Matt is in the building.
Good boy, Dakota. I slipped the phone back into my pocket. Where are you, Matt? I headed for the end of the hall and glanced out into the night, before pulling the door closed except for a couple of inches. If someone came in that way, we’d know.
“We have to find Matt,” I said.
Mom nodded. “How many ways are there into this building?”
“That’s the only one I know of.” I wanted to call for him, but that would only alert Cheri to his presence.
“Stormi!” Speak of the devil. Her voice came from the room we’d just left. “Step out where I can see you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do it or that big cop dies.”
Drat. After all Wayne had done for me, I couldn’t let that happen. “Mom, you stay here. Run for help if you have to.”
“I think it’s time for help, dear. I’m calling the police.”
“Matt and Wayne are here. There are only a couple of officers left and Maryann will kill me if something happens to her boyfriend. Leave him safe at the precinct. If Matt wants backup, he’ll call.”
“Don’t make me say it again.” Cheri’s voice rose, shrill with stress.
“I love you Mom.” I gave her a quick hug, shoved the papers into her hands, and stepped into the open.
“Give me the papers.” Cheri pointed a handgun at my chest.
Purchasing a Kevlar vest was going to be at the top of my next-to-buy list…if I lived through this. “Hidden. If you shoot me, you’ll never get them. You’ll have to skip the country.”
“I don’t have the money to skip the country, you idiot. Why do you think I’m doing this?”
I crossed my arms. “If you want me to feel sorry for you, it isn’t going to work.”
“Shut up and let me think.”
“What did you do with Wayne?”
“Shut up!” She fired a shot over my head, raining plaster on us like gray snow.
Mom peeked around the corner.
“Get over here.” Cheri waved her over with the gun. “Leave your purse on that crate. Now, the two of you sit down, backs agains that wall.” She motioned toward the wall closest to us but away from either hall entrance. She kicked my gun a few more feet away from where I sat, then perched on a crate and stared at us.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes.
She didn’t say anything, just kept her gaze glued on us. I guess she needed to do some heavy duty thinking.
Mom started to say something, but clamped her lips together when I elbowed her. Cheri had come unhinged more than she had been. I wasn’t going to provoke her unless I found a way out of the mess we were in.
“I wish I had something to tie you up with.” Cheri got up and riffled through Mom’s purse. “What? No zip ties or duct tape? You have everything else.” She opened a granola bar and resumed her seat. “Except my papers. Now, I wonder where you could have hidden them.”
I shrugged. Mom could have stuck them anywear.
“I could strip search you, I suppose, but that sounds a bit gross, even to me.” Cheri wadded up the wrapper to the granola bar and tossed it on the floor. “You two want a bone?” She laughed and called us the B-word that rhymed with witch.
She had that wrong in my opinion. The title fit her much better. Since her silence had made me uncomfortable, I decided to give her the same treatment.
A noise sounded from the hall.
Cheri whirled as Matt stepped into sight.
She pulled the trigger.
He fell.
I screamed.
24
Cheri removed Matt’s weapon and tossed it on top of a box.
“Matt!” I pushed her out of the way and rushed to his side, falling to my knees.
He opened one eye. “Go away,” he said, under his breath. “Vest.”
“Come over here, Stormi,” Cheri ordered. “No man is ever worth a woman’s tears. You would do well to remember that.”
“This man is.” I didn’t have to fake tears as I planted a kiss on his lips. I stood and shuffled next to Mom, who sobbed into her hands. I wanted to tell her Matt lived, but didn’t want her to let slip anything that would alert Cheri who had taken to staring at us again.
Matt slid an inch toward the door, making a rasping sound.
Cheri didn’t budge. “Isn’t this the point in every story where you ask me why?”
“I know why. There are millions of dollars in those off shore accounts.”
“Which you will never get!” Mom spit. “I burned them.”
Cheri’s gun hand swung toward Mom. “Then there is no reason to keep you around, is there?”
