Give Murder A Hand: Lizzie. Book 2 (The Westport Mysteries) (22 page)

I underestimated her strength. She grabbed my clothing and pulled
me over her shoulder, slamming me into the floor. She then held the gun on me.

“I should just kill you now,” she yelled, her eyes crazy.

“Allison,” I heard George croak.

She instantly turned her attention away from me. George lay in the
chair, a pool of blood appearing on his chest, seeping through his shirt, his
complexion pale. Allison hurriedly moved to him, and fell to the floor.

“Grandpa, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she cried. “Don’t move, I can
help you.”

“No ...” I heard George reply.

My attention was on Grandma. She hadn’t regained consciousness
after Allison hit her.

I crawled over to her and checked her pulse. Her eyes flickered,
and I felt my heart rate decrease. I quickly untied her and dragged her to the
floor behind the couch.

Allison’s primeval scream rang through the night air, and I turned
just in time to see George take his final breath. I felt the tears sting my
eyes as panic raced through me. I didn’t know how to get out of here. I
couldn’t leave Grandma, yet I knew I couldn’t get out with her. I only hoped I
could prevent Allison from killing us both before Ed got here with back up.

I stood up, prepared to do whatever it took, when Allison turned to
me.

Her eyes were wild, her usually perfect make-up running down her
face. Her hair messed, making her look crazier than before.

“You!” she spat, her voice low and menacing.

My heart missed a couple of beats.

“This is all your fault!”

With that she ran at me, hatred replacing the crazy in her eyes. I
felt her body pound into mine as we fell to the floor. She rolled off of me. I
took my chance, scrambled to my feet and ran for the door, hoping to get her
away from Grandma. She was faster than I was though. Grabbing my hair, she
stopped as the flash of blue and red lights shone through a gap in the
curtains.

Help was here.

I saw the panic in her eyes as she quickly considered her options. She
looked at me and pushed me forwards as she bent to retrieve the gun. I tried to
duck from her grasp but stopped as she pointed the gun at my head. I knew
without a shadow of a doubt she would pull the trigger.

“You’re my ticket out of here,” she said. “Get going.” She moved
behind me, forcing me out of the unit and towards the stairs at the back of the
hall. I didn’t know where she was taking me, but I decided until I had a better
plan, I should just go with it.

We walked up six flights of stairs and came to a door. She pulled a
key from her pocket and opened it. We walked out onto the rooftop garden. It
looked like it would have been nice at some point in time. Right now, it just
terrified me even more.

She pushed me to the edge of the safety rail and made me step over
it. I was grateful the rain had stopped and the roof was not any more slippery
than it was. Holding me by the arm, she followed and forced me towards the edge
of the roof. Leaning precariously over it, I looked down at the scene below.

I could see the flash of lights of two police cars, as four
officers moved towards the building.

“Stop!” called Allison.

“What are you doing, Allison?” yelled Ed, as all officers pointed
their guns in our direction.

“What does it look like, Officer Rude.”

She obviously hadn’t gotten over how he’d been rude to her the day
of the car accident. Great.

“It looks like you’re not thinking clearly. Why don’t you take a
step away from the edge and let Lizzie go.”

“No!” I yelled, thinking she would probably love to do just that,
allowing me to fall to my death.

Allison laughed. “Oh no, I’m taking Lizzie with me. She’s the
reason you’re going to let me go. You wouldn’t want her hurt now would you?” She
laughed.

Ed was six storeys below me, but the strobe lights from the cars
gave me enough light that I could see his face clearly.

He gave the order for everyone to holster their guns. They did as
asked. I noticed a shadow move close to the building and to the door, and prayed
it was back up.

“What do you want us to do?” he called up to her.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t thought this through. Give me a minute,
will you?”

You could have sworn she was talking to the kid at the deli counter
at the supermarket, while she tried to decide what meat she wanted. As she
stood debating what she wanted to do, I heard the door behind us open. Allison
turned as I fell forwards an extra inch, the roof tiles slipping under my feet.

My heart raced as I saw Ed’s fear as he looked up at me.

“Let her go, Allison,” I heard Riley say. I moved my head and saw
his eyes huge and vulnerable.

