Under the Gun

by Kelsey Browning

  “Oh, believe me, I keep very busy. It’s hard work managing other people.”

  She and Rosemary spent the next hour chatting about everything from how to properly host a dinner party for fifty to the merits of the new iPhone as they nibbled delectable treats and sipped fine tea. Of course, Lil didn’t know a thing about those smart phones, but she hadn’t survived over a year in prison without learning how to fudge the truth a bit. “You know, I am sorry about your husband.”

  “I still can’t believe anyone would disturb my dear husband’s remains.” Rosemary took a petit four from the three-tiered tray. “Did you tell anyone else about what you found?” She lowered her gaze, then she leveled a stare at her that set Lil on edge. “You can imagine how embarrassing that could be.”

  “Why? Have you?” Lil didn’t quite understand the feeling she was getting, but whatever it was…it was not comfortable.

  “Of course not. You asked me not to and I always keep my word.” Rosemary reached across the table and laid a hand on Lil’s arm. “I don’t have to tell you that. We’re so much alike.”

  Lil helped herself to another tiny tea sandwich, feeling more like a lady than she had in a long while. The smoked salmon and delicate greens were so delicious and such a treat.

  “I’m so thankful you found out and told me.” She lifted her teacup and sipped. “Can you tell me more about how you discovered my husband’s casket was empty?”

  “Well, we were at the mausoleum doing some, shall we say, sleuthing.” Lil felt a swell of pride to be part of their little team of investigators. Saying it aloud to Rosemary felt quite powerful.

  “Fascinating. Do you do this often? Don’t tell me you’re looking for a body-stealing ring? I’ve heard of people grave robbing to sell body parts. I know it sounds callous, but my dear Ronald has been gone long enough that he’d no longer be a good candidate for that or any kind of scientific research.”

  “No, nothing like that. Actually, my friend Abby Ruth is a gun collector and had some very old and rare guns stolen from right outside my home. To my horror.”

  Rosemary tapped her napkin to her lips and set her teacup down. “That is horrible.”

  “So you can imagine I felt partially responsible.”

  “Of course.” Rosemary raised her hands and gestured around her. “Our homes are supposed to be safe.”

  “Exactly. We’d been looking for her guns without much luck, but then one of the mausoleum’s security guards recognized a picture of the man we believe is the culprit, a temporary guest in my home.”

  “You take in boarders?” Rosemary’s condescending tone grated over Lil’s skin.

  “No, but our local B&B was full to the gills with overflow of Hollywood A-listers coming for the Jessie Wyatt funeral, so one of the B&B’s regulars stayed in my home as a favor to the owner.”

  “And how many friends did you say were with you when you stumbled across the guns in my husband’s vault?”

  “Oh, four of us were there. Don’t you worry. I wouldn’t dare put myself in the position of being in danger alone. No, ma’am. And they’re great friends.”

  “They sound wonderful.” Rosemary’s phone rang. “Oh dear. I need to take this call. You will excuse me, won’t you?”

  “Of course,” Lil said. She sat with her hands in her lap as Rosemary took the call.

  With her ear pressed to the phone, Rosemary nodded. “I’m cleaning the mess up here, so you need to take care of the three things on your end. Yes, whatever it takes, since you’re the one who made it in the first place. Toodles.” She ended the call and turned her phone over on the table. “My apologies. It’s so hard to find a good cleaning service these days.”

  Lil wouldn’t know since she and the women who lived with her took care of Summer Haven without help.

  “Drink up, dear. We have plenty more.” Rosemary smiled at Lil, lifting a hand in the air. Her maid rushed in to top off Lil’s tea. “Maybe next time your friends can come to tea as well.”

  Lil experienced a small twinge. It would be nice to have a friend like Rosemary Myrtle in her life. Someone with a background similar to hers.

  But did she really want to share her with Maggie and the others? Strangely, thought made her slightly dizzy.

  “That’s nice of you to offer. I’ve already overstayed my welcome this afternoon. Thank you so much for your hospitality.” Lil stood and her head whirled for an instant. She was too old to sit for that long without moving around. If she didn’t watch out, she was just one tea sandwich away from a deep vein thrombosis.

