You're Busting My Nuptials (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 2) (30 page)

“Gwynn never mentioned including the sister in the move to Big D. I guess guilt got the best of her and she changed her mind about leaving her. She had thirty days to back out on the deal and get her deposit back. I tried calling her to find out where to send it, but she never answered.”

“Where was her hometown?”

“She never said and I never asked.”

“Any knowledge of a boyfriend for either woman?”

“You talking about Gwynn and Tawny or Gwynn and the sister?”

“Gwynn and Tawny.”

“No, they never mentioned any men.”

“One final question,” Ridge stated. “Where were you on Saturday, October eighth, between the hours of midnight and three a.m.?”

Billy Bob scribbled on a piece of paper and passed it to Ridge. “In bed, asleep with my girlfriend. Here’s her name and number.”

Ridge took the note, stuck it in his spiral and stood. “Thanks for your time.”

When they walked outside, Ridge waved at the security guy, then slipped behind the wheel of his car. He wouldn’t complain. Since the bombing, the detail furnished him peace of mind.

Ridge fastened his seat belt “Well, that was a bust.”

“You believe him?”

“Yeah. If he’d been a regular, the bartender at Double D’s would have mentioned him. I’ll check his alibi. If you don’t mind, use your contact to run an in-depth background check on Gwynn
and
Tawny.”

“I’ll put a rush on it.”

When they returned to Brownsboro, Ridge dropped Jinx off at Sweet Thangs and then headed home.

~~*~~

When he reached the front door, he heard laughter. His mother’s car was still parked in the drive. He pushed the door open. Hazel and Gracie sat at the coffee table playing cards
.
Clearly, Gracie was winning.

“I think somebody’s got their giggle box turned over,” Ridge said.

Gracie jumped to her feet and ran to him. “Daddy! I’m beating Grammy Hazel at Go Fish!”

Ridge eyed his mother. “Well, you must be a really good player, because Grammy’s been playing Go Fish for a long time.” He leaned down and picked Gracie up.

“Did you bring me some candy?” Gracie searched his shirt pocket and came up empty.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

She stuck her finger out, thumb up, in an imaginary gun and pointed at him. “Hand over the candy and nobody gets hurt.”

Ridge laughed, reached into his jeans pocket and produced a Tootsie Roll. “Here you go,
Tootsie Wootsie
.
” He put Gracie down.

Gracie twirled around in a circle. “Guess what I got?”

Ridge wiggled her nose. “A two-tailed possum?”

“Noooo.”

“A four-eared pony?”

“Noooo.”

“Oh, I know. A one-eyed armadillo.”

“No, silly.” She giggled and ran to the sofa. “Her name is Betsy.” Gracie picked up the giant bunny and squeezed her paw. The voice inside the stuffed animal said, ‘I love tea parties.’ Gracie swung the rabbit around. “The mailman livered it to me.”

Tizzy came from the kitchen. Ridge took her in his arms and kissed her.

“Long day?” Tizzy asked.

“Not too bad. Yours?”

She beamed up at him. “Absolutely fantastic.”

Ridge kissed her again, then turned his gaze toward Hazel. “How was your day, Mom?”

“Wonderful, except my son told me he’d have lunch with me and never showed up.”

“Oh damn, I’m sorry. I got tied up.”

“That’s okay. Tizzy, Gracie and I had a delicious lunch of fruited chicken salad and fresh baked cookies for dessert. Your wife is an excellent cook.”

“Yes, she is.” He placed his hand in the small of Tizzy’s back and guided her forward. “Could I see you in the kitchen?”

When they rounded the corner, he backed her against the counter, trapping her body with his. “Okay, who the hell is that woman and where did you bury my mother’s body?”

She giggled. “Isn’t it great? She’s beginning to
like
me.”

“Exactly how did you turn her?”

“I took the direct approach. I asked her why she didn’t like me and we went from there.”

“
Jesus.”

“I thought she was a prune and she thought I was a slut. Just goes to show, things aren’t always what they seem.”

Ridge kissed her again. “Next question. What’s with the bunny?”

“I think Gracie will have her taking part in the tea parties and forget all about Boone.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“I think you should be prepared for failure,” Ridge said. His cell chirped and he answered it.

“Okay. Okay. Yeah, find out what you can,” Ridge said, and clicked off.

“Who was that?”

“Jinx. Turns out, Gwynn and Ramona’s airline tickets were for Baltimore.”

Tizzy was in his arms, soft and warm, her bare breasts pressed firmly against his chest, and it was the best feeling he’d ever had. His hand slid hot across her skin and she shivered. When she pushed up on an elbow and gazed down at him, he got a clear view of her face. Her eyes were dark and dilated with desire and in that moment, all the blood pooled between his legs.

She smiled at him, wicked, shameless. She licked her lips, lowered her head, and his heart pounded so hard he thought his chest would split open. Warm breath floated down to his belly, her hair trailing behind and BAM! He was in the express check-out line with a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.

Ridge’s eyes popped open. He hated when that happened. Right in the middle of a fantastic sex dream something short-circuits and it all goes away.

He didn’t know what throbbed more, his head, or his other head. He lay there a few seconds and thought about how close he’d come to losing her. A sharp pain pie
rced his heart.

A few months ago he’d been a happy bachelor in Dallas, having meaningless sex with a neighbor. Then he’d taken a
murder case in a dismal, little town in the middle of nowhere and everything changed. He’d found the woman of his dreams living next door with a four year old child.

Sunlight began to creep through the windows, spreading thin lines across the wall. The beams reminded him of bars and bars reminded him of the case. With Gwynn and Tawny dead, the o
nly connection left was clowns.

