Kristin Ashe: Disorderly Attachments Part 35

"Cops'll be here in no time, after Hazel sounds the alert."

"She won't call. I hid her hearing aids this afternoon, while she was napping."

Fran stared at me, nonplussed. "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you? You feel right about it?"

"Yes."

"Then how come you're shaking?"

"Because I've never killed anyone."

"Why start now?" Fran said nonchalantly.

"What else am I supposed to do, wait for Carolyn O'Keefe to destroy our lives?"

"You given any consideration to other people?"

"Like who?"

"Me, you knucklehead. What'll I do if you're in the slammer?"

"You have a hundred friends, not to mention all the women you're dating."

"They're acquaintances. Relations.h.i.+ps a mile wide and an inch deep. Only true friend I have is standing smack-dab in front of me."

I transferred my hardened stare from her face to the wall next to her. "I have to do this, Fran."

"Bert won't like it. This house doesn't need a murder. How's she gonna market that?"

"She can find another house."

"What about Flax? You and he bonded, high-strength resin. The kid looks up to you."

"He'll survive," I said grimly.

"And Destiny," Fran said softly. "Think of her."

"Why do you think I'm doing this?" I wailed. "Ever since Carolyn O'Keefe walked into my office, I haven't been able to think of anything else. I'm terrified of losing her."

"You won't."

"No one's ever loved me like she has."

"Vice versa."

"She's my best friend," I said, starting to cry.

"Best in the world," Fran agreed.

"I need to see her every day."

"You will."

I choked back a sob. "I miss her. I've been so lonely this past month."

"I hear you. Sit down and let me give you a slice of advice."

I lowered myself to the floor but said defiantly, "Don't try to talk me out of this."

"Have no intention of that. First tidbit, don't hold the gun in the air."

I flashed Fran a stunned look. "You're telling me how to shoot Carolyn?"

"May as well do a decent job of it. Hold the metal next to your hip, with both hands. First shot'll stop her or stand her up as she lurches. Second one'll send her back. Got that?"

I nodded weakly. "How do you know so much about guns?"

"Uphill Sherry has a side business. Designs clothes for women who pack heat."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No, ma'am. Started the biz when she couldn't find clothing that comfortably concealed a piece."

"Does she make any money?" I said, as if holding a normal conversation, not as if I were about to take a life.

"More than she used to repairing Birkenstocks. Big bucks in skirts, jackets and pants with room for a rod."

"How bizarre."

"You need any more shooting tips?"

I shrugged, losing my conviction.

"Aim for the torso, not the head."

The gun weighed forty pounds in my hand, and I felt like throwing up.

Fran crossed the room and squatted next to me. "Better yet, let me murder O'Keefe."

"Why?"

"Better me than you on a concrete bunk. I've done a lot of living, wouldn't mind resting in the joint, surrounded by women."

"You'd kill Carolyn O'Keefe for me? You're not serious?"

Fran grinned slightly. "No, but you ain't either."

"I wish I could," I said, letting out the breath I'd held for twenty-nine days.

I handed Fran the gun, and she leaned in to give me a hug, but before we could touch, a scream pierced the night.

Followed by the sound of gla.s.s shattering.

Chapter 29.

Fran and I bolted for the bedroom door, which she reached first. She flung it open, and from the threshold, we could see the broken window.

I was paralyzed.

To Fran's credit, she approached the second-story turret window, advancing with tiny steps, waving the gun back and forth.

The twenty-foot walk seemed to take an hour.

After she put her head out the window, she turned to me, baffled. "She's gone."

Emergency medical technicians spent the better part of the night cleaning up the blood and brain matter Carolyn O'Keefe had sprayed on the building, sidewalk, yard and street.

After Fran dialed 911, she'd had the presence of mind to hide Destiny's gun in Hazel's flower wagon and to call Roberta Franklin.

Hazel matched my smile before turning somber. "I didn't want to die here, with no one finding me for hours or days."

"I don't blame you," I said, responding to her note of apology.

"I've missed being around people. It will be nice to be surrounded by life again, without having to make grand plans."

"You won't have to pay Flax to step and fetch."

She let out a chuckle. "True enough. Do you suppose finding Constance's body will have a lasting effect on him?"

"He viewed it as an adventure," I said, bending the truth a bit.

"How long had he known about the pa.s.sageway?"

"Since last summer. He used both bas.e.m.e.nts and the tunnel as a fort, but he never went into the locked room, not until the day we found Constance."

"Ah." Hazel sighed. "It's good that you were with him. And I'm pleased Constance had a proper burial. Please thank Roberta for me, for making the arrangements."

"I will," I said succinctly, leaving out details of the markers Roberta had had to call in to get McConnell Mortuaries to bury the body.

"Everyone's been so kind," Hazel said pensively. "They're all quite concerned about my well-being."

"Will you miss the mansion?"

She gazed over at it. "A bit, I suppose."

"Roberta plans to live in one of the units, and I'm sure the other owners wouldn't mind giving you a tour."

"Oh, I won't find that necessary," Hazel Middleton said firmly. "This house and I, we've had enough of each other."

Fran Green and Tess Thompson had had enough of each other also. Fran solved the dilemma of how to remove Tess from her life by introducing her to Robyn, the insurance contracts a.n.a.lyst she met through her personal ad, and apparently the two of them hit it off.

Fran put the brakes on her relations.h.i.+p with Roberta Franklin as well. They agreed to downgrade their relations.h.i.+p to "s.e.xual companions." I'd never heard of that particular definition for two senior citizens, but what did I know?

I'd donated the $ 10,000 Carolyn O'Keefe had paid me to the Lesbian Community Center and taken perverse satisfaction in the knowledge that it had been matched by s.h.i.+rley Ba.s.sett's donation.

Destiny and I returned to normal, whatever normal was, but I did make one significant change.

I placed a photo of her on my desk at work.

No one would ever again walk into my office and not know what she meant to me.

end.