Give Murder A Hand: Lizzie. Book 2 (The Westport Mysteries) (17 page)

“I’ve
nearly died twice in the last month and who was there on both occasions?” I
looked to Riley. Emotion danced in his eyes. “Hmmm?”

“It was
a coincidence.”

“Bullshit!”

“Why
would she try to kill you?”

“Because
she’s still in love with you and she wants you back!” Ha. There, I’d said it.

“Lizzie,
there’s a flaw in that theory.”

There
was?

“Let’s
assume for a second that you’re right and Allison wants to get back with me,
then why hasn’t she said anything to me?”

I sighed
dramatically.

“Riley,
you are such a man! She has been telling you.”

“Thank
you for realizing the obvious. And yes I maybe a man, as you put it, but I
clearly do not recall Allison saying she loves me ... at least, not in the last
few years.”

My
stomach churned at his words, but I lifted my chin and carried on.

“She
flirts with you. That’s her way of saying it.”

“Rubbish.
If it were me, I would just walk over to her, tell her how I felt and kiss
her.”

“Women
aren’t like men though, are they?”

“Seriously,
Lizzie. You’re wrong. She’s a completely sane, rational person, and sane,
rational people do not go around killing other people. Plus she has absolutely
no
reason
to kill
you.”

The room
filled with silence, everyone to afraid to move. Personally, I was so caught up
in my theory I’d forgotten they were all there.

“Lizzie
has a good point though, Riley,” said Matt, the first to be brave and speak.

Riley
turned to him, his expression quizzical.

Matt
shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t believe in coincidence. Years of reporting has
proven that. I can guarantee you that whenever I have reported on a crime, the
guilty party is the one who is there at the time.”

“Well,
of course they were there at the time of the crime,” scoffed Danny. “How could
they have done it if they weren’t there?”

Molly
looked to Danny and glared.

“Maybe
you’re looking at this from the wrong angle,” Matt continued, undeterred by
Danny mocking him.

“What do
you mean?” I asked.

“Well,
let’s say you’re right that Allison is trying to kill you. What other reason
would she have?”

I sunk
into a nearby chair and considered what Matt had said.

“She
doesn’t have any reason,” said Riley heatedly. “Until Lizzie walked into her
clinic, they’d never even met.”

Riley
was right about that.

“Okay. What’s
happened since then?”

“Nothing,”
I said reluctantly.

“Harper
found the bones in your garden,” said Molly.

“No, that
was before I met her.”

We all
sat in silence considering the events that had happened since I’d met Allison.

Eventually
Danny looked up and said, “Maybe she’s not trying to kill you. Maybe she’s just
in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Maybe
she’s in the right place at the right time,” snapped Riley. “What would have
happened if she hadn’t been there the day you had the anaphylactic shock?”

“I
wouldn’t have been in that café, and I wouldn’t have eaten the peanut oil,” I
pointed out. “And, by the way, it was Allison that ordered that food. Did she
really tell them about my allergy?”

Riley
looked at me, his expression stony. “It’s a coincidence and you need to stop
accusing people of something so horrible,” he said, his tone suggesting this
was the end of it. He turned and walked from the room, slamming the door behind
him.

We all
sat in silence.

“Well,
if I was you Lizzie, I’d be careful around her,” said Matt. “Like I said,
there’s no such thing as a coincidence.”

Riley’s
car door slammed and the motor turned over.

I felt
the tears sting my eyes and emotion clog my throat.

Why
didn’t I just shut up?

Molly
came to me and pulled me in for a hug. “He’s just gone to let off some steam.”

“What if
I’ve pushed him into her arms?”

“Riley
loves you. Have faith in that.”

“Yeah
well, I though Scott loved me and remember what he did to me?”

I’ll
never forget the night I walked into Scott’s bedroom and found him doing the
nasty with his secretary.

“Riley’s
not Scott. He wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I hope
not,” I whispered, as Molly pulled me in tighter.

Conversation
slowed after that and by the time the clock struck midnight, I woke Danny and
Andrew up from the lounge and sent them home. Matt had left about an hour
before after he’d got a call from his cameraman Sam, saying there was a big
accident on the Highway and they needed to be there for coverage.

