3 A Basis for Murder (13 page)

"Untie me?" His voice came out pleadingly.

I thought hard. If Gerald and his gun came back, I had no hope of fending him off by myself. But if Douglas was working for him... It was a choice of two evils.

I sighed, and starting tugging at the knots in the ropes around his wrists. "Douglas, I swear, you had better not be on his side."

Douglas at once mumbled protests, but I wasn't listening. I undid his ropes, quite a feat considering my fingers were numb from fear. When his wrist ropes were released, he untied the ropes from his feet at the same time that the light going on alerted us to the fact that Gerald was about to come back down the stairs.

"What will we do?" My voice was the faintest of whispers.

"Hide; he might think that the creature has taken you. I'll sit back down and loop the ropes around my feet. If he gets close to me - well, don't worry, I'll deal with him."

I ran and hid under the stairs, still not sure that Douglas was to be trusted.

Sure enough, I heard the click in the door, signaling Gerald's appearance. I crouched in the darkness under the stairs, softly brushing cobwebs out of my way.

I couldn't see Gerald until he walked half way across the room to Douglas. He was still waving his gun around. "Where is she?" For the first time, a hint of doubt had crept into his voice.

"Vanished," Douglas groaned. I almost smiled; he was doing a superb acting job. He was slumping, and his voice came out as if terrified, as if he'd seen something unspeakably evil.

Gerald lowered the gun. "You mean vanished from the room? Speak up man; I can't hear you."

He moved closer to Douglas and bent over him. "Speak I say; do you mean she disappeared from the room?"

Douglas acted so fast that even I jumped. I heard a gun shot, but the two men were still fighting so I assumed neither had been shot. It was over quite fast: Douglas was standing over Gerald, holding Gerald's gun. Gerald was out cold, sprawled all over the floor.

I crept from my hiding place just as three men hurried down the stairs. To my enormous relief, they were Jamie, Bill, and Ben.

Jamie ran over to me, his face white and filled with concern. "Misty, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine; that man on the ground tried to kill me."

Bill and Ben pulled Gerald to his feet; he was still out cold. I had thought him a slender, wiry man, but the two of them had trouble carrying him up the stairs.

It was then I looked down, and noticed that Jamie had a gun. I don't know why it surprised me, perhaps as I'd never seen him with a gun before. It was a big gun. "Jamie, your gun is bigger than Douglas's," I said.

Jamie and Douglas looked at each other, and then Jamie hit Douglas. He planted one firmly right on his jaw. Douglas flew backwards, and lay sprawled on the floor right where Gerald had landed.

"She's never seen my gun," Douglas muttered weakly. "Honest," he added pathetically.

Jamie made an explosive sound of exasperation. "That is for putting Misty in danger, you despicable coward," he spat. "If you ever put Misty in danger again, well, you won't get off so easily. And that's no idle threat, I promise you."

An angry Jamie took me by the arm, and helped me up the stairs and out of the house to his car. Bill and Ben had already left, presumably with Gerald. "What will happen to Douglas?"

"Who cares?" Jamie said.

I nodded in agreement.

For some reason, I suddenly thought of Brandon. "Oh Jamie, what about Brandon? Has he come home?"

"Yes. I had a long talk with him."

I was at once dismayed. "Oh no; is he okay?"

Jamie chuckled. "Let's just say I promised to set him up with a colleague of mine. Turns out Brandon dated my colleague once before but then thought he'd stood him up. I was able to share that he'd left early for an assignment, and smoothed it all out. Brandon seems quite happy now. Turns out he's a bit fickle. Plus I assured him that I if was gay, he'd be the type of guy I'd go for."

I gave Jamie a long, hard look, and then I chuckled. I was content. The Black Lodge had been thwarted; they did not know the
malingee
's name and wouldn't be able to find out, not after what I did. I still had to find out about
The Orpheans
, but at least now I knew their name. Things were looking up.

At that very moment, as if on cue to steal my happiness, the
Sherwood Forest
text tone sounded.

Caller: Blocked Sender.

"All is not what it seems. Beware. Trust no one."

* * *
The End
* * *

This was Book 3 in the
Misty Sales Mystery
series.

Watch for Book 4,
A Cause for Murder
.

Watch for Morgana Best's new Cozy Mystery Series:

Sybil Potts
Cozy Mystery Series
.

Book 1
.

Sybil Potts has moved to the pleasant town of Little Tatterford, eager to find a life of peace and quiet after her stressful divorce. She has a secret to keep and prefers to avoid people, but running her mobile pet grooming service makes this difficult.

How will Sybil's secret put her at odds with Blake Wessley, an exasperated police officer who is trying to solve at least one murder?

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