The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6)

by Heather Tullis

  “Dad was proud of me?” Gage’s face echoed the shock in his voice. “Since when?”

  Jonquil lay down on the sofa while Natalie’s attention was on Gage.

  Natalie glanced over, looked suspicious, but didn’t comment on it, focusing back on Gage. “Since always. It was always about you. Why can’t you get good grades like your brother, Natalie? Why can’t you settle down to a good job, Natalie? Why can’t you be as good as your perfect, responsible brother?”

  “It sounds like you both have a lot to tell each other,” Jonquil said to them. “I bet if you sat down you could talk this all out.”

  “It’s too late for that. I can’t lose the house. It’s the only thing I want and he wants to take it away from me, so he has to go. I’m sorry that means you have to die too. I wish you’d gone home after the party.”

  “Me too.” Jonquil studied Natalie. Obviously she didn’t really want to kill her brother, or both of them would be dead already. Was she steeling her nerves to do it, or did she just have a few things to get off her chest first? “This puts a big damper on the plans for the rest of my life.” She kept her voice as even as possible, even though her heart pounded and blood thrummed in her veins. She put her right wrist over her forehead, then let it fall limply onto the floor beside the sofa—right next to her backpack. “It must be hard knowing your parents didn’t appreciate you as much as you deserve. My brothers get all of the attention. Their dad took them to self-defense classes and shooting and stuff and all he did for me was toss me a can of pepper spray and tell me to keep it handy. But it totally messes up the lines in my clothes. Besides, who’s going to carry it around here?”

  Natalie’s head cocked. “I know, right? What was he thinking?”

  Jonquil shot a glance at Gage and tapped her finger on her backpack.

  He nodded almost imperceptibly back at her. “Dad loved you, Natalie. You were his real pride and joy.” He moved slowly toward the kitchen, drawing Natalie’s full attention. “Don’t you remember how he would take you out for dinner sometimes, just the two of you? He never did that with me. And he always called you his angel or his princess.”

  Jonquil fingered the zipper pull on her backpack and slid it slowly open, a notch at a time so it would stay quiet.

  “That was only once,” Natalie said. “But he went to your games all of the time.”

  “Funny how we remember things differently. I swear he only came to three games the entire time I was in high school, and that you had more dinners together.” He reached into the cupboard where the dishes were kept. “Would you like some water? I’m parched. You probably are too.”

  Natalie had other ideas, apparently. “Don’t. I don’t know what’s really in that cupboard. You can stay thirsty—you’re going to die anyway. It won’t matter.”

  Jonquil stuck her hand into the backpack and started rooting around a little, trying to find the can of pepper spray. With her luck it would be in the bottom.

  “Fine. What do you need from me, Natalie?”

  “I need you to understand that I didn’t mean to hurt Mom.”

  By holding a gun on him? Yeah that was going to work. Jonquil twisted her hand and one finger brushed something cool and metallic. She stopped breathing as she went after it, trying not to make any unnecessary movements.

  “I understand. Just tell me what happened. You messed up your room because you wanted it to look like a struggle, right? Then what happened?”

  “I was getting ready to go out my balcony door when Mom came in. She just walked right into my room and saw what a mess it was with me standing in the middle of it. She’d never buy that I was abducted then. She asked what was going on and I told her it was nothing and helped her back down to her room. She talked about what a slob I was and what a disappointment and on she went about how responsible and mature you were and why couldn’t I be more like you!”

  Her face grew red at the memory. “I was so angry I grabbed the ugly statue and hit her with it. She fell and passed out. She still had a pulse but I panicked and I messed up a few other things in the house and left. Then she was getting better. She would remember it was me eventually. I couldn’t let that happen. It wasn’t easy to get the medicine to keep her from telling on me. It’s your fault.” She pointed at Gage. “If you had helped me with the money, I wouldn’t have had to go through all of that. She would still be here and I would be able to stay in the house.”

