Retribution Is Mine!
Page 9
I may have been too late again, but Ellen had marked the murderer.
I called the police station and told them about the body. After I hung up, the owl and I headed down into the basement. The door that was supposed to be bolted was wide open.
The watchman didn’t want me to leave, but I walked up the steps and out of the building. Even in the cold night air, I couldn’t get away from the smell of skunk spray. Which meant the killer couldn’t either.
CHAPTER 13
The snow no longer fought my efforts but came down in a lazy descent. I relaxed in my car, smoked a cigarette, and watched it fall. The car radio was on, but instead of news I’d searched for music. The cars ahead of me stayed in their lanes, and I drove behind using their own tracks to see the road.
When I reached my destination, I parked and locked my car like an ordinary citizen who expected to be home in bed soon. Several of the windows in the apartment building I was looking at were lit. Whether the one I wanted was occupied, I had no idea.
I walked straight to the door and held the buzzer until the lock clicked and walked straight up the stair.
Viola met me at the door, her robe pulled tight. I said hello and brushed past her into the apartment. Gun in hand, I looked behind chairs and searched every room. Bruce wasn’t there.
Frustration mixed with hatred as I turned on Viola. “Where is he?”
“What happened to you?” Viola reached out a hand but before she could touch my face, I swatted it away.
“Ellen’s dead. She found the receipt for the television set. The one that you never shipped because you knew Mazie wouldn’t be needing it. Did Bruce get rid of it so that you wouldn’t be tied to this whole mess?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I may not be able to smell anything yet, but he’s covered in skunk spray. It won’t take much for someone with a clean nose to find him. Seven people are dead, so don’t think you can play games with me. The blackmail scheme you lot cooked up is coming to pieces.”
“No.” Viola’s eyes grew wide, and she started to shake.
“At first, I thought it was Allen, but he led me to Bruce. What made you climb into bed with that slimy wolf? How big was your cut to get the females to bring the big guys to his place to gamble and get their blackmail photos taken? Allen’s cut netted him all the artwork he could buy.”
Viola looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Kaiser, I—”
“Tell me who shot them all, or I swear I will shoot you. And not any place that will make your death quick, but slow and painful.”
I held the gun and was going to shoot her, but I couldn’t. The light hit her fur just right, and it was like Sylvia was there standing in front of me.
Instead of pulling the trigger, I holstered the weapon and grabbed her arm. “Come on. I’ve got a friend who’d love to arrest you.”
All hell broke loose as she raked her claws across my face, and her body slammed into me. For a moment, she had her hands around my neck choking me. Somehow, I managed to break free before she could kick off her shoes and gut me with her back claws.
Things happened so fast. In the end, Viola, her robe open and in shreds, lunged for an end table drawer that, I had no doubt, held a gun.
I pulled my own and fired. The bullet hit true and Viola was on the floor. Her eyes stared at me in disbelief. Her breath came in short gasps before breathing her last.
With my mind in an uproar, I slumped in a chair gazing at the body. Gun in one hand, I reached for the phone with the other and called Bruce’s apartment. It took a bit of arguing with the cop on the other end before I could speak to Velvet and ask about Bruce.
She told me they found him in the boiler room with his head caved in by an iron poker. Bruce hadn’t killed anyone. Tomorrow’s newspapers would tell the whole story. Though Viola’s might trump the blackmail scheme.
The thought had me laughing and I couldn’t stop. The joke was on me and everyone else.
The perfect face was as much a mask as the foam and rubber gadgets Viola kept hidden under full-length gowns and high collars. The same dresses also disguised powerful muscles.
Viola Graves was a male.
COllect all thirteen POACHED PARODIES of kAISER WRENCH
I, the Tribunal
My Claws are Quick
Retribution is Mine!
A Solitary Evening
The Great Slay
Pet Me Fatal
The Female Trackers
The Worm
The Contorted Figure
The Figure Fans
Existence…Eliminated
The Carnage Male
Dark Lane
OTHER BOOKS BY
STACY BENDER
Ursa Kane
I Like Alice
Man on the Stair
Malum
Boxers & Briefs: Book of Shorts
The Sav’ine Series:
Emerald Tears
Hands of Onyx
Diamond Mind
Sons of Amethyst
Moonstone Child
Bloodstone Reborn
Pearl of Sorrow
(Written under Catherine Bender)
Dead Letter
Body in the Boot
BOOKS BY
STACY BENDER & REID MINNICH
Bad Sushi & Other Tails
The Kawokee Series:
Kawokee
The Right to Belong
Heretic
REID MINNICH
Tiboluminator
The Koinobi Trilogy
Koinobi
Aquilan
Pantheran
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
P.C. Hatter is the fursonia of Stacy Bender. A mix of Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. Purple Cat Hatter can be seen at most conventions she attends.
The author lives in Cincinnati with her husband and cat.
She loves to hear from readers. Contact them at
stacycbender@gmail.com
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