“Wow. Emma. Jeez, these are good.” Aubrey polished off her third lemon bar, licking the fingers of the hand not holding the gun. “You could’ve been a pastry chef, sincerely. The crust is so rich, and there’s just the right amount of sugar in them.”
“Thanks?” It was hard to sound sincerely appreciative when somebody had a gun aimed at my head.
“So your friend the photographer is on to me, too, huh?” she asked. “I saw you pull up and recognized the car from earlier today, of course. I knew you were onto something. I just knew it. You couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“I knew Robbie was innocent.”
“Robbie’s an idiot,” she spat. “Getting hooked up with James, then thinking he can just pull out at the last minute? How did he think this place was going to survive without somebody like James Flynn running the resort? Why didn’t he consider what it would mean to have somebody like James as an enemy? Because I assure you, he would’ve targeted my stupid husband after that. No doubt. This place would’ve tanked! I mean, everybody knows it takes years for a restaurant to turn a profit. He was willing to put our entire future on the line, and why? Because he’s such a good guy and didn’t wanna get wrapped up in something bad?” She gave an exaggerated pout before scoffing. “What a baby.”
“He didn’t tell you the details, did he? Only that he wanted out of their partnership.” I clutched the chair on which I sat, afraid to make a move in case Aubrey got trigger happy.
Please, Joe, please, be somewhere. Be available. Get here soon. I only hoped Deke would keep calling him.
“My husband? Share details with me? Please. But I was smarter than he thought. Isn’t that usually the way?”
“I guess so,” I whispered.
“Please. Don’t tell me those cops weren’t urging you to mind your business. I talked to Joe Sullivan about you today. He apologized, told me you were an amateur detective and thought you knew better than the cops. But you knew enough to look at me as a suspect.”
“Honestly? I thought it was your brother.” Why bother lying now? She had a gun pointed at me.
“That’s not fair,” she chided. “Just because he got in trouble years ago. But that’s just it. He needs this job. Now, he’s running things. I don’t know anything about the restaurant business, but he does. This is his big chance! I did this for him just as much as I did it for me. I had to look out for my own interests, since my husband wouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Robbie was trying to look out for you when he served James those papers. James was bankrupt, the books were sketchy at best, and Robbie was afraid he’d bankrupt the resort and leave you two holding the bag. You would end up being the ones to suffer for his poor decisions. That was why he wanted out of the partnership.”
She blinked.
She blinked again.
“What?” she finally whispered, the gun trembling. “No. That’s not true. That can’t be true.”
“I’m just saying, that’s what he told me. That was why he didn’t want to be partners with James. Not because James was a crook—which he was—but because Robbie knew he would do the same thing here. He already was! Yes, it was wrong that he didn’t share his concerns with you. But how was he supposed to know what you’d do?”
She sat on a barstool, not ten feet from me, and burst out laughing. “You’re kidding! Oh, jeez. That’s what I get for assuming things. But it doesn’t change the fact that my husband was an idiot for hooking up with him—against my advice, mind you—and that James would’ve done everything in his power to tank this restaurant to get back at him. So now, you could say I was protecting sweet Robbie, too. His beautiful dream.” She snorted, looking around. “I mean, it came out nicely. Kyle will run it well. He’ll make it a success.”
“How did you do it without getting blood all over yourself?” I had to know. I just had to.
And darned if she didn’t look proud of herself. “Well, for one thing, I put a couple of painkillers in James’s champagne earlier in the night. He was feeling very, very good toward the end there, I’d bet. Those things don’t mix, you know. You’ll notice, or you might have, that Robbie only took a tiny sip of his drink.”
“So he really was taking them heavily?”
“Ah, naw.” She waved her free hand. “I only told you that so you’d think he was out of his mind. He was taking them for back pain after an old injury. Stress exacerbates the pain, but that’s all. Only as much as he needed. Always playing it safe, my husband. Except when he didn’t. When he made terrible choices.”
“So you knew James would be a pushover because of the drugs and champagne.”
“Literally,” she snorted. “I pushed him over when I followed him outside. And he laughed, you know. He thought it was funny. He was so sleepy; he said that. No wonder, when he’d taken a couple of opiates along with alcohol. He was almost unconscious when I did it. One thrust of the knife and his eyes popped open, but it was too late. Bye-bye, scumbag. I grabbed the paperwork as an afterthought, but he hadn’t even signed it so it didn’t matter, really.”
“Why weren’t your prints on the knife?”
“Duh. I wore gloves from the kitchen. I’m not a doofus. Haven’t you figured that out by now? I thought this through.”
“Obviously. You fooled just about everybody.”
“Just about.” She waved the gun. “Come on. I think you’re going for a swim.”
“I didn’t wear my suit.”
“Ha, ha. Move.” She was in front of me in an instant, hauling me to my feet.
“Jeez, you’re strong,” I observed.
“Yeah, once I added weight training to my workouts, that made all difference. It totally transformed my body.” She yanked me toward the doors leading out to the patio and pool. “You’re slim enough, but you could use some toning. Well, too late now.”