  Jonquil wrapped her hands around the pepper spray during the soliloquy and pulled it from the bag. She sat up again, flashing it quickly at Gage, whose gaze slipped her direction when she sat again.

  Gage looked gray and a little sick at what he was hearing. “I couldn’t help you, Natalie. I didn’t have the money.”

  “You found it, plus extra, just fine when I was abducted, though, didn’t you?”

  “I begged it off of friends—Vince and Jeremy, the DiCarlo sisters, I don’t know how they got it all together so fast, but they did. It wasn’t because I had the money myself. I didn’t. Even if you kill me and find another buyer for the ski resort, sell my house, you’ll still have to get a new loan for the family house and your credit isn’t good enough. None of this is going to allow you to keep Mom’s house. If it isn’t sold, you’ll lose it to the bank and get nothing out of it. And they’ll figure out you were here. They’ll look into you if you’re the only one who inherits from mom and me. I told you, they know someone murdered Mom. You can’t win this way.”

  “They’ll think it’s about her, won’t they?” Natalie gestured to Jonquil. “She has much more to lose, and her sisters have much more to gain.”

  “Um, no they don’t.” Jonquil stood to get closer to them.

  “What do you mean?” Natalie turned so she could see them both again.

  “If something happens to any of us before the will is fully executed at the end of the summer, our portion goes to a charity Dad picked out. None of my family gets anything from me.” It wasn’t true. She had no idea what happened to the money. Chances were it would go to her sisters, but really, they were getting plenty already; it wasn’t like they would kill her for more.

  “Really? Your dad was evil.” Natalie looked a little offended.

  “Tell me about it. The charity he laid out for my portion benefits a group that wants to legalize all controlled substances.” She stepped to the left so she drew the attention away from Gage. Would he be able to get close enough to take Natalie down?

  The gun shook in Natalie’s hand and she lifted a second one to steady it. “Stop moving. Why do you keep moving? Do you want to be shot?” Her eyes flashed between them.

  “No, nobody wants to get shot. You don’t want to do this either.” Gage soothed as he leaned against the cupboard behind him.

  Jonquil could see that he had shifted to the side so he had a clear angle to grab his sister, and his feet were in position to pounce. She really hoped they were on the same track and she wasn’t imagining it. She pulled off the cap to the pepper spray behind her back and felt her way to find the button so she knew it wouldn’t spray herself or Gage instead of Natalie.

  “You don’t get it. I have to. Enough. This has gone on long enough. I’m sorry.” She lifted her hands so the gun was pointing toward Gage.

  Her heart in her throat, Jonquil called out, “Hey!” and lifted the spray just as Natalie looked at her, shifting her grip so the gun swung toward Jonquil. The spray hit Natalie’s eyes and she rocked back. The gunshot went wild, making a rock on the fireplace surround explode and Gage jumped on Natalie. They both fell to the hard wooden floor, nearly hitting their heads on the table leg.

  Jonquil watched, frozen in place, even as her eyes began to burn from the pepper floating in the air, watching Gage fight Natalie.

  They grappled for the handle and Jonquil tried to stay out of the way, worried it would accidentally go off again. Then the gun hit the floor and she took two strides to snatch it up.

  Natalie was crying, her eyes brimmi
ng over and Gage wasn’t much better as he held his sister still.

  “Call the detective,” he said to Jonquil in a low, sad voice. He helped his sister stand, keeping her tight to him as he went to the front door. The pepper spray was filling the air around them.

  With a sick knot in her stomach, Jonquil pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911, following them into the front yard. She asked that the detective be sent along with whoever else was available, mentioned there had been gunshots, but everyone was fine and requested an ambulance. They would need to be treated for the pepper spray before they’d take Natalie to jail anyway.

  Jonquil left the gun in the house and sat on the front steps, watching Gage whisper things into Natalie’s ear, soft and soothing, holding her tightly so she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Natalie sobbed, limp and unresponsive to his actions.

