Worked to Death (Working Stiff Mysteries Book 2) (19 page)

"I'll fix your wagon." —Things We Say in the South

"That was extremely dangerous." I heard Ty giving Ms. Lanier the what for as I climbed into the back of the ambulance with Paget.

"Yeah, well, everyone is fine, ain't they?" she argued back—not letting his disciplinary words phase her.

She cut her gaze toward me from where I watched, and I gave her a smile. She winked at me. Witnessing the exchange, Ty threw his hands up in the air.

"All the women in my life are nuts. Just plain nuts," he said as he motioned for the bomb squad leader to join him at the front porch of our home.

"I don't know if I'd use the word nuts, do you Mandy?" Penny Dempsey asked from the back door of the ambulance.

"How did you get here so fast?" I asked, giving her a suspicious glance.

"Police scanner, baby. I know everything that goes over those airways. You know that." She pointed to Paget who was fast asleep. "Baby doll there gonna be okay?"

"I think so. Dr. C. is meeting us there. I already phoned him." I held Paget's hand in mine, checking her pulse every few minutes.

"Where was your super spy through all this?" she asked, looking around the perimeter of the yard as if he'd be skulking nearby.

"How did you—know?" I hadn't spoken to Penny since two days ago at O'Hannigans. I wondered how she knew he was back in town.

"Ms. Maimie told me—this morning. She's worried that since he's back in town, you won't keep your date with Devvie on Saturday night." She grinned at me.

Of course she knew everything by now.

"Sorry I haven't called you," I said, looking down at my sister's hand and noticing her red-tipped fingernails. Sometimes she seemed so grown up and others like a little girl. I wondered if she would ever be able to form a friendship like the one Penny and I'd had at her age.

"Aw. You'll make it up to me this weekend."

"This weekend?" I didn't remember that we had plans.

"We're ready to go, ma'am," the medic's voice said as he closed one of the back doors.

"See you later," I said before he shut the other door.

Penny was already headed toward Ty, probably trying to get an official statement for the evening edition of the paper before she left.

I saw Devon chatting with Cletus who was leaning against his cab at the street. I felt a stab of guilt that I'd never called off the request for a cab and was glad he'd been here to call for help.

And as the house disappeared from view, I saw the bomb squad bust through the kitchen door of my house—I held my breath.

Dang. Did they have to be so dramatic? After all, Ms. Lanier had a key.

*  *  *

Three hours, two bags of IV fluids, and one conversation with Dr. C. and I was back on the curb of the hospital waiting for a ride home from Sundae.

He'd decided to keep Paget overnight, and I hadn't argued. Denise was coming on shift in a few minutes, and she'd promised to watch over Paget with a mother's eye. Considering today's events, I was more than sure that she'd do a better job of it than I'd done.

Sundae pulled up to the curb and gave one honk.

I stuck my tongue out at her. The honk was unnecessary, as I was standing right there waiting on her.

"Sorry, I just like tooting my own horn, chica," she said and giggled.

I slipped into the dirty, cloth seat and closed the door behind me. "How in the world can you be in a good mood?" I asked, feeling as far away from a good mood as was possible at the moment.

"Oh, maybe because my big sister is coming to visit."

"Your big sister?" I asked, thinking about my little sister and how terrified I'd been to see her with that gun. I wondered, not for the first time, where she'd gotten that gun.

"Well, she's just bigger by three whole minutes. We're twins. Her name is Sabine." Her face glowed with excitement as she talked about her family.

"I didn't know you had a twin sister. Are you identical or fraternal?" I asked, trying to envision another Sundae in the world.

"No, I never went to college so I never joined any of those." She drove on through town.

It took me a minute, but I finally realized that she was taking the word fraternal as
fraternity
. I closed my eyes and took a moment of silence.

"Do you two look alike or different?" I tried again.

"Oh, you'll see," she said and giggled again. "Oh yeah, I found out that Mick was seen with that Teensy Jamison on more than one occasion. Most recently at O'Hannigans."

Her information came just a few hours too late, but as she'd promised…she'd had it for me by sundown.

"Thanks, Sundae, what would I do without you?" I asked as we drove through town at put-put speed.

As we reached the Main Street intersection, I noticed a billboard for True Blue Fitness, and something bubbled up in my brain.

"Hey, Sundae," I said, interrupting her sing-along to the radio.

"Yep." She turned and blew a bubble with her gum.

"Let's go on a little mission."

"What kind of mission?" She wiggled her bottom to sit up in a straighter position.

"I want Stella back, and I think I know just how to get her."

Her eyes widened, and her gum chewing went into hyper speed.

"Turn here." I pointed up the hill toward the shopping plaza and the location to the gym owned by Barefoot Redneck.

"Oooh…" she said, as she clicked the blinker on. "This is going to be supremo."

I snagged her phone from the cup holder and dialed a number that it peeved me to dial, but it was all part of the plan. It looked like I was going to have to ask for Allyson's help one last time.

They'd drugged my sister, they'd kidnapped me, and they'd stolen my Stella. But I was determined to get her back, even it if meant partnering with the she-devil.

*  *  *

I waited at the side door as Sundae hopefully worked her magic inside. It would be dark soon, and I knew I needed to get home and see what damage had been done in the wake of the bomb squad.

A sound of giggling reached my ears, and then the side door opened. Sundae waved me in and then gave me the shushing motion with her index finger over her lips.

