For Ricki, she threw herself into her work and managed to come up with an outline for her next novel. The time away from writing, and the excitement that it brought, gave her a chance to recharge her batteries. But after she got the outline done, she felt that same old restlessness settling into her bones.
A killer was still on the loose. They believed it was somebody in the library and every employee and half of the volunteers, including her, were under investigation. Since she was the last person to see Jennifer alive, she was questioned, but since she didn’t do anything wrong, she didn’t sweat it. It was just a formality.
The weather over the past week seemed to fit the mood of the town now that everything hit the fan at once. It rained for five days straight. And on the sixth day, when the clouds parted and the sun finally came out, Ricki felt a different sort of restlessness creeping in. Something was eating at her. But because she was so busy working on her outline for her next book, she never gave it the attention it deserved to become a fully formed thought. With the book now outlined, the thing that bothered her became clearer. She had to get out of the house or she was going to lose her mind. A nice walk in the park with her dog would do the trick.
Remembering what Steve had said about a young man lurking around the park and the library, it was a perfect opportunity to test a hunch Ricki had. Jon was up to something, and she wanted to find out what it was.
She packed a backpack full of snacks, a portable water bowl, and a couple of bottles of water and headed to the park with Rumpus. He was anxious to stretch his little legs, so she used the retractable leash so he could run off a little by himself without running off completely. She didn’t expect or anticipate running into The Two Graces or anyone else for that matter, so she allowed herself to relax. She hoped to forget about the events of the past couple of weeks. She wanted to forget about everything for a couple of hours. No books, no outline, no romance, no Jennifer, no library, nothing—just her and her dog enjoying the late summer air. And also to find Jon.
Rumpus couldn’t have been happier. He was out of the house, frolicking as best he could on his retractable leash. The air was fresh and musky after a long rain, but the scent of dog was still evident on the trees, and he was more than okay with that. It kept him busy for a while.
Ricki, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more nervous. As she walked the path that encircled Asbury Park, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Followed was more like it. But this was what she wanted, why she came to the park to begin with. Someone was in the woods walking along with her. She never saw them but she certainly heard them. Or was it him?
After about an hour of running around, Ricki and Rumpus were both sufficiently tired. She pulled the blanket out of the backpack and set up a small picnic for the two of them. She filled Rumpus’ bowl with water, pulled out a sandwich and tried to want to eat it, knowing someone was following her. When Rumpus saw the sandwich he had to have something, too. She unwrapped the treat she made for him and broke off a chunk. He inhaled it, not caring about the young man trampling around the woods.
The park was virtually empty with the exception of a few older couples power-walking and a guy walking his dog. She was long past paranoid, long past it being only her imagination. Since she had her sunglasses on, she tried to play it off, pretending she was admiring the beauty of the old trees already showing a hint of red and orange and yellow as the summer drew to a close. All the while, she scanned her surroundings, waiting. She didn’t see him yet, and since Rumpus was busy eating his sandwich, he didn’t notice anything either.
Being the overly cautious person she was, she sent her brother an SOS. In the park. Being followed. Send someone.
He texted back quickly: Stuck on highway. Signal boost is up. Go home, dammit.
She exhaled, wishing she could. And when she lifted her head up, she wished it even more. “Hello, Jon.”
She never had any suspicions about him until the day she saw him watching the police. Everyone else was too obvious. Victoria, even keeled and super nice though she was, merely hated Jennifer. There was no crime in that. Felicity, although she had good reason to want to see Jennifer dead, loved her man friend more than she loved the idea of spending time in jail away from him. Grace1 had a good reason to want to see Jennifer dead, but she said numerous times that her granddaughter had moved on and let it go and that she had dodged a bullet. Besides, it wasn’t uncommon for someone in the wedding party to sleep with someone before the wedding. It happened probably more than she realized, but that wasn’t a reason to want someone dead.
Jon kept to himself and only let out what he wanted everyone else to see. He was calculating. The bumbling nerdy guy who minded his own business while manipulating the situation. And now she had to figure out why he killed Jennifer and how she was going to get out of this without getting herself killed. What was worse, Rumpus didn’t even bark at him. Maybe she should have given him to her dad and got a more intimidating dog.
Ricki tried not to act as nervous as she felt. “What brings you to the park?”
“Bored. Library’s closed. I have a lot of time on my hands, and I don’t know what to do with myself, so I thought I’d come here.”
Jon’s shoes were covered in mud. Considering it had rained the past five days, it wasn’t hard to imagine they’d get muddy. Skulking around in the woods while stalking a person in the park was bound to leave some evidence behind. She had to make a comment to let him know she knew what he was up to. “Your shoes are probably ruined. You must’ve been in those woods for a while.”
“My yard is really muddy.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Ricki kept her eyes on him as she cleaned up her mess, stuffing everything in the backpack, getting ready to leave because it didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon. “I would offer you a sandwich, but I’m afraid my dog ate the last one.”
