Avi tore his eyes from Kissy. “He is picking his wife up from the airport and they’ll have a late dinner before they come over. But don’t worry, they’ll make an appearance at your grand opening.” Belatedly realizing Tim wasn’t dressed as his alter ego, he asked, “And where is Red? Shouldn’t he be at the grand opening of his club?”
“He’ll make a grand entrance later, once my job is done.”
“Our job,” Kissy hissed at him.
“This isn’t a job. No one’s getting paid. I’m not,” Avi’s voice dropped to a barely audible whisper for the last words, “a hired killer.”
Tim sighed. “We’re getting paid in the warm fuzzy feeling we’ll get from having rid the town of a pathological murderer and drug dealer.”
He took a sip of Kissy’s iced tea and waited while a gaggle of underdressed ladies strutted by, ogling Avi. He didn’t think they wanted to overhear an assassination plot anymore than he wanted them to hear it. Once they’d gone, he spoke quietly.
“My rules still apply,” he reminded them. “We need proof this woman needs to die.”
Four
Avi stared at the little white boy, dumbfounded. He saw Kissy was equally astounded. Tim merely stared back at them with his inscrutable gray eyes. After a moment, Avi reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of his brother. The last picture they’d taken together before a sexy little drug dealer convinced him to try a new club drug called extabee. His brother had died. He slammed the picture on the table in front of the Killer with a Conscience.
Tim’s eyes flicked down at the picture and then they flitted to Kissy’s neck. She had reached up and pulled down the red beaded choker hiding the scar still healing on her neck from when the drug dealer had tried to kill her and blow up a hospital.
Tim reached into his bag and pulled out a blue folder. He laid it open on the table. It contained a dozen pictures including some people they recognized like Mr. E, Danny, Edward Parker. There were pictures of club kids, hospital workers, and three mug shots. Plus a single picture of a slick white sports car.
He looked up at each of them and murmured, “That we know of.”
Avi nodded. He turned to see how Kissy was taking the body count. Her eyes were glossy. He started to put a comforting arm around her but she shook her head. She smoothed the fabric of the choker around her neck. Then she took a breath and reached out to close the folder. Tim slipped Avi’s picture into it and tucked it back into his bag.
“Mr. Parker said ‘Start with step one.’” Kissy cleared her throat, roughly. “What’s step one?
“Step one is we find Vanessa.”
“That’s why we’re here. That’s why you built the club.” Kissy picked up her glass and sipped, her eyes never leaving Tim’s.
He chuckled. “One reason. Yes.”
“You think she’s gonna show up at her arch enemy’s nightclub?” Avi shook his head.
Kissy muttered under her breath, “If you build it, she will come.”
“She’s not coming to play with me.” Tim finished the iced tea. “Vanessa is coming to play with you two.”
“She hates us.” Kissy looked at Avi. “She hates him. But you—“
Avi interrupted. “Tim entertains her. She thinks he’s a bad guy, like her. You and I are the goody two-shoes.” He looked around at the smartly dressed folks gathered in the dark room. “She wants to kill us, sure. But she wants to beat Tim.”
Tim sighed. “You may be right about that. But she’s coming here for you. The Killer with a Conscience didn’t build the club and she has no idea that I’m Red. But the mayor has made it very public that he’s coming tonight and so his bodyguard will be coming and he’ll probably get his girlfriend in as well.”
Tim tossed a blue plastic case onto the table. Kissy reached over and took the case. She opened it and picked out a dark olive earpiece and a small silver button. She slid the case over to Avi who took out the black earpiece.
“Is this place big enough for these to work?”
Tim shrugged. “We’ll split up to look for her. Whoever finds her alerts the others and we corner her.”
“And kill her.” Kissy completed while attaching the activation button to her choker.
Avi secured his on the waistband of his slacks and then turned his full attention to his friends and finally smiled. He pulled a green medicine bottle labeled Blue Dream from his jacket pocket and set it on the table.
Tim laughed, “Nice.”
