Али Брэндон - Double Booked For Death

Before Darla could ask what would happen to Hillary next, an ear-searing yowl from Hamlet made her jostle her champagne. She turned to see the cat sitting on the chair in front of her laptop, pawing at the screen. Alarmed, Darla rushed over to see what had caught his attention. The screen was displaying the interior of her store, along with a dark figure as it slid through the shadows past the cash register and then disappeared somewhere near the locked case of collectible fiction.

“Jake, Reese, come quick,” Darla called, barely able to keep the panic from her voice. “Someone’s in the bookstore again!”

Her cry was unnecessary, for the pair had already rushed up behind her. With no more movement to trigger it, however, the single channel view already had subsided back into the usual six-segment display.

“What did you see, and where?” Reese demanded, leaning in closer.

Darla pointed, leaving a champagne fingerprint on the screen. “There. Whoever it was went behind that shelf.”

“Can you switch views and show that part of the store?”

Darla shook her head in frustration. “That’s one of the blind spots Ted told me about. None of the cameras catch it.”

“What about sound?” Jake prompted. “Didn’t he set up some audio, too?”

“You’re right, I forgot.”

Fingers shaking, Darla pulled up the on-screen menu and found the audio option. Turning up her computer’s speakers, she could hear the hiss of an open microphone . . . and then, the soft sound of stealthy footsteps. Then came a sharp thud , which Darla recognized as a book hitting the floor. That noise was followed by what sounded like a gasp and a small voice saying, “Oh my gracious!”

Darla felt her mouth drop open. She turned to gaze at Jake, who appeared equally astounded. As one, they chorused, “Mary Ann?”

“Mary Ann?” Reese echoed with a frown. “You mean Ms. Plinski, the nice little old lady I met at the autographing, looks like everyone’s granny?”

“That’s her,” Darla choked out, dragging her gaze back to the monitor.

She saw another flicker of movement, and the channel that caught it abruptly blew up to a full-size screen. Now, Darla spied a small figure dressed in what appeared to be one of those baggy tracksuits popular among the over-seventy set. The figure turned in profile, and she made out the distinctive silhouette of hair styled into a neat bun. Definitely Mary Ann.

“Guess she didn’t get the memo about Darla’s new security system,” Jake said with a wry shake of her head, leaning in for a closer look. “But what the hell is she doing?”

“She’s looking for something,” Darla replied. Indeed, she could see now a tiny beam of light emanating from the miniature flashlight that the old woman held in one hand. “But why is she sneaking around in the middle of the night when she could just ask me for whatever it is she needs?”

“What I want to know is how she got into your store without tripping the alarm,” Reese answered. Then, sighing, he added, “Hell, guess I’d better go down and arrest her.”

“Oh, no, I don’t want to press charges,” Darla exclaimed in horror. “She’s old, and she was Great-Aunt Dee’s friend.”

“Okay, I won’t arrest her, but I’m going to bring her up here so she can explain why she’s been breaking into your place.” Turning to Jake, he added, “You’ve got the key and the alarm code, right?”

“Got it,” Jake said. “I guess I’m backup?” At his nod, she gave Darla a commiserating look. “Ma is going to kill me if she ever hears about me arresting a nice little old lady like Mary Ann,” she said in a resigned voice.

Darla trailed them to the door, but Reese shook his head firmly when she made as if to follow after them. “Old lady or not, a crime is being committed. We’ll be back in a few minutes. You wait here and keep an eye on the monitor.”

“I will, but only if you swear to me you won’t frighten her,” Darla insisted, clutching his arm. “She’s totally harmless.”

“Yeah? Well, remind me sometime to tell you about the nice, harmless old lady who once about carved out my liver with a spatula when I tried to arrest her grandson.”

Jake gave Darla a reassuring pat on her shoulder before she followed Reese out the door. Darla closed it after them and then rushed back to the computer. The security video had split back into six smaller eyes again, meaning that Mary Ann had moved out of camera range once more . . . that, or else she had vanished as mysteriously as she had arrived.

A few seconds later, the screen again switched over to a single-channel view, this time of the store’s side door as it slowly opened. Reese and Jake slipped past it and then carefully closed the door after them.

Darla stared more closely at the laptop, straining her ears to hear any sound from the store. She saw Reese gesture Jake to move in one direction while he took another. The screen flashed from image to image as they passed each of the downstairs cameras. Then she heard Reese’s voice break through the silence to say, “Ms. Plinski, this is Detective Reese. We know you’re in the store. Stay right where you are. We’re going to turn on the lights.”

“Oh my gracious!” she heard Mary Ann exclaim again as someone—presumably Jake—flipped on the lights closest to the inside stairway.

The camera angle changed again as Jake came striding past and headed for the spot behind the shelves where they’d last seen the woman vanish. Darla heard murmured voices, though she couldn’t make out the words. A few moments later, Reese was walking toward the camera. One leather-clad arm supported Mary Ann, whose wrinkled visage reflected both fear and embarrassment. Jake followed after them, stopping to gaze up at the camera and wave in Darla’s direction.

“We’ve got her,” she called. “Reese is bringing her up. Once they’re out, I’ll hit the lights and lock the store, and then head up myself.”

Darla kept an eye on the screen, watching as the shop’s bulbs dimmed again. She saw Jake make her way back to the door, which opened and closed again. Then the screen subsided into the usual six-segment view and remained that way.

She shut down the sound option just as a knock came at the door. She rushed to open it, finding a teary Mary Ann clad in a purple tracksuit, and a rueful-looking Reese. Jake was right behind them, looking equally dismayed.

“Oh, my dear,” the old woman cried, wringing her hands as Darla ushered her inside, “I am so sorry. Truly, I didn’t mean any harm.”

“I know that,” Darla assured her as she settled the trembling woman on the horsehair couch. “Here, let me make you a cup of tea, and then you can explain everything.”

By the time she returned from the kitchen with a pot of boiling water and a teabag in a cup, Mary Ann was looking calmer. She stroked a docile Hamlet, who lay sprawled across her bony knees. The cat shot Darla a reproving glare, as if blaming her for the situation, and then sprang off Mary Ann’s lap to stalk his way over to the window overlooking the street.

“Thank you, my dear,” the old woman said, her voice stronger now as she accepted the cup and began dunking the teabag. Her glance encompassing all of them, she sighed and said, “I suppose I had better come clean.”

They waited while she took a sip and then set the cup on the table before her.

“I’m afraid this is most embarrassing,” she began, once more clutching her hands together. “You see, a few months before Dee passed away, I found myself in something of a financial pickle. Normally, I would have gone to Brother for help, but business had been poor over the past year, and he was in monetary straits of his own. But Dee was—pardon the expression—rolling in dough from all her ex-husbands, so I asked her for a small loan.”