Trouble in the Tarot (29 page)

She tripped and fell and cried out in pain, just like in my vision.

“Abby, wait, you’re going to hurt yourself.” I reached for her to help her up. She was acting so strangely.

Her eyes widened even more, and she looked at me in horror as she screamed, “No!”

Something hard crashed into my skull from behind me, and my world went black.

*    *    *

I pried my eyes open, and the pain slicing through my skull nearly did me in. As carefully as I could, I blinked to clear my vision and looked around. I was tied up and sitting on a brand-new wicker chair on a renovated porch with a fresh coat of paint.

The last time I’d been on this porch, the wood was weathered and the wicker was ancient. A revelation hit me. Abby hadn’t been looking at me in horror. She’d been looking at the person behind me. I raised my eyes and wasn’t surprised in the least at the person who stood before me now.

Mimi Pots.

She held a shotgun, but she was dressed in nice clothes, not a housecoat like the first time I’d met her, and she had a full set of false teeth with no chewing tobacco in sight. Abby stood, wringing her hands beside Mimi and pacing.

“And here I thought Abby was the one in danger.
That your anger and frustration were directed at her. I had no idea they were directed at me.” I studied Mimi in confusion. “Why?”

She shrugged. “You were getting too close. I wasn’t worried about Detective Stone. All men are morons. But you…you’re smart. It was only a matter of time before you figured this whole thing out.”

“I knew Abby’s cousin had given you a makeover for the wedding for free, but I should have realized that didn’t include a new car and the renovations on your trailer. I was just glad to see you were coming around town and trying to make friends.”

“I thought winning that jackpot in Atlantic City was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Mimi said. “It wasn’t much money, but it was supposed to be my fresh start.”

I studied her. “You were Bernadette’s silent partner, weren’t you?”

Abby looked stunned.

“Why Bernadette?” I asked.

“I don’t trust easy, and Bernadette was my friend. I’m tired of just getting by and wanted to do something. I didn’t have a lot of money left over, but I had enough to partner up. Except you know I don’t like the limelight,” Mimi said. “Those gossips around town got nothing better to do than yammer on, twisting things about. Even changing my looks didn’t make a difference to them. They were still uppity know-it-alls.”

“Then why did you keep hanging around town?” I asked.

I figured if I kept her talking, I could think of a way out of this mess. If only I could free myself, I could call for help. I tried to make eye contact with Abby, but she just kept pacing and shaking her head like she couldn’t process what was happening.

“I had to keep my eye on my investment. Bernadette might have been a sound businesswoman, but she wasn’t well liked. She always felt like an outsider in her own town. That’s why she could relate to me, I guess. She was nice to me. We—” Mimi cleared her throat and repeated, “We were friends.”

“What happened?” I asked quietly.

“A stupid man up and ruined things once more.” Mimi scowled.

“Are you talking about Quincy Turner?” I asked. “Were you the one on the phone that day?”

“He done lost his mind when Bernadette put the bug in your granny’s ear about how Animal Angels needed the money much more than the Parks and Rec organization did.” She scowled.

“Is that when he started blackmailing her?” I interjected as I kept working the rope behind my hands.

Mimi’s face hardened. “The stupid man started snooping around and following Bernadette.” She kept talking as though she were ranting to herself and had forgotten I was even there. “I told Bernadette that someday she was gonna get caught buying her turnovers from that small Amish farm way out of town. You can only pretend to bake them after hours for so long before someone catches on.”

I gasped. “Bernadette’s famous prize-winning turnovers weren’t even hers?” The negative vibes that had rolled off her rolling pin suddenly made perfect sense.

Mimi blinked as though realizing what she just said, then she shrugged, waving her gun around. “BB’s Baked Goods would never survive the scandal if everyone knew Bernadette was a fraud. They’d see our whole business as a fraud, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“What happened?” I asked, hoping to keep her talking.

“I convinced Quincy to give Bernadette a shot to change the carnival board’s mind. The main thing he wanted was the auction money. So Bernadette started the petition to change the charity recipient back to the Parks and Rec Program, but then Ozzie threatened her with violence if she didn’t back off.”

“Quincy asked for money next, I take it?” I asked.

