Recipe for Love (Entangled Select Suspense) (23 page)

Chapter Twenty

The fax machine spit out the last page of her contract. She snatched it up and read through the first part of all the legalese. Steve’s accompanying letter broke it down into English, but she still preferred to read the document in good old black and white, in all its wordy glory. She started toward the entrance of the vacant Business Center with her attention on a tricky clause in the contract. She had to read it a couple of times for it to make sense as she compared it to Steve’s letter. A hard bump on her shoulder caused her to look up. It was Miranda and Austin Kenslo.

“Well, well, well.” Miranda’s snake-green eyes glittered with hatred. “Tilly Danes, you are a bitch.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” So this was going to be another drama with Miranda as the diva. What part Kenslo had to play wasn’t clear, but she was sure she would find out. The outfit Miranda chose fit the part. It was her red suit. The Red Queen ready to shout “Off with her head,” right down to her red-soled shoes.

Red-soled shoes.

The image on the video reran through Tilly’s mind at warp speed. The brunette had on black, red-soled shoes. It had to be Miranda. She’d seen one or two women at the romance convention with shoes bearing the famous soles, but only one at the personal chefs’ convention. They all wore clogs or work shoes. Only Miranda sported the pricey heels. Why hadn’t she caught it the moment she viewed the video?

She blinked fast to collect her thoughts. Did that mean the agent was the man in the ball cap?

“You think you’re so smart, getting me fired, but you weren’t smart enough,” Miranda hissed in her ear.

Kenslo sidled up to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her close enough to jam something hard against her ribs.

“That’s right. It’s a gun.” He gave her a little push out the door and toward the bank of elevators. A throng of women and a few men stood waiting for the next car. Kenslo leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Nice and quiet. We’re going up to Kelly’s suite. Did you know the two of you are about to have a nasty lovers’ quarrel? He’s going to kill you. Kelly will be so filled with remorse. Poor guy offs himself. So tragic.”

“You’re crazy.” She glanced up at them. “You are both certifiable.”

The gun ground harder into her ribs. “Crazy enough to be alive when this all goes down. Not a peep, or I will shoot you. It could get messy if I take out one or two innocent people as well. I’ve got nothing to lose at this point. Got it?”

Her brain froze with fright, making her stumble.

“I wouldn’t give Austin an excuse.” The woman towered over her. “I don’t want your insides splattered over me. Tell him you understand,” she hissed. “Nod if you understand.”

She clenched her jaw and nodded.

“Good.”

The elevator door opened and a group of women piled out.

“Tilly Danes. Oh, my god, it
is
Tilly Danes.” One woman dressed in a bright purple suit, toting a bag filled with books, stopped in front of them. “I thought I saw you earlier with Jordan Kelly. I told everyone that was you, but they thought I was nuts. You are my favorite chef on The Culinary Channel.”

“Thank you.” She worked hard to keep her coffee and the BLT sandwich down.

“Oh, I wish they had one of your cookbooks at the booksellers. Would you be a doll and give me your autograph?” The woman dug around inside her gimme bag and pulled out a notebook with a pen attached. She ripped the pen out of the holder and opened her notebook. She held it out, hope and excitement shining in her eyes.

“Ah…well…I…ah.” She didn’t know what to do to keep her fan from harm. She glanced up at Kenslo. He gave a small nod. “Okay, I’d love to, but my friends and I are in a hurry.” She held out her hands, wiggling her fingers to indicate the woman quickly give her the pen and paper.

“Oh, I’m so excited. You know, I tried the recipe for those morning buns and they turned out great.” The woman got close enough that her friends started aiming their phones at Tilly and snapped pictures. “Make that out to Virginia Madison. No wait, that’s my pen name. Virgie Harper.”

“No photos.” Miranda’s voice rang out over the excited crowd. She grabbed Tilly’s arm before she was done with the autograph and hauled her unceremoniously into the car. “We’re on a tight schedule.”

Everyone backed away to let them through.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” She gave the woman in purple an apologetic smile as the door closed. The gun burrowed harder against her body. She didn’t need a reminder from a man with an itchy trigger finger. Miranda moved in closer until she felt like the filling in a killer sandwich. The press of people made her nervous. All it would take was someone jostling toward the door at the next stop and
boom
, she’d be dead. As well as the woman next to her who chatted away, completely unaware of the danger.

