Deep Fried Homicide Read online

  Twelve minutes later, as if on cue, we heard the first siren.

  It clearly wasn’t a police car, though.

  Something nearby was obviously on fire.

  At least that’s what we wanted Rusk to believe as our plan went into motion.

  Chapter 21

  The next thing I knew, there was a heavy pounding on the front door.

  When I opened it, George said loudly, “There’s a fire on the other side of town! We hate to abandon you like this, but Officer Grant and I need to go right now!” He was speaking a little too loud for my taste. Would Rusk believe it? This part was crucial to our plan.

  “Go! Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks,” George said as he winked at me. Turning to Officer Grant, he said, “Let’s go. We’re out of here!”

  They both got into the patrol car parked in the driveway and sped off into the night, lights flashing and siren wailing. All that was left out in front of the cottage was my Jeep. I took a few steps out onto the porch and looked around. The funny thing was that I didn’t even have to pretend to be frightened. I was shaking in my shoes, worrying about what might happen next.

  If Rusk was watching, that should have been all of the invitation that he needed.

  Now all we had to do was wait to see if our trap actually worked.

  Chapter 22

  “Did I lock the bedroom window upstairs?” I asked Jake. “I opened it this morning to let in some fresh air, and now I swear I can’t remember if I locked it back.”

  “Take it easy. I’m sure that you’ve just got a case of the nerves. You checked it, and I’m sure that Terry made sure that it was locked, too.”

  “I know that you’re probably right, but I have to go upstairs and see for myself,” I said, feeling a compulsion to make sure that the cottage was as secure as we could make it. “It will just take a second.”

  “Suzanne, we really need to stay together.”

  “I understand that, Jake, but I have to do this.” While a part of me knew that I was acting irrationally, I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “Go then, but be quick about it, okay?” Jake asked.

  “I will,” I said, and before I headed upstairs, I kissed Jake quickly. “I’ll be back in two shakes.”

  I hurried up the steps, and as I got to the top, I was already regretting my decision to leave his side. Jake had been right. I knew that window was locked, but I had to make doubly sure.

  The odd thing was, my bedroom door was closed when I got to the second floor landing.

  I never closed it unless I was sleeping or napping. Terry must have done it when he’d come back to the cottage half an hour before Jake and I had returned. I didn’t know where the state police inspector was hiding, that was part of the plan, but just knowing that he was somewhere in the house made me feel safer.

  When I opened the bedroom door, though, all of that went away.

  “You must be Suzanne. I’m pleased to finally meet you in person. Do me a favor and get in here, would you? You should know that if you make the slightest sound, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your very short life.”

  I’d seen the flyer with his sketch earlier, so I immediately recognized the man the second I saw him. Rusk was holding a bloodstained knife delicately in his hand as he stood near the doorway into my room.

  Looking past him, I saw State Police Inspector Terry Hanlan trussed up and lying on my bed.

  Terry had clearly been bleeding, and his eyes were closed when I looked at him. I couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive, but there was nothing that I could do for him at the moment.

  I instantly knew what I had to do.

  I had to warn Jake, no matter what the consequences might be. Nothing that this lunatic could threaten me with would be worse than what would happen to the love of my life if Rusk had his way.

  “Jake! He’s up here!” I shouted as I tried to slam the door in the killer’s face. Rusk was too quick for me, though. He made a grab for my arm with his free arm, and I couldn’t get away.

  “I told you to shut up,” he hissed.

  “Terry is hurt!” I shouted in response.

  I saw the knife go up in the air, and I had the worst feeling in that split second than I’d ever had in my life. I knew that I was about to die, and there was nothing that I could do about it. As the stained blade moved closer and closer to my chest, I struggled to move, to fight back, to at least make this man suffer for what he was about to do to me.

  All thoughts of running away were now gone.

  If I was about to die, I was going to go down fighting.

  As the knife neared my chest, I let my legs go out from under me, straining Rusk’s grip on me. He tried to adjust the trajectory of the knife, but he wasn’t quick enough.

  Now I had less than a second to press home my advantage.

  With everything I had in me, I sprung into his stomach, using my head as a battering ram, exploiting my legs for every bit of power that they could generate.

  I could feel some of his ribs breaking on impact, and there was a satisfying huff of air shooting out of his mouth as I made contact.

  Most important of all, though, was the fact that he automatically eased his grip on me.

  This was my chance.

  Jerking my arm away, I was free.

  And I was done fighting. Now it was time for flight.

  Running for the stairs, I was nearly at the top step when I felt my feet go out from under me.

  Rusk had somehow managed to grab my leg before I could make my escape.

  I kicked out with my free leg, but it was no use. His grip was like a steel band around my ankle.

  I wasn’t getting away this time.

  Chapter 23

  “I’m going to kill you slowly and painfully for what you just did,” Rusk whispered in a raspy voice, and I knew that he meant every word of it.

  “Drop the knife,” Jake said as his head appeared in the stairway. His left hand was holding his handgun, and I could see it shaking in his unsteady grasp.

  I just prayed that Rusk wouldn’t notice it.

