You're Busting My Nuptials (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 2) (29 page)

“Am I?”

Tizzy handed Hazel her coffee and sat across from her. “Yes, you are.”

“I’m not sure I believe you. After all, no one told me about the wedding.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I understand Ridge was mad at me, but why didn’t
you tell me?”

Surprised by the question, Tizzy’s heart hammered. “I thought Ridge had. It was his responsibility.” She started to end the explanation, but thought better of the idea. “Honestly,
I would have never told you, because you wouldn’t have appreciated the news coming from me.”

“How so?”

Tizzy gathered her resolve. Enough was enough, it was showdown time. “You don’t like me, Hazel, and I’m not sure why. I’ve always thought it was because I made a bad first impression.”

Hazel’s mouth hung open. Tizzy kept her tone steady. “I admit the dress I wore the first time I met you wasn’t a good choice, but Ridge didn’t tell me I’d be meeting his family.”

Hazel started to say something, but Tizzy held her hand up to stop her. She needed to set things straight with the woman, one way or the other. “Let me finish, please.” Tizzy noticed Hazel stiffen, so she softened her voice. She didn’t want an all-out war with her new mother-in-law.

“I love Ridge and I’m not trying to take him from you. I don’t want the
son
part of him. I only want the
husband
part,” Tizzy said, already feeling better.

“He’ll always be your baby boy, and nothing I say or do will ever change that. He’ll always love you. You share memories with him I’m not a part of.” Tizzy looked Hazel directly in the eyes. She didn’t have anything to lose, the woman already disliked her. “I’m fine with that. I don’t want any of it. It’s yours. All yours. Ridge will always want your approval and right now he feels he’s failing in that department because of me.” Tizzy leaned back in the chair. She was on a roll and didn’t intend to stop until she said her peace. “If you don’t ever like me, I’m fine with that too. But, I’ll be a good, faithful, loving wife to your son, and like me or not, you should at least respect me.”

Hazel took a sip of coffee, then set her cup down. “Last night, on the phone with Ridge, I knew something was wrong. I could hear it in his tone. When I asked about you, his voice cracked when he said your name. The last time I heard him sound that way was when his father died.” Hazel wiped a tear away.

“I admit I’ve had reservations about your marriage. Everything happened so quickly. Ridge had been single for years and then met you and immediately wanted to give you his grandmother’s ring.” Hazel shook her head. “As a mother, you must understand my concern. He didn’t even want to give his first wife the family ring.”

“You thought there was already trouble in paradise, didn’t you?”

Hazel swallowed hard. “Yes, that’s why I came. Ridge swore nothing was wrong, but I knew something wasn’t right. Apparently, I was mistaken.”

It occurred to Tizzy this was as close to an apology as she would ever get from the woman. She decided it was enough. “Thank you, Hazel.”

“For what?”

“For Ridge. He’s one of the finest men I know, and you’re responsible for that. You raised him right.”

Hazel’s face softened. “That has more to do with his father than with me. His dad
was
the finest man I’ve ever known.”

“This is good,” Tizzy said, cheer in her voice. “I think we’ve made real progress today. I know you better and I hope you’ve learned some things about me.”

“Ridge will be happy.”

“Yes he will and I promise I’ll encourage him to be more forthcoming with you about things.”

“I appreciate that.”

“You were right about Ridge’s tone. He’d just found out I’d been involved in a car bombing.”

“Oh my God,” Hazel gasped.

“I’m fine. It had to do with his case.”

“I worry about him,” Hazel said. “His father was a cop and I worried over him and then damn, if Ridge didn’t want to follow in his footsteps. Is he any closer to finding out who took him?”

“I’m not sure. I think he has a theory.”

“Does he discuss his cases with you?”

“Yes. Did his dad talk to you?”

“Yes. Mostly as a sounding board. Sometimes the things you say out loud trigger something. At least that’s what his dad always said.”

Tizzy stood and moved to the counter and started to gather the dirty bowls she’d used to make the cookies.

