“So you see why neither of you can tell anyone,” said Dr. Patterson.
“Not particularly,” I said, my attention momentarily distracted by the black-clothed figures running across the lawn. “Would it help if I promised not to say anything?”
“I’m so sorry. I don’t want to kill you both, but I have to,” he said, his shoulders slumping as the gun dangled in one hand. He aimed it slowly, a flash of disappointment crossing his face. I didn’t think he really wanted to be a killer but he still chose to become one. He was going to kill us both now.
“Here’s the thing. See that little red dot on your shirt? Yeah, that one,” I confirmed as Dr. Patterson looked down. “It’s coming from a sniper’s rifle. Shoot either one of us and you’ll be dead in nanoseconds.”
“If my husband dies, I’ll shoot you both,” said Mrs. Patterson, raising her gun.
“Why not just blame him for everything and walk away free?” asked Garrett.
“It’s not his fault!” wailed Mrs. Patterson.
I opened my mouth to argue whose fault it was, then shut it again. I had no idea whom to blame. Marley for panicking when Debby seemed to die? Or for committing fraud by taking over her life? Dr. Patterson for panicking that night and leaving Debby in the woods? Or Mrs. Patterson for not reporting everything ten years ago, or even now? It seemed they were all at fault, in one way or another. I did not envy the attorney who had to plead any one of their cases.
Fortunately, I had more pressing things to think about. Namely, grabbing my gun and hitting the floor.
“Duck,” I whispered to Garrett.
“Huh?”
Raising my eyebrows, I darted a glance to the windows, encouraging him to follow my line of sight.
“Duck?” he repeated.
“Get down,” I yelled, abandoning all subtlety as I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the floor.
A huge crack sounded through the house as the front door was breached and several figures raced inside. Dr. Patterson swung around and fired a shot that splintered the door frame. He shot again and someone grunted before a figure slumped to the floor. Then Dr. Patterson yelled out and crumpled, his knees hitting the rug as he clasped a hand over his chest. I grabbed my weapon from the holster and pointed it at him before he keeled over, face down.
“I’ll shoot!” yelled Mrs. Patterson, pointing her gun at me. “Don’t come any closer!”
“It’s over,” I told her. “There’s nowhere you can go.”
“Check my husband! Is he okay?” She glanced down and I aimed my gun, this time straight at her. When she looked back, she saw the gun and flinched. The two of us stood there, each aiming our weapons at the other.
“He’s fine,” said Garrett. “Took one to the chest but he’ll survive.”
“Lower your weapon,” said Solomon, his voice low and threatening as he aimed the laser beam between Mrs. Patterson’s eyes.
“Do as he says,” said Maddox, barely a step behind him. “In case you’re not sure, there’re seven guns trained on you right now, including a sniper’s. Don’t be stupid.”
“I can’t,” said Mrs. Patterson, tears welling in her eyes. “What about Debby?”
“Marley,” I corrected her, “is already in police custody. She confessed already.”
“No, I mean my Debby.”
“She’s at the morgue.”
“At least she isn’t alone,” said Mrs. Patterson, turning the gun on herself.
“No!” I launched myself at her, knocking her to the floor. The gun went off, and the sound was blisteringly close to my ear. Mrs. Patterson closed her eyes and slumped against me.
“Lexi!” I couldn’t tell who yelled first or whose hands grabbed me, but someone was pulling me off, and more hands were reaching for Mrs. Patterson. I felt heavy, dizzy, and the room spun in circles.
“I think I’ve been shot,” I told them breathlessly, surprised I was still standing when I felt a trickle descending to my clavicle. I touched my fingers to it and they came away sticky and red. “Or is it hers?”
“She fainted when the gun went off,” said Solomon, pulling me against him and peeling back my jacket. “You definitely got shot. But it’s just a nick on the shoulder.” He kissed me on the forehead and held me tightly against him. “I wasn’t worried,” he said, although he sounded horribly worried. “I knew you had this.”
“Our mother is never going to let me forget this,” sighed Garrett.
