by Lauren Carr
In the dining room, Mac and Archie watched her punching buttons on her cell phone and pressing it to her ear before looking at the screen. She repeated the ritual over again before reaching the car.
“No signal?” Mac asked Archie.
Across from him, Archie looked down at the signal blocker she held in her hand. “None within a half mile radius.”
“Damn it!” the clerk gazing with disgust at his cell phone called out from behind the reception desk.
“See?” she said. “Told you these things work.”
“My girl and her toys.” Mac smiled at her.
Out in the parking lot, Nora hurled her phone inside the car and sped off.
“She’s on the move.” Mac got up and took Archie’s hand. “This is going to be fun.”
Without any concern about blocking anyone in, Nora tore her broken-down sedan into the driveway at the Skeltner Cove Bed & Breakfast. After slamming the car door shut, she ran across the driveway, up the steps to the porch, and threw open the door to find Russell Skeltner on the sofa with the buxom blonde.
The beauty gasped. “You told me that you weren’t open for business.”
“I’m not.” Russell jumped up to his feet. “Excuse me, but the sign outside says we’re closed.”
“Well, if she’s not a guest, then who is she?” Nora pointed at the blonde who was buttoning her shirt.
Russell gazed at her with wide eyes. “Excuse me, lady, but have you been drinking?”
“Should I call the police?” the woman on the sofa called out.
“No!” Russell yelled back over his shoulder before turning back to Nora. “You need to leave. Now!”
“Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through in the last hour?” Nora cried out in desperation.
“Considering that you’re a stranger,” Russell said, “no.”
“She looks like she needs help to me,” the blonde said.
“She’s deranged,” he said.
Out the front window, Nora saw a long black sedan slow down. It came to a halt. The rear window lowered to reveal Oscar Feldman.
Nora screamed. “Russell, how can you abandon me after all I did for you? I killed your wife for you!”
“She did what?” the blonde yelled.
“She’s crazy!” he said.
Nora pointed out the window. “Those men are trying to kidnap me and force me into prostitution!”
“What men?” he asked.
She looked out the window to see David climbing out of his police cruiser. The sedan was nowhere in sight.
“You have completely lost your mind!” Russell said. “What men are you talking about?”
“The mobsters that killed Gordon.”
“Mobsters didn’t kill Gordon,” Russell said. “I did.”
“Really?” David replied as he stepped into the room from the foyer. “I guess you two didn’t hear me knock over your argument. I came out because your neighbor across the road called to complain about the yelling. I happened to be in the neighborhood.”
“You can’t use what I said in court,” Russell said. “There’s an expectation of privacy in my own home.”
“Unless,” Mac said as he stepped in, “someone who happens to be in the room chooses to testify to what she heard.”
Russell’s eyes narrowed on Nora. “You know now that you got played.” When her gaze fell to the floor, he grinned. “Sorry, your trick didn’t work. No one here is going to testify to anything that was said.”
The woman on the sofa cleared her throat. “That’s the problem with being a blonde. They forget about us so quickly.”
Russell whirled around to see that the beauty he had picked up after a round of golf with the town councilman now held up a shield identifying herself as an agent with the FBI.
“I need protection,” Nora said. “The mob is trying to kill me.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Crump.” David whipped out his hand cuffs. “But you can’t get protection unless you’ve got something to offer.”
“Don’t call me Mrs. Crump.” She pointed her finger at Russell Skeltner, who struggled against the police chief handcuffing him. “I’ll testify against him. It was all his idea. He seduced me into killing his wife while he was out for his morning run, and in exchange he said he would leave the poison at our table at the café to kill Gordon. Then, six months from now, we would meet at a triathlon in Boston and no one would know.” Her voice rose while Mac handcuffed her. “He killed my husband!”
“She killed my wife,” Russell said. “She couldn’t wait to get rid of her so that she could move here and live on the lake. She’s a classic gold digger.” He offered to David, “I’ll testify against her. Give me immunity and I’ll tell you everything.”
“He’s the killer!”
On their way out the door, David turned back to Mac. “I think you broke up the lovebirds.”
“I know I broke up the lovebirds.”
Epilogue
“I must say, this was the most plush assignment I’ve ever been given,” said US Marshal Fran Cook, the grandmotherly agent tasked with taking care of Sari.
The couple the US Marshal’s office had in mind for adopting Sari was quick to say yes. While arrangements were being made for them to fly out to Deep Creek Lake to pick up their new daughter, Sari and the agent were staying in a penthouse suite at the Spencer Inn under the watchful eye of a Spencer police officer, partnered with a member of Spencer Inn’s security …and Gnarly, who was with his new best friend constantly.
Within three days of the death of her mother, the arrangements had been made for Sari to be picked up by her new parents in the lobby of the Spencer Inn. She and Gnarly played on the Oriental rug in front of the fireplace in the lobby.
