“All right. This is absolutely ridiculous. Wait a minute. Did you also dress like a leprechaun?”
“Yep.”
I stared, aghast. “You set the dynamite?”
Gloria lost her smile. “Yes. I used a blasting cap with a time delay, and it shouldn’t have gone off for another thirty minutes or so. Darn thing.”
My muscles bunched. “Thirty minutes? So after the pie contest and when Nana most likely headed back to her store?” She’d wanted to harm my Nana?
Gloria smiled. “Yep.”
Oh, I needed to take her out. Keeping her talking was the smart move, though. “Why did you dress like a leprechaun that morning to leave the dynamite?”
Gloria snorted. “The leprechaun outfit was so everyone would think Fiona was doing the damage, and especially if the local cameras caught me. I figured the ones at the bank would.”
She wasn’t wrong.
She giggled. “Plus, it was fun.”
Gloria and I had different ideas of fun. I edged closer to her. “Where did you even get dynamite?”
“When I found the cellar beneath the store, there were maps of all of these tunnels through the town. I followed all of them. It was tons of fun. And of course, in a couple I found that dynamite. They were old mines. Do you know how unstable old dynamite is?” She waved the gun as she spoke and I took another step toward her. “The blasting caps with the delays were with the sticks, and my partner and I looked up how to use them.”
Partner? The tea. All of the tea. It had to be Brad Backleboff. He’d also been way too intense in charging Nana. “Who’s your partner?”
* * *
“Doesn’t matter.” She pointed the gun at Henry again, thoughtfully this time. Was she going to kill all of us?
“Gloria?” I had to bring her attention back to me. “You wore the leprechaun outfit again during the parade. Did you plan to blow up Nana’s shop again?”
She tightened her grip on the gun. “Yes, but you saw me before I could plant the sticks, so I had to run.”
I couldn’t believe her. She didn’t seem the least bit sorry. “Why did you lead me into that tunnel? You could’ve killed Aiden.”
“It was your fault you followed me,” she said.
Yeah, I had. “So you tried to kill us?”
She shuffled her feet. “I needed to stop you somehow.”
I had to take her down before Brad showed up. One more step, and I barely slid close enough. “Did you steal Nana’s silver boxes just for money?”
“No.” She lowered her shoulders.
I struck, grabbing her wrist and shoving her into the wall.
She screeched, but I was a good forty years younger and a lot stronger. I smashed her hand against the doorframe and the gun dropped. She lunged at me with her nails, and I ducked back, punching her in the face.
Blood spurted from her nose, and she grabbed it, going down.
I scrambled toward my gun.
“Stop,” a male said.
I jerked, looking up at another Glock. This one bigger than Gloria’s. But it wasn’t Brad. Taking advantage of the moment, I ducked under the gun and hit Zippy O’Bellini square in the gut.
He slammed the gun down on my head, and I fell, wincing and rolling to the side.
