Mud Run Murder

by Leslie Langtry

  "Brian!" one of his teammates screamed as I caught up with the boy.

  "We're gonna lose, you idiot!" another boy screamed.

  The girl on the shore started jumping up and down, waving both arms wildly. Brian jumped too in response. As his feet reconnected with the board, he realized his mistake as he wobbled and fell into the lake.

  I passed him before he could get back on his board.

  "Your paddle!" one of the boys cried out. "Grab it!"

  I didn't look back. I just kept going. Within minutes, all four members of my team stepped onto the shore on the other side of the lake.

  "You won!" Allie appeared amidst four smiling judges. She was driving a Gator tractor and motioned for us to get inside.

  "We won our heat!" Soo Jin smiled broadly as she stepped into the vehicle.

  Allie shook her head. "No, you won the whole event! You had the best time of all the teams!"

  Lauren and Kaitlyn nodded confidently—as if they knew this was going to happen all along. Soo Jin and I just grinned like idiots. If you'd have asked me at the start of the day if I was going to win, I'd have said we had a fifty-fifty chance.

  It took about five minutes for the Gator to take us back to the start of the race, and another ten for the rest of the team to hike back to us. Most of the teams were there, except for the three we had competed against.

  The trophy ceremony was nice and short, and as she accepted the prize, Betty shouted, "Veni, vidi, vici!"

  Inez, Emily, and Caterina appeared—all three with big grins on their faces. In a way, they'd competed too. I pulled Emily aside.

  "Spiders?" I asked.

  She produced an empty plastic water bottle. "That was easy. We scooped 'em up in the rafters of the lodge."

  I wasn't sure I liked the sound of the girls running around, ten feet above the floor, collecting spiders, but I let it go.

  "How did you know it would work?"

  "When we checked in, a couple of the volleyball players went nuts over a daddy longlegs. I called my uncle at the high school. He's the gym teacher. Told me the whole team is terrified of spiders."

  "And the girl at the lake?"

  "Caterina's sister's best friend. Kaitlyn said Brian had the hots for her, but she didn't even know who he was. Caterina called, and she agreed to come down to help."

  My girls! I was so proud of them! Sure…it might possibly maybe be considered cheating…but that's just splitting hairs.

  "And the Coats for Cats people?"

  Emily looked confused.

  "The weirdos in the ski masks," I explained. "What did you do to them?"

  The girl shrugged. "We didn't do anything to them. They just quit after the wall, so we figured we were okay."

  I watched as Emily rejoined the team, who were now singing "Le Marseillaise." It's the French national anthem. If you aren't familiar, the lyrics include blood-soaked fields and cutting the throats of the enemies' sons and women. At least they were singing it in French.

  Allie appeared beside me with a strange look on her face. "Is this yours?"

  She held out a small, military-grade dagger with a black blade and olive green handle.

  I shook my head. "No. Why?"

  "Because it was thrown at you by those nonprofit people. We saw it on the video and found it embedded in a tree on the trail."

  I touched the now dried blood on my ear. "Where are they?"

  She shrugged. "No idea. They just sort of disappeared right after that. I googled Coats for Cats—it doesn't exist."

  Of course it didn't. "Can I keep this?" I asked.

  "I don't want it." Allie seemed glad to be rid of the dagger and hurried off.

  I examined the knife. The handle was pretty big. The bottom of the grip moved. I pulled it off to find a small matchbook tucked inside. It was from Joie de Poulet, a new restaurant in Des Moines. Now that was interesting.

  Because this wasn't just a mud run. Unbeknownst to me, it had been a run for my life.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Rex and Riley didn't look happy when I told them the whole story a couple of hours later.

  "You could've been killed!" Rex said.

  "Kelly didn't want you to cheat," Riley chastised.

  "But I wasn't," I said to Rex. "And we didn't…not really," I replied to Riley.

  "Have you seen any of them before?" Rex asked.

  I pictured the body shapes of the two masked men in the woods and shook my head. "I didn't get a good look at them. But I don't think so."

  "They weren't those guys who kidnapped you?" Riley asked.

