Chapter 26

 

Thank goodness I had my sneakers in the car because they would come in handy if I needed to run. Flip-flops weren’t the best getaway shoes. Where I was going might require a quick getaway. This wasn’t for a relaxing moonlight stroll. I needed to go to that beach house and figure out who lived there. The palm tree fronds swayed as I walked past, as if warning me not to go. I had no choice and I wouldn’t listen to the warning.

The night air was warm and the stars twinkled in the pitch black sky. I scanned the area to see if anyone was watching me. This was something I did all the time now. With my line of work someone could have it out for me at any time. Being a private eye meant sticking your nose into things that would make some people extremely angry. I hadn’t called Dorothy back yet to let her know that I was coming here tonight. I didn’t want to put her in danger. At least this time I didn’t have to get past that alligator. I’d just drive on past. He was like the gatekeeper for that place.

When I reached that dirt road again, I eased the car down the path. Flashbacks of running for the car with Dorothy and Morton flooded back to me. I felt a little guilty for not telling her what I was doing, but I knew it was for the best. I drove past the area where that alligator liked to hang out.

“You can’t get me this time, big guy,” I said.

My anxiety increased the closer I got to the house. I reached the other little dirt path. I turned off the headlights. I inched the car toward the beach house. The slower I drove the less chance that they would hear me pull up, though I doubted they’d hear anything with the crash of the waves. There were two other cars parked by the house. I didn’t recognize either one. I parked back from the house a bit, hoping that no one would see my car.

I shut off the engine. Releasing a deep breath, I opened the car door and got out. 1t was eerily quiet and more than a little spooky. It was darker than dark and I supposed I still had that alligator on the mind a little. Plus, who knew if there could be a killer in this house?

I moved toward the house, inching my way and trying to hide behind some of the tall seagrass and a palm tree. Someone could have been watching me out there and I would have no idea. It was too dark to see much of anything. I couldn’t believe that I was sneaking up to this house. What would I do if they caught me? What if there was more than one person in the house?

Based on the two cars parked nearby I suspected there were at least two people inside. Steps at the back of the house led to the wraparound porch. I had to make my way up there so I could peek inside the windows. I put one foot on the first step and a rustling noise caught my attention. I held the gasp inside, but my heart sped up. Was it the alligator? I looked around but saw nothing. That was a good thing. I inched my way up the rest of the steps. There was a light on the side of the house, but the one at the back door was either off or not working. That was lucky for me.

I had to avoid that side of the house. There were lights on in the house. As long as I stayed away from that light they wouldn’t see me. I moved to the left side of the house. I stopped just before the first window. I kept my body close to the house. Now I had to get up enough nerve to peek in the window. After all, this was the whole reason I’d come here in the first place. I steadied my nerves and then peeked over just a bit.

The inside of the house was beautiful. I’d checked to see who owned the place. It was a rental owned by a company and I couldn’t get any information from the rental company. There was no one in the room. Now I had to go to the next window. This was a dining area. They were probably in the living room area. As I moved close to the next window I heard voices. I froze on the spot. Was someone outside? I listened. No it was coming from inside the house. I moved toward the window again. When I reached the window I stopped once again.

Before even looking into the window I heard the voice again. Shock overwhelmed me. I recognized the voice. It was the strange voice that had called me on the phone. I would recognize it anywhere. Now I couldn’t wait to get a look at the person behind the voice. Finally I would know who had pushed me into the water.

This made me even more nervous though. I realized just how serious this was. This was it. I had to look. I peered into the window. There were two people in that room. One of them I recognized, but I knew that it wasn’t her voice. I had heard Cora’s voice many times now. The man with her spoke. I couldn’t make out exactly what he said, but I knew that he had been the one who’d called me and told me to meet him at the pier. He was the one with the high-pitched voice. Why was Cora here at this house? Maybe this man had lured her here? Maybe he had told her that he had info for her too? Maybe I had this all wrong and she wasn’t behind the murder at all.

The thought quickly left my mind though when they moved closer to each other. The embraced and then kissed. Okay, so she wasn’t here against her will. Her hands were all over this guy.

