Blonde and Fabulous Read online

I stopped and held up my uninjured arm.

  "Why?" I asked, trying to keep her talking for a few more minutes in hopes that the police would arrive. "And where in the hell did you come from?"

  She pulled a lock of soaking wet hair away from her face. "There's a side emergency entrance." She pointed toward the far side of the building. "No one ever uses it. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think most of the girls even know about it. One of the girls said she saw Roy head toward the back with Cindy and a couple of chicks, and I knew something was up, so I stepped out the emergency exit and peeked around the building. That's when I saw and heard what was going on. I waited until the shooting died down then made my move. As for the why? Money," she said simply.

  "But Roy said he killed Kiki and Tammy," I shouted over the sound of rain pinging off cars and the crack of thunder overhead.

  "He did. I didn't kill anyone…yet." She smiled, her thick mascara starting to run in rivulets down her cheeks. "But that doesn't mean I didn't know what was going on. I overheard Roy talking to Kiki about his dealings with Fernando. When Fernando left, I told Roy I wanted in. The rest is history."

  My arm hurt like nothing ever before, and the cold rain and heavy sleeve of my thermal top pressing down on it made the pain even worse.

  "If that's so, then why are you still living in that crappy apartment?" I asked.

  "For show. In a month or less I'm going to move in with Roy!" She shouted her response.

  "You and Roy are…together?" I fought the urge to gag. I had no doubt their relationship was a money thing.

  My sugar-daddy theory was right. I just had the wrong people.

  "Of course we are." Roy walked up and stood beside her. "Now all we have to do is take care of you then get out of here before your buddies get back with the cops."

  "Say good-night, Ms. Jackson."

  Rena raised the gun level with my face, and I knew this was it. This was where I died. In the parking lot of a shady strip joint, shot by a bribing, money-laundering murderer and his tacky girlfriend.

  I closed my eyes and braced myself for the shot, hoping it was quick and painless. I was a wuss when it came to pain…and death.

  The sound of sirens followed by screeching tires and the splash of cars hitting puddles of standing water reached my ears over the pounding rain. I opened my eyes just in time to see three squad cars ripping into the parking lot like they were competing in the Indy 500.

  Roy and Rena looked at each other and then back to me, but I was already in motion. I dropped into a ball, rolled to where my gun had landed, grabbed it, and then dove behind the truck Roy had been crouched beside minutes before.

  A second later gunfire erupted around me. The sound of bullets pinging off metal echoed in my ears. I skirted around to the front of the truck then dropped down onto my stomach and army crawled as best as I could with one good arm to the rear to get a better perspective of the situation. I saw the three police cars. One blocked the exit, while the other two created a barricade for the officers to take cover behind.

  It took a minute for me to see that Rena had disappeared, but Roy had just pulled a new clip from his pocket and reloaded. He was holding his own, firing shots at the officers. I scanned the parking lot quickly, hoping to find Rena before she somehow made a great escape. A flash of red caught my eye. It was Rena running for the back door of the club. Bullets struck the building around her, and she crouched down in an attempt to keep from being hit.

  I couldn't let her get away, but I didn't want to get shot either. I weighed my options, and of course, capturing Rena won out. With a deep breath, I crawled the rest of the way out from under the truck, leaped to my feet, and made a mad dash toward the back door.

  Roy must've seen me chasing after his snuggle bunny because I hadn't taken three strides when bullets whizzed past my head and body. I looked to the side, and sure enough, Roy had decided to fire on both the police and me.

  I pulled a major league move and did a baseball slide to the club door. The puddling water on the ground made the pavement like a slip and slide, and a spray of water arched away from my body in a sheet on both sides as I slid. I felt my pants leg rip from the scrape of the asphalt, but if my thigh was scraped up, I didn't feel it. My adrenaline was pumping, and I had a criminal to catch.

  I jumped up, grabbed the doorknob, and hauled the door open.

  Rainwater pooled off me in rivulets as I ran down the long hallway and into the main room. Dancers and patrons were already frozen in place, staring after Rena sprinting toward the front door.

