I jotted down the address Tanner gave me for Charlie’s house, then Nate and I sprinted to the Slice of Life Cafe.
Aunt Martha and Carmen were sitting on the covered front porch sipping tea. “Ah, good, you’re here. We were beginning to think you forgot about us,” Aunt Martha said as we rushed inside. “We already finished eating.”
“That’s great, because we have to go.”
Carmen and Aunt Martha sprang to their feet, and Carmen tossed more than enough money on the table to cover their lunch bill. “Where to?”
Nate glanced at his smartphone. “Seaview Avenue toward Edgartown.”
“Ooh, isn’t this exciting?” Aunt Martha cooed, scurrying toward Carmen’s rental parked on a side street by Union Chapel.
Nate flashed me a grin. He always got a kick out of Aunt Martha’s enthusiasm for a good mystery.
Hello? Two dead bodies and Joe with a needle in his neck, I telepathed.
Carmen careened right onto Ocean Avenue and picked up speed on the incline to Seaview.
“Watch that car,” Aunt Martha cautioned as he turned onto Seaview without stopping at the intersection.
“Get us there alive,” Nate quipped.
Carmen shot a panicked look to the rearview mirror, and my heart plunged. “What’s wrong?”
He threw the car into neutral and pumped the brakes. “We’ve lost the brakes.”
The incline steepened.
“Drive into the field.” Aunt Martha pointed to the park opposite Inkwell Beach, empty except for a lone jogger and his dog. Thank goodness kids were still in school!
Carmen swerved, just missing the fence, and plowed over the little white painted boulders with a skull-rattling thunk. Airbags exploded from the front dash. Unfortunately, Nate and I had no such cushioning and banged our heads on the backs of Carmen’s and Aunt Martha’s seats.
Aunt Martha batted the deflating airbag out of her face. “Look out for the dog!”
Carmen swerved blindly and inadvertently kicked the gas in his reflexive impulse to brake.
I braced my arm on the back of the seat as we bumped over a hunk of wood, heading straight at the cars parked along the other side of the field. “Crank it right. Right.”
He did and within another twenty yards, the car ran out of momentum and came to a stop.
I tumbled out of the backseat with an unladylike groan as approaching sirens blared. I massaged my aching neck. “Are you two okay?”
“Right as rain,” Aunt Martha said, sounding as exhilarated as if she’d just climbed off a horse at the Flying Horses carousel down the road. “Those airbags really work!”
Carmen dropped onto his back and shimmied under the car. Nate did the same from the passenger side.
I hit Tanner’s number on my speed dial. “Can you pick us up?”
“Uh, no, we’ve got a situation here. What’s going on?”
“Car trouble.”
“Well, get here as fast as you can,” Tanner said.
A squad car screeched to a stop at the curb, and the officer jogged across the field toward us. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Our car lost its brakes,” I explained. “We drove into the park to slow it down.”
“The brake line’s been cut,” Carmen barked from beneath the car. He crawled out and wiped his grease-covered hands on the tissue Aunt Martha handed him.
“Both lines,” Nate confirmed, rising from the other side of the car.
My heart rioted as my mind zigzagged through who knew I was here. Joe. Frank. But neither would have known what car I came in.
The officer whipped out a notepad and pen. “Who are you? Why would someone cut your brakes?”
“To try to kill us. Why do you think?” Carmen groused.
Nausea roiled through my stomach. Preston had been in the adjoining bathroom when I made plans with Aunt Martha this morning. He could’ve easily overheard us. I didn’t want to believe he could’ve done this. But he’d also been out in his truck the night Dad was hit. And he could’ve easily identified Carmen’s rental.
“And you are?” the officer asked Carmen.
“Carmen Malgucci.”
The officer’s pen slid off his notepad. “Of the Malgucci crime family?”
“We’re here from St. Louis,” I interjected, identifying myself as a fed. “I’ve been investigating an art crime that may be connected to the recent homicides on the island. I assume that’s why we’ve been targeted.”
The muscle in Carmen’s cheek noticeably flinched.
“What?” I said.
Carmen shrugged. “Some of my relatives have crossed a few people.”
The officer’s gaze darted past the gathering crowd of gawkers to one end of the road, then the other. “Are we talking organized crime?”
Oh, great. Martha’s Vineyard was a popular playground for the rich. Why not vacationing mobsters? Yes, why not? Better them than my prime suspects.
