| |
Arden stood in front of the yellow police tape and looked up at Walter’s balcony. She glanced back down at the ground.
No blood.
The ground was still wet. If he had fallen during the storm, it could have washed away or been cleaned up since then and now.
She sighed.
Or maybe he didn’t really die.
She pushed her hair back as she leaned forward to peer over the police tape.
Something shiny caught in the sunlight catching her attention. Her eyes narrowed and she reached her hand out, plucking a familiar looking ruby cuff link off the ground.
“Find something?”
She glanced up, shielding her eyes with her hand.
Max stood on Walter’s balcony looking down at her. “What are you doing up there?” she asked. “I thought Walter’s room was off-limits.”
“I don’t take orders from fake police,” he said mildly. “What did you find?”
“A ruby cufflink.”
“Hang on, I’m coming down,” he said before disappearing from view.
Nodding, she followed the police tape to the wrought iron fence by the cliff. A breeze swept over her, chilling her as the sun dipped behind a dark cloud. She gazed out over the choppy and rough looking ocean, and sighed already anticipating another stormy night ahead. She started to turn back around when she noticed that part of the fence beyond the yellow tape was missing. She ducked under the table and approached the opening cautiously. Half way there, her foot collided with something and she knelt down, surprised to find pieces of a gargoyle lying on the ground.
Footsteps on the gravel path behind her caught her attention and she turned just as Max came around the side of the house. “Look at this.”
He slipped underneath the tape, his gaze traveling from the missing fence to the gargoyle, then up to the balcony where the gargoyle had once sat. He kicked the pieces with his toe, and then gestured to the broken railing. “Was that always like that?”
“I don’t recall seeing it when I arrived.” She held the cufflink out to him and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag. “Just in case he really was murdered,” he explained as he held open the bag.
She dropped the cufflink into the bag. “Maybe we should try calling the police again.”
“I’d like to, but I don’t seem to have any service out here and the landline’s not working.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Here you go,” she said unlocking the phone and handing it to him.
“Have you used it lately?” he asked.
“Emma sent me a picture of Clover attacking my fern yesterday afternoon. I think she’s misbehaving because she misses me.”
“Your service is out,” he said handing her back the phone.
“Again? It’s not even storming now.”
His eyes darkened in worry. “Last night’s storm may have taken out the cell phone tower or...”
“Or?”
“Someone’s jamming the signal.”
“Wonderful. What happened to the landline?”
“I don’t know, I just know it’s dead.” He held the plastic bag up and examined the cufflink through the plastic. “Walter’s?”
“Walter was more of a blue jeans and leather vest kind of guy. Zeke was wearing ruby cufflinks the night he went missing.”
“That was two days ago, wasn’t it?”
Nodding, she said, “Last time I saw those cufflinks, they were lying inside Zeke’s nightstand. I wonder how they got out here.”
“Assuming Walter is really dead and this is where he died, he might have stolen the cufflinks and was wearing them when he died.”
Arden glanced back down at the ruby. “He did need money but why would he be wearing them in the middle of the night? Assuming, of course, that’s when he died.”
Max stepped over to the broken fence. “Maybe the killer was wearing them and they fell off when he dragged Walter’s body over here.”
She arched an eyebrow. “At night in a rainstorm?”
He placed the bag into his pocket. “Or the killer is framing someone.”
That made more sense. “Every clue has pointed to Zeke from the very beginning. The file Brad Anderson compiled pretty much screamed Zeke Tapper did it in capital letters. I guess it’s possible someone is framing him, but who and why?”
He cocked his head to the side for a moment then held up his finger, motioning for her to be quiet. Taking care not to make any noise, he moved over to the fence and looked down.
That’s when she heard the sound of someone grunting and cursing lightly. She crept softly to his side. She leaned out as far as she could but couldn’t see anything other than an outcropping of rock and then the ocean.
Max leaned out further over the fence. “I wonder where he’s going,” he muttered.
“Who?”
“Kevin.” He walked along the fence toward the woods, then turned and looked back over the fence. “Look, there’s a bit of trail down there past that rock. Come on,” he said taking her hand and leading her into the woods, “let’s see if we can find it.”
