One Foot in the Grove (28 page)

“I wish I knew.”

“What do you mean?” shouted Loretta, her eyes flashing angrily. “You said you knew who killed my brother! I told you that stuff 'cause you said you knew! Now you're supposed to tell me!”

“Well, I have an idea, but I'm still not sure. Why didn't you run? Why stick around?”

“First, like I said, I couldn't get out of town. Then, I hung around because I wanted to pay back whoever it was who killed my brother. After I heard you were alive, I figured it was you.”

“Well, I assure you, it wasn't me.”

“Then why were you out in the olive grove with him? I figured you'd caught him salting the trees and then you whacked him.”

“No. I didn't ‘whack' him. I'm sorry, but I literally tripped over your brother. That's all. He . . . he was already . . . there.”

“Well if it wasn't you, then who killed Lenny?”

“It looks like it was Sal Malagutti or Guido Gambini. I don't know which one.”

“I'll kill the both of 'em!”

“If they don't get you first. It looks like they almost did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn't you know? Someone cut the brake line in your car.” I sounded almost smug. For once, it felt good to know something that my opponent did not. I waved the poker again.

“What? That's why I couldn't slow down or nothing? Those bastards! I'll ice 'em!” roared Loretta.

I started to inch sideways along the wall.

“Hey, where do you think you're goin', little missy?” Loretta cried.

“I'm leaving. I didn't kill your brother. I told you that.”

“That doesn't mean you're goin' anywhere. You know way too much about Uncle Tony's operation. You're toast!”

Loretta lunged toward me. I stabbed my poker toward her, but she grabbed it with her massive hand and tossed it away. It was child's play for her. I realized she'd been toying with me, and my silly little poker, all along. I tried to duck under her arm, but she had me pinned. Then, I smashed my knee up into her groin—not the perfect defense when dealing with a woman attacker, I know. I'd just had it on my mind since my meeting with Sal Malagutti, and it was the first thing that came to me. The move gave me a split second to duck under Loretta's arm when she flinched, but not much more.

“Owwww!” she cried. “Come back here, you little wench.”

I flew across the room, headed to the bedroom, when all of a sudden I felt Loretta grab my shirt from behind.

“I'll make it quick,” she yelled. “You won't feel a thing!”

As my shirt stretched out behind me, somehow I managed to reach the bedroom doorway, towing Loretta behind me. Suddenly, I felt her massive hand clamp onto my shoulder. It felt like she would break my bones if she squeezed just a bit harder. I tried to wriggle out of her grasp. Then, with all my weight, I twisted my shoulder free and threw myself forward through the bedroom doorway. That's when I smashed into something.

Or, rather, someone. Big. Hard bodied. Solid as a tank.

“Evenin', ladies. You two wrasslin' for fun?”

Buck.

In a split second, Buck had somehow tossed me behind him before grabbing Loretta in some kind of choke hold.

“I would've come in through the front door, 'cept I see you've got it jammed shut,” he said, smiling. “Mind if I play, too?”

Before I knew it, Loretta was crying out and Buck had her handcuffed.

“Wait! How long have you been standing here?” I asked as Buck spun Loretta around.

“Long enough. And she's most definitely Lenny's twin sister, Loretta ‘the Cleaver' Lemoni. We finally got a match on prints.”

“Which means she probably didn't kill Lenny.”

“Of course I didn't kill Lenny, you idiot!” huffed Loretta.

“Aw now, calling names isn't nice,” said Buck with a smile. “But since you're a guest in our fair county, we won't take it personally. We'll just chalk it up to your Yank manners.”

“So, you've just been standing there?” I asked, hands on my hips, “watching me fighting for my life?”

“Now, Babydoll, I wouldn't put it that way, exactly. Let's just say that I was weighing my options.”

“Great,” I said sarcastically. “And when Loretta ‘the Cleaver' said I was ‘toast,' you did nothing? Were you still ‘weighing your options'? I could've been killed!”

Loretta spat at Buck's face.

“There y'all go with those nasty Yank manners again,” he said.

