Deadly Forecast: A Psychic Eye Mystery (47 page)

His note and his confession, Gaston said, were something of a manifesto, where he
claimed that the bombs were his revenge against those who’d driven his fiancée to
kill herself. He’d wanted the bombs to be a message to the general public to be kinder
to one another, which I thought was crazy twisted.

“Russ managed to easily gain access to Michelle’s apartment by posing as the exterminator.
And he did the same at Taylor’s apartment when Taylor and her roommate were off to
class. He rigged the latches, then waited for a time when the girls were alone to
abduct them.”

“He couldn’t have done that with Debbie Nunez,” I said. “She would’ve recognized him.”

“Yes, that’s why he had to risk taking her on the street.”

“How did he get the girls to go to their targets?” Dutch asked.

“He told them that he’d be watching them every step of the way, and if they didn’t
do as he said, he’d set off the bomb remotely.” It was exactly as I’d suspected, I
thought. “He wanted them to suffer,” Gaston continued, “so he set each girl up with
an obstacle course of sorts. Making them find their way out of wooded areas, he gave
them a route to each of the locales that would be difficult physically and also keep
them out of the view of anyone who might notice they were strapped to a bomb.”

Gaston then focused on me. “You were the biggest challenge Russ faced. He said that
when he found Dutch’s note on your car, he thought it was something of a miracle.
He knew how to lure
you to your own house after everyone else had left, and he filled it with the same
gas he uses when he tents a home for termites. It works on the central nervous system
and, in large quantities, quickly knocks humans unconscious. Russ knew you’d fought
your way out of difficult circumstances before, and he told us he didn’t want to underestimate
your ability to fight him, so he decided the gas would kill two birds with one stone
by knocking you out, and anyone who immediately came looking for you.”

I rubbed my forehead. “No wonder I still have a headache.”

“Yes, well, it could have been worse. Miss Fusco is home in bed, where I hope she’ll
stay for the next day or two, and your best man, Rivers, was just released from the
hospital.”

Dutch squeezed my hand. “Remind me to call Milo before we leave tomorrow, babe,” he
said.

I nodded but then turned my attention back to Gaston. “Did he say how he got into
my house in the first place?” I asked.

“Yes. Apparently he made a copy of the key your construction manager gave him.”

I blinked and in an instant I remembered meeting Dave the night my landscaper came
by to check out the damaged urns. He’d lifted a key out from underneath a paint can,
and I realized that Dave had gone to meet his wife for happy hour the night before
and hadn’t met Russ at the house. He’d just left him a key under the paint can. “Dave…,”
I growled.

“Hmm?” Dutch asked.

Not wanting to get Dave in trouble, I shook my head. “Nothing. Sorry, Director, you
were saying?”

Gaston shrugged and turned for the door. “That’s really all there is to tell, Abigail.”
But then he paused and turned back to us. “Oh, except for this,” he said. Reaching
into his pocket, he pulled out two airline tickets. “Agent Frost wanted me to give
these to you and wish you congratulations.”

I stood up and held out my hand for the tickets. “We’re not married, Director.”

“Yet,” he said, and then he and Dutch exchanged a knowing look before he was gone.

I turned to my fiancé. “What’re you up to?”

“You’ll see,” he said cryptically. “You’ll see.”

*   *   *

A
few days later, I donned my beautiful silk slip wedding dress and took up the small
bouquet of lotus flowers a young girl in a sarong had brought me earlier. I then walked
out of the thatched bungalow set just off a beautiful white sand beach on the coast
of Bali and made my way down a winding path lit by the tranquil rays of the setting
sun. Inhaling the perfume of tropical flowers set all along the path, I sighed contentedly
at the serenade of the tide coming in and going out along the beach.

After one final turn I came out to a stone walkway, at the end of which stood my fiancé,
looking more radiantly handsome than I could ever remember. Dutch was dressed in a
white linen shirt that set off his tanned skin and midnight blue eyes, which lifted
when they saw me. I watched him gasp, and then place a hand over his heart, and it
filled me with such sweeping emotion that he was so moved by the sight of me. I walked
without my cane, steady and sure toward him, my gaze locked with his. When I reached
him, he took my hand, tucking it into the fold of his arm, and with a cabana boy,
the flower girl, and the hotel manager as the only witnesses, Dutch and I were finally
married. It was the most beautiful wedding ceremony ever. And absolutely perfect.

THE PSYCHIC EYE MYSTERY SERIES

Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye

Better Read Than Dead

A Vision of Murder

Killer Insight

Crime Seen

Death Perception

Doom with a View

A Glimpse of Evil

Vision Impossible

Lethal Outlook

THE GHOST HUNTER MYSTERY SERIES

What’s a Ghoul to Do?

Demons Are a Ghoul’s Best Friend

Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun

Ghouls Gone Wild

Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls

Ghoul Interrupted

What a Ghoul Wants