Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) (14 page)

“Here, let me help you.” Po Po pushed in front of the detective and aimed the paint ball gun on Taylor’s face.

Taylor jerked back and banged the side of his face on the door. Detective Sokol gave him a shove, and Taylor fell into the back seat. Po Po pulled the trigger.

Pop! Pop! Splat! Splat!

Taylor curled into a fetal position. “Son of a—”

Detective Sokol slammed the door. “I didn’t see this.”

“Either did I,” Raina said.

“Thanks for your help. I can take it from here,” Detective Sokol said.

“Detective, I think you have the wrong person,” Raina said.

“What about the sting operation on Saturday?” Po Po asked.

His eyebrows rose when he realized her grandma had heard their entire conversation. “I don’t think it will be necessary. We found our killer.”

“Why do you think it’s him? Maybe he was heading toward his car?” Raina asked.

“Because I found this.” He opened his jacket to reveal a plastic Ziploc bag in an inner mesh pocket. The white cell phone charger cord could be seen clearly through the mesh. “He was planning to strangle you with this.”

D
etective Sokol asked
Raina and Po Po to stop by the station to give a statement at their earliest convenience. Instead of heading there straight away, they stopped by Baskin Robbins for ice cream cones.

As Raina licked the Nutty Coconut ice cream, she thought about Taylor’s arrest. The stroll to the ice cream parlor had given her a chance to think about what happened at the park. Detective Sokol had to be playing a deeper game like when he leaked the suicide note hoping to lull the murderer into thinking she was safe.

“Is it possible Taylor might just have had a cell phone cord in his pocket?” Raina asked.

Po Po pulled one out of her beach bag. “I have one. These smarty pants phone suck juice like a vampire on crack. I would never leave home without one.”

“Taylor probably eavesdropped on the conversation to know what I’m telling the police. He already thinks I’m a snitch. Why did you open fire on him in the first place?”

Po Po shrugged. “I’m mad he’s the source of the problem between you and Eden and the Robertson twins. It’s not like the paint would hurt him, and I can always play the little old lady card if he wanted to press charges.”

Raina chuckled. “He did deserve it, huh? What do you think will happen to him?”

“I have a feeling the detective will hold him as long as permissible.”

“I wonder if having Taylor cool his heels in a holding cell is a strategy. This way the police could focus on Denise,” Raina said.

“Then why isn’t Detective Sokol interested in getting a confession from Denise on Saturday like he originally planned?”

“Beats me. He’s a man. How would I know what he’s thinking?”

“We should go through with the plan on Saturday.”

“I don’t think the two of us can physically take Denise on, especially if she even remotely suspects we’re on to her.” The woman was half a foot taller than either of them.

Po Po wagged an index finger. “There’s the posse. Frank Small is ex-military. He can hook us up with cool gadgets for this operation. We need a code name.”

Raina averted her gaze. Oh, great—the geriatric posse. This could turn into an
I Love Lucy
episode. “Frank needs to be in charge while I’m inside with Denise.”

“What about me?”

“You’re my second-in-command. I need you to watch my back. Let Frank handle the posse.”

“Let’s call an emergency meeting tomorrow afternoon to coordinate.” Hopefully this would give her time to call Matthew for help because she was in over her head. She’d never tried to get a confession out of a murderer before.

* * *

T
he trip
to the police station took longer than it should. Afterwards, Raina and Po Po parted ways in front of the station, and Raina went to pick up her car at the auto body shop. A shiny new windshield and clean headlights, yay. She managed to not wince when the mechanic ran her credit card.

Her stomach was growling when she pulled out of the auto body shop. The last time she’d eaten a meal was breakfast more than nine hours ago. Dinner consisted of an over-greased cheeseburger and iced tea from the drive-through—which she wolfed down in two bites. By the time she made her way from the apartment parking lot to the courtyard, she was rubbing her chest at the indigestion.

Raina dropped her purse on the small side table and hurried into the kitchen, tapping on her cell phone to dial Matthew’s number. With the phone pressed between her ear and shoulder, she searched for the bottle of Pepto Bismol pills in the pantry. It went straight to voicemail, and she left him a message about her conversation with Myra Jo, the run-in with Taylor, the trip to the police station, and Operation Denise.

She hung up and popped two pills into her mouth and chased it down with a glass of water from the kitchen. Then she went to bed, figuring she had time to formulate a plan tomorrow.

Bam! Bam!

Raina jerked awake, her heart hammering against her chest. She glanced at the digital display on her alarm clock. It was already ten thirty in the morning. It was the first time in weeks she’d slept in so late. She yawned, stumbling toward the front door.

Did the police let Taylor go? Could it be Denise? But she had no reason to suspect Raina was anything more than a busybody willing to sell her services for free hair treatments.

Bam!

“Open up. I know you’re in there,” Eden yelled.

Raina groaned, wishing she could hide in the bedroom. Her friend sounded spitting mad, and Raina didn’t want anything to do with her BFF at the moment. She trudged to the living room, took a deep breath, and flung open the front door.

