The car.
I’d been so focused on the missing purse detail and the boxes filled with mason jars that I’d overlooked the car. Mike had asked a dozen questions about it. The size. The make. The model. The color. I couldn’t be very specific about any of it. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that LuAnn was mowed down by a car. That meant the person driving it was most likely local or one of the volunteers who came to Nashville early, because most coaches and students came in vans or buses to these events.
Of the people I’d talked to about LuAnn, the ones who were from Nashville were Christine, Donna, and Kelly. Christine might have had cause to bash LuAnn with her bumper, but I couldn’t see her cast in that role. Not unless she’d missed her calling as a world-class actress. Her surprise over LuAnn’s death and the cause of it had felt too real.
Donna? The woman might have been willing to do whatever it took to keep her reality dating show, but she had an alibi. She and Scott claimed to have been together, schmoozing a new potential sponsor for the contest, during that time. Would they lie for each other? You betcha. But I was betting they were telling the truth since there was a third party who, if questioned, would have to verify their story. While they might lie to keep each other out of jail, I didn’t think the money guy would be interested in risking his current address and wardrobe for orange jumpsuits and a room with a view encased by bars.
That left Kelly and her sparkly jewelry. Kelly who had listened at our staging room door. Who worked year-round on this competition and would have known about LuAnn’s threats to have the sponsors pull their cash. If that had happened, Kelly would not only have been saddened to see the students lose this creative outlet that she and her husband had helped create; she would also lose her job.
Huh. Her job. Why did Kelly have a midlevel job for an organization that her husband and she helped create? If I remembered the bio from the competition website correctly, Kelly had only been working as a member of the office staff for a few years. Could that have been just after her husband, daughter, and granddaughter were killed in the car crash? I was pretty sure that it was. The sparkles on Kelly’s fingers suggested money wasn’t the reason behind her employment. The need to stay busy and connected to her family was. And LuAnn put that connection at risk. LuAnn threatened not only the financial future but the reputation of the organization that Kelly’s husband and she had together helped create. The organization that was one of the few things she had left of her family. Did I think Kelly was the type to sit back and take that threat lightly? No. No, I really didn’t. And if Millie went to talk to Christine about my ransacked room and ran into Kelly instead . . .
As the plane wheels hit the tarmac, I said, “I think I know who killed LuAnn Freeman and who kidnapped Aunt Millie.”
I had to run to keep up with Mike as he barreled through the terminal, toward the exit. All while we walked, Mike talked to the lead detective on the case and I read my texts, which told me that, though Devlyn and Larry had been informed about my aunt’s disappearance, my students were in the dark. Good. I didn’t want them to be upset. Between the dozens of texts from Devlyn, Larry, Chessie, and the rest of the team, I almost missed the one sent by a vaguely familiar number.
I stopped walking as I realized why I knew that number. It was the same one that called and told me to meet at the theater on Tuesday night. Ignoring the people swearing as they walked around me, I tapped the screen to display the message sent an hour ago.
Let’s trade. Your aunt for the bag. 3:00 at Parthenon. Don’t be late.
The bag? What bag? Aside from what was in my hotel room, the only bag I had was currently on my shoulder. Kelly wasn’t going to be interested in my toothbrush, driver’s license, and sheet music. She wanted something specific. Something, if I had to guess, that would incriminate her in LuAnn’s death. A bag she must have been looking for when she stole the band boys’ key and ransacked my room.
Suddenly, I knew exactly what Kelly was looking for. LuAnn’s missing purple purse. The purse that LuAnn never let out of her sight. The purse I told the police was missing after she was run down. I’d assumed the person in the car must have taken it before they raced away. According to this text, I was mistaken. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the purse. So who did? And how was I going to keep Millie safe without it?
“I’ll be there,” I typed back. I wasn’t sure what I would do when I got there, but I’d just have to jump off that bridge when I came to it.
A new message appeared. “Come alone or else.”
