Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(79)

Sabine inched over to Beau. His jaw was clenched, and Sabine knew he was calculating every risk, every percentage of success if he reached for his pistol. But as long as Catherine was pointing her gun straight at Sabine, she knew he wouldn’t take the chance. And that was most likely going to get them killed.

“I think,” Catherine said, “I’ll take this golden opportunity to clear up all my problems. I mean, I’m going to claim that Frances went crazy and killed everyone. When she wakes up she won’t know whether she did or not.” With that, Catherine whirled toward the doorway and shot Lloyd twice in the chest.

Sabine covered her mouth as she screamed. It was as if time hung suspended. The shock registered on Lloyd’s face as he looked down at the red stain growing on his white dress shirt. He touched it and held up his hands, staring unbelieving at the blood dripping from his fingertips. He looked at Catherine, bewildered. He took one step toward her and stumbled, then crashed to the floor in a heap.

“Finally,” Catherine said, “I can live the life I wanted without hiding in this musty old estate. Lloyd never could manage to act like William in public, so I had no choice but to become a virtual recluse. It’s been like living in a prison. Worthless husband, crazy daughter, meddling housekeeper. But that’s all about to change.”

In the doorway, something moved, and Sabine squinted in the dim light, trying to make out what was in the hallway. A second later, Helena walked into the room and right through Catherine to stand between the murdering matriarch and her next victims.

“What a f*cking mess,” she said. “I can probably knock that gun out of her hand. If you want me to do it, blink twice.”

It was a long shot, depending on Helena to get her ghost skills right on demand, but it still wasn’t as long as the possibility of Catherine shooting and missing them from a distance of ten feet. Sabine said a silent prayer for all of them and blinked twice. Helena nodded and her brow wrinkled in concentration as she turned to face Catherine. At the same time, Catherine lifted the gun and pointed it directly at Beau’s chest.

“I think I’ll start with lover boy here. Might as well clear the room of men. And after all, if not for him, we wouldn’t be in this position to begin with, would we?” She smiled at Sabine and her finger whitened on the trigger.

And that’s when Helena struck. She jumped across the room, faster than Sabine would have ever given her credit for, and hit Catherine’s arm with a semblance of a karate chop. The chop probably wouldn’t have been hard enough to make Catherine drop the gun under normal circumstances, but being assaulted by an invisible assailant was apparently enough of a shock for her to loosen her grip. Catherine cried out as the gun fell from her hand and skidded a couple of feet across the floor.

“It’s the spirits!” Adelaide screamed and threw her arms around Frances.

Catherine instantly recovered and dove for the weapon, but Helena drove her into the hardwood floor in a body slam the WWF would have been proud of. Catherine hit the ground with a thud and started to move when Beau said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Helena rose from the floor with Catherine’s pistol, a huge grin on her face. “How was that for a save? You owe me big, Sabine.”

Catherine’s eyes widened at what looked to her like a floating gun. Adelaide started to pray again, and Sabine had little doubt that the Catholic church was getting a new member come Sunday.

“Now, Helena,” Sabine said, looking uneasily at the gun. “Be careful with that. The safety’s not on. It could go off.”

Helena turned to face Sabine. “What, do you think I’m stupid? I know how a gun works, see?”

Before Sabine could stop her, Helena reached up with her other hand and tried to engage the safety. She must have pushed too hard because she lost her grip on the gun and it spun around on her finger that was placed in the trigger hole. “Shit!” Helena said and tried to catch the gun, but instead, she pulled the trigger.

Luckily for all the good guys, the gun was turned backwards and facing straight at Helena’s chest when it went off. The bullet passed right through the perturbed ghost and hit Catherine in the thigh. The murdering bitch went down with a cry and wailed as if she were dying.

Sabine took a step forward and grabbed the gun out of Helena’s hand. “Give me that before you kill someone.” She shot a look back at Beau, who was shaking his head.

Beau motioned to Catherine. “Move over by the bed. Sit next to the post.”

“I’m f*cking shot, you *,” Catherine shot back.

“Then crawl, bitch,” Beau shot back, “unless you’d like me to give the gun back to the ghost and have her put a bullet in your other leg.”

Catherine shot daggers at Beau and pulled herself across the floor to the bed. “You’ll never prove any of this. Bunch of devil-worshippers, bringing demons into my house. I’ll press charges against you, and the local police will never believe a word you say.”

“Oh, that’s rich,” Helena complained. “The bitch killed half the local population but I’m a demon.” She looked over at Sabine. “Can I poke her in the leg, please? Or maybe pour alcohol in the wound?”

“No, Helena, as much as I would like you to, I can’t allow you to pour alcohol into Catherine’s bullet hole.” She looked down at Catherine and smiled. “I wouldn’t keep calling her a demon if I were you.”