Maggie Lee (Book 22): The Hitwoman Goes To Prison Read online

  I offered her a reassuring smile. “You were defending me.”

  She nodded. “She had no right to say that about you.”

  “Your reaction contributed to her deciding to leave Katie,” I said. “So, I guess that even if it didn’t seem like the right thing to do in the moment, it had the long-term desired effect.”

  Susan sat up a little bit straighter. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Our having the living room to ourselves didn’t last long. Marlene and Doc, arm in arm, strolled in. “Your pig is something else,” my sister told me.

  Susan looked startled. “There’s a pig now?”

  I secretly wondered how Matilda had managed to go unnoticed. “Why?” I asked Marlene. “What did she do?”

  “She seems to be quite the prankster,” Doc revealed.

  “Aunt Leslie and Aunt Loretta were arguing over a quilt,” Marlene said. “And the pig just ran in between them, grabbed it, and ran off.”

  “I thought they were going to have a heart attack,” Doc said.

  “They searched all over the farm for it, but couldn’t find it or her.” Marlene continued chuckling.

  “And she’d come right in here with it,” Doc said, finishing the story. “When they finally came inside, they found her curled up on the quilt in the corner of the sofa, Loretta got angry, and Leslie just started to laugh and laugh.”

  “We need more laughter in this house,” I said.

  “We do,” Marlene said. “I think Katie’s going to help with that.”

  I looked at her closely, trying to see if she had some hidden agenda in the statement, but she didn’t seem to be moping about the fact that her twin had all but abandoned her, yet again.

  My cell phone buzzed, and I glanced at the display. It was Zeke. He needed me.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said, standing up. “There’ll be somebody around to keep an eye on Katie?”

  Marlene and Susan said simultaneously, “I will.”

  “Is everything okay, Margaret?” Susan asked.

  “Of course. I just have something I need to take care of.” On my way out, I picked up Benny and invited Piss to come along.

  “I’m on guard duty,” she said.

  “I think Marlene can keep an eye on her for a couple of hours,” I said.

  Piss nodded, gave one longing look at the room where I could hear Katie playing Go Fish with Templeton, and joined me at my side.

  “Where are we off to now?” God asked.

  “I don’t know,” I told them. “But Zeke said to hurry, and that it’s important.”

  36

  By the time I reached my car, Zeke was there, sitting cross-legged on the hood.

  “Did you figure out what the Concord connection is?” he asked as I grew near.

  “Not yet,” I told him. “A neighbor told me that Rhonda was suspicious about her grandmother’s death.”

  Zeke rolled his eyes. “Of course. Nothing is ever easy.”

  Piss jumped up on the car and rubbed against his knee. He stroked her absentmindedly.

  “I’ve got something else I’ve got to take care of right now,” he told me. “But we have a lead on where Rhonda may be. I was hoping you could check it out.”

  “Sure,” I said excitedly.

  “But you shouldn’t interfere with whatever’s going on there,” Zeke warned. “This is an observation, not escalation situation.”

  I nodded my understanding. “I have to wait for Whitehat to send the ninjas in, right?”

  “Yeah,” Zeke said sarcastically. “We’ve got to wait for the ninja cavalry to show up.”

  “Got it.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said. “In the meantime, don’t interfere, don’t escalate, and don’t get yourself into trouble.”

  I blinked at him innocently. “Me, trouble? I would never.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “I left the address on your dashboard.” With that, he got into his own car and roared away.

  I let Piss and DeeDee into the car.

  “Finally,” God said. “A concrete step we can take.”

  I punched the address into my navigation system and drove outside of town. It ended up being an abandoned gas station. Not really a place you could just drive up to unnoticed, so I drove half a mile down the road, parked the car, let the animals out, and began the hike back toward the station.

  “Remember,” God lectured. “All you’re supposed to do is observe.”

  “And not get caught,” Piss suggested. “I’ll check it out.” She took off running in the direction of the target.

  DeeDee, her chase instinct activated, took off after her.

  I didn’t think that the cat would attract too much attention, but the big dog might.

  “DeeDee,” I yelled. “Come back.”

  Either she didn’t hear me, or she ignored me, because she kept on going.

  “Very smooth,” God said. “I can tell already that this mission is going to be a huge success.”

  “If you don’t have anything good to say, then shut up,” I told him.

  Sulking, he did as I asked.

  I tried to stroll up to the gas station as though it was a perfectly normal thing to do, since there was no cover to take as I approached.

  Fortunately, they hadn’t set out any kind of lookout, so I was able to get close and peer in the dirty window.

  Rhonda was inside, on the side of a counter. A stack of papers and a pen were in front of her.

  “You sign it, you go free,” a man in an ill-fitting suit told her.

  She shook her head. “Never.”

  “If you don’t…” The man trailed off and looked at the muscled goon that loomed behind Rhonda.

  “If he can’t convince you,” the thug said, “I’ll have to convince you, and you’re not going to like that at all.”

  “Oh, this doesn’t bode well at all,” God whispered in my ear.

  I agreed with him. It looked like the kind of situation that could go sideways at a moment’s notice.