Clearly, Kelly was getting her cues from bad action flicks. The cliché made me want to roll my eyes even as it made my worry level spike.
“What’s going on?” Mike asked. “I turned around and you weren’t behind me.”
I showed him the message. His fist clenched, either from Kelly’s words or my response, and he said, “First things first, we get a rental car and figure out where this place is. We’ll call the Nashville police on the way.”
“But she said to come alone.”
“Don’t worry. If we do this right, she’ll think you’re flying solo. Unless, of course, you want to face a killer alone.”
Been there. Done that. “No.”
“Then what are we fighting about? Let’s move.”
The Parthenon was exactly what it sounded like. A replica of the building in Greece, complete with columns and fancy stonework. As my phone’s GPS directed us through the city streets, Mike called the lead detective and ran him through recent events while I called Aldo and let him know where we were headed. I watched the dashboard clock. We had thirty minutes to meet Kelly or the “or else” part of her message might click in.
The Parthenon was located smack in the middle of Nashville’s Centennial Park, which meant it should be easier for Mike and the police officers who were on their way to blend in. Right? Kelly couldn’t expect a public park to be empty of people. She was crazy, but I didn’t think she was completely nuts.
Mike parked the car a block east of our destination. The sky was dark. Rain threatened. The clock read 2:35. Twenty-five minutes until I needed to meet Kelly.
“Stay here. The Nashville police gave me a description of the suspect’s car. I’m going to take a quick look around and see if I can spot where she parked. If she does plan on making a swap, your aunt will most likely be waiting in the vehicle. The suspect isn’t going to want to risk bringing your aunt out in the open. Don’t go anywhere until you hear from me.”
Without waiting for me to acknowledge his edict, Mike got out and started jogging in the direction of the Parthenon. He wasn’t wearing a uniform or his gun, but the tension in his body and the way he studied the cars he passed screamed cop. I just hoped Kelly didn’t see what to me appeared so obvious. If she did, Aunt Millie would be in even more trouble.
I watched the clock on my phone as the minutes crept by. Twenty minutes left. Nineteen. Eighteen. When my clock told me fifteen minutes remained, I opened the car door and got out. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The storm was getting closer.
I rubbed my arms with my hands and squinted at the Parthenon, trying to see whether Kelly was one of the people standing outside. It was hard to tell from here. I checked my phone. No messages from Mike, and there were fourteen minutes left. Yes, Mike had said to stay here, but the time crunch was making me nervous, especially being this far away from where in mere minutes I needed to be. Grabbing my purse from the passenger’s seat, I hurried down the sidewalk.
Aha. I spotted a street vendor selling large canvas bags with the word “Nashville” on the side. Kelly expected me to arrive with LuAnn’s purse. Since I didn’t have that purse, I was going to do the next best thing. Bluff.
Armed with the bag, two Nashville travel mugs, gray sweatpants with a guitar decal ironed onto the ass, and a stuffed animal wearing a “Country Music Rocks” T-shirt, I put my now-lighter wallet back in my purse and
shoved everything including my purse into the Nashville bag. Then I studied my work. Would Kelly believe I had LuAnn’s enormous purple purse shoved inside? I sure hoped so, because it was the only idea I had.
Eight minutes remained until meeting time. A light rain began to fall from the sky. My phone dinged. I had a message. Hoping Mike was going to tell me that Millie had been found and the Nashville cops had Kelly in custody, I looked down at my phone.
Not Mike. The message was from Aldo. He and Killer were here at the park and were headed for the Parthenon, determined to help rescue Millie. Oh shit.
I didn’t think. I just ran.
The raindrops were fatter and more numerous as I bolted down the sidewalk. The heels I had worn to my audition weren’t conducive to footraces, but I didn’t care. I needed to find Aldo before Kelly spotted him and decided to run or attack. Either option was bad.
