expected, most held snippets of information about witnesses, motions, and various legal citings. But as I went down the list, opening file after file, I ran across one that was blank. I looked closely at the numbers of the other files. They all had six. This one had ten. I felt my adrenalin kick in. Did Swiss bank accounts have ten numbers? I grabbed a post-it note from Jasmine’s desk, jotting down the number. Ramirez was so going to eat crow over this.
I was so completely wrapped up in my own total genius at suspecting Jasmine, that I didn’t even hear it until it was too late.
The sound of a gun cocking.
I froze, pen hovering over the post-it, hoping maybe it was just my overactive imagination.
“Bravo, Sherlock.”
Nope. My imagination didn’t say that.
Quickly I spun around to find myself looking straight down the barrel of a.22. I willed myself not to pee in my pants as I raised my eyes to meet… Althea?
Huh?
“Althea, what are you doing here?” Which in hindsight was an abysmally stupid question considering the gun leveled at my head pretty well explained what she was doing here.
“You couldn’t just leave it alone, could you? Nosey bitch.” Gone was the meek frump. In her place a crazed pair of hazel eyes blazed behind her thick lenses. The gun in her hand was surprisingly steady, the confidence in her stance unnerving.
I swallowed the sudden lump of fear in my throat. The realization of my own error hitting me with the force of a low heeled loafer in the gut. I should have known Jasmine couldn’t pull off a scheme like this. Jasmine had the brain of a turnip. Althea, on the other hand, I now realized was smarter than I’d given her credit for.
“This isn’t Jasmine’s file, is it?” I asked, pointing to the blank page on the screen. “It’s yours. You’re the one who took the money. And,” I added, amazed at how level my voice sounded, even as my legs had turned into Jell-o, “ you’re the one that broke into my apartment.”
Althea did a slow smile, her lips drawing back to bare a set of slightly crooked teeth. “And here I’d figured you for just another blonde bimbo in heels.”
I looked down at the gun aimed for my chest and swallowed. “Is that the gun that killed Greenway?” I asked.
Althea smiled again. Only it didn’t reach to her wild eyes, still leveled at me with a barely contained energy. “Greenway was an egotistical idiot,” she spat out.
“Is that why you killed him?” Okay, I was asking more out of fear of being killed than curiosity. Honestly, I could care less what Crazy Lady with Gun thought about Greenway. What I cared about was stalling for time until the cleaning crew came by.
“He deserved to die. Any man that makes love to a women like he did then leaves them deserves to die.”
“Greenway had an affair with you?” I think my voice betrayed my disbelief. I was having a hard time picturing Althea in a leopard print thong.
Althea narrowed her eyes, her unplucked brows drawing together. “What, you don’t think Greenway would be interested in someone like me? You think he’s too good for me? Who would ever love dowdy little Althea?” Her voice was rising, growing into a shrill screech. I took a step backward, coming up against Jasmine’s desk chair.
“No, no. I-I’m sure you were just his type.”
Althea let out a short bark of laughter. “Of course I was his type. I had a pulse. The man thought that just because he had a penis, women should fall at his feet. That he could charm the pants off anything. One night I forgot my purse and came back to the office after everyone had gone. Devon was here, in Mr. Howe’s office. He asked me to come in and help him get into Richard’s system. I said I shouldn’t do it. Then he told me how clever I was. How I was much too smart to be a junior clerk. How pretty I was, how sweet. I gave him the code and he seduced me, right there on Mr. Howe’s desk.”
I cringed. That explained the condom wrapper.
Althea’s eyes were growing wider as she talked, glazing over and unblinking like someone with a high fever. Only the gun stayed steadily pointed at me. I took another step back, sliding my hand in my purse, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Lipstick, cash, tampon. Shit.
“When we got dressed I asked when I would see him again,” Althea continued, a far away look in her eyes. “And do you know what he did?”
I was afraid to answer. I shook my head.
Althea leaned in closer so I could smell the Pert Plus on her frizzy hair. “He laughed. He said he didn’t need me anymore and he laughed at me. Do you know what it’s like to have the person you love laugh at you?”
I shook my head again, my fingers clenching around a long sharp object. My nail file!
“So, I got even. I found out what he and Mr. Howe were up to and tipped off a clerk at the Securities and Exchange. I drained Devon’s accounts. I strangled his perfect, thin, model of a wife. And,” she said, her eyes snapping back to mine as she wrapped both her hands around the trigger. “I killed him. But not right away. I made him beg first. Plead on his hands and knees for his life. And you know what I did then?”
I shook my head, wrapping my fingers around the nail file.
She leaned in, her voice low. “I laughed.”
I think I was going to be sick. She had become seriously unglued. I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner. Anyone who paired checked cardigans with corduroy skirts had to be touched. And this chick was way beyond touched. Her mouth was smiling while her eyes held a dull, open stare as if she was actually seeing Greenway beg in front of her.
Then a realization hit me as I stared into her vacant eyes. “I led you right to him.”
Althea smiled. “Thanks for that. I knew he was still in town but it wasn’t until you came waltzing in here that I knew he was at the Moonlight. The conceited ass actually thought I wanted to sleep with him again. He actually thought he was going to get laid. I played along. I dressed up in painful heels and a tight little skirt.” Her eyes took on that hollow look again. “And then I shot him. Twice.”
I looked down at the.22. “With Richard’s gun?”
She nodded. “I found it in his desk while he was in court last week. It seemed the easiest way to kill two birds with one stone. I wasn’t about to share my hard earned cash with a philandering jerk like Mr. Howe. And don’t pretend otherwise, ‘cause I know he was married.”
I shrugged. Okay, so maybe I’d give her that point. “So, what now?” I hesitated to ask.
All traces of smile left her face. “Now, I get rid of the last loose end, drive to LAX and disappear with twenty million in retirement. I think it almost compensates for having slept with Greenway.”
I swallowed hard as she leveled the gun at me. I heard blood pounding in my ears, not at all enjoying being called a loose end. My fingers tightened around the nail file in my purse. I took a deep breath as Althea leveled the gun at me.
“Goodbye,” she whispered.
If I waited another second, I knew I’d be sleeping in the dumpsters. I ducked my head down and lunged at her, nail file first, cringing as I felt it jab into her flesh.
I heard her scream as the gun went off, a shot hitting Jasmine’s computer monitor with a shattering crash. I felt warm liquid ooze over my hand and I think I screamed too.
Only when I looked down, it wasn’t red but clear. I looked up at Althea. One side of her chest was all wet. And smaller than the other.
“You bitch! You busted my implant!” she yelled.
Mental forehead smack. Even Althea had implants? Were mine the smallest boobs in L.A.?
Althea stood there, the gun dangling from her hand as she deflated on one side. I decided running was a good plan now. I turned and bolted across the small reception room. I almost made it to the doors, when I heard the crack of the gun and frosted glass shattered in front of me. I dove for the carpet and I heard another crack as fire seared through my arm. I clasped my hand to the pain and this time my fingers did come up red.
Yep, I was definitely going to be sick.
I lost one of Dana’s stilettos as I crawled on my knees behind a potted palm. I heard three more shots embed themselves in the tastefully papered walls of Dewy, Cheatum and Howe. Then I heard a sound which was music to
