CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When Jocelyn got up at 7:00 a.m. the next morning it was raining outside. She peeked out her window to find a glum, cloudy, miserable day. The glumness was echoed when she walked into the building. She could tell the bad news had already started to spread. Everybody’s face was glum-even Lilly’s. Jocelyn avoided her as she retrieved her cleaning supplies.
She dreaded seeing her sister. She knew how badly Reese would take the news. Jocelyn got her cleaning supplies and started for the bathrooms. When she opened the ladies room door and heard sniffling and muffled crying, she looked at the bottom of the stall. She recognized those shoes.
Jocelyn asked Reese, “Are you okay?”
Reese sniffed and told her, “I’m okay.”
When she exited the stall, she told Jocelyn, “Ramon broke the news to me this morning. I’m going to have to tell Tiffany as soon as she gets back. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I refuse to consider borrowing money from our family.”
Jocelyn hugged her and said, “We’ll get the money together and take your ex to court. The court can demand he pay child support; they might even garnish his wages.”
Reese informed Jocelyn, “He’s still in the Bahamas with his girlfriend. His sister called me last night to tell me they got busted for trying to buy weed from a drug dealer while they were still down there on vacation. She asked me to help him.”
“I hope you told her when hell freezes over.”
“I didn’t use those words exactly, but I suggested they sell his television.” Jocelyn laughed. She hoped Clarence was out of Reese’s life for a very long time.
She said, “Look, last night I had an idea. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Later that afternoon Lilly got an email from someone with the initial J. The email said I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP TO! I KNOW all ABOUT THE GAMBLING!
Jocelyn waited for Lilly to take the bait. She was sure Lilly would confront her as soon as she thought Jocelyn was by herself. Jocelyn didn’t have to wait long. When she got to the conference room, Lilly made it her business to enter the room soon after her.
Jocelyn was dusting the conference table and trying not to appear nervous. Lilly walked into and closed the door behind her. She said, “I know you’re the one who sent the threatening email to me.”
Jocelyn felt the sweat trickling down between her breasts. She was scared. She tried to appear calm. She knew she was taking a risk trying to bluff Lilly into confessing. If she was wrong, she would have a lot to explain to Ramon. But, if she was lucky, Lilly would tell her everything about the troubling incidents happening at the plant.
Jocelyn calmly said, “I saw you with Harry at the bar. I know what you’re up to. Why don’t you just confess that it’s been you all along?”
Lilly cackled evilly. That’s when Jocelyn knew that she had given the woman an appropriate nickname.
Lilly yelled, “Bitch, I’m so sick of you. You keep getting in my way. I have gambling debts, okay? I owe people over $100,000. I asked Ramon for a loan, but he refused. Harry contacted me and said if I could cause trouble at this company he would pay me handsomely. He wants to ruin Holliday Paints. He hates Ramon, because his stupid little wife still has the hots for her old boyfriend. A year ago she told him she was going to divorce him. She wants to rekindle her romance with Ramon.”
Jocelyn couldn’t believe it. The woman had called her a bitch for the last time. She started toward Lilly. She stopped when she saw Lilly pulled a small, but deadly looking gun from her pocket. Jocelyn gasped in shock. She never expected Lilly to pull a gun on her.
Her plan had worked. It had worked too well. As she suspected, Lilly had been the one behind the sabotage all along.
Obviously Lilly realized Jocelyn would tell to Ramon everything. Jocelyn didn’t really care if Lilly had gambling debts to pay off. She just wanted the sabotage to stop and Lilly to put the gun away.
Lilly motioned for Jocelyn to put the dust rag down she was holding. “We’re going out the back door. Don’t make any sudden moves or you’re dead. And don’t even think about screaming. All of the other employees are gone for the day even your precious boyfriend has left for the day,” she sneered.
Jocelyn figured if Lilly was willing to do something so drastic to cover up what she’d done; her debts were being called in. While Lilly was walking through the building toward the back door, Jocelyn asked, “Who was helping you? You might as tell me since you’re going to kill me any way.”
“Ha! I don’t have to tell you anything,” Lilly declared.
As Lilly walked behind her, Jocelyn was praying her sister was close by. She had told Reese to pretend to leave earlier and then to sneak back into the building.
She wasn’t sure if Reese had been caught by Lilly’s unknown accomplice. She realized Lilly had timed her demise when no one would be around the building. Even people from the adjoining properties had all left for the evening.
Lilly pushed Jocelyn through the exit door. Once they were outside, Jocelyn noticed the clouds had disappeared and the air smelled clean. The wind was starting to pick up a little. Funny, what you notice when you are about to die, Jocelyn thought to herself.
She noticed something white flap from behind the paper dumpster. To her surprise, out stepped Miranda. Lilly indicated with the gun in her pocket that Jocelyn should walk toward Miranda. Miranda said, “Baby, why did you ask me to meet you near the dumpster?”
“Lilly said, “She knows. She knows everything.”