  Gruff and Ferret? I considered that for a moment. "Why would they try to hurt me? They got what they wanted."

  "If it wasn't them, who was it?" Rex rubbed his chin.

  This was followed by a long, tense silence. No one knew the answer, and maybe we were all just too tired to speculate.

  "I'd better get back." Riley stood and gave me a look I couldn't interpret.

  "To DC?" I was a little hopeful.

  "No, to the house."

  "You mean my house."

  "Whatever." He scratched the two cats on the chin and walked out before I could say anything pithy.

  I turned to Rex. "I think we should celebrate our win."

  Rex laughed. "You really did cheat, sort of. Is that what we're celebrating?"

  "I didn't cheat." I held one finger up. "It was Emily, Inez, and Caterina. And technically, they didn't cheat either. There are spiders everywhere at camp. And the girl-on-the-beach thingy happened just as he was about to tip his little sister off her board."

  "Fine. Where do you want to go?" Rex asked.

  "How about that new place in Des Moines?" I tried to remember what it was called without pulling the matchbook out of my pocket. "Joie de Poulet?"

  My boyfriend looked at me sharply. "Since when are you into fine dining—or dining outside of Who's There?"

  That was fair. Every now and then, Rex would try to lure me to the big city for dinner. He knew I'd always refuse. I'm just a pizza and burger girl.

  "I think we need to get out of town for a little bit."

  He wasn't buying it.

  "To talk about us," I added.

  That caught his attention, and he brightened. "Okay. Run home and get dressed. I'll pick you up in twenty minutes."

  I ran out the door and across the street. There wasn't any point in hiding things anymore.

  Wearing nothing but a T-shirt and boxer shorts, Elmer hollered at me, "Have you seen my pants?"

  I shouted back, "Check your house!"

  I toyed with escorting him. This was a neighborhood with a school after all. But the old man simply nodded and shuffled back across the street.

  There wasn't much time. I'd showered at Rex's after the mud run, but one doesn't wear jeans to a fancy French restaurant. Riley was on the laptop when I came in. After explaining what I was doing, I ran down the hall, not wanting to wait to hear what he had to say.

  It didn't take me long to kick off my shorts and T-shirt and slip into my little black dress and ballet flats. I only owned one dress. Kelly had bought it for me so that I wouldn't dress like I was slumming it for her daughter Finn's baptism.

  The dress was very simple. Knit material that was fairly fitted but still very comfy. I liked comfy. I ran a brush through my short, dark blonde curls and raced back out the door. Rex met me on the curb.

  It was weird that Riley hadn't said anything. As Rex's car pulled out of the driveway, I thought I saw the curtains in my living room flutter. Was he watching us? I felt a little twinge in my stomach.

  On the way to the restaurant, I filled Rex in on the girls' overly enthusiastic pep talks. He laughed, and I did too. I relaxed. Rex thought we were going to a nice dinner to talk about our relationship. He didn't need to know that I was still investigating…right?

  The conversation remained neutral all the way to the city. We were both sick of this whole Spy Diary investigation, and I was starting to feel
like an adult, going out all dressed up. Upon arrival at Joie de Poulet, a valet took our keys, and Rex and I headed inside.

  The maître d' was a severe-looking man in a tux. The way he looked down the length of his narrow nose told me that this might be a true French restaurant, in spite of the name. Maybe the name, Joy of Chicken, was ironic.

  "Have you been to France?" Rex asked as we followed the man to a quiet booth in the back, not far from the kitchen.

  I nodded. "A couple of times. I don't like Paris, but I do love Provence. You?"

  "No. Someday I'd like to go," Rex answered. He was smiling. He was happy. Why didn't I try to make him smile more often?

  The menus arrived along with a young man with slicked-back hair and a spotless uniform.

  Rex ordered the wine, and the waiter left us. My eyes drifted over the place. It was nice. Really nice. Perfect ambience, though a little dark. Why would the men who'd attacked me at camp have a matchbook from this place? And why hide it in the knife?