Mom’s eyes widened. “I didn’t really.”
“Of course, you didn’t. I can see that you aren’t a fool. You need some leverage to hold over my head, just as the dog is my leverage over you. Well, the dog and that cop I locked into the room he ducked into when I shot at him.”
I exhaled long and deep. Wayne wasn’t injured.
Matt moved his fingers in a talking motion.
“So, since you seem to be in a talking mood, why kill Seth? What part did he play in the illegal finances of Boyd? Didn’t he quit because he wanted no part of it?”
She blinked rapidly. “His death was an unfortunate accident.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I loved him, you see. We met at a Boyd Industries function and hooked up. He wouldn’t leave his wife for me, so I decided to eliminate the opposition. I had no idea the man enjoyed bubble baths.”
“Surely you knew he and Shelby had a thing going on for quite a while.” I watched Matt move another inch. How long did he expect me to talk?
She looked shocked. “I can’t kill family.”
“So, realizing your mistake, you killed Amber.”
She waved the gun. “Don’t forget my cleaning up loose ends. I thought the wounded bear was a nice touch.”
“Was it me you wanted to get rid of, or any of my party in general?” Matt was directly behind her now and getting to his feet.
Mom’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
Exactly why I didn’t say anything.
Cheri turned as Matt lunged for her. Her gun went off again, knocking him back.
I pounced on her back like a spider monkey, wrapping my legs around her waist and hanging on with all I had.
Mom scrambled on the floor after my gun. “Hold her still, Stormi!”
“I’m trying.”
Cheri held the gun over her head and pointed at me as Matt moved toward her again. “She’s too close for me to miss, cop. Don’t take another step.”
He held up his hands.
“Down on your knees, handsome. Mrs. Nelson, you join him. Stormi, if you don’t get off me, they both die.”
I slid from her back and joined my loved ones. We knelt on the floor, hands folded behind our heads and stared up at her.
“Now, this is a mess.” She sighed. “What to do, what to do.” She paced, keeping the pistol aimed at us. After several minutes, she smiled and stopped in front of Matt. She caressed his face with the barrel of the gun. “You sure are pretty. Too bad I didn’t meet your before…all this.” She straightened. “Not that I like most men. I haven’t had good luck with them, but you seem like one of the good ones. How about running away with me? I’m going to be a very wealthy woman.”
“No, thanks. I’ll keep the woman I’ve got, thank you.” A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“Your loss.” She perched back on the crate. “I’ve tried to think of everything possible not to have you kill you three. I’ve lost my stomach for killing, not that I enjoyed it much to begin with. But, I cannot see a way out of this.”
“I do.” Lawrence Boyd stepped into the room, a revolver trained on Cheri. “You didn’t think I would find out, did you? Little sneak, after the money I worked so hard for. Tsk tsk.”
She laughed. “Now, this is an interesting turn of events. You’re a bit old for my taste, but how about we knock these three
off and head to Europe together.”
“So you can kill me? No, thanks. I’ve had enough of you and your cousin. I’ve already got my flight booked and won’t be around long enough to form an attachment to anyone new.”
Cheri hopped off her crate and the two circled each other like jungle cats. “I don’t aim to let that money go. I’ve debts to pay.”
“Not my problem.”
I let my hands down in a vain effort to still the sharp ache in my shoulders. As those two warred with words, I glanced around for my gun. There.
I scrambled on hands and knees. I grabbed it and tossed it to Matt.
He caught it and fired, knocking Mom to the ground. His first shot took Cheri in the leg, the second one took Boyd in the side. They both fell.
I retrieved Mom’s gun from her purse, while she disarmed the two injured ones. With four guns trained on them, they weren’t going anywhere.
“Good job, sweetheart,” Matt grinned, giving me a one-armed hug. “We make a good team.”