  The goodbyes with Rosemary felt a bit foggy as Lil made her way to the door and down the block back to Maggie’s truck. She slipped behind the wheel of the truck with her head reeling as if someone had blown helium into her ear.

  Had Rosemary asked her about the guns in the casket?

  She was quite certain she’d only told her his body was missing.

  Lil’s stomach convulsed. Thank goodness she’d left Rosemary’s when she had. It would’ve certainly spoiled tea if she’d been sick in the woman’s African violets.

  * * *

  The front doorbell rang, rousing Abby Ruth from her nap on the divan. She and that fussy little couch were becoming fast friends here lately.

  It wasn’t like they had all that many visitors to Summer Haven. Especially unexpected ones.

  Oh, no. What if the visitor was Red? Her heart picked up an extra beat and her intuition told her he wouldn’t give up so easily after she’d run out on him the other night.

  She dashed to the window and pulled back the parlor curtain. A dark-haired young man with a droopy mustache and a slightly crooked nose stood at the door.

  Holy baloney, she recognized the guy from Sera’s composite sketch. Bad Charlie, that gun-stealing egg-sucker, was standing on Summer Haven’s front porch!

  “Thank you, Jesus,” she said, raising her hands to the sky. Then she ran on tiptoe from the parlor to the kitchen. “You won’t believe who’s on our front porch,” she said to Sera and Maggie.

  “Teague,” Maggie guessed.

  “Angelina? No wait,” Sera said with a snap of her fingers. “Hollis Dooley.”

  “No. Bad Charlie!”

  Maggie jumped from her chair and grabbed her phone off the charger.

  “What are you doing?” Abby Ruth asked.

  “Calling Teague, of course.” Maggie mashed buttons with shaky fingers.

  Abby Ruth lunged over and snatched the phone out of Maggie’s hands. “No, ma’am. No time for that.” She pushed the end call button and slammed the phone down on the quilted placemat.

  Maggie flashed her a look of panic.

  “Yet,” Abby Ruth added. “I promise we’ll call him, but that crooked criminal is here now and we need to jump on this chance. Where’s Marcus?”

  Sera paled. “He left earlier.”

  “Good, I don’t want him in the way. That’s perfect. You in or not?”

  Excitement hung in the room, and her friends both nodded.

  Abby Ruth and Maggie huddled on the other side of the grandfather clock while Sera answered the door and invited unsuspecting Bad Charlie inside. “Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you again!” Sera leaped into his arms, wrapping him in a big bear hug and pointing him toward the dining room. “Come with me.”

  And like the dirty rat he was, Bad Charlie fell right in behind the colorfully dressed Pied Piper, played by Serendipity Johnson.

  “Maggie, come on into the dining and see who’s here,” Sera sang out.

  Maggie rushed into the other room, pasting a look of surprise on her face. “My goodness. So good to see you. Lil’s going to be sorry she missed you.”

  “She’s not here?”

  “No. She’s out running errands.”

  “Lil’s not here, but I am. If you’re looking for trouble, I’m a pretty good bet.” Abby Ruth came out of hiding and strode into the room, purposefully allowing her boot heels to tap out an ominous tempo on the hardwood
floor. Her last two steps landed like a one-two punch. “You stayed in my room last time you were here,” she said, perching her hands on her hips. “But as you can see, I’m back.”

  Bad Charlie’s face rearranged into what he probably thought was a smile, but he looked like a constipated weasel to Abby Ruth. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to put anyone out.”

  “Sit, Charlie.” Sera pulled out a gold-upholstered fruitwood chair from the long dining room table. “We’ll worry about the exact room later, but for now you have to tell us how you’ve been.”

  The rat-weasel sat down on command. Damn, Sera had a way about her.

  “I bet any room would do for you.” Abby Ruth stepped forward, her legs in a wide stance in front of his chair. “Because sleep isn’t what you’re looking for. Is it?”

