Rosemary's Gravy (14 page)

The comfortable companionship lasted approximately ten seconds before it was interrupted by the sound of someone turning a key in the kitchen door.

I pulled back and looked up into his worried face. “Your dad?” I whispered.

“No clue.”

We ended the embrace and turned to face the back of the house as the door opened and Alayna burst into the house, slamming the door shut behind her. She smiled knowingly at us. “Oh, this is perfect. You’re both here.” Her voice was measured but her face betrayed her emotion—she was nearly purple with rage.

Uh-oh,
I thought in what had to be the internal monologue understatement of the year.

Beside me, Felix found my hand with his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “What are you doing here?” he asked her cautiously.

She laughed frantically at that. “I think you know,” she said as she walked into the sitting room and stopped about eight feet away from where we stood.

T
he three of
us stayed motionless in an uneasy, wordless standoff for what felt like several minutes. I guess none of us had any first-hand experience in hostage situations or whatever Alayna had in mind, so we weren’t sure what to do. Finally, Felix broke the silence.

“Let’s go into the parlor and sit down and talk,” he suggested as if there were nothing out of the ordinary about her appearance at the apartment.

Alayna narrowed her eyes and frowned. But after a moment, she nodded. “Fine. You first,” she gestured toward the doorway. That’s when I noticed the gleaming chef’s knife in her hand. I recognized it from the kitchen. It wasn’t really the best work tool, in my opinion, but it was a high-end piece of cutlery, and I happened to know that it was wickedly sharp because I’d honed it myself the night I’d made the ceviche.

My worry blossomed into something more akin to sheer panic but I forced myself to follow Felix’s lead, putting one foot in front of the other, and trudged toward the seating area in the parlor. My throat was tight, my mouth was dry, and my pulse was like a trapped moth beating its wings. I lowered myself to the love seat next to Felix. I sneaked a glance at his face —pale, drawn, and serious.

In contrast, Alayna appeared to be enjoying herself. Her dark eyes shined almost merrily and she flashed us a wide smile. “So, lovebirds, do you have any idea why the police are swarming all over the mansion?” She punctuated her question by waving the knife with a flourish.

I cleared my throat to answer but Felix spoke first. “I imagine you know. But, here’s a question for you—how did you manage to leave?”

She tossed her head with laughter, sending her shining hair cascading over her shoulders. “Ah, stroke of luck. Your father’s lover called and asked me to run to the liquor store because the drunk was out of gin. I was delivering his booze to Antonio’s house when a stream of police cars went racing past, up the hill to your house. So I continued down the hill.”

“And you came here because …?” he prompted.

Her smile widened and she pointed at me with the knife. “Because I’m guessing Rosemary here told the cops some ridiculous story about me poisoning you after she snooped around in my files today. So going home is out of the question. I’m sure there’s a squad car sitting in front of my building. I considered going to the campus—lots of buildings, there—and hiding out in one of the libraries or labs. But I decided I didn’t want to risk going anywhere public. Then I remembered I had a key to this place. Finding your car in the driveway was a delicious surprise. The fact that
she’s
here, too, is just a bonus.” She laughed—a little crazily, I thought.

I squirmed, and Felix placed a hand on my thigh, right above my knee. I’m guessing the gesture was meant to soothe me. Unfortunately, it sparked new anger in Alayna. Her face darkened and she sneered at Felix. “Save your groping for another time.” His hand slid off my leg and rested on the cushion between us.

“Um, Alayna, you should know that we’re not dating. Anymore, I mean.” I kept my expression and voice neutral as I said the words, hoping they’d calm her down instead of further winding her up.

Her eyes sparked, and she glared at Felix. “Is that true?”

He nodded mutely.

She turned back to me. “I’d say I’m sorry, but what did you expect from him? He’s a user. When he’s done with you, he tosses you away like a dirty napkin.”

Beside me, Felix bristled. I didn’t dare look at him but I mentally willed him not to argue with her. “Is that what he did to you?” I asked softly.

For an instant, a shadow of pain replaced the rage in her face, and she blinked. “Yes, of course. He’s a coward. Afraid that the vapid twit would tell his daddy about him and the Mexican girl. He didn’t want to risk losing his allowance. Eh, Felix?”

I didn’t give him a chance to respond and defend himself. “Is that why you killed her? Amber, I mean.”

