I found Piper. Holly’s got her in the doghouse. I’m going in.
Zoe’s fingers shook as she sent the text message to Bob. Her stomach flipped, taking her heart with it. She felt like throwing up. Gritting her teeth against the nausea and fear, she tossed her tablet beside her purse.
She didn’t wait for a response from Bob, because she knew what it would be. But she wasn’t about to sit by while her best friend’s life was in danger.
She rummaged through her purse again, looking for something to use as a weapon. Her hand hit something weighty and she gripped it. Its familiar thickness and shape told her what it was before she drew it out. Big Boy.
Well, she thought. It’s all I’ve got. Besides, it had taken care of Zoe, so hopefully it was enough to take care of Holly Hart.
Slowly, Zoe wormed her way through the doggy door. It was built to fit even the largest dog the center might ever see, but between her long dress, her heels, and the dogs anxiously licking her, it was difficult to get inside without making a noise.
No matter how she turned her head, Freddy kept kissing her face and chewing on her earlobe. His tail was tucked between his legs as he followed her slow path inside the kennel. He was letting her know I think there’s danger.
Thanks for the tip, she thought sarcastically.
The chain-linked enclosure didn’t exactly offer much cover, but the reporter was still facing away from the kennel, and Piper was too distracted by the murderer threatening her life to notice her arrival. Between the dogs barking and Holly busily bantering with a gagged woman, Zoe slipped in without notice.
“You know,” Holly was saying to Piper, “Aiden was quite the player back in the day. But I told you that once before. He and I were practically made for each other. What a team we were,” she gushed. “Those were some of the best articles I ever wrote.” She pointed the tip of her knife at Piper’s throat. “But then you came along.”
Piper’s eyes widened and her jaw moved as she tried to scream, but it was muffled beneath the duct tape slapped over her mouth. Zoe got ready to spring into action, even if it meant losing the advantage of surprise. But then Holly sighed and waved the blade around dramatically like she was gesturing with it.
“So I waited and watched ever since.” She laughed like she was remembering all the good times they’d had together. “Honey, I saw it all. You’ve got some moves in the bedroom, girlfriend. Very carnal. Kudos.”
Zoe kept low, hiding among the shifting fur as the dogs continued to dance inside the partitioned enclosure meant only for one. Inching her way to the gate, she reached up to the latch and slowly began to lift it, careful to prevent the metal from squeaking.
Holly leaned her head on Piper’s shaking shoulder, her filler-injected lips sticking out in a pouty face. “I never in a million years thought Aiden would actually go through with the wedding. Not with his scandalous background.” She began to scrape her knife back and forth along the base of Piper’s neck. “I always assumed he’d come to his senses. That he’d finally see what’s been right there in front of him the whole time.” The blade changed angle, the edge puckering Piper’s skin.
Zoe flung the kennel door open, the dogs flooding into the open space. “And what’s that? A narcissistic egomaniac?”
She raised Big Boy just as Holly turned in surprise. It came down with a loud thwap across Holly’s face.
Holly shrieked, stumbling back against the kennel, metal rattling. The knife clattered to the floor.
As Holly found her balance again, Zoe brought her foot up and kicked her square in the chest. The air left her lungs in a grunt and she was thrown back. She half stumbled, half slid into an open kennel.
Zoe slammed the door and dropped the latch.
With shaking hands, she unlocked the supply closet and used the padlock on the kennel door to ensure Holly would stay put for the police. The metal snapped home with a click of finality. The nightmare was over.
Zoe picked up the knife and ran to Piper. She began sawing away at the dog leads digging into her wrists. Her hand gripping the handle was wet with sweat, and Piper was shaking so badly that she was afraid to cut her.
Freddy pawed at their legs. I’m helping. I’m helping. Am I being helpful?
Finally, the last strands gave way. Piper rubbed her wrists before ripping the tape off her mouth. “Zoe!”
“Come on,” Zoe said, not wanting to waste time. “Let’s go find Bob.”
Holly’s cage rattled and they spun around to see the reporter leaning casually against the chain links. Through one of the holes, the barrel of a gun jutted out.