“You’re welcome!” I told him. “I saved your ass.”
“I think we saved both your asses,” interjected Maddox, pointing to himself and the cavalry.
“Potato, po-tah-toh,” I mumbled.
Maddox inspected the wound, nodded, and stepped back after being apparently assured that I wasn’t going to bleed out imminently. “I got here as soon as I could and called everyone on the way. Isn’t it fun when the gang all gets together?”
“Lily is going to be so pissed that she was left out,” I said.
“Where did you all come from?” asked Garrett when the figures moved around the room. He did not fail to notice all the Kevlar vests on the men or the guns strapped to their hips and thighs. The man on the floor eased upright and patted his Kevlar vest before grinning.
“Look, we almost got our soon-to-be brother-in-law killed too!” I giggled, giddy with life as Solomon gripped Delgado’s hand and pulled him onto his feet.
Garrett held out a hand to Delgado. “Welcome to the family,” he said. “You’re not one of us until someone shoots you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to arrest these idiots.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“I think she’s coming around.”
“Nuh-uh. She isn’t moving.”
“Her eyes are twitching.”
“Do you think she’ll mind if we balance some things on her? It’ll be fun to watch everything go flying when she finally moves.”
The voices got louder and I knew I had to stir before they seriously pranked me. “I’m not dead,” I told them, opening my eyes and yawning simultaneously. I was comfortable, partially swaddled in a blanket, still enjoying the remnants of a terrific dream about being a top runway model with a closet to die for. My feet were on Solomon’s lap, his warm hands wrapped around them, and my head was on a pillow. Only the aching throb in my shoulder marred the moment. I looked away from Solomon, finding Lily and Jord hovering over me. Jord had the baby cuddled up to his chest, her tiny legs tucked up under her. “I was taking a nap,” I groaned. “The best nap.”
“Solomon told me you were shot. I got here as fast as I could.” Lily dropped to her knees and parked her face directly in front of mine. I had to lean backwards into the couch to get her face in focus. “You don’t look shot,” she said. “What was it? A potato gun?”
“It was just a nick and I didn’t even get stitches. Plus, it happened a couple of days ago. How could that be as fast as you could get here?” I complained. “Also, what about flowers? Chocolate? No?”
“Everything takes more planning with a baby but I think I’ve got the routine down now. Next time you get shot, I’ll be here faster, okay? I did bring you chocolate though,” she added, producing a prettily wrapped box. “I wasn’t sure what to get you for your umpteenth injury but I’m thinking your next Christmas present might be a medical kit.”
“I’m not getting shot again.” I looked at Lily’s disbelieving face. “I’m not!”
Jord laughed and Solomon sighed.
“Just in case, Poppy’s bag is packed. Do you want me to move in and nurse you back to health?” asked Lily.
“You’re desperate for something to do, aren’t you?”
“So desperate. Mostly for sleep. You say it, I’ll do it.”
“I could take a coffee.”
“On it.” Lily pushed back on her heels and got up. She kissed Poppy on the head, then Jord on the lips. Both gazed after her as she headed for the kitchen.
“How long were you all staring at me?” I asked.
“My shoulder is a little sore but it’s okay.”
“Do you need a painkiller?”
“No, thanks.”
“Don’t be brave,” yelled Lily from the kitchen.
“I don’t need one, really,” I told them all. I could feel from the itch under the dressing that my wound was already healing. As I suspected, it was just a hot scrape across the shoulder. It didn’t even need one stitch. The bruising would fade in a couple of weeks and it was unlikely to leave a scar. I was very lucky that Mrs. Patterson was such a lousy shot. She was lucky that she didn’t blow her own head off. I could sew up the hole on my jacket, and maybe even add some kind of embroidery, but I had to draw the line at cleaning off brain matter.
“You could have been killed,” said Jord.
“But I wasn’t. I was ready,” I told them. “I had a gun. It was loaded too.”
“Not that you even used it,” pointed out Solomon.
