Thirty-Six and a Half Motives
Page 22

“Whatever he’s up to is goin’ to happen in that alley. Keep an eye out.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have a coat?” he asked. “It’s cold tonight.”
I couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah. I’m wearing it. Don’t worry, I’ve survived worse. Sitting on top of a roof sure beats gettin’ chased by a maniac through the snow-covered woods for two days.”
“Crocker?”
“Yeah.” That had marked the beginning of my relationship with Mason. Funny how it had started out with us both being chased by a maniac and ended the same way.
“You sure know how to find trouble,” Skeeter teased.
I laughed, fighting tears. “So I’ve been told.”
“You scared?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, but nothing I can’t handle.” I looked over the ledge again, searching for any sign of movement. I realized I could see Kate’s fire escape from my vantage point. The one Neely Kate and I had used to make our escape after breaking into her apartment.
“That’s what I like about you,” he said. “You take the punches, but you don’t back down.”
“I was beaten down for too long,” I said. “I got tired of not living my life, so now I’m gonna take on anyone who gets in my way.”
He laughed. “I can’t see you lettin’ anyone beat you down.”
“Then you must not remember meeting me nearly a year ago.”
He laughed again, softer this time. “Oh, I remember. The woman I met was naïve and unworldly, but not beaten down.”
“I guess I’ve changed a lot since then.” Further proof I wasn’t the woman Mason first met either.
I couldn’t let myself think about him right now. I needed to focus on surviving.
I knelt on the roof, resting my hand on the ledge as I readjusted the earbud in my ear. Some movement to my left caught my eye, down below, close to the antiques store. It took a moment for me to register what I was seeing, but the shadows resolved into two men hurrying down the alley toward my shop. One looked like Teagen, and the other guy was dressed all in black. Both held high-powered rifles. Teagen wasn’t playing around this time.
“Skeeter, they’re comin’.”
“Tell me what you see.”
By the time I’d described them, they were already underneath me, standing at the back door. “They’re at the door! What about Merv?”
“Don’t you worry about Merv,” Skeeter chuckled. “He’s a tough old coot. Those boys’ll be sorry they messed with him.”
The guy dressed all in black bent over the door knob.
“I think they’re picking the lock.”
“Merv’s waiting for ’em.”
My heart was beating so hard against my ribcage I was sure it was gonna fly out and flop across the roof. “What if they get past him? Will they think to come up here?”
“It depends on whether they’ve been watching both entrances. If not, for all they know, you might have left.”
“That padlock won’t hold them, will it?”
He hesitated. “No.”
I took a deep breath and looked around. My office building was connected to several adjoining ones, including the one housing the antique store on the opposite end. I noticed a small storage shed on top of the antique store building.
“I’m going to move,” I said.
“Where do you think you can go?” Skeeter boomed out.
“I’m not going to sit around waiting to serve them tea when they come callin’,” I said. “There’s a storage shed on top of the building with the antique store. I can try to hole up there.”
“Just sit tight for now and tell me what you see.”
When I leaned over, I saw that the guy who was dressed all in black had stood up and that he and Teagen were opening the door.
Gunshots rang out, echoing off the brick buildings in the alley.
“They’ve gone inside,” I whispered. I sat still, waiting for some sign, although I had no idea what. “The gunshots stopped. Do you think Merv’s okay?”
Skeeter didn’t answer me for several seconds. “Can you get to that shed?”
My pulse pounded in my head. “I think so. Is Merv okay?”
“He’s not answering. Get going.”
I tried not to think about the possibility of Merv getting killed. Because of me. “If I hadn’t taken his other gun . . .”
“Merv was doin’ the job I told him to do. Don’t you even think about feeling guilty.”
I started climbing over the ledge to the next building. Although the two buildings were attached, there was a two-foot drop between them. I landed with an oomph and stayed in a squat as I waddled to the next building. Sirens began to wail in the distance, from the area close to the county jail.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Merv. “But if he hadn’t been—”
“You stop right there. I need you to tell me what’s going on in the square.”
I moved closer to the front of the building to take a gander and discovered that the police had moved out from behind their car doors. They were now spread out in the street. Detective Taylor had jogged to the end of my street and was heading around the corner. No doubt his destination was my alley.
I relayed the information, then asked, “What will happen if they find Merv in my office?”
“You’ll be in the clear, if you’re worried about that,” Skeeter said.
“I’m more worried about Merv.”
“That’s why I have Carter Hale on my retainer. To take care of these kinds of predicaments,” he teased, but I heard the strain in his voice. He’d likely never admit it, but he was worried about Merv, too. “Are you still making your way to that shed?”
I started moving again, crawling on my hands and knees to move faster while remaining out of sight. “I have two more buildings to go,” I said, climbing a short wall to get to the top of the next roof top. “Those men came from the direction of the antique store.”
A new thought struck me, and I moved to the back edge of the building to verify my hunch. Sure enough, Kate’s fire escape had been lowered.
I told Skeeter what I saw. “I think they came from Kate’s apartment.”