In Harm’s Way - Ch. 48

From rough draft of In Harm’s Way by Pat Otterness

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

??????????My reaction was to throw the empty litter pan right at the foremost gunman. A shot rang out, and the litter tray went spinning across the room. I was in deep doo-doo now, so to speak.

????????????“What the hell?” said the burly man with the gun. “Are you crazy, lady?” His face was a study in amazement.

????????????I think he thought I was supposed to just stand and cower. We’d see about that. He had his weapons, I had mine. “You startled me,” I said. “Sorry.”

????????????“Where are the diamonds, John?” he asked Barr.

????????????John, His name was John??He acted more like an Alistair, or a Throgmorton. John was just so … ordinary.

????????????“I don’t know where she has them, Tony,” said … John. “We never got that far.”

????????????“Dammit! I told you not to mention our names,” said Tony, turning his gun on John Barr for a moment. The other goon still had his gun pointed at me, though, so I stayed where I was.

????????????“Where are the diamonds, lady?” said Tony.

????????????“Why did you kill Inspector Vaughn,” I asked, ignoring his question. “What did he ever do to you?” I glared at him over the barrel of his gun.

????????????“Lady, that was an accident,” he said, surprised. “That idiot pulled a gun on me. We struggled for the gun and he accidentally shot himself in the head. I was just gonna knock him out, not kill him.”??He actually looked apologetic for a moment. His buddy, however, was laughing.

????????????“A man’s death is funny to you?” I said. “ You guys killed a deputy, and you’re laughing about it?” I spat in his direction.

????????????“It was funny to see,” said the second gunman. Then, after a moment, he said, “ I guess you had to be there.”

????????????“Shut up, Marcus,” said Tony.

????????????“I thought you said no names,” said Marcus, aggrieved.

????????????“Shut up,” said Tony. “ I didn’t kill that deputy. He killed himself. It?wasn’t?funny. Now, where are those diamonds?”

????????????I pulled the box out of my shirt pocket. “Is this what you’re looking for?” I said.

????????????He tried to grab it, but I pulled it back out of his reach and opened the lid. He gaped at me. “That looks like rocks,” he said.

????????????“They’re uncut,” said Barr. “That’s how they look before they’re cut.”

????????????“What the hell. I thought we were looking for diamonds, not ugly rocks!”

????????????I didn’t like the change in his tone. He wasn’t messing around any more. I reached in the pocket of my sweater and wrapped my hand around a can.??When he stepped closer to threaten me with his gun, I sprayed him in the eyes with my hairspray.

????????????All hell broke loose, and I took advantage of it by running out the kitchen door into the gravel road. Tony was still screaming and rubbing his eyes, but Marcus tried to grab the diamonds out of my hands. The box flipped up into the air and upended onto the gravel road. There was a collective gasp as the stones fell onto the thick gravel of the road. Marcus dropped to the ground and scrabbled around in the road, trying to recover diamonds he couldn’t recognize.

????????????In moments he was joined by Barr himself, and a red-eyed Tony. Instead of scrabbling in the road, Tony grabbed me around the neck and began to press his thumbs into my windpipe.??I was not amused. I tried a knee to his groin but he was too tall. I was running out of air.

????????????From the corner of my eye I saw Hiram expand. His face was a mask of fury. Easily a foot shorter than Tony, he looked immense as he attacked the bigger man with his bare hands.??Tony released his hold on me when Hiram began to gouge his eyes. I was too short to aim for the guys nuts, but Hiram did a high kick that had the other men who were watching wince with empathy. I know nothing about martial arts, but meek little Hiram obviously did.

????????????Marcus saw what was happening and aimed his gun at Hiram. I wasn’t having that. I threw myself at the man, still kneeling in the road, and grabbed his head.

????????????“Augh!!! He cried, as I rubbed my secret weapon in his eyes.

????????????“What the hell?” he cried.

????????????“Lemon,” I said, briefly showing him the squeezed peels and rubbing them??harder into his eyes until he wrenched free and threw me off, teary eyed.

????????????Hiram was still making mincemeat of Tony. I was surprised that Barr was staying out of it. Hope had disappeared, and Chance was watching Hiram in awe. After a moment, Marcus decided to take charge.

????????????“You, John,“ he said, “come look for those diamonds. You know what they look like.”

????????????“it’s too dark to see,” said Barr. “I’ll need daylight for that.”

????????????“We can’t stay here all night,” said Marcus. “We need to get those diamonds and leave.”

