Maggie Lee (Book 7): The Hitwoman and the 7 Cops (18 page)

I watched my father’s retreating figure. “Maybe that isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”

“You’re a paid hitwoman who is living in a home crawling with law enforcement officers,” the lizard reminded me.  “It’s only a matter of time until one of them stumbles on your secret. You need to get rid of them as soon as possible.”

“So I trade my freedom for his?” I asked.

“What will happen to Katie if you end up in the big house?” God countered.

Sighing heavily, I grudgingly climbed from the car and trotted after my father. “Wait up.”

“Less bouncing, please,” God hissed.

I slowed down before I bruised his delicate skin.

Dad beamed as he turned around. “ Look,” he said, pointing at a group of trees that provided shade among the graves.

“At the trees?”

“Yes. Aren’t they beautiful?”

To me they looked like normal trees, but to humor him, I nodded.

“Mary and I planted them.”

“You did?” I didn’t know people were allowed to plant things in cemeteries.

“We planted one for each of you kids.”

I looked at the trees again, more closely this time. “One for each of us?”

“Yes.” He sounded so damn proud of himself. “It was your mother’s idea.”

It would have been sweet and touching, but I’d counted the trees. “There are five of them,” I pointed out dryly. I only had three sisters, Theresa, Marlene and Darlene. The math didn’t add up.

“We planted the saplings after the twins were born,” Dad continued, ignoring my observation.  “She wanted all of you to grow up to be like the trees, tall and strong.”

A painful lump rose in my throat. No parent dreams of his or her child being cut down in the prime of life. No sibling expects to lose those closest to her.

“And look at you.” Dad swept his gaze over me. “You did it, Maggie May.”

I shook my head and looked down as tears welled. I tried to blink them away, but they coursed down my cheeks.

“You’re so much better than I ever was at taking care of our family.” His tone dripped with self-recrimination.

Looking up, I saw that he, too, was crying and I saw him in a different light. I understood that every desperate scheme, every bad choice, every law he’d broken had been in the interest of doing what he thought was best for our family.

I finally understood him because I did the same thing.

“Your mother is better off without me. I saw that today. And you’re taking care of Marlene and Katie, and even though I know it must be hard, you make it look easy.”

I shook my head, silently protesting his praise.

He cleared his throat. “I’m going to go into Witness Protection and I’ll never be back. I was never cut out to lead this family, but you are. I’m proud of you.”

“I’m not, Dad.” I gasped, wanting desperately to confess my sins. If he knew the things I’d done in the name of protecting and providing for my family, he’d be ashamed or revolted by me.

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re extraordinary.” He pulled me into a hug, which would have been nice if not for all of the dog feces.

I still sobbed into his shoulder and he cried into mine.

And the lizard stayed blessedly silent.

Chapter Twenty-One

When I pulled into the driveway of the B&B, I woke up Marshal Griswald who had dragged one of the lawn chairs into the sun and fallen asleep with DeeDee curled at his feet.

Startled by the car’s arrival, the Marshal jumped up.

DeeDee stretched languorously, but didn’t bother to stand. “Maggie, hi.”

I waved a greeting at the dog.

The marshal scowled.

“I brought you something,” I told him as I got out of the car.

“Coffee?” he asked hopefully.

I shook my head.

He looked disappointed.

“Cheer up, buttercup,” I said with a smile, using one of my mother’s favorite phrases.

Dad got out of the passenger side. “I hear you’re looking for me?”

The marshal gaped, then realizing his mouth was hanging open, he snapped it closed.

“Father?” DeeDee whined quizzically, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at him.

“Marshal Mike Griswald, have you met Archie Lee?” I asked.

“You said you didn’t know where he was,” the marshal said through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t,” I lied smoothly. “I was on my way home and spotted him.”

“I was on my way here to turn myself in,” Dad said.

Mike cocked an eyebrow. “You were going to turn yourself in at a Bed & Breakfast?”

Dad shrugged. “Sure. Figured there’d probably be someone here waiting for me. And see? I was right.”

“Hey, Mr. Lee,” Zeke called rounding the corner. “Good to see you.”

Dad waved. “Staying out of trouble, Zeke?”