They followed the fence to the edge of the woods as far as they could until they came to an impenetrable thicket waist high. Deciding they weren’t going to be able to make it through there, they turned away from the edge of the cliff and kept walking until they found an opening and a dirt trail which led them to the gates in front of Cliff House. It was only when they doubled back that Arden noticed another trail partially hidden by an overgrown bush. Not long after that, they found a rickety old staircase which led to the beach. “Kevin told me there was a staircase over here somewhere.” She gestured to the broken railing next to the first step. “He said that the Executioner lured him out here. He almost fell when the railing gave away.”
Max knelt down and examined the edge of the railing that was jutting up from the ground. “Someone cut through the wood.”
“So, it wasn’t an accident.” She became alarmed as he tested his weight on the first step. “What are you doing? There could be more traps.”
“I’ll be careful,” he said gingerly stepping down to the next step. “You stay here.”
Arden stepped down the next step. “I’m not staying up here by myself.”
He smiled back at her. “Okay then. Mind your step. The next one looks rotten.”
They moved cautiously down the stairs, making their way slowly with Max in front.
Arden gripped the railing tightly as she tentatively stepped down on another rotten looking step.
“Let’s talk about Zeke,” Max said taking her hand and helping her step over another board. “Assuming, he’s dead, who would want to kill him?”
“Oh, almost everyone, I suppose,” she said gripping his hand tightly. She glanced over to the side, spotting a very narrow trail that ran along the side of the cliff. Max took one look at it, and then shook his head, leading her down the staircase. “Yvette was convinced he was going to put a stop to the reunion movie. They all seem pretty desperate to make the movie.”
He ducked his head as the staircase dipped underneath a rock that was jutting out from the cliff. “What about the next missing person, Yvette? Assuming she is dead, who would want to kill her?”
She thought about it for a moment. “Dennis.”
“Why?”
She pushed back her hair as the wind blew it forward. “She was having an affair with the first victim, Brad Anderson, a reporter in town. You heard Reese this morning. He said that Dennis was insanely jealous. If he found out his wife was having an affair, he might have killed them both. Perhaps, Walter found out about it or confronted him at some point and he did away with him too.”
“That also might explain why Kevin was hurt twenty-five years ago. If what Reese said was true and Kevin was having an affair with Yvette, that would give Dennis plenty of motive to try to kill him.”
“Dennis clearly thought she was having an affair with Reese way back when, but he didn’t resort to murder then.”
“No, but he still sought revenge. It sounds like he tried to sabotage Reese’s career. Perhaps, he’s just had enough and snapped.”
She frowned as she tested the step below her. “There’s just one thing that doesn’t fit. Why would Dennis try to hurt his own brother? I doubt Zeke was also having an affair with Yvette.”
“If his wife and her lover end up dead, Dennis would be the first suspect. If he could hand the cops another killer on a silver platter, then that might give him a motive to frame someone else.”
“Perhaps, but there’s another reason someone might want all three of them dead. Brad Anderson was looking into Kevin’s accident twenty-five years ago. He was asking a lot of questions. I have the feeling Yvette told him something she shouldn’t have. She said she hadn’t when Walter confronted her about it, but she didn’t sound very convincing.”
“Do you think she knew who hurt Kevin?”
“She told the doctors that were taking care of Zeke that Zeke had been up on the scaffolding before the chandelier fell. Walter went as far to say he had personally seen Zeke tampering with the chandelier. What if they were both lying? Zeke had no memory of the event. They could say anything.”
“Why would Yvette and Walter lie?”
“I think Yvette wanted control over the show. She ended up with Zeke’s power of attorney after he was committed. She probably paid Walter to loosen the bolts or mess with the wires. He seems like he would be willing to do anything for a buck.”
He looked over his shoulder at her. “So, she goes about getting control of the show by purposely injuring the star of her show?”
“Okay, I guess that doesn’t make much sense. You know, Savannah had a secret admirer who turned into a full-blown psycho by the end of that season. She thinks he may have gotten jealous of Kevin’s character and tried to do away with him.”
Max stepped down onto the wet sand, then turned and helped her down the remaining steps.
She gazed out at the beach, what there was of it and looked around. Between the cliff and the ocean was a small stretch of beach which led to a smaller staircase. “I just think everything is pointing back to that moment when Kevin was hurt. The picture of the cast in Zeke’s room was taken just before he was hurt. The script in his room was the one they were filming that day. The picture in the banquet hall was taken just after Kevin was hurt. The phones that were taken was just a reminder of something that had happened a week before. Someone wants to point us to that moment in time.”
“If you’re right, you know who our most likely suspect is, don’t you?” he asked linking their fingers together pulling her toward the other staircase.
