Pray for Us Sinners, a Cozy Mystery (A Ronnie Lord Mystery, #2) (The Ronnie Lord Mysteries)

by L. K. Ellwood

  Lew reached out a hand towards Dakota and motioned for the girl to stand. “Allayne, I’m going to let these women leave now. It’s just going to be you and me. You’re already in a lot of trouble here…”

  Allayne appeared to slowly melt. Tears now flowed freely. “I just wanted to be alone, Lew.”

  “I know, honey.” Lew’s voice was soothing as he beckoned once again to Dakota. Slowly the girl uncoiled and slid from the bed, dragging the comforter a few inches. Soon he had an arm around the girl as he guided her out the door. “Now Ronnie.”

  Ronnie, however, remained frozen. As fearful as she was for her life, she found she did not want to leave. She paused at the fear further darkening Lew’s brown eyes. She had never seen him look that way before.

  “Ronnie,” he echoed. “Wait outside with Dakota and Landon.”

  Ronnie did not feel her legs move, but soon she was padding down that dim hallway to the living room. Dakota huddled with Landon on one end of the lopsided sofa, crying fresh tears as the young man rocked her, his chin resting in her hair.

  “There’s an ambulance on the way,” he said, his voice cracking. “He’s not dead, is he?”

  “Not yet,” Ronnie said, and wished immediately she had kept her mouth shut. Dakota buried her face in Landon’s chest and sobbed more loudly.

  “I meant to say he looks like he’s lost a lot of blood,” she added, “but if they get here in time they could—”

  Ronnie did not get a chance to finish her sentence. The gunshot turned everyone’s heads to the hallway. The floor gave way as Ronnie heart leaped from her chest.

  Oh, God!

  “Lew!”

  She tried to move but found she could not. At first she thought shock had paralyzed her, but she craned her head back to see Landon had let go of Dakota and now clamped his arms around her. Dakota, meanwhile, had bolted for the door, screeching.

  “Let me go!” Ronnie screamed at him. “Lew could be shot! I have to go to him!”

  “And if he is shot she’ll shoot you too the second she sees you,” Landon said as he attempted to drag her toward the front door. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

  Ronnie fought the restraint, twisting in Landon’s grasp. “I need to see Lew, damn it, I can’t let him die! I’ve already lost one love of my life, I’m not losing another one.” She twisted again and was free. She was unsure if Landon had relented or if she was able to overpower him, but at that point she did not care. She needed to see Lew, needed to know if he was okay. If he was not, he needed to know she loved him before…

  She was about to enter the hallway when she ran hard into his chest. Lew was surprised at the impact made, but soon had his arms around Ronnie, shushing her gently. He crossed his wrists; each hand held a gun. “Shh, baby, it’s all right,” he whispered. “I’m okay.”

  “Oh, God, Lew,” Ronnie sobbed into him. Lew’s badge cut into her skin, but she did not care. Right now it was the greatest sensation in the world. “I thought she had shot you. I thought… I thought…”

  Lew continued to shush her, holstering his gun and using the free hand to stroke her back. Ronnie did not hear the footsteps behind her as Landon quietly exited the duplex.

  She lifted her hand and looked into his softening gaze. “That shot… what was that?” She looked down the hallway and saw no activity. “Oh God, did you shoot Allayne?”

  “I had to,” he said. “Just in the arm. She was turning the gun on herself. I had to stop her.”

  ~ * ~

  Despite the blood loss, the EMTs managed to stabilize Rick’s condition enough to get him to the hospital safely. Dakota insisted on following in her car, but one look at the hysterical young girl told Ronnie that she was in no condition to drive. Landon volunteered to escort her back inside the duplex so she could rinse her face and sit for a few minutes.

  A second ambulance arrived soon after Lew radioed dispatch to claim Allayne Witt. The actress was quiet and unmoving as she was lifted onto her gurney, but broke her silence as she was wheeled past Ronnie, who waited just outside the duplex. The sky was starless, streaked with gray and red as night prepared to set.

  “Talk about déjà vu,” she cracked, not a trace of mirth in her expression. “I don’t suppose I’ll be able to draft any more checks. I write with this hand, you know.”