Loretta kicked Buck in the shin. He ignored her and turned back to me.

“Babydoll, you're still here, aren't you? Full of piss and vinegar, too.” He looked at Loretta, then back at me. “I'm not sure which one of you is worse.”

“That's a terrible thing to say!”

“Although, I'm afraid I'm going to have to change your name to ‘Hop-along,' Babydoll.” Buck chuckled.

“Nice. Really nice,” I said.

“Maybe we'll call you ‘Eveready.' Or ‘Timex.' I never saw anyone take such a lickin' and keep right on tickin'. You should be real proud.” Buck smiled.

“Do I get a prize?”

“No, babe. And if you did, I'd have to take it away from you. You didn't play by the rules. I do recall someone tellin' you to stay home and lock your door. What happened? I thought we had a deal.”

“First of all, I didn't know that we were playing a game. And second, I couldn't sleep. And since I've been the only suspect Eli Gibbit is looking at, I took a wild guess that your ace detective and his cronies might have missed something when they looked around up here. So, I came to look for myself,” I sniffed.

“Did you find what you were lookin' for, Babydoll?”

“Very funny.”

“Have you stopped to think what would've happened if I hadn't come lookin' for you?”

I ignored his question. “I hate you! How could you be so cruel! Standing there all that time watching me scared to death.”

“It wasn't all that long. Really. And you looked real sexy, wavin' your little poker around.”

Loretta snorted.

Tears started to fill my eyes as the realization set in that I could have been killed. Again.

“Now, don't go all soft on me. You know I had your back.” Buck winked at me. With one hand on Loretta's shoulder, he whipped his phone out of his pocket with his other hand.

“You two need to get a room,” Loretta said. “I don't have time for all this backwoods drama. I want my lawyer.”

Loretta tried to wrench herself free from Buck's grip. I backed away. Buck must've done something, because Loretta whimpered and stood still again.

“Come on, darlin' we're off to the station, as they say.” Buck punched a button on his phone. “But first, we'll pull out that little wedge of wood that you've got jammed in the door. Otherwise, Babydoll and I are gonna have to stuff you back outside through the bedroom window.”

“I choose option number one,” I said.

Dolly was waiting outside the cabin.

“Dolly!” I cried out as she ran and jumped up on my leg. Then, I looked at Buck, who was leading handcuffed Loretta off the cabin porch. Buck had called for help, and soon a deputy would be there to meet us. “How did Dolly get here?”

“How do you think I found you so quickly,” Buck said, looking at Dolly. “That dog has the nose of a bloodhound when it comes to you.”

Fortunately, we hadn't needed to stuff Loretta out the bedroom window to get out of the cabin. Buck had reached up and pulled out the piece of wood Loretta had jammed in the cabin door. She'd put it there to keep people from entering her hideout. It'd given her the time she needed to slip into the secret cavern under the floor. She might have stayed hidden for as long as she liked if she hadn't run into the only two people who knew the cabin and the cavern better than she did.

I heard a beep, and Buck pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched a button.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Loretta tried to head toward the hatchet in the stump, ripping one arm from Buck's grasp. Still talking on his phone, Buck kicked one leg in the air and swept Loretta's legs right out from underneath her. She fell hard, like a sack of potatoes, to the ground.

“Hang on a minute,” he said into the phone. He yanked Loretta her to her feet. “There's plenty more where that came from, sweetheart.” Then he put the phone back to his ear. “Okay. Go on . . . Uh-huh . . . Got it . . . Yeah, she's here . . . Okay, put her on.” Then he held out the phone to me. “It's for you.”

“Me?”

“Your big sister. Be quick. There's something goin' down. Eli's got a blockade set up in the drive. My deputy can't get here. So, Miss Loretta and I gotta run, don't we, darlin'?” He looked at Loretta and grinned. Loretta spat again.

I took the phone. “Hello?”

“Eva, baby, it's me. Daphne. Where are y'all? Are y'all alright?”

“I'm fine. We're over at the cabin by the pond. Buck has Loretta. What's going on?”

