Goody Goody Gunshots Page 19

  I nodded. “Thank you.”

  Was that all I could say? If I liked him then why not ask him to lunch? No, I didn’t want to be rejected. He stared for a moment longer and turned for the door. I allowed him to leave without saying another word.

  After saying goodbye to the detective, and once all the police officers left, it was time for me to lock up. I stood at the front of the store and scanned the room, thinking about all that happened in the short time that I’d been open. Now I was just thankful that all of it would be behind me.

  I stepped out of the shop and locked the door behind me. This would be a new start. I hurried over to my car, got inside, and headed for home. After all, I had a date to get ready for. I’d driven the same Volvo since college. My mom had helped with the down payment and I’d scraped by until paying the thing off. Now there was no way I could afford a new car. Not with the new business. Each time I cranked the engine I said a little prayer that the thing started. My college days seemed like a lifetime ago now.

  Things had changed a lot in that time. I’d given up on love and focused all my energy on making my business happen. My ex saying that I would never realize my dream was still a painful memory that I had tried to push to the back of my mind. A couple weeks ago I’d gotten a voicemail from him. He’d said he was calling to see how I was doing. How was I doing? He had a lot of nerve to ask that. I didn’t return his call. So far he hadn’t called again. Maybe that would be the last time I ever heard from him.

  I was torn on what to do, since I knew I had feelings for the detective too. Now that the case was solved would I ever talk with him again? I definitely liked Heath as well.

  After a short drive I pulled into my driveway and headed toward the front door. I had a spring in my step now that all of the stress was behind me. Then again, it really wasn’t all behind me, not until Joy was found. What if they never found her? I would always be looking over my shoulder and wondering if she would pop up at any moment, ready to take revenge for what we had done to Hunter. Plus, she would be coming back for the money that she thought for some reason was hers.

  A rustling noise caught my attention. I looked to the left toward a row of bushes at the edge of the driveway. Maybe it was a cat, although I saw nothing. There was no wind, so it couldn’t have been that. I hurried my step toward the front porch. I was already looking over my shoulder again, so this wasn’t good. I just hoped that they found Joy soon. I didn’t think she knew where I lived. Though she could have followed me. I looked around to see if there were any suspicious cars. Thank goodness there was nothing out of the ordinary. Things were eerily quiet now though. That gave me the chills. I figured my mind was just playing tricks on me, I still hadn’t recovered after the events of the day. A relaxing evening was just what I needed. Heath was right.

  I had about an hour until he arrived. I would be more relaxed once he got here. At least now I was at home and could unwind a bit. I reached the front porch steps and hurried up toward the door. Movement caught my attention again. This time it came from right behind me. I was almost positive it hadn’t come from those bushes. And it was most certainly not a cat or any other furry creature. I wished it had been.

  When I turned around I saw Joy standing right beside me. The look of fury in her eyes was terrifying. Somehow she had found out where I lived. And now she had come for me. I wasn’t sure I would make it out of this situation alive.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  I tried to think of a way to get away from her. I could try to get my front door unlocked and run inside. If I locked it behind me she wouldn’t get to me. I could try to run to my car. Maybe I could run to a neighbor’s house, but what if no one was home? My options were limited, and I wasn’t sure which one was the best. I’d never been that great with running, so I wasn’t sure I could outrun her. She didn’t take her eyes off me. She hadn’t spoken to me, so I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew by the look in her eyes that she wasn’t here for a friendly visit.

  My keys were in my hand, so I spun around, trying to shove them into the lock. However, my nervousness made me fumble around. I couldn’t get the little piece of metal into the hole. I dropped the keys and they landed on the porch floor. I looked over my shoulder. Joy was still staring at me with that same furious glare.

  She was making me even more terrified by just doing nothing other than staring at me like that. It was as if she was waiting for just the right moment to pounce and attack. I managed to get the keys again and I thought perhaps I would be able to get inside before she attacked. It wasn’t to be though because she reached out and smacked the keys from my hand. They went flying across the porch and slid out on the other side, landing on the ground. I would never be able to get them now. Our eyes locked. I was scared, yet furious at the same time. How dare she do this to me?

  “What do you want?” I demanded. “The police will be here any moment, so if you think you’re going to do something to me you better think again.”

  “I’m not worried,” she said.

  I knew that I had to get away from her. As I started to walk around her she pushed me and I tumbled backward. I hadn’t been expecting that. I had to get up quickly because if she attacked me while I was down, then it would be less likely I could ever get up. I didn’t want to give her that advantage. I scrambled to get to my feet again.

  My plan of possibly knocking her over or tackling her wasn’t going to work now though. She pulled out a gun from behind her back. I supposed it had been stuffed in her waistband. Again? Joy and Hunter had come prepared. She pointed at me and my life again flashed before my eyes. Would she pull the trigger right away? I braced for the worst. My heart beat faster and I was absolutely terrified. The only thing that I had to my advantage though was that she probably wanted the money, which meant she wouldn’t kill me right away.

