I tried again to buck him off. He backhanded me across the face and grabbed my ears. His blood and spittle drooled onto my face as he lifted my head and prepared to slam it a final time against the floor.
I felt light-headed and was having trouble catching my breath, but he was over confident. Focusing my thoughts on what would happen to Tanya if I died; I felt a surge of energy.
I waited until he reached the top of his arc, and then I snapped my head forward.
There was not a lot of strength behind the motion, but I heard his nose snap when my forehead connected. Willie cried out and loosened his grip on my ears. I kept pushing with everything I had left in me, and still I couldn’t shake him from my chest.
With blood pouring from his nose and mouth, Willie changed tactics. He rolled off me and scrambled across the floor toward where his gun had landed.
My chest burned and my head throbbed. I was having a hell of a time keeping my balance, but I knew if Willie got his gun it was all over. In desperation, I reached out, caught his ankle, and pulled him flat onto the floor.
Again, Willie was much quicker than I expected. He kicked at me with his other foot and grazed my ear. My grip was tenuous at best, and his next kick freed his leg. We both struggled to our feet. He was faster than me, but when he reached for the gun his shoe slid in a pool of his own blood. He went down onto one knee.
While Willie struggled to regain his footing, I was fighting my own battle. My head felt as if it had been split by an ax and I was having trouble concentrating. Another hit to the head and I’d be out.
I snatched up the sword as Willie dove for his pistol. It looked like he was going to win the race. I was worn down both physically and mentally. With my last reserve of strength, I thrust the blade out in front of me and sprang forward.
Willie grabbed the gun, but before he could bring it up I plunged the sword into his chest.
Willie’s eyes opened wide, he dropped the gun, and collapsed onto the floor. I was exhausted. All I wanted was to lie down and go to sleep, but sleeping wouldn’t help Tanya. Reaching down, I snatched up the pistol and made my way across the room to the office door.
I had been trained on the proper way to enter a room when someone might be waiting with a gun, but I was too tired to think straight. Instead, I fumbled with the doorknob, threw open the door, and raced into the room with the gun held out in front of me.
Destiny and Tanya were gone. Elvis was standing over Dom’s body, staring down into his lifeless eyes. When he heard me behind him, he turned. “She shot him without a second thought.”
“Destiny?”
“Yes,” Elvis said. There were tears in his eyes and a quiver in his voice. “He was the gentlest soul I ever knew.”
I knelt down on one knee and touched Dom’s neck looking for a pulse. It confirmed what I already knew.
“He’s dead,” Elvis said.
“I’m sorry.” I stood and put my hand on his shoulder. “Where’d Destiny go?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about the other girl, Tanya?”
“I thought she was going to kill us all. Gail took the girl and said to tell you to go back to Tanya’s house and wait for her call. She said if you were not there when she called, she’d kill Tanya. She said you have an hour.”
“I’ve got to go,” I said. “Do you think you can handle the police?”
“What do I tell them?”
“Tell them the truth, but don’t let them know where I’m going. I’ll call them when I know Tanya’s all right. Can you tell me why they were here in the first place?”
“Gail said they didn’t have any other place to go. Plus, she’s obsessed with those damn diamonds. She can’t seem to think of anything else. She asked me again if you were going to give them to her.”
“What did you tell her?”
Elvis let out a low laugh. “I told her yes. You told me earlier that Gail was going to kill the other girl if she didn’t get them back, so I told her what she wanted to hear.”
“You lied to her?”
Elvis nodded. “I didn’t have a choice. I thought it was the only way to keep us all alive. You know, I had a vision that Gail was going to die tonight. If I’d even suspected Dom might get hurt, I’d have sent him away. My predictions are always open to interpretation, but I had a vivid sense that she was going to get shot.”
Elvis looked up into my eyes. “I was afraid she’d kill me, but I still should have been able to do something to save Dom. I know you don’t believe it, but I’m a real psychic. I should have seen this coming.”
