Chapter 22

 

“I know what you need to do.” Dorothy worked the knitting needles feverishly.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You need to check out Abby.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “How do you mean?”

“Find out what she’s up to. If she knew the men who almost hit her it shouldn’t be too hard to figure it out,” Dorothy said.

I sighed. “I suppose that’s true. Where should I start?”

“The same place you always do when investigating someone. Snoop around on them.”

“I suppose I should do a stakeout. Although she is the police. She’s definitely not dumb. She would probably catch me.”

Dorothy snorted. “She doesn’t know who she’s messing with. You can outsmart her any day.”

Recently Dorothy had turned on Abby. At first she had liked her, but now that wasn’t the story. I wasn’t sure what had changed.

“Okay, that’s what I’ll do.”

Dorothy stood from the desk and shoved her needles into her bag. She gathered the various balls of yarn from her desk and shoved those in too. Next she shoved a handful of peppermints into the bag. She placed the bag on her shoulder and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“We have to go stake her out,” Dorothy said.

“Come back over here,” I said. “We have to make a plan first.”

She quirked an eyebrow and then came back over. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“We go where she is and watch her. Like I said, she is smart. I think she’ll recognize my car.”

“I suppose that’s true. I know,” Dorothy said. “We can ask Morton to drive us.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Is it because of his driving?”

“Yes,” I said.

“What other choice do you have?” she asked.

I sighed. “I suppose none. When can he take us?”

“Right now. He’s not busy.”

I grabbed my bag. ”Okay, let’s go to Morton’s house.”

A short time later we pulled up in front of Morton’s large home. The beige stucco home was shaded by large palm trees. Sprinklers bathed the lush landscaping with water. The place was two stories and covered front porch and double doors.

 “Wow, Morton has a large place here,” I said.

“He says it’s too much house for him. You know his wife died a number of years ago.”

Dorothy’s husband had passed away too. It was nice that they’d found each other.

“Is he going to move?” I asked.

“Maybe someday. I don’t push the issue. He’ll move when he’s ready,” she said. “You wait here and I’ll go tell him what’s up.”

I smiled. “I’ll be right here.”

While I waited for Dorothy Jake sent a text to let me know he was thinking of me. It was strange to get sentimental texts from him. I couldn’t help but have butterflies when I thought of him. The sentimental texts might change if he knew what I was up to.

A few seconds later Dorothy and Morton were walking toward the car. Dorothy waved for me to get out. I hopped out and hurried over to Morton’s car.

“Thank you for doing this, Morton,” I said.

“Think nothing of it, Maggie. I think this will be exciting. I enjoyed following the car the other day.”

I was glad he’d enjoyed it because I’d thought it was a little terrifying. If there was any other way I wouldn’t ride with him.

“So tell me where to go,” Morton said as he started the car.

I buckled up and gave him the address. After some swerving around cars, shifting of lanes without turn signals, and stopping at green lights, we made it to the building where Abby lived. I’d managed to get information from Jake that she would be leaving to meet him soon. I was lucky that I’d gotten that from him.

Morton pulled into the lot. “Where should I go now?”

“Park back here so that we can see her come out the doors.” I pointed.

I hoped that we didn’t have to wait long. Morton and Dorothy liked to chitchat. Morton was eating chips and Dorothy was knitting. It was a good thing I hadn’t relied on them to watch for Abby. She came out the door without either of them looking up. Oh, well, it was my job anyway. I just thought it was funny how they’d wanted to come on the stakeout, but ended up doing things they would do if they were sitting on the sofa.

I tapped on the backseat. “Hey, y’all. She just came out of the door.”

Morton and Dorothy snapped to attention.

“What do we do now?” Morton asked.

“Don’t panic,” I said. “Just wait until she gets in her car. We’ll follow her.”

Morton wrapped his hands around the steering wheel. “I’m ready.”

Abby looked around the parking lot. She probably sensed someone watching her. Luckily, I didn’t think she had noticed us. Not yet anyway. She got in her car, started it, and then backed out of the parking spot. I held my breath and she drove to the exit and pulled out onto the road.

“Okay, Morton, go after her.”

He punched the gas and we lunged forward. My head went forward and slammed back onto the seat.

“Easy does it, Morton,” I said.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“Don’t get too close. We don’t want her to see us. Just do what you did last time,” I said.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Dorothy said. “Don’t you, Morton?”

“Sure thing, sweeties,” he said.

Morton merged into another lane. Thank goodness there were no other cars in that lane at the moment. It was almost like déjà vu, but it seemed like we were headed in the same direction as last time. I supposed that was just a coincidence.

At least Morton was doing a good job of staying a good distance behind so that Abby didn’t notice us. She was driving normally, so I really didn’t think she knew we were back there. If she saw me she would contact Jake right away and tattle on me.

“Does this road look familiar to you?” Dorothy asked.

“Actually, yes, it does.”

When Abby turned on the road up ahead I knew for sure that we had ended up at that swamp where we’d gone the other day. This was definitely not a coincidence.

“Do you think she’s going to that same house?” Dorothy asked.

“As far as I know it’s the only one out here, so I say it has to be the reason she’s here.”

Morton pulled up to the same spot as he had the last time. I was certain that Abby hadn’t seen us turn down this dirt road.

“Do you think that alligator is still here?” Dorothy asked, peering out the window.

“I think it has to be gone now.” I didn’t tell her that I thought it probably lived around here. If it wasn’t here then another one just like it had probably taken its place.

