Hazardous Duty (28 page)

“Shouldn’t you just tell Parker?”

“No, I’ve already developed a bad track
record with him. You’re Harold’s lawyer. You should be there.”

He glanced behind me. I felt Veronica
standing there.

“I’ll be right back.” He wiped his hands
on a dishcloth and stepped toward the door. “It won’t take long.”

“Don’t walk out on me again, Riley.”
Veronica pushed past me and caught his arm. “If you leave, I won’t be here when
you get back.”

I cringed at the desperation in her
voice. Where was the poised woman from earlier?

“Veronica, don’t do this.” Riley touched
her shoulder, and she jerked back.

“You’re going to go with her, aren’t
you?” she demanded.

“We’ll talk when I get back, okay? Don’t
do anything irrational.”

I couldn’t believe the temper tantrum
Veronica was throwing, or the position she was putting Riley in. I saw the
agony on his face.

“Never mind,” I mumbled. “I can handle
it by myself. Sorry to interrupt.”

I hurried from the apartment to my van.
The last thing I wanted was to ruin a relationship. Riley and Veronica were a
perfect pair. They should be together, living out their ultra-successful lives.

I’d thought Riley and I had a lot in
common, but obviously not. He wasn’t the simple, down-to-earth neighbor I
thought him to be. He deserved someone like Veronica.

I pulled into traffic and wove my way
around town until I reached James O’Connor’s house. I expected the building to
be extravagant, like his ex-wife’s. Instead, I found a simple brick ranch.

Before I lost my courage, I rang the
doorbell. A man with a full-beard and bald head answered. Not the kind of man I
pictured Barbara with.

“James?”

“Yes? And you are?”

“My name is Gabby. I was hoping you’d
answer some questions about your ex-wife.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. I’m investigating the
murder of Michael Cunningham and need some more information.”

His gaze darkened. “She had an affair
with him. Is that what you want to know?”

“It’s a start. What else can you tell
me?”

He shrugged. “He’s the reason we split.
Barbara insisted he was going to leave Gloria for her. I told her to dream on.
I moved out and they continued with their fling.”

“When did it end?”

“As far as I know, it didn’t.”

“You don’t seem very upset about your
split.”

He rubbed his beard. “We hadn’t been
happy in a long time. Barbara has some emotional issues. And she’s spoiled,
used to getting what she wants. Let’s just say life has been peaceful without
her.”

“Thanks for your help, Mr. O’Connor. I
appreciate it.”

I hurried to the van and started down
the road. Now I had to prove Barbara O’Connor was guilty.

I grabbed my cell phone from my purse.
The battery was dead. I threw it in the seat. I needed to call Parker. After
doing a quick mental calculation, I decided to go home instead of to the
station. I could call Parker and let him take over from here. For once, I
wouldn’t do anything stupid.

It seemed like I caught every traffic
light during the drive. I bounced in my seat, trying to dispense my penned up
energy.

At my apartment complex, I threw the van
into park and rushed into the building. I fumbled with my keys, trying to find
the one to Sierra’s apartment. Finally, the latch released and I rushed through
the beads. I ran to the phone, thankful I knew Parker’s number by heart.

I heard the door open as I dialed.

“Sierra, I know who—” I turned around
and dropped the phone. Barbara stood in the doorway, the gun in her hands
pointed directly at my head.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Barbara’s eyes were wide and
crazed. Her hair, once pulled into a ponytail, now framed her face like a
lopsided mop. Sweat covered her brow.

She closed the door and stepped closer.
“At first, you were helping me make Cunningham look bad. Now that he’s dead, I
have no need for you.”

The phone lay at my feet. If only I
could reach it, call for help. Barbara kicked it and the receiver slid across
the wood floor. “Don’t even think about it.”

The gun gleamed. I licked my lips and
pictured Gloria Cunningham’s skull plastered into the wall.

“Don’t do anything irrational.”

She laughed and grabbed my arm, shoving
me toward Sierra’s bedroom. “It’s a little too late for that. Come on.”

“Where are we going?” I tried to keep my
voice steady. My heart beat like a trotting horse, though.

