Maggie Lee | Book 27 |The Hitwoman and the Body

by Lynn, JB

  “I believe you,” I said quickly, before Griswald could respond.

  “You do?” he asked, surprised.

  I nodded.

  Griswald nodded slowly. “So then, who took them?”

  “I have a theory about that,” I said slowly.

  We dropped Laney off, and she again thanked us for returning the photograph to her.

  “How did you figure it out?” I asked Griswald as soon as the other woman was out of the car.

  “Well, you did a lot of the work,” he said as we headed home. “You found out about Madison, at the funeral home, which made sense as Maddy’s son. And as soon as I saw her make that jump off of the building and land like an Olympic gymnast, I figured out the rest. Bob Hallangen was visiting his grandson at the gymnastics school every Thursday at 2:00 PM.”

  “But he’s got to be too old to be taking one of those classes,” I pointed out.

  “But he’s not too old to be teaching,” Griswald said. “Then, I’d imagine, the three of them would dine on olive loaf sandwiches afterward. He was bonding with his daughter and grandson the only way he knew how.”

  I nodded, realizing he probably was right.

  “The makeup artist makes her own products using natural ingredients,” I blurted out. “She specializes in a smokey eye.”

  “Is that what your cartoon raccoon face was about?” he asked.

  “You think I looked like a raccoon?” I gasped, wondering who else had such an unflattering impression of my new look. “It’s supposed to be sexy.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe some people find garbage bandits sexy?”

  I stared at him for a long moment.

  “I don’t,” he confided. “I mean in case you were wondering.”

  “I wasn’t,” I snapped.

  He looked at me expectantly, silently reminding me that we hadn’t started out talking about my resemblance to a non-sexy cartoon raccoon.

  “I think maybe she took the ashes,” I said, getting back on track.

  “Ewww,” the tough U.S. Marshal moaned. “That means you were wearing the remains of somebody’s face on your face. Not to mention, the other body parts.”

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Do you think I should tell the funeral home director?”

  Griswald shook his head. “That case is no longer our problem.”

  We rode the rest of the way home in silence. I was wondering what his connection was to Ms. Whitehat. I had no idea what he was thinking about. As we turned into the driveway, I noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye in the woods. I took that to mean that somebody was waiting for me. As soon as Griswald had parked, I told him, “I need to go for a walk and stretch my legs. I think I pulled something running after Laney.”

  He nodded his understanding and went inside. I headed back up the driveway to see who was waiting for me.

  As I walked, Piss raced up to join me.

  “Welcome back, sugar,” she said.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “All is quiet, for the moment,” she said. “Is everything okay with Griswald?”

  “We kind of solved our case,” I told her. “But I think we’re also kind of fired.”

  “Congratulations,” she drawled.

  We couldn’t continue our conversation anymore because a man stepped out of the woods.

  “It’s still there,” he said, sounding slightly disappointed.

  I smiled at Gino. “The car?”

  He nodded. “I thought, maybe, you’d take your dad and make a run for it.”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t kill Nelson. There’s no need to use the car for that.”

  “No,” God said from my bra. “You were just going to use it as a murderous battering ram.”

  I ignored him. “What’s up?” I asked Gino, stepping closer to him. I saw that the worry lines around his eyes were deeper than usual. Something was bothering him.

  “We could take it,” he said slowly. “You and me. Take it, drive up to Canada, make new lives for ourselves.”

  I frowned at him. “What happened?” Not that it wasn’t tempting to leave everything and everyone behind. It would be nice to start over without any problems. But it wasn’t like I could leave my family.

  “Johnny is dead,” Gino revealed on a heavy sigh.

  “The one who was driving when the body was found?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “That can’t be good.”

  He chuckled. “Sometimes you are the master of understatement.”

  “What do you want me to do about it?” I asked.

  “I want you to be careful,” he stressed, pressing an unexpected kiss to my lips that stole my breath.

  “I have a question,” I asked once I was fully oxygenated again.

  “You usually do,” he said, a slight smile playing at his lips. He looked slightly better than he had when we’d first met.

  “Who would want to take down both your boss and my father?” I asked him.

  “That’s a question I’d been asking myself, too,” he admitted. “I haven’t figured it out yet.”

  “If you do, let me know.”

  “Don’t act on it if you figure it out,” he said sternly. “Let me know and I’ll take care of it.”

  I nodded my agreement. Whoever was orchestrating this whole thing was way out of my league.

  “It could be Daphne,” I said slowly.

  “The one who wants to kill you?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay,” he agreed. “I could see how that could work for your dad, but she’s got no connection to the boss?”

  “It’s not exactly a secret that we’re close.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll look into it.”

  “Somebody else is coming, sugar,” Piss warned on a worried meow.

  “Somebody’s coming,” I whispered to Gino.

  “Be careful,” he reminded me, before diving deeper into the woods. I followed the cat out toward the source of the steps that were headed toward us. I didn’t know who else I was going to have to deal with now, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to go well.

  33

  “Maggie?” a voice called. “Are you out here?”

