Али Брэндон - Double Booked For Death

They concluded the transaction, and Darla walked out feeling quite stylish in her new purchase. When she entered the bookstore, however, Lizzie surveyed her with something less than approval. Jake had stopped by in Darla’s absence, and she also stared in dismay at Darla’s approach.

Darla didn’t blame them. After all, she was dressed for work in brown slacks and a bulky café au lait sweater that blunted the frothy feminine effect of the hat, not to mention that it worked off a whole other color palette.

“Uh, nice chapeau, kid, but lose the outfit,” was Jake’s blunt assessment.

Lizzie shook her head and looked pained. “Oh, Darla, please tell us you haven’t been wandering around town dressed like that.”

“Don’t worry,” Darla replied as she carefully folded back the black veil and removed the hat. “I bought this over at Mary Ann’s while I was shopping for a curtain. I thought I’d wear it to Valerie Baylor’s service tomorrow.”

“Oh, then that’s okay,” was Lizzie’s response. “And then next year, you can wear it to the Kentucky Derby.” She pantomimed sipping from a glass while fanning herself with her free hand. Then, lapsing in what Darla assumed was an imitation of her Texas accent, the woman exclaimed, “Whah, yes, Ah would like another mint julep. They’re so refreshin’.”

Jake chuckled appreciatively, while Darla rolled her eyes. It had been an ongoing mission ever since she moved to New York to educate the natives that not all southerners talked alike, and that not all native-born Texans shared a common accent. Unfortunately, said mission was usually greeted by blank looks, particularly from those who were certain they could imitate Darla’s twang. And since she’d tried and failed with Lizzie several times already on this subject, she decided to let it slide.

Instead, reaching beneath the counter for tissue paper and an oversized plastic bag in which to temporarily store her hat, she said, “Don’t forget, Lizzie, I’ll be gone most of the day tomorrow. Can you and James get along without me?”

She meant, as in play nicely together , but Lizzie chose to take the other meaning.

“If tomorrow’s anything like today, there’s probably no point for me to come in at all,” she said with a sigh. “So far, the only one to come in besides Jake was that reporter.”

Jake, of course, wanted to hear that story, which Lizzie told with great relish, even as she bemoaned the fact that the reporter had left before she could share her version of the night’s events.

“You know, I think Hamlet knocked over those bookmarks on purpose, just to spoil my interview,” she said with a pout in the feline’s direction. Hamlet, who was sprawled now at his favorite sunny spot near the door, merely flicked a whisker but didn’t deign to otherwise acknowledge the accusation.

Darla had finished packing up her hat by now. She sidestepped the subject of the interview lest it occurred to Lizzie that it had been she who’d shooed out the reporter, rather than he who had escaped while Lizzie was distracted. Instead, she agreed. “If you don’t mind taking the day without pay, go ahead and stay home. If we’re lucky, the worst of it will have blown over by next week, and things will be back to normal again.”

“Do you want I should tag along to the memorial service with you tomorrow?” Jake chimed in.

“No! That is, they won’t let you in. Hillary said the list will be checked, and your name has to be on it.”

Her reply was more abrupt than she’d intended, and Jake gave her a questioning look. Darla shifted a little under the scrutiny, aware that her view of Jake had taken a slightly different tilt since she’d gone poking about the Internet last night.

Unfortunately, the story about the second shooting that Jake had been involved in had been frustratingly vague despite its incriminating tone. Short as it had been, Darla had memorized it in a couple of readings.

An NYPD detective recently wounded in a high-profile shooting incident has been involved in yet another shooting controversy. Detective Jacqueline Martelli, a 20-year veteran, was charged yesterday with shooting and seriously injuring an alleged mugger in a local parking garage. The officer remains on paid leave pending an internal investigation. No charges have been filed as yet against the shooting victim.

Once she’d gotten over the original shock of finding that bit of intelligence, Darla had spent another good hour trolling the Internet for additional information. Despite her best efforts, however, she could find no more references to the incident. Finally, bleary-eyed, she’d crawled back to bed wondering how she would approach her friend with this new knowledge. Two shootings by one police detective in just a few weeks seemed extreme, even in Brooklyn.

“I can always wait down the street somewhere until it’s over with,” she heard Jake reply, the words dragging Darla back into the moment. “Besides, I’d kind of like to get a look at the guest list, if you know what I mean.”

“You mean, investigate?” Darla shot her a look, momentarily forgetting her other concerns. “Do you think whoever hired Janie might be at the funeral?”

“You never know, kid. Anyhow, I told Reese I’d see if I couldn’t tag along.”

“I suppose I could tell anyone who asked that you’re my driver,” Darla agreed, hurrying to add, at the covetous look in the woman’s eyes, “not that you get to drive Maybelle . . . at least, not until we’re almost there.”

And the long car ride might make for an ideal opportunity for her to question Jake about the whole shooting thing. Of course, that tactic could also backfire on her. If there was more to the story than what the news articles had indicated, Darla might find herself stuck in a car for a very long time with a very p.o.’d ex-cop.

“Wait,” Lizzie broke in, her tone excited, “maybe I can go, too, since you gave me the day off—”

“No!” Darla and Jake chorused, rounding on the woman at the same time. Darla tempered their response with the reminder, “This isn’t a social event, it’s business. I’m representing Pettistone’s Fine Books. And like I told Jake, there’s a list.”

Lizzie sniffed, not to be mollified. “Fine, I know when I’m not wanted. I think I’ll go unpack some more books. And, just for the record, I think that hat is ridiculous.”

She took off for the storeroom, with Darla unsure whether to laugh or be annoyed. Jake gave her an encouraging nod. “Ignore her, kid. I think your hat is kick-ass. If you don’t wear it tomorrow, I will.”

The mental picture of Jake the Amazon decked out in that sort of frippery tilted Darla back toward amusement, and she smiled. “The hat’s mine,” she said with a shake of her head, “but tell you what. Do a good job of giving me directions to the church tomorrow, and I might even let you drive back.”

“Deal. Oh, and by the way, I made that call for you. Ted the security guy can come by today if you want. I’ll give you the number so you can make the arrangements with him.”

The front door bell jangled just then, and two customers came into the store. Sending up a silent thank you to the literature gods, Darla told Jake to write down the number and then rushed over to help her first customers in days. By the time she had loaded them up with half a dozen books each and explained about the increasingly forlorn-looking flower memorial down the block, Jake had gone and a still-pouting Lizzie had run off on lunch break.

Darla took the opportunity to put in a quick call to James at his home to warn him about the security system that would likely be in place by the time he arrived in the morning. She opted against telling him about the late-night footsteps that Jake had been hearing—no need to drag James into that other melodrama. Rather, she used the confusion surrounding the autographing and its ghastly aftermath as the reason for the additional safety measures.