Murder in the Marigolds by Dale Mayer (best young adult book series .txt) 📕

“You have no idea,” he said. “Those animals aren’t traumatized. I’m the one who’s traumatized,” he cried out. “I just want to go back to work and to forget about this whole nightmare.”

“How the heck do you think that will happen?” she cried out. “You hurt me.”

“Hardly,” he said, “you’re the one walking away scot-free. And those animals are a nightmare. You have to pay for that.”

“Enough of that,” she said, “those animals are loyal and brave. More reliable than most people I know.”

“James is the one who killed Robin,” Rex said hotly. “I want to make sure he is brought to justice.”

“And you didn’t mind using me as bait.” She shook her head. “What if he had killed me?”

“Well, that would have been your problem,” Rex said, with a sneer. “There’s been lots of times I wanted to kill you myself.”

“And yet you could have easily helped me,” she said. “With the tiniest effort, you could have made my life a whole lot easier with Mathew.”

“That is one scary man,” he said. “I probably don’t have a job anymore after all this mess, but you can bet he will make sure that he gets whatever he wants out of it.”

“What is it that he wants?”

“He wants money and power, and he wants to make sure that Robin didn’t take anything she wasn’t entitled to have.”

“I think she may have done a lot to bring him down,” Doreen said quietly.

“Are you for or against that?” Rex asked, as he stared at her and started to laugh. “Robin said she would damage him if she could, but she also wanted to walk away from her ex, only James wasn’t having it.”

“Well, what will you do about it?” Mack asked. “Will you do anything to make Robin’s sacrifice worthwhile, or will you just let the status quo continue?”

“Well, you’ll make sure I’m charged,” he said, “and I’ll do what I can to make sure James goes down.”

“Take him away,” Mack told the officers, escorting Rex.

Just then Mack’s phone rang, and still watching them put Rex in the nearest police cruiser, Mack stepped away to answer and a few moments later ended the call. “Well,” he said, walking back toward Doreen, “they picked up James’s vehicle and are tracking his trail now. He’ll be heading to the station soon.” He looked at Doreen and said, “You go to the hospital and get checked out. I will follow these guys to the station and have a serious talk with both James and Rex.”

“You do that,” she said, “but the animals are coming in the ambulance with me,” she said defiantly, “or I’m not going.” He looked at her quietly, looked at the ambulance drivers, and asked, “Can we make an exception this time?”

At that, the two men looked at each other and shrugged. “Fine,” one said. “Let’s go.”

And, with that, she headed toward the ambulance to find Thaddeus already sitting there in the back, looking at her and calling out, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

“I’m glad you’re here, buddy,” she said. “And what about Mugs and Goliath?”

They were already in the ambulance too, sitting deeper inside, behind the gurneys. Goliath looked more than a little freaked out, and even Mugs looked like he was stressed. She got into the back, then waved at Mack and said, “Okay, but I’m just getting checked over, and then I’m going home again.”

“Okay,” he said. “You know where I’ll be.” He looked at his ringing phone and said, “I need to get this.”

“Don’t worry about it, just go,” she said, waving her hands.

He groaned and said, “Just go get checked out, and make sure you’re safe. No hiding symptoms from the doctors either.”

She nodded and hunkered down on the seat, as the paramedic went around to the front and got into the driver’s seat. And, with that, they pulled away.

She looked down at Mugs and said, “I’m so happy we’re all together,” she whispered. He barked at her and cuddled her close. She was so tired and stressed, and all she wanted to do was go home. But that was definitely not happening. Instead she had to go to the stupid hospital.

She watched as everybody disappeared in the distance, as the ambulance headed toward the hospital. She sank back and closed her eyes, grateful that her ordeal was over. As Mugs started to whine at her feet, she reached down and said, “It’s okay, buddy. We’re good.” But he didn’t stop whining, so she looked at him in surprise and asked, “What’s the matter?”

She peered out the window and didn’t recognize the area. She wondered where they were, but then she hadn’t known exactly where they’d ended up in the first place, once Rex had stopped driving. She checked for her phone, only to find out she didn’t have it. She stared at Mugs in horror. “Where’s my phone?” she cried out. She leaned forward to look through the tiny window that separated her from the ambulance driver, and he was all alone. She thought there had been two men, but maybe it was only one. She had no idea. But somebody was strapped to the bed across from her. She winced. “God, he’s probably dead,” she said.

She leaned over and took a look and saw that it was the other ambulance driver. She stared at him in horror, but he was tied up, and his eyes were closed. She immediately looked for something to cut his ties. By the time she had cut him free and smacked him across the face several times, he groaned ever-so-slightly.

She whispered, shaking him. “Are you okay? Hey, are you okay?”

He opened his eyes and stared at her in shock. “What happened?”

“Shh. You tell me. I got into the ambulance to find you all tied up.”

He frowned. “I don’t know what happened,” he said, sitting up and then groaning because his head was killing him.

“Looks like somebody has taken over the ambulance.”

“Why would somebody do that?” he asked, staring