“I just don’t think...” She trailed off, turning to stare out at the ocean.
“Let’s say Yvette and Walter were telling the truth and Zeke was obsessed with Savannah because she looked like his old girlfriend. Let’s say he went as far as to try to kill Kevin because he considered him a rival for her affection. And let’s say, Walter and Yvette knew about it and hushed it up. Now who’s got the most motive to want all three of those people dead?”
“It can’t be Kevin,” she said staring down in dismay as her tennis shoes sunk into the wet sand.
“Why not?”
She hesitated. “It just can’t be him. He’s the hero,” she added weakly.
Max’s eyes widened as he led her up the small staircase.
“He’s nice and kind and brave.” She made a face. “Well, maybe not brave, but he’s so nice.”
“He’s also an actor, and if I remember correctly, he was a pretty good one before his accident. Of course, that doesn’t explain why he’d want Brad Anderson dead.”
“You’re also forgetting the fact he was almost killed yesterday. Someone tampered with that railing.”
“For all we know, he could have tampered with it.”
“Why would he do that?”
He shrugged. “Make himself seem like a victim? I don’t know, but it’s a possibility,” he said as they reached the top of the staircase. “Well, look at that.”
In front of them nestled among the trees was a charming white brick house with blue shutters.
“How pretty,” she said following Max towards the house. They passed between a tennis court on their right and a pool on their left, and then walked up to a pair of open French doors.
Inside, the house was dark and quiet and had a slightly musty smell to it as though it had been closed up for some time. The furnishings while nice and in good condition were clearly several decades old. Despite that, it looked as though someone had come through and given it a good cleaning. There were no cobwebs that she could see and it appeared everything had been dusted.
They walked through the house and towards the front. Max pushed aside the red curtains hanging in front of the banquet hall window and looked outside. “There’s a car out there. Do you recognize it?”
She shook her head. Then she followed him out into the foyer. Spotting a briefcase lying on the console table by the door, she tugged on his arm, bringing him to a stop. She ran a thumb over the brass plate bearing the initials YJT. “Look at this.”
“Someone’s tampered with the lock,” he said examining the briefcase. He lifted the lid and whistled.
Arden reached in and picked up a packet containing ten one hundred dollar bills. “I guess Yvette did go and get Walter the money she promised him.” The sound of footsteps above them caused her to suck in her breath. “I wonder who’s up there.”
Max lifted his finger to his lips. Then he motioned for her to hide out of sight while he ducked into the banquet hall and hid behind the wall.
She shoved herself into a dark corner, waiting for whoever it was walking on the floor above them to appear at the top of the landing.
When he finally showed up, she blew out her breath in relief and stepped forward. “Kevin!”
She caught sight of Max looking at her in disbelief and shrugged. The rational part of her brain knew she shouldn’t feel relieved. Kevin could be the killer for all she knew, but she couldn’t help but think of him as Clayton Grimes.”
“Oh hey, Arden,” Kevin said with a friendly wave. “You scared me. I thought I was alone here.” He looked worried. “You haven’t been killed, have you?”
“No, you?”
“No, not yet.” His frown deepened as he continued down the stairs. “I’ve had a couple of close calls lately,” he said running a hand through his hair.
Her eyes narrowed at the blood on his sleeve and the dirt on his clothes. “What happened to you?”
“One of the gargoyles fell off the roof and almost killed me. I had to jump over the railing to keep from getting killed. Luckily, I landed on a ledge and was able to climb down to this little trail that led here. Have you seen Zeke or Yvette or Walter?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand why I can’t find them. They’ve got to be around somewhere. Yvette’s car is out in the driveway.” He grinned. “Here, look at what I found.” He reached for the briefcase. “There’s got to be thousands of dollars in here. I’d like to think this was a clue, but I don’t understand why it’s at the cottage and not at the house.”
“Did you break the lock?” she asked pointing to the briefcase lock.
“No, it was like that when I found it.” He held up a handful of money. “I wonder how much is in here.”
“Ten thousand dollars,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
Kevin looked over his shoulders then whispered, “Can you keep a secret?”
She nodded.
“I’m trying to find Zeke,” he said tossing the money into the briefcase.
“What makes you think Zeke’s here?” Max asked.
Kevin spun around. “Oh, hey, Max, I didn’t see you there.” He looked nervous all of the sudden and started toward the door.
