“We’ll work it out, Alex.”
“But that’s not all of it,” he continued.
She stared at him. Was it the stress? Whatever it was, he seemed to be deep in his own thoughts. Hopefully, he couldn’t see the look of confusion she was struggling so hard to hide.
“Go on …”
“There’s something funny going on with the bank. Something more than funny, something downright scary.”
It was doubtful that Alex had found out about Joe, so what could the problem be?
“You know how I told you I kept a copy of all my deposit slips and receipts?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Well, I went through them all and it was just like I said, the money had been put into my account like it should have.”
Mara leaned forward with her elbows resting on the table as Alex talked.
“When we got back—Emily and me—there was a lien placed against the Driftfeather for not just the amount that you put in to cover what they said I didn’t pay, but also for the next check I know I sent in, and …” he said, pausing for emphasis, “and for my original down payment on the seiner, which as you know, came to close to $54,000. That with the $90,000 I financed put my share of the seiner at—well, exactly at $143, 750. I put another forty grand into it on upgrades—the skiff, fishing gear, and so on.”
Mara was puzzled.
“I wonder why I didn’t get a copy of that notice?”
“Me, too,” Alex replied.
“So the lien is for around $180,000?” she asked, barely able to contain the adrenaline that was surging inside her.
“About that—plus or minus a few dollars,” Alex answered.
He took a sip of coffee and then got up and paced around her deck before sitting back down, putting his face into his hands, and then looking right at her as he said, “Mara, you need to trust that I put all the money in there just like I said.”
Just then his phone rang and he excused himself before stepping inside to talk. She was surprised that he even carried the cell phone, much less answered it while he was visiting. She had never known him to be a gadget-loving person. She watched him talk, his body language telling her that the call was urgent.
While he was talking, she walked to the railing and watched a couple of otters float by. What the heck was going on? Alex was not a liar nor had he ever given any indication that he was a thief. She had deposited some of her own money to cover the alleged loss—money that Alex now wanted to subtract from the $143,000-plus that was his share of the boat’s purchase as part of the deal on selling the Driftfeather back to her, so the buyback he was proposing seemed fair and well thought out. The whole situation with the lien that had been placed on the Driftfeather had come as a shock to her, though, so how was it that Alex had had time to think this all through already? She grabbed another cup of coffee when she saw him coming back out, but before she could sit back down, he said, “I’ve got to go.”
He was out the door before she could prompt him for an explanation. She heard the door to his cabin bang shut and heard him speaking loudly to both Emily and her brother, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps rushing down the boardwalk. Thor growled as the footsteps slowed and then stopped in front of her cabin. She started to go for her gun, but it was in the drawer in her bedroom and she wanted to lock her door first.
“Stay inside, Mara,” she heard Alex call, but not before her door flew open and someone grabbed her and spun her around, holding a gun to her head.
“Lessis!”
“Let her go,” Alex said, bursting through the door right behind him with his own gun drawn.
“Not on your life, Winron, you slimy punk,” Lessis growled.
Jerking Mara’s arm more tightly against her back, Lessis hissed, “Gimme the keys to your skiff.”
“It’s right down there—through the trap door,” she said, trying to look behind her. “You don’t need keys to start …”
Thor growled again.
“Call the mutt off or I’ll put a bullet between his eyes. Now!”
“Thor! Sit! Lie down!” Mara screamed, surprised when Thor minded on the first call.
“Let her go, Lessis,” Alex called.
“Put your gun down and back slowly out of here,” Lessis demanded. “Do it before I lose my patience if you’re as smart as you think you are.”
Alex lowered his gun and backed off.
“Now shut the door behind you,” Lessis barked, watching as Alex closed the door.
Mara was trembling.
“Get down in the skiff,” Lessis commanded, but just as she started down the ladder, her foot slipped causing her to fall into the water where she landed beside one of the pilings, uninjured.
Gulping for air, she slid under the water, hoping that Lessis couldn’t see her, and waited until she thought her lungs would explode, coming up just as Lessis roared away in her skiff. Just then, she saw Alex and another man roar off in his skiff and saw one of them raise a gun and fire.
“Thor!” She screamed. “Thor!”
Thor was there within seconds, blood dripping from his neck. Mara grabbed him and he backed up, helping pull her from the water. By now she was sobbing and others in the complex were rushing to her aid.
“Your dog went right through the window,” someone said, “but it looks like the cut is superficial. Are you all right?”
“I need to call my husband,” she told him.
“Let’s get you inside first,” someone else said.
By the time the police left a few hours later, she had managed to get ahold of Doug, who said he would be on the first flight home.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Mara, but you need to take Thor and get to someplace safe. I’m not going to be able to get there before this time tomorrow, if even then. A system moved in this morning and all flights are grounded.”
Mara grabbed some clothes and stuffed them into a bag. She decided that she would risk taking a quick shower as much to warm up as to try to wash off the stench of what had just happened. Just as she was finishing dressing, she heard the sound of a skiff, feeling her muscles tense and her adrenaline surge as she tried to decide which exit to use. Grabbing her phone, she dialed 911.
