Sealed with a Hiss Read online

  Chip Buckingham, the dark-haired man with the roving eye, takes his place next to his wife and both Jasper and I take a moment to scowl at him.

  Diane heads up on stage with Sugar in one hand and a large manila envelope in the other. Gizmo runs up right along with her, wagging his happy little tail, and the audience breaks out into laughter at the sight of the furry cutie.

  “This is from all of us at a Perfect Pairing,” Diane says as she hands the envelope to Bobbie. “You kids enjoy it.” She trots back to her seat as Bobbie clutches the envelope to her chest.

  “What have you done?” Bobbie laughs as she slips her finger across the seal. “This is the part where normally I would say you shouldn’t have, but if whatever this is involves an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, well then, yes, you very much should have!”

  The crowd bucks with laughter and cheers.

  Bobbie pulls out what looks to be a few eight by ten photos as she thumbs through them quickly and her smile quickly dissipates as she staggers on her feet.

  “This must be good,” Mom whispers my way.

  “You”—she takes a step back from Chip and her face goes white—“you’ve been cheating on me?”

  A sharp gasp hisses around the room, followed by a small titter of laughter. And I can’t blame the ones who are laughing. It all feels so very staged as if Bobbie were about to land the punch line.

  “Who is this woman you’re with?” Her voice is tight and curt, and suddenly it’s apparent to everyone this is no laughing matter. She turns to look at the crowd. “This is you, isn’t it, Keegan?” she growls as she tosses her microphone into the crowd. “I hate you!” she cries out to the faceless woman before giving Chip a hard shove to the chest. “And I hate you, too!” The pictures fall from her grasp as she runs right out of the ballroom, and on her heels is Chip, the cheater.

  Lacey chokes into her microphone as she looks to the crowd. “Please, stay and— um, there’s a book in the back, I think.” She drops the microphone and takes off for Bobbie like any good best friend would.

  The chandeliers up above light up the room once again as instrumental music begins to seep through the speakers.

  Diane gets up and pulls the redhead that was talking to Lacey earlier to the side, and the two of them look to be having some choice words themselves.

  My guess is that’s Keegan.

  I’m about to head that way when they both dart out of the ballroom using the same exit Bobbie took off in. And Gizmo is right there on their trail, barking up a storm after them.

  Bodies rise from their seats, and soon the crowd is murmuring in hushed whispers as we try to digest what just played out before us.

  Jasper leans in. “I’m going to collect those pictures.” He darts for the stage before I can answer.

  It’s a good idea for many reasons: first and foremost to protect Bobbie’s privacy, and then, of course, in the event they’re needed as evidence for her forthcoming divorce.

  Soon, the entire room is on their feet and some of the women have migrated back toward the front, toward that coffin, pretending to add a few extra notes to the mix, but we all know they’re hoping to catch a glimpse of those pictures. And Macy just so happens to be a first class offender, leading the charge.

  Good call on Jasper’s part for snapping them up.

  Fish pats my chest with her soft little paw. I smell a rat, Bizzy—one of the human variety. Who do you think gave that woman those pictures?

  Sherlock barks. It was Diane! I saw her do it. And to think I thought she was a nice woman. Poor Gizmo is stuck with her. Maybe I should help him plot his escape?

  “Just because she gave Bobbie that envelope doesn’t mean she knew what was in it,” I say.

  Mom nods my way. “You’re so right, Bizzy. But who would have done something like this in front of a crowd no less? It takes a monster.”

  Georgie steps in. “My money is on this Keegan person. I’ve never been wrong about who the other woman was in my man’s life. Sometimes a woman knows exactly who to point the finger at.”

  Mom huffs, “And sometimes there are far too many potential other women. Believe me, I would have never pointed the finger at you, Juni. No offense.”

  Juni shrugs as she adjusts her leather jacket. “No offense taken. I aim to surprise.”

  “Speaking of surprises—” I say. “Would the three of you mind keeping an eye on things? I need to check the foyer and maybe let the staff know what’s going on.”