????????????“Be my guest,” said Barr. “They look just like the gravel in this light. You’ll never find them.”

????????????I was enjoying this exchange, but my eyes kept returning to Hiram, who was trouncing old Tony pretty thoroughly. He must be a black belt in something. He was so much shorter and lighter than Tony. His arms and legs were shorter, but he was using them to maximum effect. This was a side of Hiram I had never expected to see. He was like a Tasmanian Devil. I stood in awe of him, and I realized Chance was experiencing the same sensation.

????????????Marcus trained the gun on my head. In the distance, the old man was calling his dog again. He sounded a bit frantic. “Sophie! Here girl! Here, doggie!”

????????????“Woof!” said a familiar voice, and Wolf joined our party, wagging for all he

was worth. Hiram was occupied, so Wolf came to me instead and licked some of the lemon off my hands.

????????????“Is that the damned dog that idiot has been looking for?” asked Marcus.

????????????“Better than that,” I said. “He’s a police dog. He dug up those bodies you guys left lying around on my property. He’s with the Sheriff’s Department,” I lied. “They probably have us surrounded.”

????????????“I’m going to have to kill you, you smart-ass bitch!” He pointed the gun at my head, and …

????????????I blinked. The guy had closed his eyes.?He couldn’t watch himself shoot me. What a wimp!

????????????Just then, Wolf spotted Demon in the doorway. They say the shortest distance between two places is a straight line. Unfortunately, Marcus was standing on that line. Wolf took off after Demon, flattening the gunman as he dashed across the intervening space. The gun went off as he was going down, and it struck gravel, sending rock bits like shrapnel into the soft belly of the shooter.

????????????“Ow!!! He cried, followed by a volley of curse words.I I took that opportunity to kick the gun away under the car. Marcus went after it, reaching a hand under the car to grope for it. “Ow!!! He cried again, yanking his hand back out. Two little holes dribbled blood.

????????????Good cat. Right target!??

Chance seemed to come out of his trance. He grabbed the bleeding Marcus and struggled to hold him down. Chance was a?lot?bigger than Marcus. I fetched one of the sharp bow hunting arrows and gave it to Chance. It never hurts to be armed. The gun was safer out of anyone’s reach.

????????????Tony had taken a lot of punishment at Hiram’s hands. He was bleeding pretty freely by now, and I thought it was time to call a halt to the action. Hiram didn’t seem to have an off button, though. I was debating how best to stop the fight when the cavalry showed up suddenly, out of nowhere.?

A host of deputies appeared out of the darkness. Two of them grabbed Tony, and one quickly used my phone to call an ambulance. Two other deputies held Hiram back until he calmed down. The little elderly man I had met earlier wandered up and sat down on the steps.

????????????“Did you find your dog?” I asked, knowing he hadn’t.

????????????“I don’t have a dog,” he said.

????????????“What?” I asked, stunned.

????????????“Charlie Cook,” he said, holding out a hand. “Alan’s granddad.”

????????????“What are you doing here?” I asked, baffled.

????????????“Keeping a watch,” he said. “I used to be a deputy, you know, a while back.”

????????????I must have looked confused, because he continued. “Jordan thought you’d be up to something, and since you didn’t know me, I could stick close by without making you suspicious,” he said. “Every time someone new showed up, I would call my dog to let the officers know.”

????????????“If you were close by all the time, why didn’t you intervene?” I asked. “And where is Jordan?”

????????????“We don’t know. He and Mallory were supposed to be here with us. We kept waiting for them. That’s why we were late to help.”

????????????“What could have happened to them?”??I was seriously worried. And jealous, if the truth be known. Getting lost somewhere with Jordan would be …

????????????“Alan has gone to look for them,” Charlie continued.?

????????????“Maybe we should help,” I said. “I know the area pretty well.”?

I would have asked Hiram to come with me, but he was slowly shrinking back to his original size. He looked exhausted. I had thanked him and given him a hug as soon as the deputies arrived but he barely responded. He was in no shape to travel. “ Do you know where Jordan and Mallory were planning to wait?”

“There’s a shed in the field behind where Mr. Cassidy lives,” said Charlie. “They were planning to hide inside the shed until …”

“I know the place you mean,” I interrupted, grinning. “I think I know the problem.” I explained.

Charlie and I headed down the road towards Chance’s house, chatting as we went. The deputies seemed to have Tony and Marcus well in hand. The two thugs seemed like such sniveling creatures, I found it hard to believe they were killers. But even if Vaughn had shot himself, there were two other bodies to be accounted for. Who was really behind all this?