I stepped on a crack in the sidewalk and turned my ankle, but I didn’t stop running. The Parthenon was closer. And there—I spotted a woman with black hair. She was looking in the opposite direction so I couldn’t get a clear view of her face, but I was pretty sure it was Kelly Jensen. Aldo and Killer weren’t in view.
My cell phone buzzed. The message from Mike asked, “Where are you?”
He must be back at the car. Doing my best to shield the phone from the falling rain, I typed, “Went to meeting. Aldo is here.” Kelly’s eyes settled on me as I was sliding my phone back into my pocket. She stood in the covered area between two massive columns. A folded umbrella was in her left hand, taunting me with the fact that she had the protection from the rain I currently was in need of. I quickly forgot about my wet state when I noticed her hand shoved into the bulging pocket of her stylish off-white trench. I had no idea what Kelly had in that pocket, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.
Despite the fact I was still getting drenched, I slowed my pace. Kelly’s eyes shifted from my face to the bag on my shoulder. At least a dozen people were standing in the Parthenon’s columned entrance, looking at the falling rain, which made approaching Kelly slightly less scary. She wasn’t going to attack me in front of witnesses. Was she?
“Stop right there,” Kelly yelled when I was just steps away from the columns and the shelter they provided.
“It’s pouring,” I said, glancing behind me. Still no sign of Aldo. Maybe Killer had given Aldo trouble getting out of the car. Unless it was at the overpriced, incredibly pretentious dog salon Millie insisted on using, Killer hated getting wet. “Maybe you could step back? That would give me room to come inside,” I suggested.
Kelly shook her head and shifted the hand in her pocket. “I want you to take the item I asked you to bring out of your bag and place it on the ground.”
Now that I was closer, I could see the bump in her pocket better. Something was poking the fabric out and there was only one thing I could think of. A gun.
Swallowing down my panic, I said, “I want to see Aunt Millie. Where is she?”
“She’s around.”
“That’s not good enough,” I said. “How do I know you’ve seen her today? You might be taking advantage of her disappearance to get LuAnn’s purse. You really should’ve grabbed it after you hit her with your car. Now that you’ve ransacked my hotel room and kidnapped my aunt, people are going to know you’re behind everything.”
Kelly frowned. “LuAnn was single-handedly destroying the legacy my husband left behind, not to mention putting the children we’re here to protect at risk. All she cared about was money and feeling powerful.”
“So what was the plan? You’d meet with LuAnn and convince her to turn over a new leaf?” Talk about optimistic.
“No, not exactly. I was going to offer her money if she’d admit to me all of the things she’d done and walk away from working with the competition. I was going to record the whole conversation. That way she couldn’t bilk me out of my money. She’d have to go away and stay away. For good.”
A couple unfurled an umbrella and walked past Kelly into the rain. They gave me a strange look, since it appeared I had chosen to stand in the rain instead of duck for cover.
Ignoring them, I said, “Clearly, that plan didn’t work.”
Kelly’s eyes narrowed. “I knew it wouldn’t. LuAnn always had to be difficult. Why should this time be any different? She came to the theater expecting Christine. When she learned I was the one who set up the meeting and that Christine had no intent to boot your team from the competition as she’d demanded, LuAnn got angry. She started screaming that I was a joke. How Christine and the competition only kept me around out of pity. That everyone knew I didn’t have the flu when my husband died and that the other woman in the car was the mistress he was going to divorce me for.”
Ouch.
The phone in my pocket vibrated, but I wasn’t exactly in the position to answer as Kelly said, “I realized how stupid I was to think that LuAnn was only interested in money. She liked ruining people. So I climbed into my car. She yelled that she wasn’t surprised I was running. That I was weak. That’s why my husband was going to leave me and she was going to make sure people learned the truth. She was going to ruin my husband’s memory and destroy the reputation I’d built just like she was going to ruin this contest. Fate had already taken my husband, daughter, and granddaughter. I couldn’t let LuAnn take the only things I had left.”
“So you ran her down.”