“You brought medical marijuana to a murder?” Kissy asked. “Is this supposed to relax us?”
Tim popped open the container and spilled a red candy ring onto his napkin. “Your sculptor friend has a sense of humor. How did he get it?”
“Terry confiscated it from a student in exchange for a personal invitation to the opening.”
Avi had met Kissy and Tim the night they shut down the extabee production line. Technically Vanessa had shut down the line by blowing up the warehouse. But not before she and her partner, Mr. E had distributed product to outside dealers. Those rings were still making their way around town. They were a costly item on the streets since availability was so limited. That meant they were mostly out of the price range of gullible teens. As punishment for his unauthorized involvement in the warehouse fire, Avi had been assigned to patrol Parkside High where Terry worked as a night janitor. Terry expressed doubts that any precious doses of extabee remained in the school but Avi told him which students to shake down. His friend actually confiscated five of the drugged rings and slipped four of them into the sharps container they’d had to put in the staff room for the diabetic lunch lady. Avi would have preferred him to melt them down with turpentine but at least they were out of the hands of the kids.
Tim pulled a bottle of water from his satchel.
“Not that I’m arguing against the justice of it, but not everyone who rolled on one of these died,” Kissy said, picking up the ring and examining it. “How do we know this will kill her?”
Tim took the ring from Kissy and set it back on the napkin. He twisted off the bottle’s cap and took a sip of water. Then he leaned over the ring and dribbled a few drops onto it. After letting it soak for a couple of seconds, he flipped over his hand and rested a long black pinkie nail in the liquid.
He held the finger out and grunted. “I really have made it dark in here.”
Avi pulled his iPhone from a pocket and flipped on the flashlight. Tim’s pinkie nail glowed hot pink in the small circle of brightness.
They all sighed in relief.
“It’ll work.” Tim slipped the ring back into the pill bottle and slid it over to Avi. “You hang on to it. For your brother.”
“I’ll search the line out front and the lobby,” Kissy offered. “If you think a magician can distract people from the wait, then my uke skills should make them never want to come in.”
“Not exactly what I’m going for but nice thinking.” Tim stood. “I’ll take the Disco.”
“And I’ll just cut to the chase and find Vanessa,” Avi said as he stood and waved at someone in the crowd.
“Yes, that’s the plan. You look in this room while Kissy and I search the others.”
“She’s in this room,” Avi told them.
Kissy took Tim’s proffered hand and stood, mistaking his statement for braggadocio. “Then cornering her should be easy.”
“It may be easy. But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Tim gently pounded a fist on the table. “You were on board like two minutes ago.”
“Two minutes ago I hadn’t seen Vanessa, holding hands with your sister.”
Tim and Kissy turned to see Julia hugging the woman they were planning to kill.
Five
Tim’s pulse pounded in his ears. That was his sister. He was only alive because ten years ago he’d known killing himself would break her heart. She was the anchor that kept him rooted to the real world. All the years he’d been studying with Finn, learning how to be a kil
ler, it was the guilt of abandoning Julia to their abusive parents that kept him seeking justice for the helpless.
“If Vanessa does anything to hurt my sister—“ The lump in his throat wouldn’t let him finish.
“You’ll kill her?” Kissy asked, dryly.
Julia waved at the threesome. She turned back, flinging her mermaid colored hair over a shoulder and kissed Vanessa on the cheek. Then ducked and dodged her way through the crowd toward them. Julia wore what her brother could only think of as a sexy Slytherin uniform. Vanessa, wearing an outfit that would have fit in better in a classic disco, glided effortlessly past a dozen men to the bar.
The three stood frozen in shock, watching.
“Julia’s not gay.” Tim turned to Kissy. “Is she?”
“Not as far as I know.” Kissy reached back to pick up Avi’s glass. She downed the sip that remained. “I mean she had a girlfriend in college for a bit but who didn’t?”
Avi and Tim both looked down at their black haired friend but neither asked the question.