“Garrett and I had guns aimed at us,” I told him again. “I was lucky that Dr. Patterson didn’t frisk me. I just couldn’t get to mine without being shot first.”
“Sure, you were ready,” said Lily as she returned to the living room. She brought a tray containing a French press, four cups, and she even found the little milk and sugar bowls I brought with me on my official move-in day. She poured a cup and handed it to me before getting one for herself. “Ready, aim, under fire. That’s you.”
“Garrett said he’d come by when you were awake,” said Solomon. “I think he wants to check up on you.”
“Just him? Or anyone else?” I asked.
“Just him. Everyone else is taking turns keeping your mom busy. She only called three times today.”
“Oh, no,” I groaned.
“It’s cool,” Solomon assured me. “The first time, she yelled again. The second time, she thanked me for saving you, and the third time, she wanted to know if you opened the wedding binders while you were convalescing. I assured her you were enjoying them.”
I looked around. There were no wedding binders in sight. “Where are they?”
“I have no idea. I’m going into the kitchen to check on dinner. Jord, do you want to help?”
Lily gazed after Solomon and Jord as they left the room, the baby still cuddled up to his chest. “So manly and can cook. Jackpot!” she grinned.
“Which one?” I asked.
“Both of them.” Turning back to me, she said, “I feel very left out. Everyone else was there. Solomon, Maddox, Delgado. It was almost like a family outing and no one invited me! I failed when you asked me to do surveillance and I couldn’t help you when you really needed it. You might need to get a new best friend.”
I reached for Lily’s hand. “You have a baby. I understand. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“I didn’t think things would change so much when Poppy was born. I thought I would still be me. Now, I’m no more than a shell, a very tired shell. I’m not even Lily anymore. I’m a two-legged milk machine.”
“That’s why I’m here to help you. We all are. You’re not alone in this.”
“You were alone. I am so sorry.”
“I was never alone and you have nothing to be sorry for.” I shuffled upright and pushed back the blanket, swinging my legs around. Lily took the blanket and folded it, replacing it on the couch.
“I promise I’ll be more helpful next time you need me.”
“And I promise I’ll help you more with Poppy. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good. I even got Poppy some costumes so she can blend in on our stakeouts. I have French baby, Italian baby, redneck baby, ghetto baby, and pumpkin.”
“You absolutely never ever – ever! – will need any of those costumes.”
“Are you sure? The pumpkin would work for Halloween.”
“Maybe the pumpkin,” I conceded.
“Oh, good!” Lily clapped her hands, her face looking thrilled. “Wait until you see thief baby. It’s a striped romper with its own swag bag.”
I blinked, my jaw going slack. “You have got to be kidding.”
“I am,” she laughed as she dropped onto the couch beside me. “I’ve heard so much about your case from everyone else and it sounds crazy. How did you work it all out?”
“The more information I got, the more it all clicked together. Once I was reasonably sure armed burglary was out of the equation, I figured someone close to Fiona had to be the murderer. There weren’t that many suspects and certainly no one with an obvious motive. Every time I thought about it, all I could come back to was Debby Patterson’s sudden reappearance. I knew from my brief conversation with Fiona that she was suspicious of her; plus, Garrett was suspicious too. The two incidents seemed to be connected but I struggled with how.”
“I wonder what Fiona knew.”
I asked Garrett the same question. “Garrett dug around but couldn’t find anything to suggest Fiona had any evidence so I think it was just a gut feeling. Same as his. At first, I thought Debby killed Fiona to protect herself but her alibi nearly stood up. She didn’t have time to get to Fiona and shoot her, and there were just too many witnesses in her alibis, plus, it wasn’t her DNA on the gun.”
“Whose was it?”
“Her dad’s. Garrett confirmed it yesterday. Dr. Patterson wasn’t in the system. Debby was supposed to be, from when she was officially a missing person, but the DNA was too degraded. Even though I stole the toothbrush, there was nothing left of the real Debby to match it to, so it didn’t turn up anything in the system either. We couldn’t even match it to the blood on the gun because Debby wasn’t the real Debby and even if she were, she was adopted. Fake Debby confessed everything about her part in the fraud to Garrett and me. She knew Debby was dead and decided to take over her life.”