“How could you? I can’t believe you got Detective Sokol to arrest my boyfriend. I thought we were on the same side,” Eden said.

Raina flopped down on her olive-colored hand-me-down sofa. It was too early in the morning for drama. “It’s not as bad as it seems. Taylor was skulking behind us, and Po Po mistook him for the killer. The police have nothing on him. I’m sure they’ll release him soon.” Actually she didn’t know this for sure, but hoped this would calm Eden down.

Eden followed her into the apartment. “No, they will not. He called me for bail money. Where am I supposed to come up with this money? I have no savings or collateral.”

Raina frowned. Bail? “They’re charging him with what?”

“As if you don’t know.” Eden scowled at her. “LaShawna’s murder.”

“Did you misunderstand him? Bail could be a million dollars or more for murder.” Raina had expected Taylor to be release in the morning. It was the reason she’d agreed to go ahead with Operation Denise because she knew the detective would come back with his hat in his hands before Saturday.

“How the heck do I know? It’s not like I have an ‘in’ with the police like you do.”

“I don’t have an ‘in’ with the police. Matthew doesn’t share his information with me. Geez, you make it sound like he doesn’t have any integrity.”

“Oh, don’t get all high and mighty with me. We all bend the rules to get the job done.”

Raina shook her head. They were getting off track. “If Taylor isn’t the murderer, he’ll be fine. The police have no reason to frame him.”

“How could you?” Eden said, her lower lip quivering. “I thought you were my friend, and it turns out you’re a backstabbing liar. Are you so insecure that you need to ruin my chance at happiness?”

Raina gaped at her best friend—her former best friend. This was the second time she’d sided with the flavor of the month because he happened to be a needy man. “I think you should go now. Words are like shaving cream. Once you say them, you can’t put them back in the can, and sometimes the mess is the last thing you see before it’s empty.”

“I don’t even know what you’re trying to say. Just because you have a fancy engineering degree doesn’t make you better at picking men than me.”

Raina jerked back as if her friend had slapped her. “We’re done here. Goodbye, Eden.”
And I’m done with you and your drama.

Eden scowled and left, slamming the front door on her way out.

Raina blinked rapidly at the burning in her eyes. A tear rolled down her face despite her efforts. She batted at it savagely. She was not crying for her traitorous friend. This was it. She would start taking applications for a new BFF.

Knock! Knock!

She glanced at the front door. Her heart sank at the thought of continuing her argument with Eden, but knowing her friend, ignoring her would only mean an embarrassing scene and more door pounding.

Raina got up and jerked open the door. “What—” The anger died from her voice. She couldn’t breathe.

Denise beamed at her from the other side of the threshold, holding a plastic caddy of hair styling tools and products.

R
aina swallowed
, but her mouth was drier than a fossilized bone. When she spoke, her voice came out in a squeak. “What are you doing here?”

Denise’s eyes clouded when she took one look at Raina’s face. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying.” 

“I’m fine.”

Denise reached over and patted Raina on the shoulder. The five-foot-eleven beauty loomed over Raina. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Raina took a step back to put some distance between the two of them. “Right now isn’t a good time. I haven’t even brushed my teeth or had any coffee.”

Denise rubbed her back like they were good friends. Raina shifted away from the touch, but didn’t want to offend the other woman. Her skin crawled, but she had to pretend they were still buddy-buddy.

“It’s okay.” Denise stepped forward, arms opened and ready for a hug.

Raina jerked back and blinked. How did they end up inside the apartment? She’d been maneuvered like a chess piece. She held up her hand in a stop motion. “No. I’m fine. You need to leave now. My boyfriend is coming over for a nooner. I have to get ready.”

Denise shut the door without taking her eyes off Raina’s face. “A what?”

“You know. I’m about to get busy. And you can’t be here.”

Raina hoped her breathlessness at having LaShawna and Walt’s murderer in her apartment would come across as heightened arousal. She felt naked using pretended ignorance instead of a weapon to defend herself. She’d never been a particularly good poker player.

“With who? The Asian detective? I passed him at the Venus Café. He was there with the blonde officer. He doesn’t seem to be on his way here from the way they were snuggling against each other. And I haven’t seen you making goo-goo eyes on anyone else.” Denise took a step closer, tilting her head as she studied Raina. “And I’ve been watching you for a long while.”

Raina swallowed again but ended up coughing. She exaggerated her hacking to keep Denise at bay, sweeping her eyes across the living room to search for a weapon. Onion juice spray bottle on bookcase. Dumb bells on floor. Pile of mismatched socks. Tennis racket next to TV. Why couldn’t she have a real weapon like a Louisville slugger?

“Are you done yet? Your eyes are about to fly out of their sockets.” Denise set the caddy on the side table next to the front door but kept her hand on the handle. “Let’s get started on your hair. We can fix you up for your nooner.” She smirked. “And you can tell me what you’ve found out about Myra Jo so far.”

“I thought you wanted to talk on Saturday.”