Just as I was moving away from the window, because I couldn’t stand to look at them making out, I hit the window. They looked at the window, but I had moved away. I saw his face. It was Garrett Smith. So that was her boyfriend. They had been in on this together all alone. That was why he’d tried to kidnap me. It explained why his voice had sounded strange. He’d been trying to hide the fact that he’d been the one to call me. Why bother? He’d planned on killing me anyway. Obviously Garrett wasn’t rowing with both oars.

How had he gotten here so fast? I guessed he hadn’t taken a wrong turn and gotten held up in traffic. Now they would come out to see what had happened. They would see the car and I would be caught. I had to get out of here. If I got to the car before they saw me then I could get out of here.

I ran for the steps. Moving down the stairs, I almost got to the bottom step, but then I stumbled from running so fast. I fell forward and landed on the sand. Groaning and pushing back the pain in my arms, I hurried up from the sand and raced toward the car. I only made it a few steps when someone grabbed me from behind. I fell forward. The person grabbed me up from the ground. He spun me around and now I was looking directly into his dark eyes.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Garrett asked in a high-pitched voice.

Cora stood behind this guy. She was glaring at me.

“Cora, what is going on here?” I asked.

“Take her back up to the house,” Cora ordered.

He dragged me toward the house. I didn’t want to go up there. If they got me up there I probably wouldn’t leave alive. I jerked my body to the left and managed to break his hold. I ran to the left toward the water. I had no idea what I would do from there. It wasn’t like I could just go in the water to get away from them.

Running through the sand was really hard. If I got out to the wet sand it would be much easier. I didn’t want to look back and slow down my pace, but I wanted to know just how close they were to catching me. How far would they chase me and how long could I run? I could run to the next house. It was a bit down the way, but it was my only hope at the moment. Where was that alligator when I needed it?

I only made it a couple more steps though before Garrett grabbed me from behind again. He spun me around. Cora raced up to us.

“Why did you do this?” I asked.

“Does it really matter?” She glared at me.

“You won’t get away with killing me. The police know I was coming here. They will be here at any moment.”

Did Jake know I was here? I hadn’t heard from him since leaving the voicemail.

She stared at me. Garrett looked at Cora. An evil smile slid over her lips. Then she started laughing. He followed her.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” she asked.

I had expected maybe she would believe it. I’d thought I’d said it rather convincingly. He pulled me back toward the house.

“We can kill you and dump you in the water. You will be shark food and they will never find you,” Cora said.

It sounded as if she had this all planned out. How many other people had she gotten rid of that way? We reached the house and then they forced me to climb the stairs. The man held onto my arm. He was on my left and Cora was on my right. Escorted by criminals. We reached the top of the steps. I looked around for a way out of this, but I saw none. He pushed me through the door.

“Take a seat.” Cora gestured toward the sofa.

“Why not just kill me outside? Isn’t that what you want to do?” I asked with a smirk.

Why I was being cocky I had no idea. What did I have to lose though?

“Be patient.” An evil smile slid over Cora’s lips.

“Who was the woman at Garrett’s apartment? She looked just like you. I know my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me,” I said.

“That’s my sister. We’re not twins, but we look alike, don’t we?” Cora winked.  

“Are you going to tell me why you did this? Was it because you wanted to be with him?” I gestured toward Garrett.

“That’s part of the reason,” Cora said with a click of her tongue. “Insurance money was the other. Now we can live the life we want… together. I hired you so that you would find someone else as a suspect. I figured you could convince your little detective boyfriend to get the heat off me. It hasn’t worked out well so far. You are a bad detective.”

I narrowed my eyes. How dared she call me a bad detective?

“So now since you’re so lousy I decided to kill you too.”

If only I could cause a distraction, then I could try to get away. But how would I do that? I glanced around the room.

“What are you looking for?” Cora frowned.

“Did you buy this house with the insurance money?” I asked.

I knew the answer, but I had to stall until I could think of something.

“Not yet, but we plan on it,” she said.

“It’s okay,” I said with a smirk.

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re really trying to push my buttons, aren’t you? Why would you do that?”

A noise sounded from somewhere outside. It sounded as if it had come from the porch.

“What was that?” Cora asked.

“I told you that I’d called the police. You wouldn’t believe me. They probably have the whole place surrounded.”

“If that’s the case then none of us are leaving this house alive, got it? So I suggest you tell them to leave,” she said.