  Ronnie gazed down at her former schoolmate. Strapped to the gurney, her good arm handcuffed to the railing, she still looked pretty. Any anger she had over putting her, Lew, and the others in danger quickly faded, leaving nothing but pity. There had to be a better way to find solitude. Certainly somewhere down the road she would have been discovered, unless that was part of the plan. Mysterious Allayne Witt sightings around the world, used to stir interest and keep her name profitable.

  “Should I call your mother?” Ronnie asked, placing a tentative hand on Allayne’s.

  Allayne shook her head. “She sat shivah for me. I’m dead to her now.”

  “I wouldn’t say that. Sure, she’ll be angry for what you did, but her daughter is alive. That will definitely overshadow the rest of this. Allayne,” Ronnie bent lower, “if only you knew how your mother grieved, and how badly she wanted to see your killer brought to justice. Talk to her.”

  Lew joined them, his face grim as he looked down on Allayne. He put an arm around Ronnie’s waist. “She needs to get to the hospital,” he said, and with a nod of his head the EMTs resumed a path to the ambulance.

  “Lorraine needs to know she’s still alive,” Ronnie insisted.

  “Chuck’s on that already. Plus I informed the Jacksonville police to wait for Nora at the Alhambra. She’ll be held for questioning.”

  “This is all so surreal,” Ronnie said, leaning into Lew. “What will happen to Dakota and Rick? They tried to blackmail Allayne and Nora, you know.”

  “If they’re lucky, they’ll get a good lawyer or public defender. If they’re smart, they’ll listen to whatever advice they’re given.” Lew hugged her close. “I think now we should worry about whether or not that boy makes it to the hospital alive.”

  Ronnie agreed silently, and sent up a prayer through the intercession of her great-great aunt. She felt Lew’s mouth brush against her hair and smiled.

  “You don’t know how close I came to losing it in there,” he whispered hoarsely.

  “I do know. I’ve been there before.”

  “I would have killed her, too, if she had hurt you. I don’t care how many fans she has, or how many awards she won. One bullet, right to the head.”

  Lew’s words chilled her. “Don’t say that.”

  “I mean it. Ron…” Lew braced her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I would kill for you, and I would die for you, and I don’t want to be apart from you anymore. I don’t think I could take that another day.”

  Ronnie could not tell if Lew’s eyes were wet with unshed tears, for her own vision was too clouded for her to be completely sure. She felt a few drops slide down her cheeks as she closed them, allowing Lew to pull her into a kiss. There was that scratch of his mustache against her upper lip that she missed so much. She pulled him closer, whimpering with disappointment when he broke free.

  “Ronnie, what we’ve been arguing about… I don’t care anymore. If you want to wait, I’ll wait,” he said. “I’ll wait until the day I die to make love with you, and if it never happens I don’t care. I just don’t want you to leave. I love you. I want you to marry me.”

  “I love you,” Ronnie echoed, “and I will.”

  Lew smiled broadly, then pulled her into another, deeper kiss. Ronnie promised herself that the wait would be well worth it, and short.

  She did not know how long they stood there, or how many people were still lingering about the neighborhood, watching them. A gruff “ahem” finally separated the two, and Ronnie pulled away to see Landon standing forlornly behind Lew.

  “Dakota’s calmed down,” he said, his shoulders hunched and his hands in his front pockets. “I’d like
to take her to the hospital, if you’re not going to arrest her.”

  “I’m not going to arrest her, right now,” Lew assured him, “but I will need to get her statement. Can you keep an eye on her for me until I get there?”

  “Sure.” Landon turned back toward the house.

  “Landon, wait.” Ronnie eased past Lew and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He tensed and she retracted it.

  “I’ll wait for you at the hospital, too,” she told Lew.

  Lew glanced at Landon, then smiled softly at Ronnie. “Okay, he said, and started for his cruiser.

  “Landon, I’d like to talk to you before you go.”

  “Sure,” Landon said, and stumbled alongside Ronnie as she beckoned him back to her car. They were quiet on the short walk; several things coursed through Ronnie’s mind, and though she wanted to say something, she could not think of anything that would let the boy down easy. Since he had just seen her kiss Lew in front of the entire duplex community, she imagined Landon knew what was coming. She did not, however, want to leave it at that.