“Wow. Imagine just walking away from your name and everything you know to become someone else. I don’t think I could do that.”
“Me neither. I don’t think Marley ever intended to be malicious in her impersonation. In a strange sort of way, she thought she was helping Debby’s parents, sparing them from the pain of losing their daughter. It doesn’t matter how awful the real Debby was, they still loved her. When Dr. Patterson emailed her and told her that her mother was sick, she felt she had to come home even though by that time, she wanted to become Marley again. After pretending to be Debby for ten years, she felt too guilty not to return for one last time and say goodbye. She thought enough years had elapsed that she could pass herself off as Debby. After all, they really did look alike when they were younger.”
“Still pretty weird,” said Lily.
“I didn’t know if the Pattersons were even sure if Debby had run off or was dead. I think they were probably both in denial. They sounded very confused and sad. They hoped the real Debby was coming home and when she didn’t, they used it as an opportunity to claim the inheritance they felt was due them.”
“How is Grandma Patterson?”
“Blissfully unaware of anything.”
“Good. What happens to fake Debby now?”
“I don’t know. She committed identity theft, fraud, countless other crimes. Plus, trying to spare a family from pain is no reason to cover up a death.”
“But she didn’t kill anyone,” Lily pointed out.
“Garrett thinks she can negotiate a deal. She never used Debby’s identity to defraud anyone and the Pattersons are a better target for the prosecution. She might even get away with no jail time at all since it’s unlikely that the Pattersons will agree to prosecute her.”
“What about them?”
“They don’t have to worry about their retirement fund any longer. They’ll be guests at the nation’s expense for a long time. Dr. Patterson killed a woman, Mrs. Patterson conspired with him and knew all about it. Both of them planned to fraudulently claim an inheritance. I just hope they didn’t plan on helping Grandma Patterson pass on a bit sooner.”
&nb
sp; “I felt sorry for them up until the bit where Dr. Patterson killed Fiona. That was mean. They could have just told her.”
“Told her what? That their real daughter was lying in a shallow grave in the woods and they were happy to claim an impostor as their own? Any good friend would have freaked out.”
“I would. I know we’re BFFs but I’m not covering for you if you murder any family members.”
I pondered that. “How about anyone else?”
“Hypothetically… yeah, I’d probably cover for you, so long as it was justified.”
“Dinner’s ready,” said Jord. He held up Poppy and she wiggled her arms and legs like a toy baby. “Look who just woke up for her dinner.”
“Like clockwork. She doesn’t want me to eat hot food ever again,” said Lily, reaching for Poppy as she stood up. I followed the three of them into the kitchen and they made funny noises at the baby while trying to make her giggle.
Solomon set the table for the four of us with nice napkins and crystal drinking glasses. A small flowering cactus in the middle provided a little extra adornment. “This is like a celebration,” said Lily. “We should make a toast.”
“What to?” I asked. “Surviving another case?”
“Something better,” said Solomon. He uncorked the wine and poured. “How about a wedding date?”
“Do you have one in mind?”
“I thought we could discuss it with a wedding planner tomorrow while you still have a few days off work. How do you feel about that?”
“Is the wedding planner my mother?”
“No.”
“Then I feel very happy.”
Lexi Graves returns in Rules of Engagement.
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From the world of the bestselling Lexi Graves Mysteries…
Deadlines
Shayne Winter thinks she has everything she ever wanted: a job as chief reporter at The LA Chronicle, a swish, new apartment in a fabulous neighborhood, and a California-cool lifestyle. But on the very first day, it all goes horribly wrong. The apartment is less “young professional” and more “young offender,” as the only furnishing is a handsome squatter with roving eyes. Even worse, Ben Kosina, her predecessor at The Chronicle, has returned to claim his former job, leaving Shayne nothing but the obituary column and a simple choice: take it or leave it.
Ready, Aim, Under Fire (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 10) Page 24