A mixture of anticipation and anxiety filled the air while the marshal, David, Archie, and Mac drank coffee in the sitting area on either side of them. Anticipation of Sari meeting her new parents, who were taking on the responsibility of raising the little girl whose parents had turned out to be killers, and anxiety about how she would take the news that Gnarly was not going with her.
In a matter of days, Sari had begun to open up. She had become less hesitant about speaking to Archie, and was almost as open to talking to Fran. With Gnarly—she talked to him almost non-stop. It was as if she had stored up a lifetime of information to share with him.
It went without saying that she expected him to go to her new home.
They all feared how she would react when she was forced to leave her beloved best friend behind. Worst case was that it would set her back completely and she would never speak again.
“Here they are.” Fran rose to her feet.
Archie, Mac, and David followed suit.
Seeming to sense what was up, Gnarly rolled over from where Sari was giving him a belly rub and sat up.
All eyes turned to the young couple being escorted through the door by a man in a suit. He had dark hair and a thick mustache.
Amazing how you can pick a government agent out of a crowd, Mac thought with a smile.
Fran stepped forward to shake hands with her colleague while the couple, who appeared to be in their thirties, eyed Sari. Excitement seemed to ooze from their pores.
Seeing how they had to refrain from running up to grab the little girl who they would be taking home with them into their arms, Mac and Archie exchanged smiles.
Fran made the introductions. “Sari, I’d like for you to meet the Castles. They have invited you to come live with them.”
The wife moved in to kneel in front of the little girl. “Hello, Sari, my name is Lucy. I have heard so much about you.”
Sari gazed at her.
“Is this Gnarly?” Lucy offered her hand to the German shepherd to sniff. “I’ve heard a lot of
about you, too, Gnarly. I heard that you have been taking very good care of Sari. Andy and I are so grateful to you for being such a brave dog.”
After Gnarly offered Lucy a lick on the cheek, Sari determined that she was okay. “Gnarly is really smart. He’s a genius.”
“So we heard.” Andy had knelt down next to his wife. Seeing that the way to Sari was through Gnarly, he petted the German shepherd with both hands.
“I think you’re going to like living with us, Sari,” Lucy said. “We live on a farm, and you’re going to have a pony all your own to ride. Do you like riding?”
“I’ve never ridden a pony,” she said.
“It’s lots of fun,” Lucy said. “I’ll teach you.”
“Do you hear that, Gnarly?” Sari said in a high pitched squeal. “We’re going to learn how to ride a pony.”
The moment had come. Everyone exchanged glances while waiting for someone to break the news to the little girl.
“Sari,” Lucy said in a gentle voice, “Gnarly can’t come.”
Her eyes filled with tears, Sari wrapped both arms around the German shepherd. “Why not?”
“Because he wants to live with Miss Archie and Mister Mac. They’re his family the same way you’re going to become part of our family.”
Sari buried her face in Gnarly’s mane.
“But,” Lucy said, “Gnarly told us how much he loves you and wants to make sure someone continues to watch over you the way he has. So we all talked about it. Since he can’t come to watch over you himself, he’s going to hand his job off to someone who can do it.”
“Who?” Sari sobbed.
Lucy turned around to direct the girl’s gaze to the agent who had escorted them in. While introductions were being made, he had gone outside and returned with a bundle of fur in his arms.
Sari’s eyes grew big.
“He’s all yours,” Andy said.
The agent barely knelt in time for Sari to grab the German shepherd puppy into her arms and squeeze him into a tight hug.
“He doesn’t have a name yet,” Lucy said. “So you need to come up with a name for him.”
“I know exactly what I’m going to name him.”
Archie’s eyes were moist when she turned to Mac. They all knew what name she was going to pick.
“Toto,” Sari announced.
With a quick good-bye to Gnarly, Sari and her new family hurried out of the lobby to go begin their new lives at a location that the US Marshal’s office would not divulge to anyone.
“What a fickle little girl,” Archie said once they were gone. “After all Gnarly had done for her. Oh!” She stomped one of her feet. “Can you believe it?”
“She’s a little girl.” Mac knelt next to Gnarly, who had lay down on the sofa with a sad look in his eyes. “Girls are like that, Gnarly. One minute you’re the center of their universe. Then someone younger and cuter comes along and you’re suddenly old news.”
“Gnarly!” Sari’s squeal made heads turn in the lobby as she came running at top speed from the front door. “I forgot—”
Gnarly sat up.
Sari threw both arms around him to take him into a tight hug. “I’ll never forget you, Gnarly.” She kissed him on the snout. He returned the kiss with a lick to her mouth. “I love you, Gnarly.”
After another quick hug and kiss on Gnarly’s snout, Sari waved good-bye to everyone before running back out the doors where the two federal agents and her new parents were waiting with her puppy.
“Well, I’m glad to see that ended well,” David said while checking his cell phone. “Means less paperwork on my part.”
“Want to join us for lunch?” Mac offered. “My treat.”