  “You don’t have to tell me nothing,” Landon broke the silence with a heavy sigh. “It’s probably just as well you marry Sheriff Caperton. The way you reacted back there… you love the guy. I can’t compete with that. Nobody could.”

  They reached the car. Ronnie peered into the open passenger side window where her cell phone rested on the seat. “Landon, you saved our lives. I owe you everything,” she said. “I will never be able to repay what you did for me, at least not in the way you’d like.”

  “No, your fiancé won’t like that.” Landon shuffled his feet and flashed her a crooked smile. Ronnie responded in kind. Fiancé… Lew was her fiancé now. So surreal.

  “I just wanted you to forgive me,” he continued, “for Lorena.”

  “I already did that.”

  Landon fixed his gaze on the duplex, as if willing Dakota forward to break the awkwardness between them and therefore give him reason to leave. “If I go through with this conversion thing, Father Joel says I’ll need a sponsor.”

  “You got one,” Ronnie said. “Next time Rush comes to town, that will be your gift for completing RCIA.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, now.”

  Ronnie bent into her car, extracted the compact disc from her player, and handed it to Landon. “For now, why don’t you hold onto this? It’s not as thunderous as Dakota probably prefers, but I find that music helps to calm me in certain situations. I know there’s at least one song on here that might help.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Landon tapped the jewel case against the heel of his hand and started for the RAV.

  “Landon?”

  Landon turned around with a questioning glance.

  “Thank you, a million times over.”

  Landon bowed and resumed his pace, climbed into the RAV, and started the engine. Ronnie got into her own car and waited, watching as Landon bent over the car stereo. Presently Dakota shuffled out of the duplex and locked the door behind her.

  As Ronnie cranked up the Firebird, Landon slowly backed out of the driveway, turning to exit the neighborhood with one last glance in her direction before moving forward. As he drove, she could hear the music blaring from the open windows as Dakota gazed listlessly into the night.

  Fourteen

  She had never seen so many people in one place in her life, not since Pink Floyd filled The Sombrero in Tampa on their last tour. She hoped nobody would be lighting up for this, however.

  Thousands upon thousands of people packed Pro Player Stadium in Miami, more so than one likely saw at a Marlins game in a non-championship year, Ronnie imagined. Many more, she knew, had spilled into the parking lot, forced to be content with watching the ceremony on large monitors set up for the event. Standing in the wings of the stage set up in center field, Ronnie watched the sea of bodies swell and sway in the August sun. Some held aloft signs, others bowed their heads in prayer. Closer to the front, a circle of women clutched hands and sang along to the music piped throughout the area. The majority of them, Ronnie had learned upon their arrival, had waited since dawn for admission.

  A hand touched down on her shoulder as a young man in a black cassock pointed toward her family, who stood further back near the partition dividing the stage. “Please, Mrs. Lord,” he spoke in broken, accented English, “His Holiness is ready to receive you.”

  “Thank you.” Taking a deep breath, Ronnie followed the priest. In a matter of seconds she would be introduced to the Pope. She reached behind her to adjust her pantyhose as she walked. How they always seemed to sag at the most inopportune times amazed her.

  I will keep my hands at my sides, and I will not do anything stupid…

  Gina, she saw, appeared equally nervous, surrounded by her men. Ian and Elliott stood before her, stiff and bug-eyed in matching blue suits, their hair slicked back in a way that made their ears look more pronounced. Bill, in equally uncomfortable attire, tugged at his collar and exhaled. Sweat glistened on his forehead.

  “This couldn’t wait until November?” he grumbled under his breath. Ronnie chuckled quietly with him until a warning glare from Ronnie’s father, who stood in front of them with her mother, silenced them both.

  Nana, by contrast, appeared radiant and calm, her eyes like an excited child’s as the curtain to one staging area was pulled back to reveal a stark white cassock. Slowly the imposing papal secretary guided the slightly stooped Holy Father toward his audience.

  “Look at him!” Gina exclaimed, her voice astonished. “He looks so much older in person.”

