Dolled Up for Murder Read Online Free Page B

they have any recourse against me personally. They’re giving him double time. Four whole minutes.”
    â€œOh, Alice,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
    â€œDon’t you agree it was thoughtful of him to come?” she asked sarcastically. “He didn’t want to tell me on the phone, but he wanted me to know. So considerate! He even went to the trouble of tracking me down. Not so much trouble, of course. All he had to do was call my office. My assistant told him where he could find me. Still, he didn’t have to do it. Penn’s a peach, all right. A real peach. Damn him. Damn his eyes.”
    â€œIsn’t there anything you can do to stop him?”
    â€œNo. He said he has a source at the attorney general’s office. Apparently I’m about to be arrest—.” She broke off as a crack reverberated nearby. “What was that?”
    I recognized the sound. Gunfire. Someone was shooting at us.
    â€œIt’s a gun!” I shouted as I dropped to the ground. “Get down, Alice!”
    Another loud, sharp clap shattered the quiet. Then another. Think, I told myself. Where are the shots coming from? I knew that sound traveled and reverberated and bounced off solid objects, making it hard to trace under the best of circumstances and probably impossible now, but concentrating on finding the shooter was all I could do to try to save us. I peered into the closest slice of forest and saw only pines and brambles and forsythia bushes swaying in the light breeze. More shots were fired. I scooted to the front of my car and looked across the street, past the stone wall, into the dense growth that stretched from the road to the interstate almost a mile to the north. No glint of silver or unexpected movement caught my eye. I crawled around my car until the dirt path that led to the church came into view. Nothing. I looked back at Alice. She hadn’t moved. She looked half shocked and half confused, as if she simply couldn’t process what was happening.
    â€œGet down!” I yelled again, patting the air for emphasis.
    She didn’t move. She wasn’t looking at me, and I wasn’t certain she heard me. It was as if she were a million miles away, frozen in some private memory.
    â€œAlice!” I hollered as another shot rang out. “Get down! Duck!”
    She grimaced and grunted. She rocked forward, falling against her car as she uttered a low guttural groan. As splotches of red spread over her chest and stomach, her eyes found mine, and she sank to the ground.

CHAPTER THREE
    â€œAlice!” I hollered, sick with fear, certain she was dead.
    I leapt to my feet and dashed to where Alice lay on her back staring at the sky. Her gaze was fixed. Believing that miracles sometimes happen, I pressed my hands against her wounds. Blood oozed between my fingers, but the flow had stopped. Her heart wasn’t pumping. I started CPR. As I worked, tears filled my eyes and spilled onto my cheeks.
    â€œJosie?” Gretchen called from the doorway. “What’s going on?”
    â€œCall nine-one-one,” I shouted over my shoulder. “There were shots. Alice’s been hit. Stay inside and away from windows.”
    I heard the front door close.
    Please, God, I prayed, don’t let her be dead. I stayed on my knees, continuing the rhythmic pushing and breathing until my wrists began to throb and my chest began to ache. I prayed and pushed and breathed, and prayed some more.
    An ambulance whipped into the parking lot, and a young man bolted out of the cab, shouting, “Are you hurt?”
    I shook my head and fell back, my chest heaving, my wrist muscles tingling, my fingers numb. After a few seconds, I crawled out of his way. Another man, this one older, ran up carrying a black case. I hugged my knees to my chest, then shut my eyes, trying to catch my breath. I felt disconnected from time and place, hyperalert yet fuzzy, as if I were trapped in the dark