  Jonquil felt wrung out and heartsick.

  It only took a few minutes for the deputy on duty to arrive; Gage turned over custody and came over to Jonquil as the ambulance appeared around the corner. He spoke. “I’m sorry I put you in danger again. I thought this was over.”

  “I have the feeling it won’t truly be over for you for a long time. I’m sorry about that.”

  He wiped his face, his eyes wide still, as the shock of it all hadn’t worn off yet. “I just can’t believe she was behind everything. From the start. How did I not realize what she was really like?”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not your fault.” Jonquil reached out and touched his sleeve. “Really. You tried to help her, and you gave her options. You’re a good brother. She’s just messed up. You can’t help that.”

  He touched her shoulder and pulled her close, pressing his lips lightly to hers. “I don’t deserve you.”

  She didn’t answer. Right then she didn’t have any strength left to sort out her own feelings, never mind try to fix this.

  The EMTs came over to check on them, halting the conversation.

  Detective Carlson pulled in several minutes later.

  By then Deputy Oliver had custody of the gun, and they were all being treated for the pepper spray by the EMTs. Jonquil finished bathing her face and eyes for the second time with the water the EMTs provided and mopped her face with a clean towel.

  “You know the drill, right? We’ll need you to separate to give your statements,” Detective Carlson said to her.

  Jonquil nodded and Gage responded. “Yeah. You want to do it here or take us to the office?”

  “The mosquitoes will eat us alive out here,” he said. “And I don’t imagine your house will be habitable for a while with that pepper spray in the air. Let’s go downtown. You want to meet me there? Miss Chestnut can ride with the deputy.”

  She nodded and was relieved when he opened the front door, allowing her to ride with him instead of in the back. Vince arrived a moment before they did and met them at the back door.

  “Would you rather see Vince or Jeremy?” she asked when he took her hand. She felt numb.

  “Why?”

  “I need someone. I’ll call Cami. She and Vince will come out.” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall and looked away so he couldn’t see. Thankfully he didn’t have a chance to ask or respond because the door opened and another deputy stood, holding it open so they could enter. “Carlson said you’d beat him here and to get you both seats. Looks like the pepper spray did a number on both of you.”

  “That’s kind of what it does,” Jonquil said, though her red eyes were because of her emotions, not the spray.

  “You go in there, miss,” he gestured to the first door.

  Gage stopped her and pulled her into a hug. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “Fine. Don’t worry about me.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

  “See you in a little bit.” He released her and Jonquil stepped inside, grateful to shut the door and everyone else out. She slumped onto the chair and pulled out her cell phone. “Cami?” she asked when her oldest sister picked up on the other end. “Can you and Vince come to the Sheriff’s office? Gage and I are down here.”

  “What? Were you arrested? I thought that was cleared up. Mostly.”

  “No, we’ve not been arrested, we’re both fine. There was an incident after we left the party. Please, can you and Vince come? I want to go home after this, but I can’t leave Gage alone. He’s going to need someone.” Her voice caught and she choked a little, pausing to get it back under control. “I need someone too.” That was the big sister’s role, wasn’t it?

  “Of course. We’ll be right there. Don’t worry about it, I’m glad you called. And you can tell me everything afterward.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Jonquil hung up and leaned back in the chair. She wondered how long it would be before she could get out of there.

  Gage had never been so anxious to get out of anywhere as he was to get back to Jonquil when the detective finished with him that night. He shouldn’t have been surprised to find both Vince and Jeremy waiting for him in the waiting room out front, but he was. “Hey, you finally being released?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Great, let’s go to Jeremy’s.” Vince stood as well. “I’ll ride with you, Cami took my car.”

  “I have to wait for Jonquil,” Gage protested.

  “She’s gone, Cami took her back home. They’re going to do all that pampering stuff. Your place is still going to have pepper spray in the air. We set the fans to clear it out but you’ll need to stay out tonight and probably tomorrow. You can crash at my place,” Jeremy said. “The new sofa is comfy.”

