Midnight Shimmer: A Toni Diamond Mystery (Toni Diamond Mysteries Book 3)

by Nancy Warren

  Toni glanced toward the sliding doors and Sondra said, “Oh, yeah. My balcony offers an unobstructed trip. But you won’t care. You’ll be dead.”

  The woman rose and retrieved the syringe she’d already prepared. It seemed very full to Toni. She knew that cosmetically, the toxin was administered in parts per billion. She suspected a full syringe of the stuff would easily kill both her and Alicia.

  She kept her ears tuned, hoping for some commotion outside. But she couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the air conditioning.

  “You don’t seriously think you’re going to get away with this?”

  “Ah, yeah. I do. I’ve been planning it for months. Even sucked up to that bitch so she’d invite me to be a bridesmaid. I needed to get on this cruise, and I needed cover.”

  “But how did you know I’d be on this cruise?” Alicia asked, sounding stunned.

  “Oh, please. You think David doesn’t tell me everything? I knew he was planning the cruise with you. He wanted the two of you back together, mostly because he has very expensive tastes and I have very expensive tastes and his income does not nearly cover them. I heard this bitch who goes to my gym drone on about her love life to her friend until they made me sick. But when she said she’d decided to get married at sea, I started thinking. Caitlyn does not keep friends. Plus, it was obvious that she only wanted gorgeous women who weren’t blond to be her bridesmaids. I started acting friendly at the gym. Next thing, we’re besties.” She made a gagging motion, putting two fingers of the hand not holding the gun into her mouth.

  “But how could you possibly know she’d choose this cruise? The one Alicia was on?”

  Sondra flicked her hair over her shoulder. As much as she wanted them dead, Toni could see that she was dying to tell someone how smart she’d been because she’d sure as hell never be able to tell anyone in the future. “Please, you think Caitlyn chose this cruise?”

  Toni replayed the chatter from the afternoon she and her mama had given the bridesmaids free makeup application lessons. “She said you got her a deal she couldn’t pass up through your travel agent.”

  “I subsidized all the tickets for the wedding party. Told the travel agent it was a secret wedding gift and forbade her to tell Caitlyn or the other bridesmaids. She didn’t care. She got the business.”

  “That must have cost a fortune.”

  She shrugged. “It was an investment.”

  The ship rocked gently. She recalled an earlier announcement from the bridge that there was a storm in the forecast. An image of her and Alicia, tossed into stormy seas flashed before her but she forced it back.

  “But she still didn’t ask you to be her bridesmaid, did she?”

  Sondra’s scowl rivaled Caitlyn’s pout, she’d simply been better at hiding it. “No. She didn’t. I went to all that trouble and she said how she’d love to have me but she and Matt had agreed on four attendants each.”

  “So one of the bridesmaids suddenly fell ill. The one who also went to your gym.”

  Sondra shrugged. “What can I say? You should always keep an eye on your water bottle at the gym. Otherwise, it might get tampered with.”

  “You made a girl sick so you could I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Alicia was trembling and Toni thought it was from anger as much as stress.

  Sondra glanced at her watch as though she had a schedule to keep and was falling behind.

  Toni asked, “Who’s Susanne?”

  “My sister. My married sister. I borrowed her passport when I was at her place. No way anyone would connect David’s girlfriend with a married CPA.”

  “How did you figure out Susanne was really Sondra?” Alicia asked Toni.

  “I didn’t until today. But a lot of little things fell into place.” She turned to Sondra. “Like when Caitlyn called your name and you didn’t answer at first. As though it wasn’t a name you usually answer to. And Alicia had mentioned that David bought you an expensive piece of jewelry. When you were showing off your engagement ring, it was obviously new. Also, my mother and I had been looking at a lot of jewelry that day. I remember thinking your ring looked more like a dinner ring than an engagement ring.” She took a step closer. Maybe if she could get Sondra angry she’d lose her focus and Toni could make a grab for the gun. “David never proposed. Or planned to.”