The aroma of pancakes wafted the air. Ridge rubbed his hand across his stomach. Damn, he’d gained ten pounds since he’d met Tizzy. He closed his eyes and pictured her in the kitchen. Her hair pinned up in a sexy mess, and her silk gown floating about as she moved.

He sprang from the bed, hurried down the hall, then stopped in the doorway and watched her for a few seconds. Already dressed for the day, she stood at the stove, and added more pancakes to a large stack on a platter. She must have been lost in her own thoughts, because she flinched when he walked up and put his arms around her.

He rested his chin on her shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She turned to face him. “I’m still a little jumpy. Sit down and I’ll fix you a plate.”

“I love my life with you,” he whispered against her neck.

Tizzy removed the skillet from the burner and placed the last of the pancakes on the mound. “Of course you do. I make great pancakes.”

Ridge took a seat at the table. After she poured him a cup of coffee, she set their plates down and claimed the chair across from him.

“I’ve been thinking,” Ridge began, and drowned his stack in syrup. “Maybe we shouldn’t take Gracie to the festival.”

“I know you’re nervous. I am too—”

He interrupted. “I feel a
but
coming on.”

She tilted her head to one side
. “But, she’s looking forward to the festivities and honestly, I’d feel better if she was with you or me at all times. Besides, are we going to put our lives on hold with every case you work?” Tizzy slathered her hot cakes with butter. “Don’t forget my history with law enforcement—Poppa, Daddy, Dan. There’s always going to be an element of risk to us every time you conduct an investigation.”

The coffee cup thudded against the table as Ridge set it down. “In this case, we’re going to be at a disadvantage with everyone in costume.”

“We’ll be careful,” she said, and counted off on her fingers. “Rayann, Synola, Bubba, and Jinx will be on alert. You can add Dan, Daddy, Momma, Sugarpie, and Uncle Sam to the list—and Nana. And of course we have the security guys.”

Ridge held his hands up in surrender. “Okay. I can tell this is a losing battle. We’ll take her.”

“Thank you. As long as we keep her in sight, she’ll be fine.”

He carried his dishes to the sink. “What are you doing today?”

“Synola and Rayann are coming over to finish up on your old case files. We should have some possible suspects by this afternoon.”

Ridge leaned down and kissed her soft and sweet. “The pancakes were delicious. I’ll see you later. I love you.”

She stood and walked to the counter. “Here’s a list of things to be done downtown for the festival. Also a few items I need from the grocery store. Would you mind picking them up on your way home?”

He stuck the list in his pocket. “Not at all.” He looked back when he got to his car and Tizzy called to him.

“Love you, want you, need you,” she teased.

He winked at her, then drove away. It only took a few minutes to reach the police station. He loved that about small town life. There was never a traffic issue and everything was close by. Reading over Tizzy’s list, he strolled into the office and eyed Chief Ramsay reared back in a chair reading the local news.

Dispatcher Rita sat at the front desk, eating a blueberry muffin and swigging a diet-root beer.

“God Almighty,” Earl Dean said from over the top of his paper. “Is that a list in your hand? Tizzy got you lined out?”

“Afraid so,” Ridge said.

“Well, you’re still in the honeymoon stage, so I’ll give you a pass.”

“A pass for what?”

“Doing everything she says. Busting your butt to keep her happy or paying the price.”

“You’re not fooling me, Earl Dean. I’ll bet you still try to please your wife after how many years now?”

“Forty-five and counting. But unlike you, I’m at the stage in my life; I’d rather have a promise than a proposition!” Earl
Dean broke into a rowdy laugh.

Ridge chuckled and shook his head.

Rita rolled her eyes. “Jinx and Bubba are in the break room. Oh and here’s a fax that came for you late yesterday.”

Ridge took the paper from her and ambled down the hall still shaking his head at Earl Dean’s lame joke.

He opened the door and found the two men drinking coffee. He walked to the pot, poured himself a cup, and pitched the report down on the table.

“What’s this?” Bubba asked.

“The information concerning the crate I was kept in. They found slight traces of formaldehyde, ethyl alcohol, and surfactant mixture, whatever the hell that is.”

Jinx palmed his phone and scrolled. “Says here, a
surfactant is briefly defined as a material which can greatly reduce the surface tension of water when used in very low concentrations.”

“That’s too scientific for me,” Bubba said.

Ridge pulled a chair out and sat down. “I’m not going to worry with the report today. We’ve got things to do. Tizzy made a list: Get the punkin’ chunkin’ machine set up on the baseball field. Make sure the dunkin’ booth is in place next to the bank. Rope off the north side streets for the carny games.”

Jinx walked to the coffee pot and refilled his cup. “On my way into town, I noticed the carnival setting up in City Park.”

“Yeah, and Leon Hester is delivering the dunkin’ booth and chunkin’ machine this morning. When he calls, we’re supposed to meet him at the baseball field.”

Rita stuck her head in the door. “The guys with the portable potties are here, where do y’all want them set up?”

Bubba jumped to his feet. “I’ll go talk to them. Same as last year, we need some on each side of the street in two separate locations.”

Jinx’s phone announced a text message. After reading it, he looked over at Ridge. “My guy completed the report on Tawny. He says Gwynn and Ramona are taking a little longer, but he’ll have them by the end of the day.”

“Good, tell him to fax a copy here when they’re done.”

“Will do. Oh wait. Looks like he has the results of the sisters’ bank accounts. He’s sending that now.

Ridge and Jinx gathered their cups and put them in the sink then walked back to Rita’s desk. The fax machine hummed and spit out sheets of paper. Ridge took the stack, bounced them on the table to straighten, then licked his thumb and shuffled through the reports. “Here’s Tawny’s info. Thirty-one, divorced, no kids. Finished high school in El Paso, attended community college one semester, and graduated Mr. Barrow’s Beauty School.”