  Panic flashed across Charlie’s face, and his head swiveled from her to Sera to Maggie and back to her. “I…um…the B&B is full and I thought—”

  “You thought you’d look for someplace more…lucrative, didn’t you?”

  He put his hands on the arms of the chair and began to push up.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Abby Ruth said, pressing her knee against his. “Not so fast. I have a few questions for you.”

  Maggie and Sera jumped forward to wrap a length of colored duct tape around each of Bad Charlie’s arms, strapping him to the chair. Pink camo on the right arm and turquoise with black zebra stripes on the left. Even she was fashion savvy enough to know that wasn’t a good look on him.

  Charlie’s head bobbled back and forth. “What the hell—”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Abby Ruth said. “What the hell happened to my guns?”

  “She told me to clean up this mess. Should’ve just done it with no warning.”

  “She? Who told you to do what?”

  “Nothing.” Bad Charlie tugged on his arms and hissed out cuss words under his breath. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

  “You think I’m afraid of you? Please.” Abby Ruth sputtered. “You might want to reconsider that line of thought. Where are my guns?”

  “No one wants those guns anyway. They’re too expensive to sell on the street. Weren’t worth half the hassle they’ve caused.”

  “Good, then you won’t mind handing them back over.” She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Where are they?”

  “I can give them to you.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “You’re going to have to let me up though.”

  “I don’t have to do anything.” Abby Ruth laughed. Being back in control of something felt good, but as she turned to share the moment with Maggie and Sera, Bad Charlie leaned forward and head-butted her right on her incision site. A burst of pain flashed inside her on impact, robbing her of breath. She slumped to the floor.

  “Abby Ruth!” Sera raced across the room.

  “Are you okay?” Maggie said as she knelt down next to her.

  Eyes closed, she sat there on her fanny with her feet stretched in front of her, holding one arm across her chest. “That hurt, you numbskull.”

  “Please say you’re okay,” Sera pleaded.

  “I’m fine,” Abby Ruth puffed as she tried to stand. “Get him!”

  Sera and Maggie both spun in the direction she was pointing.

  Bad Charlie was making a hasty exit through the house with that chair still strapped to his hind-side.

  He lumbered through the foyer and made an awkward run for the door.

  The grandfather clock bonged an out-of-tune note as the chair leg hit its side and shoved it cockeyed to the corner.

  From the other side of the wall, Lil’s Gone With The Wind collectible plate in the parlor china cabinet hit the floor with a crash.

  The screen door slapped closed just as Sera got to it. “I’m going after him!”

  The door slapped a second time right behind Sera.

  Abby Ruth was still trying to get oxygen back in her lungs and huffed out, “This would be the time to call 9-1-1, Mags.”

  Maggie pulled her cell from her pocket as she and Abby Ruth followed in Sera’s wake. “I need the sheriff at Summer Haven. Hurry. There’s a burglary in progress!”

  “What’s he stealing—the chair?” Abby Ruth snapped.

  “Well, it was a burglary when he stole your guns,” she said, covering the phone with her hand.

  “True enough,” Abby Ruth conceded.

  Maggie panted into the phone, “I promise this man is a crook. Send Teague!”

  When Abby Ruth and Maggie made it to the door, Sera was taking a flying leap off the porch, her limbs in all directions. Maggie punched at the door screen, pushing it wide so they could run down the steps to catch up with her.

  Bad Charlie was making strides.

  “Dammit, y’all should’ve strapped his legs too,” Abby Ruth hollered.

  “I’ll remind you this was a last-minute takedown,” Maggie said. “It wasn’t like we had days to plan.”

  His long legs were eating up twice as much ground as Sera’s. He was nearly to the curve in the driveway, and it was doubtful she would catch up unless he tripped.

  Then a sedan barreled up the driveway, heading right for Bad Charlie, screeching to a stop at the last second. Sera was making up ground but was still a good twenty feet away when Bad Charlie suddenly dropped like a stone.

  Abby Ruth whooped out a “YES!” as she and Maggie caught up to Sera.