  “Did you bring a weapon?” God asked.

  I really hated the way he was always asking me if I was armed when it was too late. It had never occurred to him to ask me earlier, when I could have chosen something to be a weapon, even if it had been a pitchfork from Irma’s barn.

  “No,” I admitted through gritted teeth.

  “Well, how are you going to stop them?” the lizard asked.

  “That’s not supposed to be my job,” I reminded him. “That’s the kind of thing the ninjas usually take care of.”

  “You can’t spend your entire life hoping that ninjas show up,” God told me.

  “There are worst things in life that can happen,” I told him.

  We were so busy arguing that I missed part of the conversation that was going on inside. When I focused again on Rhonda and her captors, it was just in time to see the thug grab her arm and twist it.

  My own shoulder ached sympathetically.

  “Don’t engage and don’t escalate,” God reminded me.

  But I couldn’t just stand there while Rhonda was hurt.

  I knocked on the door. Startled, the man in the cheap suit and the goon both stared at the door, as though they’d never seen such a thing before.

  “Hello?” I yelled. “Is there anybody in there? I need help.”

  The two men looked to each other. The thug shook his head.

  “Please,” I yelled. “Please help me.”

  The man in the suit pointed to the pile of papers in front of Rhonda, indicating that they were highest priority.

  The goon went back to inflicting pain on Rhonda. She let out a pained gasp.

  I banged on the door some more, trying to distract them. I thought that I’d lost the battle when Rhonda picked up the pen.

  “Don’t,” I yelled through the door. “Don’t do it!”

  “Who the hell is that?” the thug muttered.

  He strode to the door and threw it open, glaring a
t me. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  Neither of us saw Rhonda attack, but we heard the agonized yell of the man in the suit. The goon turned and, in doing so, gave me a straight view of what had happened. Rhonda was running for the back door as the man clutched at his thigh, his face contorted with pain. She’d stabbed him in the leg with the pen.

  The thug didn’t care about the other man at all. He took off after Rhonda.

  “Uh oh,” the lizard said.

  That was an understatement.

  37

  I grabbed the door handle, knowing I had to do something to distract the thug. “Stop!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  He ignored me.

  “DeeDee, back door!” I yelled, sending the Doberman to meet Rhonda back there.

  As soon as I opened the door, Piss dashed inside. I don’t know what the little cat thought she was going to do, but I had to admire her bravery.

  “No, no, no,” God muttered. “This was supposed to be observational only.”

  The man in the suit was clutching his leg and groaning, blood started to seep through his pants.

  “Grab the contract,” the lizard urged.

  Skirting around the man in the suit, I grabbed the papers, wadding them up and sticking them in the waistband of my jeans so that my hands were free for hand-to-hand combat. Not that I’m very good at it, but it seemed best to do it empty-handed.

  The thug had stopped halfway through the gas station shop, not sure of what was going on.

  “What is your problem?” he asked me. “You can’t take those.”

  Meanwhile, Rhonda was wrestling with the back door, but it wasn’t opening.

  “Here!” DeeDee barked excitedly, coming up beside me.

  “The other back door,” God told her.

  The goon pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I stopped in my tracks and held up my hands.

  “Shoot her,” the man in the suit groaned.

  “What did I ever do to you?” I asked him testily.

  I could hear Rhonda wrestling with the door at the back of the shop. The thug could, too. He smiled suddenly.

  “You can’t get out,” he taunted. Keeping his gun pointed at me, he beckoned me forward with one finger. “Don’t try any funny stuff,” he warned.

  Keeping my hands in the air, I shuffled forward.

  “Come back,” the thug yelled, “or I’ll shoot you and then go kill your brat.”

  A moment later, Rhonda reappeared. “You,” she gasped in surprise.

  “You know each other?” the thug asked.

  I shook my head no while Rhonda said, “Yes.”

  “You should really get your stories straight,” he said.

  He glanced at Rhonda. “And you should have had somebody better come for your rescue.”

  “She did,” I said quietly, my eyes glancing down at Piss. “I brought help.”

  The cat got the signal and immediately logged her claws into the thugs shin, yowling, “Gotchya!”

  While he was distracted, I rushed toward him and wrestled the gun away.

  I pointed it at him.

  He kicked at the cat.

  “Okay, that’s enough Piss,” I shouted.

  She scurried away.

  He glared at me and lunged toward me. “Uh uh,” I told him, pointing the gun at him.

  “What?” he asked. “Are you going to shoot me?” He threw back his head, laughing at the idea.

  “Come with me, Rhonda.” I waved her toward me with my free hand.

  She tiptoed around him, ending up at my side.

  “I’m going to get you for this,” the man in the suit groaned, just before he toppled over, unconscious.

  “Let’s go,” I told her. Together, we began to back toward the door. The thug kept pace with us, clearly not believing I was capable of shooting him.

  “I won’t fire a warning shot. You don’t want to push me,” I warned him.

  “Or what?” he asked.

  “You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry,” God yelled from my shoulder.

  The thug looked around for the squeaking noise and then he lunged.