  That made Sondra mad, as she’d hoped, but her aim was steady. She held up her left hand so the large emerald and diamond ring flashed. “Oh, he’ll marry me, all right. But you won’t be around to see it.”

  That flash of green and diamond had Alicia’s eyes widening. “That’s the jewelry I thought was for my birthday present?”

  Her pain and anger seemed to amuse Sondra with an O. “Here’s a present from me to take to a watery grave with you.” She reached over, still keeping the gun trained on Toni, and opened the bottom drawer of the desk. With her free hand she pulled out a very familiar looking doctor’s bag. “I thought I might find some drugs in here that would come in handy. And I found drugs, all right. Packages of heroin. I’ll plant this in Wade’s stuff where Security is bound to find it. Even if he’s tempted to make a stink about what happened to you, he’ll be too busy fighting drug-smuggling charges. That boy will spend his best years in jail. In fact, if I can figure out a way to do it, I’ll pin your murder on him now that the doctor can’t be blamed. That would be fun.”

  Alicia was pale, her face set. Fear had been replaced by anger. “You leave my grandson out of this.”

  “Yeah. Probably not.”

  Chapter Twenty

  I intend to live forever, or die trying

  – Groucho Marx

  “No!” And with a muffled scream, Alicia abandoned caution and ran at Sondra.

  Sondra transferred the gun to her left hand and grabbed the hypodermic needle.

  “Alicia, stop,” Toni yelled.

  But Sondra had finished talking. She wanted to kill somebody. She advanced on Alicia with a stabbing motion, like Norman Bates with his knife. Alicia tried to push away the hypodermic that was heading for her, not in a careful, let me put a tiny hint of paralyzing toxin in your wrinkles kind of way, but more like a let me kill you with a full syringe of deadly poison plunged into your body way.

  Toni could see that Alicia didn’t have the strength to fight the woman off for long, but also that Sondra wasn’t trying so very hard to kill her. She had the momentary impression of a cat toying with a mouse before finally killing it.

  “You should have let him go. He’s mine,” Sondra screamed, the hand holding the hypodermic waving around.

  “Have him,” Alicia panted. She was pushed all the way to the edge of the bed. “I don’t want him.”

  “You were so greedy! You had to have all your money. He earned that money living with you. And I definitely earned it. I want it.”

  This time, when Sondra raised the hypodermic needle, Toni could see that she was going to kill Alicia.

  Toni had no weapon with her. All she had was her wits. “Well, you’re not going to get her money, or her husband,” she said, loud and clear from behind Sondra.

  The woman had a gun in one hand and the syringe in the other, but it was clear she didn’t want to shoot. She still thought she could pull off her insane plan.

  Now, Sondra danced between the two of them, stabbing the syringe toward one and then the other, bobbing lightly like a boxer. Toni had the strangest impression that she was enjoying herself. Enjoying her deadly power.

  Toni had noticed a connecting door, but thought nothing of it until someone started banging on it. “Who are you talking to? It better not be Lauren or Rose. You are in quarantine.” Caitlyn! Bless her tyrannical heart.

  “It’s TV!” Sondra yelled back. Then, more quietly, “I think I’ll kill her when I’m done with you two and do the world a favor.”

  “Caitlyn,” Toni yelled, jumping back. “Call security.”

  The door opened. “What’s going on in there?” And Caitlyn walked through the connectin
g door, wearing a hospital mask over her mouth. Then took in the scene, her eyes widening. “What the hell?”

  “Get out of here,” Toni yelled. “Call Security. Call somebody.”

  She yanked off her mask and yelled. “Ma-a-tt! Get in here.”

  Not exactly the help Toni had hoped for.

  She turned on Sondra. “What are you doing, you crazy bitch?”

  “Shut up.”

  Sondra lunged for Alicia, and as Alicia sidestepped, Toni rushed in from behind and grabbed Sondra around the waist, jerking her around so she faced the other direction.

  The woman tried to stab at her hands so she let go and kneed her in the middle of her back, hoping to knock her off balance.