  Running really wasn't my thing, especially in soaking wet shoes, but I put on a burst of speed, and when I was finally close enough, I jumped, tackling Rena to the ground.

  We hit with a thud and rolled a few times. The gun I held flew out of my hand and slid across the floor, underneath a nearby table. Burning pain shot through my arm, and my breath was ragged, but I wasn't about to let my lack of cardio and a little bullet wound faze me. After all, I had just tackled a murderer.

  "Alright! Girl fight!" one of the customers shouted, and the room erupted in cheers.

  Rena surprised me by bucking me off her. I reached out, grabbed one of her ankles as she stood to run, and pulled backward toward myself as hard as I could. She flung forward and hit the ground hard. She glared back at me with her teeth bared.

  She wasn't going down without a fight, and neither was I.

  Rena turned on her hands and knees and leaped toward me, but I stopped her assault by sticking my foot straight out, kicking her square in the chest. I had to do all I could with my legs to keep her off me. My arm was completely out of commission. She fell backwards clutching her chest but quickly regained her composure and came at me again.

  This time I couldn't stop her.

  She was quite a bit taller and more muscular than me, and I quickly realized I was in trouble when she straddled me and held me down with ease. She was much stronger than I'd anticipated.

  "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" she growled down at me then made a fist and punched me in the arm where I'd been shot.

  I screamed out in pain, and anger filled me.

  I tried to take a page out of her book and buck her off me with my hips, but she held firm.

  Before I knew what was happening, Rena dropped her fist against my face in a barrage of punches. Stars danced before my eyes, but I fought back. I reached out with my hand and returned her punches with all the strength I had left.

  My attack caught her off guard, and she rocked backward just enough that I was able to thrust my hips upward and throw her balance off then use all of my strength to roll to the side.

  Once I was on top of her, I continued my assault, all the while thinking about how I was going to get my hands on my gun. That's what I needed. Rena was strong, and I just wasn't up to her level of fitness. I suppose I should have hit a few more yoga classes with the girls, but that was a worry for another time.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dillion rushing toward us.

  "Hey, man." One of the obviously intoxicated patrons and some of his buddies stopped him. "Let the babes do their thing. It's hot!"

  Dillion and the other bouncer had their hands full as they tried to fight their way through the group of men.

  Rena wasn't down for long. She raised her legs up, put her heels onto my shoulders, and shoved me backward. I hit the floor with a thud and, I must admit, a little admiration that she was so freaking flexible.

  She looked around, her gaze darting all around the floor. It only took me a second to realize she was looking for the gun she had been carrying. She must've dropped it at the same time I dropped mine. My head pounded, and my face throbbed, but I pulled myself together and struggled to get to my feet. Rena was already on the move toward my gun. She made a leap beneath the table and grasped the gun with both hands.

  The crowd of onlookers all shouted and cheered, thinking they were getting some kind of show.

  But that all ended
when the first shot rang out.

  The bullet whizzed past my head and hit the neon lights on the wall behind me. Glass rained down all around. The other dancers started screaming, and before I could dive for cover, the crowd fled for the door. They looked like rats abandoning a sinking ship, and in a way, I guess that's exactly what was happening.

  I tried to keep an eye on Rena's location, worried that she'd slide out and disappear with the crowd, but being as petite as I was, seeing over the crowd of taller men and women was impossible.

  I didn't have to worry about finding Rena again for more than a second longer.

  Before the last handful of customers ran out the door, I felt a strong arm wrap around me from behind and the barrel of a gun press against my temple.

  "I've had enough. It's time for you to go," she said through clenched teeth.

  I was facing the now empty stage and deserted main floor. The place looked so different without all the action that normally happened within. I thought I could still hear gunfire outback, but I wasn't sure if what I heard was shots being fired or thunder from the raging storm. Surely Roy was out of ammo by now. Unless he had one of those magical always loaded guns you see in movies.