“I’m trying.” Zeke shot me a worried look and then jerked his head backward indicating he wanted to talk to me.

Dad lumbered over and gave me a tight hug. He whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Maggie May. You made this old man very happy.”

I tried to blink away my tears, but a few fell to my cheeks. “Thank you, Dad. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Marshal Griswald cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to break this up, but we really have to get going.”

Dad released me and turned to Mike. “Let’s go before Marlene spots me and gets all upset again. Maggie’s a tough one. She can handle good-byes, but not Marlene.”

Zeke walked over and threw an arm around my shoulders, offering me his silent support.  A gesture I appreciated since I’m not as tough as my father thinks I am.

We watched Dad and Mike climb into the marshal’s sedan and drive away.

“Gone good for?” DeeDee panted, moseying over to lick my hand.

Absent-mindedly I stroked the top of her head.

“You okay, Maggie?” Zeke asked squeezing my shoulders.

“Let me guess,” I muttered. “You need to tell me that there’s something else that’s gone wrong?”

“It’s Susan.”

“Susan?” my voice cracked, signaling my alarm. Susan is the steady one. She’s not allowed to have problems.

“She’s wearing the same clothes.”

Pulling free of his embrace, I faced him to see whether he was teasing me. The set of his jaw was serious.

“What do you mean she’s wearing the same clothes?”

“The same as she wore yesterday. That’s got to mean there’s something wrong, doesn’t it?”

I nodded slowly. “I’ll go talk to her.” I headed toward the B&B.

He caught my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. My stomach fluttered at his touch.

“Change your clothes first,” he murmured.

“Why?”

“Because you smell like a rotting corpse,” God thundered.

“Because you smell like you rolled in the backyard with DeeDee. Also, I’d leave the lizard in the basement.”

I nodded, both were good suggestions.

“I take it, it worked?” Zeke asked.

“Oh gosh, yes,” I gushed apologetically. “I’m sorry. Yes. It was flawless. Thank you. For everything.” I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

He looked down at his fingers still wrapped loosely around my wrist. “I’d do pretty much anything for you. You know that, don’t you, Maggie?”

My heart hammered.

“We’re complicated,” he murmured, looking me in the eye. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll never work, does it?”

Since he didn’t know I was hung up on Patrick or that I’m a hired killer, he had no idea how complicated we were.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

“That’s my girl,” he said with a laugh. “Telling it like it is. I’ll see you around.” He stole a quick kiss, leaving my lips tingling from his touch.

“But I haven’t had a chance—” I began.

He pressed a finger against my mouth to silence me.

“I should have never asked. Don’t worry about it, Maggie. You’ve got enough to deal with.”

“Actually,” I said with a weak grin, “things are looking up. Dad’s back in custody, I’ve found the solution to Loretta’s problem, and Marlene’s pimp is in jail.”

He shook his head. “Not so much on the third one.”

“Really?” My stomach flip-flopped nervously. “Wally’s on the loose?”

He tilted his head to the side and spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. “He made bail and was released.”

I frowned. “That’s not good.”

“He was hit by a bus.”

“What?”

“He was literally hit by a bus.” Zeke’s tone wavered between bemusement and horror. “Someone pushed him in front of it.”

“Oh.” Suddenly I was pretty sure I knew what the job Delveccio hadn’t wanted to tell me about had been.  “So we’ll put that in the plus column?” I asked uncertainly.

“Yeah. You should also know that the fake cop hasn’t left Marlene’s side and Detective Griswald said he was going to ask patrol cars to keep an eye on the place.”

“He’s probably afraid Dad’s going to take off again.”

Zeke chuckled. “I don’t think so. I think someone’s in love.”

“Griswald? With Marlene?”

“With Susan.”

I cupped my ear. “Say that again.”

“I think Griswald is in love with Susan.”

“Oh.” I tried to imagine Susan and Brian as a couple. I couldn’t. “To each their own, I guess. Brian’s a nice enough guy.”

Zeke threw back his head and laughed. “Not Brian Griswald. The older guy who was here when I dropped off Gypsy.”

“Oh,” I said, relieved. “The silver polisher. Now
he
makes sense.”