  I take off with Fish and Sherlock in tow. The foyer to the inn is cool and sparse with bodies. The gray wood floors and the dark wooden walls hold a rustic appeal, and just in front of the creamy marble reception counter is an old-fashioned grand staircase that leads to the upper level.

  Both of my employees, Nessa and Grady, are busy helping a crowd of guests, so I bypass them and head out into the icy February night. The sky is clear, but it’s definitely cold enough to snow if we had a good storm. We’re right on the cove, so the snow doesn’t stick as long as I’d like it to.

  Just outside the inn sits a tall three-tiered fountain with pink lights in honor of the heart-shaped holiday upon us. The inn is a palatial structure, and surrounding it are over three dozen cottages, one of which I happen to share with Jasper and our two fur babies.

  I glance in that direction, and something right in front of my cottage catches my eye. It’s about a five-minute walk, so I start in on a decent jog until the jumble lying in front of my driveway begins to take shape and a breath gets locked in my throat.

  Lying on the ground before me are both Chip and Bobbie Buckingham. And judging by the blood pooling around them, there may just be a real need for that casket yet.

  Make that two.

  Chapter 3

  A sharp scream escapes me. It feels innate, an autonomic response that I have no control over, and oddly, it feels as if I’m watching myself and this entire horrific nightmare unfold from somewhere in the navy sky.

  Fish lets out an ear-piercing yowl. Run, Bizzy! In the other direction!

  Sherlock barks and snaps as he scampers over to the bodies, and his barks quickly dissipate to whimpers.

  No sooner do I stagger my way closer to the couple splayed over the ground than both Jasper and his friend, Deputy Leo Granger, materialize. Jasper checks Chip’s vitals and shakes his head up at me, letting me know it’s too late to save him. But Leo checks Bobbie’s vitals repeatedly before hovering his cheek above her nostrils.

  Curled in Bobbie’s left hand is a sleek black handgun, and it takes my breath away once I spot it.

  “She’s alive!” Leo shouts, and soon Jasper is calling it in.

  It all feels like a dizzying nightmare as the sirens saw through the icy night. The seizure of blue and red flashing lights illuminates our small corner of the world, and soon an entire tribe of EMTs is hauling Bobbie into the back of a waiting ambulance.

  A crowd amasses around us, and Leo quickly cordons off the area with caution tape that looks as if it glows in the night.

  Jasper comes my way and pulls me in close. “Bizzy.” His chest is palpitating as if he just ran a marathon. “It looks like it was an attempted murder-suicide. We’re going to be here until morning. You might want to head to your mom’s for the night.” He glances to our cottage less than a few feet away. “I don’t think you’re going to get a whole lot of rest with the ruckus that’s going to take place out here.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I take a moment to study the scene behind him. “Jasper, it doesn’t make sense. Aren’t these kinds of events usually planned out with a little more thought? Why would Bobbie want to kill herself when she had a packed house of her most ardent fans less than a hundred feet away?”

  “She was humiliated.” He sighs in the poor woman’s direction. “Unfortunately, it happens.”

  “What about the pictures? Where are they?” I quickly pat down his torso as if they might be on him somewhere.

  “I put them in the back of Leo’s
cruiser. And right about now, I’m glad I didn’t take them to the cottage. I checked them out. It was hard to see who the other woman was. But it was very clear that Chip was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing with her. Look, don’t worry about this.” He dots a kiss to my cheek. “Just take care of what you need to at the inn. I’ll have these guys wrap this up as quickly as they can. I plan on following the ambulance to the hospital. I need to speak to Bobbie Buckingham as soon as she’s medically stable.” He bends over and gives Sherlock a quick pat. “You watch over our girls, buddy. Who knows when I’ll be back. I’ll hitch a ride with Leo since my truck is blocked in.”

  Sherlock barks. I’ll protect Bizzy and Fish with my life if I have to! Even if the killer comes at us with a fistful of bacon.

  Oh brother, Fish mewls. Bizzy, I hope you realize we’re on our own.

  Jasper gives me one last kiss before taking off.

  “Be safe,” he says as he darts into the crowd.