  The driver of the vehicle stepped out, and Abby Ruth blinked in surprise. “Red?”

  He flashed that perfect smile, which hit her straight in the midsection, much more pleasurable than Bad Charlie’s earlier move.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me. The sheriff rented me his house.”

  That tidbit hit Abby Ruth almost as hard as Bad Charlie’s head butt, but dammit, she couldn’t deal with Red now. She glanced down at Bad Charlie, sprawled in an unnatural position on the ground and knocked out cold. What in the world? “What did you do to him, Sera?”

  Sera reached over and held her hand up for a high five from Red. “This guy beaned him with a baseball.”

  Abby Ruth eyed Red. Surely her racing heart was a consequence of the chase and not the man standing in front of her. “You took him down?”

  Red grinned. “It’s what I do.”

  In his day, he’d had the best arm in the league. But even if he’d been a second-rate pitcher, he’d always known how to throw a cupid pitch to her heart. “We had it taken care of,” Abby Ruth said coolly.

  “Yeah, I noticed. Everything looked completely under control as this idiot came running toward me with a chair strapped to his ass.”

  Abby Ruth laughed so hard she snorted. Bad Charlie and his built-in seat must’ve been a confusing sight to drive up on.

  But Red had come through with a single pitch. Boom!

  “You should’ve seen it,” Sera said, flashing a doe-eyed glance in Red’s direction. “Looked like a major league pitch.”

  “I bet it did,” Abby Ruth said, her voice low.

  “Who is he?” Sera whispered. “You know him?”

  Not ready to answer the questions she knew her friends would have about Red, Abby Ruth nudged Sera with a not now message.

  “I’m not sure I want to know what y’all were doing to him to make him run.” He stepped closer to her, putting his arm around her waist, and she soaked up the swirl of warmth his touch sent through her. “But if I had to guess, I’d say you could spin me a pretty good story.”

  Chapter 23

  When Teague arrived, he gave Abby Ruth and the others the look, the one that said “you’re not off the hook and you’ll be explaining this in detail later.” But he cut the duct tape from around Bad Charlie’s wrists and cuffed him.

  “He said something about cleaning up his mess,” Abby Ruth told Teague. “But I don’t know what he meant.”

  “That’s for me to worry about,” Teague shot back.r />
  “You will question him about my guns, right?”

  “No, Abby Ruth. I’m planning to drop him off on Main Street the minute I drive away from Summer Haven and let him go on his merry way.”

  “You don’t have to be so touchy about it.”

  “Wouldn’t you be touchy if a crew of senior citizens kept trying to do your job?”

  She was smart enough not to reply to that.

  After Teague dragged Charlie off to jail, Marcus stopped by to pick up Sera, and Abby Ruth shooed Maggie back inside the house. But Red was still hanging around, standing entirely too close for Abby Ruth’s peace of mind.

  “Everything’s fine now,” she told him. “You can go on back to…to wherever it is you’re doing.”

  “I just told you that I rented Teague’s old house. I’ll be living in Summer Shoals until further notice.”

  Abby Ruth tried to swallow the hunk of fear in her throat, but it wouldn’t budge. “I…I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Really?” Red’s tone was pleasant enough, but his eyes and mouth were dead serious. “Because I think it’s smart to hang around here until you’re finished with your cancer treatments.”

  “How did you find out about that?”

  “You’re not the only one who knows how to ask leading questions, Ms. Journalist. I have connections at the hospital in Atlanta, and Summer Shoals is a small town.”

  “Damned Atlanta Highway Diner.”

  “You didn’t actually think I’d leave before we could settle things between us, did you?”

  “There’s nothing to settle.”

  “Then you won’t mind if I go pay a visit to Jenny now, will you?” Red leveled a stare that made her shiver.

  “I need some time.”

  “You’ve had thirty-something years.”

  Although she’d once loved this man, right now she wanted to find a stick and whack him with it. But she couldn’t because he had every right to be upset. Every right to want to stay. “Red, I’m sick.” Damn, she hated playing that card, but she wasn’t sure she could handle him and cancer at the same time.