“I’d originally planned on shooting her, but found I couldn’t do it. I was lucky LuAnn goaded me into running her down.”
“Lucky” wasn’t the word I’d use.
“When I got home, I called the police to give them the tip that someone had killed LuAnn, only they were already on the scene. They said someone else had contacted them. For a while I was worried they’d be able to save her. I waited for the cops to come to my door. Instead, Christine called and told me that you’d found LuAnn dead. I was relieved until I remembered LuAnn’s purse and the divorce papers she found that my husband filed right before he died.”
“Why would it matter if that got out?” Call me crazy, but the man was dead.
“I spent my entire life dedicated to being the perfect wife and mother. It’s the reason people ask me to sit on their boards and work on their charities. Without that I have nothing. Now give me the purse so all of this can end.”
I saw the glint of metal as Kelly’s hand shifted out of her pocket. The gun was small, but in this case I was pretty sure size didn’t matter.
Mike and the Nashville police had to be nearby. I just needed a little more time so they could show up and save the day. Desperate, I latched onto the only other question I could think of. “Why did you call me and tell me to meet you at the theater?” If it hadn’t have been for that, I’d have never found LuAnn or called the cops or ended up standing here taking a shower in front of the Parthenon.
Kelly shook her head as if disappointed that I wasn’t smart enough to figure it out on my own. “The police needed someone to blame for LuAnn’s murder. I chose you. Now give me the purse.”
There was nothing wrong with Kelly’s reflexes. One minute she was standing next to a fake Greek column; the next she was shoving me to the ground and grabbing the Nashville bag off my arm with her left hand. Her right hand still held the gun. I rolled to the right and sprang to my feet, ready to launch myself at Kelly, but a big growling puff of white got there first.
“Ow!” Kelly screamed as Killer’s teeth clamped down on her wrist. Kelly kicked at the dog, but he didn’t release his hold. Kelly had kidnapped Millie, and Killer was pissed.
People standing in the Parthenon shouted for help. And help came. As if by magic, a very wet-looking Mike and a number of cops appeared from every direction. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aldo huffing and puffing as he hurried in our direction.
“Nashville Police Department. Drop the weapon,” someone ye
lled.
Maybe Kelly didn’t hear. Or maybe she was just too angry to pay attention to the direction. She kicked at Killer and let out another scream as Killer chomped down on her arm and yanked it to the left.
That was when Kelly’s gun fired. One of the cops fired back. A bright red spot appeared on the side of Kelly’s white coat as she dropped her gun and fell to the ground.
Chapter 25
Cops hurried through the rain to restrain her. As if understanding his prey was down for the count, Killer let go and trotted to Aldo, who gave Kelly’s downed body a satisfied nod. Then Aldo asked the important question, “Where is Millie?”
I had no idea.
“Kelly had her stashed at her home.” Mike strolled over, holding an umbrella. “The police were verifying that Millie was there and safe before moving to apprehend. You’d have known that if you’d stayed where I told you to stay and waited to read the message I sent.”
Oops.
Mike turned and put his hand on Aldo’s shoulder. “EMTs are giving Millie the once-over now. If you want, I can have one of the cops drive you and Killer over to keep her company while she waits to answer some questions.”
Aldo didn’t have to be asked twice. He grabbed Killer’s leash and made a beeline for the line of cop cars parked to the far side of the park. A few minutes later, Mike had worked out the details and Aldo and Killer were zipping off to be with the love of their lives.
The rain had stopped by the time Kelly was taken away. I had answered a bunch of questions, and Mike and I were finally given the all clear to leave. It was two hours until showtime. I was thankful the hotel wasn’t far. We headed there for me to shower and change out of my still-wet clothes. As we drove, I expected Mike to express his displeasure at the way I’d disobeyed orders. Instead, he gave me a rundown on what I had missed while I was standing in the rain being threatened by a maniac. I guessed he was waiting to read me the riot act until I had stopped doing my impersonation of a drowned rat.