“Do you seriously think I came unprepared?” She snorted at their ignorance. “You, in the white.” She curled a finger toward Piper in a come-hither motion.
Zoe and Piper shared a glance. From this close range, Holly would be able to hit one of them, if not both. Piper was probably coming to the same conclusion because, after a moment, her jaw clenched. Zoe could have sworn she heard teeth squeak as they ground together in anger, even above all the dogs barking at random around them.
Finally, Piper took a deep breath and reluctantly crossed over to the cage.
“I prefer using knives to guns, of course,” Holly said conversationally. “There’s just something so personal about it. Reporting on the gruesome things I see day in and day out, you get a bit desensitized to it, you know? The murders, the rapes, the car accidents. But taking someone’s life with nothing but a piece of steel between you, now that’s stirring. You can almost feel the sinew rip, the organs pop.” She shuddered, a delicious smile warming her face. “But only an idiot leaves home without a gun. It’s my plan B.”
Piper didn’t answer. She looked calm as she entered the passcode into the lock, but it rattled in her hands as she unhooked it. Zoe could tell some of it was fear. But most of it would have been rage.
Holly stood back, the gun trained on Piper’s chest as she opened the kennel door. When she stepped out, she waved the gun to the side and Piper moved to join Zoe.
Holly looked at Zoe as though she were a disappointment. “You just had to come find her. You don’t know when to quit, do you?”
Zoe kept her eyes on Holly’s, and answered as coolly as she would any other day. “Should I have quit after you broke into my van and ruined Piper’s dress? Or cut my brake lines? Or tried to land Piper in the hospital?”
“Hey,” Holly held her hand up, “at the start, I tried to derail this wedding without anyone getting hurt.”
Zoe scoffed in disgust. “You blew up my office.”
“Oh … right. Okay, so you would have been a little crispy.” She waved a hand like a trip to the spa could have buffed that right out.
Piper crossed her arms over her beaded bodice. “And the sesame seeds?”
“You would have been fine in the end. It’s just a little anaphylactic shock. Nothing a little modern medicine wouldn’t cure.”
“Chef Glazier wasn’t fine,” Zoe shot back.
“Well,” Holly relented with a shrug meant for stealing the last cookie. “That was a little complication. I didn’t plan for that to happen.” Because that made it all better.
“And how about your cameraman in the woods? Or that jewelry designer a couple of weeks ago? Or the pizza delivery boy?”
Piper frowned, her head whipping to Zoe, catching up to the conversation.
“You know about those, huh?” Holly pursed her lips. “Listen, that jewelry designer was a crook. I swear she swapped out my diamond for a fake. And the delivery boy?” She groaned. “Thirty minutes or less, my ass.”
Piper gasped, taking an automatic step back until she hit the kennel behind her. “You’re the San Fran Slayer?”
Zoe dared to take a step forward. “And all those other innocent lives you’ve taken in this city over the last couple of years? What were your excuses for those?”
“Look,” Holly said very reasonably. “I have my reasons for every one of those deaths, and they’re all very good, I can assure you. But I don’t need to defend myself to you.”
“You’re right,” Zoe said. “You just need to defend yourself to the police.”
“The police? Okay. Clearly, this is your first time being held at gunpoint. I have the gun.” She waved it in the air, and Zoe took an automatic step back. “That means I have the power. You don’t have the gun. That means you die.”
Piper let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh. She threw her head back, rolling her eyes at the ceiling, as though at wit’s end. Zoe had seen enough bridezillas to know what that looked like. But standing right next to her, she could see Piper was using it as an excuse to look around. Maybe for a way out.
“Holly, he already married me. Just accept it.” Piper raised her chin bravely, calling the reporter’s bluff. She narrowed her eyes as though daring her to do something about it. “It’s too late.”
But Holly laughed, a barking sound similar to the anxious noises coming from the dogs circling around their legs. “Honey, do I need to go through the whole gun explanation again? It’s not too late.”
“So what, you think you can just kill us both and get away with it?” Piper demanded, but Zoe could hear the tremble of panic in her voice.