“Move,” Barbara demanded.

“Can’t we talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Why’d you kill Gloria?”

“Michael said he was going to leave her
for me.”

“But he didn’t, did he? It would have
hurt his career too much.”

Barbara scowled. “I knew I had to get
her out of the picture.”

“So you killed her, but made it look
like her husband was guilty. You knew where he kept his gun. You knew how to
make him look like the killer.”

She snorted. “Then the police didn’t
even find it.”

“So you had to burn the house down,
knowing the gun would be found.”

“Only you were in the house. I thought
you left with your assistant.”

I glanced at the gun. “One thing I don’t
understand—why kill Michael? Wasn’t he in on it with you?”

She snorted again. “Not a chance. This
was supposed to hurt his career. Then he’d have no reason not to be with me.
But what happened instead? People began to feel sorry for him. His poll numbers
actually went up.”

“But your affair was over. Why would he
be with you?”

“He would have come back around. We had
something special. We both knew it. I left my husband. It was his turn to leave
Gloria, but he chickened out.”

“You expected him to come back to you
after you killed his wife?”

“He didn’t know it was me. I wore a
disguise. That was the beauty of it.”

“How’d you get the gun back into his
house?”

She chuckled. “Easy. Michael passed out
after I shot him. Not very heroic for a former college football star, huh? I
slipped the gun back into the closet where I knew he kept it. Then I waited for
the police to arrest Michael. Instead, they arrested that other guy.”

“So, why try to kill me? Why send me a
pipe bomb and lock me in a car trunk?”

“To make it look like someone was trying
to shut both of us up because we knew too much.”

“You weren’t the one who put me in that
car.”

“No, a little blackmail will go a long
way, though. That poor mechanic didn’t want his wife to find out he’d not only
cheated on her, but got the other woman pregnant.” She smiled. “Amazing what
you can overhear at the gym.”

“Then you sent me the pictures, hoping
I’d release them to the media and ruin his career, right?”

She scowled. “Except instead, you
tracked down the woman in the pictures and gave her the evidence.” Barbara
raised the gun. “Now, enough talk. I have to figure out a way to get rid of
you.”

“The police know it’s you, you know.”

Barbara shoved me, and I stumbled toward
the back of the apartment. I kept talking, desperate. I could see my short, sad
life flashing before me. Live. Get old. Die. That was the cycle. Survival of
the fittest. Did it boil down to that? Or was it like Riley, Harold, and Lela
said? Did I have a purpose on this earth? I had to keep talking. I wasn’t
willing to die before I had answer to that question.

“I found your hair in my apartment,” I
said.

“Shut up and move.”

“Killing me won’t do you any good.”

“Neither will keeping you alive.” She
jabbed the gun into my side. “Now listen. I’m thinking electrocution—something
that will seem like an accident. Or maybe even suicide. You do have a lot of
pressure on you right now, with your assistant being in jail and Michael ending
up dead in your apartment. Everyone will understand why suicide seemed like a
good option for you.”

“Anyone who knows me will be suspicious.
I’ve been through a lot in my life already. This wouldn’t be enough to push me
over the edge.”

She nudged the gun toward me, her eyes
hardening. “Start the bath water. And don’t make a sound or I’ll kill you now.
Understand?”

I nodded. Her eyes said it all. She was
going to kill me if I didn’t stop her.

“Say it,” Barbara hissed.

“I understand.”

“Good. Now move.”

I walked toward the bathroom and opened
the door, the barrel of the gun still pressed into me.

Please Lord, help me. If You really
are up there, like my friends say you are, I want to know You.

The weapon jarred my ribs and I
continued walking. Following her instructions, I turned the water on.

“I need a radio. Where’s a radio?”

“There’s one in Sierra’s room.”

Barbara stepped into the hallway. I
seized the opportunity and slammed the bathroom door. My fingers flew over the
lock until it clicked in place.

Barbara pounded on the wood. “Open this
right this minute.

I glanced around the bathroom, searching
for something to give me a clue what to do next.

“Unlock the door!” Rage singed her
voice. I’d really made her mad now.

I could wait her out. But what would
happen when Sierra returned home? Would Barbara take out her anger on my
friend?

