Killer Beach Reads

by Gemma Halliday Publishing

  "I see your dilemma," Cindy said with a frown. "But honestly, I don't have a clue where to look for her. We were never close, and she kind of kept to herself. She came in at the end of the week to collect her paycheck and never really conversed with the other girls."

  I couldn't shake the gut feeling that Lucy was the key to finding Derek's real killer and freeing Mandy, but what good did that gut feeling do if I couldn't get the info to Tyler, or find her myself?

  "That's it then," I pinched the bridge of my nose. "All we can do now is wait for Tyler to call and hope that he can track her down."

  "I'm sorry, girls. I wish I could be of more help," Cindy said.

  "You've helped more than you think," I assured her. "If you see Lucy, or anything that you think might help us, please give me call."

  "Absolutely." Cindy nodded.

  Kelly and I left the office and slowly made our way down the long dim hallway.

  "What are we going to do? I think Lucy is our girl, but her trail is beyond cold, Tyler is silent, and I know Mandy is probably going crazy sitting in that cell."

  "I guess we can go back and sit on Derek's apartment, but I really don't think she'd take that chance again, not after both Tyler and I saw her there."

  "Then we're at a dead end until Tyler—"

  But Kelly's thought was cut short when Lucy stepped into the hallway, gun in hand.

  We froze.

  She stepped toward us. "Turn around and put your hands in the air." Her voice was calm, yet her expression was wild.

  We did as we were told.

  "You killed Derek," I said as Lucy pulled my gun from the waist of my pants and shoved it into hers.

  "You know I did."

  "How'd you find us?" I asked.

  "It was easy," she said. "Lower your hands, but keep them where I can see them. I don't want to draw any attention. Now move." She shoved me with one hand while keeping the gun pressed into my back. "I saw you go into Derek's apartment yesterday. I wanted to get a few things before his family arrived and cleaned the place out. Then you came barging into the office asking questions about him. I knew you weren't one of his side pieces, so I played along and answered your questions."

  Cindy stepped out of the office. "I thought you two—"

  "Don't move." Lucy turned me sideways so that Cindy could see the gun.

  "Into the office. Now." She herded the three of us back into the office and closed the door.

  "Sit down."

  We each took a seat in one of the chairs.

  "Now, where was I? Oh, that's right, how I knew you'd be here." She kept the gun trained on me. "After your boyfriend caught you at the apartment, he came inside asking questions. Mainly about why I didn't mention at the station that I was Derek's maid when I told them that I'd seen that little slut friend of yours and my Derek hit the ladies' room together."

  "I'm sure he didn't fall for your lies," I said.

  She shrugged. "Well, he must have because I don't see him here, do you? After he questioned me, I got in my car and found you sitting at the Dairy Hut. From there, I followed you here to Long End. I waited in the parking lot while I assume you talked to Dickie—then I followed you back to your office. I've been following you ever since to see if you posed any real threat to me."

  I shook my head. "How'd you kill Derek without anyone seeing you? And why did you frame Mandy?"

  This time Lucy shook her head. "Derek wasn't who I thought he was."

  That was the understatement of the century, and I was pretty sure half the women in this club would agree with me. I had never even met the guy and I was fairly certain he was a total d-bag.

  "He dumped me. I thought he was just in denial about his true feelings for me. Some men are like that, you know."

  This chick was off her rocker. Cindy gave me a quick I-told-you-so look.

  "But a girl can only take so much. I watched him bring women to his apartment all the time. A different one every few days. So I decided to confront him about our relationship. I followed him to the club, where I saw him on the dance floor with that slutty friend of yours. They were close, he was touching her like he used to touch me." Her eyes were lowered to two thin slits as she remembered what went down that night.

  "I was about to confront him in front of everyone, but one of his buddies, I can't remember his name, spotted me and pointed me out to him."

  I glanced around quickly, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Unfortunately, the only thing that even came close was a flyswatter. I needed to keep her talking. The more she talked, the more time I had to think of a way to get Kelly and Cindy out of the room safely.

  "How'd you get him in the ladies' room?" Kelly asked.

  "I passed right behind your friend when she told him she was going to the restroom. I followed her in. Originally, I was going to kill her, but then Derek followed me in. I guess he had some idea of what was going to happen. He kissed me and carried me into one of the stalls."

  "Why?" Cindy asked.

  Lucy pierced her with a glare. "Because he was a dog, that's why. He kept kissing me until he was sure that tramp was out of the restroom, then he dropped me onto the toilet seat and told me to stay away from him, that I was crazy."

  He hit that nail right on the head.

  "He said that he didn't want that little tramp seeing me or talking to me. He was embarrassed of me."

  I shifted in my chair slightly as she glared at Cindy and told her tale. The only way out was through Lucy and her gun. The door was still cracked open. If I could surprise her and knock the gun out of her hands, Kelly and Cindy could make a break for it and get help. I glanced at Kelly, then subtly at the door. She narrowed her eyes at me then nodded back.

  I only hoped that we were nodding for the same reason. Kelly and I weren't always on the same page.

  "He broke my heart," Lucy continued. "So I kicked him in the man bits and while he was bent over, I wrapped my purse strap around his neck, stood on the back of the toilet, and strangled him."

