Page 45 of The Murder Inn

“A hand grenade!” I gaped. “Where in the world did Neddy get ahand grenade?”

I looked around. Effie’s attention was suddenly completely consumed by the pet rat in her pocket.

“Effie, do you have hand grenades in your room?” I barked.

She sighed and slumped her shoulders.

“Effie, answer me.”

She rolled her eyes.

“The guy came here looking foryou, Bill,” Vinny said and pointed at me, the tendons in his neck taut with rage. “He asked for you by name. Came in a truck withDRIVER CONSTRUCTION SERVICESwritten on the side. You know this guy?”

Susan and I met eyes. I didn’t answer.

“Who the hell have you pissed off now?” Vinny continued. “Has all this got something to do with you looking like you were just in a car wreck?”

I said nothing, brushed the dirt off the front of my jeans.

“What have you done? Huh?” Vinny shook his head. “Last time, it was gangsters driving by the house, shooting machine guns through the windows. Now we got some psycho comin’ in here trying to mess with our women.”

“I’m notyourwoman,” Angelica snarled. “I’m not anyone’s woman. I’m my own woman. He messed withme. So if you are going to explain yourself to anyone, Bill, it should be me.”

“I’m gonna find this prick.” Spittle flew from Vinny’s clenched teeth as he spoke. “I’m gonna put his head in a vice.”

“No, you’re not,” Angelica said. “We’re going to have him hauled into a police station and charged for being a sexual predator. Isn’t that right, Clay?”

Clay Spears hadn’t taken his eyes off me. He was leaning against the porch pillar, his huge arms folded across his chest.

“Probably not,” Clay said.

“What?” Angelica said, squinting at him.

“From what you’ve told me,” Clay said, “you willingly lethim in. He walked with you to your bedroom and asked you to show him your underwear. At no time did he touch you or overtly threaten you. I believe you, Angelica, about what happened. Of course I do. But I know how this would play out in a courtroom. You’d have to sit there and watch while a judge dismissed the charges against this guy for lack of evidence. Then you’d have to continue sitting there, watching while Effie is charged with possessing a deadly weapon. I bet there’s a whole arsenal of illegal firearms and explosives in her room, which will be all the evidence a judge needs.”

We all looked at Effie. She gave a resentful huff.

“Look,” I said and put my hands out, trying my best to sound reassuring and confident. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Yes, there’s a guy in town who’s after me. A friend of mine got into a confrontation with him and she has roped us all into it. The situation is… it’s escalating. We may also be in trouble on Nick’s side of things, too. He’s uh…” I held my head, suddenly exhausted. “There are guys from his past who maybe want to address some things that Nick’s unit did back in Afghanistan.”

They all waited for me to explain further. I couldn’t.

“That is the thinnest, vaguest explanation of a potentially deadly predicament that I have ever heard,” Angelica said. “There aresome guysafter you, and aseparate set of guysafter Nick? And they’re all coming here?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I can’t say.”

Angelica stood there with her mouth open, appalled. Effie and Vinny looked much the same. Somewhere above us, I hearda window slide shut. Neddy Ives had probably been listening to my pathetic explanation and had decided he’d heard enough. The only person who looked unsurprised by it all was Clay. I let out a heavy sigh and turned to him.

“Shall we?” I asked, beckoning toward the beach.

He nodded, and we walked off the porch together.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

“HERE’S WHAT I’VE got,” Clay said as we hit the sand. It was dark enough on the beach that I could make him out only as a big round silhouette against the distant gold lights of Gloucester. “I got a truck that had obviously been run off the road and abandoned in the woods just outside town. I got a suitcase with a headless body in it. I got enough shell casings in the surrounding area to melt down and make a statue of myself to put in the town square.”

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