Weddings & Weapons

by Laina Turner

  This was a lot bigger than selling mushrooms to college kids. This was serious.

  Chapter 15

  I needed to call Willie. I no longer thought this was nothing. In fact, it was the opposite of nothing. It was a big fat something. Fingers shaking, I hit his name on speed dial hoping he would answer.

  “You have reached Willie…”

  Dammit. Voicemail. I hung up before leaving a message. He’d see I called and would call me back. This wasn’t a message I wanted to leave. Pacing back and forth in the living room, I called Sheldon. Relieved when he answered.

  “It’s guns!” I shouted into the phone.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “Glen and his crew. They are smuggling guns.”

  There was a long pause. “How do you know?”

  “I saw it with my own two eyes. I snuck into the basement at Allison and Paul’s and followed the tunnel. There is an underground room full of guns. It looks like they are planning for a war there are so many guns!” I said. ‘They have to be selling them.”

  There was another long pause. “Sheldon?” I said, thinking maybe we’d been disconnected.

  “I’m here. I’ll call you back,” he said abruptly and hung up on me. I stared at the phone wondering what that was all about. Now I needed to wait for both him and Willie to call back. I debated calling Sheriff Travis. This was bigger than Sheldon and me. This was nothing to play around with and there was no way I wanted to keep this information from the authorities. This was way above my pay grade, as my dad would say. I decided to wait to hear back from either Sheldon or Willie before calling the Sheriff. Especially, since I knew he wasn’t going to be happy I’d broke into someone’s house to find this out. I just hoped that he’d be so thrilled with my information that he would overlook the breaking and entering when I did tell him.

  Meet me at the edge of the woods down on the beach, a text from Sheldon popped up as I was waiting in line at Starbucks for my latte. I’d needed a distraction, and coffee was it. Sheldon could wait an extra five minutes. I texted back that I’d be there in twenty and tossed my phone back in my purse. I wasn’t about to not wait for my drink.

  I pulled out of Starbucks a few minutes later and headed back in the direction of home. I had made it a few miles when I noticed Harley’s truck behind me. Coincidence? Or was he following me?

  A few miles later I looked in my rearview mirror again and he was gone so I promptly put him out of my mind as I had bigger things to worry about. I pulled into my driveway and went in the house to set down my purse before heading down to meet Sheldon.

  Phone in one hand, latte in the other I went down the steps and through the sand in the direction of the woods.

  Grumbling to myself about why Sheldon had to be so dramatic and secretive, I was paying attention to the ground where I was walking as to not trip over anything, when I reached the spot where we were to meet. I looked up, not prepared for what was before me. Sheldon was there. With Allison. What the hell was Allison doing there. And why did she look freaked out? It looked like she was trying to tell me something with her eyes. They were wide and kept darting back and forth. She looked crazed. Something wasn’t right here. I looked at Allison and then at Sheldon and back to Allison.

  “What’s going on?” I said slowly.

  “Presley, run!” screamed Allison and Sheldon lifted his hand and brought it down on the back of her neck.

  It was then I saw a gun in his hand. I dropped my latte and turned to run, tripping over a branch which sent me crashing down to the ground, my phone flying out of my hand.

  “Stop!” he hissed. “Don’t move a step!”

  I froze and looked up. Sheldon was standing there, pointing his gun at me.

  “Get up.”

  I slowly got up. Dusting the leaves and dirt off my clothes, noticing a few scratches on my legs that were the least of my worries right now.

  “Sheldon,” I said in the calmest voice I could muster. “What are you doing?”

  “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for Presley. I didn’t think you’d get this close to figuring it out.”

  My mind was racing. Sheldon? He was Glen’s partner? “You? So, wanting my help to get to the bottom of the murders was all made up?”

  “You found Juan’s body. I had to know what you’d seen, what you knew. Gaining your trust seemed the best way.”

  “You killed Juan?”

  “He didn’t quite see eye to eye with my grand plan. He was a liability,” he said casually.