Flop sweat swamped her underarms and her knees shook. She was sure if Miranda and Kenslo hadn’t grabbed her arms that she’d fall into a heap. Even if they let go of her, Tilly knew the two would never let her live.

Her mind went blank.

The elevator stopped on her floor. They hustled down the hall toward Jordan’s room with the gun digging into her flesh at each step. The red eye of the security camera mounted near the ceiling gave her a ray of hope. Maybe she could signal she needed help.

Kenslo saw the camera as well. His hand squeezed tighter around her arm. “Look straight ahead and smile. We’re having a good time. We
are
having a good time, aren’t we, Tilly?”

“Just peachy.” The words came out on a croak of fear.

They stopped in front of Jordan’s suite. Miranda held out her hand. “Give me the key card.”

“I can’t reach it with both of you holding my arms like this.”

Miranda let out an exasperated sigh. “Which pocket?”

“My right front.”

The feel of the crazy woman’s fingers digging into her pocket was a violation. They wriggled around until she pulled out the key card. “You always land on your feet, don’t you? Who would’ve thought Kelly would be the one to come to your rescue? Wonders never cease.” She slid the card into the slot. The green light came on and she opened the door.

Kenslo shoved her into the room without ceremony.

Jordan wasn’t there. She breathed a sigh of relief until she heard the toilet flush, followed by the sink running. She pulled in a deep breath, intent on screaming out a warning.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kenslo growled.

Jordan ambled out and his face filled with excitement the moment he caught sight of her. “Hey, I figured out the identities of the killers. It’s…” His words trailed off as he watched the agent drag her into the room.

“Miranda and Kenslo.” She finished his sentence and cast Jordan an apologetic glance. “He threatened to hurt other people if I didn’t come up here.”

The hard metal left her aching side. Kenslo waved the gun around, making sure Jordan understood the consequences for any rash moves. “Like I told Ms. Danes, here. You’re going to kill her, then yourself.”

His response wasn’t what she expected. Jordan smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

How could he stand there so nonchalant while Kenslo pointed a gun at him? The man was either nuts or had balls the size of Texas, and since she knew that wasn’t true, Tilly voted for crazier than a shit house rat. He would get them killed.

He leaned against the desk and hoisted his backside up until he was perched on the edge. “I don’t have a reason to kill her, or do I, Matilda?” He squinted his eyes in question. She shook her head. “Didn’t think so.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought this whole thing over, and tell me if I get anything wrong. Bolzano drugged the wine—”

“He did what?” Miranda’s screech was loud and full of disbelief. “That jerk.”

Kenslo squeezed Tilly’s arm as if he forgot he still held her in an iron grip. “He saw us.” His gaze flickered over to Miranda and back to Jordan. “He’d doctored the wine. The stupid man wanted Ethridge to get sick before the contest. Can you believe it? Bolzano had the nerve to blackmail me.” His fingers became more painful with each word. “The bastard knew we killed Ethridge.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Miranda’s surprise would’ve been hilarious in any other situation.

“You’re an idiot. The Botox you shoot into your face has eaten your brain.” He pulled Tilly closer, and the gun ground against her ribs. “I had to kill Bolzano to cover up the murder. Lord, you trailed around these two with a camera while they sniffed out clues with that bloodhound detective. They were getting too close.”

Her face flushed bright red, and her green eyes glittered with anger. “You’re not the only one who has problems. Nick saw the video and was this close. She held up her hand, her thumb and pointer finger pinched together. “This close to finding out. I pushed the poor slob down the stairs.”

“By the way, Nick’s alive.” Jordan gave them a smile and raised his eyebrow.

“See, you’re worthless. He’s not dead, is he?” Kenslo aimed at Jordan again. “Anything else I should know?”

Kenslo was so wound up that he might start shooting before either she or Jordan could figure a way out of this mess. “Please, let’s talk this over,” she begged.

“There’s nothing to say, except
bang bang
.” Kenslo glared at his accomplice. “You better keep your head, or you’ll end up like these two.”

“It’s not my fault.” Miranda began pacing the room, her face taking on the tightness that meant she was one step away from hysterics. “Besides, I didn’t plan to kill Max in the first place. You did.”