“Molly,
go home please. I’ll be fine,” I said, exhausted.

“I don’t
want to leave you alone,” she said, yawning.

“Honestly.
I’m fine,” I lied. Riley still hadn’t come home. He’d sent me a message about
an hour ago saying he’d gone to visit Jared and would spend the night there.
“Please, Molly. I just want to be alone.” What I really wanted was to sit in
the shower and sob, but I didn’t want Molly to know that.

Molly
debated what to do. “Okay, but ring me if you need me. It doesn’t matter what
time it is. I’ll be straight over. And if Riley comes back, slap him senseless
for me.”

I smiled
in spite of myself. “I will. Right after I’ve slapped him for Danny, which will
be right after I’ve slapped him for myself.”

“Good. Maybe
that will make him see sense.”

I locked
the door behind her and made my way upstairs. I was too tired for the shower,
so I splashed my face with water and climbed into bed.

It felt
cold and lonely without Riley. Only after I’d emptied the box of tissues drying
my eyes, did I manage to fall into an exhausted sleep.

I woke
as a weight shifted on the mattress. I knew it was Riley. I could smell his
delicious aftershave that still held even after all these hours.

The
sheet pulled back and he slid in behind me. As his arm came around my waist and
pulled me close, he whispered in my ear.

“I’m
sorry, Lizzie.”

I felt
goosebumps break out where his breath touched my skin and instantly forgave
him.

“Me
too,” I said, snuggling my bottom closer to him, enjoying his warmth. The world
was safe once again.

Chapter
Fifteen

Saturday night was Mal’s birthday, and the
family was having dinner to celebrate. With Allison in my life so much lately,
I felt I needed a wardrobe revamp in order to make myself feel a little bit
more confident, and Molly was just the person to help me.

Westport isn’t the largest town on the east coast. The last census
said it had a population of thirty thousand. It has one large hospital, one
cemetery and one shopping centre. Pretty much all everyone needed really.

Molly and I were, at present, in the ladies section of the one and
only department store, and I was trying on a grey dress Molly had picked out
for me. Molly stood outside the fitting room door, bringing me up to date on
Matt, and judging by her dreamy tone, I figured things were going better than
planned. I will admit he seemed to fit with us pretty well, and he’d stayed
strong throughout last Sunday’s family dinner, not once looking for the exits—which
is more than I could say for myself. I usually looked for the exits at least
twice during dinner.

“How’s things with Riley?” she asked, as I lifted the dress over my
head.

I pulled it down and reached backwards to pull up the zip. “Yeah,
okay,” I said, cursing quietly as the zip caught in my hair. “He came home last
night and we had a good talk. I just need to keep my opinion about Allison to
myself from now on. Molly, I’m stuck,” I cried.

“Well, open the door and I’ll help you.”

I turned to the door, my head on a weird angle leaning backwards,
and opened the lock.

Molly laughed and stepped inside to help me. “Seriously, Lizzie. How
do you get out of the house in the morning?”

I sighed. “Just help me, will you.”

“Turn around.”

I did as asked and felt my hair being pulled from the follicle as
Molly pulled the zipper back down. Pushing my hair over my shoulder, she pulled
the zip up effortlessly.

Smoothing the dress into place, I stood back and looked in the
mirror, Molly’s reflection beaming back at me.

“It’s gorgeous!” she trilled.

Really? The dress was made of a dark grey material I think Mum had
once used to cover her couch. It had an unflattering round neckline, fell
straight and fitted to my waist, and then puffed out with a very large skirt,
complete with tulle underskirt.

“Umm ... it’s not really me, is it?” I screwed up my nose.

“The problem with you, Lizzie is you have no taste. This dress is a
designer brand and believe me ... it’s gorgeous.”

I looked back at myself in the mirror. “Maybe it needs shoes?” I
said, unenthusiastically.

“Here,” said Molly slipping out of hers. She kicked them towards
me. I bent to straighten them and as I did the back of the skirt flipped up,
showing Molly my underwear. I jumped up and pulled it back down.

“Hmmm, maybe this one isn’t such a good idea,” said Molly frowning.
“You’ve already got a talent for embarrassing yourself. You definitely don’t
need any assistance.”