  "Sweet dreams, blondie," she whispered against my ear.

  I closed my eyes. The pain in my arm was a distant memory, yet the ache in my chest was almost more than I could bear. Regret for so many things I'd neglected to do.

  Now I'd never have the chance to do them. Life was over.

  I took a deep breath then was suddenly flung forward. I hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the air out of my lungs. I wondered for a split second if what I was experiencing was what happened when someone died, but that thought was quickly extinguished when I heard the sounds of Mona's voice cursing like a sailor and Cindy growling and grunting.

  I rolled onto my back then sat up and nearly lost my mind when I spotted Mona and Cindy squaring off with Rena. Cindy and Rena were locked in one heck of a fight. Cindy was obviously in much better shape than I was. Mona ran to my side and started looking me over.

  "I'm fine. She needs help. Why aren't the cops in here yet?" I asked.

  "The heck if I know," she said with a great deal of irritation in her voice. "I know they're busy with Roy, and the parking lot is a madhouse, but they need to get in here."

  I took a couple of deep breaths and scanned the floor. Something shiny glistened from beneath the edge of one of the VIP couches.

  Rena's gun.

  I got to my feet and sprinted for the gun. I was halfway there when the front door of the club burst open, and none other than Dickie's goon, Gerald, stormed in like a man on a mission.

  Rena had flipped Cindy onto her back and was choking her.

  Gerald reached down, grasped Rena by the back of the neck with one hand, grabbed one of her wrists with his other, hauled her off Cindy, and then slammed her to the floor.

  Mona and Cindy stared at Gerald with stunned expressions. I would have laughed, that is, if the situation wasn't so suckish. Rena was on the ground on her stomach with one of Gerald's knees pressed into her back. Cindy held a handful of Rena's hair in her fist that had apparently come out during their fight.

  Everything around me looked like a freeze-frame from an old Tom and Jerry cartoon.

  I picked up my gun and aimed it at Rena's head. "Now I've had enough," I repeated Rena's earlier words. "Stay on your stomach," I demanded, like she had a choice with Gerald holding her down.

  A moment later Dickie walked in and approached me. "Glad to see you're alright, darlin'. I'd hate to think you'd met your demise." He grinned at me.

  "What in the hell are you doing here? How did you even know any of this was going down?" I asked, absolutely certain that Mona hadn't called him.

  "Well now, when you came around asking questions about those poor dead girls and Fernando, I got a little…worried that you were about to get yourself into some kind of mess you couldn't get out of."

  Then it hit me. "You had Gerald follow me, didn't you?"

  Dickie actually had the audacity to look a bit sheepish. "I did. But not all the time. He went to see what you were up to at your office, but you weren't there. By the time he tracked you down, well, you were in the middle of all of this." He waved his hand around the room. "I do hope you accept my apology, especially since it looks like Gerald there saved your bacon." He flicked his chin toward Gerald and straightened his hat.

  I couldn't argue his point. Gerald had definitely lent us a major helping hand in securing Rena without me having to shoot her. At the end of the day, I really preferred not shooting people. Even horrible, mean people like Rena.

  "But why would you care?" I asked him, unable to understand why a bookie whom I owed a favor to would care enough to follow me around and keep me safe.

  A faraway look flashed in Dickie's little green eyes. "Let's just say you remind me of someone."

  "Who?" I pressed, wanting desperately to understand the enigma that was Dickie Myers.

  He removed his hat and twisted the brim between his finger and thumb. "I had a daughter once. She was a real go-getter." He chuckled softly. "Didn't listen to anyone. Took risks, was brilliant. Kind of like you."

  I felt my heart melt a little bit. There was a lot more to Dickie the Bookie than the bookie part everyone seemed to focus on. Myself included. There was no way in heck I could let Dickie stick around and possibly get into trouble, not after he'd busted in and saved us all.

  "You better get out of here. The cops are out back and will bust in at any minute. I don't think you want to have to explain why you're here."

  "You got that right, darlin'."