  "I can't believe he didn't get away from you. He was bigger than you. He had to have been stronger." Kelly kept her talking.

  "True, but I hit him as hard as I could in the downstairs. He doubled over and was red-faced when I wrapped that strap around his neck. Game over. All I had to do was go down to the station, tell the cops I saw your friend go into the bathroom with Derek but only she came out, and I was home free. Until you started snooping around." She waved the gun at my face. "Now, we're going to go out that back door into the alley and end this. Get up."

  This was my chance. I sprung from my seat and slapped the gun out of her hand, only that part didn't go exactly as I'd planned.

  The gun went off and I heard Kelly shout, but I didn't have time to stop and see if she was alright. Lucy was a lot stronger than she looked. She punched me in the face, and I stumbled back a step toward the door before she leaped on me. Her weight combined with my own sent us crashing through the cheaply made office door. We landed in the hallway with a loud crash among the wood splinters from the demolished door. She reached behind her to grab the gun she'd taken from me, but it was gone. Lost somewhere in the rubble of what used to be the office door.

  Lucy was the first to get to her feet, but I wasn't far behind. I leaped at her in an attempt to take her down and get the situation under control, but once again our balance was zero, and we fell into the dressing room.

  Lucy rolled across the floor, knocking over a rack of clothing as she went. I wrestled through a tidal wave of feather boas, sequins, and rhinestone thongs until I reached her, but she was quick. She kicked out and caught me in the chin with her heel. I fell back, and suddenly she was on top of me, her hands around my throat.

  "I'll kill you just as I killed him. Say hi to Derek for me," she grinned maniacally down at me with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. My mind was a million places at once. Was Kelly alive? Why weren't she or Cindy helping me? Was Kelly hurt that badly?
/>   I stretched my hand as far out to the side as I could and felt around with my fingers in search of anything that would serve as a weapon. A moment later my fingertips felt something hard. I didn't know what it was, and at that moment it didn't matter. I grasped it, swung at Lucy's head, and was greeted with a solid thump.

  Mascara, lip gloss, and an array of other makeup items flew through the air and rained down on me. It looked as if Maybelline threw up. Lucy grabbed her head and rolled off of me. I looked down at what I'd hit her with and grinned when I saw that it was a small train case full of makeup. I dropped it and dove on top of Lucy's back.

  "Get off me, you slut!"

  I grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her back then looked around for something to secure her hands and feet until the cops could get there.

  "Looking for a pair of these?"

  I jerked my head up and found Tyler standing just behind me. I grabbed the cuffs Tyler offered. "Kelly's hurt. I don't know how badly, she needs help—"

  "It's taken care of. The bullet hit her in the shoulder and passed clean through. There's another woman in there with her applying pressure until the ambulance gets here."

  I nodded. "That's Cindy, and this is Lucy," I said.

  "I know who she is." He nodded. "I put things together when I saw you talking to her at the apartment this morning after I talked to Dickie the Bookie. When I found out she told you that she worked for Derek, but she left that part out of her statement, I knew something was off and started digging into her past. I talked to Derek's partner and found out that she worked here and was basically stalking Derek. He also told me that he saw Derek follow Mandy into the restroom but lost sight of them after that. He thought Derek and Mandy left together, but now we know that's not what happened."

  "So how'd you know she was here?" I asked while Tyler bent down and cuffed a wiggling, cussing Lucy's ankles so she couldn't get away.

  "I'm a detective."

  "Seriously."

  "I followed her after she left the apartment to follow you. I saw her park and enter the club a few minutes after you did, and I knew there was going to be trouble. I was sneaking around to the back door in the alley when I heard the gun shot. I already had the local police on standby and called for backup. By the time I got in here, you had everything under control."

  "You sneaky—"

  But I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence. Tyler pulled me into his arms and planted a kiss on my lips that caused my toes to curl. When the kiss ended it took a moment for me to gather my scattered senses.

  "Why didn't you tell me that she was the witness when we were at the apartment?"

  "I was afraid that if you knew you'd go asking her more questions and spook her off before I could get any evidence against her. If she'd have skipped town there would've been no way to prove her guilty, and Mandy would go down for murder."

  I hated to admit it, but he was right.

  I heard the paramedics and made my way over the scattered beauty products and thongs to the hallway. I passed two uniformed officers as they made their trip through the beauty jungle to arrest Lucy.

  Kelly was already on a stretcher, and she wasn't a happy camper.

  "I need to see Barb. She was in there with that psycho. Is she alright?" She spotted me and sighed dramatically. "Thank heavens. I was worried sick about you. Did you get her?"

  I nodded. "You know it. There are some officers in there right now about to haul her murdering butt to jail. How are you doing?"

  She reached up and touched the mountain of gauze on her shoulder. "I've been better, but it could've been worse." She grinned.

  "You're going to have to answer some questions, Barb." Tyler laid his palm against the small of my back.

  "I'll ride with her to the hospital," Cindy offered. "I mean seriously, this is the most excitement I've seen in, well, ever!" She was practically beaming with enthusiasm.

