The Miss Fortune Series: Overdue (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

I was surprised by the number of older people, as in Gertie and Ida Belle old, entering the place. “Seems to be popular with the seniors.”

“Because it’s seniors-half-off night,” Ida Belle said.

Gertie gazed up at the sign, transfixed. “We haven’t been to this place in years, but when we were hot young things we practically lived here.”

“Why’d you stop coming?”

Gertie shrugged. “Well, you know, we got busy running things in Sinful.”

“She got us banned.”

“I did not!”

“You most certainly did.” Ida Belle directed her explanation to me. “It was March, 2005. We came here to skate, that’s all. But Bunny LeBeau and Sadie Sanford started taunting us. They were on the Mudbuggers team.”

Gertie laughed. “I used to call them Mud-boogers.”

“Of course you did. Why were they taunting you?”

“They kept pointing to the Derby banners hanging above the rink,” Ida Belle said. “‘Eighty-three was the last year we skated, and technically we won that tournament, making it seven tournaments in a row. But the eighty-three banner displays the Mudbug team name.”

Gertie whipped around in her seat and pointed her finger at me. “Because they cheated.”

Ida Belle explained. “That last bout was tied. So we did an overtime jam. Gertie was the Lead Jammer, but the Ref sent her to the penalty box, even though everyone knew she didn’t do anything wrong. So only the Mudbug Jammer could score.”

“He was crooked,” Gertie said. “We later proved it. Caught him feeling up Bunny behind the rink.”

“Okay, so they were cheats and the Ref was crooked and Bunny was a skank. How does that get you banned from the skating rink decades later?”

Gertie started to speak, but Ida Belle held a hand over her mouth. “Like I said, Bunny started taunting us about the banner, like she always did. Sometime, after having one spiked soda too many, Gertie climbed the scaffolding and took down the banner.”

“And that got you banned?”

“Once she took it down she dropped it and caused a nine-skater collision on the track below. Then when she was scrambling to get down she somehow triggered the fire sprinklers. They had to redo the skate floor.”

Gertie took Ida Belle’s hand off her mouth. “We’re wasting time pointing fingers. We could be skating.” Gertie opened the door and stepped out of the car. Ida Belle and I followed. She shot a look at Ida Belle. “Besides, you were the one who spiked my Coke.”

“But aren’t you still banned?”

Ida Belle waved me off. “Doesn’t matter now. The owner banned us for life and I found out that he died two years ago. Since he never specified which life he was referring to, I think we’re good.”

We headed toward the entrance to the roller rink, walking between the parked cars. A truck door pushed open a couple feet ahead, knocking into Gertie and blocking our path.

“Hey!” Gertie called out, banging on the truck door. “Didn’t you see us coming?”

A man stepped out and slammed the door shut. It was Carter. “I did.”

Damn! We were seeing more of one another after we broke up than during the time we were dating.

“You’re lucky I’m not crying police brutality,” Gertie said, rubbing her arm.

“I’m off duty.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Probably the same reason you are.”

“I’m here to watch Gertie and Ida Belle skate.”

“Uh, huh. You wouldn’t have spoken with Lila Rose and found out that Andy is meeting a woman here tonight, and that she may or may not be connected with Waddell’s death?”

Yes, I could have lied to him. I’d done it numerous times. But after my biggest secret came out, lying about this might sever whatever friendship we still had.

“Yeah, Lila Rose mentioned it. We just came here to see if the woman he’s meeting is on the list of people at the library at the time of the murder. If what Lila Rose said is true, there could be a possibility that Andy hired someone to go murder Waddell, and maybe he’s here to give her payment.”

“So you admit you’re interfering.”

“We’re skating and observing,” Ida Belle said.

“Look, you’re stretched thin,” I said. “You don’t have the eyes of a big police force behind you. We vowed to turn over anything we observed that might be part of this case.”

“You realize Lila Rose isn’t the most reliable of witnesses?”

“We told her that. But we thought it was worth it,” Gertie said. “Even Lila Rose can be right some of the time.”

“Apparently, you took her seriously,” I said. “Though you said you weren’t on duty, so your observation isn’t official.”

“No, and I couldn’t ask the Mudbug police to come out here on the word of an unstable woman.”

“Aren’t you afraid that if Andy is involved he’ll see you here and be suspicious?”