Holly pulled a face, like she was talking to the two dumbest people on the planet. “Uh, yeah. I’ve gotten away with it every other time.”
“The police already know about your cameraman in the woods,” Zoe said, trying anything to make her second-guess her plan. However, she wasn’t about to reveal that she sent a text to Bob, in case Holly got trigger happy out of desperation.
Holly didn’t look too worried, though. “Really? Because if they did, they’d be ripping this place apart looking for me.” Holly tilted her head, as though listening for sounds of them ripping. “And I can still hear your glee club boyfriend singing out there. Sounds like the party’s still on.”
“Rock band,” Zoe muttered.
She automatically tuned into the faint music. It was a song by 3 Doors Down. But Holly was wrong. It wasn’t Levi singing. It was the real song, which could only mean the band was taking a break. Was Levi looking for her? That meant he’d be in danger too.
The look on Holly’s face radiated confidence. She had it all figured out. Probably right down to where she was going on her honeymoon with Aiden. The fact that she had to murder people to get what she wanted seemed like a minor inconvenience.
“Don’t worry,” Holly said. “I’ve got plenty of time to kill you and dispose of your bodies in the woods.”
Zoe’s eyes flitted around the longhouse. She could see no way out of the simple building. There was nothing to hide behind in the long aisle that ran between the two rows of kennels, nowhere to run. They had to get out in the open where they had a better chance of getting away.
But Holly was smart. Zoe knew she’d catch on if they tried to lead her, so she snorted, as though she didn’t think Holly could pull it off. “How are you going to drag our bodies out to the woods? I mean, now that you’ve killed your sidekick, there’s no way you can manage it all on your own.”
Holly frowned, glancing between the two of them, maybe estimating their weight. “You’re right. It will be a lot of work dragging your carcasses out there. Thanks for pointing that out.” She picked up her knife and waved her gun toward the back door. “Get moving.”
As they headed for the exit, Zoe glanced back at Freddy among the other dogs. He tried to follow, but Holly kicked him aside.
“Hey!” Zoe yelled.
He yelped, but skittered away to safety, out the doggy door to the enclosure. At least he’d be safe from Holly.
Zoe watched the door swing shut behind Freddy, wondering if this was the last time she’d see him.
Piper threw Zoe a look, like what’s the plan?
Zoe grimaced and shrugged. I guess we’ll wing it.
Holly jabbed Zoe in the back with her gun as a reminder. “Run and I shoot. Yell and I shoot. Do anything I don’t tell you to do and I shoot. Got me? Now open the door.”
As Zoe turned the handle and opened the door, fresh, clean air swept over them. She inhaled deeply until she felt her mind clear a little.
Holly wasn’t going to shoot right then unless they forced her to. They were too close to the party. Everyone would hear. They still had time to figure something out, to come up with a plan. And Zoe was nothing if not a good planner.
Holly marched them around the side of the building so they were completely blocked from the view of the house. Zoe could hear people cheering, the music blaring, but Levi still wasn’t singing. Was he searching for her?
Zoe pretended to stumble in her heels. As she lurched forward, catching herself on the enclosure fence, she tore off the pink sash around her waist. She balled it up in her hand. When Holly shoved her forward again, Zoe tossed the fabric back so she wouldn’t see.
But Piper saw. And while Zoe didn’t exactly have a surplus of outfit to leave behind as breadcrumbs, there was plenty to tear off a delicate bridal gown.
As they hit the tree line, Piper began stumbling herself, blaming the cumbersome dress. Each time, she tossed a little something aside, too small for Holly to notice in the dark: a string of beads, a ribbon, a chunk of lace.
It was so dark after the warm lights inside the doghouse. Hardly any of the moon’s glow reached them beneath the thick canopy above. Surely Holly would have a hard time hitting her targets when she could barely see, Zoe reasoned. But each time she gathered the courage to make her move, Holly would jab their backs with the cold barrel of the gun, reminding her that at such close range, she’d be able to hit them with her eyes closed.
Eventually, the music faded to a dull beat in the distance, muffled by the thick trees, but they were still too far away from the other side of the property to hear street traffic. Where could they go? How could they get someone’s attention from out there?