Hazel came to help. Neither spoke for a few minutes, then Hazel leaned in and said, “That black dress was a
little
slutty.”

Ridge
’s anxiety level registered at an all-time high. Knowledge of the tracking device and the car bombing gave him enough to deal with, but adding his mother’s visit pushed it over the top. Guilt ate at him for leaving Tizzy alone with her new mother-in-law, but he had confidence his bride could handle her.

When Ridge arrived at Sweet Thangs, Bubba and Jinx were already seated, each drinking a glass of tea and eating a piece of pecan pie.

Ridge slid in next to Bubba. “Your women okay?”

Bubba raked his hand through his hair. “Rayann’s pretty shook up. I took her out to her momma’s house. She didn’t want to be alone.”

“I’m not sure I’d call Synola
my woman
,” Jinx said.

“I just heard from the FBI. C-4 was used on the cars,” Ridge said.

Jinx nodded. “Good choice. All you have to do is hollow out a hole in some putty, add a blasting cap, mash the C-4 to a surface and walk away. Takes about five seconds.”

Pattiecake appeared at the table. “You want to order something, Ridge?”

“I’d like a glass of un-sweet tea and a piece of Glazed Lemon Pound Cake.”

She placed her palm on Ridge’s shoulder. “Is Tizzy alright? I called, but she insisted I not come over. She is so hard-headed. You’d tell me if she needed me, right?”

“Of course I would. You did the best thing for us by letting Gracie spend the night.” Ridge patted her hand. “Tizzy’s tough. She’s okay as far as the bombing is concerned. This morning, I left her with my mother. I’m not sure how she’ll survive that.” Ridge laughed.

Pattiecake giggled. “Oh, she’ll be fine with Hazel, but you may have hell to pay for leaving her.”

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to payback.”

“I’ll get your cake.” she sashayed away.

Jinx picked the conversation back up. “Makes our theory more believable. We thought all along the guys followed us in order to find Gwynn. I thought we had a tail, but I didn’t consider a tracking device.”

“My thinking has been clouded ever since this started,” Ridge said. “I believed I was the one they wanted, but once Gwynn disappeared, it seems their focus changed to her.

Bubba drummed his fingers on the table. “Let’s back up a minute. We’ve already agreed the tail began at the strip club.”

Jinx nodded. “The GPS must have been installed at one of those clubs.

“That’s all logical,” Ridge said. “But the entire airport thing is driving me nuts. Talk about being in the right place at the wrong time. You have Gwynn and Ramona trying to leave town and Tizzy shows up with a retired FBI and an off-duty cop? That’s bizarre.”

“Not if you take Tizzy out of the equation,” Jinx said.

Bubba stopped drumming the table. “Whataya mean?”

Pattiecake appeared again, set the order down, and walked away. Ridge thanked her. He forked a morsel of cake and held it in mid-air. His mouth watered from anticipation. “The perps have been following Tizzy to find Gwynn. Each time Tizzy went somewhere, their chance of locating Gwynn was a possibility.”

“So, Gwynn was the target,” Bubba said.

Jinx spoke around a mouthful of pie. “Looks that way and this time they got lucky.”

“Yeah, but something still doesn’t add-up.” Ridge said.

“It does to me,” Jinx said. “The perps knew when Tizzy found Gwynn, she’d bring her back. They had to know about Tizzy’s security detail. Hell, if they’ve been following her since the first strip club, they knew exactly when she hired them.” Jinx took a gulp of tea and another bite of pie.

Bubba wiped his mouth. “Since they couldn’t determine what car Gwynn would get into, they rigged them both. Kill’em all and let God sort’em out.”

“But there’s where the water gets muddy,” Ridge said. “They followed Tizzy to Dallas. How did they know Gwynn and Tizzy would be at DFW at the same time, or if Tizzy would even see Gwynn?
” Ridge ripped open a package of artificial sweetener, dumped it in his tea and stirred. “None of that makes sense.”