  "There's a side entrance you can use, somewhere over there." I pointed to the far wall because I wasn't exactly sure where the exit was.

  Gerald showed Cindy how to hold Rena so that she wouldn't get away then joined Dickie.

  When they reached the door to leave, I called out, "Hey, Dickie."

  He turned and looked at me.

  "Thanks."

  He grinned and put two fingers to the brim of his fedora.

  "Thank you also, Gerald," I added.

  He turned, glared at me in his usual manner, and then followed Dickie out the door.

  "Well, that was…"

  "Unexpected?" I finished Mona's sentence.

  She nodded. "Unexpected. Yeah, that's what we'll call it."

  "Not a word about Dickie and Gerald when the cops ask what happened in here tonight, okay? Cindy and I fought Rena and got the best of her, and I got to the gun. That's it."

  "Got it," Mona and Cindy said in unison.

  "You can't keep me quiet!" Rena shouted. "I'll tell everything," she threatened.

  "Go ahead," Cindy said sarcastically. "Who are the cops going to believe? A drug-dealing attempted murderer or a private investigator?"

  Rena glared at Cindy.

  "What now, boss?" Cindy asked.

  "We get some cops in here to take out the trash," I said, slightly out of breath.

  I really needed to get in better shape.

  "I haven't heard gunshots in a few minutes. I'll go out the front and see if there are any cops out there who can come take care of this." Mona motioned toward Rena.

  Before she could even take a step, the back door flung open and a stream of soaking wet cops flooded into the building. Tyler was of course in the lead. His inky black hair clung to his forehead, and his black T-shirt was molded to his chest.

  "Barb!" he shouted. "Are you alright?" He jogged toward me, and two officers kneeled down, cuffed Rena, and then hauled her to her feet.

  "What in the hell took you all so long to get your butts in here?" Mona said.

  "Roy shot up the lock before we got to him. Messed the door up bad. I guess he wanted to make sure Rena got away, and keeping us from entering the back door would give her a better chance. I finally just shot the rest of the lock off and busted inside."

  "Why didn't you just enter through the fro
nt?" I asked.

  "Believe me, we tried, but at the time the front parking area was so crowded we couldn't even reach the door, so we went back to the rear entrance."

  Looks like Dickie got lucky, and the crowd had cleared by the time he and Gerald arrived.

  "Well, next time maybe you can move a little faster," Mona grumped.

  Tyler pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.

  "I'm alright," I said and turned to watch as the officers led Rena away.

  "You're hit," he said loudly. "And look at your beautiful face. You have bruises everywhere."

  I looked down at my arm and pulled open the tear in the fabric of my shirt then sighed with relief. "The bullet just grazed me," I said with a smile. "It's deep, but a couple of stitches and I'll be as good as new."

  I turned to Mona and Cindy. "How did you two know I needed help in here?" I asked.

  "We didn't," Mona said.

  "Not until we saw people running and screaming out the front door," Cindy said with a grin. "That's usually a pretty good sign that something is going down. Tyler told Mona and me to stay away from the club, that the police would handle it, but we couldn't," she admitted. "We were worried about you."

  I chuckled. "You two saved my life. I can't thank you enough."

  "Don't worry about it," Cindy said with a laugh. "Despite the shootout in which we were all almost killed, this is the most excitement I've ever had in my entire life. A girl could get used to this."

  Tyler shook his head. "Don't go getting any ideas." He wagged his finger at Mona and Cindy. "I have a hard enough time dealing with this one's shenanigans."

  They made no promises, only laughed.

  "We need to get you into an ambulance and get that arm taken care of," Tyler said, bringing his attention back to me.

  "I'd rather not. It's not that bad, really. I'm sure we can just drive to the emergency room, and since you're the detective on this case, you probably have some stuff to take care of here and at the station."

  Tyler ran a hand through his dripping-wet hair and looked around then sighed. "You're right, but as soon as you're finished at the hospital, call me, and I'll pick you up."

  I held up my fingers. "Scout's honor."