Page 187 of Triggered By Love
“No, I’m sure it’s yours.” The creature lifted his hand and plucked a thin quill from his wig. It was a barbed porcupine quill, no doubt tipped with pufferfish poison.
“No, it’s mine!” Jason shouted and charged the short distance across the bulkhead of the plane through the galley.
He made a flying leap, reaching forward with both gloved hands and landed on his chin.
Screams erupted from first class, and Jason scrambled up just in time to see Avery rip off Harvey’s wig and palm heel strike him in the nose. Harvey went down to his knees, and Avery kicked him in the groin, finishing him off.
“I’m a police officer,” Jason shouted at the flight attendants. “This man is a wanted murderer named Harvey Leach. Call NYPD or the FBI and tell them I have him in custody.”
“Jason, are you hit?” Avery was busily tying Harvey’s hands behind his back. “He had one of those poisoned porcupine quills.”
“I’m good.” Jason peeled off his glove where the quill was embedded. “I might be prickly, but I have thick skin.”
* * *
Avery leanedher first-class seat back and held Jason’s gloveless hand across the console between them. The layover in Los Angeles was a news sensation, and even though they missed their initial flight, due to all the statements they had to give, the airline was kind enough to put them on the last flight to Honolulu.
Harvey was arrested and extradited to New York. Jason wanted to go back, but his chief told him to take vacation. Jason argued that the chief was crooked, but Avery reasoned with him.
“There’s nothing you can do differently. Chief Grimes is going to throw everyone else under the bus, but you just wait. I’m betting Blade has Saul’s memory card, and there are things on it to implicate the chief. I bet Harvey will try to cut deals, but Larry will nail him.”
“Now you see why I suspected Harvey?” Jason raised his eyebrows triumphantly. “I bet he gave Richie those tickets close to the chorus line, and he was going to take out Richie because he thought you two were dating.”
“You think Richie got wind of it?” Avery asked. “That’s why he gave the tickets to you.”
“I think everyone who put in a piece of chocolate had something to hide,” Jason said. “Makes me never want to eat a box of chocolates again.”
“More for me, and less for you.” Avery was in a lighter, relaxed mood, despite the grim news.
While on the ground, she’d gotten news that Orson had indeed taken the poison pill and had passed away. Congressman Overton shot himself, and one of the priests who gave her wine jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. The media was flabbergasted, although a few senior members of mainstream media companies were undoubtedly keeping a low profile.
No one would dare take her out, knowing her diary would go public if she died under suspicious circumstances. No one in their right mind would hurt her family or those she loved. She’d made sure of that with the mass email she sent.
“I wish the evidence was cleaner,” Jason said. “We caught Harvey trying to commit murder, but what about identifying Harvey as Brando’s killer?”
“Do you remember seeing those shoes? Or maybe Saul saw them. Joselito definitely saw something, which is why he was killed.”
Jason squeezed his eyes shut and visualized Ernesto sitting in his ill-fitted suit. “I don’t remember seeing anyone with those shoes. Of course, I wasn’t looking at anyone’s feet.”
“Larry was sitting behind us,” Avery said. “He certainly would have remembered if his brother was present.”
“Maybe not.” Jason’s eyes snapped open. “There was a horsey-looking woman near Ernesto. I remember thinking her clothes fit worse than his.”
“He must appear in photos,” Avery said. “Let’s look through my laptop. Maybe he was there the entire time, and we just didn’t see him.”
“Or her.” Jason’s voice perked up.
As soon as the airplane hit cruising altitude and they were allowed to use small electronics, Avery booted up her laptop.
They huddled together, hunched over the tray table, and scrolled through all the images she’d collected.
“I see Ernesto, hiding in the back,” she exclaimed.
“Next to him.” Jason pointed at a brash-looking “woman” in a loud polka-dot dress. “Why would he wear something so obvious?”
“To draw attention away from the fact he’s not female,” Avery said. “Same as wearing aviators. To get people to focus on the ugly old man glasses and believe he’s older than he is.”
“Boy, I need to borrow some of your fashion sense for police work,” Jason said in a joking manner. “We’ve got him.”