I shuddered.

Suddenly, it quieted. What was Barbara
doing? Waiting me out? Finding something to knock the door down with?

I sat on the edge of the tub and tried
to formulate a plan. My mind blanked. No windows offered an escape route. I had
no choice but to sit here and wait for Barbara’s next move.

Why was she being so quiet? I rose and
looked through Sierra’s cabinets. Maybe if I found some hairspray I could blind
Barbara. I saw a small city of cosmetics, but realized that Sierra didn’t use
aerosol. It was bad for the environment, she’d said.

I found a couple of razors. I could use
them if I needed. A travel-sized bottle of cornstarch baby powder seemed
another good option. I slipped them into my pockets.

A shot fired. Wood splintered. I jerked
back.

Another shot cracked. Was Barbara trying
to shoot me through the door? Would it work?

I screamed at the top of my lungs,
praying somebody—anybody—would hear me.

The lock busted and the door flew open.

“You didn’t think you’d win that easily,
did you?” Barbara aimed the gun at my forehead.

Lord, please. If You’re real, help
me. I’ll . . . I’ll check out church. I’ll give you a chance.
Last
minute bargaining. I’d vowed never to do it. Desperation did funny things to
people, though.

I reached for the baby powder. In one
motion, I pulled it from my pocket and squeezed. White dust clouded the air.

Instinctively, I kicked the gun. It
blasted. I wasn’t sure if I’d been hit. I just knew I had to keep moving.

Metal clanked on the tile by my feet. I
grabbed at the weapon. My hands trembled as I aimed it at Barbara.

Before I could make any threats, someone
tackled Barbara. Riley. He pinned the woman to the ground. She thrashed beneath
him, screaming threats and insults.

Riley looked up, gasping for breath.
“Are you okay?”

I nodded and placed the gun in the sink,
shaking so hard I was afraid I’d drop it.

“Gabby?” a masculine voice called.

Parker.

“I’m in here.”

“Let me go. They kidnapped me.” Barbara
flailed on the floor, trying to escape Riley’s hold. “They’re trying to keep me
here!”

“Barbara O’Connor,” Parker said, pulling
his handcuffs off the back of his belt. “You’re under arrest for the murder of
Michael and Gloria Cunningham, for arson, and for the attempted murder of Gabby
St. Claire.”

Riley stepped back, and Parker knelt
beside the woman.

“I didn’t do it.” Barbara writhed on the
floor, struggling against Parker’s restraining hands. “You’re out of your
mind.”

Parker snapped handcuffs on her. “No, we
have evidence.” Parker looked at me. The concern in his eyes startled me. Maybe
I’d imagined the accusation in his eyes earlier.

Two police officers read Barbara her
rights. Parker, Riley and I stared at each other.

“How’d you know?” I asked both of them.

“I heard everything through the vents,”
Riley said. “I snuck into the apartment and waited for the right time to take
her down.”

I looked at Parker.

“The hair you turned in is Barbara’s. We
got a search warrant for her house and found evidence of the pipe bombs and
arson.” Parker pulled me into a hug. I didn’t resist. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, the reality of how close to
death I’d been, hitting me. “Yeah, now I am.”

“I need to take you to the station for some
questions. You okay with that?” His smoldering eyes searched mine.

I nodded and he began leading me away.

“Excuse me one minute first.” I turned
back to Riley. My heart did something funny as I looked as his familiar face. I
would never forget him, or Veronica for that matter. “Thank you. Again. I’m
sorry about all the mean things I said about you.”

A strange emotion swirled in his eyes.
“I’m sorry I let you down.”

Veronica must be worried sick about him.
I didn’t blame the woman for not wanting me around. I’d almost gotten him
killed several times now. Still, my heart felt like it weighed a hundred pounds
when I turned from Riley.

Parker slipped an arm around my shoulder
and led me into the flashing lights that filled the nighttime sky outside. It
was over, I realized. It was finally over.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Parker grabbed my hand as he
walked me up to my apartment. It had been one month since Barbara was arrested
and Harold was officially cleared, and three weeks since Riley moved back to California.