Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(50)

Jacque grabbed her cane, stepped outside, and whacked him hard across the knees.

He cursed but held tight to the dog.

She hit him again, this time in the shoulder and then below the belt, careful not to hurt Gracie.

The dognapper dropped to his knees.

Gracie wriggled out of her captor’s arms and ran inside the house. Jacque stepped inside just as Kitally ran past her—but Kitally was too late.

The dognapper was limping away and never saw what hit him until he was on the ground.

David Downing was fast, and he was on top of him. It got ugly in a hurry. Kitally and Tommy didn’t really get to enjoy the moment before they had to wade in and drag the guy off him. No sense in giving the cops two arrests to make.

When they had David under control, Kitally handed Tommy his phone and had just pulled out hers to call the police when she heard Jacque already on the line with them just inside the house.

Only then, with the dognapper moaning at their feet, were Kitally and Tommy able to relax enough to share a grin and a high five.

“Another case solved,” Kitally said.

Tommy laughed. “You really do have a knack for this investigative business, don’t you?”

“I don’t know about that,” Kitally said, unable to get the smile off her face. “But I actually look forward to waking up each day.” Just inside the door, Jacque’s fat little pug was happily leaning up against her leg as she finished her call with the police. “That’s job satisfaction, right there. Jacque Mason has her dog back.”

“Twenty minutes ago, you thought she was a pain in the ass.”

“I still think Jacque Victoria Mason is a pain in the ass. But she has her dog back, and that’s all that matters. God, I love it.”

“Love what?”

“The whole thing. The thrill of cracking a case—following clues, searching for the truth. It’s a high that can’t be beat.”

“It’s also dangerous. Lizzy and Jared are proof of that.”

She heard sirens in the distance. “Sadly, I think that’s part of the appeal.”

“All you girls are so different and yet so much alike at the same time.”

“Yeah, we’re sort of a crazy family now.”

“I guess you are. You’re all living together. How’s that working out?”

“It’s horrible,” she said with a laugh. “You know, people trying to poison us, stalkers in the backyard—your average family. We each have our own bathroom, so it works.”

“I’m glad.”

“In case you didn’t know, you’re part of the family, too.”

Before Tommy could respond, the police car pulled up, red lights swirling.





CHAPTER 35

As Jenny walked down the narrow hallway to her office, she didn’t bother straightening the picture frames. She sat at her desk and pulled out the list.


Brandon Louis – stabbed

Terri Kramer—Food poisoning

Stephen White—Explosion

Debi Murray—Car accident/brakes

Gavin Murdock—Heart attack/antifreeze

Rachel Elliott—Running accident

Melony Reed—Kitchen accident

Ron Jennings—Car accident

Louise Penderfor—Moved

Mindy Graft

Aubrey Singleton

Claire Moss—Moved

Chelsea Webster

Dean Newman—Suicide

Gary Perdue


Four more people to take care of. How am I going to get rid of them?

A fall down the stairway. Poison. Drowning. Electrical mishap. Contaminated well water. Suffocation. Choking. Carbon monoxide poisoning.

OK, OK. That’s enough. Her mind was muddled. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dwayne. Tomorrow night she would be going on her first real date—dinner and a movie. She’d never been to a movie with a man. What would she wear? What would they talk about?

Try doing a search on the guy, why don’t you? Something you should have done when you met Brandon.

Not a bad idea. She typed Dwayne Roth into her search engine and hit the Return key. A picture of him, and in a minute she had enough for a short bio. He attended McClatchy High School and then went on to receive top honors at UCLA. Like her, he was a senior research chemist. He didn’t have a Facebook page. She couldn’t find anything about family or friends, but so far, so good. They had a lot in common—grew up in the same area, worked in the same field. She hit the Back button and ended up on the website for Lizzy Gardner Investigations.

Lizzy Gardner. What was she trying to prove?

She’d tried to talk to the woman, but she wouldn’t listen. She wondered if the cookies she’d delivered had proved useful. She didn’t dare risk a drive-by, so she decided to make a quick call and see who picked up.

The phone rang three times before she heard, “Lizzy Gardner Investigations. Can I help you?”

“Yes. I would like to speak with Lizzy Gardner, please.”

“Can I tell her who’s calling?”

The person who had answered sounded calm, even relaxed. Maybe they weren’t ready for word to get out that Lizzy and her friends were in the hospital or, better yet, dead. Jenny exhaled and said, “Tell her it’s a friend calling about the Melony Reed case.”