  She did knock her off balance. Sondra stumbled toward Caitlyn just as Matt came running in. As Caitlyn tried to back up, she banged into the solid wall of her fiancé, who said, “What the hell?” As Sondra fell forward, the hypodermic plunged into Caitlyn’s breast.

  The bride screamed, holding her chest as she fell to the ground. Sondra screamed, as she fell, the gun falling to the floor.

  “Honey,” Matt said, dropping down beside his bride-to-be. “Honey.”

  Toni grabbed the gun as banging began on the main door. Before she could open it, there was an almighty crash and Alexei burst into the room, gun first. Behind him came Wade and Tiffany.

  They all blinked. The bride was on the floor, screaming, Matt beside her looking sick and terrified.

  “Quick,” Toni said to Sondra, training the gun on her. “There must be an antidote.”

  A smug, evil smile flashed. “No antidote. She’ll be dead within a minute.”

  Caitlyn screamed again. “Don’t listen to her. She’s insane. She wrecked my wedding.”

  Wade ran to his grandmother. “Are you all right?”

  She didn’t answer, simply clung to him.

  Matt was on his knees beside the flailing bride-to-be. Her breasts jerked up and down like two grapefruits under her top. As he reached to pull the hypodermic out of her body, Toni yelled, “Wait. Don’t touch that.”

  “Get it out of me!” the bride shrieked.

  “No.” Toni strode forward. No natural breasts held that shape when a woman was lying down. “You’ve got your gel pads in, right?”

  “Shut up!”

  “Stay still. They may save your life.” She turned back to Matt, who wavered, wanting to help the screaming bride, but obviously out of his depth in this whole thing. “Don’t touch that syringe.”

  Tiffany stepped closer and knelt on Caitlyn’s other side. “I think Mama’s right,” she said softly, and her soothing words calmed the crazed bride a little. “So long as the toxin stays sealed inside the gel pad, you should be safe. I know it’s completely gross, but I think you should stay very still until a doctor can get here.”

  Alexei, meanwhile, had Sondra’s hands behind her back and was handcuffing her. He was the kind of man who carried plastic restraints in his pocket. A good guy to have around in an emergency.

  Pretty soon, the small stateroom was filled with people. The doctor arrived. Over the noise from the still-screaming bride, Toni explained about the gel pads. He had to sedate Caitlyn before she became still enough that they could take her to the medical center. They wheeled her away and Matt followed, wailing, “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

  The next to arrive was the captain, along with two junior officers. He listened to the story in growing amazement and Toni imagined that in sixteen years, he’d never dealt with anything like this before. “I’m arresting this woman,” Alexei said, showing his ID. “You have a brig, I assume?”

  “Of course. She’ll be confined until we get to port.”

  “Don’t think this is over,” Sondra yelled as the three officers took her away. “Because this is not over!”

  Alexei looked at Toni. “I thought you killed the doc. Sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay. I thought you killed him.”

  He shook his head.

  “Oh,” she said, “You might want to look in the bottom right-hand drawer of that desk.”

  Those hard eyes never changed expression, but he was across the room in two strides. He lifted the medical bag out. Nodded. “Thanks.”

  Then he left.

  Alicia and Wade sat side by side on the bed. “You okay, Grandma?”

  “I think I need to go to my room and lie down.”

  “Sure. I’ll take you.”

  He put an arm around Alicia and helped her to her feet. As they walked by, he glanced at Toni and Tiffany. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” Tiffany said. “Come on, Mom. Let’s go shock Grandma.” Then she shook her head so her long hair swung. “Again.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Natural beauty takes at least two hours in front of a mirror.

  – Pamela Anderson

  “Happy birthday, honey,” Toni said.

  “I think this is the best birthday ever,” Tiffany said. “But then, every day your mom isn’t killed by a psycho is a good day.”

  The wedding had, surprisingly, gone ahead as planned. Caitlyn had been incredibly lucky. The needle had lodged in the gel pad and hadn’t penetrated through to her skin. After a sedative-induced night’s sleep, she’d elected to go through with the wedding.

  Amazingly, so had Matt.

