by Renee George
Jo Jo barked a laugh and raised his hands in mock surrender. “I give up.” He eased next to the bed. “Did you really catch Evelyn’s killer?”
“Roger Parks.”
Jo Jo frowned. “I thought Evelyn was poisoned before rehearsal and then stabbed with the sword later.”
“She was,” I said. “We caught Roger red-handed with the cyanide.”
“I’m no fan of Roger’s, but I know he was having sex with Katrina Wells during the time the wicked witch of Peculiar was murdered.” His expression turned fierce. “After rehearsals, I confronted him.”
“So the blood and swollen knuckles happened because you got into a fight?” asked Brady. He sounded relieved.
“I didn’t want Michele to find out about Karina,” Jo Jo said. “That’s why I didn’t say anything. She deserves better than Roger Parks.”
Farraday knocked on the open door. “Can I come in? Hey, Jo Jo.”
“Thanks for calling me, Eldin.”
“No, problem. I would’ve wanted to know if my dad and his mate were in the clinic for an emergency.”
I almost corrected Eldin about the mate thing, but since Brady didn’t, I kept my mouth shut. Whether it was true or not, I liked the sound of it.
Farraday held up my phone. “Your texts are blowing up. You want to check it, or do you want me to shut your phone off?”
I said, “Gimme the phone,” at the same time that Brady said, “Shut it off.”
I looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Give her the phone,” he amended.
The doc came in with four IV bags, two IV kits with dual ports, and started on me first. I checked my phone with the hand on the arm he wasn’t using as a pin cushion.
“It’s Sabrina. She wants to meet me at the community center tonight.”
“Well, that’s impossible,” Brady said.
“I know.” I sighed. “But if Roger didn’t kill Evelyn, Sabrina is our best lead to who did.”
“I can meet with her,” Eldin offered.
The pieces clicked together. Holy shit. Josh. Roger. Evelyn. Babcock jewelry. All roads led to Sabrina. I smiled. “I have an idea.”
“I’m not going to like it, am I?” Brady asked.
I put the phone on my lap and reached my hand out to him. “Probably not.”
“Oh,” Brady added. “I have a theory about the ledger. It popped into my head when I was scrubbing you down. I have no idea why.”
“Rubbing my body can inspire all kinds of great ideas.”
Brady grinned. “You want to hear it or not?”
“Spill.”
*****
A cool hand on my forearm woke me up at two in the morning. “Willy,” a woman said. “Don’t scream.” I felt a blade against my neck. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I didn’t mean to kill Evelyn. She just kept coming at me.”
“Hello, Sabrina,” I said. I was alone in the room, and I knew the clinic appeared empty. I was the spider, and Sabrina was the fly. “We both know Evelyn’s death wasn’t an accident.”
The blade pressed harder against my carotid. “I never wanted to be a part of this,” she hissed. She was getting more agitated. “But Evelyn left me no choice. I would have been on the streets if I hadn’t agreed to do the job.”
Her hands trembled. I felt a small trickle of blood run down the side of my neck. “If you put the blade down, we can talk about this. No one else needs to get hurt.”
“We have to leave the clinic,” she said. “I can’t take a chance someone will walk in on us.”
“No one’s here. It’s just me.” I tried to make my voice sympathetic. “I know you want to unburden. You’re a single mom. It can’t be easy. Desperation can make the strongest person do things they never imagined they were capable of doing. Awful things.”
With her free hand, Sabrina took out her phone and sent a text message.
“Did you send that to Milo?”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“He’s in charge of the operation, right?”
“You’re too smart for your own good. Milo was right about you being a pain-in-the-ass.”
“You listen to that guy? He’s the one who killed Evelyn.”
“No,” she said. “Evelyn was screaming at me. Ranting. I picked up the sword just to threaten her. I thought she was going to shift and attack me. Instead, she threw herself on the sword. A few minutes later, she was dead.”
“So you pinned her to the wall?”
“I…I didn’t mean to.”
I shifted left so that the blade was no longer over a major artery. “She was already dead. Don’t you get it? Milo poisoned Evelyn. He did it with the potassium cyanide you stole from the jewelry store.”
Sabrina looked unsure, and I knew my words were getting to her, making her doubt Milo.
“Evelyn was hallucinating. Her brain and organs were being denied oxygen. She was already dying. If you hadn’t stabbed her, she would’ve been dead within a few minutes.” I paused to let the information sink in. “Did Milo say he’d help you? Of course, he would. Because he could use your guilt as leverage, and you would never be the wiser that he was the cold-blooded killer, not you.”
“Don’t listen to her, Sabrina. Ms. Boden uses people and their fears against them to get what she wants,” Milo Greene said, joining us.