“What do you mean none of us are leaving alive?” Garrett asked. “I didn’t sign up for that.”

“It’s a little too late to think about that now,” she said.

Now they were arguing. This was a good thing. Maybe that would cause the distraction that I needed. Though I wanted to know what that noise was outside. I knew I hadn’t called the police, but what if for some reason they’d showed up anyway? I couldn’t get that lucky. Another sound came from the front porch area.

“Go see what that is,” she ordered him.

“Why don’t you go see what it is?” he asked.

Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise. They glared at each other. Neither of them budged.

“I can go look.” I held my hand up.

“You stay put,” Cora ordered.

“It was worth a shot,” I said.

Another noise came at the window. It sounded as if someone had thrown something and it had hit the glass.

“Fine, if you won’t go see what it is then I will.” Cora walked over to the door and paused.

Garrett didn’t budge when she looked back at him. She glared at him, but then opened the door and stepped out into the salty sea night air. Too bad I’d dropped my phone outside. Now that Cora was out of the room perhaps I could have sneaked in a call. Though cell coverage was spotty out here by the ocean. A few seconds passed and Cora still hadn’t returned.

“Don’t move,” Garrett said as he walked across the room.

If he went outside then I was definitely making a run for it. I’d go out the back door even if I had to break it down. I’d break a window out if I had to in order to escape. Unfortunately, he stopped at the door.

“Aren’t you going out there to check on her?” I asked.

His gaze remained focused on the darkness outside. “She’s a big girl, she can handle herself.”

“Are you sure? It’s been a long time. She should be back by now. What if something happened to her?”

He turned to face me. “Do you think I’m that stupid? You just want me to leave you alone in here so you can do something.”

“What’s to do in here?” I asked.

He smirked. “Not going to happen.”

“Okay, if you don’t care enough about her to check on her. That’s not a nice thing to do. A real man would check on her.” I figured playing up to his macho vibe would get to him.

He hurried over to me, grabbed me by the arm, and yanked me with him to the door. “If I have to check on her then you’re going with me.”

That was fine with me. That would give me a chance to get away.

He pulled me with him onto the porch and down the steps. We almost tumbled down them, he moved so fast.

“How will you see her? It’s dark out here.”

“You don’t say,” he said sarcastically. He scanned the area. Cora was nowhere in sight.

“Maybe she left you,” I said.

“She wouldn’t do that,” he snapped.

“She killed her husband. What’s to say you’re not next? Just wait until she takes out an insurance policy on you.”

He looked at me. Now I knew I was getting to him. Holding my arm, Garrett yanked me with him. As we moved around the side of the house, I saw something scurry under some of the seagrass. I was hoping it was a crab, although I still didn’t like those things either. Darkness surrounded us and the only illumination came from the house. It did little to light up the outside though. I had no idea where he thought he was taking me. I hoped he wouldn’t toss me into the swamp area. That would be one of the worst ways to die. I’d rather be tossed in the ocean. Or maybe not. I wouldn’t even think about having to pick.

“It really isn’t necessary to hold hands. Don’t you think maybe Cora will get jealous?”

He yanked on me even harder. I just couldn’t help messing with him. I mean, if they were going to kill me anyway I might as well have a little bit of fun with them on my way out. All joking aside, I really wondered where Cora had gone and what had happened to her. The car was still parked under the house. If she went anywhere she had to be with someone else or she was walking. Maybe she had taken off down the beach.

“You need to walk faster,” he barked.

“I’m moving as fast as I can. I have short legs and they can’t cover as much ground as yours.”

“You’re talking too much. Shut up,” he snapped.

I felt like he was beginning to crack under the stress. I should keep up my talking. It would either make him angrier and he would try to hurt me or he would give up and let me go. I had to take the chance that it would work out to my advantage.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention again. This time it wasn’t a crab, although she was crabby sometimes. Dorothy was hiding behind one of the tall batches of seagrass. What was she doing here? I hoped that Garrett didn’t see her. I just wanted Dorothy to be safe. She put her index finger up to her mouth, warning me to keep quiet. As if I was going to say anything. I glanced to her right and spotted Morton. Garrett looked back at me. I smirked at him to throw him off so that he wouldn’t look over and see Dorothy and Morton.

He eyed me suspiciously and then yanked on my arm again. “Hurry up.”