“I've been so worried! Remember when I said I was going to wash the pair of boots someone left on the front porch?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I did. I took them out in the yard, then I hosed them off.”

“Okay . . .”

“Well, to be honest, I forgot about them. And then, tonight, I found them where I'd left them in the back next to the hose to dry. I felt terrible! What if someone had been missing their boots, I thought?”

“C'mon, Timex, we gotta start back,” said Buck over my shoulder as he led Loretta toward the trail back home. “Talk and walk. Or hobble.”

I shot Buck a dirty look and kept talking to Daphne as I shuffled in my flip-flops as quickly as I could behind Buck
and Loretta. I felt like crap. My body was stiffening and my aches had intensified. My sore ribs were bad. Really bad. Not to mention everyplace the seat belt had been. Once I stopped moving, I'd feel even worse.

“Daphne, Buck needs his phone back soon,” I said.

“So, I picked up the boots, you know,” continued Daphne, “to put them back on the front porch. And one felt heavy. So, I looked inside. Y'all know what I found inside one of the boots?”

“What?”

“A gun!”

“What?”

“Yes! A pistol! Right there, stuffed down inside one of the boots. It was a Glock 19. What if one of the children had found it!”

“Where'd it come from?”

“No one knows. Precious thinks it's the gun y'all found in the bedroom upstairs! Anyway, Detective Gibbit and the deputies are here right now. They're going through the entire house. What if it's the gun that killed poor Leonard?”

Buck's phone beeped again.

“Daphne, I've got to go now. Buck's phone wants him.”

“Alright, Eva. I'm worried about y'all. Please, be careful! And stay away from Buck!”

I handed Buck his phone. “Yeah,” he said into the phone. Then, he grunted and hung up.

All of a sudden, Dolly made a U-turn and bolted into the woods, barking.

“Dolly!” I cried out. “Dolly! Come back!”

“Leave her, Babydoll. We gotta get back,” Buck called out as he marched down the trail with Loretta. “You know I can't stop now.”

“I'm not leaving Dolly!” I said.

“Like hell you aren't. She'll come home. C'mon, Eva. Keep up.” Buck continued to hustle Loretta down the path toward home.

“Dolly!”

“Eva!”

“You lovebirds just work it out. I'll sit here and wait. I promise!” Loretta laughed wickedly.

“Shut up,” said Buck.

“You go on ahead. I'll catch up,” I said. “Dolly won't be long.”

“Dammit, Eva. I can't come back and wait for you now,” called Buck. “It isn't safe for you out here. This is not a game!”

“Sure it is. You said so, remember? I'll be fine,” I called. “Dolly!”

“Eva!” I heard Buck curse as he marched Loretta around a corner and disappeared. “Eva!”

Then, I heard it. From deep in the forest, toward Greatwoods. The same noise I'd heard the other night before I'd tripped over Leonard. It was a low, rhythmic rumbling. Only this time, I recognized the sound for what it was.

“How stupid am I!” I said aloud. I set off in earnest. Hobbling as fast as I could in the direction of the sound, I cursed at my flip-flops, trying to grip them with my toes to keep them on in the thicket of wire grass. From farther away this time, I head Buck call my name. I ignored him.

“Dolly! No! Come here! Ouch!”

I stumbled along a narrow trail, probably a deer path, trying to follow the sound. Moving deeper into the woods, I called for Dolly and stopped to listen every few minutes. Then, somehow, I lost the trail. A few minutes later, I looked around and it was dark. Really dark. And everything looked the same. Flat land. Acres and acres of wire grass under tall, spindly pine trees. The night creatures were screeching like mad. Cicadas, frogs, bats . . . you name it. They were having a party.

“Dolly?”

Nothing.

I heard the noise again. I spun around. The moon popped out. Finally, I saw it. Loping between the trees, heading right toward me, was a huge chestnut horse with a big, white blaze.

Then, just a few feet in front of me, I heard the unmistakable ratcheting of an old-style rifle as the shell casing hit the ground and a new shell popped up. Then, the recocking as a shadowy figure jumped up out of the wire grass.

I was in the air, diving toward the man, when his rifle went off.