  “I’m over here, Templeton,” I called, moving toward him.

  He smiled when I emerged from the woods. “Thank goodness.”

  “Is something wrong?” I asked, my heart beating a little faster.

  He shook his head. “It’s just, that Susan sent me out to find you, and I didn’t want to let her down.”

  “What does she want?” I asked, not bothering to disguise the worry I was feeling.

  He chuckled. “Apparently, she wants to have a family meeting.”

  “About what?”

  He shrugged. “I’m guessing it has to do with the state of things between Loretta and myself.”

  I frowned. “Does that mean they’re not getting any better?”

  He shook his head. “How could they get better when she’s decided that a man who wants to destroy me is a better choice for her?”

  I blinked, surprised at the amount of bitterness I heard in his tone. “What do you mean?”

  “The guy she’s cheating on me with, Reese, his life mission is to destroy me.”

  “Oh no,” I said sympathetically. Considering that Daphne had stated that her mission was the same about me, I could empathize with his situation. “What does he have against you?”

  He glanced around, making sure that nobody else could overhear him. “This has to stay between us.”

  “Of course,” I promised.

  “He tried to make a case against me and failed,” Templeton revealed on a whisper.

  I blinked. “A case?”

  He nodded.

  “Is he a cop?”

  Templeton shook his head. “Worse. He’s a district attorney.”

  “Yikes.” I grimaced.

  “I don’t know if he’s interested in Loretta because of who
she is or because of her relationship to me,” he confided.

  “Did you tell her this?”

  “I did. She didn’t seem to care. He doesn’t ‘dull her shine’ or something,” he said angrily.

  “Neither do you,” I assured him.

  “Anyway,” Templeton said with a resigned shrug. “Criminals hold grudges, but so do those in law enforcement, and I’m on his bad side.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, wanting to help him but having no idea how.

  “We should get back to the house,” Templeton said. “The last thing I need is to be put on Susan’s list, too.”

  We walked together in silence, back toward the buildings. As we grew close, Katie and Alicia came running toward us.

  “Aunt Maggie!” Katie yelled.

  “Katie!” I yelled back. “Alicia!” I added with even more enthusiasm, wanting my other niece to feel that she was as much a part of the family as Katie.

  “We made cheer up cards,” Alicia announced as they came to a stop right in front of us.

  “I heard,” I told them. “I heard Aunt Leslie helped you make them.”

  Both little girls nodded.

  “We want to give them to Dominic,” Katie announced. “Can we do that?”

  Beside me, I felt Templeton tense just a little bit.

  “His grandfather’s awfully busy right now,” I said to the girls carefully. “I don’t think Dominic can have playdates right now.”

  “But could you bring it to him?” Alicia asked.

  I nodded, wanting to make her feel that I would do what would make her happy. “I can do that.”

  “Today?” she pushed.

  “I’ll try,” I told her. “But I don’t even know if they’re home, so I can’t guarantee it.”

  “I thought you girls were supposed to be with Miss Lassalan,” Templeton said gently.

  “She’s busy talking to Aunt Leslie,” Katie said.

  “She agreed to watch the girls while we have this family meeting,” Templeton said softly as an explanation for me.

  “Let’s go find them,” I said, holding out my hands. Each girl took one and together we skipped toward the barn, Templeton trailing behind us. I got them settled in their classroom with Miss Lassalan. Leslie and Templeton moved toward the house and I stopped to pet Irma between the ears.

  “You never remember apples,” the donkey complained.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her. “Someday, I’ll make it up to you.”

  The donkey snorted her disbelief.

  I turned to leave the barn, and found that Armani was watching me.

  “Family meeting,” I told her, before she could make the announcement to me.

  “Jack needs to talk to you,” she said as a response.

  My stomach tightened nervously, wondering what the crime reporter could want to talk to me about.

  “Apparently, Angel gave him something to give to Katie and he wants to make sure it’s okay with you before he gives it to her,” Armani explained.

  I blinked in surprise. “Jack has seen Angel?”

  Katie’s former manny, and my almost-boyfriend for a short while, had left town with his long-lost sweetheart.

  Armani nodded. “When he was out of town working on that story.”

  “Do you know what the story is?” I asked, remembering that I’d asked Templeton to ask the same of her and I hadn’t gotten an answer.

  She shook her head.

  “Do you know what this family meeting is about?” I asked.

  “I’m guessing Loretta and Templeton,” she said. “I don’t like the new guy.”

  “You psychically don’t like him? Or you just don’t like him, like a normal person doesn’t like someone?”

  She shrugged. “I have a bad feeling about him.”

  I nodded. That made sense, considering what Templeton had revealed.

  “I tried to talk her out of it,” Armani revealed.

  “You tried to get Loretta to give up a man?” I asked in awe.

  She nodded. “I don’t think she listened to me.”

  “I don’t think she listens to anyone,” I told my friend reassuringly. Together, we moved toward the house.

  “I’ll vote however you do,” she told me.