Finally, the puppet master. Everyone had been dancing while he pulled the strings. All his puppets took the risks, and he reaped the rewards. Now I understood why Roger was so scared. Milo wore the mask of congeniality, but it couldn’t hide his true nature.
“I think you’re confusing me for you. Tell Sabrina how you went to Evelyn’s in the afternoon when you found out she stole your ledger.” I remembered the missing slices of cake and the ants on the deck table. “Let me guess, you two ate coffee cake out on the deck. Maybe had some tea or coffee to go with it.” That would explain the twin rings created by the teacups in the sink. “At some point, you put cyanide in her cup--”
“There,” Milo said. I saw he had a gun in his hand now. And his expression was all arrogance. “That’s where you’re wrong. I put a few drops on her piece of cake while she wasn’t looking. Not enough to kill her fast. Just enough, so that I would be far away from her when she died.”
He most likely wrote “Bitch” in the dust as well, but I would skip the unimportant details. “And then, Sabrina, he let you think you killed her.” I cast a triumphant gaze at Milo. “Like I said.”
Sabrina stumbled back from me and held the knife out, its wicked blade pointed at Milo. “You lied to me. You tricked me!”
He aimed the gun at her. Yay, all the weapons were pointed at someone else but me. Imminent death averted.
“How did you know I was involved?” Milo asked. His arrogance wouldn’t let him believe anything he did contributed to his downfall. Narcissists were always the heroes of their own twisted tales. “It was Roger Parks, wasn’t it? That stupid kid. It was the car, right? He wanted that goddamn car. I warned him it was too much.”
“It wasn’t Roger or the car, asshole. It was the accounts book. Once Brady figured out your system, the rest was a bunch of educated guesses. The biggest payouts were always to The Big Grape. And that’s you. Grape for Greene. There were payouts for the last year toPlum—Parks, right? And then there were two payouts for the Mango and Little Melon. Miller and Miller. Your two newest recruits before Evelyn stole your book.”
“Everything is circumstantial,” said Milo, but I saw the doubt in his eyes. He swung the gun in my direction. “You can’t prove anything. And I’m going to kill you, so your mouth will stay shut.”
“Smile.” I pointed to a tiny red light that looked like it could be part of the medical equipment. “You should look pretty for the video. I’m thinking of calling this film The Asshole Who Fell for the Oldest Trick in the Book. What do you think?”
The lights came on, blinding all of us. Three dogged deputies and one
cool coyote swarmed into the room. The deputies trained their guns on the bad guys. Milo handed over his weapon. Sabrina dropped her knife.
I looked at Sabrina. “I bet if you turn witness against Milo, the Tri-Council might show you some leniency. You won’t be off the hook, but you may see your son again. It’s better than dying.” To Milo, I said, “Your only hope of surviving this is if you give up all your partners in the three-state area. This is not a one-man show, and the Tri-Council wants it to stop.”
Connelly and Farraday took Sabrina and Milo away in cuffs. Thompson grabbed the recorder for evidence and followed them out.
Brady came around the bed, his hand moving along my arms, my face, and my neck. “You’re bleeding,” he said.
“It’s a nick. I bet you’ve done worse shaving.”
“I can’t believe how many times I nearly burst into the room. I couldn’t stand watching them point weapons on you. It was a stupid risk.”
“It worked.” I caressed his cheek. He crawled into bed next to me on the side without the IV. “Hey, where are your bags?”
“I pulled out the line. I’m fine.” He pulled me into his arms. “I can’t believe it’s over. I almost lost you. I can’t.” He buried his face in my hair. “I just...I can’t.”
“You won’t lose me, Brady. I’m yours, and you’re mine. I’m not letting you out of my sight so some other kitty can pounce in and grab you.”
“You know I’m in love with you, right?”
“You’ve been pretty obvious about it,” I teased. Inside, my heart was doing flips of joy. Brady Corman loved me. He was in love with me. This was real.
“You’re the worst,” he said, his lips moving against my neck.
I turned my face to his. Softly, I said, “I know. I really am the worst. Are you sure you want to be with someone like me?”
“As much as I want to breathe,” he said, his words echoing the way I felt about him.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m in love with you too.”
Epilogue
Four weeks later...
A lot had transpired since we apprehended Evelyn’s killer and put a stop to a major fraud ring in the Tri-State area. All-in-all, the lot of us came off looking like rock stars. Milo Greene and Sabrina Miller sang like canaries, and their fates are still undecided by the council. Josh Miller was sent to live with his father Clay in Springfield, Missouri. At least the kid will get a fresh start. With a significant portion of the Hamlet cast either dead or incarcerated, the town decided to put the play on hold for the time being. President Stenson was so grateful to me for the win, he agreed, reluctantly, to accept my resignation. Sheriff Taylor on the other hand, who had been reinstated the week after the arrests, enthusiastically accepted my application to become a deputy for the quaint town of Peculiar.