“The best.” My cell phone vibrated. It was a text from Dakota informing me he’d called the police because of all the gunfire and hoped I was alive to read the text. I answered back that I was fine. “Calvary is on its way.”
“I can handle things here,” Matt said. “Go free Wayne and find Sadie.”
“Thank you.” I darted into the opposite hall.
“Let me out.” Wayne stuck his arms through bars in a door window. “What’s going on out there?”
I slid the bolt to free him. “Everything is under control. Matt and Mom are holding the killers at gunpoint in the main room.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He rushed away.
I’d kind of hoped he would help me look for my dog. “Sadie!”
A scratching sounded to my right. I hurried further down a dark hall. “Where are you, girl?”
She whined behind a wooden door. I flung it open and fell to my knees as my muzzled baby launched herself at me. The force of her body slamming into mine threw me against the wall. My head struck concrete and everything went black.
When I woke, I was lying in the back of an ambulance, Sadie leaning on the bumper and looking inside, while Matt held my hand. “I survive having a gun pointed at me only to have my dog knock me out.”
He chuckled, rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand. “Life is never boring with you, Stormi.” He leaned over and pressed his lips against mine.
At that point, I wasn’t sure whether my dizziness was from the knock to the head or his kiss. I do know I felt an emptiness when he pulled away. “A Christmas wedding?”
He shook his head. “I was hoping for Spring. I know it’s further away, but I’ve seen pictures of the strapless wedding gown you cut out of a magazine and really want to see you in it.”
Anything for my prince. “You aren’t supposed to be snooping. Okay, spring it is. Now, kiss me again.”
He obliged, until someone cleared their throat. “Hold off on that for a while,” Wayne said. “We’ve got to stop Shelby at the airport. Lawrence said she has the account numbers and is skipping town. It seems our little bride wasn’t as innocent as she tried to be.”
“I’m coming.” I sat up, my head spinning.
“Oh, no, you don’t.”
“Matt! I have to see this through.” I got up, keeping my hand on the wall of the ambulance until things stopped spinning. “I can wait in the car, but I am coming.”
“Fine.” He jumped to the ground and held out his hand.
We sped away in a squad car to the airport just under an hour away. Wayne seemed to know where he was going, so Matt and I followed him onto the runway where Boyd’s private jet waited.
In the hangar, Shelby perched on a stool, a cup of tea in one hand, her shapely legs crossed. She saw us and sighed. “Darn. Can’t a girl do anything without someone stopping her?”
“Not if it’s illegal.” Wayne pulled his handcuffs.
“Don’t use those. I’m coming. I guess dear old Lawrence ratted on me. That’s fine. Daddy will bail me out.” She sashayed to the car and slid into the back seat.
Of course, I hadn’t stayed in the car as promised and slid in after her. “I guess you needed money after your engagement broke up.”
She shrugged. “Can you blame me? Daddy has money, but he refuses to give me any.” She pouted. “I’m sure he will now. He won’t want his name tarnished with me serving jail time.”
“Who is your father, Shelby?”
She gave a sly grin. “Stepdaddy, actually. Milton Boyd, Lawrence’s brother.”
I wanted to throw up. I scooted away from her so her dirty lifestyle didn’t brush off on me. Thank goodness God kept me on the straight and narrow. Being a best-selling author could easily go to my head and I could live a dirty lifestyle. I chose not to. I stared at the back of Matt’s head and thanked God for such a good man.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back of the plastic seat. When I opened them, we were pulling in front of the police station and Matt was opening the door for me.
“Come on gorgeous.” He held out his hand.
Shelby’s eyes widened. “I guess it really is true. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. He thinks you pretty in stained jeans and ripped tee shirt, no makeup, and mussed hair.”
I grinned. “That’s the beauty of bringing the bad to justice.” I waved my arm in a courtly bow. “Have a good life.” I linked my arm in Matt’s and did my best sashay imitation of Shelby into the building.
“If the Justice of the Peace were here,” Matt said, his eyes stormy, “I’d marry you right now, dirt and all.”