  “What if you feel differently than I do?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “You’re the center of this family. Everybody should do what you think is best.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said.

  “You really are,” Armani said. “You’re the one who does everything to make everybody’s life better.”

  I squinted at her, wondering if she somehow had figured out what I do for Delveccio and Ms. Whitehat in order to keep my family safe. Her expression revealed nothing.

  “Maybe it will be an easy vote,” I told her.

  She laughed. “When has that ever happened?”

  34

  We hadn’t yet made it to the house when a car came barreling down the driveway at us.

  “This is bad,” Armani said. “Psychically bad.”

  I curled my hands into fists as I watched Daphne, accompanied by three goons, climb out of the car.

  “Go tell Miss Lassalan to keep the girls where they are,” I muttered under my breath to Armani.

  She limped off as quickly as she could. I stayed where I was, glaring at Daphne. “You’re on private property.”

  “So make me leave,” she mocked. She stepped closer to me, and her three men fanned out behind her. “I want to see my niece,” she said.

  “One, you aren’t her aunt,” I told her. “You’re a cousin.”

  “I’m family.”

  “And two,” I continued. “You don’t have my permission to see her.”

  “Then I’ll just take her,” she said with a malevolent grin.

  “Piss! Piss!” God began to bellow.

  Daphne’s eyes grew wide at the sound of my squeaking chest.

  I pretended not to hear anything. “You need to go.”

  “Piss!” the lizard yelled for a third time.

  “I’ll get her,” Mike cawed as he flew by.

  I really didn’t want Piss beside me. I would have preferred DeeDee. She’s the one who can look scary.

  “Where’s the kid?” Daphne demanded.

  “Get out,” I told her firmly.

  “Find her,” Daphne ordered her men. They began to move toward the house. I stepped in between them and the building. Sure, the girls weren’t there, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “I’m coming, Maggie,” Irma began to bray.

  Startled by the sounds the donkey was making as she tried to kick down the door to her stall, Daphne and her team looked toward the barn.

  “The donkey’s rabid,” I told them.

  “I’m coming,” Irma insisted, even though it didn’t sound like she was.

  She might not have been able to get out of her enclosure, but somebody else was coming to my rescue. “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” Percy, the blind peacock, shrieked as he ran in my general direction.

  “What the--” one of Daphne’s henchmen exclaimed.

  “It’s a bird,” Daphne said. “You’re not going to tell me you’re frightened by a bird.”

  Meanwhile, Percy raced to my side. “I’m here,” I said quietly so that he could find me. Together, even though he was facing in the wrong direction, we squared off against the four people who wanted to take Katie.

  “They’re coming,” Piss said, racing around the house.

  “They’re already here,” God retorted. He’d climbed up on my shoulder, as though he, too, were going to charge into battle.

  “No,” Piss meowed sharply. “Reinforcements are coming.”

  There we stood, me, a blind peacock facing the wrong way, a one-eyed cat, and an anole lizard who’s only a couple inches tall on his best day. I’m sure that Daphne and her gang thought that there was nobody who would stand in their way.

  Then the front door of the house opened
. DeeDee, growling and snarling and doing her best to be scary, charged out of the house and placed herself between myself and Daphne.

  “Guard! Guard!” she barked.

  “That’s no bird,” one of Daphne’s men said worriedly.

  “Shoot it,” Daphne ordered.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said angrily, moving forward so that I stood beside DeeDee.

  Templeton, who’d opened the door for DeeDee, stepped out. “What’s going on here?” he demanded in a voice that held more authority than I’d ever heard him use before.

  “None of your business, old man,” Daphne told him.

  “Well, is it mine?” Griswald asked, stepping out from behind Templeton, holding up his U.S. Marshal badge and his gun.

  “Marlene, Loretta and Leslie have taken Zippy to protect the kids,” Piss told me.

  I nodded slightly, indicating that I understood.

  “I hope one of them knows to release Irma,” God said.

  “Herschel’s gone to get her,” Piss replied.

  Daphne and her cohorts spun around, startled, when Matilda oinked angrily from behind them, “Go away.”

  “And that’s a pig,” the third man said.

  “This crowd must love Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” God joked.

  I couldn’t help but smirk.

  “Pigs can be dangerous. They eat people,” another man said.

  “Go away!” Matilda squealed again, angrily, waddling toward them.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Susan push past her husband. She walked down the stairs and stood beside me.

  “I know who you are,” my aunt said to Daphne, her chin held high.

  “Then you can guess why I’m here,” Daphne sneered.

  “You’re not welcome here,” Susan told her calmly. “This is my father’s property and he wishes for you to leave.”

  “Wishes are for children,” Daphne countered.

  Percy, having finally figured out that he was facing in the wrong direction, turned around and shrieked, “Go away!”

  “Go away!” Matilda grunted.

  “Away go!” DeeDee barked.

  “Seriously,” God muttered in my ear. “It’s two words. Why can’t she just get two words out correctly?”

  The pig, the peacock, and the dog kept up their cacophony of “Go away!”