I started toward the door, and then looked back at Elvis. “You can’t blame yourself for this, any more than you say I can’t blame myself for Celine’s death. Now you need to call the police, and I need to make sure Destiny doesn’t kill Tanya.”
Chapter 30
Despite the assurances I’d offered Elvis, I couldn’t ignore my own rising guilt. I knew I was the one responsible for Dom’s death, not Elvis. It had been my plan for him to make some noise and create a diversion. He’d died as a result. I was determined not to add Tanya’s death to my growing guilt trip.
Waiting for the police was not going to help anyone. Over the past several days I had seen what Destiny was capable of. There was no doubt in my mind she would do exactly what she threatened to do. If I wanted to save Tanya I had better get my ass in gear.
It was no surprise to me that the bicycle I’d left lying in the grass was gone. This left me without transportation. It only took a quick glance down at my tattered and bloodied shirt to rule out a taxi or a bicycle cab. They would take one look at me and either take off or call the cops.
Despite the fact I was exhausted and battered from my battle with Willie, I had to jog the mile or so to Tanya’s house. Because I looked like hell I chose to avoid Duval, which would have been a slightly more direct route. I ran with my head down along Simonton Street up to Olivia. The few people I crossed paths with stepped around me. I suspect they took me for one of the many homeless who wander around the island.
I didn’t give a shit what anybody else thought, all I cared about was getting to Tanya’s as fast as possible. At that point I had a solitary mission in life, making sure Tanya survived. That’s also when I decided if Destiny hurt Tanya, I was going to kill her.
The house was shrouded in darkness. The gate was half open, just like I’d left it when I hurried off after Dom’s call. The door was closed, but unlocked. I should have remembered that I had not closed it when I left. I should have looked around before entering the house. I should have taken all the precautions I’d been taught to take. But by the time I got to the house, all I could think about was getting inside, finding some aspirin, and waiting for Destiny’s call.
Tanya was the first thing I saw when I flipped on the lights. She was tied to one of the kitchen chairs, which had been moved into the center of the living room. The second thing I saw was Destiny. She wore a pair of tight shorts and an Alvin’s t-shirt that was two sizes too small for her. She was also holding a gun in her lap. It was cocked, and pointed at Tanya.
“Where are my diamonds, Wes?” She was grinning, but it was a crazy grin. When I looked into her eyes I realized that she’d been pushed over the edge. No matter what I told her she wasn’t going to let either Tanya or me live.
“I hid them,” I said. I scanned the room looking for a weapon. Things did not look promising.
“The ones you took from me?”
I nodded.
She fumbled for something next to where she was sitting, and held up the vase from Tanya’s room. “And what about the ones I hid in here? I hope for both your sakes you have all my pretties. You’re more resourceful than I gave you credit for, Wes. I can be resourceful too. I want all twenty-five of my diamonds. If you don’t give them to me, I’m gonna shoot Tanya, then I’m gonna shoot you. One bullet for every diamond that you don’t return. Who do you think is more resourceful, Darling?”
�
�Why are you doing this, Gail?” Tanya asked. “I watched you kill someone today. Before that, I never could have believed you were capable of doing such a thing. You should leave before the police find you.”
“Shut the hell up, bitch.” Destiny drew back and flung the vase at Tanya. Tanya pulled back her head and the vase flew past her face and slammed into the wall across the room. “I’m not going anywhere without my diamonds.”
I could see the fear in Tanya’s eyes. Unfortunately, Destiny’s actions over the last twenty-four hours warranted that fear. Destiny was turning her anger and fear toward Tanya. I needed to shift her attention to me. “The only way you’re going to find the diamonds is with my help,” I said. “And that’s not going to happen if you don’t stop threatening Tanya.”
“How do I know you didn’t turn the diamonds over to the cops?”
I reached toward my pocket, and Destiny steadied the pistol on me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I held my hand up. “I’ve got one of the diamonds in my pocket. I kept it on me so I could prove to you I still have them.”