“I thought of that. Now, if I came alone, yes, that might raise his suspicions. But if I came here with friends…”

Gertie gasped. “You’re using us!”

Carter smiled. “How does it feel to be on the other side for once?”

It finally hit me. “I’m guessing you want one of us to be your date. Guys usually don’t go to roller rinks unless they’re looking for a date or they already have one.”

“Well, don’t look at me,” Gertie said. “I don’t want you hanging on me all night. You’ll slow me down. And Ida Belle’s too bossy for you. Fortune’s more your speed.”

Carter sighed and grimaced. “It’s the only way I can get in there and see for myself. Otherwise, if he did have something to do with Waddell’s death, my being here alone would scare him off.”

I should have been angry. He outsmarted us and just wanted a pretend date for surveillance purposes. Not that I hadn’t used his position as deputy to get some info from him the past few weeks. More times than even I’d like to admit. I actually owed him this favor. As hard as it would be for both of us to be around one another in a phony-date capacity, it really was the only way.

I nodded. “Sure.”

Gertie clapped. “Welcome to our world, Carter.”

“Not your world. Since this is MY investigation, we’re going to do it MY way. You leave all your weapons behind in my locked tool box.”

“What?” Gertie asked, starting to launch a protest.

Carter held up his hand to silence her. “I’m not going in there with civilians who are holding weapons, no matter how well you handle those weapons. I could be, and should be, fired if I let you do that.”

I pulled my nine-millimeter from my waistband and handed it to him. Ida Belle sighed and did the same. We looked at Gertie.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Gertie said. She reached inside her blouse and pulled a small gun from her bra. She handed it to Carter. “There. I warmed it up for you.”

Gertie’s eyes widened as we walked through the door. She had always seemed like a big kid to me anyway, but there was something about this place that had just taken her back sixty years. This time warp had an effect on Ida Belle as well. She tried to hide it, of course; that was Ida Belle’s style. But the smile that was creeping on her face told me this place was touching a special part within her as well.

Gertie grabbed Ida Belle’s shoulder and pointed to a platform above one corner of the rink where a man in a tuxedo sat playing the organ. “They still have the organist! I think he’s the same one!” And she could have been right. The guy looked like he was pushing a hundred. She pointed to another corner of the rink, “The snack bar always had the best sodas.”

Ida Belle smiled. “You mean, after we spiked them.”

We made our way toward the skate rental window.

“Stop!” Gertie cried out. She pointed to a trophy case just to our left filled with trophies, ribbons and framed photos. “There we are,” she said, touching the glass. The photo she was pointing to was an action shot, taking during one of the bouts. A young Ida Belle, her face filled with determination, had just released Gertie’s arm from her grip.

“We called that move, ‘cracking the whip,’” Ida Belle said. “Gertie would skate up behind me and I would grab her arm and whip her around, like I was hitting a ball with a bat.”

“That would give me the speed I needed to gain on my opponent, maybe even take a few of them out as I passed.”

“Sounds a little brutal,” I said.

“They were free to try to stop me as I came around, so it wasn’t without risk. However, not many of them could.”

“Well, that’s revisionist history for you.” We spun around to find two older woman, Gertie and Ida Belle’s age, one with white hair, the other dyed bright purple, seated at a table and enjoying a hot dog and beer. The purple-haired woman sported a T-shirt with
Bunny
sequined over her chest.

“Bunny LeBeau and Sadie Sanford,” Ida Belle said, spitting the words out as if their very names implied some horrible crime. “Otherwise known as Misery Mama and Princess Pain.”

“Give’EmHell and Duchess Danger,” Bunny said. “I’m surprised to see you two showing your old wrinkled faces in this place.”

Gertie folded her arms. “Just bringing our friends here to see our trophies… for kicking your butts up and down the rink. Seven state championships to be exact.”

“Six, or have you forgotten the banner?” Sadie said, before biting off a hunk of hot dog.

“It would have been ours if Gertie hadn’t been thrown in the penalty box,” Ida Belle said.

“Duchess Danger tripped me,” Sadie said, her mouth filled with hot dog.

“Tripped you?” Gertie said. “Why did I need to trip you? All I needed to do was distract you and let your two left feet do you in.”

“The Ref called it an illegal move,” Bunny said.

“Oh, you mean the Ref you were sleeping with?” Ida Belle asked.

Gertie snickered. “Or, not sleeping, is what I heard. By the way, whoever colors your hair should be arrested for crimes against humanity.”