"I told him I was going to the bathroom, so I only have a minute. There are only a couple of people in the main gym area working out, and I have the assistant manager, Petie, showing me what all is included in the annual membership package," she whispered.

"So no one is in the office, right?" I confirmed.

"Not that I've seen. Are you sure you'll find what you need in there?" Sundae looked both flustered and excited at the same time.

"I hope so. I doubt this Blue doofus was smart enough to keep his stash anywhere else. And if the police haven't come searching for it yet, I'll be able to use it as leverage for getting my car back."

Sundae pointed me in the direction of the office as she stepped around the corner and back to the main gym floor.

"Oh, there you are…how did you like our state of the art bathroom facilities?" a male voice asked.

I couldn't hear her response, but I rolled my eyes. What exactly did a state of the art bathroom look like?

Inside the office, I caught sight of a security cam mounted on the wall. It was showing one of six views of the facility and then faded out to another after a five second interval. I watched it scroll through the images and saw one of the views was from the hall I'd just entered.

Pretty good security. Someone had put some money into this place. I figured it had to be Tumpka Brown. I wondered why he'd chosen a hot head like Blue to do the deals, but I guessed that people in the drug smuggling business couldn't always choose the best and brightest when it came to the bottom of the food chain.

I started searching through desk drawers and the file cabinet. I finally found a floor safe tucked under the desk. Now,
this
was what you called state of the art.

The digital coded entry system meant that I was way out of my league. And there was no way I'd be able to convince this Petie guy to open it for me. That was if he even knew how. It has been a long shot, but I'd had to try.

Laughter rose from the gym along with the sound of free weights being racked on a lifting bench.

I checked the time on the wall clock and wondered what was holding up my backup. As it turned out, she
was
the only way I could pull this off.

A beeping sound chimed above my head, and I looked back up at the security monitor to see Allyson Harlow enter the gym.

She was dressed in the tightest spandex workout pants and leotard I'd ever seen. Her breasts protruded from the top, and her waist was cinched so tightly it made me think of sausage in a casing. My mouth fell open in equal parts disgust and embarrassment.

The thought of sausage distracted me only briefly as I realized how long it had been since I'd eaten—back when I'd been interrupted in the park with Colin. And I couldn't help but to wonder where Colin was at this moment. He'd never checked in with me after Paget had gone missing.

"I need to see Brady. Is he in?" Allyson's voice was unmistakable and loud.

I heard Petie respond to her, and then a few seconds later Sundae was at the door to the office.

"Psst…let's go. Allyson's here. Did you find anything?"

I shook my head, and we headed back down the hallway and out the door.

"What now?" she asked.

"Now we wait on Allyson to work her magic."

"If you didn't find any of the drugs, you can't use them to lure out the bad guys and get your car back, right?" Sundae reiterated my grand plan as we slid inside her car and waited.

"That's true. But that's why I called Allyson. She has been working with these guys, and maybe she can fake her way through it. If anyone can, it'll be her."

Sundae nodded and slipped a new piece of gum into her mouth.

A few minutes later, Allyson exited the building and sashayed over to where we waited.

I lowered the window. She was still on the phone as she reached Sundae's car.

"And make sure her purse is in there. I can't stand that bitch, and I want to run some of her cards before she reports them missing." Allyson winked at me as she pressed the button ending the call.

I tilted my head at her and glared. "The joke would be on you. I don't have any credit left on my cards." My addiction to online shopping was no joke.

"Ha. I needed to sound authentic is all." She lifted her shoulders and stuck out her chest as if she'd given the performance of a lifetime.

Sundae and I exchanged glances but didn't comment.

"It's all set. Hank is bringing your car to my house. I convinced him that I wanted that car in exchange for my continued cooperation. And I called Colin on my way over here, and we'll make sure that we grab him when he gets there. Gotta keep my partner in the loop."

She waved her hand in the air in a "voilà" motion.

I cringed a little at the mention of her working with Colin but decided to let it go. This case was beyond what I could handle at this point. But I'd done something. I'd really done something to move it along. I was tired of being pushed around, and maybe this would be the break they'd needed.

"So, is that all you need from me, then?" Allyson asked in a superior tone that made me want to take a dumbbell to her head.

"Thanks for your help," I said instead, surprising myself with the sincerity of my tone.

She opened her mouth as if to retort with a comeback and then realized I hadn't said anything snarky. She seemed confused. And, for once, I'd left Allyson speechless.

I guess there was always a first time for everything.

*  *  *

We pulled up to my house which was now silent—the driveway empty.

"Thanks for your help, Sundae. What would I do without you?"

"Good thing you'll never have to find out." She winked at me and put her car in reverse. "We are gonna have a blast this weekend." She let out a woop-woop sound.

But before I could ask what she was talking about, a knock on the passenger side window made me nearly jump out of my jeans.

Ms. Lanier's face was pressed to the glass.

"C'mon, Mandy. Get your stuff, you're staying at my place tonight. The lock is busted on your door on account of them black-pants-wearing hooligans from down south."

She waved at Sundae, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the car.

Thanking Sundae as I closed the door and she backed away.

"Down south? You mean from Montgomery?" Which was technically located about ten miles south of Millbrook.

"Yes. Did you see them kick in your door and tromp through there?"

"Did they find anything?" My house was still standing, so I assumed that there'd been no bomb or that they'd diffused it successfully.