Thirty and a Half Excuses
Page 73

“You mean my house!” she shouted, veins popping out on her forehead. “That bastard stole it!”
“Is that why you killed Miss Dorothy? So you could get the money?”
She started laughing hysterically. “Do you really think I’d admit that to you? Do I look like an idiot?” She’d turned to look at me, so she didn’t notice that the Suburban in front of us had stopped. Her car rammed into the back of it, throwing her gun to the floor.
The seatbelt dug into my shoulder and abdomen after the impact. My fingers fumbled with my seatbelt latch as Christy tried to orient herself. I reached for the door handle just as she figured out what I was doing. She grabbed a handful of my hair.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She reached down beneath her, feeling for the gun.
The SUV driver had gotten out of the car and was shouting, but he stopped when he took in what was happening. I shoved an elbow hard into Christy’s stomach, and she groaned and dropped her hold on my hair.
I pushed the door open and took off running. “Call 911!” I shouted to the SUV driver as gunshots rang out.
She was really trying to shoot me!
I ran for several blocks, zigging and zagging between houses and changing streets. I stopped behind a giant oak tree to catch my breath, looking around to make sure I’d lost her.
I was at the edge of downtown, which meant I was close to the nursery. But should I take a chance and go there? The police station was out. I considered going to Mason’s office, but I didn’t want to risk passing any police officers who might decide I was guilty before proven innocent.
I snorted. A crazy lunatic like Christy was walking around Henryetta shooting at people, but they were interested in arresting me and Bruce Wayne.
I doubted Christy even knew about the nursery, let alone that I was an owner. When I walked through the door to the shop, Violet was livid. “Where in the hell have you been?”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’ve been manning the shop all alone. You didn’t even call to tell me where you were, and your phone went straight to voicemail.”
I stumbled to the back room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, taking several gulps. “My phone’s dead,” I finally said, realizing I’d lost my purse somewhere in the last couple of hours. My phone along with it.
“When are you going to become a responsible adult and learn to charge your phone?”
I ignored her question and took another drink.
“Why are you so out of breath?”
“I was running from a crazy woman.”
“Ha. Ha,” she sneered, going back behind the counter. “Very funny.”
I leaned against the counter. “I had to go to Jonah’s this morning. Remember? We got that parsonage job.”
Her eyes bugged in exasperation. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? I forgot all about it. How’s it going?”
I thought about everything that had transpired over the last few hours. “It’s going fine.” I went behind the counter. “Where’s the phone book?”
“Why?”
“I need to call Mason.”
“If you’d just charge your phone, you could call him on that.”
I saw no point in arguing with her. I looked up Mason’s office number and Cecelia answered on the second ring.
“Cecelia, this is Rose Gardner. Has Mason come back to his office yet?’ I took the cordless handset to the backroom, out of Violet’s earshot.
“No. Not yet.” I could tell it was killing her to be nice to me.
“Will you give him a message? Tell him I lost my cell phone, but I’ll call him back later to explain what happened. In the meantime, could you call the police and tell them Christy Hansen is running around town with a gun? I suspect she plans to put one of her bullets in Jonah Pruitt.”
“What?”
“I know.” I sighed. “Just tell ‘em.”
I may have gotten away from Christy, but as far as I knew, Bruce Wayne was still missing. I had to find him. I put the phone back in the charger. “Vi, I have to go back to the job. David’s not working with Bruce Wayne, and he needs the help.” Lying to Violet made me feel guilty, but it was a lot easier than explaining everything, not that she’d approve of me helping Bruce Wayne anyway.
“But you haven’t even taken any plants yet.”
I cursed under my breath. “Uh…there’s a lot of digging out bushes and tree trimming. We probably won’t get to planting until tomorrow. Or the next day.”
She looked out the window. “Where’s your truck?”
This day just kept getting worse and worse. My truck keys were in my purse, wherever that was.
I waved in the direction of the street. “Oh, you know. Out there.”
She shook her head, looking at me like I was one of her misbehaving children. “What does Joe think about you spendin’ so much time with Mason?”
“He’s just fine with it. He told me yesterday that he trusts me.”
Putting her hands on her hips, she jutted out her hip. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I groaned. I didn’t have the time or energy to deal with her right now. “Exactly what it sounds like, Violet. Joe trusts me.” I headed for the door. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
“Charge your phone!” she shouted after me.