What was Dorothy going to do? This was just going to get them hurt. Something else caught my attention to my right. Abby was hiding on the other side. Had they come together? Was she here to help me? When I spotted Cora in front of Abby I realized they might be working together.

But then Abby pulled out her gun and aimed it at Cora. “Put your hands up and don’t move.”

Cora thrust her hands in the air.

Dorothy burst out from behind the grass and aimed a gun at Garrett. “Let her go and I won’t shoot you.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Where had Dorothy gotten a gun?

“Why should I let her go? You won’t really use that thing,” Garret said with sarcasm in his voice. “I bet it’s not even real.”

Dorothy moved her aim away from Garrett and fired a shot. The sound of the bullet whizzed through the air.

“Dorothy,” I yelled. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to do that.”

I had to get that gun away from her.

“I’m not?” she asked.

“No.” .I shook my head.

It had worked though. Garrett didn’t make a move after releasing his grip on my arm

I ran over to Dorothy and Morton. “Dorothy, what are you doing here?”

“I came to save your patootie,” she said.

“Where did you get a gun?”

“It’s Morton’s.”

Morton nodded. “Evening, Maggie.”

“I’m not sure cataracts and guns are a good mix. Never mind,” I said with a wave of my hand.

Sirens and lights descended on the area. Jake jumped out of his car and ran toward me. Abby had placed Cora in handcuffs.

“I went by the pier looking for you. I had my suspicions about these two and wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t see you though,” Abby said.

“That’s because I was in the ocean,” I said.

That explained why I’d seen Abby walking away. They weren’t working together after all. She hadn’t been the one who pushed me in the water. Garrett had lured me there and Cora had pushed me in. That still didn’t explain why she had been so afraid of the men who had tried to run over her. I had to find out what that was all about.

“How did you end up here?” I asked.

“I had traced the fireworks back to the doctor, but he had been forced to buy them by Cora.”

“So he bought the fireworks that almost killed him?”

“It looks that way, yes,” Abby said.

“Why did you want to hide from the men who almost hit us?” I asked.

Jake stared at Abby too, as if he was really interested in her answer.

“I panicked, okay? Something happened. I can’t explain it and I don’t want to talk about it.” Abby turned and hurried away toward the police cars.

“Will she be okay?” I asked.

Jake nodded. “I’ll talk with her.”

“Maggie, what happened? I got your message and was trying to call you. Abby called for backup.”

“It’s a long story,” I said and then blew the hair out of my eyes.

He wrapped his arms around me. “I have plenty of time. Why don’t you tell me everything?”

***

Cora had hired me in the hopes that I would find someone else was the killer. She wanted to throw the police off her trail. She figured if I told Jake that someone else was the killer he would believe me. Cora had wanted to frame Dr. Dean for the murder. She’d even tricked him into buying the fireworks so she and Garrett could make the bomb. She’d only had an affair with him for the specific reason of framing him for this murder. Not to mention she was set to gain a sizeable amount of insurance money after her husband’s death.

Apparently Cora thought I was a bad detective and would completely miss the mark on solving the case. As if I wouldn’t track her down as the killer. Jake had been right all along. So far he hadn’t uttered an ‘I told you so’, and I was hoping he wouldn’t. I suppose I had wanted to believe Cora because I wanted to solve the case. It had been too easy to assume that she was really the killer.

Garrett had helped make the bombs. Cora and Garrett had slipped and left the fireworks packaging and receipt at Garrett’s place. They’d meant to plant those at the doctor’s house. Cora had grown impatient and angry with Dean when he questioned her about her husband’s death. She’d turned on him, reporting him for drugs that he didn’t have, and then trying to kill him too.

Jake had asked Dr. Dean Perriman why he’d tried to hit me with his car. He claimed he never did and that Dorothy overreacted when she’d pulled me out of the way. Actually, I could see Dorothy doing that. Dean had followed me because he’d been convinced that I was stalking him. I hoped that Abby would be all right. Jake said stress was getting to her and had caused her to freak out about the men who had almost hit us. She hadn’t known them, but the incident had made her panic.

So in the end cases didn’t always make sense when dealing with an evil mind. Someone willing to murder didn’t always make the most logical decisions. I’d learned that firsthand.

The End.