3 Kill Me Over the Garden Gate Read online

  His hand rested on the knob. He was crazy mad and screamed. "You don't know what you are talking about! She liked it rough. It got a little crazy. I left her here. She was alive, I tell you. Alive!"

  The lights went out. Spaz screamed. Bean jumped and grabbed her. "Spaz, down!"

  "Boom."

  The door to the kitchen burst open. Flashlights shined on Franklin Hunnicut. He still stood in the door. He raised his hands. "Police! Police! Everyone down. Down, down! On the floor! On the floor! Hunnicut, on the floor. Hands where we can see them! Kids, where are you?"

  Hunnicut lie face down on the floor. He cried and shook. Big Mike held him down. He dragged his hands behind his back. Sheriff Green cuffed him. They flipped him over. There was a telling wet spot on his pants. Hunnicut babbled nonsense.

  Big Mike yelled. "Michael? Michael, are you all right?"

  The lights came back on. Moe the deputy showed up at the front door, gun at the ready. "I flipped the main back on."

  "Whoa, Moe! It's okay. We got him."

  Chapter 11

  Pone banged on the closet. "Dad?"

  Big Mike ran to the door. The old lock had stuck. Big Mike kicked the plate and the key turned. He yanked the door open. Pone stood on the other side looking at the floor. "Dad, I–"

  Big Mike grabbed him with both arms. He crushed him in a bear hug.

  "Dad, I'm sorry."

  "Thank God you're okay." Big Mike backed up. He pulled out his handkerchief and mopped his face. "Where is everyone?"

  "Under here." Shroom slid out from under the bed.

  "Under him. Get off me!" Spaz's hands flapped from under Bean. He had taken a flying leap and tackled her. They landed on the bed. He still covered her body and didn't move. She patted his arms.

  "Come on, Beaner, it's over. Get off me, you're gonna wrinkle your dress." She pushed on his shoulders. "Hey, moron, I mean it. The party's over. I can't breathe. Get up."

  Big Mike moved toward the bed. "Wait, don't move. Something isn't right."

  "What do you mean? Get this clown off me before I knee him in the–"

  Shroom grabbed her hand. "Chill, girlfriend. Listen for once. I think Bean's hurt."

  Big Mike gently moved Bean and he groaned.

  Shroom helped lift him off Spaz. He looked at her. "Holy c-c-c...Oh my God. Spaz, are you okay?

  Blood covered what was left of her blouse. She looked at Shroom. Then she looked at Bean.

  "Of course I'm okaaaaa–Bean. Ohhh, Bean. He's hurt, he's hurt. Oh my God help him!"

  Big Mike lifted Bean from the bed and Spaz scrambled off. Big Mike gently laid him down and probed his shoulder. Spaz ran to the kitchen. Shroom knelt beside the bed. Pone passed out in the corner. Big Mike pulled out his pocket knife. "Moe! Call for an ambulance. J.J. pat down Hunnicut. Look for a gun. Small caliber. Boys, move back." He looked around and saw Pone in the corner. He sighed. "The kid never could stand blood."

  Spaz bounded back into the room. She had a stack of towels. Big Mike worked on Bean. He cut away his shirt. He folded a towel and pressed it to the wound. Bean groaned. Spaz placed her hand next to Big Mike's. "Here. I can do that. You can help Sheriff Green."

  "You have to push hard. He's already lost a lot of blood. If you need help–"

  Spaz looked down at her shirt. "Yeah, I'm hip about the blood, but I'm good. I got it covered, Detective."

  Big Mike smiled. "I can see that." He turned from the bed. "Find anything, Sheriff?"

  J.J. stood. He held up a pistol. "Yup. A .22 in his front pocket."

  Shroom stared, big-eyed. "Whoa. The bastard really shot Bean." Rage washed over him. He rushed over to Hunnicut before anyone could grab him. "You rotten SOB, you shot my friend!" He kicked Hunnicut in the head. He kicked his arms, his ribs and stomped on his stomach before J.J and Mike could stop him. Mike pinned his arms back.

  "Slow down, son." Tears flowed down Shroom's face. He turned and stared into Big Mike's eyes. "I swear if anything happens to Bean, I'll kill him. I swear to God I'll kill him!"

  A siren screamed in the distance. Big Mike put his arm around Bean. He led him into the kitchen and talked to him in low tones. Pone came to. He struggled to his feet. "Sheriff Green, Is it all right if I, uh..." and stumbled out the door. J.J. smiled and pulled Hunnicut to his feet.

  Moe appeared in the door. "Larry has TASER hooks still in him and Curly will have a big head ache in the morning. They're both fine. The kid on the bed is the only one hurt bad."

  "Did you see anyone else out there tonight?"

  Moe thought. "I thought I saw a shadow by the window, but I looked again and it was gone. Must have been a trick of the lights going on and off."

  J.J. thought a second. "Hmm. Check around the cottage, would you? Focus on the area right outside the door. And look for that golf cart, would you?"