“You’d be right. He’s no fool. But Bernadette didn’t have any money.” Mimi huffed out a breath. “Except mine. She paid him off but didn’t tell me because she knew I’d be furious. Instead, she got involved with those loan sharks to try to pay me back before I found out.”

“Is that when you killed her?” Abby stopped pacing and asked Mimi with a note of agony as though she dreaded hearing the answer.

“Land sakes, child. I didn’t kill Bernadette. She might have done some stupid things, but she was my friend. I found out just in time and confronted her. I convinced her not to take the money from the sharks. It wasn’t worth the risk.” Mimi shook her head.

“Especially after I discovered their boss was none other than my husband who went out for coffee fifty years ago and never came back,” she went on. “He finally came back when he heard I won some money, and since we never officially divorced, he figured half the money was his. Damn fool didn’t know it wasn’t much money at all, but he wouldn’t have cared anyway. He considered everything his. But I took care of him.”

“You’re the informant who tipped Detective Stone off before the monster truck rally, and now they’re all in jail.” I had to hand it to Mimi. She’d grown a backbone over the years, and this time around, she wasn’t letting her husband get the upper hand.

“Damn right I am,” Mimi ground out. “They were after me because they couldn’t find my money at BB’s, and I had convinced Bernadette to stay away from them. They didn’t know she gave it to Quincy, and that I didn’t have any left after my new car and the repairs on my trailer. They wanted what they considered theirs, and I knew they wouldn’t stop until they got it. That’s why I rarely went anywhere alone. I was losing everything, but I’d rather die than let that monster win again. We had to fire the staff and close our doors. The bakeoff was our only shot.”

“Only, Bernadette had new competition this year with Granny and Fiona, didn’t she?” I asked, still working the knot.

“That’s right,” Mimi growled. “Bernadette was worried, and frankly, so was I. We planned to hire a new staff at lower wages, and if she won the bakeoff as usual,
it would bring in all sorts of new business. We would be fine. I had things I could sell if I needed to. But then she died.”

“What happened?” Abby asked, looking on the verge of hysteria.

“It was a horrible accident.” Mimi shook her head and pursed her lips like she was fighting back tears.

“An accident?” I asked, my eyebrows sky-high. “You’re kidding.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Mimi spat. “That blasted granny of yours and her sidekick Fiona were ruining everything. I couldn’t let them win the bakeoff. All I was trying to do was make it look like they were cheating.”

Mimi picked up her shotgun and cocked it. “I put Granny’s cookies and Fiona’s pie in that beast of a car your granny drives. But your granny is a horrible driver. The dang fool woman left her keys in the car, and the stupid thing was in neutral. When I shut the door, it rolled forward. I tried running after it, but it was too late.”

“You mean to tell me no one was in the car when it hit Bernadette?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“That’s right.” Mimi nodded. “The car was empty, other than the cookies, the pie, and their purses.”

“No wonder no one hit the brakes. There wasn’t anyone driving at all. This really was an accident and not a murder,” I muttered, trying to make sense of it all. The whole thing was such a senseless tragedy. I
finally looked her in the eye and said sadly, “You should have called the police and told them everything. You would be in far less trouble if you had.”

“What do you take me for, a fool? I was so upset when I saw Bernadette under that car that I did call the police.”

“You were the anonymous caller,” I said in wonder, but then creased my forehead. “Why did you say Granny and Fiona were in it together?”

“I figured it was all their fault anyway.” Mimi nodded once. “Someone needed to pay for what happened, and it sure as shoot wasn’t going to be me. I didn’t want Bernadette to die in vain, and I couldn’t let her business die with her. Our business.”

Mimi slapped her chest. “I’ve done without my whole life. It was time I got something in return. I figured once this whole thing blew over, I would talk to Sam and see if he still wanted to partner up. I need to be successful for when Abby’s baby comes along. But you’re a Little Miss Smarty-pants. You’re the only one who knows the truth. I like you, Sunny, but I have no choice. You have to go.”

“Mimi, this is crazy. You’re not a murderer. You can’t do this,” Abby said. “What about me? I know what happened. Are you going to kill me, too?”