Bunny grunted and pulled her bony frame up from her chair. Sadie took one more bite of hot dog and stood as well. The old adversaries locked one another in deadly stares.

“Ladies,” Carter said, “I hate to break up this heartfelt reunion, but we’re here to have fun. Can we go rent our skates now?”

Sadie eyed me up and down. “This must be your granddaughter, Ida Belle. Looks like she’s packing some of your DNA.”

“You and Walter finally tie the knot?” Bunny asked. “Well, then I do apologize for the many times he and I made out behind the building.”

“You made out with him?” Sadie asked. “I sucked face with him myself. There were times we did more than make out.”

Bunny smirked and stared at Ida Belle. “Oh, Sadie, if you’re referring to horizontal entertainment, I’d say Walter parallel parked with damn near the entire team.”

Ida Belle stepped forward, inches from Bunny. I grabbed onto her shoulder. “Okay… grandma. Let’s go rent our skates.”

I pulled her away from them and toward the skate rental booth. Gertie turned and flung one last barb.

“You have a blob of mustard on your boob, Sadie.” Then, “No, look lower. Your girls slid below deck ages ago.”

When we were a few feet away from them Ida Belle and Gertie broke into a fit of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

Ida Belle wiped a laugh tear from her eye. “Like old times.”

“She accused Walter of sleeping with their entire team.”

“Just a little trash talk,” Gertie said. “Heck, I think I told every one of the Mudbuggers I slept with their men. We always did that before a bout. Something tells me we’re going to see a replay of that last bout tonight.”

Carter stopped and shook his head at them. “No, we’re here for one thing. Find Andy and observe him. That’s it. No score settling, no showing off your moves. Just observe.”

Ida Belle patted Carter on the shoulder. “Of course. We’re old pros at this. Don’t worry about a thing.”

Ida Belle strutted to the skate rental window. Carter turned to me, his face pale. “Should I be worried?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely.”

Minutes later the four of us were seated on a bench putting on our skates.

“These fit like a glove,” Gertie said, getting up from the bench. “Even my bunions are smiling.”

“I wish you’d go for a rental pair.” Ida Belle stood as well. “I like the feel of these wheels. New. And safe.”

“My wheels are meant for speed.”

“But your age is meant for strolling.”

Gertie waved her off. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I go rollerblading from time to time. It’s not like I’ve lost my ability to skate. Besides, how often do we make it out here? I have skates that are meant to glide on this wood track. I’m taking advantage of it.”

Gertie entered the track and started skating, slowly at first, then gaining speed, her screams of delight traveling around the rink.

“Is she going to end up in a hospital?” I asked.

“I hope not.” Ida Belle walked on her skates over to the rink and joined the other skaters.

I was alone with Carter. If the events of a few days ago hadn’t happened, this would have been kind of romantic in a goofy, small-town kinda way. If he still thought I was a librarian in town to catalog my great aunt’s things, and not a CIA assassin hiding out from an arms dealer who had a hit out on me.

But, he did know, and we had a job to do tonight.

“Any sign of Andy?”

“Not yet.”

I stood, shaky on the skates. He suppressed a laugh. “Have you ever skated before?”

“I’ve done some inline skating in DC. It’s not one of my strengths.”

“No kidding.”

He walked toward the opening in the rink and I followed, my steps clunky with the skates. He stepped onto the wood track and slowly started to skate, waiting for me to catch up, stifling a laugh as he watched my stilted movements.

He shook his head. “I never thought I’d witness something you don’t do well.”

“That’s because I never tried to cook for you.”

“On your right!” Gertie’s voice called from behind. I stiffened as Gertie sailed past me, howling with delight. Seconds later Ida Belle whizzed on by.

Carter turned toward me, skating backward, his arms folded. The show-off.

“Carter LeBlanc is a skater?”

“Sinful’s a small town with not much to do. If you were a thirteen-year-old boy and you wanted to meet girls outside the girls you met at school—”

“You went skating in Mudbug.”

Carter nodded.

“And you’d sneak out when your mom wasn’t looking and go make out somewhere.”

Carter nodded again.

The organ music we were skating to ended abruptly. The lights dimmed.

“Time for couples’ skate,” the hundred-year-old organist announced before hacking into the microphone. He cleared his throat, then said in a gravelly voice, “Grab a partner and hold her close while I serenade you with a little
Isn’t it Romantic?”

