A cacophony of hysterical laughter rang out from the kitchen.
“What’s gotten into you, Albert?” asked a zombie bride of her undead groom.
Albert tittered out a giggle as he tried to tickle her under the corset.
A tingle ran up Riley’s spine, but just as she reached for her pepper spray, something black and silky swirled in front of her, wrapping over her head and around her torso.
“Hey!” She tried elbowing her attacker, but her arms were pinned to her sides. She fought to free herself but was unceremoniously lifted into the air and thrown over what she assumed was a very hard shoulder. The landing knocked the wind out of her, rendering her speechless when she heard Josie’s faraway voice calling her name.
Well, crap. Nick was never going to let her live this down.
39
6:44 p.m., Wednesday, October 30
Riley was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor and immediately began fighting her way free. They’d taken her upstairs. The music and giggling were much fainter.
Someone whipped the material off her head, and she fought to get a full breath into her lungs.
It was dark. So it was the smell that hit her first, and she knew exactly where they’d taken her. The Creepy, Smelly Closet.
She had to keep her wits about her, Riley reminded herself. Any second now, Sesame and Jasmine would arrive with the cops and the drugs would wear off. Nick would break out of his office and find her in no time. And if she kept the bad guys occupied up here with her, everyone would be safe.
The overhead light snapped on.
“Youidiot.”
Riley blinked, trying to bring the woman into focus. She had a faint Southern accent. Not thebless your heartgenteel kind but thewrastle gators in the swampkind.
“Here we go again,” said the man who’d carried her upstairs. “You told me to bring you Dolly. I brought you Dolly. Nothing I ever do is good enough for you.”
The woman gestured angrily at Riley with the gun she held. “Does she look like the right Dolly Parton to you? I swear, I should have divorced your dumb ass years ago.”
The man sneered. “Well, good news for you because my cousin Otis never got ordained, so we ain’t never been married.” It was Zorro. The guest who had been handing out cups of punch.
And the woman peeled off her Guy Fawkes mask and glared at Zorro.
“Lurlene and Royce, I presume?” Riley said. She scooched up against the back wall of the closet. She could have sworn she heard a hissing noise come from the grate.
“Great.” Lurlene threw up her hands. “Second Dolly knows our names. That means that tramp already opened her big mouth.”
“What’s the big deal?” Royce dragged off his Zorro hat.
Lurlene threw up her hands in exasperation. “Thebig dealis now we have to kill them all.”
“Uh, can I interject here?” Riley asked, raising a hand. “I’m sure we can work something out so no one needs to die.”
Lurlene beaned her with a roll of painter’s tape. “Shut her up, and then tape her hands and feet together,” she ordered Royce.
“She ain’t goin’ nowhere,” he argued.
“Well, I don’t want her screaming or trying to run away when we kill her.”
“Have you always been this bloodthirsty?” he wondered.
“Yes! You just haven’t paid any attention to me for thirty years!”
“It sounds like you two are under a lot of stress,” Riley said, frantically searching for a way to connect with her captors. That was what her favorite show,Made It Out Alive, always said. Well, that and don’t ever let yourself be taken to a second location, which she’d already screwed up. “Running your own business isn’t easy.”