  “Let’s go inside and have a talk,” she said, motioning toward the door with a tilt of her head.

  Just as I suspected, she probably thought I had the money with me or at the very least she would force me to go back to the candy shop in order to get it. I didn’t even know where Grandma Honey had taken the money. I couldn’t get it even if I wanted to right now.

  I stared at her for a few moments, contemplating if I should allow her to take me inside. Yeah, like I had a choice.

  “Go now,” she yelled.

  I gave her a nasty look before moving toward the door. Then I remembered I couldn’t get in the door.

  “I don’t have the keys. I can’t unlock the door,” I said.

  “And why not?”

  “Well, you knocked the keys out of my hand, remember?” How easily she forgot.

  “All right, fine, we’ll go get the keys. Move it.” She gestured with the gun.

  I didn’t like the way she was waving that thing around. Was it even real? Maybe it was just a toy gun. I wasn’t going to take my chances on finding out though. I headed down the steps and around the house to retrieve the keys from the bushes. The only problem was I couldn’t find them. Right away I was moving the branches around trying to see something shiny. It just wasn’t there.

  “What’s taking so long to get the keys? Let’s go,” she said with irritation in her voice.

  Her impatience was making me nervous. Oh, and the gun pointed at me… that was making me nervous too.

  “I’m having a bit of a problem locating the keys.”

  “Well, I know they’re there somewhere, so find them already. Don’t you have an extra set?”

  “No, my grandmother lost them. I need to get another set made.”

  Thank goodness I finally located the keys and grabbed them. I showed her the keys after she demanded to see what was in my hand. She was surely paranoid. We headed back around the front of the house and up the steps to the door. This time I managed to get the key into the lock. I wished I’d been able to do that earlier. I opened the door and stepped inside with Joy right behind me. I turned to the left and toward the living room. I
definitely wasn’t going to offer her tea or water. No coffee and scones.

  “Have a seat and we’ll talk,” she said.

  I was pretty sure there was nothing that I wanted to talk to her about. But nevertheless, I sat down and waited to hear what she had to say.

  “I came to retrieve the money.”

  “I figured that much,” I said. “Hunter was just arrested.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

  “You should be aware that the police will be here soon.”

  “We’ll have to hurry then. I’m not worried because if they come here and I don’t get my money you’ll be dead.”

  Yeah, I wasn’t liking this conversation one bit.

  “I don’t have the money,” I said.

  She laughed. “As if I’m supposed to believe that. Now tell me where the money is.”

  I supposed I could just be truthful with her.

  “My grandmother took the money and I don’t know where it is. She hid it.”

  After saying this I realized that was a mistake. Now she would want to go find Grandma Honey. She’d demand the money. The last thing I wanted to do was to get Grandma Honey in any kind of danger. I should’ve kept my mouth shut and pretended like I didn’t know what she was talking about.

  If I didn’t talk again she would have no choice but to kill me. Then she would never know where Grandma Honey had hidden the money. My grandmother would be safe. I’d be happier that way. It was settled. I couldn’t let her get away with this. I had to do something to get that gun away from her. Plus, I really needed to call the police. I needed to know that they were on their way over. It was still forty-five minutes before Heath was supposed to show up. What would he think if he saw me being held at gunpoint yet again? I was probably too much trouble for him. Danger seemed to follow me lately.

  But how would I get the gun away from her? I would have to do the same thing that I did to Hunter. I’d distract her and possibly make her fall and lose the gun. That was the only chance I had. What were the odds that it would happen that way again for the second time?

  I had no gumballs this time, so that was out of the question. The gumballs had worked so well last time. I scanned the room, but tried to be tricky about it. There was a lamp on the table next to me, but she would shoot me as soon as I reached for that. This wasn’t going to work out as I had planned.

  Then, as if by some kind of miracle, the clock on the wall chimed. She turned and looked at it. I took this opportunity to attack her. I lunged at her with all the force of my body Everything in me I used to tackle her. We fell with a loud thud onto the floor. The gun flew from her hand just as I’d hoped it would. Now I had to find a way to get to it before she did. She let out a loud groan. I was on top of her.

  We looked to the left at the same time with our eyes focused on that gun. Then we moved, but I had the advantage because she was pinned underneath me. That meant that I would be able to get to the gun first. At least in my mind that was the way it worked out. I just had to see if it worked out that way in reality. Oftentimes things never worked out the way that we planned or hoped that they would.

  I made it to the gun first. I had my hand around it, but she grabbed me from the back. She was pulling on my legs. At least I had a gun though, so as she pulled me across the floor, I turned my upper body slightly and aimed toward her.

  “Let go of my legs now. Or I’ll pull this trigger,” I said.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said as she kept pulling on me.

  Oh, no, this was a nightmare. If I actually had to pull the trigger I didn’t know what I’d do. I guessed I would just let her keep talking until something extreme happened. Then I would maybe pull the trigger. If my life depended on it. Yes, I would definitely want to pull in that situation.

  “Just let me go,” I said, kicking my legs.