  “Bobbie?” a woman screams from behind, and I spot the woman with the short platinum hair holding Sugar, the small gray kitten. It’s Diane, the manager, trying to garner Bobbie’s attention as her stretcher is being hoisted into the back of the waiting ambulance.

  I head over and Sherlock beats me there, already whimpering around Gizmo as the two of them seem to be having a private conversation. I’m not sure how, but the animals always seem to understand one another, and I’m glad about it, too.

  “Bobbie!” Diane shouts once again. “What’s happening?” Her gaze darts to the medical team tending to her friend, then to me. “Bizzy, what’s happened? Why is Chip lying on the ground over there? Why aren’t they helping him? What’s happened to Bobbie? Why is she bleeding? Was there an accident? Did they get hit by a car?”

  “It wasn’t a car.” I shake my head. “It was a gun.”

  Diane’s mouth falls open as her face bleaches out.

  The tiny kitten in her arms mewls, and I carefully extract her from the woman in fear she’ll drop her.

  “Diane, let me get you something to drink. Some cold water,” I say, trying to move her away from the gruesome scene.

  “No.” She lifts a hand. “I’ll be okay.” Her lips curl at the tips. This is a fine end to a disastrous night. At least there’s some closure for me.

  Closure?

  She nods my way. “Please, if you can help me find someone to mind the cat. Gizmo thinks she’s a toy, and I don’t think I can handle much more than what’s been handed to me tonight.”

  “Diane?” a woman shouts from behind, and we turn to find Lacey trotting this way, her feet wobbling in her heels as she tries her best to take in the dizzying scene.

  A horde of women flock in close to the ambulance, and soon sobs are heard throughout the thicket of bodies as the word why echoes to the sky, while others call out for Bobbie and let her know they’re praying for her.

  It takes a moment for Lacey to emerge from the tangle of bodies, and once she spots Bobbie inside of the ambulance she clutches her chest. Lacey looks sick as a trio of medical workers maneuver around her friend. I study her a moment in that dark coat over her sequin dress, and she has on a pair of red silk gloves that match her gown. Funny, I don’t remember her wearing that earlier, but then, it’s freezing outside and right about now I wish I were in a wool coat myself.

  Her forehead breaks out into a series of worry lines as she struggles to take in the scene.

  Lacey staggers forward with unsure footing. “For the love of all that’s good, would someone please tell me what’s happening here?”

  “I’m sorry,” I pant. “I came out and found them on the ground. The Seaview Sheriff’s Department was right on my heels. There was a gun in Bobbie’s hand. I don’t know much else.”

  “Oh wow…” Lacey’s eyes drink it all in at once. So much blood. Goodbye, Chip. I’m so very sorry you’re gone. And you—she looks to the gurney where Bobbie lies motionless—look where you are. It’s hard to believe she thinks she’s getting away with this.

  My heart breaks to hear her pain turn to anger so quickly.

  A choking sound emits from Diane. “Did you say a gun was in her hand? You mean—she shot him?”

  The crowd around us gasps in unison before they get right back to buzzing, ten times as furtively as they were before.

  “I don’t know.” I shake my head as I pull both Fish and Sugar close to my chest. “I don’t really know anything.” Sugar begins to tremble, and Fish rubs her face against the tiny kitten in an effort to comfort her. “Diane, I’ll take care of Sugar. Don’t worry about a thing. Lacey, if you need anything at all, please feel free to call or swing by. I’ll do whatever I can to help. For now, I’ll instruct my staff to shut things down inside.”

  “The books.” Diane raises her head with a look of agony.

  “Don’t worry about the books,” I tell her. “I’ll store them for you for as long as you like.” I glance back toward the inn and spot Jordy waving me to attention.

  “I’m closing her up,” he shouts, and I nod over at him in response.

  Unfortunately, this isn’t the inn’s first rodeo when it comes to having a casualty on the premises. At this point, the staff is well-versed in what to do, and no instructions are needed.

  The dark-haired man with the beard steps toward the fountain with his hands in his pockets as he observes the scene with a stoic expression. His chin is lifted up a notch, eyes squinted, and if I had to guess, I’d say he looks angry. I try to pick up on his thoughts, but I’m either too far away or they’re just not able to come through.

