Chapter 22
Three hours later, Cat emerged from her writing cave satisfied with the day's work. She loved this part of the process, where the words just flew on the page. All she had to do now was finalize the final chapter, and she could set the book aside for a week or two while she brainstormed a proposal for a renewal for her agent. The day had been cool enough that Cat had even had to shut her office windows and slip on the sweater she kept by her desk. Winter wasn't far away.
The noise from Seth's hammering had stopped, and she wondered if he'd taken a break for lunch. That probably was why the house seemed so quiet. The group of them were probably all in the kitchen with Shauna laughing and talking about little to nothing. Her social-butterfly skill was one of the reasons Cat had offered the partnership to her friend when she'd come up with the idea for the retreat. She knew even though she could be pleasant enough, people loved being around Shauna. The girl had magic.
Cat swung open the kitchen door and bent to pick up a cup that had fallen on the floor and been left there, coffee spilt out onto the floor. “Shauna, you need to clean up these accidents, someone could slip and get hurt.” She stood and looked right into a revolver. Dean Larry Vargas stood in her kitchen, a gun in his hand that he had pointed at her.
“You should have stayed upstairs,” Larry said, his voice calm and even. “Now I have two of you I need to get rid of.”
Cat froze with the coffee cup still in her left hand. “What are you doing? You're the dean for God's sake. There's no way you're going to get away with this.”
As she talked, she scanned the room. Shauna was sitting wide-eyed, tied to a kitchen chair, a gag in her mouth. Linda stood next to Larry, his free hand gripping her arm. No sign of Seth.
Larry laughed. “My life was over as soon as Tom started writing that book. I always knew he killed Gloria; now he was going to frame me for his crime. There was no way I could let him get away with that.”
Cat looked at Linda trying to communicate an unspoken question. The woman nodded her approval of the diversion, or maybe Linda was just shaking so hard Cat thought she'd seen a nod. Either way, she needed to dive in quick.
“Tom didn't kill Gloria. And I know you didn't either,” Cat added quickly as she saw Larry's shoulders rise in protest.
“You don't know anything. You're just a silly girl who married the playboy professor and got her feelings hurt when he cheated on her.” The gun waved toward the table. “Oh, yes, I know all about Michael's taste for young girls. The school has had to pay off several over the years. Covington's lucky to be rid of him. Now move over to the table so Linda can tie you to the chair.”
“I won't,” Linda said, but a cry of pain followed her words as Larry squeezed her arm.
He leaned toward her. “I can see we are going to have to work on your attitude. Obeying me is rule number one. Rule number two is always follow rule number one.” He looked backup at Cat. “Move!”
Slowly Cat inched toward the table, not taking her eyes off Larry and Linda. “Gloria's alive. I talked to her yesterday.”
“Cat, stop. I'll go with him if he promises not to hurt the two of you.” Linda turned toward Larry and put her free hand on his forearm.
He shook off Linda's touch. “Impossible. I looked for her for years. Even that cow of a mother doesn't know where her precious daughter went.”
“So you've been following up on her, even now?” Cat stopped walking, turning to face Larry. She might as well get the entire story, especially since she didn't think Larry would take Linda up on her deal. The guy was ready to kill. Heck, he probably killed Tom, and poor Rose was sitting in jail, paying for his crime.
“I know he killed her, but just to be sure, I call the brat's bitch every year, just to play the grieving boyfriend. It's kind of fun, I'll have to admit. I thought about going into theater as a minor during my college years.” Larry's eyes were wide and unfocused. Cat knew in that instant the man was completely mad.
“Sounds like you had it all under control. Why this?” With a bravado she didn't feel, Cat swept her hand around the kitchen. “Why kidnap Linda and threaten us?” Cat avoided the word kill. Maybe she could talk him out of harming her and Shauna if they promised they wouldn't report him for a while, giving the two a chance to escape. It was a pipe dream, she knew it, but she had to hold on to some hope.
“So you want me to explain all the reasons I killed poor Tom to give your uncle time to save the day? What, is he expected for lunch?” Larry waved the gun toward the table. “Just get over there and sit down. Linda, grab the rope and tie her tight. If you don't, I'll shoot the other one.”
