by Carrie Doyle
“Thank you.”
When Plum left, she felt refreshed and salubrious just from having been in the spa. Maybe she would book herself a massage before she left town. Juan Kevin was leaning against the wall outside, glancing at his phone. He looked up when she came in.
“I think Leslie was hiding her face because she’d just had a procedure,” said Plum.
“That would make sense as to why she wouldn’t want anyone to see her.”
“Yes,” said Plum.
When the elevator door opened on the third floor, there was a security guard standing in the hallway, and Juan Kevin briefly conferred with him before explaining to Plum that he had one stationed on every floor now. When they reached the door of Jason and Kirstie’s room, the golf pro, Tony Spira, was exiting. He greeted Juan Kevin and Plum warmly.
“I wanted to check on Jason and his fiancée and make sure they were okay,” he said.
“That’s what we’re doing too,” said Plum.
“Do you have any idea who did that to Deepak? Or Nick? Any clues?” Tony asked eagerly, his eyes moving from Juan Kevin to Plum’s faces.
“They are working on it,” replied Juan Kevin.
“But they still don’t know?” asked Tony.
“Not as of yet,” said Plum.
“I’m sure it will be resolved quickly,” said Juan Kevin.
Plum looked at Tony curiously. He appeared awfully interested in the case. “Do you have any ideas? Did anything come back to you?”
“Me?” he exclaimed. “No, I don’t know anything. I only hope this will be over. I must run now; I have a lesson.”
He was about to leave when Juan Kevin detained him.
“Quick question,” said Juan Kevin.
Tony stopped.
“Why did you tell Jason and those guys that it was Cindy’s birthday?”
Tony’s eyes moved from Juan Kevin to Plum before he responded. “It was an excuse. I use it when I don’t want to go out with clients or guests. People ask me all the time, and I can’t burn the candle at both ends. They take it better when I say that it’s my fiancée’s birthday.”
“I see,” said Plum.
When he was out of earshot, Plum whispered to Juan Kevin, “Was he acting fishy or am I paranoid?”
“Normally I would say you were acting paranoid, but these days I don’t know who to trust,” said Juan Kevin.
***
Once again Kirstie and Jason were not thrilled to see them. Jason snorted a contemptuous hello and Kirstie gave them a nasty look.
“I’m not even bothering to talk to you,” said Kirstie. She was wearing one of those rompers that children wear but are also fashionable with skinny adults. Jason was in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with the cuffs rolled up.
“That’s fine,” said Juan Kevin. “We came to make sure you were okay.”
“As my friends are all dying or being attacked, that question is redundant,” snapped Jason.
Kirstie held up a finger at Jason. “Don’t even listen to them. Pretend they aren’t here.”
“We need them to get us out of here,” said Jason. He sat at the table, tapping his foot nervously and drinking a cup of coffee. He appeared jumpy, and his face was drawn.
“Daddy will do that,” she said.
Plum noticed there was a large scratch on Jason’s forearm. He saw where she was looking and quickly rolled down the sleeves of his shirt.
“What happened to your arm?” asked Plum.
“Nothing.”
“It looks scratched.”
“It’s not,” he said. He glared at her.
“Can I see?” asked Juan Kevin.
Jason sighed and pulled up his shirt. There were definite scratch marks there. “It’s from golfing. My ball landed in the bushes, and I got a little scraped up recovering it.”
Plum didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t buying it.
“Why did you wear a blond wig when you arrived?” asked Juan Kevin.
Kirstie rolled her eyes. “I always experiment with new looks. Why do you care?”
“When you spy on your fiancé?” asked Plum.
“What’s this about?” inquired Jason, confused.
“Ignore them,” Kirstie repeated. She began flipping through her phone. “Oh, this is darling, Jasonie. Lila posted a picture down by that cute tree. I want to take one of us there.”
“I took that picture,” said Plum.
Kirstie rolled her eyes at her and didn’t bother to respond. The conversation had deteriorated, and there was nothing they could do.
“We will leave you to it,” said Juan Kevin.
“Whatever,” said Jason.
When they were in the elevator, Plum pulled out her own phone and went to Instagram. Lila had said her handle was @SomethingVeryWhite, and Plum quickly found it. She clicked on the first picture to admire her own photography skills. It was a nice picture, despite the fact that Lila was not a good person. She used her fingers to enlarge the photo, and then suddenly her stomach dropped.
“Juan Kevin, do you see what I see?” she asked.
She showed him the picture.
“Yes, that’s Martin in the background.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. Lila is wearing an engagement ring.”
“Right. It’s very big,” he said, examining the large, emerald-cut diamond adorning her slender finger.
“But she wasn’t wearing one before.”
“Maybe they got engaged here?”
“It appears so.”
“What are you implying?”
“You remember what Carmen told us? She said Nick was currently pulling a prank on his friend who was very mad because it would call off his engagement. We assumed she was talking about Jason and Kirstie. But what if he was talking about AJ and Lila?”
Juan Kevin nodded. “It’s possible.”
“And remember Joby, the chef from the restaurant, said that he heard Nick saying to his friend that there was no way the wedding would take place. And the friend said that Nick was just jealous, that he wanted the girl for himself.”