Thank you, God.

I hurriedly removed the ugly dress and pulled the next one off the
hook.

It was aqua blue colored silk, straight-fitting to the knee with
navy blue band around my waist. As I slipped it on, my waistline suddenly lost
three inches and my height grew. At least the dress gave the illusion that it
had.

“Okay,” said Molly resignedly. “This one suits you a lot better.”

“It kind of reminds me of something Allison would wear,” I said,
smoothing the skirt into place.

“Hmmm,” said Molly eyeing me critically. “No, I don’t think so. She
wouldn’t wear anything like it.”

“How would you know? You’ve never met her.”

“I googled her. This dress isn’t slutty enough.”

I laughed. “Allison doesn’t really look slutty,” I said
resentfully. “Every time I’ve seen her, she’s always looked really nice.” I
felt the words choke in my throat.

“Well in this dress, you look nicer.”

I looked at Molly and smiled. “Let’s hope that Riley thinks so.”

“I may not know Allison, but I know people like her. She’s a skank,
and no matter what anybody says, I think she’s deliberately trying to hurt
you.”

I rubbed the fabric through my fingers, considering what Molly had
said, swallowing the lump in my throat.

Molly put her arms around me and pulled me tight. After the best
big sister hug, she let go and held me by the shoulders.

“You know what we should do? We should buy one of those little
voodoo dolls they sell at the markets and on Friday night we’ll stick pins in
it.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy.”

“Then we’ll Google exactly how to do it and voila! Her hair will
start to fall out and she’ll get ugly.”

I laughed at Molly’s enthusiasm. “Sounds like a good plan. We’ll
just have to keep Riley out of the room when we do it.”

“And don’t go getting all self-righteous about it,” added Molly. “Allison
is a bitch if ever I saw one. She deserves everything she gets.”

I just hoped that she didn’t get Riley.

“Now, take this dress off and meet me downstairs. I think I need a
sugar hit and that chocolate shop is just the place that will do it.”

Molly opened the fitting room door and stepped out. I watched her
retreating back and was just closing my door when the one next to me opened.
And out stepped Allison.

I sucked in my breath and hid behind the door, hoping she hadn’t
seen us or heard us.

Shit!

* * *

I paid for the dress and met Molly downstairs
in the chocolate shop. This was one of my favorite shops for lunch, as just
about everything you ordered contained chocolate. We decided to skip real food
and ordered an Italian thick hot chocolate with chocolate crepes for me, and a
cappuccino and chocolate banana pizza for Molly. Insulin dependency, here we
come.

Over lunch Molly asked me about Bradley.

“I haven’t seen him this week, Molly.”

“Maybe he’s moved his tours to someone else’s back garden.”

“Maybe ... I kind of miss him though.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, he’s sort of cute in an annoying kind of way, and the crowd
he brings with him can be very entertaining.”

“I watched his video diary last night,” said Molly, spooning the
froth off her cappuccino and eating the chocolate. “He said he knew who killed
that body in your garden.”

I sat up straighter in my chair at Molly’s words.

“What?”

“You haven’t seen it then?”

“No. Did he say who did it?”

Molly shook her head. “He just said to tune back in tomorrow and
all will be revealed.”

“Maybe we should tune in then,” I said, pulling my iPhone from my
bag. I swiped it opened and pressed the YouTube app. I searched Bradley and
waited for the list of his videos’ to appear. The last one was dated two days
ago.

“That’s the one I saw,” said Molly, peering over the top of the
phone.

“He hasn’t uploaded anymore yet,” I said, disappointed. I clicked
on the last video and made a mental note to speak to Bradley if he turned up today.

Molly and I sat in silence as Bradley appeared on the screen. The
video was a short one, only lasting thirty seconds, and it appeared to be
filmed in the same location as all his others. A garage. I realized I didn’t
really know too much about him. I knew he was only in his early twenties, a few
months ago he had moved out of home to live with his girlfriend, but she dumped
him after the first week. He was stuck paying rent on his own. I had no idea
where that was though.

