Treacherous Toys (33 page)

So why would Alice go back to Livy? Why not head out of the castle as soon as she could?

Livy’s chamber door was open when I got there. I clutched my fake sword closer. I pushed the door open all the way and looked around. The sitting room was empty—not surprising since it was still the middle of the night for most people.

I didn’t want to cause any undue alarm. Maybe Alice would give herself up without a fight. Maybe she’d realize that she’d gone too far.

The queen’s bedroom door was ajar as well. I carefully pushed it open all the way. A dim light was on at the side table. Lady Jane sat near the window in one of the tapestry chairs. She was in her nightgown, her long brown hair spilling down her shoulders. When she looked at me, I saw the fear in her eyes and I knew it wasn’t over.

“So you found me.” I recognized that voice now. The Black Widow. “Good. Let’s have a party. Shut the door.”

I closed the door. Barbara stood with the gun she’d used to shoot me and Esmeralda trained on Livy’s head. Livy sat
in the opposite tapestry chair near the fireplace. She was very quiet, silent tears streaming down her face.

The element of surprise wasn’t on my side after all. I’d given Alice/Barbara another target.

“Take a seat, Jessie,” Barbara instructed. “You don’t give up easily, do you? I was expecting they’d find you dead on the cobblestones in the morning. You must have nine lives.”

I sat on the edge of the bed facing the three ladies. “You know there’s no way out of this for you, Alice. I just had Rita call the police for Esmeralda. How could you shoot your own sister?”

She waved the gun around, not so intent on holding it against Livy’s temple now that we were all locked in the room. “She’s always thought she could tell me what to do. She never understood how much I hated Chris. ‘Get over him,’ she always told me. ‘Get on with your life.’ Well you know what? I can do exactly that now. I got rid of Chris and his stupid wife. I’m only sorry it has to end before I wiped his progeny off the map.”

“So now what?” I asked, still holding the fake sword at my side. She obviously hadn’t seen it when I walked in. The room might have been too shadowed for her to notice it.

“Now I get rid of the three of you and get out of the Village.” She shrugged her shoulders, still wearing the black gown. “I think that’s doable.”

“I’m pregnant,” Livy begged in a voice I had never heard her use before. She sounded sane and rational for once. There was no royal we—no ego. “Please don’t hurt my baby. You can leave right now and no one will catch you. Jane and I won’t say a word. Jessie won’t either.”

Alice laughed. “You must be kidding. I’ve been with you almost since you began as queen. You’re a selfish,
arrogant fool, Olivia. You’d do anything to make things better for yourself. You’ll never convince me that you care about that poor baby you’re carrying except as a way to raise stock prices for Adventure Land shareholders—you and Harold being two of the biggest.”

“You’re wrong.” Livy pushed herself to her feet. It wasn’t easy. But she stood with her head held high, facing the woman threatening her life. “This baby means more to me than anything I’ve ever done. You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

Alice looked a little surprised. It would’ve been hard to ignore Livy’s sincerity. Then she tossed the gun around again, making Jane wince and close her eyes.

“I don’t care. What’s done is done. I’m not giving up my life for you, any of you. I’ve waited a long time to get on with my life. I can finally do that. I’m free from Chris.”

I hadn’t noticed until that moment that Livy had grabbed the fireplace poker from beside her as she’d struggled to her feet. She held it draped in her huge nightgown, resting her body against the tapestry chair.

Alice faced me, the gun steady again in her hand. “I think the second time might be the charm, huh, Jessie? I don’t know how you survived when you fell off the roof, but I’m sure you won’t have that kind of luck this time.”

Okay. I admit it. I was even more scared than I had been on the roof. There was no way she was only going to wound me this time. The gun was pointed at my head. She was obviously crazy, but her aim looked pretty solid to me.

I thought about Chase and all the times he’d asked me to stay with him at the Village. I thought about how much I loved him and wanted to share the rest of my life with him. I had wasted so much time. If I didn’t die tonight, things were going to be different. I wasn’t going to be so worried
about the future because I knew that there might not be one.

If I can just make it through the night
. I closed my eyes as she squeezed the trigger.

Then I heard a dull thud and a loud groan.

Livy had hit Alice with the fireplace poker. She stood over Alice’s body, looking like she was ready to do it again. Alice was quiet and still on the plush carpet.

Lady Jane fell out of the tapestry chair in a dead faint.

Livy moaned and dropped the poker so she could put both of her hands on her huge stomach.

“I think the baby is coming. Oh God! What do I do now?”

There wasn’t time to think or question where help could come from. I heard sirens coming toward the Village or already on the cobblestones. I wasn’t sure which. All I knew was that Livy’s water had broken. She was going to have her baby right there in the castle despite all the preparations to get her to the hospital.

I slapped Lady Jane lightly to wake her up. She was upset but understood that I needed her. I sent her to look for help or call someone who knew how to deliver a baby. My knowledge of giving birth consisted of what I’d seen in movies and on TV.

“What about
her
?” Jane pointed to Alice with a shaky finger.

“I’ll take care of her,” I promised. “You go for help.”

Though Jane was obviously dedicated to her queen’s welfare, she was more than happy to comply.

Livy was breathing hard and yelling every so often. “What do we do? What happens now? Will the baby be okay?”

“The baby will be fine,” I assured her as I stripped all but the bottom sheet from her bed and threw the pillows on
the floor. “You’re not hurt. Neither am I, thanks to you. Just lie down and help will come. It’s going to be okay.”

“Well I couldn’t let her hurt the baby, could I? This baby means everything to me and Harry. It represents a whole new life for us.”