Our flashlights lit up the road ahead. “Could you really not find the diamonds in the dark?” asked Charlie.

“Not out in all that gravel,“ I said.

“You don’t seem very upset about it,” he said.

“They’re not my diamonds,” I replied.

Charlie shook his head. “They never saw you coming,” he said, grinning. Your methods are a little … unorthodox.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I said. I turned right to enter the field where Jordan and Mallory were probably hiding. “Shhh!” I said to Charlie. We walked softly between the rows of daylilies until we reached the shed.

“This is certainly cozy,” I taunted, throwing open the door.??Jordan and Mallory blinked a warning, but I was too full of myself to notice. “Come on out, you two,” I said. “The action is all over.”

Mallory and Jordan didn’t move. I looked closer. They seemed to be bound with rope. I saw something … maybe someone … move behind them. Quick as a wink, I pushed Charlie out of the doorway and shut off my flashlight. I pulled the door closed, and locked myself in with them.

I’d told Charlie about the shed. It was sturdily built to hold my previous neighbor’s bull. The door could only be opened from the outside. I hoped the killer hadn’t noticed that I had slipped inside. Surely it must be the killer who was in this shed. Charlie would have to fetch the deputies.?

Whoever was holding Jordan and Mallory hostage was in for a big surprise. As quietly as I could, I inched towards Jordan. The total blackness was disorienting. I hoped he wouldn’t cry out when I touched him. The thought of touching Jordan in the dark made my heart beat a little faster.?Wrong place. Wrong time.

????????????I held my hands out in front of me, hoping to touch Jordan and not something or someone else. My fingers touched fabric. Whoever I touched stayed silent. I ran my fingers gently across the chest of whomever I’d found. Absence of jutting breasts suggested I had either found Jordan, or I was fingering the chest of the killer. That was a chilling thought. It would be just my luck, too. This business of catching a killer was more intensive than I had expected.

????????????My fingers found a belt, but I decided not to go lower. I’d save that for another time. I felt around for the ropes and … thank goodness …??they were there. It was definitely Jordan, not the killer. I had to assume he knew it was me. I probably reeked of lemon.

????????????Groping in my pocket, I found the small pocket knife I had filched from my kitchen drawer. I hoped it would be sharp enough to cut through the rope. It felt like clothesline rope, probably cotton, so maybe it could be done. I set to work, sawing away at the cotton rope, which was mercifully silent. I would swear I felt a kiss on the top of my head. Was that my imagination? I looked up, and the next kiss touched my lips. Very soft, very gentle.?Yikes!?It was a wonder I didn’t stab him with the knife. I bent my head again and got back to work.

????????????I was surprised how fast my little knife cut through the rope. I had expected more resistance. I pulled the rope quietly from Jordan’s wrists and stuffed it in my pocket.?Waste not, want not.?I handed the pocket knife to Jordan. He squeezed my hand briefly, then let it go.

????????????I turned my attention to finding the killer. He had to be nearby. It was a largish shed, but not so large that he could be far away. I listened for rustling, and after a

?moment I sensed someone moving past me in the dark, headed for the door.

????????????My first thought was that he was planning to escape as soon as the door reopened. On second thought, I feared he might shoot whoever stood in his way. I guessed it was up to me to throw a monkey wrench into his plans. I did have a talent for that. I positioned myself behind him, or behind where I thought he was. Not too close. I didn’t want him to hear me breathing. The quiet was eerie. Neither he nor his hostages had spoken a word. I was a wordy kind of person. I had thoughts just screaming to be said aloud. I buttoned my lips and kept as quiet as I could. There was a time and a place for smart remarks. But I was soooo tempted.

????????????When the door finally opened, I was expecting armed deputies. What I saw, standing in the moonlit night, was Hiram. A much smaller Hiram than I had seen earlier. It looked a lot like the Hiram I had always known. The killer raised his gun arm, just before I tackled him around the knees. It may have affected his aim, because Hiram was still standing after the gun went off. Jordan and Mallory came running up behind me and threw themselves on the killer, who put up only a brief struggle. I tossed them the rope from my pocket.

????????????“Chat, are you okay?” said Hiram, gently pulling me to my feet for a hug. He looked so intense there in the moonlight, he almost looked handsome. I loved Hiram, I really did. Not in the way he wanted, but in every other way that counted.

“I’m fine, Hiram,” I said.