Seeing him, Allison’s grip on my arm loosened.

I felt the world slip a little bit more.

“Riley! What ... what are you doing here?” she asked, her tone
uncertain.

“I’ve come to get you,” he said.

A sob escaped my throat.

“Get me?”

“Yes, isn’t that what you want? Us to be back together?”

“Well yes, It is.”

“Then put Lizzie down and come over here.”

Riley smiled the mega-watt smile, and Allison swooned under his
gaze. I wanted to use the distraction to push her away and run, but I still hung
precariously over the edge with Allison the only anchor point to safety. She
also still had a gun.

“Do you really love me, Riley or are you just saying that so I’ll
let Lizzie go?”

He took a deep breath. “I really love you. I always have.”

Okay, I know this was all for my benefit, but it still hurt to hear
those words leave Riley’s lips.

“But, how do we get out of this situation?”

“It’s okay. I’ve got a plan. We give Lizzie to Ed, and he’ll be so
happy he won’t even notice us slip out the back door.”

Allison looked down at the scene below us, and I saw the crazy slip
out of her eyes.

“You’re trying to trick me,” she said, tears welling behind her
lashes.

“I’m not. I really love you,” Riley lied.

Time stood still as Allison looked between Riley and me, her grip
on my arm tightening.

“You love her, don’t you,” she whispered, looking at Riley.

Riley shook his head.

“Look at her and say you don’t love her!”

Riley moved his gaze to me. As our eyes locked, the clouds parted
and allowed the moonlight to shine through, and I saw him gulp. He couldn’t say
it.

“Say it!” she yelled.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he looked at me and
said, “I don’t love you Lizzie.” I saw the tears skim his lashes.

Allison screamed. “You’re a liar! You do love her.”

Her hold on my arm tightened as she took a step closer to me, and to
the edge, and I felt the roof tiles slip. As my feet scraped the rooftop,
trying to get a grip, the old tiles gave way as I did so. I fell forwards,
pulling Allison along with me. As the world moved in slow motion, I saw
everything clearly for the first time. I saw Ed below me screaming orders to
his colleagues, leaving them and running to the building, I saw Allison as she
fell past me, the night air consuming her, and I saw Riley running, his arms
outstretched. I heard Allison’s scream in my ear as she fell, her arms reaching
for anything she could grab. But the only thing she could get was air. Momentum
propelled her towards the ground and her screams stopped.

As gravity pulled at me, my arms flailed, but somehow I managed to
grab at the guttering. The metal cut my fingers as my weight pulled me
downwards. It was as Riley’s hand came into view, that the sob escaped my lips.

I had never been so scared in my life. Riley pulled me towards him,
his arm straining under the weight, the effort too much as I felt his hold on
me slip. Allison’s dead body sprawled on the ground below came into my view,
and as I looked back at the fear in Riley’s eyes, I knew I didn’t want this to
be it. I wanted more time with him.

I swung my other arm around to grab at something, anything, when
another hand reached out and grabbed me. Together, they pulled me up and to
safety, the force pulling me forwards and into the arms of Ed.

Chapter
Twenty

Once again I sat in the ER, Paramedic Jim
standing at the end of the gurney, shaking his head at me.

“You know, Lizzie they’re going to give you your own room here if
you keep this up.”

I knew he was joking. He knew me well enough now to know that humor
was the best way to distract me. And distraction was the key to me coping. Well
that and denial, but the
To Be Sorted
bin in my head was overflowing so much, I was having a hard time shutting the
lid on it.

I laughed. The laugh soon turned into a cry, and before Jim knew
what was happening, I was sobbing.

Jim was quick with the tissues though. And he was kind enough to
hand me the oxygen when the sobbing got to the stage where I could no longer
breathe. At the moment, Jim was my support buddy. Poor bugger. He must have
done something seriously wrong in a previous life to have been landed with me.

Riley had been sent off for a scan on his shoulder, leaving me
alone with Jim. Apparently my weight had done some damage to his shoulder as he
tried to pull me up from the guttering. Humph.

Ed had been left at the scene of the crime, waiting for a team of
experts to arrive and do their thing mopping Allison up from the cement.
Thankfully he had also rescued Grandma Mabel. She’d been sent off in another
ambulance, where I had since heard she was doing perfectly fine, she just
needed a stitch where Allison had hit her with the gun.