Assured that police were on their way, she went out her front door, only to meet up with Alex and another guy. Each of them had a firm grip on Lessis’s arms, which were tied securely behind his back.
“You’ll be okay in your cabin now,” Alex called as he handed Lessis over to the police, who had just arrived. “I’ll board that window up for you later.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Is It Over Yet?
“Lessis is in jail,” Alex told her when he came back to board up her window.
He certainly looked calm for someone who had just chased a man down amidst gunfire.
“Thanks, Alex, and thanks for risking your life to chase him down. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I had every reason to want to go after him even before he pulled the stunt he did today,” Alex said. “When I went to the bank this morning, all the money that I deposited and the money that you told me you deposited had been withdrawn from my account. When I asked Lessis for an explanation, he acted like he didn’t hear me and walked away.”
Mara was more livid than she believed was possible. $180,000 was exactly the amount that the Feds had accused Joe Michael of embezzling and she knew without a doubt that Joe Michael hadn’t embezzled anything!
“First of all, Alex, I want you to know that I believe you,” she said. “Secondly, I want you to know that we will get to the bottom of this, and lastly, I need to tell you that there is more to this story than I can make sense of right now, because I’m still trying to piece it all together myself, but I need you to know that it was not me who withdrew any money from that account.”
“I know that, Mara. That’s why I told Lessis I was going to notify the FBI of what ha
d happened.”
“What did he say?”
“I never gave him a chance to say anything,” Alex said. “I just walked out and decided to deal with him later. I guess he showed us what he had to say this afternoon. In retrospect, I should have just called in the feds and let them handle confronting him.”
“Well, anyone would have done the same thing,” she said. “We’re talking thousands—hundreds of thousands here, but even so, his reaction seems extreme.”
She went on to tell Alex about Joe, his arrest, and the events that had followed—including that she had reunited with her ex-husband, Doug Williams, surprised when Alex did not seem to react with more than a slight nod of his head to the news.
“Doug’s socked in over in Cordova right now, but he’ll be here as soon as the weather lifts and he can get a flight out.”
“I think you’ll be okay now,” Alex told her. “The police told me they’re going to keep a man outside our cabins for the next few days, just in case anyone else at the bank feels like following Lessis’s lead. They don’t think anything will happen, though.”
“Thank you, Alex. That helps. Does Emily know about any of this? I mean, the missing money. I know she has to know about today.”
“I don’t want to focus on Emily and what she may or may not know right now,” he said, before quickly adding, “The baby, you know? But just so you know, she was in town for a checkup when all this with Lessis happened today. She just got back.”
“Then let’s keep it between us for now. Matter of fact, I could use some extra help down at KonaJane’s, so maybe she would consider taking on a parttime job for a few weeks. You can tell her that you need that much time to make arrangements for the move south. That will keep her focused on something while we figure this out, okay? I’ll just tell her that we had a break-in, but that the police caught the suspect.”
“Sure. Okay. Good idea,” Alex said so softly that she almost couldn’t hear him. “I hope this stays out of the news—at least for now.”
She was right to worry. Not only was something fishy going on at the bank, but there had also been a big change in Alex’s demeanor—a change that she was struggling to pinpoint. His comment about the news was perplexing, too. Why would he care?
Flashing her his familiar boyish grin, Alex suddenly sprang from his chair and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
“I’m glad you’re all right,” he said as she sat there dumbfounded at the way he had so abruptly reverted to his old self. “I wouldn’t want to have to explain to Doug that you were nearly abducted by a deranged psycho-banker, slash, ex-cop. Now I guess I’d better get back and straighten myself out before Emily thinks there’s something wrong.”
“Give her my best, Alex. And thanks for capturing Lessis. I’ll bet the police give you a citation for that.”
“I guess they might,” was all he said.
Mara needed to think. With Doug gone and stuck in Cordova for who knows how long, and with Sal staying at the hospital with Joe, she decided to take her skiff for a putt around the bay as much to get away as to check for any damage done by Lessis. Before leaving, she packed a sandwich for herself and some food for Thor.
Maybe she’d come back late tonight or maybe she’d come in early tomorrow morning. She needed however long it took to think this through, so she took enough gear and some extra food just in case, and left a note for Doug and Sal by the door. Also, on impulse, she grabbed the feather given to her months ago by Joe Michael and stuffed it into her bag.
As she was pulling away from the dock, she saw Alex wheeling what looked like a footlocker out toward the street. She watched while he hoisted it into his truck and then drove away. A few minutes later, Emily and her brother came out, each carrying briefcases. She watched them get into Emily’s car and drive away in the same direction as Alex had.
The lights in Stu’s cabin were still on, leading her to think that they were planning to return, and why wouldn’t they? Why was it even a question? They were, after all, in the process of moving, so there would likely be many more trips in and out with boxes for the next several weeks. Besides, Alex had already told her he would be there tonight.
