Chapter Thirty-Five

The thing about solving a real-life mystery that they never showed in books was how nauseating it was to know the killer was in the same room. What felt worse for Annie, as everyone filed into the Common House, as it was called, was looking directly at the person and still finding it hard to believe.

They’d called Ryan over the night before. It was out of her hands, and yet, she felt consumed by all of the things that could go wrong. Ryan had said to trust him; she did. But that didn’t make her feel much better about attending this meeting.

People hovered near the breakfast pastries. Joseph seemed to love baked goods more than the rest of them. Almost as much as he loved Margie. She watched as he handed Margie her coffee, pressing a kiss to her cheek. There was a large farm style table in the center of the room. It might look like a regular, though smaller, house from the outside, but it was actually just a big recreation room with chairs, the table, a kitchen in one corner, and a bathroom off of the main area. It was meant for parties or large gatherings like the Homeowners’ Association.

Ginger caught her gaze from across the table. Annie smiled, her nerves spreading impossibly thin. Beside Ginger was Raj and other people that Annie had been introduced to earlier. She couldn’t remember all of their names. Looking at the clock, her heart felt like it had taken up residence in her throat. Getting up, she crossed over to the kitchen, helping herself to some water.

Annie startled when Ginger came up beside her, offering a hesitant smile. Act normal. It’ll all be over soon.

“How are you?” Ginger asked.

Annie glanced at the door, then looked back at her neighbor. “I’m okay. You heard about Tate?”

Ginger nodded, an unreadable look in her gaze. “Yes. I’m just glad they have someone in custody. The funeral was nearly unbearable. I’m not surprised Mira isn’t here this morning.”

“She hasn’t been home since the funeral.” Annie watched as Ginger took in the information.

Pain flashed in the woman’s gaze. “I hope she and Conway can find a path back to each other. It’s a terrible thing not to be with the person you love.”

Uncertainty warred with anxiety. “It’ll all be over soon.”

Ginger’s wandering gaze came back to Annie. “What do you mean?”

“The truth is about to come to light. When it does, people will be able to start healing.” She hoped this offered the woman some comfort. Whether or not she should have been with Gill—though if he was divorced, he was available—wasn’t the issue. People didn’t choose who they fell in love with.

“The truth is that they arrested Tate,” Ginger said, her breath choppy.

Annie tilted her head. “We both know he didn’t do it.” Soon, any minute now, everyone else would know, too.

Their gazes held. Annie felt every pulse beat in her body and needed these moments to fly faster.

The front door opened, pulling Annie’s attention as her breath caught painfully in her chest. Ryan wasn’t supposed to be here until the meeting started. They had eight minutes. But it wasn’t Ryan who walked through the door.

“Good morning, everyone. We’d like you all to go back to your homes. This meeting has been canceled due to a change in circumstances,” Detective Rickers said. He didn’t bother to remove his sunglasses. Standing in the doorway, he pushed his suit jacket back to reveal his badge, as if any of them were unsure who he was.

Idiot. What’s he doing here? But she knew. She’d trusted Ryan, but he didn’t trust himself. He’d called in the cavalry even though the chances of them messing it up were good.

“What’s going on?” Margie stood, putting both hands on the table.

“We’d like to not make a scene in front of anyone’s neighbors. Everyone back to your homes, now.” Rickers stood aside, gesturing to the door.

Ginger gripped Annie’s arm, her nails pressing in. “What’s happening?”

“It’ll be okay,” Annie whispered, looking over at Joseph and Margie arguing. Much like they had the day of the funeral. Her heart twisted.

“Let’s go!” Detective Black shouted as she stepped in beside Rickers.

Outside, Annie started for her house. She’d done the right thing. Joseph had no alibi; he wanted to rent out his home, but the only person stopping him was Gill. One of the bylaws in the manual stated homes couldn’t be rented out unless all eight homeowners were in agreement. Margie had lied more than once for him. She’d even heard Joseph say that there was nothing stopping them anymore. Margie had run off when she saw that photo on the detective’s phone. Because she knew it was him. As much as Annie hadn’t wanted to believe it, his nighttime walks along with notes of what he’d said to Gill at the last meeting—the venom in the argument the two had—confirmed things. Yet, she felt sick with the thought that it was him.

Annie tried to loosen her fingers which had curled into fists. Breaths rapid, she barely felt the slap of the morning wind. You did the right thing. You did the right thing. She was so consumed with guilt and sadness, she didn’t even realize, until she was almost at her house, that Ginger was right behind her. Annie glanced behind her to see if Margie and Joseph and everyone else came out. Everyone but those two shuffled out of the building and back toward their own homes.

“We’re supposed to go home,” Annie said, distracted.

“I can’t be alone right now,” Ginger said, her voice shaking.

Annie nodded. “I have to check on Shelby. This will all be over soon.”

She let them into the garage, tears prickling. Shelby wasn’t with the kittens. Ginger closed the door behind her as Annie walked toward their beds.

“How did you figure it out?” Ginger asked from behind her.

Annie clicked her tongue a couple times, looking around for Shelby before kneeling in front of the cats. “It was a number of things. The meeting minutes about the rental disagreement was the final clue though.”

“You’re a stupid, stupid girl,” Ginger said.

