Just because I headed off to bed didn’t mean that the action was over for the evening. Far from it. Honestly, if I was correct, things were just about to heat up.
All told, it was a couple of hours before any usual activity took place.
The suspicious action began at my back door.
At first, my handle jiggled. An intruder was in the backyard, attempting to pick the lock of my door. It took the intruder a few attempts, but they were finally able to open the door.
Once the lock was picked, the intruder slowly tiptoed through my dark kitchen.
From there, they made their way to my living room. When they saw that I wasn’t there, they began to walk down my hallway.
The entire time, they remained incredibly quiet. It was actually pretty impressive how silent they were able to remain.
When the intruder reached the end of the hallway, they turned left and entered my bedroom.
That was when things got really hairy.
The intruder made their way over to the side of my bed.
At that point, they stopped.
Suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice say, “Where’s this piece of evidence that you’re going to show the detective?”
A few seconds of silence went by.
The woman spoke up again. “I said, where’s the evidence?”
The intruder then reached over and turned on the lamp that was on top of my bedside table.
With the light now on, I could clearly see that the intruder was Betsy. She was holding a gun in her hand.
While Betsy thought that she had me right where she wanted me, she was in for a serious surprise.
As she looked at my bed, she quickly realized that I wasn’t curled up under my covers. In fact, I wasn’t in bed at all. When Betsy pulled back my comforter, all she found was a collection of pillows under my sheets.
Under the cover of darkness, those pillows had given the illusion that I was in bed.
In reality, I had been standing in the corner, waiting to sneak up behind her.
That was what I did right then.
I moved behind Betsy and placed the barrel of the gun that I was holding against the back of her head.
I then spoke up. “There was no evidence. It was all just a trick,” I said. “At least, there was no evidence tying you to the murder…until you broke into my house.”
Betsy’s body began to tremble. She knew that she was in deep trouble now.
I continued, “Don’t move a muscle or I’ll shoot you.”
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Betsy said.
Even though Betsy’s reply was defiant, her voice cracked as she spoke.
“Do you really want to test me? Especially given the fact that your life is on the line?”
Betsy didn’t say a word.
“Put your gun down,” I demanded.
Betsy didn’t follow my orders. She remained still.
I stared at the gun that she was holding in her right hand.
I raised my voice. “Don’t make me ask again. Put the gun down. Now!”
It took a few seconds, but Betsy reluctantly dropped her gun.
I then reached over and grabbed it.
I didn’t want her to try any funny business.
“All right. Now, turn around,” I said.
Betsy let out a groan. Once again, she didn’t follow my orders.
“Don’t make me repeat myself again,” I said.
Betsy slowly turned around.
“You’re a maniac, you know that? You killed Connor. Then you broke into my house to kill me. And you almost pulled it off. Until I outsmarted you.”
“Don’t you mean that you got lucky?”
I shook my head. “No. This had nothing to do with luck. I set this trap, and you fell right into it,” I said. “It’s a good thing too, because you are psychopath.”
“No. I’m just a woman who was betrayed.”
“Is that how you explain all of this? So, did Connor tell you that he was going to leave Amy for you? And instead, when Amy found out about your affair, Connor broke this off with you to try to win Amy back? Is that the betrayal you’re talking about?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“No, but I can put the pieces together. For example, I’ll bet you were the so-called neighbor who placed the call to the police on the night of the murder. Amy was the perfect scapegoat. After all, she got into an argument with Connor shortly before his death and sped away from his house in a huff,” I said. “When the police wrongfully arrested her for the crime, you probably thought that you’d get away with murder. Then I started poking my head around, asking questions. At that point, you knew you needed to take action. Especially when you heard my TV interview. It would just be one more murder. Then you could skip town. Am I right?”
Betsy stared me down, but she didn’t say a word.
“Don’t want to answer me? Fine. I already know the truth. You’re a lunatic. And you’re going to be spending the rest of your life behind bars. Kiss your freedom good-bye,” I said.
***
Like that, the case was over. My job was done. Not only had I proven that Amy was innocent, but I had also caught Connor’s real killer. What a crazy case. And a wild evening. Right then, it was impossible to overstate how grateful I was. After all, I managed to get through this without a single scratch on me. That was no small feat. I was definitely blessed. And I would be counting my blessings for a very long time.
The End.
Shortcake, Surprises, and Secrets
Chapter One
“What a crazy week,” I said.
As a private investigator, my life was rarely boring. In fact, sometimes it was downright wild. Even so, I wasn’t used to things being this crazy in my small town.
