by Cindy Bell
“Sophia was recently released from custody. Jason didn’t have enough to hold her. It’s possible that they went back to her house to speak to her or look for more evidence. Maybe we should check there first, but that’s a long distance.” Wes shook his head. “If we go there, and we’re wrong, and they’re in trouble, what then?”
“I think we should stay local. I doubt that Suzie and Mary would have gone too far with Pilot in tow. Plus, their cars are here. Wherever they went, they must have walked.” Paul scratched his cheek. “What about Monroe and Jessica?”
“Wait a minute, Mary said they were leaning more towards the possibility that Jessica was the one who sent the death threats to Amelia. She said that Suzie was at the library trying to figure out who had sent the letters. Maybe Louis knows something?” Wes snapped his fingers.
“I’ll bet he does.”
“I’ll call him right now.” Wes dialed his number, and tried not to notice the way his finger shook as he did.
“It’s just not like Suzie not to text or call, she knew I was coming home. I did get in a little early, but still, she usually checks in to see where I’m at. I wonder if she spoke to Bill?”
“Nothing.” Wes shook his head as he hung up the phone. “Louis said that Suzie did find some information, but forwarded it to Jason right away, and then left.”
“Give me just a second.” Paul dialed Bill’s number. After a few moments he answered. “Bill, it’s Paul.”
“Hey Paul, did you get in okay?”
“Sure, thanks. A little early actually. Listen, have you seen Suzie today by any chance?”
“Sure, I talked to her before I left for the night. I called her and I told her about a boat that drifted into the harbor. I thought it might have something to do with that girl’s death. She told me to tell her if I spotted anything strange?”
“She did?” Paul narrowed his eyes. “Did Suzie look at it?”
“I’m not sure, she said she was going to. I had to head home. It’s in the slip by the office if you want to have a look.”
“Thanks, I appreciate the information.”
“Is everything okay, Paul?”
“I hope so.” Paul hung up the phone, then tipped his head towards the trail that led down to the docks. “They went that way, let’s go.” Paul took off at a jog down the path. His heart pounded against his chest almost in time with Wes’ footfalls behind him. Something was wrong, he was sure of it. He didn’t want to believe it, but his instincts told him that Suzie and Mary were in serious trouble.
“Hurry, maybe they’re still at the docks and just not answering for some reason.” Paul emerged from the path and crossed the road to the dock. His heart sank as he saw the slip by the office empty.
“Where are they?” Wes slowed to a stop beside him.
“Out there. I can see some lights.” Paul gazed out across the open water, towards a patch of reeds. “We’re going to need a boat.”
“Don’t you uh, have a boat?” Wes looked towards Paul’s boat a few slips away.
“It’ll never make it. We need something small, and we need it fast. Whatever those two are getting into, it’s getting dark, and it’s going to be hard to find them.”
“I’ll call Jason. The police should have their own crafts.” As Wes dialed the number he looked out over the open water. “Where are you, Mary?”
* * *
As the boat made its final approach to land, Suzie tried to send a quick message to Paul to let him know where they were. However, her phone had no signal.
“Mary, can you get a call out?” She looked over at her friend as panic built within her.
“No, no service.” Mary noticed a small boat tied to the other side of the dock. It was almost completely hidden in the reeds.
Mary’s attention returned to the woman. She gulped back a gasp as she recognized the woman in front of them.
“Lavinia?” Suzie’s eyes widened. Of all the people she expected to see it wasn’t the guest from Dune House. Suzie stepped out of the boat but offered a hand back to help Mary out of it. The boat would not provide them any means for escape now that it had a hole in it. But their rescuer was no hero, she knew that for certain. Only one person would know where the boat had been hidden, only one person would have any business out in the area they had drifted to.
“Yes, it’s me.” Lavinia sighed as she studied her. “I guess you’re wondering why I’m here?”
“Out for a stroll, I’d assume.” Mary smiled. “It’s a nice evening for it. We should be on our way.”
“And where are you going to go?” Lavinia laughed as she looked over the murky water. “Are you going to make a swim for it? The temperature is dropping, this water is full of snakes.”
“That must be your boat.” Suzie offered cheerfully as she gestured to the almost completely hidden boat. “Can you give us a ride?”
“No, I’m sorry, but you’re not leaving here.” Lavinia tipped her head towards the small shack. “Get inside.”
“No thanks.” Suzie grabbed Mary’s hand and pulled her back a few steps. “I’d rather stay out here.”
“That’s not an option. Inside, both of you.” Lavinia pointed to the shed. “I have ways of making you, but it will be rather unpleasant. Don’t bother trying to call anyone, there’s no service out here. Don’t bother trying to scream, because no one can hear you. I need all of this to be settled tonight. I need to go back to work. I need to write. I need to publish my articles. I need to get my life back.”
She needed to write? Publish her articles? All of a sudden, Suzie knew exactly who Lavinia was. JuJu Lurue, the entertainment reporter.
“Lavinia, we can talk about this.” Suzie took a step towards her.
“No, we can’t!” Lavinia slammed her hand into Mary’s back and forced her several steps forward.
“Don’t touch her!” Suzie gasped as Mary cried out in pain from the sudden movement. Her knees were often sore, and she was sure this only made the situation worse.
“Then get inside, or I’ll touch her again.” Lavinia waved her hands and laughed.
“Okay, fine.” Suzie moved past Mary to the shack. As she stepped inside, she knew it was a bad idea, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“I had no intention of bringing the two of you into this, but you’re here now, and there’s nothing else I can do.” Lavinia frowned as she followed them both inside.