  “And Roger? Him too?”

  “Nah. That was Glen’s problem. Roger saw me off Juan and got all nervous like a sissy boy. Went crying to Glen about how they shouldn’t do business with me. I told Glen it was him or my business. I’d say Glen made the right decision. He stood to lose a lot more money by kicking me to the curb. And there’s not much Glen likes more than money.”

  He said that so cold and callously, I couldn’t believe he was talking about murdering another human being in the same tone I’d heard him order Starbucks.

  I heard a groan and looked over. It was coming from Allison, who was coming to and opening her eyes. I still wasn’t connecting where she fit in all of this.

  “Is this all about money?”

  “I’m set to make a lot of it, and no one is going to stand in my way.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked, though not wanting to hear the answer.

  “He means he’s going to kill us.” Allison spoke from where she’d pulled herself to a sitting position on the ground. Her left hand was feeling the back of her head gingerly and even from here I could see a bump from where Sheldon had hit her.

  “And you’re in on this too?” I demanded, looking around for someone. Anyone who would be within shouting distance, who might come if I started screaming. This was a remote area of the beach, hidden because of the little patch of forest. Someone just walking by wouldn’t necessarily notice us back here. Or if they did, wouldn’t think anything of it.

  “Like you, she’s just nosy. If you would have both minded your own business everything would have been just fine,” Sheldon said coldly.

  Had Allison discovered what was in the house too?

  “So, you weren’t working with Glen too?” I asked her still confused.

  “No. Why would you think that?” She said looking equally confused.

  “He was at your engagement party.”

  “She wasn’t paying attention, which is why we used that day to move our product. But enough talking. Get up,” he waved his gun toward Allison. “You both walk over there,” he pointed farther into the woods.

  Allison and I looked over at each other, but there wasn’t anything to do right now but what he said. We started walking.

  “Stop right there Sheldon and put your gun down,” said a man’s voice behind me that sounded a lot like Harley.

  Sheldon chuckled and I turned my head slightly and could see Sheldon had turned around halfway so he could see Harley and us. Sheldon’s gun was down but it still didn’t mean we were safe. He didn’t seem all that surprised to see him. What if Harley wanted his cut and was here to kill all of us?

  “Harley, Harley, Harley. You’re such a disappointment to your old man. Lucky for him he has me and he won’t miss you at all,” Sheldon sneered raising his weapon at Harley. I shut my eyes and braced myself for the gunshot that was about to come. Knowing we were next. Allison grabbed my hand and she was trembling. I’m sure she was thinking the same thing. That our time was about up.

  The gun went off and I heard Sheldon scream. My eyes flew open and I saw him lying on the ground, writhing in pain where Harley had shot him in the knee. I saw Harley rush over and flip Sheldon onto his stomach and handcuff him. What the hell was going on?

  Harley pulled his phone out of his pocket and called someone. I was too much in shock by what had just happened to pay attention.

  He walked over to us when he got off the phone. “Are you t
wo ok?”

  We both nodded. “Thank you?” I said, still confused, and he gave me that slight smile of his. “ATF under cover.”

  I was speechless. I literally had nothing to say to that, so I turned to Allison instead.

  “And you? Why were you here?”

  “Sheldon texted me, but I thought it was Harley asking me to meet him here.”

  “Why Harley?” Was Allison cheating on Paul with Harley? Was that the problem between them?

  “He’s my brother. Well, half-brother anyway.”

  My eyes wide, I looked at both of them. Clearly, there was a lot I didn’t know about what was going on around here.

  Chapter 16

  Later, after the cops had taken Sheldon away and got our statements, I was sitting in Allison’s house with her, Harley, and Paul hoping to get the rest of my questions answered.

  After taking a few sips of the wine Allison had poured, I worked up my courage to come out and ask.

  “So how are you two related?”

  “Go ahead, Allison. This is your story to tell,” Harley said.