  We talked about what to order, and by the time the waiter returned, we knew what we wanted. As the man uncorked the bottle and poured Rex a sample, I scanned the place once more.

  A crash, presumably from the kitchen, got my attention. The waiter apologized before running off to see what had happened.

  "Do you think we should check?" I asked, hoping this would give me an excuse to walk around.

  Rex shook his head. "I'm not on the police force here. Besides, I'm out to dinner with the woman I'm considering spending the rest of my life with." He reached across the table and took my hand.

  I looked into his eyes. He wasn't kidding! Someone wanted to spend the rest of their life with me?

  I squeezed his hand and let go. "I feel the same way."

  Did I? I hadn't thought about it before. Not really. Had I just told Rex I wanted to take our relationship up a notch?

  He leaned back against the leather bench looking relieved. "That's good to know. I was starting to think you'd changed your mind about us."

  I shook my head. "No. I'm just…it's just…" My brain struggled to find the right words. "This is all happening so fast."

  His right eyebrow arched. I loved it when that happened.

  "We've been seeing each other for a year, Merry." He took a drink of wine. A long drink. Was he nervous?

  "I think I've known since the minute I met you that you were the one," he said quietly.

  His hand went to his inner jacket pocket. And I instinctively reached for my purse. It was just a gut reaction to having a gun drawn on you. When all I found was my wallet, I felt a little silly.

  "I have a question for you. I was going to wait…make it all perfect and everything. But your decision for a nice dinner out seemed too perfect to pass up."

  I shrugged. "Okay. What's the question?"

  That's when I noticed the small black velvet box in front of me. I looked from it to Rex, then back again.

  "Open it," Rex said softly.

  I did. There, nestled inside, was a diamond ring. A gorgeous, square diamond on a silver band.

  Oh!

  "Rex?" I was afraid to touch the ring and wondered for a moment if I'd been drugged or was dreaming. Maybe the guys at the mud run had killed me.

  "Merry." Rex leaned forward. His eyes literally sparkled. "Will you marry me?"

  I sat there with my mouth hanging open. It probably wasn't a good look for me.

  "I know we were just starting to talk about this," Rex said, "but I've had this ring for six months. I know it seems like I'm jumping the gun, but Philby found it and started carrying the box around the house…leaving it on your pillow, on the kitchen counter, in the bathtub. It was just a matter of time before you found it, and I didn't want to be outdone by a cat that looks like Hitler."

  I laughed, tears welling up in my eyes. The man wanted to propose, and Philby was determined that he do just that.

  And that's when I knew that I did want to marry Rex. Yes, it was a little soon, but we could have a long engagement, right?

  "Yes!" I nodded as I leaned across the table and gave Rex a kiss. "I'll marry you." I slipped the ring on and stared at my hand. A hand I never in a million years thought would have a diamond on it.

  The waiter stopped at our table and insisted on giving us a complimentary glass of champagne while I just stared at the ring. I was engaged! To a man! Well, I mean, of course it was a man and not a fish or a snowman or anything. My brain was ricocheting off the inside of my skull.

  Rex beamed. In fact, I don't think I'd ever seen this look on his face before. I was more accustomed to his exasperation.

  I jumped to my feet with my phone in my hand. "I'll be right back!"

  Before he could respond, I ran into the restroom and Skyped Kelly, who was still in Omaha. While the phone rang, I thought about all the clever ways I could tell her about this. I could act like I was just calling to tell her about the race. Or I could act very dramatic and pretend something terrible had happened. I was rehearsing my faces when she answered.

  "Merry?" Kelly's face popped up on my screen.

  All ideas flew out the window as I shoved the back of my left hand in front of my face and squealed.

  Kelly saw the ring and started squealing too. A couple of women came in and, seeing that, turned around and walked back out.

  "I can't believe it!" Kelly gushed. "He proposed! I didn't think he'd really do it!"

  I shook my head. "Me neither? It caught me totally off guard!"

  She squinted at me. "Are you in a bathroom?"

  I nodded. "Not just any bathroom—the bathroom at Joie de Poulet!"

  "Really? I've been wanting to go there." Kelly held up baby Finn, who looked at me adorably before belching.