I wasn’t sure about all of that, but she climbed up on the huge, old four-poster and did as I said. As she kept talking, I tore her sheets and used the material to tie up Alice. I didn’t want any surprises from her, though she was clearly out of it. Livy had done a heck of a job.

I wished there was someplace to boil water. I had no idea what for, but it seemed like the thing to do. Livy’s cries were getting louder. I pulled up a chair close to her face and encouraged her to breathe. I kept hoping Lady Jane would get back sooner rather than later.

After one bone-clenching grasp of her hand as she went through a strong contraction, the bedroom door flew open and police officers ran into the room, weapons drawn.

“Is everyone all right?” the lead officer demanded. “What happened here? A woman told us someone had tried to kill her.”

I explained as quickly as I could before Livy started another contraction. “We need a doctor or someone who can deliver a baby. I don’t know how close she is, but I don’t think there’s time for the hospital.”

Detective Almond scrunched through the line of cops. “And here you are.” He laughed. “Look for Jessie, look for trouble. So who’s the killer?”

“You found Esmeralda in the basement. This is her sister, Alice, who was married to Chris Christmas once a long time ago. She killed him and tried to kill Christine. That was before she tried to kill me and her sister.”

“I thought this was the queen?” Detective Almond queried.

“She’s—”I looked toward the tapestry chair where I’d left Alice—“gone. I don’t know where she went.”

“Edwards, Taylor.” Detective Almond barked out orders. “Take a few men and look for her.”

“She’s wearing a long black dress,” I told them. “I think she’s probably the only one up and around at this time of the morning.”

“And she’s got a big bump on her head where I hit her with the poker,” Livy ground out before her next contraction.

“I’m looking for the pregnant woman,” someone yelled from the sitting room. “Let me through.”

“That should be the paramedic,” I said, gratefully giving up my place at Livy’s bed.

Lady Jane, a true friend to Livy, led the way with the paramedic.

Detective Almond and his men left the room to start searching for Alice. I knew it was going to be like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. They didn’t know the Village. There were plenty of places to hide.

I passed King Harold as he made his way into the bedroom. He paused as Livy let out an ear-piercing shriek, but to his credit he kept going.

Maybe Livy was right. Maybe this baby would change everything for them. I had no vested interest, but I sincerely wished them the best.

I limped out into the well-lit hallway to find the kitchen staff and everyone else in the castle running from place to place trying to figure out what had happened and what part they could play in it. Paramedics and police were talking
with Merlin, who was back in his starred robe minus the pointy hat.

And I wasn’t sure if I could take one more step. Everything that had been hurt was throbbing painfully. There was no chocolate or whiskey in sight to help.

Worse, I knew where Alice would go to ground. I knew where the rest of her mission would take her. I couldn’t rest yet. Too bad I hadn’t realized before all the police were gone.

I knew I couldn’t face Alice alone, even if she was woozy from a hit in the head. I wasn’t sure if I could move my arm that had been shot.

I didn’t see anyone else available, so I took some kitchen wenches, a few fools, and a knave or two with me. I wished I had time to find Gus or Bart. I wished Chase was here. But it looked like it was going to be only me and those stalwart Village folk on the trail of the Black Widow.

The pirate ship was dark and quiet. Even the safety lights, required by OSHA, were off. I knew that wasn’t right. Could Alice have overtaken the watch and made her way below deck to the children? My heart started pumping hard as my small group climbed onboard the
Queen’s Revenge
.

The pirate who should have been on watch was splayed out on the deck, unconscious. Not a good sign.

“What now, Lady Jessie?” a buxom kitchen wench whispered, a large urn in her hands.

“I don’t know. All of you stay here for a minute. If you see a woman in a black dress, take her down, but be careful.”

I hugged the shadows, trying to see through the darkness, listening for any unusual sounds. The rigging sighed in the slight breeze, and the ship made familiar noises as it bobbed in the water.

The outside lights at the castle came on again at the
same time that Rafe opened the door to his cabin, took a look around, and said, “What the hell—?”

Alice was rushing toward me, a look of pure hatred on her face, a large pirate knife in her hands. Blood was dripping down from her hair. She looked like one of my worst nightmares come to life.

I took a deep breath and waited for her to reach me. I really had no strength left. I had to be devious.

Rafe yelled out my name and started toward me. My band of wenches and peasants surged forward. They would all have been too late.

But just as Alice reached me, I stepped away from my place at the rail. She kept going, and when she smacked into the side of the ship, I used her momentum to push her up and over the edge. There was a satisfying splash a few seconds later as she ended up in Mirror Lake.

“Use your radio,” I said to Rafe. “Call someone. There are police all over the Village.”

“Jessie, you look awful,” he said, putting his arm around me. “Can you walk?”

“I just need some coffee and a cinnamon roll,” I told him, sounding delirious even to my own ears.

I don’t really recall what happened after that. Rafe said later that I smiled at him and closed my eyes before I blacked out. I never made it to the coffee.

I
woke up in the Myrtle Beach hospital the next morning. I was covered in bandages and some kind of foul-smelling antiseptic. The sun was shining. It seemed we’d finally made it to morning.

Chase was asleep in a chair beside the bed. He was wearing street clothes, jeans and a Ren Faire T-shirt. The sunlight from the window was golden on his handsome face. I was grateful just to be able to sit there and watch him for a few minutes.

I felt pretty good considering everything that had happened. I was rested and ready to get out of the hospital. There was so much I needed to know, so many questions to ask. I figured I’d lost about eight hours. I needed to know what was going on.

I was about to wake Chase and ask him about Christine and Livy and Alice when a young doctor with very serious gray eyes came in to talk to me. He introduced himself as
Dr. Steve Brown and said he was glad to see me awake finally.