It was clear she didn’t trust me. She stood and placed the muzzle of the pistol against Tanya’s head. “Let me see it,” she said. “And don’t do anything stupid.”
I reached into my pocket and drew out the stone. I opened my hand and let it roll around in my palm. It sparkled as the light reflected in it and for a moment we were all mesmerized.
“All right,” she said. “That’s a start—it will buy you maybe two minutes of Tanya’s life. Now, get down on your knees and shuffle over to the coffee table. Place the diamond on the table, and move back away from us. Do it slowly, and don’t make any funny moves. If you so much as breathe hard I swear I’ll kill her.”
I believed her. I did exactly what she asked. She stood and watched until I moved back from the chair, and then she reached over to pick up the diamond. She took her eyes off me and lowered the gun for a second. I braced myself to jump her, but she must have read my mind. She snatched up the diamond and pointed the gun back at Tanya before I could react.
She held the diamond up to the light, studied it for a moment, and tucked it into the pocket of her shorts before stepping back behind the chair. Once again she pressed the gun hard against the back of Tanya’s head.
“I’m going to count to three,” she said. “And then I’m going to kill Tanya unless you tell me where the rest of the diamonds are.”
“You’ll kill us both if I tell you,” I said.
“I don’t want you dead,” she said. “I just want my diamonds.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Maybe you’ll believe this.” She gave Tanya’s head a rap with the gun barrel and said, “One.”
The fear was still evident in Tanya’s eyes, and there was insanity in Destiny’s. “All right,” I said. “I’ll take you to them.”
“That’s better.” She reached out and stroked Tanya’s hair. “I didn’t want to kill you hon, but Wes was being an asshole. You realize it would have been his fault if I had to hurt you?”
“But why are you doing this?” Tanya asked.
“Because I’m tired of being poor.” Destiny shifter the gun in my direction. “You wouldn’t know what it’s like. You’re daddy had money and he always took care of you.”
“We got by,” Tanya said. “There was never a lot of extra money. Since my dad died there’s not a week that goes by where I don’t struggle to meet the bills.”
“Oh you poor baby.” Destiny looked around the room and laughed. “You can sell this house and the bar and you’ll never have to work another day in your life. This is my only chance.”
“And what about the man you shot tonight?” Tanya asked.
“Talk to me about it after you’ve spent years dancing in front of assholes just like him, or Wes here.” Destiny pointed the gun at me. Her grip was steady, her eyes hard. “Last chance, where are they?”
“I’ll take you to them,” I said.
She laughed and shook her head. “Like that’s going to happen. I wasn’t kidding about killing Tanya. But first I’m going to cause her a lot of pain if you don’t tell me where they are.”
I couldn’t very well tell her the truth. If I did she’d be back inside within minutes. When she found out half of them were missing, she was going to be mad as hell. Since I wasn’t too keen on dying, I decided to buy some time. With any luck I could lead her someplace out of the way, and disarm her.
“I buried them under the gumbo-limbo tree next to Alvin's,” I said.
“What are you, nuts? You expect me to believe you’d bury them where anyone could come along and find them.” She shifted back and forth on her feet. “Last chance, Wes. Give me the real location or Tanya’s dead.”
“I’m telling the truth. No one’s going to find them there. I buried them about eighteen inches out from the trunk between the tree and the bar window.” I was on a roll, making it up while I went along. “They’re maybe a foot beneath the surface. I’ll take you to them.”
“Damn it.” She stomped her right foot and I could feel the rage emanating from her. I knew she wanted to kill me right then and there.
“If I’m lying,” I said, “You can kill me.” I needed to get her away from Tanya. I was counting on the fact that she would want to have the diamonds in her hands before she blew me away.
“You must take me for a fool,” she said. “You’re not going anywhere. If the diamonds aren’t where you say they are, I’ll be back. I’m going to make you watch me kill Tanya before I kill you. Now turn around.”
I started to stand and she said, “Uh Uh. Stay on your knees and swivel around.”
