Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
“You killed Mickey?”
Ruby glanced down at her purse, where the taser was hidden inside.
“Not literally. But it felt like I had. It was my fault.”
Ruby’s head rushed with relief. “You freaked me out there.”
“I haven’t told you the rest of it yet. You’ll probably still despise me.”
The kettle whistled, and the English muffins popped up from the toaster. Ruby set them on a plate while Nora poured water into the mugs.
Then, they sat.
“Tell me what happened.”
Nora took a small bite of English muffin and chewed. “Almost two months ago, Cami found out Mickey had a daughter in West Oaks. He definitely hadn’t told her about you or Haley.”
Which wasn’t the least bit surprising to Ruby.
“Cami was furious. She confronted him at Bailor Fitness in front of everyone. Accused him of cheating, of having a family in another city. Turns out she’d found his apartment lease for his new place in West Oaks.
He laughed it off like it was all bullshit.
But later, I asked him about it. He admitted he wanted to quit the circuit and try to connect with Haley.
” Nora lifted her eyes. “He wasn’t as hard as he seemed sometimes. Mickey could be thoughtful. Even kind.”
“I know,” Ruby said quietly. “I remember.” Mickey hadn’t shown that side often. But it had been there.
Nora took a gulp from the mug. “But I thought he didn’t mean it.
Peele wasn’t just going to let him leave.
Not after…” She glanced at the window. “After certain deals that Mickey had made. I thought Mickey would change his mind, the way he always did about everything. But he was serious. He told me he’d contacted you about wanting custody.
He’d set up a date and time to hash out an agreement. And…”
“And?”
“I was so angry,” she whispered. Nora stared into the murky surface of the coffee.
“I’d been patient. I’d waited while he screwed around.
First you, then Cami. He always came back to me in the end.
But suddenly he was leaving the circuit?
Moving to West Oaks? Risking whatever wrath Peele might unleash as a result? I just…I couldn’t take it.”
Her tears had stopped falling, but the wet streaks remained on her face.
Ruby dreaded hearing the rest. But she had to. “What did you do?”
“I went to Conrad Decker.”
And you thought that would end well? Ruby wanted to say. But she kept silent.
“I just thought he’d scare some sense into Mickey. Warn him about what a fool he was being, so Mickey could change his mind before it was too late. I…I told Decker about the apartment in West Oaks. And Mickey’s plan to meet with you.”
Ruby’s stomach churned, and bile rose into her throat. She pushed the coffee away. “So when I saw you at Bailor Fitness, you knew Decker was the killer? You knew?”
Nora nodded. “I thought Decker must’ve decided to tell Peele what Mickey had been planning, and that Peele ordered his death. I was sick over it. I’d never imagined that could happen. Never.”
Ruby knew she should stay calm, but outrage roared through her veins. “And you knew the police had blamed me. I’d been charged with Mickey’s murder. Were you just going to let me go to prison? Let them take Haley away from me?”
“No. I was trying to figure out some way to help you.”
“You could’ve picked up the phone and told the truth. Why didn’t you? Maybe you felt responsible, but the police wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“How do you know that? And what do you think Peele would have done to me? I had to come up with some other plan.”
“And what was this brilliant plan of yours? Because the last time I talked to you, at the fight, you gave me nothing. Chase had to go after Decker instead—partly because we were worried about you—and Decker could’ve killed him. The man I love could’ve died because of you.”
Ruby didn’t even stop to think about what she’d just said. The man I love.
Nora leaped up from her seat and threw her coffee cup against the wall. It shattered with a bang, brown liquid flying across half the room. “I thought Decker did kill the man I love! I was going to end him. I was going to make sure he never lived another day.” She stood there, chest heaving.
Ruby was frozen with shock. “If you planned to kill Decker, what happened?” The guy was in custody for Mickey’s murder. And very much alive.
Nora sank back into her chair. “I stopped going to work so I could watch Decker. He was always going on errands for Peele. One day, I saw him boost a blue Kia and go to your apartment. I think he was going to threaten you to stop investigating and stay quiet. Obviously, that didn’t work.
But that same afternoon, I went back to Decker’s house.
I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to punish him before he hurt anybody else. Like you or your family.”
Ruby wasn’t going to thank her for the gesture, so she stayed quiet.
“Decker wasn’t back yet. But his regular car was sitting in his driveway.
” Nora’s voice was a steady drone now. Devoid of emotion.
“I was hiding out of sight. I heard a car. I’d brought a gun with me, a pistol that had been my grandfather’s.
I thought it was Decker, so I got ready.
But the person who appeared wasn’t Decker at all.
I saw him approach Decker’s car. He was holding a bundle.
He crawled underneath the chassis. Left the bundle behind.
And when he was gone, I snuck over to look. ”
Ruby could hardly take a breath. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Did you open the bundle? See what it was?”
Nora nodded.
“It was a knife?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I knew it had to be the murder weapon. The knife that killed Mickey. Which meant Decker probably hadn’t killed him at all.”
“Then who did?”
Suddenly, furious knocking on Chase’s back door interrupted them. Ruby nearly screamed, and Nora jumped up from her seat.
Shelby’s face was visible through the window, twisted with panic. She banged on the door again.
“Who the hell is that?” Nora cried.
“A friend of Chase’s.” At least Shelby had thought to take off her West Oaks PD sweatshirt and tie it around her waist.
Ruby ran to the door and opened it.
Shelby had her phone in her hand. “Chase sent me a text on our way here. I glanced at it, but I didn’t see what he’d put at the end. Not until just now.” She held up the screen. “Code 459.”
“Is she a cop?” Nora demanded.
“Wait, what does that code mean?” Ruby asked. As a kid, she’d heard her father use police codes a million times, but that had been years ago. “I thought you didn’t even use those for dispatch any more.”
“459 is burglary. And we don’t. We use CAD, Computer Aided Dispatch. But I think Chase was trying to tell me something, and he didn’t have time for more. Burglary is unlawful entry with the intent to commit a crime.”
Had Chase found someone in Ruby’s apartment? Someone who didn’t belong?
“Haley’s there.” Ruby grabbed her purse.
“I already called it in,” Shelby said. “A few seconds ago.”
“Fine, but I’m not staying here. We have to go. Now.”