“Hi!” Julia shoved past a guy in a pastel pink button down and threw herself at Tim. “I haven’t seen you in weeks! This Red guy is working you too hard!” She turned and punched Avi as hard as she could in the xiphoid process. “You couldn’t get me tickets that bypassed the line?”
“I’m sorry. How long did you wait?” Avi rubbed his chest. Julia was a circus performer. The woman could pack a punch.
“Nah,” Julia said as she fixed Kissy’s dress. “This chick doing card tricks saw I had some books to donate and she walked us to the head of the line.” She turned back to Tim holding up two mint green slips of paper. “What are these little tickets for? They said they came with the mayor’s passes.” She leaned into Avi before Tim could answer. “Seriously, thanks. That was really cool.” And then back to Tim, “Hmm?”
Tim shook his head clear, trying to think how to ask why she was there with Vanessa. But his lips merely said, “For the absinthe bar. You get a free drink.”
“Dude!” Julia leaped around and headed for the bar yelling, “V!”
“Wait!” Kissy stopped her and spun her back around. “Who’s your date? What happened to Dr. Looksgood?”
“Dr. Fuller was called in to do emergency surgery. Vanessa’s a friend from Circus Freaks. She just started taking classes but we’ve been meaning to go out forever. She was stopping by to sign up for next month when the doctor called.”
“How convenient.” Tim and Kissy said it at the same time.
“It was.” Julia missed their sarcasm. “She’s getting the drinks. Boobs like that work better than boobs like these. She’ll meet us over here. Now, Avi. She really wants to meet the mayor. Where the hell is he?” She looked around like he’d hidden him in the booth.
“He’s coming later.” Avi considered the opportunity. “Maybe we can arrange a meeting in the Theater before it opens. What do you think, Tim?”
“Yes.” Tim nodded, his eyes glinting. “I think a private meeting in the Theater is a good idea.”
Kissy muttered, “The sooner the better.”
“Do you have her number?” Avi asked. “I can text her when he gets here.”
Julia gave him a funny look. “Why don’t you just text me? I want to meet him too.”
Kissy dropped her head in exasperation and then put a hand on Julia and Tim’s backs. “Why don’t you go show her the changes you’ve made to the silks rigging in the Disco?” She pushed them away. “Avi and I will save the table and take care of Vanessa.”
Avi backed up Kissy. “Yeah, we’ve got this.”
“That makes no sense. I’m the killer. . .” Tim caught himself as all three turned raised eyebrows on him and he covered, “handyman around here. Don’t I get a night off?”
“It would kill you to escort your sister into the Disco and show off your handyman work?” Kissy asked.
“I’ll leave my fabulous purse here so she knows you’re with me.” Julia set a glittering purse with a green skull set in the beadwork on the edge of the table. Then she snaked a finger into Tim’s belt and dragged him away with her in the direction Kissy had pushed. “You know, you’re not really a killer handyman if you couldn’t get the rigging right in time for the opening.”
“It’s right,” Tim insisted. “I just didn’t get it done in time for the building inspector to approve it. Look around, I’ve been busy.”
“So busy I haven’t seen you at all.” Julia stopped to face him.
Tim wanted to get her out of the room before Vanessa reached the booth and saw Avi and Kissy. He slid an arm around his sister’s back, forcing her to walk with him.
“It’s like you’re here all the time,” she complained, pausing again to stare at the winged absinthe station bartender.
Tim pushed her along as he reminded her, “You know I moved into the apartment upstairs here, right?”
“Yeah. I’m just busting your balls.” Julia hugged him sideways. “I’m really glad you’re staying in town. That makes up for your rigging not passing inspection.”
“It didn’t fail—“ Tim gave up. He looked back over his shoulder at Kissy and Avi sliding back into their booth. He wished he’d never involved them.
Six
Kissy reached into the side pocket on her ukulele case as she slid back into the draped booth. Avi slid in on the opposite side of the table and moved over to leave an empty seat on the end.
“How do we get the extabee into her drink?” he asked.
