Two Guys Detective Agency (26 page)
And probably her, too, dammit.
The door opened — as usual, Richard had the worst timing. She enjoyed a split second of gratification
from the sheer terror on his face when he saw it was her before being shoved inside. Glitter Guy shut the
door behind them.
“Octavia!” Patsy cried. “Oh, my God, what is this?” She cowered behind Richard.
And great — they were both naked. Perfect. She would never be able to erase that picture from her
mind. She pointed to Glitter Guy. “Ask him. He’s the one with the gun.”
“Shut up, everyone.” He walked over to Richard and pointed the gun in his face. “Where is it?”
Richard went cross-eyed looking at the gun. “Where is what?”
“You know what. I’m going to count to three.” He swung the gun until it pointed at Patsy’s head.
“One...two...”
“Richard, please!” begged Patsy. “Give him what he wants.”
But Richard seemed oddly calm.
Then the guy swung the gun back to her. Octavia decided it was infinitely better to have a gun against
her temple than to be staring down the barrel.
“One...two...”
“Wait!” Richard screamed. He held up his hands. “I’ll get you what you want. Just don’t kill my wife.”
Tears rolled down his face. “Please don’t kill my wife.”
Patsy’s face went from outrage to fury when she realized the pecking order in the lineup. Octavia rolled
her eyes. Didn’t the idiot realize that by not being the love of Richard’s life, she would probably live?
Meanwhile, Richard had put a big, fat X on
her
ass if he didn’t deliver.
“But I don’t have it here,” Richard said. “I gave it to someone for safekeeping.”
“You mean the maid you were screwing? She’s dead.”
Richard went totally white. “Carla is...dead?”
“You were sleeping with your maid, too?” Patsy screamed.
“Shut up,” the man said. “Richard, I talked to Carla before she died. She said she gave it back to you.”
Octavia mentally retracted all the horrible things she’d ever said about Carla. The woman had protected
her in the end.
Richard was shaking his head. She could tell his mind was racing over how he was going to get out of
this.
A loud bang sounded on the door. “Police, open up!”
Octavia winced. This wasn’t going to end well.
Meanwhile, her arms were tired of holding up the towels — her personal trainer would not be happy
with her.
The man grabbed her in a choke hold, towels and all, and dragged her to the door. She could barely
breathe.
“I’m coming out with a hostage,” the man said. “Don’t shoot and she lives.”
“Open the door,” he hissed into her ear.
She used her free hand to claw at the door handle. She turned it and slowly opened the door. On the
other side of the threshold, Oakley Hall was holding a gun pointed at the man.
“Put the gun down and get back!” the man shouted.
Oakley did, slowly. As soon as the opening was big enough for both of them to fit through, the gunman
half-pulled and half-dragged her down the hall to the elevator. When they got inside, he stabbed at the
lobby button, then tightened his hold on her. “No little brats around to save you today.”
“No,” she croaked.
When the door opened, she made her move. She pretended to faint and went totally limp. She prayed
he’d decide she was too cumbersome as a body shield and just leave her on the floor.
He did.
She opened her eyes in time to see him shot dead as soon as he stepped off the elevator.
When he fell, his face was turned toward her, his eyes open and vacant, the glitter on his skin macabre.
She scrambled up and was pulled off the elevator by the uniformed cop who’d killed the gunman. His
badge read ‘M. Jacobson.’ “Are you alright, ma’am?”
She nodded, because her teeth were chattering now. She stepped over the body of the gunman and
hung back until Oakley arrived with Richard and Patsy in tow, now dressed, and now in handcuffs.
Richard looked like a broken man.
“Can I please talk to my wife before you take me away?” he asked.
Oakley looked to her for permission, and she nodded. The detective walked out of earshot with Patsy to
give them some privacy.
“Listen to me, Octavia.” Richard said. “I’m in deep with some really bad men. The only thing that can
save me is a padded envelope I gave to Carla. Find that envelope. And when you do, don’t tell anyone,
don’t trust anyone. This is bigger than you know. And the police are in on it, too.” His eyes beseeched her.
“I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t hate me.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she had the envelope, but Oakley was back.
“Time to go,” he said.
“Remember what I said,” Richard begged her.
“Octavia!”
She turned to see Linda running toward her. They embraced and Linda squeezed her tight. Octavia
didn’t want to ever let go.
Finally, Linda pulled back. “You took ten years off my life. Don’t ever do something like that again.”
Then she smiled. “By yourself anyway.”
“SO UNCLE RICHARD is going to jail?” Maggie asked, fluffing up a white carnation made out of
Kleenex tissue.
They were having a carnation-making party around the kitchen table with the remaining boxes of tissue.
“For the time being,” Linda said.
“Will he see grandpa?” Jarrod asked.
Linda exchanged a glance with Octavia, and they both burst out laughing. What a family tree.
Linda twisted wire around a fan-folded tissue and handed it off to Jarrod. He tore off the edges so
Octavia could pull the petals apart, and Maggie could do the final fluffing.
She watched Octavia interacting with her kids and her heart swelled. Only she knew how heartbroken
and humiliated Octavia was by Richard’s actions. A few nights since the arrest she had come to the kitchen
for a late night drink of water and heard Octavia softly crying on the futon. Sometimes they would turn on
the lights and talk over thawed chocolate-covered cherries, and sometimes she would crawl onto the
battered futon and lie with her and both of them would cry for their husbands they had trusted to take care
of them.
But Linda was determined to rebound. Oakley had pulled some strings and gotten her a clerical job in a
bank. She was set to start in one week. It wasn’t great money, but at least she wouldn’t lose her home, and
hopefully, it would lead to better opportunities.
She was grateful.