I hesitated until Destiny swung the gun in Tanya’s direction, then I nodded and shuffled around until I was facing the door. I knew what was coming and I tensed my shoulders, but you can’t prepare yourself for a smack on the head. She brought the barrel down hard over my right ear, and everything went dark.
Chapter 31
Someone in the distance was calling my name. I could hear mumbled words through the drumbeats that played with the nerve endings along the back of my head. I fought back the pain and tried to ignore the voice as it built to an urgent whisper. With a groan, I rolled over onto my back and forced my eyes open.
“Thank God, Wes,” Tanya said. “I thought you were dead.”
My head throbbed, everything in the room appeared to have a fuzzy outline, and right then I thought dead sounded damn good. When I tried to sit up, I couldn’t move. It took me several seconds to realize my hands and feet were bound. “How long have I been out?”
“Maybe twenty minutes,” Tanya said.
At first, my mind and body refused to work together. It was like trying to move a table across the room by thinking about it, or maybe trying to fly. No matter how hard you tried, the table wouldn’t move and you couldn’t soar with the birds. I swore at the top of my voice and tried again to focus on the matter at hand.
It was move or die. I concentrated on pushing up on my arms. I began to roll toward the sofa. By the time I reached it I was breathing hard. I winced and levered myself into a sitting position. I was fighting the clock and the pain as I went to work twisting and turning my wrists in an effort to loosen the rope. This is getting to be a real bad habit, I thought while I struggled. Destiny had been in a hurry to go after the diamonds, but she had done a pretty good job of tying me up. It took a good ten minutes before I felt the rope give a little.
“Why don’t you take it easy?” Tanya asked. “You look like you’re in pain.”
“I can rest later.” I ignored her suggestion and continued my struggle. “When Destiny gets back here she’s going to kill both of us.”
“Why would she bother coming back if she has the diamonds?”
I didn’t answer the question. She had enough to worry about without my telling her I’d sent Destiny on a wild goose chase. After some thought, I said, “She’s going to want to get rid
of any witnesses. You were there when she killed Dom. I saw her kill Frankie.”
“What about Elvis? He was there when she killed that guy and Gail let him live. Maybe she doesn’t want to kill us.”
I shook my head and regretted it. The pain made it harder to concentrate on the ropes. Even listening to Tanya’s voice made my head vibrate. I didn’t complain. As long as she kept talking, she didn’t have time to worry about the bind we were in. I was afraid she might panic, which would make things even worse. Taking a deep breath, I gave my wrists another twist. I felt the knot slip, and I was able to ease my left hand out from the rope.
“Destiny considers Elvis to be her confessor, something like a priest.” I tossed the rope out of the way and reached down to untie my feet. “She thinks he’ll keep what he knows about her a secret.”
“Will he?”
I finished untying my feet and used the arm of the chair to help me stand. “I don’t think so,” I said. “But I do know she’ll be back here. I’m going out to the kitchen to get a knife. If you hear her coming, call me.”
My knees were wobbly, and it took longer than it should have just to walk across the living room and into the kitchen. My vision was no longer blurred, but each step I took reverberated along my spine and played havoc with my head. The mounting pain forced me to stop and lean against the wall twice before I reached the drawer where Tanya kept her knives. My hands felt disassociated from my body. I had trouble opening the drawer. Trouble picking up a knife. After what seemed like an hour, but could only have been minutes, I managed to wrap my hand around a knife handle. Dragging it out of the drawer I started back across the kitchen to where Tanya was waiting for me.
I felt a little better by then, but I was still fighting for balance with each step. When I passed the kitchen table I yearned to sit for a couple of minutes and regroup. Time was the unknown factor, so I pushed on into the living room.
The knife was dull and my coordination was off. It took several minutes to cut through the ropes. When they parted, Tanya jumped up and threw her arms around me. Her warm tears ran down my neck and I pulled her close.
Key Lime Blues (A Wes Darling Mystery) Page 22