  "So he really did it. Wow," Kelly said as she handed the baby off to someone—or just dropped her in midair offscreen.

  "I can't believe it either! We just came here to talk and…"

  "Riley finally asked you," Kelly said. "Good for him."

  That drew me up sharply. "No, Rex. Rex proposed. Why would Riley propose?"

  Kelly looked like she'd been caught leaking valuable intel, and I had this weird feeling in my gut.

  "Rex. Right. Sorry. I meant Rex, but Riley just sort of popped out. So many men in your life with names that start with R."

  "You're not telling me something," I admonished.

  "I have to go! Finn's crying!"

  Finn was not crying.

  "Hugs to Rex! And congratulations!"

  The screen went dark, and I shook my head. Of course Kelly meant Rex. I moved to the sink, where I freshened up and then went back to the table.

  "What was that all about?" Rex asked. He looked very confused. "I never thought a proposal would send you running for the restroom."

  "Sorry!" I could feel the blush creeping up on my cheeks. "I just had to call Kelly. She'd kill me if she wasn't the first to find out."

  Rex smiled. "Okay…"

  "I'm just so surprised, Rex." I bent down and kissed him again before taking my seat. "And I love you."

  "I'm just relieved you said yes." Rex looked abashed. "I don't know what I'd do if you said no."

  "You don't have to worry about that," I said.

  To be completely honest, a lot of emotions were ganging up on me at the moment. I was floored by the proposal—a combination of happy and scared. I was confused by Kelly's reaction, but she was all messed up from those mommy hormones. And then I was freaked out thinking about the future—a future I wasn't sure I was ready for.

  But I loved Rex. I knew that for sure. And after the wedding, when the girls called me Mrs. Wrath, they'd be half-right. I thought about Rex's last name—Ferguson. And here I was just getting used to Wrath, my alias. I'd be Mrs. Ferguson. Unless I hyphenated…or kept my name.

  Rex narrowed his eyes. "You look like you're having doubts."

  "Not at all! I was just thinking about whether I wanted to be Merry Ferguson or Merry Wrath-Ferguson or…"
/>   He held up one hand to stop me. "I don't care if I take your last name. It's a simple matter, and it'll get sorted out."

  "You're right," I agreed. "Now where's dinner because I'm starving!"

  Rex laughed. "It should be here any minute."

  I looked at the ring again. "Are you sure about this?"

  He nodded. "Absolutely. There's not a doubt in my mind."

  I couldn't help smiling. "Well, the cats will be happy."

  "When we get back, do you want to Skype your parents? Or would you rather run off to the bathroom to do it?"

  I thought about how happy Mom and Dad would be. At least I hoped they'd be happy. And that's when it hit me.

  "Rex, I've never met your parents. In fact you never talk about them. Don't you think that if we are getting married, I should do that?"

  Rex squirmed. "Maybe we can go see them sometime."

  "How far away are they?"

  "Actually…they live here in Des Moines."

  My jaw dropped open. "How did I not know that?" I should've done a background check on Rex. What if his parents were in prison? Or insane? Or both?

  "Relax, Merry," Rex said. "They're basically normal. They're just a little…judgy."

  Well, that didn't sound good.

  Dinner arrived with two flutes of champagne. We toasted to the future before I attacked my magret de canard (a fancy way of saying duck breast) with a voracious appetite. Who knew that getting engaged would make one so famished?

  The food was excellent—on par with restaurants in France. That was nice. And with the proposal out of the way, we didn't feel the need to argue about our relationship. It was relaxing. Soothing. And I was happy thinking that it would be this way for the rest of our lives.

  My cell vibrated, but it didn't seem like the right time, so I shoved it into my purse. I never knew I could be this happy, terrified, and worried all at the same time. Yes, there were some issues we'd have to set straight, but it wasn't like we were getting married tomorrow, right?

  Another crash resonated from the kitchen. This time, the waitstaff didn't run to find out what had happened. There must have been some really klutzy chef in there or something. Which was too bad because it was the only thing marring a perfect evening.