  "Okay, boss."

  "Make it quick. The ambulance is coming. Those guys will stomp all over anything left out there."

  Moe turned on his flashlight. "I'm all over it."

  "Good." J.J. hauled Hunnicut out the door. He keyed his radio and told Curly to bring the squad around. "Mr. Hunnicut? I am pleased to inform you that you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, and you'd better get a good one, pal..."

  The squad bumped through the garden gate. J.J. tucked a crying and wet Franklin B. Hunnicut the Fourth in the back seat. "Good thing the seats are vinyl."

  The ambulance followed the squad through the gate. It pulled up by the front door. They had to peel Spaz off the bed in order to see to Bean. She and Shroom stood silently off to the side. They watched as the EMTs strapped Bean to a stretcher. Spaz grabbed Bean's hand and walked along side until the EMTs loaded him into the ambulance.

  Pone joined Shroom and Spaz as they watched the ambulance turn and head for the hospital.

  Big Mike walked up and put his arm around Pone. "I'm finished here, kids. Can I give you a lift to the hospital?"

  Three miserable faces stared back at him. "Okay then. My car is up by the big house. Let's go."

  The three of them trailed behind Big Mike. When they neared the house, Cash bounded out the back door. "Where did you guys run off to? I had to wait for Val, and oh My God, Spaz what happened to you?"

  She looked down at her blood encrusted chest. "Long story. If you can tear yourself away from your girlfriend, we'll tell you all about it. Come on."

  Cash fumed. "Now look, sweetheart. There's no reason act like Queen Bitch–"

  Pone grabbed Cash by the collar. He shoved his fist under Cash's chin. Spaz got in his face. "Bean saved my life tonight, Peckerwood. He got shot doing it, too. So if I'm a little out of sorts, please forgive me. I'll bow to your greatness after I see if Bean is going to live or die!" She punched him in the chest and Pone dropped him.

  Cash stood and sucked in a breath. "Oh my God, I sorry. And I was–oh my God! Let's go."

  They all piled into the Crown Victoria and sped down the street.

  Chapter 12

  "How long are they going to be?"

  Shroom blew on his nasty hospital coffee. "Take it easy, Ollie. It's only been a couple hours. I was in the hospital one time. They kept me waiting for a couple hours before they even saw me."

  "Oh. Were you sick?"

  "Knife fight." He was quick to add, "But I don't do nothin' like that no more."

  Ollie looked away so Shroom couldn't see her smile. "Oh. Well, good."

  Shroom left Ollie and strolled over to the other kids. "Whazzup, yo?"

  They looked up and Pone grabbed his sleeve. "We were just talking. Bean is shot. Hunnicut is in jail. But there are a couple things bothering me."

  "Like what? I thought we were done here."

  Spaz spoke up. I swear Hunnicut did not have anything as big as a gun in his pocket before the lights went out."

  "So? It was probably in the dresser."

  "No. He was over by
the door. He couldn't have moved that fast. It happened as soon as the lights went out."

  "So, uh, what are you saying?"

  "That uh, maybe Hunnicut didn't shoot Bean."

  "Then who the hell did?"

  Pone smiled. "That, my friend is the million dollar question."

  "Did you guys tell the cops what you think?"

  Pone shook his head. "Nope, not yet. But there is another thing."

  Shroom groaned. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

  Pone put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you're going to hate it."

  "It's okay, dawg. What it be?"

  "What happened to the dead girl in the compost pile?"

  Shroom rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead. "Oh, crap."

  "You can say that again!"

  Suddenly the doors to the surgical ward flew open. A man in scrubs walked over to Bean's parents. They spoke for a few minutes. Bean's mom dried her eyes. She stood and came over to them.

  "I thought you'd like to know he came out of surgery okay. He lost a lot of blood, so the next forty-eight hours are critical. He–"

  A loud bell sounded and the overhead pager blared. "Hospital alert. Code Blue, Emergency Room, Code Blue, Emergency Surgery, please."

  They all turned numbly toward the swinging surgical room doors as Bean's doctor hit them running.

  Gale Borger has been involved in law enforcement for over twenty years. This gives Gale an endless source of background material for her books. Growing up in a screwball household also gives her a sense for the zany and the bizarre. Gale writes what she knows, and she knows bad guys and funny stuff—but not necessarily in that order!

  Gale lives in Southeastern Wisconsin with her husband and daughter, a Dogue de Bordeaux, two cats, about 1500 tropical fish, an African Horned Toad, a side-neck turtle, two dwarf hamsters, and a leopard gecko.

  When Gale is not writing, she and her husband breed and swap tropical fish. Gale is also a Master Gardener and after work can usually be found in a flower bed up to her ears in weeds, or volunteering at a local gardening event.

  Totally Buzzed is the first book in the Miller Sisters Mysteries.

  See what’s up with Gale at

  www.galeborgerbooks.com

  check out her blog at

  www.galeborgerbooks.wordpress.com

  or contact her at

  [email protected]