“I might even let you.” I kissed him. “Go book that gal and take me home.”
“Gladly.” He took Shelby’s arm and escorted her out of sight.
Our little precinct was quiet that time of the night. I spread out on the chairs and closed my eyes again. It had been a long glorious day. I fell asleep dreaming of my father and how happy he must be to know the Grangers received their justice.
The End
A GOOD PARTY CAN KILL YOU
A Nosy Neighbor Mystery
Book 7
By Cynthia Hickey
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www.cynthiahickey.com
Copyright 2015
Written by: Cynthia Hickey
Published by: Winged Publications
Cover Design: Cynthia Hickey
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
No part of this book may be copied or distributed without the author’s consent.
1
“That’s Matt’s ex!” Maryann pointed at a voluptuous brunette heading into a voodoo store.
The woman glanced our way, scowled, and ducked out of sight.
I couldn’t help but compare myself to the gorgeous woman. I, Stormi Nelson, was more lean lines than soft curves. Not to mention the woman looked better in shorts and a tank top than I ever would, even in formal wear.
I grabbed my best friend’s arm. “Come on. We don’t have time to worry about her.” Although, I wouldn’t have minded a bit of spying on the woman who had been Matt’s first. “We still have things to buy for the party tonight.” Preparations for my bachelorette party were going to kill me.
With my wedding a month away, my sister, Angela had broached the wonderful idea of a week long bachelorette party in New Orleans. Of course, all those invited gave an excited, “Yay!” Except me. I would have preferred a quiet night at home with popcorn and a chick flick.
After a night of sightseeing and scaring ourselves silly in an ancient graveyard, I still needed to purchase the matching tee shirts I’d ordered for the last hoorah. We were dining and partying on the Mississippi river with a dinner cruise on our last night before hea
ding home. I couldn’t wait to see Matt again.
“It wouldn’t hurt to see what she’s up to in New Orleans. She’s a world traveling photographer, you know.” Maryann craned her neck as I pulled her into a novelty shop. “We’ve always had very interesting conversations.”
“I do not want to talk about Matt to his ex-girlfriend. Not at my bachelorette.” I approached the sales counter. “One tee shirt for the bride and three for bridesmaids. I received a call this morning that they were ready.”
“Right here.” The clerk, a bubbly teen, chomped her gum and handed me a bright yellow bag. “Congratulations on your wedding. How exciting!”
“How did you know she was the bride?” Maryann leaned against the counter.
“I…guessed?” The clerk shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“No, but someday, it’ll be me.” She grabbed the bag from my hand, swung it over her shoulder, and sashayed out the door.
I exchanged an amused look with the clerk and followed my maid-of-honor. “What was that about?”
“I want to get married.” She pouted and headed down the sidewalk. “I’m going to buy a love potion and dump it in Michael’s coffee.”
“He isn’t worth having if you have to use trickery.” Oh, no. My friend was opening the door to the very shop Matt’s old girlfriend had gone into. Maybe she had left. I glanced around the street. No such luck.
“Why, hello, Maryann.” A voice so smooth it could melt ice drifted through the open door. “What brings you to New Orleans?”
“I’m the maid-of-honor in Matt’s wedding. This is Stormi Nelson, bride-to-be and best-selling author.” She grabbed my arm and swung me around to face who could only be my new nemesis. I seriously doubted whether we would be friends.
“I’m Rachel Gable, old news.” She thrust out a manicured hand and gave a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I’d heard rumors about Matthew getting married, but I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Why not?” I pulled my hand free.
“He’s more the wandering type. Like me. Ta ta, girls. See you on the flipside.” She moseyed down the sidewalk with a hip sway that would break a lesser woman’s back.
Nosy Neighbor: All 7 complete Nosy Neighbor cozy mysteries PLUS: 2 short Christmas stories (A Nosy Neighbor mystery) Page 89