Bizzy! Fish cries as she leaps onto Kiki’s back, but the woman is undeterred.
Sherlock bites at her backside and snaps and barks, snarls, and pushes up against her with all the force he can, but all I see is the gleam of that blade, the red liquid glossing its sides as it’s held high up above me.
My hand slaps over a rock the size of a large apple as I grip onto it.
Kiki bellows with all her might as she brings that blade down over me, and I roll to my right just in time for her to dig that cleaver into the sand once again. She plucks it out with brute force, and before she can aim it in my direction once again, I take the rock in my hand and knock her over the temple with all my might.
A sickening thud fills the air, and that cleaver in her hand comes crashing down just as Kiki falls limp over the sand.
Instinctively, I push myself out of danger’s reach. Sherlock continues to bark as he runs a spastic line toward the inn and back again.
“Bizzy,” a deep voice thunders as Jasper and Leo run in this direction while reaching for their weapons.
I crawl on all fours until I stagger to my feet, and soon I’m snapped up into Jasper Wilder’s strong, capable arms.
“She did it.” I glance back at Kiki whose body is beginning to writhe over the sand. “She confessed to killing both Rachel and Heather. It was revenge. She did it for her sister.” I nod to Jasper. “Her sister was Aileen Bradley.”
Leo lands Kiki in cuffs and calls it in while Jasper pulls me close, and I can feel the explosive pounding of his heart ricocheting against my body.
“It’s over.” He lands a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Jasper gently lifts my chin with his finger until my eyes are locked with his.
“Bizzy Baker, you scared the hell out of me.” He shakes his head ever so slightly. “You’re going to keep doing this, aren’t you?”
“God, I hope not.”
A silent laugh bucks from us at the very same time before Jasper seals his lips over mine.
The wail of patrol cars cut through the night, and it truly feels as if this entire nightmare has finally come to an end.
I glance back to Kiki just as Leo helps her to her feet and she staggers a bit. But it’s not Leo or Kiki who has my attention. It’s the luminous girl who looks as if she has miniature stars trapped in her hair that has her arms wrapped around Kiki.
“Aileen,” I whisper and the ghostly woman looks my way and gives a mournful nod before dissipating, her arms still very much wrapped around her sister until she’s no longer visible.
And something tells me she won’t ever be far away from her.
Chapter 18
Jasper and I made our way back toward the shoot just in time to see Camila bludgeoned to death with the working end of yet another cleaver. It turns out, that once Faith realized Kiki was MIA, she took it upon herself to bring down the bloody mixture and they finished the scene as best as they could. And what a beautiful bloody scene it was. Both Jasper and I thought it was very well-executed, pun intended.
And the very next morning, Peter went ahead with Kiki’s original suggestion and Fish was filmed looking solemnly toward the cerulean blue waters of the Atlantic. Sherlock managed to squeeze himself into the scene as well.
Here’s hoping they both make it past the cutting room floor.
It’s the night of the cast party at the Silver Shufflers Club down in Edison, and everyone from the production team and then some are here.
Camila is already giving Peter the cold shoulder now that her part in the movie is over. And it seems as if he has a sudden interest in one of the extras, a buxom blonde that reminds me a lot of Heather Kent. I guess he has a type. Unfortunately for Jane Olsen, she wasn’t it. Hopefully, she’ll take him to the cleaners and find someone else who will appreciate her all on her own.
It’s dimly lit inside the club as red and pink spotlights strobe above us to the rhythm of the raucously loud music straight from the rollicking fifties. The scent of fresh coffee permeates the air and the refreshment table is filled with platters and platters brimming with s’mores bars brought over from the Country Cottage Café.
In fact, I drove over with Emmie and helped transport the platters myself. Jasper said he’d meet me here after work. It’s the very next day after the incident with Kiki. She was booked and is being charged with the deaths of both Rachel Hatterman and Heather Kent. Jasper says they’re going to try to get her the help she needs. Her mind fractured all those years ago when she lost her sister. And I most certainly agree, Kiki needs help and lots of it.
Emmie hands me a s’mores bar and toasts me with one of her own.
“To my best friend, Bizzy Baker, the best detective just this side of Honey Hollow.” She gives a little wink as she mentions the town my sleuthing friend, Lottie Lemon, is from.
“Very funny. But I’ll have you know, I’d like nothing better than to never have to solve another homicide again. How about we toast to no more stumbling upon dead bodies?” I lift my s’mores bar higher and she does the same.
“Hear, hear.”
We both take a bite and moan.
“Emmie, I want these at my wedding.”
“You bet. Would you like to wear them, considering the fact you only have a month left and you still don’t have a dress?”
“You’re on a roll, you know that? I happen to be a big believer in things working out in the end.”
Macy bops up with a pink cowboy hat and matching boots.
My eyes ride up and down my sister’s