Jordan slid off the table and took a step toward her. “I understand.” His voice was low and held a hint of seduction. “You were an unwilling participant, even if you did put a healthy dose of botulism in the goat cheese. Now, that was clever. No one would ever know that you give yourself Botox injections.”

“Working part-time for a day spa while I went to college came in handy. Now I buy the stuff online to keep things nice and tight.”

“It looks good on you—too bad it was wasted on Ethridge.”

She responded with all the finesse of a fish chomping down on a well-cast lure. “I just wanted to show Max how much he needed me. I’d be by his side while he was sick, take care of him, make him see that he loved me.” She pointed at Kenslo. “But Max dropped like an elephant just as
he
came to the door. I thought he would help me. Instead he stripped, forced me at gunpoint to take off my clothes and help drag Max into the bathtub.” Miranda shuddered, her eyes grew distant. “It was horrible. So much blood. I didn’t think there would be that much blood.”

“You’re right. It wasn’t your fault,” Jordan crooned, taking another step closer.

Kenslo dragged Tilly back. “Shut up, Miranda. Just shut the fuck up.”

“Everything was planned, right down to stealing the container, placing it in the refrigerator, wasn’t it? Olivia was your scapegoat. And all the time, you acted so upset.” Jordan had the audacity to clap. “Bravo, Kenslo, bravo.”

“What was I supposed to do?” He waved the gun, this time in front of Tilly’s face.

If only she could grab it without it going off.

“The asshole planned to dump me, go with the Edward Salter Agency. He had a new book and show that he planned to pitch to them.” The man’s voice grew more strident. Sweat beaded his upper lip. “Not without me. Oh no. I made him what he was. He had the gall,” he shouted, “the absolute gall to terminate me. I’m the one who says when the deal is done. It doesn’t matter if he’s dead. I’ll still get my percentage of sales, which I expect will skyrocket. As for Olivia—she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I couldn’t help it. She made it so easy.” He gave Tilly a shove in Jordan’s direction. “Well, it’s time. See, I say when the party’s over. Tilly, be a good girl and stand over there.”

“No!” Jordan lunged forward. “Don’t!”

Kenslo pointed the gun at her. “I can shoot her right now, but it will mess up the plan. That’s fine. I always have a plan B.”

“Okay, okay.” He backed away. His eyes were full of love and regret. “I love you.”

She wanted to cry, but fear dried up her tears. Even her mouth was cotton dry. “I love you, too.”

“Now that’s sad.” Kenslo heaved a sigh and pointed to the end of the couch. “Let me think.”

Miranda rushed to his side. “Don’t kill her yet.” She leaned over to whisper in the agent’s ear. He didn’t look too pleased, but nodded.

“All right, but make it quick.”

Before she knew what had happened, Miranda marched over to her and punched her in the face.

She saw stars and tasted blood. She didn’t get a chance to catch her breath before Miranda backhanded her. She fell back and cracked her head on the arm of the couch. The next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees on the floor. It took a couple of seconds before she could hear past the ringing in her ears. Her face under her left eye hurt like crazy.

“That might work even better. Her lip has a nice cut on it.” Kenslo took a step closer to survey Miranda’s handiwork. “I’ll bet she ends up with a black eye.” He looked over at her and smiled. “Nice work. Everyone will think Kelly did it.”

“My pleasure.” Miranda’s smug tone ate through her pain to a place reserved for all her emotional demons. Rage filled her. She was fighting for her life and she had to focus all her engery in what Ruby would call, “a righteous anger.” Miranda stepped closer and gave her a kick in the side that dropped her back to the floor.

The woman laughed and stepped back. “Maybe I ought to kick her again.”

“Stop it!” Jordan’s shout filled the room.

“Let’s not overdo it.” Kenslo pulled Miranda over to stand by him. “You don’t want her blood to stain your suit, do you?”

Tilly glanced at Jordan as she hauled herself back to her hands and knees. Her fingers brushed against her black gear bag where they’d dropped her belongings after claiming them from the luggage hold. There, sticking out of the special loops on the outside, was her trusty rolling pin. She caught his eye and glanced back at her bag in hopes he would understand what she was trying to say.

It was a long shot. She had to try.