David declined. “I’ve got to go to the hospital to see Finnegan.”
“You’ve been going to see her every day,” Archie noted with a naughty grin. “Is it serious?”
David responded with a wordless smirk.
“I’m glad,” she said.
“When are you two planning to tell me your news?” David asked.
Archie glanced up to Mac to respond.
“During the lunch that you just turned down,” Mac said. “How long have you known?”
“I suspected a few days ago,” he replied. “I’m glad for you. You two belong together. And you don’t have to worry about me—”
“I’m not worried about you,” Mac said.
“We want you to take the cottage,” Archie said.
“I don’t want to live in the cottage,” David said. “Look, I have a home. I just have to man up to live—”
“Not if you have bad feelings about it,” she said. “I’m living in the manor. The cottage is empty.”
“I don’t want to live in the cottage,” David said.
“Because you feel like its charity,” Mac said.
“Charity has nothing to do with it.”
“Then what is it?” Mac asked.
“I hate pink.”
Clutching her pink sweater, Archie gasped.
After a stunned silence, Mac laughed.
“I refuse to live in a house with pink walls,” David said with a firm tone.
“They’re not pink,” Archie said, “they’re rose.”
“I don’t care what you call them,” David said. “They’re girlie and I’m not living in a girlie house.”
“Then we’ll redecorate,” Mac said in a tone louder than he meant it to be.
More than a couple of hotel guests turned to see what the fuss was about. Gnarly was watching the squabbling with a puzzled look in his eyes. Archie and David eyed each other like a pair of fuming siblings.
“Archie,” Mac said, “since you’ve moved into the manor, and David is moving into the guest cottage, he should be able to redecorate it in a manner befitting a manly police chief, don’t you think?”
“I love those rose accent walls,” Archie said. “I selected the color myself. It’s a custom mix.”
“Archie, we’re getting married,” Mac said. “You’ve already moved into the manor. Let David make himself at home in the cottage.”
“Yeah,” David said with a wicked grin. “You can paint the whole master suite any shade of pink you want now—no matter how much it costs.”
A wide grin filled Archie’s face while Mac felt the blood drain from his. “Now wait a minute,” he objected.
David wasn’t waiting around to hear him finish. His work was done. With a slap on Mac’s arm and a quick hug and kiss for Archie, he went out of the lobby to leave Mac to negotiate wall colors in the master suite.
After four days of drifting in and out of a drug-induced coma, Randi Finnegan was finally able to sit up and look at solid food, such as it was at the hospital. Staring at the tray of dried up macaroni and cheese, she felt like throwing up. She didn’t know if it was the drugs or the confirmation of what she knew was coming.
What kind of marshal spends two years handling a witness in the program who’s secretly running a major crime operation? Then, before that, a major crime boss managed to locate another one of her charges and almost kill her. Forget that it was someone else who sold the information. Ginger Altman was dead. Dead scapegoats aren’t as affective as live ones.
“Don’t you like mac and cheese?” David was leaning in the doorway with a small bouquet of flowers. He had brought her some each day. She called them pity flowers.
“I hate mac and cheese.” She shoved the tray away.
“Remind me never to take you to the Macaroni Grill.” He handed her the flowers and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “You look better, Finnegan.”
“Than what? Road kill?”
“Feisty, too.” He sat on the edge of her bed facing her. “That’s a good sign.”
“You don’t have to keep coming in to see me.” She placed the flowers on the bedside table.
“Yes, I do.”
“I don’t like pity.”
“I don’t pity you,” he said.
“Well, you should.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I got fired.”
“You were put on indefinite leave.”
“They’re waiting for me to get better before they fire me.”
“I know,” David said. “I didn’t know you were smart enough to figure that out.”
“Do I look stupid to you?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
She grabbed the flowers from out of the vase and hit him with them. Laughing, he blocked the blow before grabbing her. As she struggled, he placed his mouth over hers. She stopped wrestling. When he pulled back, she grabbed him to kiss him again.
“I never liked that job anyway,” she said.
It had been a red-letter day for Gnarly. Not only did he get his aromatherapy, nails trimmed, and teeth brushed, but Misty also gave him an extra deep body massage and a crisp red bandana.
With his head hanging out the window, the wind blowing through his fluffy fur, the taste of mint in his mouth with his extra white teeth, Gnarly relished the crisp lake breeze as Archie cruised along Spencer Lane to turn onto Spencer Point.
When she rolled through the stone pillars marking the entrance of Spencer Manor, she and Gnarly went on alert.
A fleet of vehicles filled the circular drive in front of the cedar and stone porch. Some were old. Some were new. Some were pickup trucks. There was a white van. Most of the plates were from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and two from Ohio.
“What?” She unclasped her seat belt. “Did Mac suddenly decide to turn sociable?”
When she opened the door, Gnarly leapt out and trotted up to the porch where Mac came out to meet them.