  “I imagine being in charge of the entire Catholic Church takes a lot out of a man,” Ronnie whispered back. Indeed, the Holy Father did appear aged, yet as he neared, Ronnie was struck immediately by the air of serenity and nobility crowning him. As introductions were made and Ronnie reached for his hand, she felt a firm grip that belied his age and looked into two blue eyes that twinkled.

  “And this is the Alger who’s been in the news of late?” he inquired, not so much chiding but out of curiosity.

  Ronnie laughed nervously. The discovery of Allayne Witt’s fraudulent death and subsequent arrest three months ago had made headlines everywhere. Ronnie’s presence at the scene consequently garnered her much unwanted attention from national talk shows, particularly after learning that reporters were more interested in having her further implicate Allayne in scandal—which she would not do—than hearing about Lorena’s canonization.

  Allayne had enough to deal with, as did Ronnie, as her thoughts suddenly turned to poor Rick. The loss of blood had been too great, and the young man had died en route to the hospital. Ronnie would have to testify against Allayne at her upcoming trial; Allayne’s lawyers were trying for an insanity defense, but Ronnie knew, despite Allayne’s demeanor at the time, the woman knew exactly what she was doing.

  The Holy Father, having read the lines of pain suddenly etching her face, gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “It is most unfortunate, this situation involving your friend,” he said. “You can be assured your friend, and the soul of that young man, are in my prayers.”

  “Thank you so much,” Ronnie said. “I hope you will pray for Allayne’s mother as well. She’s happy her daughter is alive, but this whole thing has been very difficult for her.”

  “I will do that, yes.”

  When her hand was free Ronnie held aloft a few rosaries for the Holy See’s blessing. “This one is for a young man I’m sponsoring, he’ll be received into the Church next Easter,” she explained, “and this one is for my… fiancé, who is Lutheran, but he has asked for one anyway.”

  She bit her lip. Would the Pope detect this white lie? For all outward appearances, she and Lew were engaged to marry in the Church, yet only Bill and Gina knew that the couple had gone to the county clerk’s office in downtown Jacksonville for a quick, civil ceremony. Many an eyebrow was raised the day Lew moved his things into the townhouse. Ronnie was grateful at least that her parents and Nana liked
Lew enough not to say anything.

  The Holy Father imparted his blessing and Ronnie pocketed the beads. “Your fiancé contemplates crossing the Tiber as well, eh?”

  “We’ll see. Maybe this ceremony will inspire him.” She craned her head momentarily to a barrier gate in the distance, where Lew and Ethan waited.

  The old man’s face brightened even more. “He is here, then?” he asked, casting a glance at his glowering secretary. “Why was I not told we had more guests? Gaetano, see that whomever has accompanied the Alger party is brought here.”

  The cardinal opened his mouth as if to protest, but instead beckoned an underling bearing a clipboard. After a few harsh words in Italian, the younger of the two hurried away.

  The Holy Father next received the Hayes family, happily accepting Ian’s prize-winning Pinewood Box Derby car and a jar of Lorena’s grave dirt. Gina brought forth a St. Benedict’s medal for blessing.

  “For our Uncle Arthur, who could not be here,” she said, and Ronnie smiled. Though she had not been able to talk to Gina as she had promised her uncle, she had in a small way helped in their reconciliation. That Ronnie’s life had been threatened once again gave Gina the incentive to realize that life was too short to hold grudges. Her reunion with Arthur had been emotional for everybody, and Ronnie hoped the video her father was making would do the day some justice so Arthur could experience it by proxy.

  The Holy Father pointed in the direction of two approaching men. “I take it he is the younger one, yes?” he asked Ronnie.

  “Yes.” Ronnie took Lew’s arm, eyeing curiously the smile on Ethan’s face as he fell into place beside Nana. More introductions were made, and Ronnie held her breath as Nana introduced Ethan to the Pope, praying the man would not be rude.

  To her surprise, Ethan was gracious and unflinching as he held out his hand. She could not hear the niceties exchanged for the pounding in her ears, and before she knew it the pontiff’s secretary was guiding the old man away with one last blessing before the family was escorted to the front stage for the start of the ceremony.