  I look to Diane and Lacey. “Do either of you know who that man is?” I ask as I nod his way and the two of them look back.

  Diane’s expression sours. “That’s Tiger Caldwell, a producer, I think. I don’t know. Chip introduced us months ago. Truthfully, I wasn’t paying all that much attention.”

  Lacey shrugs. “I thought he was a bookie.” I didn’t care what he was. I wanted in on that action.

  A familiar redhead walks over to him as we watch, and a breath hitches in my throat once I realize it’s Keegan—the exact redhead that Bobbie accused of having an affair with her husband.

  “And there’s the little slut,” Lacey says, mostly under her breath. “She didn’t waste any time in moving on, did she?”

  Diane shakes her head. “No, she sure didn’t.”

  “I take it you ladies don’t care for her?” I glance to the two of them, and yet neither of them dares to admit it.

  Sherlock barks. Bizzy, Gizmo has something to say.

  “Excuse me,” I say as I begin to step away.

  “Just a moment, Bizzy.” Lacey reaches into her purse and pulls out her wallet. The ornately carved leather catches the light, and I can’t help but note a wreath of flowers surrounding what looks to be a hook or the letter J in the center. “My business card. It has my number on it. Please, if you find anything out at all, call me. I just can’t believe Bobbie would be responsible for something like this.”

  “Thank you,” I say as I take the card from her.

  Lacey pulls Diane to the side, and they immediately begin to whisper amongst themselves.

  Gizmo barks and jumps, and I follow both him and Sherlock toward the parking lot where not a soul is congregating.

  “Hey, little guy. What’s going on?” I ask, looking into his sweet button eyes.

  Gizmo whimpers as he looks to Sherlock and the cats in my arms.

  He lets out a sharp bark. I was just telling Sherlock Bones that I had already come upon the scene before he did.

  “What?” I squat down as if I needed the proximity to listen in better. I don’t, but it felt right regardless. “You mean you and Diane were out here with Bobbie and Chip?”

  That’s right. He lets out a little yip. She was shouting Bobbie, Bobbie, and then I heard a bang and we ran.

  I glance back to where Diane and Lacey are still watching that man, Tiger, and that woman, Keegan, by the fountain. B
oth Diane and Lacey wear serious frowns as if they heavily disapproved of what they saw.

  “Gizmo,” I whisper. “Did you see Bobbie holding a gun?”

  He gives a sharp bark. No. I saw Diane holding one.

  My heart lets out a few pronounced thumps as I rise to my feet. And no sooner do I hit an upright position than I find myself staring face-to-face with Diane herself.

  “Come on, Gizmo.” She scoops him up in her arms before looking my way. “I’ll be by sometime soon to figure out what to do with those books. And I don’t know what to tell you about Valentine’s Day.”

  “I do,” Lacey says, coming up behind her. “We’re still on for the dance, Bizzy.” She glares over at the ambulance. “I have a feeling Bobbie would want it that way. And who knows? She might just be there for the event herself. She’s always been bulletproof. And I have a feeling she’s going to prove this theory correct.”

  Diane shakes her head. Leave it to Bobbie Buckingham to turn things upside down. And now the world will think she’s getting away with murder. Knowing her rabid fans, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

  “Goodnight, ladies,” Diane says as she meanders back toward the ambulance and keeps an eye on Bobbie with a hardened glare.

  “Don’t worry, Bizzy.” Lacey stretches a quick smile my way. “I’ll make sure the inn has more than enough business on the fourteenth. In no way was this meant to harm you or your adorable inn.” I’d like to think Bobbie is all through harming people, but seeing that she’s still breathing, I can’t guarantee anyone anything. She’ll pay for what she’s done to Chip. I have no doubt justice will prevail. No one in their right mind will ever believe what she has to say again. We might have been the perfect pairing once, but all that has changed tonight.

  She takes off, bypasses the ambulance, and hugs the caution tape until she’s standing as close to Chip’s body as she can. And less than three feet from her are Keegan and Tiger Caldwell. They might be three different people, but their expressions are one and the same—serene, peaceful and, dare I say, each one of them wears the hint of a smile on their face.