Clyde sneezed again. “Simon would have been ruined.”
Flashing lights strobed the windows. I ran to the front door and opened it. A stream of police officers poured into the living room, followed by Wolf.
He paused for the briefest moment, cupped my cheek with one hand, and sucked in a deep breath. “You’re okay.”
I followed him into the dining room, where he took in the chaos.
Natasha sagged against me, her head in her hands. “I feel so responsible. I never intended for anything like this to happen. I hired Otis. Sophie”—she lowered her voice to a whisper—“I hired him to research Simon so I could know how to pitch my TV show to him. I want to go to a national audience and Simon could have made that happen. I never thought it would lead to all this mayhem.”
I shook Natasha. “Didn’t you hear Vicki? Your TV show didn’t have anything to do with Simon’s death. Simon brought it on himself, I’m sorry to say, by being callous and treating her like dirt.”
“But don’t you see? If I hadn’t hired Otis, he never would have dredged up the information he used against Simon.”
“You didn’t force Otis to blackmail Simon. Get a grip, Natasha.”
She sniffled. “Otis told me about Clyde being Vicki’s brother and gave me a photograph of Clyde. I thought Vicki could help me. I thought she could get Clyde to put in a good word for me, I never imagined that anything like this would happen.”
Paramedics rolled Andrew by us on a stretcher.
He reached out to me and croaked, “Vicki?”
She’d cheated on him, shot him, and murdered her lover, yet he still worried about her. “Natasha gave her a good thunk on the head, but I think she’ll be fine.”
I watched the paramedics carry him out the door. Nina, my family, Craig, Humphrey, the colonel, Francie, June, and Mars stood next to the sidewalk in a line. They called out when they saw me.
“Andrew’s been shot!” I yelled.
June and Mars walked beside Andrew as he was rolled to the ambulance.
“Mom!” I called. “Come on in.”
“They won’t let us,” she said. I pointed toward the kitchen door.
On my way there, Natasha said, “Shouldn’t we offer all these police officers something to eat?”
Everyone piled into the kitchen, except for June, who remained with Andrew. Mars asked excitedly, “Did you use the Tasers?”
Natasha’s eyes met mine. “I left my Taser at home.”
“Mine is in the foyer.”
Mars shook his head in disbelief. “Mom and I are going to follow the ambulance to the hospital. I’m guessing you’ll have to stay here, Nat, to give the cops your story?”
She gave him a kiss and said, “Pick me up on your way home.”
We spent the next half hour raiding the refrigerator and freezer. Everyone, even Francie, Nina, and Hannah, pitched in to make pizzas and panini grilled sandwiches.
We set up a buffet in the sunroom for the police officers to help themselves to coffee and food.
An hour later, only Natasha and I remained in the kitchen, baking the last of the chocolate chip cookie dough I kept in the freezer for emergencies.
“I know how Bernie entered the house, and I gather Vicki and Clyde were adept at picking locks, but how did you get in?” I asked.
Natasha didn’t flinch. “I used Mars’s key.”
“Mars gave his keys back to me.”
She shot me an incredulous look. “Like you really didn’t think he’d make a copy first? You know Mars, always the prepared Boy Scout.”
Since we were getting along fairly well for a change, I asked, “When you hired Otis, did you ask him to check me out?”
The surprise on her face seemed genuine. “Why would I do that? I wanted the TV show, Sophie. I thought I was doing what men would do in my position, getting the goods on the man who could make it happen. I never intended to blackmail Simon; I wanted to know more about him personally, to find some common ground that would help me get an edge with him. I already know pretty much everything about you . . .”
So why did Otis have my picture I wondered to myself.
Natasha pulled a tray of cookies from the oven. “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you about the stalker. That night I ran into you, I realized someone was following me, but I thought it was Andrew. Actually, I thought it was exceptionally nice of you and Nina to warn me.”
“Did you tell Wolf that Clyde was Vicki’s brother?”
“And admit that I hired Otis? No way. My lawyer scared the pants off of me. I couldn’t admit anything. Besides, I didn’t know about Vicki’s affair with Simon. That would have been different.”
I leaned against the dishwasher. “How could we not have known that Clyde was her brother?”
Natasha raised her eyebrows. “Are you kidding? Mars and Andrew hated Simon vehemently. They said such ugly things. I’m sure she was ashamed to admit that her brother worked for Simon. And then when the affair started, well, I guess it wasn’t a good idea to say anything then.”
“I feel sorry for her.”
“She killed Simon!”
“I know.” I twisted a dish towel in my hands. “But she worked so hard while Andrew ran through their money with his ridiculous ideas. All the while she had to hide her affair and her brother’s identity. She must have been miserable.”
In the doorway to the kitchen, Wolf cleared his throat. “Could I have a word with Sophie?”
Natasha nodded and hurried out of the room.
“In case you haven’t figured it out, Vicki was your intruder,” he said.
“Then who ransacked her house?”
“She did it herself. To throw us off. And it appears that Clyde was Natasha’s stalker, waiting for an opportunity to kill her since Vicki hadn’t managed to do it. Natasha was the only one who could tie them together and they thought she knew about the affair.”
“Then one of them planted the turkey trophy in Natasha’s yard?”
“Clyde snagged it at the stuffing contest and passed it along to Vicki to bury at Natasha’s party that night. He was pretty sharp.” Wolf jammed his hands into his pockets. “I ought to chew you out for doing something so dangerous.”
“You should have believed me and trusted me.”
Mochie marked Wolf’s legs by rubbing against them.
“I didn’t know you. Everywhere I went I learned things that were the opposite of what you claimed.”
“Like about Humphrey dating me?”
He swallowed hard. “Not true?”
I closed in on him. “Nope.”
He looked over my head at the stone wall. “So this is where Faye’s ghost resides?”
I grinned. “So I’m told.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “I hope she doesn’t mind this.”
He kissed me tenderly but not nearly long enough.
When I turned around, I would have sworn Faye’s eyes glittered in approval.