“What are you gonna do? Shoot me and leave me on the beach? I mean, that’s going to look suspicious, isn’t it?”
“You’re going to drown, dummy. I’m going to make you swim out as far as you can, and you’re going to drown. Or else I’ll shoot you. I’m an excellent shot.”
It was dark, with only a sliver of a moon. But the lights from the sign atop the hotel tower provided enough illumination that she’d be able to see me in the water.
“It’s still going to look suspicious, no matter how I died,” I warned her. “My car is here.”
“I’ll get rid of it.”
“Deke knows I was coming. So does my best friend. You won’t get away with it.”
“That’s what you think. I’ve gotten away with it so far.” She dragged me toward the dunes. I could hear the waves crashing further ahead, just like I’d heard them that fateful night.
This was another fateful night, wasn’t it? I was going to drown. Even if I tried to swim away in the dark, she could follow me down the beach. I’d eventually tire, cramp up, go under. What a stupid way to die, but I was the one who’d be stupid enough to drive up with a plate of lemon bars and no backup.
“Come on.” She led me to the water’s edge, where it lapped up onto the sand. Cold, of course, since it was still April. I shivered as it swirled around my ankles.
“Keep moving,” she ordered, nudging me with the gun in my back. “Go. Get out there. Don’t bother trying to fight because you know I could take you down in a heartbeat. Too much time baking, not enough working out.”
“I get it. You’re super great at lifting weights. Jeez.” That got me another poke in the back with the gun, and I took another step into the water. Then another one, shivering and on the verge of tears. Was this really happening? Was I going to die this way?
No. I wasn’t. I couldn’t go down without a fight. It was time to put those self-defense classes to use.
And the freezing cold water, too.
I turned, bending, and scooped up as much water and sand as I could hold before throwing it in Aubrey’s face. She shrieked, her free hand going to her eyes.
I grabbed her wrist, pointing the gun upward. She squeezed the trigger and it went off, making me jump. At least it wasn’t pointed at me.
We fell into the water, shrieking at the cold and at each other. I took a handful of her hair and thrust her head under the surface while trying as hard as I could to get the gun out of her hand. When the water receded, she sputtered and cursed and elbowed me in the ribs hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs.
She took advantage, throwing herself at me, knocking me onto my back. No matter what, I was not about to let go of her wrist.
Not even when another wave rolled in and covered my face. I kicked and squirmed, holding my breath, pushing on her arm so she couldn’t lower it to fire at me. But I was getting weaker all the time.
“Aubrey Klein! This is the Paradise City Police Department!” A floodlight found us, blinding me with its brilliance. “Drop the weapon!”
I knew that voice, coming through the bullhorn. So somebody found Detective Joe, after all.
I also knew the man who dashed over moments later and pulled me to my feet.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, dazed and waterlogged and soaking wet and shaking as Deke wrapped me in his very warm arms.
“I was on my way down from my parents’ house when I called. You hung up before I had the chance to tell you. I finally got a hold of Joe, and he told me to meet him here.”
“Not a moment too soon,” I observed, teeth chattering as he led me away from the water while two police officers took Aubrey into custody.
“Emma Harmon.” Joe Sullivan looked me up and down before wrapping me in a blanket which I very deeply appreciated just then. “You’re determined to be the death of me, aren’t you?”
“Or the death of myself,” I tried to joke. “It was nice hearing you yell at Aubrey and not me just now, though.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “I have to admit, nobody noticed the sand on Aubrey Klein’s feet in that photo. Excellent detective work,” he said to Deke, shaking his hand.
“And Robbie will be free now?” I asked, watching Aubrey as the police led her to a waiting car.
“As soon as the paperwork is processed,” Joe promised. “I can’t imagine it’ll be easy for him, finding out his wife framed him for murder.”
I hadn’t thought of it in so many words until then, and hearing it from Joe brought tears to my eyes. She’d framed my friend, somebody she was supposed to love.
I wished I’d had the chance to drown her.
“Come on,” Joe beckoned. “Let’s get you into the ambulance and to the hospital to get checked out.”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s procedure when somebody is half-drowned,” he assured me. “Imagine how much more work I’d have to do if you ended up getting sick because we were negligent.”
“Ha, ha.” I looked over my shoulder to where Deke stood, hands in his pockets. “I guess I won’t be seeing you tomorrow,” I called out, a little sad.
“You never know,” he replied with a grin. I wondered what that meant.
Joe helped me into the ambulance, standing outside as I settled onto a gurney. “I called your father, and he’s on his way,” he explained.
“Oof. I can’t wait to get an earful from him,” I groaned, shivering in spite of the blanket.
“Yeah, well. Sometimes when people make us angry, it’s because we care and don’t wanna see them get hurt. Just… keep that in mind.” He held my gaze for a long moment in which I forgot to breathe before taking a step back. “Be more careful from now on, Miss Harmon.”
“Will do, Detective Sullivan.” I watched him return to his team, where he barked orders like the tough cookie he was.
But even the toughest cookies could have a soft center. I suspected he was one of them.