  Gage felt let down, Jonquil didn’t wait for him? Why had she gone home already? She didn’t want to be with him tonight? He had been counting on it.

  That made him stop and consider. When was the last time his guys hadn’t been enough? That he’d expected anyone else to be there for him? He couldn’t remember because it had never happened before—not since he was a little kid.

  “Gage, let’s go,” Jeremy said.

  Gage nodded and followed them out to his car.

  Vince took the keys right out of Gage’s hand and slid in behind the wheel. “You’re like the walking dead. No way I’m letting you drive. Get in.” He leaned over and popped the lock for the passenger’s door.

  Gage did as directed and listened half-heartedly to Vince talk about something his sister said about the proposed utility changes in town. He would have to attend the city council meeting and find out for himself later—he couldn’t focus on anything at the moment.

  It seemed like a blink and they were at Jeremy’s place and scaling the steps to his apartment over the photography studio.

  Delphi’s hand definitely showed in the new furniture Jeremy had bought to replace a bunch that had been ruined and in the totally spotless interior. Gage sank into the couch without a word and closed his eyes. It had been a very long day. He’d been up before five and it was past midnight now.

  “So, tell us everything,” Jeremy said. “Jonquil didn’t give out any details except that your sister was involved.”

  Gage took the beer Vince offered him and opened the can, swallowing deeply before looking at his buddies. He told them everything from the moment Natalie came in, finding himself and Jonquil arguing about how stupid she wasn’t. Since when did people argue about stuff like that, anyway? He left that out of it and described it all as he remembered, summing up at the end. “So apparently everything was Natalie. From the beginning. She killed Mom, she tried to have me killed, and then took on the task herself. I don’t know what to think. My brain has totally turned off.”

  The guys had sat quietly through all of it. Now Vince spoke up. “That sucks pretty bad.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t have any words,” Jeremy said.

  “There’s nothing to fix, it just is what it is.” Gage thought about Jonquil’s declaration of love when they first arrived at his place. Had that only been a few hours earlier? He felt compl
etely befuddled, and the beer probably wasn’t helping. She had been ready to walk away, because he couldn’t commit, and then Natalie nearly killed her. Maybe she’d be right to walk away. He messed up everything, didn’t he?

  Vince stayed for another hour, though they stopped drinking after one beer each—they had a mountain bike festival to run in the morning. They talked about old times, because it was easier to talk about that than to think about now.

  But Gage couldn’t stop wondering whether or not Jonquil would ever speak to him again.

  It had been two and a half days since Gage had seen or spoken to Jonquil. He’d called and she hadn’t answered, texting back instead that she was busy. He ached, just thinking that she might have decided she was wrong about him, but determined to give her a few days’ space to figure things out—he certainly needed it. Even if she had answered, he really didn’t know what he would have said.

  And the mountain bike festival kept him hopping from sunup to sundown. He hoped to see her there, but though she checked in, he only caught a glimpse of her one afternoon, and then nothing. He wasn’t sure it had even been her he’d seen.

  After leaving the resort, he headed to his mom’s house to check on things. The plants would need watering and he needed to make sure the lawn was being mowed. He didn’t know what to do or think about Natalie. She had admitted to everything and would see a lot of jail time, though she intended to get a lawyer to fight it. Of course.

  Gage wasn’t even sure how to feel about it except that he was numb. Numb from the loss of his mother, his sister, his illusions, from the fact that Jonquil had decided her life was better off without him. Apparently. All he knew was that his life wasn’t better without her. He missed her.

  But she was right; he’d decided he’d be better off alone, hadn’t he? That women would be better off if he stayed alone? He stopped and pulled some dead leaves from one of his mother’s many, many plants and added water to the pot, then continued on, stopping in front of a portrait of their family, taken when he had only been four or five and Natalie had been a toddler.