Murder or Bust (We're Not Dead Yet Club Book 3)
Page 9
“What? I can’t do anything?”
“You could arrest him for the murder of Ava Lemiux.”
“Ava Lemiux? Are you mad? As you said, he runs the mob here. He’s been bribing us for years. We can’t touch him…”
“Yes, you can,” came a small voice emanating from the phone in Cecil’s hand. Jasper stared at the screen with complete disbelief, shaking his head from side to side as he stared angrily at Alaberky. “You see, if you don’t do something, I’ll report this to your bosses. I’m sure they’ll be eager to see what kind of force you're running…”
Alaberky considered this for a moment. He slowly nodded his head before, suddenly, bolting towards the door. When he was half way down the corridor, they could still hear his faint cries as he rushed to catch up with Cardello…
“LVPD. You’re under arrest…”
Chapter Twenty – One Last Thing…
The main event was over. Pleased with their work, the We’re Not Dead Yet Club headed back out of the office and down into the casino, confident once again they had managed to pull the solution out of the mists of confusion. They knew they didn’t have much in the way of evidence, but they had enough to know that Alaberky would be busy trying to pin the murder on Cardello for a long time to come – Jasper would see to that.
But as they all filed out, excitedly chatting with each other about what a great job they’d done, there was one person who hadn’t moved a muscle. Sitting on the edge of the sofa, Robert placed his head in his hands and quietly wept as Cecil made his way back into the room and sat quietly beside him.
“How are you doing, Bobby?”
Robert shook his head again. “I can’t believe it. Don killed Ava… But why?”
Cecil gave a glum smile. “He needed you here,” he explained. “You were thinking about giving up the lounge singing gig, but you were the best thing that Cardello had. Without you, this run-down, falling-apart casino would go broke, taking all Cardello’s prestige and respect with it.”
“But he’s a mob boss? I can’t quite believe it. Why would he need me if he has a mob?”
“Well, from what I can gather from Percy’s interactions with them, they weren’t exactly the brightest bulbs on the planet. I mean if Percy can confuse them as much as they confused him, then they can’t have been all that clever…”
They both laughed.
Robert sat back up, brushed the last of his tears out of his eyes and breathed in deeply. “But if Don killed Ava, why did he frame me for it?”
“I don’t know,” Cecil replied honestly. “Maybe he wanted to swoop in and save the day so you’d feel like you owed it to him to stick around. Or maybe those goons of his were so dense that they used one of your trophies by mistake, not realizing it would pin the blame on you. Either way, he wasn’t going to let you take the blame for it…”
“No,” Robert shot back. “He was just a murderer…”
A few days later, the members of the Senior Center loaded themselves back on to the bus and headed home. Each of them had their own memories to take with them, and each of them would dine out on them for many months to come. Percy would tell of how he was kidnapped by the mob. Cecil would tell of how he saved his friend. And Clara would tell everyone that she wouldn’t have been able to solve the case without the boys’ help…
And as for Ida May and Hazel?
Well, Ida May left Vegas having lost nearly five hundred dollars on the slot machines and, despite her claims to the contrary, I know she’s been setting up illicit poker games at the Senior Center ever since.
And Hazel left Vegas with the best prize of all – well, to her at least.
Steve’s Bountiful Mounties underwear that she stole from his dressing room on the last day.
I don’t think he ever knew that she’d taken them.
But, to be honest, I’m not sure he’d object even if he did.
*****
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The We’re Not Dead Yet Club
Fetch a Pail of Murder
Wedding Bells and Death Knells
Murder or Bust
Witchy Women of Coven Grove Series
The Witching on the Wall
A Witching Well of Magic
Witching the Night Away
Witching There’s Another Way
Witching Your Life Away
Witching You Wouldn’t Go
Witching for a Miracle
Teasen & Pleasen Hair Salon Series
A Hair Raising Blowout
Wash, Rinse, Die
Holiday Hooligans
Color Me Dead
Caesar’s Creek Series
A Frozen Scoop of Murder (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book One)
Death by Chocolate Sundae (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Two)
Soft Serve Secrets (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Three)
Ice Cream You Scream (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Four)
Double Dip Dilemma (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Five)
Melted Memories (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Six)
Triple Dip Debacle(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Seven)
Whipped Wedding Woes(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Eight)
A Sprinkle of Tropical Trouble(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Nine)
A Drizzle of Deception(Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book Ten)
Sweet Home Mystery Series
Creamed at the Coffee Cabana (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book One)
A Caffeinated Crunch (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Two)
A Frothy Fiasco (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Three)
Punked by the Pumpkin(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Four)
Peppermint Pandemonium(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Five)
Expresso Messo(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Six)
A Cuppa Cruise Conundrum(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Seven)
The Brewing Bride(Sweet Home Mystery Series Book Eight)
Whispering Pines Mystery Series
A Sinister Slice of Murder
Sanctum of Shadows (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
Curse of the Bloodstone Arrow (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
Fright Night at the Haunted Inn (Whispering Pines Mystery Series)
Mad River Mystery Series
A Wicked Whack
A Prickly Predicament
A Malevolent Menace