Diana Orgain - Bundle of Trouble

I found parking in front of the apartment house. We climbed out of the Chevy. “My legs hurt, too,” I complained.

With a pang I remembered my pain relief pills sitting on my kitchen counter.

“Too much running around for just having a baby,” Galigani acknowledged.

Who did I think I was?

He patted me on the back. “You’re doing great, kid. I knew you were a bulldog from the start.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Sure. Bulldogs are persistent and smart.”

“They’re also short and ugly,” I retorted.

Galigani laughed.

“If I was so smart, I would have figured this out a long time ago,” I continued.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You got no experience.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “What you need is a mentor.”

I held my breath. “You’re supposed to be retired.”

“Right.” Galigani laughed. “We can talk about the future later.”

Despite the gravity of the situation facing us, I smiled. “You got your gun?”

Galigani nodded. “Always. So should you. We’ll see about getting you a license, training, all that.”

He said “we”!

“Although we won’t need it tonight,” he continued. “She won’t try anything with both of us there. Even if we are both crippled.”

I laughed as we limped toward the apartment building.

“I don’t want to ring the buzzer and alert her prematurely,” Galigani said. “Let’s wait for someone to leave.”

We didn’t wait long. A blond man in his early twenties exited the building. Galigani grabbed the door saying, “Ladies first.”

We both hobbled up the stairs and took a minibreak outside the apartment to catch our breath.

Galigani asked, “Ready?”

I threw my shoulders back, took a deep breath, and nodded. Galigani banged on the door. The redhead opened it a few moments later. She was wrapped in a robe, her hair enveloped in a towel.

She smiled widely to see me. “Kate Connolly! What can I do you for?”

Galigani flashed his investigator badge. “May we come in? I don’t think this is a conversation you want to have in the hallway.” He walked past her without waiting for a response. I followed him into the living room.

He circled around the room, then made himself comfortable on the couch. KelliAnn and I remained standing. Galigani eyed an opened box of chocolate chip cookies lying on the coffee table. He picked up one of KelliAnn’s magazines and flipped through it casually. “Can you tell us, again, about your whereabouts on the night of June fifteenth?”

She blinked. “What are you talking about? You two need to leave or I’ll call the police.”

I watched her fidget with the towel on her head.

“We have reason to believe you were at El Paraiso,” Galigani said.

KelliAnn rolled her eyes. “Come on. My stupid neighbor killed Brad. The police know all this. They arrested her.”

“You were still in love with Brad after all these years,” I said. “You took him to the prom. You never got over him.”

KelliAnn laughed. “That’s absurd!”

Galigani jumped in. “You overhead Brad and Jennifer that night. You knew he was leaving your sister. You heard Jennifer reject him.”

“Maybe you thought you’d try a last-ditch effort to get back together with him,” I said.

The corners of her mouth twisted downward, creating a half-crazed look on her face. “This is ridiculous! You can’t come over here and accuse me of this!”

“I have something of yours, KelliAnn,” I taunted. “Something you lost that night at El Paraiso. It must have slipped off your wrist when you reached into George’s bag to take the gun you killed Brad with.”

Her eyes flashed. She blinked rapidly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You broke into both my cars, looking for your bracelet. Michelle saw it fall from George’s bags. She told you I had it, right? She suspected you were involved. Is that why you killed her? Because she’d figured it out?”

KelliAnn shook her head frantically, the towel unraveling, her red hair falling to her shoulders. “You’re wrong. Michelle killed herself. And Jennifer. . They found the gun at Jennifer’s place.”

Galigani tsked. “That would have been easy for you to plant. What with her being your neighbor and all.”

“The handyman in 101 must like you a lot, huh, KelliAnn?” I winked. “He let you into Jennifer’s place, didn’t he?”

KelliAnn snarled. “Jennifer is an ungrateful bitch. She was unemployed and pitiful when she moved here. I asked Michelle to hire her, as a favor to me, thinking Jennifer would be a good little spy. I knew Michelle and Brad had a racket going on, but I didn’t know what.”

Galigani scratched his head. “Your plan backfired. Brad fell for Jennifer.”

KelliAnn swung her hair, trying to appear nonchalant. “Please, I didn’t care about that.”

“You cared about him enough to lure his child into a lake.”

KelliAnn took a step back from me, paling. Her expression told me I had hit the nail on the head.

“You didn’t think anybody knew about that, did you?” I asked. “Svetlana confided in Jennifer that she thought someone had lured her little girl, Penny, into the lake. The way I figure it is, you ran into Svetlana and Penny, or maybe you were following them like you did George, and when you saw an opportunity, you lured Penny-”

“Or just plain grabbed her and drowned her,” Galigani said from the couch.

KelliAnn gasped, then abruptly covered her mouth.

“You must be really sick, lady,” Galigani continued. “You couldn’t stand the thought of Brad being with anyone else, much less having a child with her. You get rid of the kid, hoping Brad would blame Svetlana for negligence-that’s one way to ruin a marriage. But instead of rushing into your arms, Brad finds comfort in your sister.”

“You have no proof,” KelliAnn said, her eyes flaring.

“George went to Svetlana for help,” I said. “He knew you were following him. You didn’t find the bracelet in my cars, so maybe you figured I had given it to George. One day at the pier, you cut me off in Michelle’s Mercedes. George saw you and ran. When he told Svetlana, she confronted you, is that right? She had it all pieced together. You killed Svetlana, her little girl, her ex-husband, and your own sister.”

Galigani stood. “Then you pointed the police toward Jennifer. What better motive? She kills her ex-lover and his wife, then kills her boss. Everyone has a motive to kill their boss.”

“The other day you were at Michelle’s with Rich.”

KelliAnn’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know-”

“This what you were looking for?” I pulled out the bracelet from my pocket.

She impulsively reached out to grab it. I closed my fist around it and tucked it safely away into my pocket. Now it was my turn to smile. KelliAnn stared at me, her mouth pressing into a thin line.

“I thought Rich might have been looking for the business ledgers I found. But now I get it. He’s the one who helped you get rid of Brad’s body.”

KelliAnn’s eyes darted back and forth, landing on the side table next to Galigani. On the table was a heavy lamp and a small jade phone.

Was she thinking of calling for help?

“I overheard Rich say something about a fight,” I continued. “You fought with Brad. He didn’t want you romantically. You got upset, found George’s gun, and killed him. You needed help with the cleanup, right? Rich was willing to help. Why not? With Brad out of the way, he could buffalo Michelle, Svetlana, and Mrs. Avery about the business profits and pocket more money. And you, of course, would keep quiet about all of it. If he turned you in, you’d tell the police about the drug operation. Ruin his game.”