Miranda scowled, “She doesn’t know anything. She tricked you.”
Lilly said, “I don’t care. I’m sick of her.
Miranda asked her lover, “What are you planning?”
“We’re going to kill her. By the time someone looks for her, her body will be in the county dump.”
“Wait a minute Lilly! When you asked for my help, you never said anything about killing anybody.”
“Either you help me or you’ll die with her. Choose!”
Jocelyn was desperately searching for a weapon and wondering where her sister was. Then as soon as the thought was complete; she saw something blue fly through the air and hit Lilly’s back. Lilly went down to her knees, still with the gun in her pocket. A shot rang out. Then she saw another blue object soar through the air and hit Miranda in her chest. Miranda fell forward on the ground.
As soon as the shot rang out, Jocelyn started to run toward the back door. She didn’t bother to look to see if anyone was hit. She only wanted to escape. When she reached the back door, Reese pulled her inside and locked the door. Jocelyn could barely breathe; she asked Reese, “Did you call the police?”
“They’re on their way.”
When the police arrived, the sisters had subdued Lilly. She had shot herself in the leg when the gun had gone off in her pocket. Miranda had the wind knocked out of her, but she was able to flee the scene, leaving her lover on the ground.
Jocelyn asked Reese what she had thrown at Lilly and Miranda. Reese said she had thrown the only thing she could find, large cans of powered cleanser.
Jocelyn and Reese spent time with the police explaining what had happened. Everyone had been taken down to the police station. Once they reached the station Lilly claimed to be the victim.
She claimed she was attacked by both Reese and Jocelyn because they were jealous of her. The police didn’t know who to believe until Jocelyn produced a miniature tape recorder from her own pocket. The police played the tape and could clearly hear Lilly saying she was planning to kill Jocelyn.
After being confronted with the tape Lilly realized she didn’t have a chance, so she told the whole story. She admitted she and Miranda had been having a secret affair for months. Miranda had been trying to lose weight because Lilly told her she didn’t want a fat lover.
She also exonerated Roger when Jocelyn suggested he had been involved in the sabotage. Lilly told the police she had only used Roger to make Miranda jealous. Miranda had been the one to help he
r sabotage Ramon’s company.
Finally Ramon was summoned to the police station at Jocelyn’s request. The police told Ramon everything. He was shocked to learn Harry and Lilly were behind the sabotage. He was surprised to learn about Lilly’s gambling debts and her on-going affair with Miranda.
At last he was allowed to see Jocelyn. He hugged her and held her as if he would never let her go. He was clearly upset to hear about everything that gone on right under his nose.
Around midnight, everything had been cleared up. Lilly had been arrested and taken to the hospital; an all points bulletin had been put out for Miranda. And the police were on their way to talk to Harry.
Reese, Jocelyn and Ramon walked out of the police station together. Jocelyn congratulated Reese on her excellent aim. Ramon asked Reese why she chose to hit the women with cans of cleaner. Reese replied, “I used what was available.”
Jocelyn said, “You hit Lilly in her back and Miranda right in her chest. How did you learn to throw so well?”
Reese smiled and said, “I was aiming for the gun in Lilly’s hand and I aimed for Miranda’s head.”
“You were aiming where?” Jocelyn nearly fainted when she realized how bad her sister’s aim had been.
Ramon reached his arm out to steady Jocelyn as she staggered a little. Jocelyn bent over to catch her breath. She finally stood back up after a few seconds.
Ramon started patting her back and rubbing her arms. She was so grateful things had turned out well for Ramon and her sister, but she was finished being a cleaning lady and a detective.
She just wanted to go home, get in her own bed and have Ramon hold her until she could stop shivering from visions of Lilly pulling a gun on her.
After Ramon took her home, Jocelyn went over everything again. She told him she was just trying to help him and her sister. He told her, “I’m grateful, but please don’t play detective again. When the police called me about a shooting at the plant, it took ten years off my life.”
Jocelyn led Ramon to her bedroom and whispered, “Let me make it up to you.”
After making love until they were both satiated, Ramon said to Jocelyn, “Tomorrow we go shopping.”
Jocelyn murmured, “You keep bringing that up. I’m too tired to go shopping tomorrow. Can’t you pick out whatever you need by yourself?”
Ramon said, “Yes, I can, but I thought you might like to pick out your wedding ring.”
Jocelyn sat up and screamed, “You’re asking me to marry you?”
Ramon said, “Yes, if you’ll have me?
Jocelyn said, I’ll have you but you need to know something about me first.”
Ramon sat up straight in the bed with a worried look on his face. “What haven’t you told me?”
“I like to play the stock market and I’m pretty good at it. I don’t ever need to work again.”
Ramon said, “I don’t care if you’re rich or poor. I still want you for my wife.”
He grinned and asked, “How much was your sister paying you anyway?”
Jocelyn laughed. Before Ramon went to work, she would show him her bank statements. He might enjoy being the husband of a wealthy woman.
The End
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