“I’m not hungry.” There was something very flat in his expression. His wasn’t the face of a crazed lunatic, and that scared her most. What was he thinking, plotting? She had hoped the time away from him would soften the edge of this new version of Jon she saw before her, but unfortunately it didn’t. She wasn’t going to stick around to learn if he was still angry at her. She had other things on her mind, like how to get away from him before she became his next victim.
With her phone still in her hand, she stood and pulled the blanket up off the ground, letting the phone fall to the ground. “Oh no, I hope I didn’t break it. I just got this phone, too.”
Jon was unmoved. “Are you leaving already?”
Ricki fiddled with her phone, pretending to make sure it was all right. But what she was really doing was texting her brother to boost the signal even more. SOSOSOS need you now!!!!! How she even managed to get that out of her shaking fingers amazed her.
Just like the night she found a death threat on her doorstep, he would come running no matter where he was. “Hang on a second and let me see if my phone is still alive. Yep, it still works. Now, what was your question?” Now was the time to play dumb and to drag him out as far and as long as she possibly could. “You did ask me a question, didn’t you? Sometimes I think I hear things, and you know romance writers.”
“Let’s go for a walk.” He inched toward her slowly.
Ricki inched backwards. “As you already know, we’ve been here for a couple of hours and we’re feeling pretty tired, huh Rumpus?” He let out a little whine and wagged his tail. “I can imagine you’re probably feeling pretty tired, too.”
“Why would I be tired?”
“Because you’ve been following me for the past two and a half hours.”
A slight smile worked across his face. He knew Ricki had figured him out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I already told you I picked up the mud on my shoes from my yard, not from the woods.”
“I don’t believe I mentioned you were walking in the woods.” She needed to distract him from wanting to go for a wa
lk because she wasn’t going anywhere with this guy. “Can you believe Felicity and the mayor?”
“Who cares.” He took a step toward her. Ricki took another step back. Rumpus actually growled. “Let’s go for that walk now. This time it’s not a question. We’re going for a walk.” He grabbed hold of her arm, digging his fingers into her bicep. “Don’t even bother to scream. If you would’ve just listened to what I told you.”
So it was him that left the death threat on her doorstep.
Being the identical twin to a cop, and growing up in a household where she was expected to keep up with said twin, she learned a lot of things about playing with boys. And her foot hit the spot where boys don’t like getting hit. Rumpus barked and barked, his bellow echoing throughout the park. Jon hunched over, trying to catch his breath.
Ricki grabbed Rumpus’ leash and off they ran. Rumpus, on the other hand, had other plans. When he saw a couple of bunnies nibbling on some grass not too far from where they were, he started off in their direction instead of toward the car. With her hand still gripping the retractable leash, he ran and ran until he ran out of length of rope and yanked it right out of her hands. She did a face plant right onto the ground. She lifted her head, spitting clumps of grass out of her mouth, watching Rumpus chasing after the bunnies. She knew yelling for him wasn’t going to do any good when he was in hunting mode, until she saw that Jon was up and walking again. And coming in her direction.
Instead of screaming for help, she scrambled to standing and screamed for her dog, thinking it was a better way to get everyone’s attention. She knew all the dog lovers would be on the lookout for a runaway mutt for fear he would get hit by a car. Nobody wanted to see their dog run away. People would help her if they saw her dog running away. People probably wouldn’t help her if she said there was a man chasing her. Which, by now, he was. She ran, still screaming for Rumpus, still looking over her shoulder as Jon got closer and closer. With his long legs he could out run her within seconds, but evidently, the blow to the groin did the trick.
Some older gentleman called out that he got her dog. Ricki ran straight toward him, knowing all along Jon was still chasing her. Out of nowhere, Steve, her cop crush, ran straight to Jon, tackling him to the ground.
Once Rumpus was securely in her possession, she thanked the gentleman who rescued him. She kept her distance as Steve wrestled with Jon, doing his best at resisting arrest. It took the help of another officer to bring him down. For such a skinny guy, he sure put up a fight.
Now fully aware of what was going on, Ricki struggled to catch her breath. Her heart rammed against her rapidly rising and falling chest.
As the other officer cuffed Jon, Steve turned his attention to Ricki to calm her. “Are you okay? I can call for an ambulance. You lip looks busted.”
She licked her lips, tasting the metallic taste of blood. Her face and neck burning, still trying to catch her breath, she managed to say something. “I’ll be fine. I guess my brother sent you the signal.”
“The signal? I’m not sure what you mean. We’ve been keeping an eye on him all last week. We thought he was up to no good, and we were right. Thanks for all your help, Ricki. If you hadn’t shown me that picture of Jennifer’s desk, we never would’ve figured out what was going on. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“I’m fine. Honest.” Slowly, she convinced herself this was true.
As Jon was led to the police car, looking like he was about to break free and rip her to shreds, he screamed over his shoulder. “This is all your fault.” Steve had to remind him that he already read him his Miranda rights and that he better shut up. That didn’t seem to bother Jon too much. “You’re going to pay for this.”
By now, people gathered around, clearly concerned. They whispered things like, she’s so brave and she’s a hero. The man who got hold of Rumpus before he ran off for good, offered to help Ricki to her car. She thanked him and said she would be okay. But it was a lie.