  But he did.

  “Glad you could join us,” Rusk said almost jovially. “Really, Inspector? Do you honestly feel like risking a shot in your condition? We all know that you’re right-handed,” he told Jake, almost laughing as he said it. “Even at this range, you’re just as likely to shoot Suzanne as you are to hit me.”

  “Shoot him anyway!” I screamed.

  “I told you to shut up,” he snarled.

  “That’s it. You’re out of warnings,” Jake said as he pulled the trigger.

  Unfortunately, the shot missed.

  I held my breath, wondering if it was my last one, when I saw some motion coming from my bedroom. Terry, wounded though he was, had somehow managed to roll onto the floor. Using his trussed legs banded together as a weapon, he kicked out at Rusk, sending the knife clattering to the floor.

  Rusk still had the handgun that he’d stolen from the store, though.

  “I don’t need that anymore anyway. There’s no reason to be quiet now, since all of your friends are out fighting the fire,” he said as he reached into his pocket for his handgun.

  Jake fired again, and this time, he hit home. Rusk took the bullet in his right shoulder, and there was no way that he could retrieve his handgun now. Without hesitation, the killer turned and leapt for the window he’d come in through, not bothering to even open it as he dove through the glass. The man had some kind of monstrous strength to take a bullet like that and keep fighting.

  “He’s getting away!” I screamed as I reached out for Terry’s head to comfort him. “Somebody stop him!” I yelled out into the night.

  And then I heard one final shot.

  Chapter 24

  Evidently Rusk was down for the count, but all I could think about was this brave police inspector who’d put his life on the line for me and my boyfriend.

  “Jake, are you ok
ay?” I shouted out as I grabbed my cellphone with one hand while I cradled Terry’s head in my lap.

  “I’m fine. How about you?”

  “I’m just a little shaken up. I might have a bruise or two tomorrow, but Terry’s really hurt.” I knelt forward and said softly into his ear, “Hang in there.”

  “It’s all good. Don’t worry about me. I’m not going anywhere,” he said in a whisper.

  “911,” the dispatcher said.

  “I need at least two ambulances at my place. This is Suzanne Hart.”

  “Do you need police backup, as well?” she asked.

  “No, I think we’ve got that covered,” I replied. “Tell them to hurry.”

  As the EMTs were carrying Terry down the stairs, I asked them, “How bad is it?”

  “He’s lost some blood, but it looks as though we got him in time,” one of them replied.

  “How about the guy outside?” Jake asked.

  “The police chief shot him in the leg, but the vic’s been shot at least twice as far as we could see. Chief Martin is still out there holding a gun on the guy, though. As a matter of fact, he insisted that we come up here and take care of this guy before we touched the one lying out on the grass, and from the way that he was waving that gun around, we weren’t about to argue with him.”

  “He’s a good man to have watching your back,” Jake said.

  As the stretcher neared Jake, Terry leaned over and asked him, “Are you okay?”

  “Never better. How about you?” Jake asked with a grin. “Thanks, by the way.”

  “Are you kidding? We both should be thanking Suzanne. She’s the one who distracted him long enough for me to kick him in the back.”

  “Hey, I shot the guy, remember?” Jake asked playfully. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

  “Not really,” Terry answered with a grin. That’s when I had a hunch that he was going to be okay.

  Once Rusk was taken away, handcuffed to his stretcher with Officer Grant riding along beside him, Chief Martin joined Jake and me inside the cottage.

  “I’m glad that you were there watching our backs,” Jake told him.

  “I can’t believe that I shot him in the leg,” the chief said. With a slight grin, he added, “I was actually aiming for his chest.”

  “Let’s just keep that our little secret,” Jake said.

  “I don’t care where you shot him. You’re a hero either way in my book,” I told him as I kissed his cheek.

  “It was nothing. I was just doing my job,” the chief said as he blushed a little. “Hang tight. Your mother is on her way.”

  “I figured that she would be,” I said.

  “She wanted me to tell you that you’re welcome to stay with her tonight, given what’s happened,” the chief said.

  “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not going anywhere,” I said as I turned to Jake. “How about you?”

  “I’m game staying here if you are. Besides, it should be safe enough now. As far as we know, there’s no one out there who still wants to kill us now.”

  The next afternoon, Chief Martin came back to the cottage, but he wasn’t alone, nor was he in uniform. He looked rather dashing in his suit, and Momma was absolutely lovely in a pale pink dress.

  “Where are you two off to dressed up like that?” I asked them as they walked into the living room.

  “Actually, we were thinking about getting married in the park,” Momma said.

  “I think it’s a fine idea,” I replied, still not getting it. “But I was talking about right now.”

  “So were we,” the chief said with the broadest smile I’d ever seen on his face.

  “I’m confused,” I said. “I thought you were going to wait until Jake was completely healed.”

  “We were,” Momma admitted, “but after what happened last night, we decided that life was too short to wait. Do you mind?”

  “Not a bit,” I said. “I’m happy for both of you.”

  “Well, the judge is on his way, so you’d both better get dressed. The ceremony starts as soon as he shows up.”