“And then they almost got in a fight,” added Juan Kevin.
“That could have been AJ,” said Plum.
“I think you’re on to something.”
The elevator doors opened, but Plum pressed three again, and they began to ascend. “We need to ask Jason and Kirstie about them.”
Once more, they were received with repugnance when they knocked on Jason and Kirstie’s door.
“What is it now?” he asked somberly.
“What was Nick’s relationship with Lila and AJ?” asked Plum.
“I don’t know,” said Jason. He ran his hand through his tousled hair.
“Think,” demanded Plum.
“Nick and Lila used to date. Like briefly. He broke up with her, and then she started dating AJ.”
“Was she still interested in Nick?” asked Juan Kevin.
“I don’t know. I mean, she seemed kind of flirty with him at the bar that night, but I didn’t really think anything of it,” said Jason.
Kirstie came and poked her head out from behind Jason. “They got engaged while they were here, so I hardly think she was pining for Nick,” Kirstie said.
“But maybe she was, but then Nick was dead,” said Plum.
“Is it possible that Nick was kissing Lila? That she came back to Casa Mango on the night of Nick’s death?” asked Juan Kevin.
Jason started to shake his head but then stopped. “You know, Deepak told me he thought the voice he heard when Nick came home late at night was Lila’s, but I told him he was insane.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that?” Plum blurted out. “It would have been very helpful.”
“You think Lila killed Nick?” a
sked Kirstie.
“No. I think AJ killed Nick. And then AJ tried to kill Deepak because he knew what he had done,” said Plum.
On the elevator down, Plum swiped through Lila’s Instagram again. There was a picture of her a few days earlier wearing the dangling turquoise earrings. Plum held it up to Juan Kevin.
“We need to go now,” said Juan Kevin.
They raced out of the hotel, with Juan Kevin alerting his staff through his walkie-talkie and telling them to notify Captain Diaz and the police. He described the minivan and told them to get the license plate number from the hotel. Plum sat shotgun while Juan Kevin drove. They flew out of the resort gates in hot pursuit of AJ. As luck would have it, the narrow road that led from the resort to the highway was clogged with cars and foot traffic. In front of them was one of those old, gas-guzzling trucks that would fail an emissions test in the United States. It was stacked with chicken coops in the back.
“Honk,” commanded Plum.
“What’s the point? They will just stop and get out of the car and come over to find out what the deal is. It will slow us down.”
They waited until they had cleared the small road—after having to refuse peddlers selling warm bottled water, bananas, and sliced melon. Juan Kevin gunned the accelerator as soon as they reached the highway. He was an adept driver, although Plum felt as if she were a passenger in a video game as they nipped in and out of traffic. She clung to the handle above the passenger door, silently praying. When Juan Kevin came dangerously close to going head-on with an oncoming motorcycle, she thought she might lose it.
“Let’s slow down. Honestly, we can detain them at the airport.”
“I don’t want them to clear customs. Then they are officially out of the country. I need to catch them before they get there.”
“And you don’t trust the airport police?”
“They can be a bit…lackadaisical.”
“Ah, the tranquilo approach.”
“Exactly.”
Juan Kevin pulled his car right up to the front of the busy departure terminal of the international airport and put it in park. He pulled a placard that said Las Frutas Security out of his glove compartment and placed it on his dashboard.
“That means you can park here?” asked Plum skeptically.
“No one will question anything that looks official.”
“You won’t even get a ticket?”
Juan Kevin shook his head. “No. Paraisons don’t like to make a fuss. They are very straightforward people. If you say you can park there, they will not question.”
“Good to know.”
They ran into the airport terminal and scanned the area, with Plum looking to the left and Juan Kevin to the right. He motioned the airport police to come over and spoke to them briskly in Spanish.
“There!” she said, pointing.
AJ and Lila were at the first-class Air Paraiso counter. He was talking to the customer service agent, and Lila was taking selfies. Plum and Juan Kevin went running toward them, the newly arrived police following. AJ glanced over and saw them then instantly took flight. He jumped over his luggage and then knocked over the poles that separate lanes before attempting to flee. Lila turned, as if in slow motion, and then for no apparent reason, let out a bloodcurdling scream at the top of her lungs. This sent the crowd into panic mode. People quickly dispersed—some jumped behind counters for cover, and others lay down on the ground with their hands over their heads.
AJ ran toward the exit, the sliding glass doors opening in time, and started running through the incoming traffic. Juan Kevin and Plum followed him out to the parking lot. He began dodging behind cars, with Juan Kevin yelling at him to freeze. The police spread out, and they finally cornered him by the ticket booth in the lot.
“Clearly a man without a plan,” muttered Plum.
“Don’t shoot!” said AJ, putting his hands in the air.
“It’s okay, we don’t carry guns,” said a young police officer.
“Don’t tell him that!” hissed Plum. “He’ll run away.”
“You need to surrender, AJ,” said Juan Kevin. “I’m coming toward you. I need you to get on your knees with your hands behind your back.”
AJ did as he was told. Juan Kevin motioned for a police officer to handcuff AJ.