  Kelly grinned. "I don't mind. You go do what you have to do to get Mandy out of jail. She's probably climbing the walls by now." She waved me away with her good arm.

  I kissed Kelly on the cheek, gave the cheeky Cindy a fist bump, then turned and followed Tyler out of the building.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "I think I'm going to put a halt to all future girls' nights out." I laughed.

  Tyler pulled me closer against his side. "After this last weekend, I think that's a great idea, at least for a while."

  I laid my head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat.

  It hadn't taken long for me to give my statement and for a judge to be called. Mandy had been released less than two hours after my strip club brawl with psycho Lucy.

  Kelly was home resting with our surprise new friend Cindy and Mandy hovering over her, which left me with some time to think back over the last forty-eight hours.

  I'd gone home, crashed, and only woke when Tyler surprised me with dinner a few hours ago.

  It was strange how normal, how right, it felt to be snuggled against Tyler on my sofa with a cheesy action flick on the television and Chinese takeout on the table. It brought me right back to wondering what exactly Tyler and I were doing.

  "What's on your mind?"

  I glanced up and met his stunning blue gaze.

  "Just thinking."

  "About?" he smoothed a hair away from my face.

  "Us. About what we're doing."

  That got his attention. He sat up, reached around me, and pulled me to straddle his waist. "We're together, that's what we're doing."

  "Are we…serious?"

  "I know I am," he said without missing a beat. "I care about you, Barb. You keep me on my toes. You're beautiful, smart, funny, and there's never a dull moment with you no matter how much I might wish there were at times." He cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. "As far as I'm concerned, we're as serious as serious gets."

  I shivered at the feel of his hand against my face.

  "In that case," I leaned forward and kissed him.

  I didn't know what the future held for Tyler and myself, or for any of us for that matter, but I knew without a doubt that we'd get through it, as long as we had each other.

  * * * * *

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Not only is Anna Snow a wife, mom, and lipstick junkie, but she's also a multi-published bestselling author of several romance, mystery, erotica, fan-fiction, paranormal, chick-lit, and thrillers.

  Anna began writing as soon as she could hold a pen and hasn't stopped since. She loves life and can think of nothing she enjoys more than spending time with her family and friends. She loves archery, reading, writing, kitties, spending time outdoors, and did I mention kitties? *Big grin* Anna also loves to hear from her fans and answers all correspondence she receives.

  To learn more about Anne, visit her online at:

  http://www.annasnow.info/

  BOOKS BY ANNA SNOW

  Barb Jackson Mysteries

  Bubblegum Blonde

  Other Works

  Torque

  Haunted Haven

  My Sinful Valentine

  Sinfully Delicious

  Killer Kisses

  Reluctant Angel

  Guarding Eden The Stranger Next Door

  Tumbleweeds

  CAPER AT CASTLE ROCK

  (Amelia Grace Rock 'n' Roll Mysteries)

  by

  Anne Marie Stoddard

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER ONE

  "Do you know why I pulled you over?" The officer rested his hand on the roof of my car as he peered through the driver's side window.

  I stared back at him, sizing him up. He was short and scrawny, with thin, brown hair cropped closed to his scalp. Pink acne scars marred his chin and cheeks. I pegged him for his mid-twenties—only a few years older than I, actually. His mouth was set in a hard line, and his brows pinched. The little shrimp was trying to look intimidating but failing miserably—he looked like a kid playing Cops and Robbers. That, and I didn
't need X-ray vision to know that behind those mirrored aviator shades he was totally staring at my rack.

  I couldn't blame him for taking a peek. After all, the girls were out in full force today, thanks to the bit of extra padding in my swimsuit top. It was sort of false advertising, but I was hoping the little boost in the chest area would score me some attention later from a certain sexy coworker of mine at the Castle Rock staff pool party. If Officer Shrimp's reaction was any indication, then I'd say my new Betsey Johnson black-and-white skull bikini was well worth the dent in my bank account.

  "I'm not sure, officer," I lied. I knew I'd been speeding, but I was hoping that flashing him a little skin might get me off with a warning—and without having to turn over my license. I didn't want Daddy to ream me out for embarrassing him in front of his men—again. I fluffed my spiky, pink hair and stuck my chest out a little farther. After giving the young officer a few more seconds to take in the view, I brought his attention back above my neckline with a little throat-clearing cough. Sure enough, he jerked his head, and a faint glow touched his cheeks. Busted!

  "You were speeding," the young cop said. His expression hardened, and he hiked his thumb toward the speed limit sign posted several yards down the street. "Sixty-eight in a forty-five." He held out his hand, palm open. "License and registration, please."

  "Uhh, sure. One sec." Damn. Daddy was not going to be happy that I got pulled over in his truck. I reluctantly riffled through the glove compartment and pulled out the registration, then handed it over to the officer, along with my license.

  As the policeman studied my ID and the paperwork, his frown deepened. "Bronwyn Sinclair," he read aloud from my license. Then he read my father's name off of the registration papers. "Eddie Sinclair." The cop pushed the shades lower on his nose so that I could see his brown eyes.

  "So you're really…"

  I nodded. "Yep. The Sarge's daughter." My smile was sweet with a splash of smug.