  “Wow, you really are in a hurry,” I said. “Give us ten minutes at least, okay?”

  “I’ll probably need a little more than that,” Jake said.

  “That’s a first,” I answered with a grin.

  “What’s that?”

  “The man is going to take longer to get ready than the woman.”

  “I don’t think that’s even close to being a first today among the four of us,” Momma said as she looked at the chief.

  “What can I say? I couldn’t get my hair to behave, and I wanted to look good for you,” the chief protested, and then we all laughed together.

  It turned out to be a beautiful day for a wedding, and despite any misgivings that I’d had once upon a time about these two people as a couple, I found myself crying during the ceremony. When the chief kissed Momma and they turned to us as husband and wife, I cheered right along with Jake.

  “Congratulations,” I said to the happy couple. “I’d offer you something to eat, but I’m afraid that all I have are leftovers.”

  “I’ve seen that fridge,” Chief Martin said with a smile. “It would be crazy to say no to what’s inside it.” Almost as an afterthought, he turned to my mother and asked, “Is that okay with you, Dorothea?”

  “I think that it’s a lovely idea,” she said, smiling at her new groom.

  “I couldn’t be happier,” the chief said. It didn’t matter that he’d just married my mother. He was still the chief in my mind. What exactly was I supposed to call him now? Even in my own thoughts I couldn’t bear to call him Phillip quite yet. Dad was out of the question. He was my mother’s husband, but I’d had a wonderful father who I’d loved with all of my heart. The chief and I had forged an odd friendship since he’d started dating my mother, but I’d never changed the way I addressed him. There was only one real way that I could resolve it, and this was the perfect time to do it.

  “So, what should I call you now?” I asked him.

  “I’d be honored if you’d just call me Phillip,” he said.

  “Then Phillip it is,” I said, and I kissed his cheek. “Now, let’s go eat, Phillip.”

  As we walked back to the house, Jake asked me, “Do you need any help in the kitchen?”

  “How much help do you think you’ll be with that busted wing of yours?” I asked him with a smile.

  “Not much, but to tell you the truth, I just wanted to give the happy couple a little time alone,” Jake admitted.

  “Then yes, of course I need some help,” I said.

  Jake and I were in the kitchen and the newlyweds were out in the living room having a few quiet moments together. Jake was restless, puttering around as I worked on preparing our meal. It wasn’t as though I didn’t have enough selections still to choose from. We’d done our best to eat our way through the offerings from our friends, but we were still steadily losing ground, since more food kept coming in faster than we could consume it.

  “Do we have any candy?” Jake asked me as he looked around the kitchen.

  “There’s pie, cake, and four other kinds of desserts in the fridge,” I said absently as I put two large trays of food into the oven.

  “No, I don’t want to ruin my appetite. I just want something small. Hey, this is perfect,” he said as he reached for a caramel.

  As I heard him unwrapping the candy, something clicked in my mind, and before another moment passed, I knocked it from his hands.

  “Hey, I was just going to have one,” he protested as he bent to pick it up.

  I held his good arm so that he couldn’t do it, though. “Don’t touch it. I think it’s been poisoned.”

  Jake shook his head. “Just because Heather was eating them doesn’t mean that they’re all tainted,” he said reasonably.

  “Jake, remember what she said when she was arrested? I asked her what she was going to do to me, and she said that she’d already done it. That candy h
as been poisoned; I’m sure of it.”

  “When would she have had the opportunity to do it?” Jake asked, though I noticed that he’d lost all interest in the candy dish as a potential treat.

  “Someone broke into the cottage before we found out about Rusk, remember? I’ve just been assuming that he did it, but what if it was Heather, instead? We know that she didn’t take anything, but I’m willing to bet that she left something behind. Only she must have gotten frustrated when no one died immediately, so she was going to try to break in again and leave more tainted candy behind.”

  At that moment, the police chief rushed into the kitchen, and his face went ashen when he saw the candy on the floor. “Nobody ate any of that, did they?”

  “No,” I said. “Why?”

  “On a hunch, I sent the candy we found where Heather was hiding to the lab. There was enough poison in each piece to kill whoever ate it. I just got the call.”

  “I’m willing to bet that a piece or two in here is poisoned as well,” I said as I gingerly offered him the bowl.

  The chief took out a baggy, and then he grabbed a paper towel and carefully collected the candy and its wrapper still on the floor after he took the bowl from me. “That was too close.”

  “Closer than you might think. Chief, I would have been dead if it hadn’t been for Suzanne,” Jake said, his voice shaking a little as he said it.

  “I got lucky. That’s all,” I said as I started to shake a little after it was all over.

  “Luck didn’t have anything to do with it, and we both know it. Thank you, Suzanne,” Jake said solemnly.

  “You’re welcome,” I told him.

  “Is everyone all right in here?” Momma asked as she joined us in the kitchen. “Phillip, you rushed out of the living room as though you’d seen a ghost.”

  “We’re all fine,” I said. “Momma, are you sure you wouldn’t rather go someplace nicer for your wedding reception?” I asked her.