“Why?” Plum asked AJ.
“I didn’t want to kill Nick,” he said. “That’s not true. I did. He was arrogant. He didn’t care who he hurt. He knew I loved Lila, but he had a hold on her, and every time he beckoned, she came running.”
“Maybe it’s Lila you should have killed,” deadpanned Plum.
Juan Kevin gave her a disapproving look. “And why did you attack Deepak?”
“Because he knew. When we were at the bar, Nick was flirting with Lila. I overheard him telling her that she should dump me. I was planning on proposing to her that night. I confronted Nick, but he just laughed at me, said Lila could do better. Lila and I left, and I heard her sneak out at night. I followed her. She went to meet Nick. I saw them kissing. When she left, I killed Nick. He deserved it. And then Deepak started to put two and two together later. He knew I had been mad at Nick. He said he heard Lila in the house. I had to get rid of him too. But then you came in.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?” asked Plum.
“I thought maybe Juan Kevin would be coming. I needed to get out of there.”
“Did Lila know?” asked Plum.
“No,” said AJ. “She had nothing to do with this. She’s the most perfect thing in my life.”
“She’s shallow and vain. Not to mention that I’d have fired her if she worked for me. I don’t think she’s worth life imprisonment,” said Plum.
“Oh yes, she is,” he said, thrusting his lantern jaw into a defiant setting. “She’s an angel.”
Chapter 27
After the initial excitement, the next couple of hours were full of tedium. In movies, once the killer has been caught, it cuts to a scene of everyone celebrating over a pint of beer or champagne, with the dubious police captain reluctantly congratulating the rogue civilian who apprehended the criminal. In reality, it was a lot of waiting around and red tape.
Plum and Juan Kevin had to remain in the stifling heat of the diesel-fumed parking lot until Captain Diaz and his team arrived. They had given their statements ad nauseum, but then some other official with an unclear role would appear and demand a rehash. The only sliver of entertainment was when Lila was detained by the police and brought outside. Once she observed her betrothed handcuffed in the back of a dented police car, she unleashed a rant directed at him full of expletives that would make a grandmother blush. AJ hung his head. At first the police and airport security watched Lila’s tirade with unease that manifested in paralysis. But when she became a broken record, they took her to a secondary location, where no doubt she would be forced to sit through hours of inane questioning. Plum hoped she would take some selfies in police headquarters. She made sure to follow Lila on Instagram.
“I told you this was murder,” grunted Captain Diaz when he arrived.
“No, you didn’t,” protested Plum. “I told you it was murder.”
This led to a ridiculous back-and-forth that Juan Kevin ultimately kiboshed.
“No more murders,” Captain Diaz said, wagging his finger in her face as he went to interview AJ. “I don’t want you stirring up trouble in Paraiso.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Plum sniffed. “I’m leaving town.”
He nodded. “Ah, that’s a shame. But I suspected you would have a hard time adapting to a place like Paraiso.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she said, riled.
“You want things snap, snap, snap,” he said, snapping his fingers to show her what he meant. “But life here is slower. We like to enjoy the moment.”
“I enjoy lots of moments,”
said Plum, but as she said it, she fathomed it wasn’t true. She had spent years looking ahead, always pushing to ascend the corporate ladder. But had she enjoyed herself? Or was she more like Kirstie, who snapped her fingers to get what she wanted? To silence people? Or Lila, who was always looking at her phone trying to stage the moment rather than experience the moment? It made her shudder. “You know what? Perhaps you’re right.”
Captain Diaz’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You agree?”
“Yes,” conceded Plum. “I think I do need to…mellow out a bit.”
Captain Diaz nodded. “You will be surprised at how much pleasure you will get out of life with a new perspective.”
“That would be a refreshing change,” she said.
Juan Kevin murmured his agreement.
***
Plum persuaded Juan Kevin to drive to the hospital to check on Deepak. He was sitting up, a bandage on his head but otherwise intact. Kirstie and Jason were by his bedside.
“How are you feeling?” asked Plum.
“I’m better,” Deepak said, his voice raspy. “Thanks for saving me.”
“It’s the least she could do,” snapped Kirstie. “She’s responsible for you being here. Plum almost had you killed.”
“That’s not true, Kirstie,” protested Jason.
Kirstie glared at him then turned to Plum. “It’s absolutely true. You’re as inept at being a travel agent as you were at being an editor.”
“Villa broker,” murmured Plum.
“Whatever, you’re pathetic,” sneered Kirstie. “I can’t even believe you ran a magazine. I don’t know anyone in publishing who would be caught dead with that hairdo and in those sandals.”
“Hey…” said Juan Kevin.
“That’s really rude, Kirstie,” said Jason sharply. “I don’t think you should talk to her like that.”
Kirstie put up her finger to silence Jason. He stopped talking and gazed at her. Then he raised his hand and slowly pushed her finger down.
“You know what, Kirstie? I don’t like the way you talk to me either. You’re very rude.”
“What did you just say?” she exploded.
“You heard me,” said Jason. “You’re a spoiled brat. And I’m sorry it took all this for me to realize that. I don’t want to marry you. Give me my ring back.”