Max stepped in front of the door, blocking Kevin’s way. “Have you seen Zeke since he disappeared?”
Kevin looked from Max to Arden and back again. “No, but I really need to find him.”
“Why?”
He hesitated for a moment. “I don’t want to say. I’d really like to talk to Zeke first. I mean I could be wrong.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I probably am wrong. I’m sure the others have told you that I’m not really that good at this game.”
Arden smiled reassuringly. “It’s all right. You can trust us. I bet if we put our heads together, maybe we can find Zeke together.” When that didn’t seem to reassure him, she added, “If we figure out who did it, we’ll let you do the denouncement.”
“Well, I know who did it,” he said wryly. He scratched at his temple. “I just can’t prove it.”
Max narrowed his eyes. “You know who did what?”
“Who dropped the chandelier on my head?”
“You do?” Arden asked in surprise.
“Yeah, I’ve known all along. I just can’t seem to get anyone to believe me. Well, anyone but Zeke and Brad. I told them a few months ago what I knew and I think they believed me. I’m pretty sure that’s why Zeke set up this mystery game. He’s hoping we can force a confession or come up with some sort of proof.” He grimaced. “Do you know how hard it is to get someone to confess to a crime?” He shook his head with a sigh. “It seemed so easy when we were on the show. I’ve tried everything I can think of to draw out a confession but nothing’s working.”
“Did Zeke tell you that’s why he set up this game?” Max asked. “So, you can trick the bad guy into confessing?”
“Well, not in so many words, but it’s pretty obvious what he’s up to. It’s just that...well, now that Walter’s been eliminated from the game, I don’t know what to do. How can I trick him into a confession if he’s gone?”
Arden gave Max a smug smile. “See, I was right. It was Walter.”
“How do you know Walter was the one who tried to hurt you?” Max asked.
“Because I saw him on the scaffolding messing with the chandelier right before my accident.” He shrugged. “But I didn’t remember what I saw until a few months after they released me from the hospital.”
Max pushed aside the curtain and looked outside.
A few raindrops fell against the window, drawing their attention to the front yard. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was dipping below the trees casting strange shadows on the grass.
Max tilted his head to the side as he moved closer to the window. “Why didn’t you say anything then?”
“I told Yvette as soon as I remembered.” He scratched at his head. “I suppose Yvette told Walter. Those two were as thick as thieves. He paid me a visit soon after and said I must have been seeing things. That was right before he impressed upon me the importance of keeping my mouth shut.”
“Why didn’t you tell Savannah?” Arden asked.
“I did. I told her he was a psycho, but then she said Walter was allergic to roses,” he said making a face, “as though that means something so I just dropped it. If I couldn’t convince her, I knew it was hopeless. I even went to the police, but they just sort of shrugged it off. Yvette was no help either. I just let it go after that, but then when Brad approached me about some story he was doing on the show a few months ago, I told him everything. Things started snowballing after that. Zeke called me out of the blue a few days later, wanting to know what Brad and I had talked about and so I told him what I had seen.”
“What did he say?” Arden asked.
“He said he would handle everything. Next thing I knew, he was throwing a mystery party and I was invited. That’s when I realized he was setting a trap for Walter.”
Taking Arden’s hand, Max suddenly opened the door and led her outside.
“Hey, it’s starting to rain,” she said. “Where are we going?”
“I just want to take a look at the car and didn’t want to leave you alone with Kevin,” he said leading her to a gazebo near the garage. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”
Arden glanced over to her side as Kevin joined her. “Where’s he going?” he asked.
“He just wanted to check something out.” Arden touched Kevin’s arm, drawing his attention back to her. “What did you mean by Yvette was no help?”
“She said that if I ever said anything to anyone she’d destroy me.” He smiled ruthlessly. “She kept her word. I never acted again.” He glanced toward Max with a frown. “What’s he doing?”
Arden followed his gaze.
Max was on the other side of the car staring down at something. He dropped to his knees just then, disappearing from view.
“I don’t know,” Arden said stepping off the gazebo. She ducked her head down as the rain began coming down harder.
Kevin stuck close by her side for the first few steps but as they drew closer to the car, he picked up his steps, easily out pacing her.
He cupped his hands to his mouth in horror as he came around the car.
Max knelt by the open door. Next to him lying partly in and out of the car was Yvette with a red curtain cord wrapped around her neck.
Feeling sick, Arden turned away. She started to lean her forehead against the car when she noticed another body lying in the backseat.
