Zeke said Archie has a type and that Michaela was it.
Archie said that Julian was full of good gestures and that it was basically what got him killed…
Could the good gesture have been going to the sheriff’s department? Asking Archie not to date Michaela? Not to add her to his garden girls collection?
Garden girls… Archie is a landscaper. Maybe it was some inside joke?
I rake through my memory all the way back to that horrible night. Julian popped up when Caleb was introducing me to his groomsmen. Julian looked to Zeke and said, “Always a pleasure.” Then Archie laughed and said, “Everything’s a pleasure when you don’t mind mowing others down in life.” Then Julian thought to himself, Spoken like the true two-bit magician he is.
Two-bit magician…
All three women that disappeared were blonde with blue eyes. Michaela is a blonde with blue eyes. I suck in a quick breath. Macy is a blonde with blue eyes for that matter.
Two-bit magician—TBM.
“Oh my God,” I pant as I look to the dizzying crowd as darkness sets in over the cove.
Sherlock and Lucky run up, barking and chasing one another’s tails, and right along with them is Misty.
Pick me up, Bizzy! She mewls and I do just that. What’s happening? Is it time for cake? McKenna said the way Dakota and Mimi were acting, you’d think it was filled with catnip.
“Not yet,” I say as I quickly scour the area. “First, I think we’re going to have a talk with someone.”
And if I’m right, that someone just might turn out to be a bigger monster than I could ever imagine.
Chapter 17
The sound of laughter drifts over the live band that McKenna and Caleb have hired, and there are already dozens of people on the makeshift dance floor that’s been constructed over the sand.
Night has fallen hard, and the twinkle lights staked up over the expanse allotted for the reception to give the cove an enchanted appeal.
And despite the fact my adrenaline is surging, thoughts of my own wedding reception beg to take over. But I can’t let them. Not now.
After several unfruitful minutes of searching the crowd, I all but give up.
Stop it!
The voice comes in clear—a woman’s voice. That means she’s not far.
Oh my God, he’s going to pay for this. Help!
“Help?” I whisper as my breathing picks up.
Sherlock barks. What do you need, Bizzy? I’m here to help.
Fish mewls. Me too. I just sharpened my claws this morning for the occasion. Let me know who you need me to attack. I’ve been craving a little action all day.
Misty mewls right back. I want to attack! I’ve got sharp teeth. And I can claw with the best of them. I’m a tough girl. I live for danger.
Lucky shudders and a few stray hairs float off his mammoth furry body. I’m a lover, not a fighter. McKenna tells me that every time Misty tries to bait me into chasing her.
Oh, I’m going to kill you for this. The female voice shrills inside my brain, and I gasp because I think I know exactly who this is. You are going to die a slow death at my hands, buddy.
“Sherlock.” I bend over and take his sweet face in my palms. “Go get Jasper. He went back to his cottage to take care of some business. Find him and bring him to the shore. Something tells me I’ll be needing him.”
He takes off like a bullet, and I straighten, taking in the crowd once again. I’d text Jasper myself, but I know he’d tried to stop me from what I’m about to do next. And to be truthful, I don’t think there’s a minute to waste.
“Hey, Lucky.” I give his head a quick scratch and scoop Misty up into my arms. “I need you to find Archie Alden. I need you to take me to him, right now.”
Lucky lets out a riotous bark and bullets out past the reception area and down the beach toward the rocky crags at the end of the cove. The sound of music and laughter quickly fades, replaced by the sound of waves slapping hard over the sand. The moonlight is the only illumination there is, and I can see the faint outline of a man standing near the shoreline.
Lucky runs within feet of him and begins to bark and spin in a circle.
“Stand back!” the man thunders my way, but my feet pay no attention to him.
I run within ten feet of him, only to see the shadow of a woman standing by his side.
That blonde hair, those enraged blue eyes glinting in the night, I know them.
“Macy?” I stumble forward, only to see that her arms are behind her back. A thick ream of duct tape is sealed over her mouth. I look to Archie. “My God, what are you doing?”
The jacket to his suit is missing, his tie askew. The whites of his eyes shine like shards of glass as he glares over at me.
“Dammit,” he growls as he pulls something from the back of his pants, and just like that, I’m staring down the barrel of a gun.
“That escalated quickly,” I mutter to myself.
Misty buries her face in my chest. I can’t look. I lied. I’m not a tough girl. I’m a lap cat who likes to take sun naps. I certainly don’t live for danger.
I set the poor thing down on the sand. Hopefully, she’ll run for cover. This is one madman who is capable of killing the entire lot of us.
“Hands up.” He motions for me to do so with a flash from the gun. “I’m sorry, Bizzy. I didn’t intend on this getting messy, but your sister, she’s a real pistol.”
“Yes,” I pant as my hands float toward my head. I spot Macy working her hands free from behind and strips of duct tape falling to the sand. She bends over covertly and picks up a rock the size of a paperback. “In fact, she’s deadlier than that gun you have
