Remote Consequences (27 page)

"You shut up! This is all your fault. The election…the election…that's all you ever think about. What about me? What about my life? I should have just let Caden reveal the truth, but we were all so afraid of scandal. If I had just done what was right that night, none of this would have happened. It would have all been over, and maybe we could have moved on with our lives. But no…I begged him not to tell. Protecting you. Protecting the Mills' name."

"But you loved Caden. You really loved him, and Matson is a really a Brooks? And you hid all this for a decade? Is that why you tried to meet with Colin?" My detective skills were ripening. Things were starting to come together. But if she didn't kill him, who did?

"I'm not finished yet, dear." Mrs. Mills' voice had lost its luster, but she was still trying to spill the beans.

"You're finished, Myrna. Just shut—" The mayor's face had gone white, and a sheen of sweat coated his forehead. He clutched his chest and swayed. I nudged Ty over and scooched out of the booth. I made my way to the mayor and took a hold of his wrist, pressing my index and middle finger to his pulse point. My training kicked in. I didn't care who this old coot was at the moment, but the doctor in me did care if he was about to go into shock or cardiac arrest.

"Are you okay, sir? Take a couple of deep breaths," I told him.

His eyes reached mine, and he saw me—he really saw me for the first time. "Ms. Murrin, I'm sorry. It was my fault you were arrested. Just legal tactics, you see. You come from good stock—you…"

I put my hand on his shoulder and returned his hand to his lap. His pulse was erratic. "Just relax, sir. Right now, I think you need to go to the emergency room and get checked out. This has been a bit of a shock to your system." I motioned to Ty, and he lifted his phone to make a call.

"Find Amika and Trask. They
are
part of our screwed-up family, after all. He's been up to something lately. I tried to find out what, but he lied to me. After all I've done for him—making him a part of this family. He lied to my face and so I smacked his," Mrs. Mills continued her declaration.

Then Myrna Mills pulled on the captain's arm to be certain she gained his attention before she said, "I mean, this is all about family, isn't it? Two families at war, and now we are all mixed up in this together. Mills? Brooks? Does anyone know who belongs to which family anymore?" She started laughing, and then the laughter turned into sobs.

"Wait, Officer Trask is involved in all this?" Captain Owens sounded incredulous.

"Officer Trask is involved in what?" Mr. Jelly Donut strolled in. "What's going on here, cap'n?" His eyes searched the room and landed on Allyson. I caught the look on her face, and I heard the final click in my brain as the combination rolled into place.

"It's you." I held on to the mayor's arm with one hand, but pointed at Officer Chubby with the other. "You're Amika's son, but you're not really a Mills. You've always wanted to be, but you didn't quite make the cut, did you—Traskbauer?"

Trask didn't responded. The café was tomb silent.

"You killed Caden Brooks. Didn't you?"

A few gasps sounded around the café.

"Everything was fine until you stuck your nose into our family's business." Trask's voice was solemn.

I started filling in the blanks. "You were always hanging around the family, trying to become one of the Mills. But you never really made the grade, did you? You and your mother may have changed your name from Traskbauer to Trask, but you both really wanted to change it to Mills. And when you overheard Mrs. Mills and Caden talking about their secret, you saw the perfect opportunity to become the mayor's favorite son. You killed Caden and your mother helped you—a jealous, full-of-rage teenager—cover it up."

I tried to see the look on Colin's face at my theory of what had happened, to see the pain—perhaps the relief. But his face was blank. Absolutely void of all emotion.

"And to think, he still loved that idiot more than me. After all I did for him. I saved the family from scandal. I protected their secret. I killed the enemy. And he still loves this feeble-minded brat more than me." Trask pointed at Matson, and all heads turned that way.

Mrs. Mills was sobbing full force now, and the mayor was starting to wheeze.

"Let's handle the rest of this at the station. Dempsey?" Captain Owens interjected. Perhaps he was afraid this was about to get heated.

But I wasn't finished. There was still the matter of how my life had gotten wrapped up in this tortilla filled with terror.