Majestic Cove was a small tourist town on the Pacific Coast. During the offseason, it was often a relatively sleepy place.
That made the events of the last seven days even more shocking. A murder had occurred. The local police, including my good friend, Detective Scott Webster, had conducted an investigation. Amy Dearborn was then arrested for the crime.
A few days later, I received a frantic phone call from Amy. She wanted to hire me to prove that the police were wrong. She insisted that she was innocent. My job was to track down the real killer.
At first, I wasn’t sure if I could pull that off. Much to my surprise, I discovered that Amy was correct. Someone else had killed Connor Taggart. After a tense investigation, I managed to uncover the identity of the real murderer. In addition, I was able to set a trap that led to the apprehension of the killer.
With the guilty party in custody, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. A weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. It felt so good knowing that a maniac was off of the streets.
It was safe to say that of all of the cases that I had worked on over the years, this one had the most satisfying ending. After all, I briefly wondered if I was in over my head. The stakes had certainly been high enough.
Right then, I knew how lucky I was to be alive. Although my plan ended up succeeding, it could have seriously backfired. In fact, going into the evening, there was a pretty decent probability that it would blow up in my face.
Since it didn’t, it was important for me to thank God for my safety. The Lord had answered my prayers, and I was incredibly grateful for that.
While my health was my top priority, there were other consideration at that moment. I couldn’t help but think about my client.
Now that Connor’s killer had been arrested, it would only be a matter of time before Amy was set free. She wouldn’t have to worry about prison anymore. She could have her life back.
Before that happened, however, there was an interesting wrinkle that needed to be dealt with.
Detective Scott Webster and I had been on opposing sides of this case from the beginning. For the longest time, he truly believed that Amy was guilty. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have arrested her.
However, he was wrong. The question became, how would he react to the fact that I had been the one to solve this case? Would he just be happy that the case was now closed? That the real killer was in custody? Or would he have hard feelings?
Detectives often had big egos. They could be very prideful. Even though that had not been my experience with Scott over the years, would this be an exception?
I had my worries. No one liked to be proven wrong. I knew that our conversation could go a number of different ways. I was really hoping that it wouldn’t be awkward.
One thing was clear. Scott had an amazing poker face. I wasn’t able to get a good read on his mood. Since I was in the dark about what he was feeling, I decided to let him make the first move.
“That was some great work you did there,” Scott said.
So much for the conversation being awkward. He could not have been more complimentary of me.
“Don’t you mean, that was some incredible luck that I just had?” I replied.
“I’m not going to lie. You are very fortunate that the situation played out how it did.”
“Is that another way of saying that I’m lucky to still be alive?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Trust me. I’m well-aware of that. In fact, I’m not going to play the lottery for a while because I think I just used up the last of my good luck,” I said.
“You could be right. Then again, perhaps you’re luckier than you think. This could be the beginning of a hot streak for you.”
“I doubt that. I’m definitely not going to push my luck.”
“That’s probably a wise move,” Scott said. “Either way, you were right about Amy being innocent.”
I nodded.
Scott stared at me, expecting me to say something.
When I didn’t, he broke the silence between us.
“Isn’t this the part where you say I told you so?” Scott asked.
I shook my head. “No. This is the part where I breathe a huge sigh of relief.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’re really not going to rub it in that you were right and I was wrong?”
“No.”
“Wow. That’s refreshing.”
“What can I say? Gloating has never been my thing.”
“I realize that. But this is a very unique case.”
I put my hand up. “A very frustrating case. Which is why I’m just so happy that this investigation is finally over.”
“I hear you. And we can both agree on that.”
“Honestly, right now, I just want to put this all behind me and never think about it again.”
“Do you really think it’s going to be that easy to put this all behind you?”
“Probably not, but I can dream.”
“Of all the things you could dream about, what an interesting thing to pick.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of dreams. This is just one of many.”
“What else is on the list?”
“Peace,” I said. “That’s actually at the top of the list. I just want things to settle down around here.”
“You and me both. I certainly didn’t have a case like this in mind when I moved back to Majestic Cove.”
“Wait. Did you really think you’d end up living a quiet and simple life?”
“I was hoping for that to happen, even if I knew the odds were slim.”
“So, is that the only reason you came back?”
“I’m not sure this is the right time or place for that conversation.”
“Why? Is the answer to that question really long and complicated?”
“How about we get into that some other time?”
“Fine. Pick the time.”
He chuckled. “You really are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”
“You should be thankful for that.”
“That’s an interesting perspective.”