  I was ready for him and I calmly and smoothly pulled the trigger. I fired one shot.

  Rhonda screamed. Then the guy stopped moving, he stood there for a moment, swaying back and forth, and then said, “You shot me,” before falling to the ground. His hands clasped to his side as the evidence of his wound began to spread.

  “Let’s go,” I told Rhonda.

  Together, with Piss, we headed back toward my car.

  “DeeDee, come,” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I didn’t want to stick around in case anybody had heard the shot and reported it, or if the thug had backup on the way.

  We had almost reached the car and the dog had not rejoined us.

  “I’ll find her,” Piss promised. “But you go.”

  Rhonda and I got into my car, and I took out my cell phone.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said.

  “In a sec,” I told her. I stuck the gun I’d taken from the thug in the side panel of my car. I dialed Zeke’s number and waited.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “I kind of failed at the observational thing,” I told him.

  There was a beat, and then he said resignedly, “What do you need?”

  “Ahh…” I said slowly, trying to get my thoughts together. “Two things. One, there are two men in need of medical assistance at the address you gave me.”

  “Are you okay?” Zeke asked with concern.

  “Rhonda and I are fine,” I told him. “And I need to know what to do with her.”

  “I’ll get back to you in a couple of minutes,” he said. “Where are you?”

  “Just leaving the scene,” I told him.

  “Good idea, get out of there, I’ll call soon.” With that, he disconnected the call.

  I glanced over at Rhonda, who was huddled on the other side of the car, trembling.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I told her.

  Disbelief shone in her gaze. “First, they kidnap me from the prison, then, you come in all Dirty Harriett,” she said. “Nothing feels okay.”

  I nodded my understanding as I started the car. “I didn’t come in as Dirty Harriet,” I told her. “It’s not my gun, it’s his.”

  “In me let!” DeeDee barked, jumping up against the driver’s side window, scaring us both.

  Rhonda screamed.

  “In me let!” the Doberman demanded.

  “It’s okay,” I told Rhonda, “it’s my dog.” I jumped out of the car and opened the back door so that she and Piss could climb in. “Thank you,” I said to the cat.

  “She was at the back door,” Piss said. “She deserves some credit for that.”

  “And thank you for saving me in there,” I said.

  “That’s what I’m here for, Sugar,” she purred.

  I drove away, awaiting instructions from Zeke.

  38

  An hour later, I pulled into the parking lot of a bowling alley. The lot was deserted. Following instructions, I drove around to the back and parked. A door was propped open.

  “Wait here,” I told the animals.

  I got out of the car and stood there, waiting for Rhonda to join me. She didn’t seem to be ready to move.

  I walked over to her side and opened her door. “Come on,” I told her. “It’ll be okay.”

  Fear shone in her eyes. “I don’t know you,” she said. “I don’t know why you showed up at the prison asking me questions, and I don’t know why you showed up at the gas station.”

  “I know everything is unfamiliar,” I told her as kindly as I could. “But trust me, I’m working in your best interest.”

  She scoffed. “Is that why you took the contract?”

  I now had the papers rolled up in the back pocket of my jeans.

  “I took the contract to figure out what was going on,” I told her. “But I suspect that’s above my
pay grade, so let me take you to somebody who can help you better than I can.” I extended my hand to her. For a second, I thought she was going to refuse to get out of the car, but a moment later, she complied.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Nobody,” I told her.

  “You shot a man,” she said. “That’s not a nobody thing to do.”

  “Oh, she’s done a lot worse than that,” God confided.

  Rhonda’s eyes grew wide at the squeaking noise that came from my chest.

  I ignored it. We walked inside the bowling alley, through a rear storage room.

  Zeke was sitting in there, trying on a pair of bowling shoes.

  “Does this bring you back?” I asked sarcastically.

  He nodded. “Some of the best times of my life were spent on the lanes.”

  He offered a smile to Rhonda. “Hi, you must be Rhonda.”

  She nodded.

  He got to his feet. “This way.”

  He led us to the concession area.

  Nobody was there. “Right here,” he said. “You wait right here, Rhonda.” He grabbed my arm and led me away.

  “You can’t just leave her there,” I muttered under my breath.

  “We need to give them space,” Zeke said.

  Before I could ask what that meant, a door farther down opened, and Ms. Whitehat walked in.

  She looked out of place in her white linen suit against the garish background of the bowling alley. She also looked supremely annoyed. I gulped.

  Then, I saw that a smaller figure followed her, and I felt much better.

  Whitehat made a beeline for where Rhonda waited. The other woman hadn’t spotted the child, and was wringing her hands nervously and glancing around.

  After a moment, Whitehat stepped to the side, allowing a clear line of view between Boyd and his mother.

  “Mommy?” he asked quietly.

  Rhonda focused on him with laser-like intensity.

  He began to run toward her, and she knelt down to scoop him up. Grabbing him in a giant bear hug, she clutched him to her and began to sob softly.

  Tears filled my eyes as I witnessed their reunion.

  “You did good, Maggie,” Zeke whispered to me. “Despite whatever she says.” He strolled away, leaving me to deal with Ms. Whitehat on my own.