I watched his boyish grin spread across his face, his facial hair a
day past needing a shave. He looked animated as he spoke, saying he had found a
clue to who had killed Ronald Smithson, and that he would reveal all after he
had spoken to the police. He felt it was his duty to inform them first. He then
left us a teaser about logging back on tomorrow and he would reveal who the
murderer was.

I looked at Molly, my curiosity piqued.

“Ed hasn’t phoned me with any news. I would have thought Bradley
would have spoken to him.”

“Ed?” Molly looked at me, eyebrows somewhere around her hairline.

“The policeman helping me with information.”

“Is this the really good-looking one with the dark skin?”

I nodded.

“Hmmm ...”

“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not like that. He’s just a
friend.”

“If you say so.”

I stuck my tongue out at Molly and made a note to call him later to
see if he had any news.

* * *

Don’t ask me how it happened, but Riley had
dobbed me in to bake Mal’s birthday cake.
Surely
it couldn’t be that hard?

After the initial panic subsided, I watched
The Great Bake Off
, and decided that of course I could make a cake.
After the third attempt, four emergency calls to Mum, and a quick dash to the
supermarket to buy a packet mix, I even managed to produce something that
looked and smelled like a cake. And I’m sure the icing would cover the top so
no one would even notice the burnt bits.

I put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and headed to my house
to see how Riley was progressing.

When I got there, my driveway was blocked with Allison’s car. I
parked on the road and beeped my car locked. Memories of last night stuck in my
mind like a red-hot poker along with the memory of the last time I saw her. The
snapshot I had was of how she looked at the site of the accident being held by
Riley, and the look of familiarity in his eyes. It broke my heart.

After Riley had climbed into bed last night, we’d had a heart to
heart, and I had managed to pluck up the courage and ask him how long the two
of them had been together. He told me that they had been together for nine
months and she had been his first love, but in the end he realized they were
not meant for each other and he ended it by joining the army. He now admits he
was running away. At the time, it had felt like the easier option.

We discussed our previous relationships. It appeared Riley had been
a lot busier than I had been, totaling up four more partners than I’d had. Looking
at his gorgeous blue eyes and rock hard abs, I could see why.

Nevertheless, I was apprehensive about Allison being parked in my
driveway.

I quietly opened the front door and moved into the hallway. I heard
Riley’s deep, sexy laugh float towards me. My heart skipped a beat as I
reminded myself how angry he’d got when I’d doubted his feelings for me.

I put my bag on the bottom stair, put a smile on my face and
stepped into the kitchen.

“Hello,” I said.

“Lizzie! Hi,” said Allison, with a smile.

“Oh hi, Allison, I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“I came over to see how you were. I feel so guilty about what
happened.”

“Don’t feel guilty. I’m fine,” I replied.

“But every time I close my eyes, I see Riley’s face and how hurt he
would have been if anything had happened to you.” Her eyes filled with the
thoughts.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about Riley being upset. I’m
perfectly fine and I can assure you I’m not going anywhere!”

“Yes, I can see that,” she replied.

I moved to Riley and kissed him hard on the lips. I felt him
stiffen. As we pulled apart, he glared at me.
Shit
.

“Maybe you should see a counselor,” I said, laughing. “Maybe they
can help you with that.” Not that one ever helped me, I thought.

“Oh ha ha ha,” said Allison, with a tinkling laugh. “You’re funny,
Lizzie.”

Riley didn’t seem impressed with my humor at all.

“Well, I probably should go,” said Allison, finishing a coffee in
her hand and placing the cup on the bench next to Riley. As she moved to leave,
she gently touched his arm. “See you tonight.”

What?

“Yeah, and I promise I’ll get started on that broken lock
tomorrow.”

After she left, I closed the door behind her and stepped back into
the kitchen. “Broken lock?” I asked, referring to his comments to Allison.

“She has a broken lock on her bedroom door she wants fixed.”

“She lives alone. Why does she need her bedroom door to lock?” I
asked, hating the fact that Riley would be so close to her bed.

“Lizzie, do you remember the first job I ever did for you?”

I thought back eight months to the day Riley and I met.

“Yes, you pulled the carpet up from the attic room.”

“No, that’s what I came to do. What I actually did was fix the lock
on your bedroom door.”