“Think of it like this. If I wasn’t so stubborn, the killer would probably still be at-large.”
Scott’s eyebrows rose. “What a terrifying thought.”
“It sure is. Which is why I’m so happy that this case is finally over.”
“By the way, thanks again for everything you did. I really appreciate it.”
“Hey, I was just doing my job.”
“You’re remarkably humble, you know that?”
“What can I say? It doesn’t seem right to brag. Especially when things could have easily blow up in my face.”
“Let me tell you, I’m so relieved that they didn’t.”
“You and me both. I’m counting my blessings.”
He scratched his chin. “I wonder how many blessings you have left.”
“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I’d really love to take a vacation,” I said.
“Where do you want to go?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not picky. Any place that is relaxing and peaceful would be great.”
“Rest and relaxation does sound pretty wonderful.”
“Unfortunately, vacations cost money. And I don’t have a lot of that sitting around.”
“Neither do I.”
“That’s a shame. I was hoping you were going to treat me with a nice trip,” I joked.
“I’m afraid I can’t help you there,” he said. “The best I could do is some dinner.”
“That works for me. I’m not going to turn down free food.”
“Oh, I think you misunderstood me. I was talking about in the future. Not now.”
I became deflated. “Oh.”
“It’s just that I have some work to do back at the police station.”
“Right. Of course,” I replied. “Don’t worry. I’m a patient woman. I can wait a day or two.”
“Good.”
“After all, I’ve been waiting a number of weeks for you to explain what brought you back to Majestic Cove,” I said.
“You’re not going to drop that, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Let me tell you. The answer isn’t nearly as fascinating as you seem to think it is.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“All right. It’s settled then. When the smoke is finally clear with this case, I’ll take you out to dinner.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Same here. In the meantime, I need to be getting back to the police station.”
“What a coincidence. That’s exactly where I’m headed too.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Is that so?”
“Naturally,” I said.
He squinted. “Why? What business do you have there?”
“I’m going to be there when you set Amy free. I want to see the look on her face,” I said. “That will be an incredible moment.”
Chapter Two
As expected, Amy Dearborn’s expression was priceless. When Scott let Amy out of her jail cell, she wanted to do one thing more than any other. She headed for the front door of the police station and took a step outside. Getting some fresh air was her top priority. With good reason. She had been trapped in a cell for days. Talk about a claustrophobic environment. Prison was what nightmares were made of.
Being outside was a small thing, but it made such a big difference in her life. Not just because the scenery was different. Or because the air wasn’t stale like it was in prison.
What really defined the moment for her was the fact that she could do whatever she wanted. She could get up and move around. She didn’t have any restrictions. She was free.
After taking a few deep breaths, she turned around and gave me a big hug. Not just any hug, though. She held me incredibly tight.
“Thank you so much,” she said.
As she pulled back from the hug, it looked like she was going to break into tears. Not of sadness, but of joy. Ultimately, she managed to keep herself from crying, but just barely.
“You’re very welcome,” I said.
“I c
an’t believe it. You really did it. You got me out of there.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am,” Amy replied. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know I hired you to prove my innocence, but I also knew that I was asking a lot from you. As I was sitting in my cell, I had to be honest with myself about the possibility that I might spend the rest of my life in jail.”
“What a terrifying scenario.”
“It sure was. But thanks to you, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I have my life back.”
“How great does that feel?”
“You have no idea what a relief it is.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Suddenly, I’m looking at life in a completely different light. I feel like I have a second chance. And I’m not going to take that for granted.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
“I’m also going to pay you back for everything that you did for me.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Yes, it is. I owe you.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“Melody, your work is the only reason that I’m not in prison right now. That can’t be overstated.”
“If you say so.”
“Seriously. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”
“I don’t suppose you have the money to treat me to a Hawaiian vacation, do you?” I asked.
Amy shook her head.
“That’s what I figured,” I said.
“But I can start saving up.”
“That’s not necessary,” I said. “The real question is, what are you going to do now that you’re out of jail?”
Amy stared off into the distance. “I’m going to take a beach day, that’s for sure.”
“Good call. It’s hard to go wrong with a relaxing day at the beach.”
“After that, I’m going to start packing.”
“For what? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to leave Majestic Cove for good.”
My eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
Amy nodded. “Absolutely. I’m leaving this town for good and I’m never going to look back.”
“I can’t say that I blame you.”
“It just seems like it’s the only way to carry on. I mean, I can’t just go back to life as normal. To return to my house. My job. My simple life here. I need to do more.”
Majestic Cove Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 4