Kissy grimaced. “I think Tim has a plan for that. That’s why we’re just supposed to corner her.”
“Julia, my love,” Vanessa’s husky voice carried over the crowd and the music, “how did you manage to get us a table?”
The drug dealer slid her gold laméd ass onto the seat beside Kissy and set two bottles of a local craft brew on the table.
She froze for barely an instant when she looked up to see Avi sitting across from her. Then she laughed. “Officer Kee, what a pleasure. So glad to see you looking well.” She took a drink from one bottle, holding his eyes. Then she turned her sinuous neck to simper at Kissy. “And your girlfriend, my dear Julia’s neighbor and bestie. How—“
Kissy lost it. She told herself to take a breath and calm down but it was as if she were having an out-of-body experience. She watched her hand grip the stun gun she’d pulled from her uke case. Her other arm snaked around the shoulders of the woman who had sliced her neck. Unable to stop herself, she reached up and pressed the dull prongs of the gun against the bitch’s neck and pressed the trigger.
Vanessa’s pupils widened in shock and then contracted to tiny little black dots in her tiny little brown eyes. She flailed and bucked as her muscles reacted to the hundred and fifty thousand watts of power coursing through her. Kissy held her tight, keeping the gun pressed tightly to her flesh.
Through the convulsions Vanessa gasped out, “You can’t save Julia if. . . .”
“Kissy!” Avi hissed.
Kissy didn’t hear them. She was intrigued by the jolts of electricity she felt through her bare arm each time Vanessa’s exposed back struck her. It wasn’t enough to break her grasp. The leather glove she’d worn specifically allowed her to continue pulling against the bitch’s shoulder.
Vanessa foamed at the mouth. Her words came out slurred and low. “. . .if I’m—“
Kissy kept the electricity flowing even after Vanessa’s eyes rolled back into her head.
“Stop it!” Avi barked at her.
Kissy looked at him, unseeing, shocking the drug dealer, arsonist, and bomber relentlessly.
“Kissy!” He reached over and grabbed the wrist holding the stun gun. “Stop.”
Kissy came back to herself. She blinked and released the button. Vanessa's head bounced on the table. Kissy’s mind took a moment to replay the last minute for her conscious self. Her hand shook as she set the stun gun on the table, staring into Avi’s shocked eyes.
A tear fell from the corner of her own. �
�She’s poisoned Julia.”
Avi scrambled over to Kissy’s side of the table. He shoved Vanessa’s body over with his own and reached two fingers up under her jaw.
“It’s okay,” he breathed. “I feel a pulse.”
Kissy buried her fingers into her head, scratching her scalp. “I just didn’t want to hear her talking anymore.”
Avi looked around at the people talking and drinking and dancing around them. Kissy looked up too. No one seemed to have noticed anything. Avi looked back down at the table. He reached for the stun gun to examine it. Kissy got there before him. She slapped her red gloved hand down on the device before his fingers could touch it.
“No fingerprints.”
“You planned this,” Avi accused her. “You didn’t trust me to poison her.”
“I didn’t see how we could poison her. It was a backup plan.”
“Which is it, Kissy? Was it a backup plan or your alternate plan. We’re all in this together.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be.” Kissy avoided his eyes, putting the stun gun back into her bag. “You’re a good person.”
Avi reached over the unconscious Vanessa to put a hand on Kissy’s face. He made her look at him. “So are you.”
“We have to get her out of here.” Kissy began arranging Vanessa’s limbs as if she could carry the woman. “Since she’s not dead.”
“Kissy, a stun gun can’t kill someone,” Avi pointed out quietly, pulling Vanessa with him as he slid out of the seat.
She darted a glance into his eyes as she admitted, “I made some modifications.”
He sighed, clearly editing what he wanted to say. “Of course you did.” He stood, hefting Vanessa into his arms. “I’ll take her to the green room. You wait until I’m out the Theater door and then use the earpiece to let Tim know. We’ll follow his lead from here on out. Agreed?”
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