  Since they were short one bridesmaid, Caitlyn asked Tiffany to step in. Tiff was gorgeous, brunette, and could fit into Sondra’s gown. It was the perfect solution.

  The makeup was, naturally, flawless. The bride was on her best behavior… or possibly still under the effects of the sedative. It was hard to tell. The captain performed the ceremony. In his uniform. And his British accent added a certain solemnity to the ceremony in the cruise ship’s chapel.

  Afterward, the party started.

  It was their last night at sea and everyone, it seemed, had dressed up and was out on deck enjoying the warm, balmy night.

  Tiffany had changed into a simple white cotton dress and sandals, and wore the silver earrings her mom had given her. “I can’t believe I’m seventeen.”

  Wade walked out on deck, heartbreakingly handsome in a blazer that had probably been hand stitched in Italy, with a white shirt and jeans that had probably also been hand stitched in Italy.

  Toni watched him search the deck and saw the way his face lit up when he saw her daughter. He was holding a gift-wrapped box and when Tiffany caught sight of him she ran forward.

  “She’s growing up so fast, I can hardly stand it,” Toni said to her mom.

  Wade raised a hand when Tiffany got close and pushed her hair behind one ear. Their gazes locked.

  “I know. And if we keep watching, we’re going to witness a grown up kiss.”

  They turned away abruptly.

  The entertainment directors were out in force, leading the twist and a conga line, and the live band filled the air with music.

  Alicia even made an appearance, wearing a white evening gown that showed off her slim figure. She was skilled enough with cosmetics that she’d covered up the parts of her face that were still healing. Toni had to admit that she looked fantastic.

  “How are you holding up?” Toni asked.

  Alicia breathed deeply of the night air. “I think there are moments in your life when you realize how lucky you are. When Wade came into that stateroom yesterday, and I could see how frantic he was for my safety, I realized what a very lucky woman I am. Also, after yesterday, I’m pretty much over David.”

  Linda took Alicia to one side and soon they were deep in conversation. Linda pointed to the wrinkles that bothered her and it was pretty easy to figure out what they were talking about.

  They only broke apart when Roy walked up to Linda and asked her to dance. Wade danced with Tiffany, and while Toni stood watching, the retired colonel who had helped her when they discovered Dr. Madsen’s body asked Alicia to dance. They looked good together, both upright and distinguished. Wealthy or not, Alicia was no
t going to have trouble finding her next partner. Toni only hoped that her recent experiences had helped her realize how special she was.

  While she was watching the dancers, Alexei appeared at her side. “You want to dance?”

  “You dance?”

  “You’d be surprised at my talents.”

  Then he led her out to the dance area and impressed her with his jive moves. He started her off slowly but when it was clear she could keep up, he twirled her, spun her, and dipped her. “You can dance,” she said, when she cold breathe again.

  “You’re not so bad yourself.” He stopped a passing waiter and ordered them both a drink. “You think you’ll ever go on another cruise?”

  “Sure. I figure the chances of my ending up on another ship with both a murderer and a heroin smuggler would be like lightning striking twice.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, Toni. Something tells me you’re the kind of woman that lightning follows around.”

  She wasn’t certain if that was meant as a compliment or not, so, instead of answering him, she sipped her drink.

  Toni was contemplating calling it a night when Ryan from Brisbane jumped up on the side of the pool, their makeshift stage, and said into the mic, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for some line dancing.”

  Toni glanced up to see Linda extract herself from Roy’s arms. She strode across the deck/dance floor and hopped up beside Ryan and took the mic right out of his slack grasp. Linda had chosen a white pant suit with so much glitter on it that when she held the mic up out of his reach, she looked like the Statue of Liberty. Then she spoke into the microphone. “Honey, you’re a sweet young man, but I think it’s time you had someone show you how line dancing’s supposed to go.”

  The band had already begun a few bars of a Beatles song when she waved up to the band leader. “You boys know ‘Achy Breaky Heart’?”

  The lead singer glanced at Ryan, who shrugged, Why not? “Sure do, ma’am. You give us a minute.”