Alayna slashed the knife through the air. I pressed myself back against the couch and tensed, waiting for her to advance. But she didn’t. “Do you think I’ve never watched TV? I’m not about to pour out my heart in a big confession to murder, Rosemary. Get a grip.”

“Worth a try,” I said with a casual shrug.

She shook her head in disgust.

“Well, if you aren’t going to talk to us, what’s the plan?” Felix asked with a surge of firmness in his voice. “If you’re just going to try to carve us up and get yourself into deeper trouble, let’s get on with it then.” He jutted his body forward on the couch as if he might launch himself at her.

I side-eyed him. “Speak for yourself. I’d just as soon sit here and have her stare at me as get sliced into ribbons, big man.” I turned back to Alayna with the friendliest expression I could muster.

“You’re not so stupid, huh?” she said with a satisfied jerk of her chin in my direction.

“I hope not.” I kept my eyes fixed on hers and slowly inched my foot across the floor until it was touching Felix’s. Then I pressed against it with all my strength, hoping he’d pick up my signal.
Don’t move. Follow my lead. I have an idea.
I thought the words as hard as I could, wishing I’d paid even the smallest bit of attention when my mom had gone through her extrasensory perception phase.

“But then you’re not so smart, either. You fell for his lies, too.”

I nodded my agreement. “Yeah, I did.” I gave Felix’s foot one final nudge and took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

I unfolded myself and stood up slowly with my hands outstretched. “I have to know, though, why you tried to frame me. Twice. What did I do to you?” I took a careful step forward on my unsteady legs.

“Hey!” She poked the knife toward me as if it were a cattle prod. Behind me, I heard Felix’s sharp intake of breath.

I took another small step. “Take it easy, Alayna. Come on, tell me. Why me?”

She huffed in exasperation. “It’s nothing personal, Rosemary. At least it
wasn’t.
When you told me about Amber’s menu change I was still reeling from the way she’d talked to me. She was such a bitch. As if it was an embarrassment to her that Felix would sleep with the help, especially a dirty beaner like me.” Her voice shook with barely controlled rage at the memory.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

She waved away my words. “I knew that stupid gravy was supposed to have cashews and I just kept thinking, what if you screwed up and forgot to omit them? I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.” She clamped her jaw closed and glanced at Felix as if she’d already said too much.

I took another step before drawing her attention back to me. “But you knew I’d notice if you added them to my gravy, right? So, you didn’t.”

“That’s right,” she said with relief.

I left unsaid the part where she did leave a container of nuts in the trash to point to me and then decided to add some peanut oil to the wine. There was no point in antagonizing her about it. She wasn’t going to admit to a crime.

Felix shifted on the couch and cleared his throat. “What about the Botox?”

Shut up,
I screamed silently to myself.

“What about it?” she said angrily.

While she was focused on him, I closed the gap between us. I was almost close enough to reach the handle of the knife, assuming she didn’t move. As I formed the thought, she waved the knife toward me. “Go sit back down,” she hissed, swishing the knife sideways.

The light glinted off the blade. I almost lost my nerve and sunk to my knees. I managed not to. I planted my feet more firmly on the floor and said, “What did you do? Empty Amber’s unused syringes into his water bottle?” I couldn’t figure out how else she’d managed to get him to ingest the toxin.

She looked at me as if I were pathetically stupid. “Of course not. Do you think it doesn’t have a taste or an odor?” Her voice dripped with condescension.

“I have no idea, honestly.”

“Well it does. But his mouthwash has a very strong peppermint scent and taste.”

“So you added it to his mouthwash. Smart.”

She didn’t respond to that comment directly. “When he asked me to pick up groceries for him and a date and bring them here, I knew you’d be the one cooking. And I knew your reputation was already in question because of Amber. So I bought scallops. Poorly prepared seafood is a common cause of food poisoning,” she said with so much satisfaction that I had to stop myself from punching her in the throat.

Instead I threw a meaningful glance toward Felix. “How could you ask her to go shopping for a date for you? Don’t you have any sensitivity?” I didn’t have to fake the disgust in my voice because, truth be told, it was really poor form considering their past.

He started and gave me a wounded look. Just then, Alayna rounded on him with a fierce expression. “Or do you think I don’t have feelings?” she shouted as she lurched forward.

This is your chance.

I released a quick prayer into the universe that the vest I was wearing was both bladeproof as well as bulletproof and snaked out my hand to grab her right wrist. I yanked hard, pulling her off-balance. She stumbled toward me with the knife flailing between us and a look of pure shock painted across her face.

