Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Her hand trembled once and then steadied.
Henry groaned, kind of rolling back and forth while Brooke pressed on his wound. It looked like an upper thigh hit. “You just shot a process server.”
Gloria snorted, looking every bit her sixty or so years. “You might want to cover that wound.”
“Are you insane?” Brooke shouted. She rose, planting herself between Gloria and Henry, hands shaking. “What are you doing, Aunt Gloria?”
“Listen, you little shit.” Gloria’s tone cut deep. “You think I didn’t know you were selling tea to my enemy?”
I spread my hands, slow and careful. If I could get close enough, I could take the gun. “Nana is not your enemy, Gloria. Not at all.”
Her eyes flared. “Another move from you and I’ll shoot you next.”
“I understand.” I lifted my hands higher. “But Gloria, there’s no need to shoot anyone. Maybe you thought burglars were here and hit Henry by accident. We can fix this.”
She shook her head. “I’m not that stupid, Anna.”
Of course she wasn’t. The pieces clicked into place. Wait—this had all been her. Not Brooke. Not Henry. Not Brad Backleboff. The tunnel made it all possible.
“You switched out my Nana’s tea,” I sputtered.
Brooke’s mouth fell open, then closed. “You didn’t do that, did you?”
“Of course I did.” Gloria’s chin lifted. “How dare you sell tea to that woman? How. Dare. You. You set that woman up with wellness tea. I run a supplement store.” She threw out her hand toward the shelves. Bottles rattled. “You betrayed me.”
I shook my head. “So wait. You used the tunnel and replaced Nana’s tea with tea laced with mushrooms, didn’t you?”
Gloria laughed, short and sharp. “Yes. She’s going to prison now. At the very least, she’ll be out of business.”
The facts slapped into order way too slowly. “Where in the world did you get laced tea supplements?” I breathed.
She sighed. “I plan to sell them once things calm down and have been working with a distributor out of Washington State. The market is huge. You just have to label it so the feds don’t notice.” She gave a small, proud nod. “I’m going to be rich, Anna. Plus, your grandmother deserves some pain. She cheated in the pie contest every year. You know that.”
Heat climbed up my neck. “Nana doesn’t cheat. She just makes a better pie than you.”
“Ha.”
I blinked once, then again. “Wait a minute.” Nana had the only key to the fridge at the Elks. Nobody else got to that damn pie. “You put the lotion in your own pie?”
I couldn’t believe it.
She snorted. “Yes. Of course.”
“Why?” My brain wasn’t keeping up.
“She deserved it, and I liked the idea of suing her. A lot. Ruining her reputation has been a goal of mine for a while.”
What a nutjob. I blinked. “So you used the tunnels to steal lotion?”
“No, Fiona gave everybody free samples of that months ago. I just kept mine and shoved it in my pie before planting it in that fridge.” Gloria laughed, the sound quick and sharp. “Even then. I bet it tasted better than hers.”
“All right. This is absolutely ridiculous. Wait a minute. Did you also dress like a leprechaun?”
“Yep.”
I stared, aghast. “You set the dynamite?”
Gloria lost her smile. “Yes. I used a blasting cap with a time delay, and it shouldn’t have gone off for another thirty minutes or so. Darn thing.”
My muscles bunched. “Thirty minutes? So after the pie contest and when Nana most likely headed back to her store?” She’d wanted to harm my Nana?
Gloria smiled. “Yep.”
Oh, I needed to take her out. Keeping her talking was the smart move, though. “Why did you dress like a leprechaun that morning to leave the dynamite?”
Gloria snorted. “The leprechaun outfit was so everyone would think Fiona was doing the damage, and especially if the local cameras caught me. I figured the ones at the bank would.”
She wasn’t wrong.
She giggled. “Plus, it was fun.”
Gloria and I had different ideas of fun. I edged closer to her. “Where did you even get dynamite?”
“When I found the cellar beneath the store, there were maps of all of these tunnels through the town. I followed all of them. It was tons of fun. And of course, in a couple I found that dynamite. They were old mines. Do you know how unstable old dynamite is?” She waved the gun as she spoke and I took another step toward her. “The blasting caps with the delays were with the sticks, and my partner and I looked up how to use them.”
Partner? The tea. All of the tea. It had to be Brad Backleboff. He’d also been way too intense in charging Nana. “Who’s your partner?”
* * *
“Doesn’t matter.” She pointed the gun at Henry again, thoughtfully this time. Was she going to kill all of us?
“Gloria?” I had to bring her attention back to me. “You wore the leprechaun outfit again during the parade. Did you plan to blow up Nana’s shop again?”