Chapter 41
CHAPTER 41
“ S he won’t say it.” Merritt sighs as we await an answer from Visalia Jones—the answer to what may have led Merritt down such an evil path to begin with.
“Visalia was booking gigs for me,” Merritt goes on. “And she was taking a cut under the table. It’s funny, because when I found out, I was furious. But it turns out that her tenacity got me more bookings than any other author I knew. They all wanted me—the morning shows, the events in the park, the indie shops, the mega bookstores. And they paid my fee and hers. Oddly enough, it was a stroke of genius. But I couldn’t admit that. Visalia was a thief in my eyes, and that was enough to push me to the outer limits.”
“Wait, so that’s what you did?” I ride my eyes up and down Visalia, and her dark dress glitters like tenebrous twinkle lights in this dim part of the Blue Water Café. “You took a little money under the table?”
“I know,” she says a touch too loud. “I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal myself.” Her hand clamps over her lips.
“ She exacted revenge.” I nod. “And in typical Merritt fashion, the revenge was a thousand times more severe. She touched you at your nexus, where she knew it would hurt the most—your family. So you killed her,” I say near a whisper. “You strangled her because you wanted revenge.”
“Revenge?” Visalia lets out a bitter laugh. “No, Trixie. I wanted justice . I wanted her to feel the pain she caused me, my mother, my father. She ripped us apart, and she thought she could get away with it. Well, she couldn’t. There was no way in hell I was going to let her.”
Merritt’s ghost hisses beside me, her form flickering with jags of lightning from within. “You think murder makes you any better than me? You’re just as twisted, just as broken as I am—was.” She ticks her head to the side. “ Am .”
“It should be was,” I tell her. “But only because there’s room for improvement.”
“What?” Visalia jumps back as she inspects me. “You’re out of your mind.”
Visalia tries to dart past me, but I block her path and she does her best to push me away.
“It’s over,” I say to her. “You’ve been caught and you have nowhere to run. Don’t make this hard,” I say, trying to wrap my arms around her, but she’s shimmying and bucking and trying her best to move and groove her way out of this mess. “You lost both of your parents in a year and you blamed Merritt,” I practically shout as the room breaks out into screams. “Plead your case. The judge might go easy on you.” Although that whole premeditation thing may not play into her favor, but I leave that little tidbit out of it for now.
“I’m not going to prison because of that witch,” she screeches. “I wish I could turn back time. I wish I never met the woman.”
“Ha!” Merritt laughs. “If I could turn back time, I’d erase you from the planet first!” Merritt does her best to get in Visalia’s face and encapsulates me in her glowing form in the process, causing my entire body to sizzle and snap like a downed electrical wire.
My hold on Visalia loosens and she quickly gets away.
Merritt picks up a tray of donuts and hurls them in Visalia’s direction, pegging her in the back of the head and sending her to the ground in a heap.
“Food fight!” a distinctly female voice suddenly shouts, and I turn to see Nettie standing at the entrance armed with a bagel.
Soon, bagels, cupcakes, and pizza are flying—all of which are launched by the same mischievous gray-headed maven.
I’m about to shout for her to spare the Boston cream pie donuts just as Visalia starts to rise on all fours, and without thinking I throw myself on top of her.
Footsteps thunder into the café and I look up to see both Wes and Ransom, along with Quinn and a small army of security guards, following behind.
“ Freeze ,” Ransom shouts, his voice echoing through the room as he lands next to me and quickly cuffs Visalia’s hands behind her back.
Wes helps me up. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say as Ransom swoops in, and soon I’m in his arms. “She confessed.”
“Good,” he says firmly. “We just found enough evidence to place her in the room with the body.”
“It was psyllium husk powder,” I say out of breath as I examine the man I love for a moment. “You’re good, you know that?”
“You’re better.” He pulls me in tight, and all is right with the world again.
Quinn helps usher Visalia out of the café, but she’s fighting it every inch of the way.
“I’d better go make sure things run smoothly.” Ransom lands a kiss to my cheek. “How about we meet up in about an hour?”
“Sounds good. How about right here over lava cake?”
“Best plan I’ve heard all day.”
Ransom takes off and Wes helps clear the café so the staff can clean up.
There’s no sign of Merritt. So there’s that.
The ghosts that help me solve these cases usually say goodbye once the perpetrator is caught—but not Merritt.
Typical. And yet, a part of me wishes we, too, could have mended fences.
I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
I head back out in hopes to find Bess or Nettie, but I don’t get two steps onto the promenade deck before someone snatches me by the wrist and swoops me into a dark corner of the ship.