Annie turned, thinking she’d heard her wrong. She jolted out of the way as one of her father’s golf clubs swung toward her. Ginger’s face was a mask of rage.

“What the hell?” Annie shouted.

“You won’t ruin this for me.” She swung again but, as Annie attempted to back up, only managed to hit her calf. Pain shot through her leg, making it vibrate like a tuning fork.

“What are you talking about? Are you crazy? Ruin what?” She scanned the garage, seeing several things that could act as weapons, but from her spot on the floor, practically on her back, she had an extreme disadvantage.

Ginger pressed forward, swinging again, hitting Annie in the shoulder. Pain sung through her upper body. She forced herself up, throwing a garbage can in the crazed woman’s way. Ginger smashed it with the golf club. Annie moved back, circling around the larger items in the garage to keep some space between them.

“I’m not going to jail,” Ginger said, spittle flying out of her mouth. She looked around frantically but, obviously seeing nothing she preferred more, advanced again, holding the golf club up higher, ready to swing.

“You killed him?” Annie’s shock must have shown because Ginger hesitated. Her relief that it wasn’t Joseph was short lived.

Ginger halted. “You just told me you knew the truth.”

Annie nodded, her hands moving behind her in an attempt to grab something. Anything she could use to defend herself. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. What had pushed Ginger over the edge? Gill going back to Bethany? Keep her talking. “Yeah. That Gill was killed because he refused to agree with the majority and allow rentals. It was blocking Joseph from moving in with Margie like he wanted.”

Ginger’s expression went from furious to almost gleefully happy. Annie didn’t find any comfort in her drastically changing emotions. “Oh my God. You really are stupid.” She stepped back, lowered the club. “They’re here for Joseph?” She started to laugh in an overblown, almost manic fashion.

“I thought you loved him.”

Ginger smiled. If she weren’t still holding a golf club with a crazed expression in her eyes, she would have looked pretty. “No one could ever love that man. You had the right reason, just the wrong person.” She held up the golf club again.

Something wasn’t adding up. “I don’t understand. I found you in his house grabbing your…” she said, gesturing to Ginger’s lower half.

Like this was hilarious, Ginger bent over in laughter. “Good lord. You are such a prude you can’t even say panties? Did you really fall for that? Give me a break. It was a handkerchief, you fool. I used it to avoid leaving prints on the doorknob. You really are pathetic.”

Annie’s face scrunched with offense. “Hey. You’re the one that was trolling around his house. Falling in the backyard, crying like you’d just lost your best friend.” If she’d learned anything from crime shows and mystery books, she knew she needed to keep the woman talking.

Ginger stepped closer, and Annie really wished she could latch on to something to protect herself.

“There’s nowhere to go, Annie. But just because you’ve pleased me so much by being so incredibly gullible, I’ll tell you a secret.” Her voice quieted at the end of the sentence.

Annie stumbled over a pair of shoes. “Nah. I’m good. I don’t need any secrets.”

Ginger laughed. “I fell on purpose.”

Her heart was hammering so hard, it was a wonder she could hear the woman over it. “Why did you fall on purpose?” Had everyone gone? Where was Ryan?

Ginger inched closer like a snake ready to strike but enjoying the chase. “I dropped my earring when I left that morning. I saw it on the path and had to grab it before you found it.” She tucked her hair behind one ear. “Pretty, aren’t they?”

The gold and diamonds sparkled. Annie’s gaze darted left and right. She needed to get closer to the door.

Ginger smacked the golf club against a box as she was finished playing games. “Here’s how this is going to go. You will do exactly what I say, or I will make you wish it was you I killed.”

She had to do something. Standing still was going to get her killed. Annie hedged along the wall, slowly trying to get to the garage door. “You’re nuts.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you haven’t seen anything yet. When you get to be my age and live your life a certain way, you’ll do anything to protect it.”

Annie’s thoughts of fleeing or screaming died when Ginger spotted one of her father’s fishing knives. She reached for it at the same time Annie lunged. Annie tripped over a can of paint, falling, landing with a thud on the cement floor. She rolled, crawled as far as she could, but Ginger reached the knife first, swung it wildly. Annie got to her feet again, tossing anything she could at the woman. She backed into one of the cabinets, knocking boxes from the top. They tumbled down as Ginger lifted her hand, the steel of the knife glistening like a jagged beacon.

Before she brought her hands down though, she stumbled over a flash of white, cursed as she flailed around, reaching for something to steady herself. Instead, she grabbed on to the golf clubs which tumbled, bringing her down in the midst of clattering irons. Ginger’s screech was drowned out by a sound Annie hadn’t heard since she moved in—a pissed off cat. Shelby darted behind the boxes as the ringing sound of metal on the cement floor reverberated through Annie’s body. She looked over to Ginger, scared the woman would get the knife again.

She was off the floor now but bent in half over the fallen clubs, howling. “Stupid cat broke my nose.”

The words registered as Ginger stood all the way up, holding her face. Which was apparently leaking blood.

Little dots blurred her vision along with the rage on Ginger’s face. Annie pushed past her, falling against the wall. When she looked back the blood was dripping through the woman’s fingers. Annie’s hand smacked the garage door opener with muted force as she sank down, as her brain fogged, her words slurred. She thought she heard the whir of the motor, the creak of the door lifting, but she wasn’t sure because everything went black.