Page 131 of Family Jewels

“We don’t have it,” Neely Kate said.

“Bullshit. You told me you were gonna give it to me.”

“We thought we’d found it,” I said. “But we were wrong.”

He pointed the gun at me. “I don’t believe you.” He motioned to the chairs at the table behind the screen. “Both of you sit down.”

Neely Kate looked at me, and I gave a slight nod.

Homer hadn’t noticed the pepper spray in my hand. We could still get out of this.

We both sat in chairs, and he angled the screen to hide us from any passersby on the street. When he was certain we were on our chairs, he walked over to my purse and started digging around.

“Somebody’s a bad girl,” he said, pulling out my gun and holding it up for me to see.

Oh my word. Was he going to shoot us with my own gun?

I pushed out a breath of relief when he set it on the desk, then pulled out my Taser. “Averybad girl.” He dumped the contents of my purse onto the table, scowling down at it. “Where’s the necklace?”

We kept quiet and he moved on to Neely Kate’s purse, pulling out her gun, Taser, pepper spray, handcuffs, her pink sparkly notebook, and nunchucks before dumping her bag onto the table. Several tubes of lipstick rolled off the desk and onto the floor.

Homer stomped over toward us. “Where is it?”

“We don’t know,” I said. “We thought we’d—”

My words were cut off when he slapped me across the face.

“Now I ain’t messin’ around. The last woman who lied to me ain’t around to tell no tales,” Homer said with an evil glint in his eyes. “So let’s try this again.”

“Rayna?” I choked out in shock. “Youkilled her?”

“It was an accident.” His evil smile returned. “Let’s hope I don’t have another accident while I’m talkin’ to you girls.”

“We hid it,” Neely Kate blurted out.

Homer turned to her with a look of satisfaction. “That’s better. Where?”

“Out at Ted’s Garage.”

“Why’s it out there?”

“It’s where my husband worked,” Neely Kate said. “I know the shop, but no one would think to look for it there. Take me there, and I’ll show you.”

Homer thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “Nope. You tell me where it is, and I’ll go look.”

Neely Kate paused, then said, “In the employee lounge. In the back of the cabinet under the sink.”

“You better not be lyin’ to me,” he warned in a low voice. He moved toward us and picked up a duffel bag I hadn’t noticed before. Fear shot through my veins when he pulled out a roll of duct tape.

“I told you where the necklace is,” Neely Kate said. “Now you need to let us go.”

“Not until I get the necklace. Once I find it, I’ll come back to set you free.” He started taping Neely Kate’s arms behind her back.

This was a disaster.

He soon had our legs duct-taped to the chairs, and our hands wrapped up behind our backs. Surprisingly, he left our mouths untaped. Probably because the downtown square was empty and there was little chance of anyone hearing us. Or maybe he was just too cheap to use any more than necessary.

When he finished, he took his bag and went out the front door, leaving us alone in the now semi-dark room.

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