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“No, he doesn’t have a twin. I said it’s almost as if he’s been replaced—”

“What’s all this!” suddenly a voice boomed through the cavernous space.

And when we looked up, I saw that Uncle Alec and Chase had arrived on the scene.

“Oh, happy days!” said Randy, and pointed his gun at the new arrivals. “So glad you could you join us, gentlemen. Now if you care to follow me to your new accommodations.”

“He’s got a gun, Chief,” said Chase.

“I can see that, Chase,” said the Chief.

“We better do as he says.”

“I know.”

“Excellent advice!” said Randy, and gestured with his gun to the small room. “In there,” he barked curtly. “Hop to it. In you go.”

“Why are you doing this, Randy?” asked Chase. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“Let’s just say it’s stress-related,” said Randy.

“But…”

“In there—now!”

Once the door was locked, Johnny gave his boss a pained look.“You don’t really expect us to—”

“Kill them all? Yes, I do. I’ll even give you a group rate. Five for the price of four!”

“That doesn’t sound like a good deal,” Jerry murmured. He didn’t look happy either.

Johnny and Jerry may be crooks, but they’re not killers, and to suddenly be forced to become mass murderers clearly didn’t sit well with them.

“Okay, well, if there’s nothing further…” said Randy. Droplets of sweat were trickling down his face, and his gun hand was shaking. “Here,” he said. “Have your gun back.” And he handed the thing back to Jerry.

“Let’s attack him,” said Brutus.

“Jerry’s got a gun,” I pointed out.

“He’d never shoot us,” said Harriet.

“I really don’t want to find out,” I said.

“And risk him shooting our entire family?”

It was one of those moments fraught with indecision. And while we worked out the odds we watched Randy Hancock walk away.

Chapter 43

Odelia had spent the entire afternoon at her office, trying to puzzle together the pieces that made up the Randy Hancock conundrum. She’d called around to gather more information on Randy’s background, and had discovered he’d recently bought an old pet shop and had hired two familiar people to run it for him: Johnny Carew and Jerry Vale.

And so now she was on her way to the shop, to find out why a man like Randy would get into the pet shop business.

And she’d just arrived there when the man himself came walking out of the store, looking extremely flustered, and sweating profusely. She almost bumped into him before he looked up and eyed her with befuddlement.

“Oh, hi, Randy,” she said. “I was just on my way over to talk to your employees.”

“Oh, you were, were you?” he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve.

She glanced beyond him, and now noticed three familiar cars parked across the street: one belonging to her grandmother, her Dad’s car, and her uncle’s squad car. Odd.

“So I guess you’ve decided to start a new career?” she said. “Pet shop owner?”

He smiled nervously.“Um, yeah. Since my other career is pretty much done for, I might as well try something completely different, you know.” He swallowed, then said, “I’m afraid I must be off, Odelia. Maybe we could do this later?”

“You hired Johnny Carew and Jerry Vale?”

“Yeah—yeah, I did. Why, you know them?”

“Oh, yes. Two reformed criminals. Very noble of you to give them a second chance.”

She was now completely certain something very fishy was going on here. But what? And how was Randy implicated?

“I-I really must be going,” said Randy. “So I’ll see you back at the house, okay?”

“Have you seen my uncle?” she asked, gesturing to the squad car. “Or my grandmother?”

“No–no I haven’t,” he said, starting to walk away.

“Something isn’t right, Randy!” she called out, but he was already starting to move away from her faster and faster, those short legs surprisingly quick off the mark.

And since she’d never been one to ignore her instincts before, she decided to follow the guy. And as she did, he glanced over his shoulders, and promptly broke into a run!

A man whose hips have recently been replaced with a pair of new ones, and whose pelvis suffered a nasty fracture, should never try to run away from a person less than half his age, with two healthy hips and ditto pelvis.

So it didn’t take long for Odelia to overtake the guy, and then she was launching herself at him, tackling him like a pro.

“Hey!” he said. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re going to tell me what’s going on,” she spoke in his ear, even as he darted anxious looks at her. “Why did you run away from me, Randy?”

“I wasn’t. I just felt like going for a run!”

“Bullshit!”

“No, it’s the truth, I swear! My doctor told me I need to stay fit. Every day like clockwork I go for a run, and you caught me just when I was going well. You really should get off me now. It’s not good for my hips—or my busted pelvis.”

“Tell me the truth, Randy.”

But instead of telling her the truth, Randy suddenly started squealing,“Heeelp!” Heeeeelp! Mugger! This woman is trying to mug me!”