After hacking one more time into the mic, Organ Man began playing the romantic number.

“Oh… uh…” What now? My CIA partner, Harrison and I had played boyfriend and girlfriend on more than one job. Much easier to do with someone I had no romantic feelings for.

Carter took my hands in his. “Andy just came in.”

I guess it was showtime.

“How do we dance on skates?” I asked.

He smiled. “Just let me do everything. As hard as it may be for you to do that.”

With Carter skating backward and facing me, we glided effortlessly over the wooden skate floor. Our eyes met briefly and we both looked away.

“I wish we’d done this a week ago,” Carter said.

I didn’t. If we had done this a week ago, it would have made it that much harder not to be with him. I looked off to the side of the skating rink and spotted Gertie and Ida Belle watching as we skated by. They both had smiles on their faces. Gertie flashed me a thumbs-up, but I shook my head. Her smile disappeared, replaced by the look of pity she’d been giving me ever since the breakup. Ida Belle made a subtle point of her finger toward Andy, who was putting his skates on several yards away from them.

“A woman just walked up to Andy and touched his shoulder,” I said. “Do you recognize her?”

“Uh-huh. Anna Chabot.”

“Does she look like Francine? I think Lila Rose mistook the woman for Francine when she said the café owner was maybe involved somehow.”

Carter shook his head. “I knew you couldn’t resist sticking your nose in it.”

“Hey, I never asked Lila Rose anything about this case. She was more than happy to just let out all her thoughts.”

“They’re coming on to the track,” Carter said.

“During the romantic song? And he’s married, right?”

“They both are.”

Carter danced us closer to the middle of the track and decreased his speed. He flicked his head toward the outer part of the rink as Andy and Anna, who had about ten years on him, glided past us side by side, holding hands. Moments later Andy released her hand and slipped his arm around her waist.

Carter then swung around next to me and slipped his arm around my waist. “Just keep watching them. Lila Rose said he was supposed to give her something.”

I nodded. A few minutes later Andy released Anna and skated slightly ahead of her and then turned, facing her. He put up his right hand and she her left. Their hands met and he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. His eyes wandered a moment from her face and gazed in my direction.

“Kiss me!” I whispered to Carter.

He pulled me close and planted his lips on mine. If this were Harrison and me, it would have been one of those stage kisses meant to fool anyone looking at us. But this was no stage kiss. Frankly, a stage kiss between Carter and me just wasn’t possible, not with our history. My entire body tingled. He deepened the kiss before…

“Hey, watch out,” a man to our right yelled. Carter broke the kiss. He swerved slightly to get out of the other couple’s way, interrupting his smooth glide across the floor. “Get a room,” the man added, laughing.

My legs wobbled beneath me and I stumbled. Carter was quick, clutching onto me to prevent me from falling.

“You okay?” he asked, holding me tightly.

“Yeah.”

We stared in one another’s eyes. Beautiful agony was the only way I could describe this moment. His eyes and his kiss were the beautiful part. That there could be nothing beyond this evening, the agony.

It was then I realized the song had ended.

“Resume open skating,” the organist announced as he began playing a jaunty organ piece while the lights grew brighter. Non-coupled skaters began streaming onto the skate floor. I regained my footing and Carter let go of me.

Gertie skated up from behind. “You were right,” she said to me. “The mystery woman does look like Francine. But Anna wasn’t on the list of patrons at the library the day Waddell died. Of course, she could have slipped in without anyone noticing.”

“How’d you know who was on that list?” Carter asked. “That list is official police business.”

Gertie wrinkled her nose. “Bye.” And sped off.

Carter glared at me.

“What?” Yeah, I could have come up with some lie, but he knew damn well the list of names was leaked to us.

Carter opened his mouth to no doubt lodge a reprimand when something caught his eye. “Andy just reached into his pocket and gave a piece of paper to Anna. They’re coming our way.”

Carter slowed and soon Andy and Anna skated past. Ida Belle came up shortly thereafter. “It would be nice to know what he gave Anna,” she said.

“Word,” Gertie said from behind as she slowed to join us.

“Yeah, it would,” Carter said. “But I can’t ask him to show me anything because I have no probable cause yet. But at least I know the woman he was meeting and that it matched up with Lila Rose’s story. I can at least bring him in and see if I can lean on him to reveal something.”