“Are you crazy?” she yelled.

Apparently,
I thought.

Then three things happened. In the chaos, I don’t know if they all happened at once or just one right after the other. Felix let out a wordless war noise, threw himself off the couch and toward us, and tackled Alayna. Alayna slashed the knife through my abdomen. And the front door splintered, crashing inward with a tremendous noise. Loud voices and pounding feet followed.

Someone flipped on the overhead lights. I squinted into the glare, overwhelmed by the brightness, the shouting, the swirling motion all around me. Then the base of my skull bounced off the hardwood floor and everything went dark and silent.

I
came
to on the loveseat. A paramedic with curly red hair was taking my pulse. I surveyed the room. Two uniformed police officers were hanging yellow crime scene tape over the entrance to the house. Felix, apparently unscathed, was sitting in one of the Queen Anne chairs, giving a statement to Detective Sullivan. I nearly went into shock when I saw Pat standing behind him, a fatherly hand on Felix’s shoulder.

My pulse must have reacted, too, because the paramedic met my eyes. “Hey, you’re awake,” she said. “Take it easy, now.”

I pushed myself up on my elbows and craned my neck. There was no sign of Alayna. Or the knife. I inhaled and my stomach muscles burned in protest. I gasped, and the medic pushed me gently back to a supine position. “No more of that,” she said. “You took a pretty good knock on the head. And you have a superficial abdominal wound.” She lifted my blouse to show me a large white dressing covering most of my stomach. A large blotch of blood colored the center of the dressing.

I was about to tell her there was nothing superficial about it from my end, when Sergeant Bentley walked in from the kitchen holding the protective vest I’d been wearing. She beelined toward me.

“Thanks a lot, Ms. Field. Now I have to requisition a new female vest. Look at this thing.” She waved it at me, the slashed fabric dangling in ribbons. I wondered how much a bulletproof vest cost.

I was about to apologize but she burst into laughter. “Don’t look so serious. I’m just busting your chops.”

“Oh.” I managed a weak smile. I scanned the room again.

“You looking for Ramirez?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, although it wasn’t the whole truth. I realized I was also looking for Detective Drummond.

“She’s on her way downtown with Detective Drummond,” she told me.

My relief that Alayna was in custody mingled with an emotion that felt an awful lot like disappointment that Detective Drummond wasn’t around. “Good,” I said, setting aside my feelings about Detective Drummond for later analysis – preferably with my sisters, over drinks.

“It is good. And you’re damned lucky. Erin here says you’re going to be fine. The vest protected your vital organs, which, just so you know, wasn’t a given. It’s bulletproof, not bladeproof. Just a pro tip for next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” I promised as I touched my tender stomach.

“Good. Now, the bigger concern is that you lost consciousness. We’re probably going to have to take you to the hospital for observation to make sure you weren’t concussed. Right, Erin?”

The other woman nodded. “That’s right. Let’s do this cognitive assessment and then we’ll get you on your way to the hospital.”

I opened my mouth to protest that I was fine and just wanted to go home, but Sergeant Bentley cut me off before I could get the first word out. “No. Uh-uh. Not up for discussion. You’re going to the hospital.” Her voice conveyed finality. I’m sure overreacting to minor injuries was also part of their CYA efforts regarding civilians who got mixed up in police actions. And I was too tired to argue.

From across the room, Felix caught my eye and smiled before turning back to Detective Sullivan and her no doubt relentless questions. Sergeant Bentley patted my arm and drifted away to talk to a pair of forensic investigators who appeared in the doorway, clutching their kits in their hands.

I was dutifully answering Erin’s questions about current events when Pat walked over and stood about a foot away, clearing his throat. After a moment, Erin flashed me a bright smile. “I think you’re gonna live. I’ll be back in a minute to move you to the stretcher, but it looks like this gentleman wants a word.”

She gathered her equipment, closed her bag, and walked over to join the cluster of people in the doorway.

I raised my eyes to Pat and waited.

“What you did was very brave. And stupid.”

I couldn’t agree more, but his pronouncement didn’t seem to call for a response.

He shuffled his feet. “I understand from Felix that you probably saved his life. So … thank you,” he said stiffly.

“No thanks needed. I was trying to save myself, too.” I smiled to let him off the hook. Watching him awkwardly attempt gratitude as if it required superhuman effort was making
me
start to sweat.