Zoe’s eyes had adjusted enough to see Piper’s expression. It didn’t look like she had any ideas either.
Holly’s footsteps began to slow, and Zoe’s heart began to pick up speed again.
“Stop here,” Holly said. She tossed Zoe a leash. “Tie Piper up to that tree over there.”
Zoe stared at the lead in her hands and then at Piper. All thoughts fled her brain. There was no plan, no impromptu solution. This was one wedding catastrophe she could never have predicted.
When she took too long to respond, she felt cool metal press against her neck. Enough said: do it or die.
Piper slowly began backing up to the tree. Her eyes never left Zoe’s, as though she was waiting for a cue. But Zoe just stared back, her forehead creasing with the effort of focusing her frazzled mind.
As she approached her friend, Zoe gripped the leash so tight it bit into her soft palms. Her breaths came faster, and her eyes prickled with tears.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The good guys were supposed to win. Holly was supposed to lose. It was Piper’s wedding day, for God’s sake. Was Aiden going to lose his wife of only six hours?
And what about Levi? Zoe had finally found the man she wanted to be with, who made her whole again. And that was it? Was she simply going to disappear into the woods, never to be seen again? Would he even know what happened to her?
No. It wasn’t going to end like that. Zoe could handle anything, including The Holly Hart.
Zoe closed her eyes and imagined every ounce of her energy building in her limbs, tensing her legs to spring, flexing her arms to attack.
Just as she prepared to spin on Holly, there was a rustle of leaves and sticks behind them. They all spun toward the sound.
“Who’s there?” Holly demanded.
But when they saw no one out there in the dark, Zoe knew who had come to save her. Freddy.
She could almost hear his innocent excitement. Hello! It’s just me. Is this hide and seek? I found you. I win!
Holly was turned away, eyes searching. Zoe lunged for her. Grabbing Holly’s arm, she drove her knee up, forcing her elbow to bend back. There was a pop, a grinding of the joint that Zoe could feel echo all the way up her leg. Holly screamed and dropped the gun.
Piper yelled out, “Help!” before dropping to the ground. She scrambled through the underbrush, her hands groping along the dirt for the weapon.
Holly dove for Piper, hands outstretched for her neck. But before she could so much as touch her friend, Zoe took the leash in her hands and looped it around the reporter’s neck. She yanked on either side of the lead, cinching it tight.
Choking noises sputtered from Holly’s mouth. Her hands flew to her neck, frantically clawing at the nylon cord. She jerked, struggling to get away, but Zoe held on.
Piper groaned in frustration as she continued to search, crawling on the ground. She threw aside leaves and tossed dead branches in search of the gun. When her hunt brought her closer, Holly raised her foot and kicked out.
It connected with Piper’s chest with a dull thump and an “oof” as Piper’s breath whooshed forcefully from her lungs. She tumbled back in a swish of leaves, coughing and wheezing as she clutched at her chest.
Heaving tighter on the ends of the leash, Zoe felt it dig deeper against Holly’s soft neck until she imagined her head snapping right off. Holly resisted, her neck muscles straining as she pulled forward. Inch by inch she drew away from Zoe. Then her head came whipping back.
Zoe heard a crack. A flash of light burst in front of her eyes. She could almost smell the pain stinging her nose.
Hot liquid ran down her face and she tasted metal in her mouth. She stumbled back in surprise, holding her nose as she coughed and choked on her own blood.
Holly wheeled around on her. Her fist drew back. Before it could connect with Zoe’s already-throbbing face, something flashed in the dim moonlight.
A musical twang filled the woods, and Holly cried out, falling to the ground. Freddy hadn’t come alone. He’d brought Levi.
Levi’s face twisted with fury as he came to Zoe’s rescue. He raised his guitar over his head in true rock-star fashion, ready to bring it down on Holly.
Beneath the hollow vibrations humming from the guitar, Zoe heard a rustle. A click.
Holly’s arm rose, a finger wrapped around the gun’s trigger. She aimed for Levi’s exposed chest.