Chuckling, Zeke walked away and out of my life once again.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I fed DeeDee, put God in his enclosure, and changed the poor cat’s bandages.

“Now you know why they say curiosity kills cats,” she joked weakly, still in pain.  “What have you been up to, Sugar? You smell like dog crap, bless your heart.”

Rubbing the spot behind her good ear, I told said, “I’ll let God regale you with the story.”

After showering and changing my clothes, I tried speaking to Susan, who sat in the dining room listlessly polishing. When she did respond, it was in flat monosyllables. She seemed to be in shock or something, so I gently led her to bed, tucked her in like she was a little kid, and promised to check on her later.

“It was Bob,” she whispered when I was about to close her bedroom door.

I hovered in the doorway. “What?”

“Bob threw the brick.”

Stepping closer to the bed, I eyed her nervously, wondering if she was succumbing  to the family curse of being mentally unbalanced.

“It was a juvenile trick. He wanted an excuse to see me.”

“Well,” I said carefully. “It did work.”

She snorted.

“Are you sure it was him?”

She nodded. “He admitted it to me. What should I do? Should I tell the police?”

I closed my eyes and swayed unsteadily. It had been a weird couple of days, but having Susan asking me for advice topped everything else that had happened.

“Why don’t you sleep on it?” I suggested gently.

She nodded and pulled the covers up over her head.

I tiptoed out of the room and closed the door. I couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief because, as Zeke had pointed out, Marlene and Ben were making a good amount of noise together in her bedroom. Well, it’s my bedroom, but after hearing them carrying on, I think I’ll let her keep it.

As I searched for Loretta, Leslie hurried past me.

“Do you know where Loretta is?”

She looked at me like I’d asked if she’d seen the Loch Ness monster. “I’m going to a meeting.”

“Awesome.” I gave her a thumbs-up. “But do you know where your twin sister is?”

“She’s at the hospital playing Nightingale,” she imagined snidely. “I’m going to be late for my meeting.” She rushed off.

I watched her go, wondering where her new attitude was coming from. I didn’t like it.

Double-checking to make sure I had the paper with me, I hopped into my car and drove to the hospital. I’m pretty sure the car knows its way there itself because it seemed as though one minute I was pulling out of the driveway and the next I was pulling into the hospital’s parking lot.

I enquired about Templeton’s whereabouts and made my way to his new room.

“Knock, knock,” I called as I entered the room.

Loretta wasn’t there, so I didn’t witness anything traumatic. All I saw was Templeton lying propped up on the bed.

“Hello, Maggie,” he rasped.

“Hey, don’t talk.” I hurried to his bedside and patted his shoulder.

“I sound worse than I feel.” He covered my hand with his. “You were right about getting that second opinion. If we hadn’t… You saved my life.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You cared enough to say something. Thank you.”

Not knowing what to say or do, I changed the subject. “I found it.”

“The dingbat?”

“Those are easy to find,” I teased with a wink. “I found the paper. I’m no legal expert, but it states clearly that Leroy Braun gives the title of The Corset property to Loretta.”

“Really?” Loretta squealed from behind me.

Turning, I saw her bursting through the doorway, teetering precariously in her stilettos. “You really did it?”

I nodded. I was tempted to tell her that Mom and Dad had helped, but then I remembered they’d stolen, or
liberated
, the watch from her in the first place.

“You’re a lifesaver.” Loretta kissed each of my cheeks, enveloping me in a noxious cloud of her too-sweet perfume. “An absolute lifesaver.” Her smile was so large it extended past the confines of her heavy-handed lip liner.

“You’re giving me too much credit.” I pulled out the folded paper and placed in Loretta’s palm. “Now make sure not to lose this.”

“I won’t,” she pledged solemnly.

I nodded my approval and didn’t tell her that I’d made copies in case she
did
lose it again.

I turned my attention back to Templeton. “I’ll let you get some rest. Feel better.”

“Thank you, my dear.” Templeton’s gaze misted over. “Seeing your aunt so happy is the best medicine.”

Stunned by the realization that he truly and deeply loved the wacky woman, I didn’t reply. I waved and stumbled out, knowing that after all those attempts, Loretta had finally found her true love.