Cat moved to the table and glanced at Shauna. Her friend seemed calm even with the situation. She nodded once, and Cat knew Shauna had some sort of plan going on in her head. Maybe Linda hadn't tied her as tightly as Larry had ordered. But even if they could break their bonds, they still had to deal with the crazy with the gun. Cat didn't think their odds were good.
“I'm sure my uncle has better things to do on a Monday afternoon than visit me.” Cat sat in the chair and waited as Linda approached her. “So you admit you killed Tom, but why?”
“I told you, he was framing me for Gloria's murder. No wonder Michael pulled so many strings to get you hired at Covington. You're not very bright, are you?” Larry sneered as he watched Linda tie Cat's hands behind her back. “The ankles too. Can't have them walking outside and alerting one of the busybodies that live around here.”
“I heard that, but how was he going to frame you?” Cat leaned closer to Linda as she worked on tying her ankles to the chair. Whispering, she asked, “Are you okay?”
Linda's nod was almost imperceptible, but Cat saw it.
“The book. Tom's newest was going to be based on Gloria's missing-person case. You don't really think he came to your little writing retreat to be part of the group, do you? He was here researching the case.” Larry sneered. “The guy would have gotten away with killing her and made a bundle on that piece of crap that would finger me. He even said I just might lose my position at the college after the book went public.”
“And that's what you fought about at the library.” Cat tested the ropes that held her arms behind her. As she suspected, they gave easily. She looked at Shauna who blinked her eyes twice letting her know that Linda had tied her just as loosely. But they still had the gun issue. She needed to keep him talking until she figured something out.
“You've been doing some research of your own. Maybe you aren't just a pretty face.” Larry came close and ran the gun up her face from the jawline over her cheek to the top of her head. “Too bad you won't be around much longer.”
And with that, he stepped back a pace and aimed the gun. Linda tackled him and sent him flying toward the door. The gun skittered out of his hand. Cat watched as Linda scurried over to retrieve it only to have Larry grab her from behind and lift her and the gun off the floor. He held her back with one hand and wrenched the gun from her with the other.
“You really must start obeying rule number one.” He stage-whispered in Linda's ear and aimed the gun again at Cat. “Good bye, Catherine.”
Cat closed her eyes bracing herself against the shot. Instead of the expected gunfire, she heard a door open and a loud crack sounded. Her eyes flew open and instead of seeing Larry with the gun, Seth stood there, helping Linda up from the floor and standing over a now unconscious Larry. A two-by-four lay on top of the man. Seth held the gun and smiled at Cat. “I can't leave you alone for a minute, now, can I?”
By the time Uncle Pete arrived to take Larry into custody, Linda had already untied Shauna and Cat and helped Seth tie Larry's hands behind his back. “This time, I'll actually tie the rope tight,” Linda said as she sank into a chair next to Cat. Shauna was at the counter, making coffee, and Seth stood guard over Larry, just out of reach of the guy.
Two deputies followed Uncle Pete into the kitchen, and he nodded to the still-reclining Larry. “You two take him back to the station and lock him up. I've got some stories to hear before we can charge a Covington dean with attempted kidnapping and murder.”
“Coffee or iced tea?” Shauna asked as Uncle Pete walked over to the table to sit across from Cat.
“Coffee would be great.” Uncle Pete looked around the table. Seth stood next to Cat. “Go ahead and sit down, boy, this might take a while.”
Shauna put a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and looked at the rest of the group. “Who else needs coffee?”
“I need a shot,” Linda muttered, but when she got a look from Uncle Pete she shrugged. “Coffee's fine.”
“I'll help.” Cat tried to stand up but Seth gently pushed her back into the chair.
“Let me.” He went to the cabinet and pulled out cups.
While the two of them worked on getting the coffee poured and delivered to the table, Uncle Pete leaned toward Cat. “Are you okay? You've had quite a welcome-home party this last week.”
“You don't know the half of it, but we'll talk about that later. Larry killed Tom, but I didn't understand his reasoning. If Larry didn't kill Gloria, why would he kill Tom?”
