"Ali," Dave was shouting. "Are you okay? Did she get you?"
Holding the pistol in one hand and shaking her head, Ali struggled to her feet as Dave helped April to hers. April was crying. There was blood on her face from what looked like a series of jagged cuts, but not from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. That meant Ali's desperate measure had succeeded.
"Why didn't you just let me do it?" April demanded tearfully. "Why can't you people just leave me alone? Why don't you mind your own business?"
It was a moment or two before Ali could find her own voice. Trembling, she examined her body and was more than half surprised to find no gaping wounds.
"I'm okay," she managed at last. "At least I think I am."
In the background now, she could hear the sound of approaching sirens. So Dave had called for backup. He just hadn't waited for reinforcements to arrive before coming to the door. For that Ali was incredibly grateful.
Without another word, Ali left April's gun on the counter and raced for the stairs that led to the basement. She dashed past Paul's loaded wine racks and through the media room. Just as she expected, she found Edie in the decommissioned saunaduct-taped to the slats of the wooden bench. Another piece of duct tape covered her mouth. Her eyes were wide open.
Cringing, Ali peeled the tape off her mother's mouth, removing a good deal of skin along with it.
"Are you all right?" Ali asked.
"Just let me at that little nutcase," Edie replied. "I'll tear her limb from limb. Did I hear gunshots?"
Ali nodded while she struggled to loosen Edie's other restraints, starting with her arms. "You did hear gunshots," Ali said. "One, at least. Fortunately she missed. Dave is upstairs with her, waiting for the cops to get here. If they're not here already, they will be any minute. Are you all right?"
"I'm more mad than hurt," Edie replied. "She gave me a good crack on the back of the head. I was out for a while, and my head hurts like crazy. What in the world is the matter with that girl?"
There was no way to answer that question.
As Ali worked to free her mother from her restraints, footsteps pounded across the kitchen and down the stairs. "Where are you?" Dave demanded.
"Down the hall," Ali called back. "In the sauna."
Dave's anxious face appeared in the doorway a moment later. "Is Edie here? Is she okay?"
With the last of the tape removed, Edie tried to get to her feet. She stood briefly, but even with Ali helping her, she swayed a little and sat back down abruptly. "I guess I'm still a little woozy," she said.
"An ambulance is already on the way," Dave said.
"What's going on upstairs?" Ali asked.
"When April saw the uniforms, she fought the cops tooth and nail, but they have her in custody now. They're putting her in a patrol car or an ambulance."
A uniformed cop showed up in the sauna just then, followed immediately by two more. "Is the other lady all right?" one of them asked.
"I'll be a whole lot better once you get me out of here," Edie Larson said, rising again. "I never have liked saunas. They make me feel claustrophobic."
For good reason, Ali thought.
"Ma'am," one of the cops said. He didn't look to be much older than Chris. "Are you sure you should be moving around like this? Wouldn't you be better off sitting back down and waiting here for the EMTs to come take a look at you?"
"Young man," Edie said firmly, "I'm not staying in this room for another minute. Now either help me out of here or else get out of the way so I can do it on my own." With that, Edie turned to Ali. "Call your father," she ordered. "Let him know I'm all right. If you've told him about any of this, he's probably worried sick."
That was when Ali knew for sure Edie was all right, too.
As the clutch of uniformed officers helped Edie out of the sauna and down the hall, Dave handed Ali his phone. "Call your dad," he said.
Bob and Chris had arrived at the hotel by then, and they were jubilant when they heard the news. "I can't believe you and Dave pulled it off!" Bob Larson exclaimed.
Ali gave Dave a sideways look. "I can't, either," she said. "But we did."
"And everybody's all right?"
"They're taking Mom to an ER to be checked out. She has a nasty lump on her head and was a little shaky on her feet. She may have a slight concussion."
"Which hospital?"
"Cedars-Sinai," Ali answered. "Ask Chris. He'll know how to get there."
"What about you?" Bob asked.
"I'm fine," Ali said. And she had been fine while she was helping her mother. But now she could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke to her father. "I'll talk to you later."
She handed the phone over to Dave, trying to dodge his questioning glance as she did so, trying not to let him see that her hands were shaking and her knees knocking. Ali sank down on the redwood bench, and Dave sat down beside her.
"You're not fine," he said, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder. "You're not fine at all."
CHAPTER 16
They sat together for some time, with Ali simply leaning into Dave's shoulder and gathering her strength. "Thank you," she said at last. "Thank you for being here and thank you for listening to what I meant as opposed to what I said."
"You're welcome," he said. "Better now?"
She nodded.
"Good," he said, "because it's about time to go back upstairs and give another statement."
"And call Victor again?"
"I think we can pass on calling Victor this time."
The officer who took Ali's statement was one of the Eagle Scoutlooking uniforms who had helped Edie make her way back upstairs.
"So this whole thing came about because your mother and this April Gaddis had some kind of disagreement?"
"Evidently," Ali said.
"And what exactly is your relationship to the perpetratoror your mother's, for that matter?"
Ali sighed. "April Gaddis is my dead husband's mistress. My dead husband's pregnant mistress. They were supposed to get married yesterday, but he was murdered early Friday morning and died before our divorce became final."
The young man frowned. Concentrating as he wrote, he made no comment about Ali's very complicated life, and Ali greatly appreciated his lack of editorial input.
"And the cause of the difficulty between April and your mother?" he continued.
"Mom tried to tell April she shouldn't be smoking when she's pregnant."
"Makes sense to me," the young cop said. His name was Rich Green, and maybe he really was an Eagle Scout.
Officer Green took the information from both Ali and Dave in a methodical manner. He was thorough. He was patient. He was also slow as Christmas. By the time he finally finished, Ali was ready to strangle him.
"So where did they take April?" Ali asked when the ordeal was finally over. "And what about my mother?"
"They were both supposed to be transported to Cedars-Sinai," Officer Green told them. "But I believe your mother decided against going at the last moment. Said she had a perfectly good hotel room and that would be fine. All she wanted was to see her husband and get a good night's sleep."
That sounded like Edie.
"And April?" Ali asked.
"She went to the hospital."
"Cedars-Sinai? They have a psych ward there?" Ali asked.
"I'm not sure about a psych ward," Officer Green returned. "I believe one of the EMTs said something about her going into labor."
Ali's heart constricted in her chest. "But I just told you. April Gaddis was holding both my mother and me at gunpoint. She's been waving a pistol around and threatening suicide. She should be on a suicide watch."