“And you think you have the right to play with other people, kill, and steal to get what you want?” Megan asked. “Who do you think you are?”
“Angela Calvo.” Her eyes were wide and dead inside. “Obviously. And nobody tells me what I can and can’t have. Especially not a nobody from Moonstone Cove.”
They were close enough to the building now. The only question was if Megan could control the collapse enough to pin Angela to the ground and not send her over the cliff. She felt for the energy around the greenhouse. It was metal and glass, nothing as easy to manipulate as rock or trees.
Too late to debate.
Angela pulled a small revolver from her pants pocket. “Guns are irritating and messy. I really wanted to make this look like an accident, but you’re not cooperating.”
“So you think you’re gonna just shoot me and get away with it?”
Angela shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Megan gathered all her strength and pulled hard. The building screeched and bent, rivets in the walls popped, and glass panes shattered, but it didn’t come apart.
Angela let the arm holding the gun drop and stared at the greenhouses, seemingly unaware of the glass shattering around her. A drop of blood dripped down her cheek, but she didn’t flinch. “How are you doing that?”
“Damn.” Megan pulled once more. “This is solid…” She twisted herself in knots, trying to bend the metal. “…construction!”
“What are you doing?” Angela was angry now. She raised the gun again and pointed it at Megan. “Stop breaking it! It’s mine!”
With one final heave, Megan thrust the whole of her energy into the building and forced it out, exploding the side of the greenhouse in a shower of rivets, metal scraps, and glass.
The impact of the explosion hit Angela directly in the side. She pulled the trigger but the shot went wide, and Megan saw her eyes as she was forced—along with a twisted mass of metal and glass—over the bushes that guarded the side of the bluff and down the rocky hillside, tumbling toward the ocean below.
Megan fell to the ground, covering her face as the greenhouse came apart at the seams, glass shooting in all directions. She felt a shard hit her thigh and another one slice her back. Eventually the chaos turned to calm, and she tentatively raised her head to see a neat line of budded grapevines in the middle of the broken greenhouse, twisting fog licking at their leaves.
Megan stood and limped to the edge of the cliff. She knew she was bleeding. She couldn’t see anything below; the fog was too thick. But she could hear a faint sound coming from somewhere below.
“He… Help.”
Megan sighed in relief. She really didn’t want to have killed anyone, even in self-defense. “I think I hear people coming. I’m gonna tell them you tried to shoot me though. Just letting you know.”
Did they go down and rescue you if you still had a gun? Megan was really glad she wasn’t a cop and didn’t have to make those decisions, because she just didn’t have the mental energy to figure that out when she was pretty sure she had glass sticking out of her back.
Angela managed to force more words out. “Going to… going to tell them… what you did.”
“Really? And you think anyone is going to believe you?” Megan started laughing. “Oh, Angela… Bless your heart.”
Drew sat in Megan’s hospital room, his notebook stuffed in his jacket pocket. “One of you gets out of the hospital and another one goes in.” He shook his head. “I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like you and your girlfriends might be living wrong.”
“Or living right.” Megan winced and shifted her position, which just was not comfortable no matter which way she turned. She had stitches on her back, her thigh, and her face. Thank God she could feel the pain medication kicking in. “Living on the edge, Drew.”
Nico wasn’t amused. “Maybe a little less living on the edge, Atlanta. Just a suggestion.”
“Is Katherine on the way?”
“Yes. Baxter called me about five minutes ago. He’s staying with the younger kids and Katherine is coming with Trina.”
“What are you going to report about the greenhouse going all…” Megan waved her hands. “Sideways?”
Drew pointed to the blank notebook in his pocket. “I don’t know. Maybe you can tell me?”
“Well, it sounded very much like an explosion.” She cleared her throat. “At the time.”
Nico shook his head. “You pulled apart hundred-year-old steel rivets.”
“Which was hard. I am not gonna try that again. ’Cause it’s very hard.” How much pain medication had they given her? Maybe when you had twenty-two stitches, they gave you a lot. It might have been a lot.
“Oh!” She pointed at Drew. “Hey. Hey, Drew.”
He was fighting a smile. “Yeah?”
“I know what you should do. You should question Rodney now. Because… I think he might… He might be willing to talk now. I think…” The sadness was heavier than she expected. “I think he was there when Angela shot that man. I think it was him driving.”
“Did she say something?” Drew asked. “Your ex wasn’t very forthcoming when I questioned him last time.”
“He limped. And it wasn’t his usual limp. It was a different kind of limp. And we were married a long time, so I know how he limps.”
Drew frowned. “A limp?”
“’Member?” She snapped her fingers. “Val in the pickup. The city boy was driving, ’member? She said he hurt himself.”
“Riiiiight.” Drew nodded. “She said he jarred his ankle. I’m curious if anyone else noticed it. Either way, I’ll be questioning him again. The limp is good ammunition, Megan.”
“Is Angela still on the side of the cliff? She had a gun. Like a real gun. I told you that, right? Because you should not send someone down that cliff to get her without…” Megan blinked hard. “I am so tired.”
Nico brushed her hair back from her forehead. “You told us all the things, Megan. Try to get some sleep, okay? Just sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
Megan sighed. “I like you.”
Nico smiled. “I like you too.”
“Your lips are so… Mmmmm. They’re just mmmm.”
Drew muttered. “Yeah, I’m gonna go now.”
“Seriously, don’t you— I mean, Drew, you’ve got good lips too. You’re completely hot. But I would not kiss you. Ever. Because you are married. And I respect Jordyn.”
“That’s good.” Drew started laughing. “Nico, let me know when she wakes up.”
“I will.”
Megan tugged on Nico’s arm. “You should get in bed. You smell really nice. I feel pretty good now. You won’t hurt me.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I’ll stay right here, okay?” He pulled over a chair and sat beside Megan, his head leaning on the bed next to her pillow. “Want me to kiss you?”
“Yes. I do want that.”
Nico gently kissed her bruised and cut forehead. Then he gingerly angled her shoulder and kissed next to her stitches. Then he kissed her hip over the hospital gown.