Morton shut off the car. “So are we waiting for her to come back out?”

“She will see us. We have to go down there and see what she’s doing.”

“No way,” Dorothy said. “The alligator will eat us this time.”

“You guys can stay here and I will go,” I said, opening the car door.

Dorothy sighed and opened her door too. “I can’t let you go alone.”

Morton got out too and hurried over to us. We inched down the sandy path toward the other turn-off. I scanned the swampy area for any sign of the alligator. So far I saw no sign of him. I just hoped that he didn’t pop out at us.

When we made it to the other path Dorothy let out a deep breath. “Thank goodness we got past there. I hope he doesn’t get us on the way back.”

When I looked down the other sandy path, I spotted the beach house nearby. It was three stories and on stilts. Most of the large windows allowed for sweeping views of the ocean. A parking area was below the house with a garage underneath. Extensive landscaping surrounded the home with tall palm trees lining the drive. Similar homes dotted the shore, but they were spaced out from each other.

“That place must cost a lot of money. How much you think? Ten million?”

“Probably fifteen.”

Morton whistled. “That’s a lot of cash. What if a hurricane comes?”

“Insurance,” I said.

“Do you think she went in there?” Morton asked.

We moved a little closer. “I’d say she did. She’s on the deck right now.”

“What is she doing?” Dorothy asked.

Abby disappeared around the corner and now we couldn’t see her.

“Wait. I see other people now,” I whispered as if they would hear me from all the way over there. There was no way they would hear us with the waves crashing against the shore. “It’s the same people from the other day,” I said.

“Do you think Abby knows them?” Dorothy asked.

“I guess she does, since she’s here. It looks like they are going to leave. We should get out of here,” I said.

We stood there watching them for a few more seconds. They were talking, but I still hadn’t seen Abby again. What was she up to?

When the men went toward the car Dorothy pulled on my arm. “We have to leave now.”

I still wanted to know what Abby was doing. Then I saw her headed down the stairs.

“She must be leaving with them,” I said.

“Where is her car?”

“That’s a good question,” I said, looking around. “There must be some other path that we missed where she parked.”

Dorothy pulled on my arm again. “Come on, Maggie, I don’t want them to catch us.”

We hurried back down the path. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if they were coming. Surely they would pass us before we go back to the car. I didn’t want them to see us walking. They would for sure recognize us.

“We have to hide from them,” I said.

“Where are we going to hide?” Dorothy asked.

“In the seagrass.” I pointed.

“So what? The alligator can get us?”

“There won’t be an alligator.” I tried to sound as if she was being ridiculous, but in reality I knew that we could be alligator bait if we hide back there. I’d have to take my chances though. It would be even worse if those guys saw us.

Morton led the way, bless his heart. We hunkered down behind the grasses. Tall blades hit me in the face. I hoped that nothing else was hiding there too. The sand was hard to walk in and it felt as if we were practically crawling.

“It’s okay ladies, keep coming this way.” Morton motioned for us to follow him.

I kept a watch behind us as Morton looked out in front. Dorothy was scanning the whole scene. A piece of the grass touched Dorothy’s arm and she jumped.

“It’s okay. Just the grass,” I said.

“How long do we have to wait here?” Dorothy asked.

“I guess until we hear the car go by.”

“Well, at least that shouldn’t take long,” she said.

She was on the lookout for the alligator. A few seconds passed and the roar of the car went by. Dorothy started to stand.

I grabbed her arm. “Wait a second. Let me look first.”

“Well, hurry up. I want to get out of here.”

I peeked up and looked around. “Okay, I don’t see them. We can go now.”

As soon as we stepped out from the grass I froze. The alligator was back. It was right there on the side of the road.

Dorothy gasped. “What do we do now?”

“Remain calm,” I said.

As if I wasn’t panicking on the inside. How would we get past the thing?

“Is there another way around?” Morton asked.

I scanned the area. “We can go over that way.”

We kept our eyes on the alligator as we moved toward the other way. He didn’t move, but I knew he was watching us. We slowly made our way over and now we were on the other side of the alligator. As soon as the car came into view we ran for it. We jumped into the car. Seashells and sand made it hard to run without slipping. That was why I tumbled forward and landed on my face. Dorothy screamed out for Morton.

“I’m fine,” I managed to get out.

Dorothy and Morton rushed over to me. Refusing help from Morton and Dorothy, I climbed up from the ground. I didn’t want to bring them down with me. As soon as I was on my feet again I took off for the car. 

“Promise me that we won’t have to come back here again,” Dorothy said as we slammed the car doors shut.

“I promise we won’t have to come back here again,” I said with my fingers crossed.

Morton cranked the engine and turned the car around. This was no easy task considering the size of the thing. After a minute of back-and-forth maneuvering, he got the car pointed in the right direction. We headed back toward the main road.

“Now what?” he asked.

“I suppose that’s all for now. Just take me back to my car. I have to tell Jake about what I discovered.”

Now I knew Abby was involved with these men and I had to know why.

“Will you tell him that you were snooping around here again?” Dorothy asked.

“I suppose I have to. He will understand when I solve this case,” I said.

“If you say so.” Dorothy rolled her eyes.

“I’m just glad we got past that alligator,” Morton said as he punched the gas.

Yes, that was definitely a plus. What was also nice was that Morton had driven me there without a wreck.

Morton drove back to his house and I got my car. I was headed back to the office so that I could prepare my thoughts and what I would tell Jake. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot my cell rang. It was Jake. Would he believe what I had to tell him?

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said.