Mum and Dad were on their way. I honestly hoped they would be so
busy worrying about Grandma that they would forget about me all together.

A nurse walked closer to my gurney and spoke to Jim. I was moved
into a cubicle and lifted off the gurney and into a bed.

“Looks like your duty is done,” I said to Jim, blowing my nose on a
tissue as I spoke.

“Oh that’s okay,” replied Jim. “I’ve got nowhere better to be.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Jim, but I’m sure there are other
people in Westport who need saving.”

“Maybe, but you’re my best customer. Got to look after the
regulars.” Jim laughed.

I didn’t think it was as funny as it sounded. Tears pooled again.
Jim moved closer and put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s over now love. Things can only get better.”

I liked his optimism, but just then I heard Danny’s voice over the
noise of the ER.

“Where is she?” I heard him cry. “Where’s Lizzie?”

Jim looked at me sympathetically. “Ah, that would be Danny,” he
said, sighing. “The car accident didn’t harm his voice then?”

Just then the curtain was pulled back with a flourish and in
marched Danny followed by Andrew.

“Oh my God, Lizzie. We were so worried when Mum called, we rushed
straight here.” He ran at me and grabbed me in a very enthusiastic Fuller hug.

“Danny,” I squeaked.

“Umm ... Danny, you might want to let her breathe,” said Jim. “It’s
kind of important to her health.”

Danny let go and stood upright. “Oh, well okay then. Has Mum been
in to see you yet?”

“No. Is she here?”

“Her car was out the front.”

I sighed. “She’s probably with Grandma.”

“Yeah, where is Grandma? I want to see for myself she’s okay.”

“I’ll go and find out for you,” said Jim, moving the curtain aside
and stepping out.

“Mum’s a bit pissed at you,” said Danny, crinkling his nose.

“What?”

“Just thought you should know.”

“Why’s she pissed at me?”

“Because Grandma was with you when all this happened. And all our
dirty little trips have been ruined because of it.”

“Yes, but I didn’t plan it. And I didn’t tell Grandma to date some
psycho did I?”

I wondered at the logic of how this was all my fault. Thankfully
though, Riley walked into the room. His smile made my night a whole lot better.

“How’s your shoulder?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s okay. They think I’ve pulled a muscle or something.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, as he kissed the top of my head, smoothing my
hair as he did so.

“It’s not your fault. I should have been ready for the weight to
drop and then I wouldn’t have hurt it.”

“I’ll start a diet tomorrow.”

“Lizzie, I lift far greater weight than you in my job every day.”

I shrugged. “Yes, but it doesn’t have gravity pulling it at great
speeds does it?”

Riley’s eyes clouded at the memory and he pulled me in tight. Maybe
he had his own
To Be Sorted
box
happening.

A nurse opened our curtain and walked in. She pressed a few buttons
on a monitor she was hooking me up to and smiled at Riley. “Back again, Mr.
Thomas?” she asked.

“Unfortunately,” answered Riley. It took me a moment to catch on,
but when I did, panic and guilt surged through me.

I turned to Riley. “Oh My God! I forgot to ask about your dad! I’m
so sorry, Riley. How is he? What happened?”

“It’s okay. Dad’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with his heart.”

“But why did he have chest pains?”

“Apparently it was a bad case of indigestion. He’d been eating some
cake that just didn’t agree with him.” Riley laughed as my cheeks flamed.

“Oh my God, has Lizzie been baking again?” asked Danny.

I punched Danny in the arm. “How did you get to George’s?” I asked
Riley thinking of his evening for the first time.

“I used Mum’s car. Jared offered to take her and Dad home, so I
asked to borrow it. I messaged you, but you didn’t answer, so I decided to stop
by. I didn’t expect what I found though.” Riley’s eyes clouded again.

“Do you have to go back and get your truck?” I asked, thinking how
I never wanted to visit The Grange again. Riley sadly nodded his head.

The three of us sat in silence, all lost in our own thoughts, until
Mum and Dad, Molly and Matt all arrived, and grilled me about what exactly had
happened tonight. Matt seemed to be the only one who was excited about the
story I told. I figured I’d be first story up on the six o’clock news tomorrow.