  She took a deep breath and Paul squeezed her hand as if to give her courage. “I was raised by a single mom who had always told me she didn’t know who my dad was. When she passed away I found that wasn’t true and that my father lived here, which is why I insisted we have our wedding here. I wanted to look my father up and decide if I wanted to meet him before I told anyone. So Paul thought I was hiding something.”

  “I should have trusted you more, Allison. I’m sorry. Was your mother Sarah Pritchard?” I asked, things starting to make a little sense. At least where she was concerned.

  She nodded. “My guess, when she found out she was pregnant she took off so I wouldn’t be raised in this lifestyle. My mother had kept some letters from Janet and that’s what led me here. And to Harley and Glen.”

  “Did you know he was ATF?”

  “No one did. If my dad had found out I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said grimly. “Sheldon wasn’t lying when he said all my dad cares about is money.”

  “And you knew about Sheldon?” I asked.

  “We’ve been watching these guys for awhile.”

  “Is that why you came back?”

  He nodded. “Glen’s lifestyle never sat well with me. I want to make a difference in the world.”

  “So, what’s going to happen to Eric?”

  “As long as he cooperates with the police and tells what he knows the judge should go lightly on him.”

  I was happy to hear that. He was doing what he thought he needed to do for his family. That wasn’t something I could argue with.

  “Paul. Now that you know the truth, do you still want to get married Saturday?” Allison asked tentatively.

  “Of course. I love you!” he said with tears shining in his eyes.

  “Will you come?” Allison said, looking at Harley. “Both of you?”

  “Sure,” I smiled. A beautiful wedding would be a perfect way to end my vacation.

  * * *

  The End

  If you liked this story you can read the next Presley adventure Diamonds & Disguises.

  Download the first in the Read Wine Bookstore Cozy series: Friends & Foes.

  Download the first in the Spencer University Cozy series: Death by Suspenders.

  Thanks for Reading

  If you loved this book, I know you’ll enjoy the rest of my novels. Scroll through the titles below, or check out my website at Laina Turner. If you like fun, flirty, and sometimes mysterious books then take a minute to sign up for my mailing list and you will receive a FREE book!

  About the Author

  A little about me…

  * * *

  As a child, I thought I would either be a truck driver (thanks to Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit) or work at Taco Bell (my favorite restaurant as a child). As I grew older, I realized my talents lay in academics and business and for the last several years have been a business consultant and college professor where I use the analytical side of my brain and not the side that makes up stories.

  Through all my career choices I continued to have a passion for writing. This stemmed from childhood where as an only child I developed a vivid imagination spending most of my time making things up and thinking the Incredible Hulk lived in my closet.

  Proud of my vast experiences in life from barrel racing to being on the dance team for a semi-pro basketball team to being a mom of 2 amazing kids, I tell my family and friends that no one is safe from their escapades slipping into my books.

  Taking the plunge to write books (cozy mysteries and chick lit) that I actually let people read in 2010, I have worked my way up to being a real author, having 5 fans (maybe 6 now).

  * * *

  You can also find me at:

  Also by Laina Turner Website

  The Presley Thurman Mysteries

  Promotions & Poisons

  Stilettos & Scoundrels

  Necklaces & Nooses

  Handbags & Hooligans

  Mistletoe & Murder

  Gems & Gunshots

  Tiaras & Texans

  Cupids & Crooks

  Vows & Victims

  Romance & Revenge

  Accessories & Alibis

  Bats & Bling

  Weddings & Weapons

  Diamonds & Disguises

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  Presley Thurman Boxed Set 1

  Presley Thurman Boxed Set 2

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  The Read Wine Bookstore Cozy Mysteries

  Booked for Murder

  Snowglobes and Secrets

  Cupcakes and Killers

  Wine and Revenge

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  The Spencer University Cozy Mysteries

  Death by Suspenders

  Textbook Murder

  Killer Classes

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  Sterling Towne Cozy Mystery

  Switched Up

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  A Moonshine Bay Clean Romance

  Finding Rachel FREE