Linda sighed. “I know why.” She waited until Seth set the last coffee cup on the table and he and Shauna had pulled up chairs.
“Go on,” Uncle Pete gently prodded.
“The manuscript Tom was working on was based on Gloria's story. But since Tom didn't know what had really happened, he did what all good writers doâhe filled in the blanks with his own story. I guess he told Larry that he knew he had killed Gloria and after the book came out, everyone would know.” Linda straightened her shoulders, facing Uncle Pete straight on. “Your experts weren't going to know what to look for in his writing. I did.”
Now he did look up from his writing and considered her for a long moment. Even Cat felt the tension in the air between them. “So what did you find out?”
“Tom never was good at keeping a secret.” Linda looked around the room. “I figured he'd taunted Larry, but he never expected this reaction. I think Larry is certifiable.”
“You sure your husband would take a poke at a killer?”
Linda looked at him over her coffee cup. “I knew my husband. He would want to see the reaction on Larry's face when he'd told him about the reveal.”
“I meant the book, what he was writing.” Uncle Pete didn't look up from his note taking, avoiding eye contact with the woman sitting across from him.
“I'm sure because I read the entire manuscript last night.” Linda rubbed her eyes. “I didn't get to sleep until about five, then woke up a few hours later. I've been running on caffeine and adrenaline since then. The book is amazing, even if the main premise was wrong. I should have told Tom the truth.”
Cat noticed a hesitation in Linda's voice. There was something she was still holding back. “So why didn't you tell him?”
The smile that landed on Linda's face was more sad than happy. “I knew Larry had abused Gloria. And I also knew she thought Tom was her way out of the relationship. I didn't want to lose him to her, so I helped her escape. I'm not proud of my jealousy, but you saw the picture in the yearbook. If Gloria wanted something, she got it.”
Uncle Pete walked the group through the rest of the afternoon's events as Shauna stirred up a pot of potato sausage soup. Cat knew when her friend was stressed because soup always fell on the menu. Shauna said it was a way for her to relax. Today, Cat was glad her friend used cooking as a stress reliever since she craved the thick potato soup as her own comfort food. The smell of baking beer bread to go along with the soup was calming Cat's nerves as well. Sometime during the questioning, Daisy had arrived and was sitting quietly in the corner of the room, sipping a cup of tea Shauna had fixed for her.
“Does this mean Rose can come home?” Daisy's quiet voice filled a void while Uncle Pete went over his notes. His head came up, and he found the older woman with his gaze. He studied her, then his eyes dropped down to his notes.
“I need to make a call.” He rose from his chair and stepped outside. A few minutes later, he returned. Addressing Daisy, he smiled. “Your sister is on her way over. We tried to get her into a cab, but she wanted one last ride in the back of a police car to cement the experience. She says she has a brilliant idea for a new story.”
Daisy chuckled. “That's Rose. Don't be surprised if she doesn't grill all of you about what happened and how it felt to be a hostage.”
Shauna started setting out bowls on the table. “Well, at least no one can say we have boring conversations with our meals. The bread should be ready as soon as she walks in the door. You all may want to go get washed up for dinner.”
Linda and Daisy left the kitchen for their rooms. Seth nodded to the kitchen sink. “Okay if I wash up there?”
“There's a powder room next to the living room. You and Pete can take turns there. I want to talk to my girl for a second. And don't tell me you don't have time for a proper meal, Pete Edmond. That man can just chill in his cell for a few more minutes.” Shauna nodded to the door and the men shuffled out reluctantly, following her orders.
“You have my uncle wrapped around your little finger.” Cat stood to grab silverware but Shauna shooed her down.
“You don't need to help. Wash up here at the sink and tell me how you are? I can't believe you stood up to that man so long. Weren't you scared?”
“Shaking to the bone, but I've dealt with bullies before. And if Larry Vargas was one thing, he was a bully. I can't believe he killed Tom because of a book. Everyone knew Tom wrote fiction. Even if he made the killer just like Larry, no one would have believed the story. The guy was loved over at Covington.”