“We may not have to worry about any of it making sense,” Bubba said. “Tawny’s dead. Gwynn’s dead. Most likely,
Gwynn’s two helpers are dead.”

Ridge took his last bite of cake and let the words rattle around in his brain a minute. “You’re saying, mission accomplished and whoever the killers are will disappear?”

Bubba nodded.

“You may be right, but it still doesn’t answer any of my questions,” Ridge said.

Jinx scooted his plate to the side and rested his arms on the table. “I had a long conversation with Colton last night. He said Gwynn and Ramona were talking on their cell phones when they first noticed them. It’s possible the person on the other end of one of those conversations alerted the killers.”

“Well, Ramona is in the wind again and Gwynn’s cell is blown all to hell, so we won’t get any help there,” Bubba said.

Ridge stacked his plate on top of Jinx’s, balled the empty sweetener packet between his fingers, then pitched it on top of the pile. “We need to find out where they were going.”

Bubba stood. “I gotta get back to patrolling. Tomorrow I’ll be setting up things for the festival and won’t be able to help with the case. Rayann took some of your case files with her. I understand Synola and Tizzy are going over the rest of them, looking for a Philly connection.”

“Yeah, they’re compiling a list of possible suspects,” Ridge said. “I’ll check in with you later.”

Jinx laid money on the table. “You want me to go
with you to question Bywater?”

“Yeah. Never hurts to have a wingman.” Ridge had an ache in his gut. Gwynn may have been the target, but the s.o.b.s almost killed Tizzy. He wouldn’t rest until he found them and made them pay.

An hour later, when Ridge and Jinx entered his office, Billy Bob rose to greet them. A good six feet, clean cut, button-down shirt and khaki pants, he looked as if he was a day early for casual Friday.

Ridge stuck out his hand and Billy Bob shook it. Jinx took one of the leather chairs without invitation. The realtor gestured for Ridge to sit in the adjoining seat.

“Your call surprised me,” Billy Bob said. “Like I told you on the phone, I don’t have any connection to Tawny or Gwynn, other than helping them with their real estate needs.”

“Not true,” Jinx said. “You were a customer of theirs.”

“I meant to say, I didn’t have any personal relationship with them.” Billy Bob corrected.

“But you met them at the club?” Ridge took out his notebook and pen.

“Yeah, about six months ago.”

Ridge made a notation. “You never dated either of them?”

“No. I told you we had no personal relationship.”

Jinx leaned forward. “You ever get a lap dance from either one of them? Cause I’d say that’s pretty damn personal.”

“Okay. I paid for a lap dance a few times, but that’s as far as it went. I never saw them outside of the club other than to discuss business.”

“Then tell me about those meetings,” Ridge said.

Bywater leaned back in his chair. “A couple months ago, Gwynn told me she and Tawny planned a move to Dallas. They wanted to open their own club.” He bounced a pencil on his desk and shifted in his seat. “They asked me to scout some locations.”

“And did you?”

“Of course. Turned out what I first showed them didn’t meet their standards. I misunderstood their budget. They wanted something more upscale.”

“Given their current professions, didn’t you think it odd they’d have money for an affluent neighborhood?”

“Yeah, but they assured me they did, so I started a new search. I found the perfect property.” Billy Bob pitched the pencil down and rested his arms on his desk. “The owners were anxious to sell. Wanted to move fast. They agreed to take a down payment and finance the balance. Gwynn even put down a good faith deposit of a couple thousand dollars, but then backed out on the deal.”

“How so?”

“Turns out, she changed her mind. Soon after, Tawny was murdered and she disappeared.”

“Gwynn give you a reason for backing out?”

“Said she’d decided to move back to where she grew up. She has a sister who’s Looney Tunes. Gwynn mentioned a relative. An aunt or maybe a cousin, who could help take care of the nut-job. I don’t remember exactly who she said.”

Ridge didn’t like the name calling, but moved on. “Who was going to help her in Dallas?”