By the time we were all released and told to go home for a good
night’s sleep, the clock had struck 3 a.m.

Riley helped me into his truck and then climbed in the driver’s
side.

“I told Ed I was taking you back to the hotel. He’s going to call
tomorrow to get your statement,” he explained.

“You’re driving back to the city now?”

“Yeah, it’s only a half hour away. At least we can wake up late in
the morning and enjoy what’s left of our holiday.”

I sighed thinking how pissed Mum was going to be that my holiday,
unlike hers, was not ruined ... only interrupted.

“Hey, how come you never told me you knew George?” I asked, turning
in my seat to face Riley.

“I didn’t know George.”

“But he was Allison’s grandfather.”

Riley shrugged. “She once told me her mother had died when she was
young and that she was raised by her grandfather, but she never spoke about him,
and I definitely never met him.”

“How does that happen?” I asked incredulously. Riley knew
everything about me, and I mean
everything
—even
the location of a very inappropriately placed birthmark.

“It never came up. Honestly, I never really knew that much about
her.”

“What did you used to talk about then?”

Riley cringed. “We didn’t really talk all that much. It wasn’t that
type of relationship.”

I gave a disgusted sigh as I figured out what he meant.

Typical bloody man.

* * *

It turned out that Allison actually had a bit
of history when it came to violence. Ed confessed that she had two restraining
orders against her. One from her previous husband, and one from the previous
husband’s new wife. The charges against her were dropped after she went into a
domestic violence rehab program. Apparently he found out about them when she
was charged with dangerous driving, but he couldn’t tell me because of privacy
laws. That’s what he meant when he told me to be careful around her.

We also found out where all the mysterious blood was coming from. After
Riley and I had finished our dirty little holiday, we came home to a house full
of it.

It turned out it was animal blood and Cat was sneezing it. The sad part
of that story is the vet said he has a nasal tumor. Cat has since been put on
medication to slow it’s growth, and Mike the Vet is confident he will die of
old age before the tumor gets him, which is great news. As cantankerous as he
is, I’d kind of grown to love him.

Three weeks had passed since Allison had died. And in those three
weeks, both Riley and myself had been on a mission to finish the house. What Allison
had said to me that night had stuck in my mind. If I had never bought the house,
none of this would have ever happened.

I knew I couldn’t turn back the clock and buy a different house,
and as I looked at Riley, ready to hammer the
For Sale
sign into the ground, I knew that even if I could, I
wouldn’t change a thing. Because for all the bad things that had happened, he
was a shining beacon of happiness and joy that I wouldn’t sacrifice for anything.

“Ready?” he asked, looking at me.

“Ready.”

He picked up the hammer, and I smiled as he hit the timber post,
knocking the sign into the ground. Once it was secure, Riley pulled me in close
and we looked back at the house.

A little under a year ago this house had been sad and broken. Now
it stood tall, the new paintwork gleaming, ready to start the next chapter in
its existence. I felt a thrill, hoping that its future was a lot better than
its past.

“We did it,” said Riley, leaning down and kissing me.

We pulled up for air as we heard a car pull up behind us. I turned
to see Ed Helms step out of a police car.

He hadn’t been around very much since Allison had flipped out. My
stomach clenched with apprehension and gratitude, the sight of him bringing
back raw memories of that night.

He looked very official in his uniform, his sunglasses pulled down
shielding his eyes.

“Riley,” he said, nodding. “Lizzie,” he said softly, smiling, his
gaze falling to me.

“Hi Ed. I haven’t seen you for a few weeks.”

Riley shifted uncomfortably next to me. He still thought Ed had a
crush on me. I did say, ‘who cares? I only have eyes for you’, which led to us
fooling around a little bit, and after that Ed was forgotten. I guess, with him
standing here in front of me smiling, I could see Riley’s point.

“Is this an official visit?” asked Riley.

Ed lifted his sunglasses, his eyes locked on mine. “I’m afraid so,”
he replied, all humor missing from his voice.

I felt my stomach clench again.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie. I just received the news that Joe Woods made
parole. He’s on his way back to Westport as we speak.”