“I’m sorry, dear,” Aunt Martha said to me, pressing her phone to her ear.
“Who are you calling?” I asked as Carmen told the cop where the car had been parked and suggested pulling footage from any security cameras in the area that might’ve filmed whoever did this.
“Winston.” Aunt Martha turned her focus to the ground and spoke into the phone. “Yes, it’s me. Seems a bird-watcher has clipped our wings.”
I smiled at her colorful description. Her friend probably didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Could you pick us up at the park across from Inkwell Beach?” she went on. “My niece has somewhere she needs to be.” She clicked off and returned her attention to me. “He’ll be here in five minutes.”
“Wow, thank you. He lives that close?”
She thrust her chin in the direction we’d come. “Beside that anti-virus software magnate’s mansion on Ocean Avenue.”
I whistled. “Nice.”
“Carmen and I can handle the incident report,” Aunt Martha said.
“Thanks.” I gave the officer my business card. “I need to go. If you have any more questions for me, you can reach me at the cell number.”
He didn’t look like he was agreeable to the idea of my leaving, but I headed toward the street before he could argue.
Behind me a car door slammed, then the slap of shoes closed in on me. “Wait,” Nate said. “You forgot something.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “You?”
“And your purse.” He held up my bag, which he must’ve grabbed from the backseat of the car. I glanced at my watch, wondering what Tanner had uncovered at Charlie’s and if our saboteur had taken off after him after disabling our ride.
Thirty seconds later a shiny new Land Rover pulled to the curb behind the police car. Winston jumped out and tossed the keys to Nate. “Take good care of her.”
“You’re leaving it with us?” I guess I didn’t do a good job of keeping the surprise from my voice, because he laughed.
“I live on an island. It’s not as if you could get far if you decided to steal it. And don’t worry about your aunt and her friend. I’ll make sure they’re set up with a new pair of wheels too.”
“I appreciate it. Thanks.”
He glanced past us and shook his head at the scene in the field. “Looks like a page right out of the playbook of Madame X.”
“You’ve heard of Madame X?” I turned to Nate and explained, “Madame X is legendary in federal law enforcement circles. Pulling off stunts no one thought possible. Think female James Bond.” I grinned at Winston. “Were you CIA? FBI?”
“Secret Service.”
“Wow, I knew Aunt Martha had a lot of well-connected friends back in the day, but I had no idea how well connected. So, you actually met Madame X? What was she like?”
“We’d better get going,” Nate interjected. “Tanner’s waiting.”
I ducked my head, suddenly realizing how fan-girl I must’ve sounded. “Right.” I shook Winston’s hand and climbed into the car beside Nate. “Do you think we should’ve stuck around? Aunt Martha is going to have the cops bothering Joe with her bird-watcher allegations, but even if he had an accomplice, I—”
“I don’t think that’s who Martha meant by a bird-watcher.” Nate pulled into traffic.
“What do you mean?”
“Birdwatcher is British slang for spy.”
“It is? How do you know that?”
Nate chuckled. “I used to watch those mysteries she loves so much with her.”
“Ahh. Because I can’t see how Frank would’ve known what car I came to town in. Carmen parked blocks away from the tabernacle.”
“Assuming you were the target.”
“You think it could’ve been Carmen?”
Nate quirked the same noncommittal shrug as Carmen had. “The rental is registered in his name.”
“Sure, but it doesn’t take any advance planning to decide to cut a brake line. Anyone could’ve seen me arrive in Oak Bluffs. And then waited for his chance.” Anyone.
“You think it was Ben?”
It was my turn to offer the noncommittal shrug. I didn’t like the idea of it being Ben any better than Preston. But it made more sense.
“Ashley know anything about cars?” Nate asked.
“Seriously?”
“Hey, the day I arrived, she was convinced you were here to steal her fiancé. Jealousy can make a person do crazy things.”
“Well, now that you and Tanner are here, I’m sure she can see that I have my hands full.”
He grinned. “So, who is winning?”
Oh man, my mouth needed brakes worse than Carmen’s car.
Nate turned the corner onto Charlie’s street.
A squad car with flashing lights was parked in front of it, and a cop was patting down a suspect taking the position—his hands on the squad car’s trunk, his feet spread apart.
“Whoa, is that Tanner?”