"And when I found Caden Brooks' body, Amika decided that she had to protect you at all cost. She followed me that day, trying to make sure I reported it. Maybe she'd had enough of the waiting. Waiting for the mayor to leave his wife for her. Waiting to become his real family just like you wanted. So she decided to point the finger at Mayor Mills. Let the police come and find the body. Make sure that her son would be safe. But what she didn't know was that I'd already told the police, and you were the first one to hear about it. Before Ty could get a warrant, you must've moved the body."  I paused, one piece still not quite fitting in this puzzle.  "But why
did
you move the body?"

 All eyes were on Trask, but he looked pleadingly at Allyson. Unfortunately for him, help was not forthcoming. She continued to stare down at the tiled floor, studying the pattern as if her life depended on it.

"She told me how much she hated you," Trask said. "How she wanted you to leave town. And…I thought if I made you look crazy or something that you'd go away. I wanted to impress her. But you didn't take the hint."

Captain Owens spoke up: "You moved the body and destroyed evidence to impress a girl?"

Trask hung his head. Mrs. Mills' sobbing reached a louder level, and I checked on my patient, who was fading fast.

"Ty, where's that ambulance?"

"On the way. It should be here any second."

Our exchange seemed oddly out of place amongst all the confessions, but I wanted to be sure I got in one more.

"And you've been harassing me ever since. Leaving threatening notes for me, stealing my car, and hurting my sister. I overheard Allyson on the phone reassuring you that you wouldn't get caught. She's in on this. I know it."

"Is that true, Ms. Harlow?" Captain Owens asked.

"Look, my personal life isn't a part of this. If
he
did any of these things—moving corpses, harassing people—I wasn't involved in any of it. And obviously, if he was trying to impress me, I don't go for that type of thing. I'm a community leader, not a common criminal." She stuck her chin up in the air as if all that was beneath her.

"What about my car? What about my sister? And how did your crummy scarf get in her possession?"

"I'm sure I don't know." She looked down at her nails and began to examine them as if determining the date of her next manicure.

"Allyson, baby (cough), you said we'd be together forever (cough), you said that she made you unhappy and that a girl doesn't like to be unhappy. You said that I should do whatever it took to make you happy (cough)."

"You told me the same thing," Matson chimed in. His voice sounded full of withheld tears. I felt a little sorrier for him now. Finding out that your real father was dead was something I didn't wish on anyone—even if that someone had poisoned your drink.

"Did you tell Matson to slip a drug in my drink at O'Hannigan's to make you happy?" I had to know.

"You shut up!" she barked at me. "These men are big babies. I show them a little affection and they go off the deep end. I didn't tell them to do anything. What they chose to do to prove their loyalty is all on them. And you…" She focused on Officer Chubby. "How stupid are you? Who did you give my scarf to? 'Cause I definitely wasn't involved in any car stealing and child abducting."

"I keep it with me all the time (cough, hack). I love you (cough, choke). She said she just needed to borrow it."

Uh-oh. Officer Chubby was about to evolve into a full-blown asthma attack and we'd have two down in here.

"I think I've heard enough," Captain Owens said, trying to rein in the confessions.

Things were getting solved left and right around here. This was better than I could have ever dreamed. My mind was absolutely full of a-ha moments right now. And I had an idea of just who took my car and my sister.

The mayor's body began to sink down to the ground, and Colin stepped forward to help me lower him the rest of the way down.

"Where are those medics?" I asked no one in particular.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Matson stepped forward. His face full of hurt and confusion.

The sound of ambulance sirens sounded in the distance, and a temporary hush fell over the café. Then the bell above the door rang, and pandemonium ensued.

Because there stood the last invited member of my impromptu beauty shop blowout.

It was Amika, of course. But she came holding a gun.

The longest road out is the shortest road home. –Irish Proverb

Amika waved the gun around, her hand shaking. She didn't know who to point it at first.

Her eyes seethed anger at Allyson. She glanced down at the mayor's limp body and sniffed—no love lost there.

"Amika, I'm going to have to ask you to put your gun down and put your hands up." Captain Owens' voice was a beacon of calm as he reached down to his right hip holster.

