had to give, the airline was kind enough to put them on the last flight to Honolulu.

  Harvey was arrested and extradited to New York. Jason wanted to go back, but his chief told him to take vacation. Jason argued that the chief was crooked, but Avery reasoned with him.

  “There’s nothing you can do differently. Chief Grimes is going to throw everyone else under the bus, but you just wait. I’m betting Blade has Saul’s memory card, and there are things on it to implicate the chief. I bet Harvey will try to cut deals, but Larry will nail him.”

  “Now you see why I suspected Harvey?” Jason raised his eyebrows triumphantly. “I bet he gave Richie those tickets close to the chorus line, and he was going to take out Richie because he thought you two were dating.”

  “You think Richie got wind of it?” Avery asked. “That’s why he gave the tickets to you.”

  “I think everyone who put in a piece of chocolate had something to hide,” Jason said. “Makes me never want to eat a box of chocolates again.”

  “More for me, and less for you.” Avery was in a lighter, relaxed mood, despite the grim news.

  While on the ground, she’d gotten news that Orson had indeed taken the poison pill and had passed away. Congressman Overton shot himself, and one of the priests who gave her wine jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. The media was flabbergasted, although a few senior members of mainstream media companies were undoubtedly keeping a low profile.

  No one would dare take her out, knowing her diary would go public if she died under suspicious circumstances. No one in their right mind would hurt her family or those she loved. She’d made sure of that with the mass email she sent.

  “I wish the evidence was cleaner,” Jason said. “We caught Harvey trying to commit murder, but what about identifying Harvey as Brando’s killer?”

  “Do you remember seeing those shoes? Or maybe Saul saw them. Joselito definitely saw something, which is why he was killed.”