Whack The Mole (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 2)

“Let me get this straight,” I say. “You want me to cut out Joey’s tongue?”

Joey’s eyes go even wider than before. He bucks against the chair.

“Sorry but I’m not doing that.”

“Too bad.” Sally backs up a couple of feet and aims her gun at my face.

“Wait! Hold on! Okay, okay, I’ll do it.”

She chuckles. “I knew you’d give in.” While still keeping the gun on me, she picks up a knife off the coffee table then hands it to me. Why hadn’t I noticed it before? I could have grabbed it and… and what? Stabbed her with it? Not when she has a gun on me. I’m not that fast. Plus, ew…it’s a knife.

“Just in case you think about trying to be a hero, let me warn you. You come near me with that knife and you’ll be dead in two seconds flat. I might not be good with silverware, but I’m an expert when it comes to guns.”

My palms are so sweaty that the knife nearly slips out of my grasp. “How do I do this?”

“Just pull his tongue and slice it off. It’s easy. I was just joking about the knife being dull.”

I slowly walk over to Joey.

Where are the cops?

“Um, he’s still gagged. How am I supposed to cut his tongue off if I can’t get to it?”

“I guess I have to do everything.” Sally pulls the gag off.

Joey immediately starts screaming. “No! Stop! I’ll give you anything! You want money? I got money!” He squirms violently, causing the chair to rock from side to side. For a minute I think he might topple over. Which might not be such a bad idea. It would distract Sally, that’s for sure.

I try to steady the knife. If Joey could just get the chair to tip over then I could—

In that instant, I see more movement in the kitchen. It’s Will! And Paco.

Sally has her back to them so she

can’t see them. Thank God.

Will and I lock gazes. He shakes his head, warning me not to give him away. Paco is by his feet. His eyes have a hard glassy look in them. I’ve seen this look before. It’s his I have to save Lucy! look.

It feels as if there’s a stick of dynamite ready to go off inside my chest. Sweat drips down my back.

“I don’t have all day.” Sally waves the gun in my face again, which must be too much for Paco because before I know it, he runs into the living room and leaps in the air rushing Sally from behind.

The gun falls from her hands and skitters onto the floor. Will scrambles to pick it up but just like Sally warned me—she’s fast. She’s going to beat Will to the gun.

Unless I do something about it first.

Using one of my childbearing hips, I bump into Joey’s chair as hard as I can. He topples over, screaming obscenities all the way down, landing on top of Sally. Will grabs the gun. In that instant, the front door crashes open.

“Hands in the air!” yells Travis, brandishing a gun, with Zeke behind him. They’re wearing regular clothes. I wish I had a camera right now because the looks on their faces when they see Will holding a gun on Sally is priceless.

“It’s about time you got here,” Will says. “I left you two messages and finally had to call 911.”

Travis catches my gaze. “Sorry. We were in an unmarked car in the back of the neighborhood waiting to escort the FBI and Joey out of town.”

Zeke quickly takes in the scene. “What’s going on?”

Will still has the gun over Sally’s head and the look in his eyes is a little scary, And maybe just a little sexy too. I’ve always been attracted to Will. I mean, with his dark hair and blue eyes he’s basically Henry Cavil without the cape. But today I saw another side of him. A very manly side that’s making me feel warm and tingly all over. “Tell them, Lucy,” he urges.

“The long version or the short version?” I ask, bending down to scoop Paco into my arms. “You sweet worthless dog you,” I say, giving Sally the stink eye.