Denise shrugged. “House call. I was in the area, on my way to bail someone out.”

Raina’s eyes widened. Taylor! He must have called Denise after he called Eden this morning. She took a deep shaky breath. “You wouldn’t want to make him wait. My hair can wait another day.” She giggled, hoping she sounded silly and non-threatening.

Denise pulled out a flat iron and plugged it into the outlet next to the side table. She pulled out a plastic cape and unfurled it with a snap. “Let me put this around you.”

Raina took a step back, her heel bumping against the dumbbell on the floor. Fear twisted her gut, but her voice was calm. “There’s no way I’ll let you put anything around my neck.”

If Raina weren’t watching closely she would have missed the flicker in Denise’s eyes. “I see.” The smile left her face. “So now I’m the bad guy.”

The hair on the back of Raina’s neck stiffened. A chill ran down her spine. “Why? She was your twin.”

Denise bared her teeth, her face morphing from beauty to beast in a nano-second. “Because she killed my baby.”

“It was an accident.”

“She ran into the guard rail on purpose. She wanted me to get an abortion because a baby would ruin my future.” Denise laughed, but it came out as a cackle. “And a few years later she ended up with Taylor’s baby.”

The image of Taylor, Denise, and the child laughing at the playground rose in Raina’s mind. “But why now? It’s been eight years.”

“She wanted to take Ricky away from me. She has this stupid plan to trap Taylor into marrying her. A happy little family without me. That was the last straw. I took care of Ricky while she was out partying all these years. He’s mine.”

“You have him now, right? It’s not like Taylor wants him,” Raina said, trying to diffuse the situation by mimicking Denise’s word choices. So LaShawna was killed to keep the nephew rather than for revenge of the old car accident.

The furrow lines left Denise’s face, but not the gleam. “That’s true. He’s mine now.”

Raina backed away another step. It was one thing to seek Denise out with Po Po’s posse hanging onto every word, but it was another to have the woman in her apartment and no boyfriend coming over for a nooner. “Maybe you should go take care of your nephew rather than bail Taylor out.”

“No!” Denise snapped her attention back to Raina. “I need to take care of you first.”

Denise launched at Raina, pulling the flat iron from the wall outlet. The momentum carried the two of them onto the floor. Denise swung the hot flat iron at her.

Raina raised an arm to block it. The flat iron branded itself on the inside of her forearm and she screamed at the sharp pain. She swatted at it with her other hand, and it flew across the room.

Denise reached for Raina’s throat, the long acrylic nails sharp as talons. Raina held onto the other woman’s wrists, but Denise curled her hands, and her nails dug into the skin of Raina’s hands. Raina screamed again and bucked wildly.

Raina shoved Denise against the bookshelf, and the spray bottle of onion juice fell onto the floor. She grabbed it and blasted Denise in the face.

Denise covered her face and swatted blindly at Raina’s direction. Tears streamed down her face, and she could barely open her eyes.

The front door opened, and Eden stood gaping at the threshold, holding Raina’s bike and missing sandal. The momentary distraction was enough for Denise to launch at Raina again, wrapping her hands around Raina’s throat.

Raina grabbed Denise’s wrists, but her short nails did little damage and the other woman was a good half a head and twenty pounds heavier. The pressure on her throat increased, and panic rose in her mind. She was going to die. She heaved, and the sound frightened her.

The noise snapped Eden out of her stupor. She dropped the bike and threw the sandal at Denise, and the other woman ducked. Eden fell on the murderer and wrapped Denise in a headlock, hauling her off.

Raina coughed and rolled over into a fetal position. Her throat burned, her arm ached, and the skin on the back of her hands stung. She took a deep breath and turned her head so she could see the struggle between the other two women.

Eden was flat on her stomach on the floor with Denise on her back, yanking on a fistful of her weave.

“He is…mine,” Denise said through gritted teeth.

“Get off me,” Eden screamed, holding onto her hair.

Raina groped around the floor until she touched the neoprene dumbbell. As she teetered to her feet, she tightened her grip on the weight. She stumbled and fell onto Denise, knocking her off of Eden and into the side table. The dumbbell flew from her hands and crashed onto the wall, lodging in the drywall several feet from the ground.

The caddy of hair supplies rained down on them. Denise grabbed a wicked pair of scissors and jabbed them at Raina. She threw a punch at Denise, catching her on the side of her nose from sheer luck.

Denise jerked her head back and it knocked against the dumbbell protruding from the wall behind her. Her eyes rolled up, and she slumped to the floor like a sleeping beauty.

Raina’s breaths came out in noisy puffs. Her body quivered with anticipation, but Denise didn’t rise from the floor.

Bump! Bump!

Something hit the floor on her left. Raina whipped her head toward the front door—only to have her face blasted with beer.

When the liquid stream stopped, she saw Matthew handcuffing Denise. On the threshold were a pizza box and six-pack on the floor. Two beer cans had hit the concrete at the perfect angle and popped their tops. It seemed the nooner finally made it.