“The flowers are going to be pretty at the party,” Maggie said. “Do you think we’ll get them all done?”
“We still have two days,” Linda said.
“Two more days of this?” Jarrod groaned.
She laughed. She’d decided to throw a closing party for the agency for the employees and their strip
mall neighbors. It seemed like the best way to say goodbye to them...and to Octavia.
She would miss her when she returned to Louisville, but Linda knew it was time. Octavia had her own
friends to get back to, and her life in Louisville to put back together. Richard was being held in a facility
there, so when she moved back it would be easier for them to visit while he awaited trial.
She knew her sister hadn’t yet decided what to do about her marriage, but she had let her know she was
there for her no matter what she decided.
If anything positive had come out of the tragedies, it was that they were closer than they’d ever been.
And although they were probably too polar opposite to ever be friends, they could be friendly sisters, and
that was even better.
She caught Octavia’s eye and they shared a smile.
*****
the table. Linda was so lucky.
Maggie made a face. “I don’t want you to leave, Aunt Tavey.”
Octavia’s heart bent toward the little girl.
“Aunt Tavey has to go back to her home,” Linda said. “She has a lot to do.”
Find a place to live, repair friendships, get a job, deal with my marriage
.
“I’ll come back to visit,” she promised.
And there was still the matter of the envelope that Grim was holding for her. She hadn’t shared with
him — or anyone — what Richard had told her, and still hadn’t decided what she was going to do.
“People always say they’ll visit,” Maggie groused. “But they never do.”
“I will,” Octavia said. Then she got up and went to the den, returning with two boxes. “I got you each a
goodbye gift.”
“That wasn’t necessary,” Linda murmured.
“It was for me,” Octavia said.
“I love presents,” Maggie said, clapping her hands.
“Can we open them?” Jarrod asked.
She nodded.
“Me first!” said Maggie. The look on her face when she opened the box was worth gold. “Pom poms!”
She squealed and jumped up and down in the chair.
“Those are my UK cheerleader pom poms,” Octavia said. “I’m entrusting them to you now.”
“I will love them,” Maggie said, nuzzling the blue and white fringes to her face.
She leaped down to throw her arms around Octavia’s neck. “I love you, Aunt Tavey.”
Octavia’s heart billowed. “I love you, too, sweetie.”
“Now me?” Jarrod asked.
She nodded.
He opened the long slender box and grinned. “Drumsticks! These are cool.”
“And they go with the set of drums that Grim is holding for you at the pawn shop.”
His whole face lit up. “For real?”
“For real.”
“Okay, that really wasn’t necessary,” Linda said, sending lasers across the table.
“I’ll be gone,” Octavia said sweetly. She got a hug from Jarrod, too, and he hung on longer than she
thought he would.
“I’ll miss you,” he said.
“I’ll miss you, too. I expect to hear a drum solo when I come back.”
Her phone rang and she was surprised to see Dunk Duncan’s name come up. “This is Dunk,” she said
to Linda. “Let me take this.”
“Make sure he’s coming by the night of the party to get the library.”
“Okay.”
She walked into the next room and connected the call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Octavia. It’s Dunk.”
What a voice...the man was lethal. “Hey, Dunk. What’s up?”
“Actually, I’m calling with a job offer.”
She frowned. “To do what?”
“To come and work for me.”
Surprise barbed through her...followed by excitement. She’d enjoyed the investigative work, but hadn’t
considered doing it for a living. But as soon as the possibility wound its way into her head, the idea began
to bloom.
“I’m listening.”
LINDA DUCKED under a clump of white paper carnations, and walked into Sullivan’s office to take a
breather from the crowd. All the business neighbors had shown up, with some extras. The young waitress
from the Waffle House had stopped by...she had taken a special interest in Maggie and Jarrod, which Linda
appreciated.
Klo was there, of course, and Stone. They were always good company. Grim was there and Linda
watched him watch her sister....there was something going on there that she couldn’t put her finger on. It
wasn’t an affair — in fact, it was almost the opposite. The two of them seemed to enjoy a shared animosity
toward each other. It was....strange.
Maria Munoza was there, although she stayed on the fringes of the conversations. The woman was
nothing if not mysterious.
Dunk Duncan had arrived and although he’d said he would “take the library off their hands,” it was
clear he was there to see Octavia. It was probably the only good thing about Octavia leaving Lexington,
Linda thought, because she was afraid if Octavia stayed, another marriage might be compromised. And
Dunk seemed like the kind of man who would never leave his wife.
She turned a small circle around Sullivan’s office. Closing his agency felt like burying him all over
again...he’d had such high hopes for building something for his family.
But even the ficus tree next to the window had died, which seemed like a sign.
The new tenant had already mounted a big sign over the storefront. Klo didn’t know who was taking
over, just that they would be moving in tomorrow. The sign was covered with a white tarp, but if its size
was any indication of the new owner’s plans, then the business was sure to be a success.
“Why are you hiding in here?”
She turned to see Oakley at the door. She smiled. “I’m not hiding...just thinking...remembering. Thank
you for coming.” She gave him an impulsive hug.
His hand was warm on her back, his embrace comforting and just so...good.
She pulled back. “And thank you for my new job.”
He beamed. “Glad to help.”
The door opened and Octavia’s face appeared. “Linda, can you guys come outside, I have an
announcement to make.”
“Sounds very intriguing,” Linda said.
They all crowded out onto the sidewalk below the big sign. It was still daylight, with customers coming
and going from the other businesses. They attracted attention as Octavia passed out champagne flutes. A
few passersby wandered down.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Oakley whispered.
“I have no idea.”
His hand hovered at the small of her back, and it wasn’t unwelcome.