The sheriff was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that his extremely intelligent daughter had decided the best use of her degree was to work for the FBI, but it was better than him thinking she was into illegal activities. I’d finally relocated after I’d served out my notice with the Council, and Ruth had invited Brady, Jo Jo, and me over for a “Welcome Home” celebration dinner.
Considering I was staying with her for the moment, her house kind of was my home. I was betting Dakota would be glad to eventually have her room back. When Ruth said dinner, though, what she really meant was potluck, and she’d not only invited the Cormans and me, but she’d also invited the half the community.
“We haven’t had a potluck since Sunny moved to town,” Ruth said. “Isn’t this nice?”
If by nice she meant freaking awesome, then, “Yes, this is nice.” I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled out a box I’d meant to give to her for more than a month.
“What’s this?” She took it and turned the box in her hand. “What did you get me?”
“Just open it.”
She did. Inside was the chain with all the gold hearts looped together. Ruth beamed. “You shouldn’t have!”
“That smile tells me I should have.”
She put it on. “How does it look?”
“Very pretty.”
“Does this mean we’re going to steady?”
“You’re making this awkward,” I told her.
Ruth laughed. “Good. That’s what best friends are for.” She touched the necklace. “I have to go show, Ed. Maybe it will give him some ideas.”
“For more jewelry?”
“Of course.” And on that note, she flitted through the crowd.
Brady found me. He put his arms around me from behind and sniffed my hair. I shook my head and wiggled my butt against his upper thighs. “You know sniffing me every time you see me is weird?”
“It’s weird that you like it,” he said.
“True,” I said. I did like it. He said I smelled like home to him, and I hoped one day I would be home for him. He crossed his arms under my boobs. The curse or the blessing of being so short. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“You do?” I pressed my butt against him again. “I have a surprise for you, too.”
“Which I will take great pleasure in unwrapping later, but first I want to show you something. You think we could sneak out of here for a bit?”
“I’m game.” I loved the idea of sneaking off with my guy to parts unknown so we could explore our known parts.
A thirty-minute truck ride later, I recognized the small gravel road. “Hey, it’s our cabin by the pond. Is this our one-month sex-aversary? Usually, I’m much better at remembering dates.”
“You’re nuts, woman.”
“And you love it!” I countered.
We pulled in, and the log cabin was gone. Then I noticed a large pad of concrete about forty feet by forty feet. We got out of the truck. Brady took my hand and walked me over to the big slab. “What do you think?”
“I think it might get a little rough on my ass if you're planning to get me horizontal on it.” I reached back and squeezed his package. “But like I said before, I’m game. And I heal fast.”
“You really are nuts.” He laughed. “It’s the concrete pad for the house I’m building for you.”
My chest squeezed, stealing my breath for a moment. “For me?”
“Well, for us. If you want?”
“What about your house?”
“It’s Jo Jo’s now. We can rent something until this one is built.”
I turned in his arms. He had a small box in his hand. My face went numb as oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, this is happening! went through my head. He opened up the box. Inside was a plain platinum band.
“Willy Boden, I never want to be apart from you. Will you do me the honor of marrying a man who will never be worthy of your love, but will always cherish you until death takes us both because I’m here to tell you, when you go, I’m following you into the grave.”
“What if you die first?”
“Is that a yes?”
“Brady Corman, it’s about damn time you asked me to be your wife. Yes, sexy beast, I will marry you as long as you do that thing, you know, the one I like with your tongue and all.”
“Yes,” he said. “I promise.”
“Every night?”
“Won’t you get tired of the same ol’?”
“I think your tongue will get tired before I get tired of it.”
He laughed. “Fair enough.”
“Aren’t you going to put a ring on it?” I held out my left hand.
Brady took the bright band out of the box. Inside, he showed me an inscription before slipping it on my finger. It read, To Willy, the air I breathe.
The End
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Also by Renee George
More Peculiar Mysteries
You’ve Got Tail (Peculiar Mysteries Book One)
My Furry Valentine (Peculiar Mysteries Book Two)
Thank You For Not Shifting (Peculiar Mysteries Book Three)
My Hairy Halloween (Peculiar Mysteries Book Four)
www.peculiarmysteries.com
Barkside of the Moon Mysteries
Pit Perfect (Book One)
The Money Pit (Book Two)
www.barksideofthemoonmysteries.com
Midnight Shifters Series (Urban Fantasy)
www.midnightshifters.com
The Cull Series (Paranormal Romance)
www.ozarkshifters.com
The Lion King Series (Paranormal Romance)
www.lionkingshifters.com
About the Author
Renee George is a USA Today Bestselling author of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, erotic romance, contemporary romance, and romantic comedies that highlight varying themes. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, man-child son, two sweet dogs, and a senile cat.
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