Mimi looked confused. “Of course not. We’re family. When Chuck leaves you, which he will because they all do, then you can move in with me and we can raise the baby together.” She looked like a battle was raging within, but then she must have pushed down her doubts
and made up her mind. “This is war. There are always casualties in war. It’s just the way of the world. It’s time you toughened up and learned that.”

“Chuck won’t leave me,” Abby said, standing up straight and firm. “You’re not getting anywhere near my baby, Mimi. You’re not the woman I thought you were.”

Mimi actually gasped and jerked as though Abby had slapped her across the face. Her voice wobbled as she said, “You can’t mean that. Bernadette’s death was an accident. I told you that.”

“But everything else you did wasn’t. And killing Miss Meadows certainly won’t be.” Abby looked at me, broke down, and then sobbed. “This is the loss you were talking about, wasn’t it? Because I’m definitely in mourning.”

“You’re acting like I’m dead, child,” Mimi said.

“You are to me,” Abby responded coldly.

Pain and remorse flashed across Mimi’s face, but then fury and anger took its place. “You did this,” she spat, pointing her shotgun at me. “You and that granny of yours. Men are supposed to be the evil ones. Not women. You’re a traitor to your own kind.” A wild look filled her eyes, and I could tell she wasn’t all there anymore.

“Mimi, stop,” Abby pleaded, laying her hand on Mimi’s arm. “If you turn yourself in now, we can get help for you. There’s still time.”

Mimi jerked away and pushed her toward me until she stumbled into the other wicker chair. “She’s brainwashed you with all her woo-woo talk. It’s like a cult, and she’s the ringleader. Once she’s gone,
your mind will clear. You’ll see. Then you’ll realize everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you. For us. I don’t care what you say. We
are
family. Because if we’re not, then I’ve got nothin’. I can’t let that happen.”

She hefted her shotgun up to her shoulder, pointed it at my chest, put her finger on the trigger, and…

Suddenly, Mimi’s house started to shake violently. She stumbled about on the porch, and her shotgun went off, hitting a hanging basket of flowers. Colorful petals filled the air like confetti, and I was reminded of Mitch holding me in his arms as we watched the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Another bout of shaking jarred my teeth, while Abby clutched a wicker chair for dear life. I bounced around helpless since my hands were tied behind my back.

“It’s an earthquake!” Mimi shouted when a loud crack sounded and the porch beneath her feet split open and gave way. She screamed and fell through, dropping the gun on her way.

The house settled instantly, and Morty appeared as if from out of nowhere about ten feet away.

Mimi stood chest deep, trapped between the porch floorboards. The rest of the porch remained intact, with just that one section damaged. The gun lay just out of reach, as if taunting Mimi and letting her know she had failed.

Mimi stared at a slightly puffed-up and glowing Morty. He gave her the same look he’d given Granny and Fiona when they had tried to sell off Vicky’s belongings in a yard sale. You didn’t mess with anything that
belonged to Morty, and from the moment I’d met him, his message was clear: I belonged to him.

Mimi’s eyes grew wide and crazed as though he was sending her some message telepathically. Quite frankly, nothing would surprise me when it came to Morty. “Keep him away from me,” she shrieked. “He’s the devil, I tell you. I can see it in his black eyes.”

“No worries, Mrs. Pots. Where you’re going you won’t see much of anyone for years to come.” Mitch stepped onto the porch and glanced at me to make sure I was okay. It was just enough time for Mimi to wiggle her arms out of the porch and grab the shotgun.

“Look out!” I yelled.

Mitch spun around and kicked the end of the gun just as she pumped the shotgun and fired off another shot. It shattered a window of her house, and Mitch dove onto the porch, wrestling the gun from her hands and hurling it into her yard. He didn’t waste any more time and handcuffed Mimi before pulling her out of the hole.

Once he had her secured in the back of his squad car and had called it in, he reappeared on the porch. Abby had already untied me, but I wasn’t the one Mitch was looking at. He stared at Morty for a full minute, and then saluted him as if to say,
Thanks, partner
.

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Morty nodded at Mitch, and then turned away to regally disappear into the woods.

“Where’s he going?” Abby asked.

“Wherever he wants,” Mitch answered with a note of newfound respect in his voice.