When she got in her skiff, she checked it over thoroughly, finding nothing unusual except for a crumpled business card from the local car wash, upon which had been scribbled a phone number with an area code outside Alaska. She tucked it into her pocket with plans to give it to the police when she got home.
Frustrated by the whole situation and realizing just how close she had come to harm, she opened the throttle and took off across the bay with so much speed that the nose of the raft pointed almost straight up, causing Thor to have to huddle beside her to keep from falling overboard.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Enough Already
To say that she was fed up was an understatement. Mara Benson had been through enough stuff in the past several years to have completely passed the saturation point for angst absorbable in any one lifetime.
This time, though, instead of feeling overwhelmed and defeated—this time she was just plain mad. Lessis was at the bottom of this and his actions today had proven it. She hadn’t liked him since day one. No wonder every subsequent encounter had left her feeling creepy and tainted by the aura of his sleazy existence.
No matter how politely he had talked or how expensive the suits were that he had worn, no matter how many credentials he had displayed, or how many titles and connections he had flaunted, she had always known deep down inside there was something sinister and disturbing about him. From day one she had tried to keep him at arm’s length, and today was proof that the little voice inside her had been right. Never, though, had she imagined that he would actually go so far as to come to her house.
Maybe that is why she had felt the need to carry a gun—not that it had served her well when she needed it. And, poor Thor—he was shaken, she could tell. He knew evil when he saw it. Thank God he had listened to her. He had already been shot once in his life, and to have it happen again would have been more than she could take.
Why Stu had seemed so clocked in to Lessis’s comings and goings was its own mystery. The two seemingly had nothing in common, yet Stu had been the first to tell her how Lessis operated as a policeman, and he had known all the details about Lessis leaving the force for a job at the bank long before it became common knowledge in the community.
Lessis, himself, had fawned over Stu’s deceased self at the memorial, scattering his pitiful tribute to him within his lengthy and embarrassing self-adulation speech.
Lessis was creepy from any angle you looked at him. Now she understood just exactly what it had been about him that had precipitated such a strong negative emotion in her. Even though the man had made many friendly overtures—and who could fault someone for trying to at least doctor up their appearance with clothing and cologne even though in this case, there was no accounting for taste—she had been repelled by him.
She really didn’t want to be thinking about him right now anyway. She had come out here to relax. Lessis was in jail, and whatever it was that had prompted him to run would come out soon. About one thing she was sure, though, hers and Alex’s missing money and the charges against Joe Michael were all tied up in Lessis’s duplicity.
When she got home and tied her boat up that night, she took Thor for a walk before turning in, taking extra pains to secure her locks and make sure her pistol was within arm’s reach. A message from Doug saying that the weather system in Cordova was expected to prevail for at least the next several days felt strangely like a relief. She was okay, and for now she just wanted to sleep, so she called him back and told him just that, thankful when her words seemed to reassure him.
Despite feeling tired from her day out on the water, sleep eluded her. Thoughts—racing, galloping thoughts that seemed to merge into something that almost made sense and then dissipate, racked her brain. It was as though she could just about put it all together, whatever it was, before
the final answer, the final piece to the puzzle of this latest assault on her life, faded from her mind’s eye.
When sleep did come, it was fitful and then deep. When she awoke, like a kindled flame, the jumbled embers of recent events ignited into a burning quest for the truth. Taking her cup of Kona out onto the deck, she sat in the morning fog and rolled the feather between her thumb and fingers as she remembered the words Joe Michael had spoken when handing it to her: The worst is closer than you think.
As your own strength grows,
mine will begin to fade.
As before, keep this to protect your future
but this time it will be from my past.
Thor’s restless pacing broke her concentration. Placing her empty crystal mug in the sink, Mara Benson pulled on her knit cap, down jacket, and rubber boots before snapping on Thor’s leash to take him outside.
Halfway along the trail that led up the hill a few blocks from her cabin, she knew what she had to do. Although it would only be a start, she would be talking to the acting manager at the bank and launching a formal inquiry into all records pertaining to Alex, herself, and the Driftfeather—but first she would need to get Alex’s consent. She would let the law work out any criminal issues with Lessis, but she wanted to be first in line to get her questions answered, both for her sake and for Alex’s.
Chapter Forty
Heart-wrenching Discovery
As Mara approached her cabin, something told her to check to make sure she had tied the skiff up securely yesterday when she had been so tired. Instead of climbing down through the trap door from her deck, she walked past Stu’s old place to the end of the dock and then down the floating ramp to look underneath the pilings, where she saw Alex pulling away from his cabin in his own skiff.
She liked that he and Emily lived next door and felt happy that she had helped him find a lifestyle that would suit them both. She gave him a friendly wave, but he had his back to her as he sped away. Maybe she would check on Emily and the two could spend some time together. It might even be a good time to find out how Emily was doing with the pregnancy and let her know she planned to throw a baby shower when it was closer to her delivery time.
Driftfeather on the Alaska Seas Page 11
