Part 47 (2/2)
”Keelie!” her mother started to protest.
”Be quiet, mother,” Keelie said. ”This doesn't concern you.”
”Well!” Jessica stomped back to her seat.
”Well, that takes care of the rat,” the sheriff said. ”Let's move on.”
”There's more?” Langley Carlisle the Third said.
”There's the little matter of the Porta-Potty incident number one,” Agent Marshall said. ”Uh, number one as in the first kybo incident,” she clarified.
Ah. So state agents have a sense of humor, after all. Good to know.
”Porta-Potty incident number one?”
Okay, I know what you're thinking. The story has devolved into toilet humor. Be patient. It'll all come out in the end. (Yikes! Didn't mean to go there.) ”We have the first incident involving the kybo at the Winterset location where Miss Keller and Miss Turner were...entrapped,” the agent said. ”The second incident involves Jax Whitver. Apparently, Kenny Grey saw how well the technique worked in Winterset that he utilized a...er, similar method to hold Jax Whitver captive.”
Keelie gasped.
”Oh my G.o.d! He really trapped Jax in a portable toilet!” she exclaimed. ”We know just how he felt, don't we Tressa? But he was all-alone! No one to share the horror with! Oh, my poor, poor Jax! I say we throw the book at the Klingon warrior!”
”Actually, Kenny wasn't responsible for your...er, entrapment,” Patrick said.
”He wasn't?” Keelie and I both said.
”Vinny!” Keelie went for her former agent. ”You slime!”
The DCI agent stepped between Keelie and her target.
”Actually, it couldn't have been Mr. Vincent, Miss Keller. If you recall, he was still in the hospital at the time.”
I frowned. ”If not Kenny or Vinny, then who?” I asked.
”Me,” Langley Carlisle Number Three said. ”It was I. I did it.”
I blinked. Hollywood screenwriters couldn't script a whodunit with more plot twists and turns. I was getting a wee bit carsick just trying to keep up.
”You, Langley? You locked us in that kybo? Why?” Keelie asked. ”Why would you do such a thing?”
”Wagers,” he said.
”Wagers?” I said. ”What wagers?”
”The online wagers on who would finish the ride first, you or Keelie.” he said. ”You see, I'd wagered heavily against Keelie finis.h.i.+ng-sorry, love. So I got a bit desperate when, despite all the kerfuffles, Keelie wouldn't quit.”
”So, you thought trapping me in an outdoor toilet was the way to go?” Keelie said.
Way to go? No pun intended, I a.s.sumed.
”I hadn't planned to do it at all. I saw you go in, and I propped the door closed as a joke. Then I noticed the big roll of gray tape sitting on the ground, and I thought, why not? No one will suspect me. Maybe this harmless prank will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back, and she'll quit. But you didn't. You surprised me, Keelie. I didn't think you'd hang in there.”
”How much money did you bet, Lang?” Keelie asked.
”Too much,” he admitted.
”And you bet against me.”
He hung his head.
”I feel like a traitor,” he said. ”Apologies, Keelie.”
”Not accepted,” she said, and sat down.
”And next we come to Tiara's attempted abduction,” Agent Marshall said. ”Tiara, do you have something to say about that?”
What was this? True confessions of the rich and famous?
Tiara, who sat curled up in a poor-pitiful-me ball sighed-one of those jig-is-up sighs.
”Tiara? What did you do?” Keelie asked.
”I faked it,” she mumbled.
”What?” Keelie gasped.
”I faked the attempted abduction. You were getting all the attention, and I was just along for the ride. It wasn't fair.”
”Fair? It wasn't fair? It wasn't fair I was getting the attention, not you? That I was being cruelly targeted, not you? You can sit there and say that now after knowing how terrifying it is to be someone's target? What is wrong with you?”
She shook her head.
”I've always played second fiddle to you, Keelie. I just got tired of it.”
Keelie sagged in her chair. I felt so very sorry for her. She'd just learned the people closest to her-the people she trusted the most-had conspired behind her back and lied to her in order to further their own ends.
It had to hurt like h.e.l.l.
The door suddenly burst open. Jax Whitver rushed in.
”Keelie!”
”Jax!”
They ran into each other's arms and-just like you see on the big screen-it was pure magic!
”Are you okay?”
<script>