Once the cops finally left the area, she collapsed to the ground and hugged her dog. Her cellphone rang out from somewhere in the park. When she tripped and fell, her phone went flying from her hands. Her legs like jelly, she stood and followed the sound. It was her brother. “Everything’s okay,” she said.
“Where are you?”
“In the park. There was a little incident.”
“I just heard on the radio. Are you all right?”
“I am now. I’m going to head home. Come and see me when you get a chance.”
The muscles in her quadriceps twitched and cramped as she walked about, gathering her things. Her pulse had returned to a more tolerable thumping, and she now had a raging headache. There was only one way to fix that: nap for a week.
Why Jon would kill Jennifer. What was his motivation? He seemed like such a nice, sweet young man. What would set him off?
The truth would come out eventually, but until that time, she was going to lay low for a while. It was going to take some time to recover from this. She wanted excitement because she was bored. Well, she got it.
Twenty-two
Ricki’s mother had made a beautiful spread. Even if it wasn’t anywhere near Thanksgiving, she made a roast turkey, wonderful garlic mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, you name it, it was on the table. Somehow, she managed to make a coconut cream pie. Ricki assumed it was for her dad.
“What’s the special occasion?” she asked him, knowing he probably begged her mother to make this pie.
“It’s not for me, that’s for sure. You’re the hero in all of this. Enjoy your pie.” That last part was a little on the sarcastic side because her father was jealous that she got a pie and he didn’t. He might like to believe that, but she could almost guarantee her mother made that pie for him. If she were making a pie for Ricki, it would have been banana cream pie and not coconut cream.
“Let’s all sit down and eat,” Ricki’s mother said, carrying a gravy boat filled to the brim with her famous gravy. And by famous, she actually meant infamous. It was usually full of lumps and way too much salt.
Her mother didn’t hold back on the celebration, whatever the real reason. There was Grace Rossini at the table, her brother Chris, her dad, her mom, herself, Damon, and Rumpus. Her father placed a chair right next to his at the table for Rumpus. Ricki felt betrayed.
“The only one is missing is Becca,” Ricki said scanning the faces around the table.
“How’s the baby feeling?” her mother asked.
“A little better now that her fever broke.”
“We’ll have another dinner for her when she feels better. How’s that?”
“I’m sure Becca would love that.”
Ricki’s mother lifted her glass in the air. Everyone else followed suit.” To Ricki,” she said.
“Wait a minute,” Ricki said, surprised. “This is really about me? I thought you were joking.”
“Excuse me, rude girl, you interrupted my speech.”
She nodded for her mother to continue.
“To Ricki, whose overactive imagination and nosiness finally paid off for good.”
Everyone shouted her name in unison and thanked her for what she had done. Which, now that she thought about it, didn’t really seem like much, considering the motivation behind it all. She was bored out of her mind with writing. Solving the mystery was exciting, and it gave her something else to do besides writing about love and romance.
“I can’t believe it was Jon,” Grace1 said, taking a sip of wine. “I always thought he was such a nice boy. Who knew.”
“Mom always said it was the quiet ones,” Ricki and her brother said at the same time. Their mother always said that because both Chris and Ricki were quiet kids. Maybe she was trying to imply something.
“The other Grace told me he used antifreeze to poison her, is that true?” Grace1 said, directing her question to Chris.
“That’s what they say. He was clever, putting it in her sports drinks.”
“I read the in
terview he gave to the newspaper the other day,” her dad said, stuffing his face with a piece of turkey. “He sounds like a disturbed young man. He made it sound like he was doing the world a favor by getting rid of her.”
“I still can’t get over how many people Jennifer was blackmailing,” Ricki said. “That’s the strangest thing to me.”
“Me, too,” Damon said, winking at her.
Ricki smiled back. “Mom, this is a great dinner. Thank you for everything.” Even Rumpus seemed to enjoy the plate her father prepared for him. He was teaching this dog of hers some very bad habits, ones she was going to have to break.
As everyone immersed themselves in conversation, Ricki sat back and looked around the faces at the table. At that moment, she considered herself the luckiest person alive. She had wonderful people in her life who loved her and supported her in everything she did, never once saying she couldn’t do anything she set her mind to. This made her think of Felicity and what she gave up in order to find even a scrap of love from someone who wasn’t fully committed to her, until now.
And then the thought of Jennifer popped into her head. She was such a miserable individual. Alone and without family nearby, she was so hell-bent on hurting other people that she ended up dead. Now a young man threw his life away because he wanted to stop her evil ways and wanted justice for the other people she was hurting. That young man was now sitting in jail, alone, still angry and bitter about everything. His lawyer was pleading for a psychological evaluation to see if he was even capable of standing trial. She never would have known it to look at him how twisted his mind was to make him want to do something so bad to another human being. There were a lot of bad people out there, but there she was sitting around the table with the best, and she wanted to eat them up just as much as her father wanted to eat that coconut cream pie.
WAKE UP TO MURDER : A Ricki Rydell Mystery
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