"No. I'm here to get my son. You back off. I take him. We go."

Then her eyes found Trask. He was standing by our now-empty booth, and he was…crying.

Her face softened. "Come on, baby. We go now. I heard everything."

"How did you hear everything?" my big mouth, of which I seemed to have no control today, asked.

She pointed the gun in my direction. "You don't think I'm smart? You call up and ask to meet with me and you don't think I'm suspicious? I come in through the back door. I listen from the kitchen. My son—he is a slave to his emotions. But we are done with this family and this town. But I not mean to hurt your sister, ma'am. I know he's been playing tricks on you to impress her." She shifted the gun to Allyson, who emitted a little squeak. "I want to show my liebe—my Heiner—that this woman he thinks he loves is not worthy of him. I see her scarf at his apartment and I come up with a plan."

"Who's Heiner?" I follow her gaze toward Trask, who was now sobbing louder than Mrs. Mills.

Heiner Traskbauer? No wonder he wanted to change his name to Mills.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Put that gun down, Amika," said Ty.

That's
Detective
Ty Dempsey.

"No. No. We go now. Come on, my liebe."

"It wasn't a question. You have until the count of three. One. Two. Thr—" The captain had his gun drawn, and it was pointed at her chest.

"Don't hurt her," Trask yelled, and dove between Captain Owens and Amika right as her gun went off.

Mrs. Mills screamed and crumbled to the floor as sobs tore out of her throat.

Ty tackled Amika to the ground, pulling her arms behind her back and securing the gun. Matson attempted to take advantage of the chaos and grabbed Allyson's hand and tried to pull her out the door. But she stomped her heel into the toe of his shoe, and he yelped in pain.

"Where do you think you're going, Matson? Your butt is about to be in a sling, son. Attempted murder, for one," Captain Owens directed.

Matson did as he was told and then sank down into a booth, holding his foot, and now he was crying.

This was quickly becoming a Lifetime Movie moment.

As the paramedics entered the scene, I turned my attention to them as one headed for Trask, also known as Heiner, and the other for Mayor Mills.

When I took a moment to look up from the two traumas before me, I noticed one thing—Colin had vanished.

*  *  *

"So do I get any credit at all for giving you the scoop of a lifetime?" I asked Penny Dempsey as she stood by me and Ms. Maimie while the cops finished clearing the scene.

She didn't answer, but she gave a little head tilt at my question. With Penny, that was a good sign.

"Guess I get the rest of the day off, then. With blood on the floor, I doubt we can serve up any food," Ms. Maimie said matter-of-factly, and turned to give me a kiss on the cheek. "This was some setup, girl. How'd you figure all this out?"

I shrugged. "I didn't, really. I just know how no one can keep a secret in a beauty shop, and I figured that getting all these people into a beauty shop together would have been a lot more hassle than getting them into the café together. And these were a lot of secrets that were busting a gut to get told. I just figured if we got all the culprits in the same place at the same time, maybe we could bust it wide open."

"You did that and more," Penny said.

"You sure did." Ty interrupted our girl talk. The three of us looked up at him, and a sudden happiness welled inside me.

"Do you need a ride home?" Ty said. He never forgot about me. I'd give him credit for that.

I smiled—a little warm and fuzzy was still there as well. I couldn't deny that.

"I'll get her home safely," Penny responded. "You've got enough to deal with here."

"Well, all right then. Ladies…" Ty offered us a fake tip-of-the-hat move and then turned around to leave.

"Oh, and don't forget the assault charges against Stella! I want those brought up as well," I yelled out just as the captain headed back into the café for something and Ty held the door for him.

The captain stopped short—blocking the entrance and causing Ty to almost collide with him. He looked at me and then at Ty. "Dare I ask? Who is it now? Stella?"

Ty grinned. "I'll explain it to you later, sir."

"I can hardly wait." The captain eyed me.

*  *  *

On the way back to the house, Penny remained quiet, but somehow I knew the tension between us had lessened considerably. I wouldn't say that we were back where we should be, but maybe my little tip-off about the big confrontation was a start at showing her that she was still important to me.