  Finally, she lost her grip and my legs were free, but it wasn’t because she did it on purpose. She just couldn’t hold on any longer. I turned around and was sitting upright. The gun was still in my hand. She stared in disbelief.

  “Put your hands up,” I said. “I’ll shoot.”

  She did as she was told, although slowly and reluctantly. I got to my feet and inched across the room, headed toward my purse. I wanted to get the phone out so that I could call the police. I kept my eyes on her the entire time because I didn’t trust her for one second. I pulled out my phone. Luckily, I was able to touch the screen and dial back the detective’s number. He wouldn’t expect to hear from me so soon.

  When he answered, I said, “I’ve got her… I have Joy. She’s standing in my house and I have a gun pointed at her now.”

  “Again?” he asked. “I’ll be right there.”

  I hung up with him, but I wished I was still talking. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel completely alone in the situation. Things could change in an instant if she made one move. Though I wasn’t sure which way it would change. Would something happen to her or would she get the upper hand again? Either way, this was dangerous.

  “Are you going to answer me and tell me how you knew that Mr. Sutherland had money?” I asked.

  She stared at me for a moment with a smirk on her face, and then she said, “Because he told me.”

  “Why would he tell you something like that?”

  “I just came in and talked to him. He considered me a friend. That was his mistake. When I found out he was selling the place to you I had to do something. He said he was leaving, taking all that money with him. I just decided that I should have it.

  “Why did you want him to sell the place?” I asked.

  She stared at me for a long moment, as if a contemplating whether she really wanted to answer. “I wanted the buildings on that block for new development.”

  The sirens sounded in the distance and I released a pent-up breath. Only a few seconds later and they were right outside the window. I hurried over to the door with my gun still aimed at Joy. I opened the door, ready for the police to come in. The detective pulled up and rushed out of the car. He raced up the front path toward me. I let my guard down.

  Joy attacked me again from behind. I landed on the floor and the gun flew from my hand. Luckily, the detective was able to grab it before anything bad happened.

  “Get off her and put your hands up right now.”

  Immediately she did as he said. There was no hesitation this time. She knew that he would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary to get her away from me. I was able to get to my feet and back away from her while he put her in handcuffs. Finally I was able to relax a little bit. It would take a while for me to come down off this adrenaline rush. Thank goodness she was now arrested.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine now.”

  The other officers arrived, and the detective took Joy outside to one of their cars.

  “How did that happen?” he asked when she was secure in one of the vehicles.

  I explained to him everything that had gone down.

  “That’s crazy,” he said. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

  “I’m just glad I was able to call you,” I said.

  “Well, it’s all over now.”

  “Thank goodness,” I said.

  He stared at me for a moment, as if he wanted to ask something.

  “You know, when I saw your number again I was kind of happy,” he said.

  “Really?” I asked.

  “I wanted to talk to you again. I was going to call you when things settled down. When I saw your number, I thought you were calling just to talk to me. I’ll be honest, that’s what I really wanted.”

  Now I had butterflies in my stomach, dancing away like crazy.

  “But I understand that wasn’t why you’re calling. However, I wondered if you’d like to go out on a date with me? I completely understand if you don’t. I just thought I would let you know how I felt. I get the impression maybe you have something going on with the dentist.” He waited an
xiously for me to respond.

  Before I had a chance to respond, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A car pulled up. I checked the time on my phone and realized it was time for Heath to be here. Well this would be awkward. I looked over at the detective and it was as if he knew. I didn’t have to answer him.

  “I have plans for dinner tonight,” I said.

  Heath walked up and saw me talking to the detective.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Joy showed up, but it’s under control now.”

  “Are you all right?” Heath asked.

  “I’m just fine.”

  The detective nodded. “Well, I’ll be going now that everything is finished up here.”

  The men stood there staring at me. I didn’t know what to do next. Heath looked as if he knew something was going on other than just talking about what happened with Joy.

  The detective forced a smile at Heath. “It was nice seeing you again.”

  Now I had a big dilemma. Which man should I date? Never had I imagined that both would ask me out. I’d never been in this situation before. Detective Monroe didn’t look back as he got into his car.

  “We can cancel the date if you’d like under the circumstances,” Heath said.

  “I’m fine,” I said with a wave of my hand.

  He studied my face. “If you’re sure.”

  “Positive,” I said with a smile. “I just need to change and grab my bag. Would you like to come inside?”

  “That would be great.”

  As I turned toward the door I caught sight of something shiny out of the corner of my eye. A shiny gold ring on the ground near Heath’s feet. How had I not noticed that before?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  I stepped closer and reached down to pick up the ring. “Where did this come from?”

  The shiny gold jewelry was unmistakable. It was the ring that Hunter had worn on the day he killed Mr. Sutherland. How had it gotten in my front yard? Had Hunter been at my house? That had to be it. When I’d heard the sounds it had been Hunter. The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

  “This is the ring Hunter wore. I saw it on his finger when he was in the shop on the day he murdered Mr. Sutherland.” I held up the ring.