“Lavinia, you’re JuJu Lurue, aren’t you?” Suzie stared at her as Mary gasped.
“Well done.” Lavinia nodded. “I borrowed my sister’s identification, her life really, so I could come here without raising suspicion.”
“You didn’t have to do this. Why did you kill Amelia?” Suzie stared at her as she took a step closer to them. It didn’t appear she was armed, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t.
“I had to keep my secret.”
“What secret?” Suzie asked. “Exactly, what was Amelia’s book about?”
“Oh, I guess I can tell you two. It’s not like you’ll be able to tell anyone.” JuJu smirked. “Some of the publicists would contact me with false stories about their clients. Jessica Cate was the worst. They would pay me off to write the stories, hint at what they wanted kept secret without revealing the whole story. Then the publicists would get more money from their clients to fix the problem, repair their reputation. Everybody made some extra cash. It’s not like the celebrities and companies didn’t have it, they were loaded. We all took advantage of the opportunity to fill our pockets, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“So, what was the problem then?” Suzie shrugged.
“Amelia somehow found out about it and she decided that she wanted in on it, but Jessica refused. Jessica denied the rumors. Amelia knew she was lying and thought she just didn’t want to include her. She was furious about it and decided to turn it into something more. She wasn’t trying to protect anyone, she just saw an opportunity to make some cash. First, she tried threatening Jessica, but s
he didn’t go for it. She fired her for it. Then she decided she would write this book. No matter what anyone said, she was determined to do it. All she had to do was drop the idea of writing the book, and then everything would have been fine. But instead she continued.”
“Why didn’t Amelia say something when she saw you at Dune House?” Suzie asked.
“She had no idea who I was. I work remotely and she never met me. None of the publicists did. We just spoke on the phone. They sent money to my account. But Amelia couldn’t leave it alone. She was going to ruin my reputation. She was going to reveal what I was doing. I would have become a social outcast. No one would contact me with their stories. My career would be over. So, I knew I had to do something to try and scare her away.”
“You threatened her?” Mary asked.
“Yes, I sent her some letters that should have made her give up the idea of revealing the story. Instead she kept going. I sent more letters.”
“You wrote them on a typewriter to protect yourself.” Mary nodded. “So no one would be able to trace them.”
“So I thought.” JuJu narrowed her eyes. “However, that wasn’t the case. Because the cops started sniffing around me. The ink ribbon in the typewriter would have had the imprint of the letters I had sent. It would have led straight back to me. I went to destroy the typewriter and ink before it could get me arrested for the threats and discovered that Amelia had it.”
“You had to do something.” Suzie nodded.
“I knew that if she figured out I was the one to write the letters she would have worked out who I was, it would have destroyed my life. I couldn’t let that happen. All I wanted to do was get the ink back. I was going to get the ink and check out the next day as planned. I had it all set up.”
“But Amelia never left her room?” Mary asked.
“No.” JuJu shook her head vehemently. “I went to talk to her a few times, but she would never let me in. She would never leave me alone with the typewriter.”
“How did you get in then?” Suzie wanted to delay her, she was still hoping that help would arrive.
“When I tried to talk to her one morning, she took ages to open the door, and she mentioned that she slept with headphones on.” JuJu sighed. “So, I thought I would sneak in when she was asleep. The last time I tried to speak to her I wedged some gum into the door jam, when she wasn’t looking to stop the lock from closing completely. I thought I would sneak in while she was sleeping and get the ink. But she woke up and caught me. She tried to stop me from taking it. We got into a struggle. I had no choice. I had to take care of the problem. But when I killed her, I knew I couldn’t just disappear. It would look very suspicious. I needed to play it cool for a while, wait for everything to die down. I came out here a few times with Michael, he knew about this spot and the shack from the fishermen on the docks. So, after I killed Amelia, I came out here to clean up and dump the stuff. Then I went back to Dune House before everyone woke up. I never planned to kill her, I just wanted to get the ink.”
“I understand. You had to protect yourself.” Mary crossed her arms as she took a step away from JuJu’s approach. “But you don’t need to protect yourself from us. We’ll just be on our way.”
“Sure, so you can run back to the police and tell them what you saw here? What I told you? No, I can’t allow that to happen. I’ve worked too hard for all of this.”
“What about Michael?” Suzie kept her gaze fixated on her, observing her every move.
“What would he think of all of this? Does he know what you did to Amelia? Or did he even help you do it?”
“Keep quiet, you don’t know anything about Michael. He shouldn’t have come out here.” JuJu reached up to her chest, as if to grasp something, but there was nothing there. “He had nothing to do with this. He didn’t even know who I was. What I had done.”
Suzie noticed a smudge of faded ink that stained the skin on her arm.
“Were you going to try and make him take the fall for Amelia’s murder? Are you going to pin our deaths on him, too?” Mary’s voice wavered as she spoke. Fear bubbled up within her. There was no way that JuJu was going to let them live.
“Keep quiet about Michael!” JuJu roared her words so roughly that Mary jumped a step back. “I will not go to prison over this! I’m sorry, but this is over!”
As JuJu turned and stepped through the door, Mary held her breath. Was she really going to leave them there? She doubted it, but JuJu disappeared a moment later.
The door swung shut behind her, and the entire shack quaked with the force of it. Suzie heard something slide into place.
“No!” She lunged towards the door and banged against it. Though the door shook, it did not budge more than an inch. “Let us out of here!” She slammed her fists against the door. In the distance, she thought she could hear some laughter as a paddle sloshed through the water.
“We’re locked in.” Suzie turned back to face Mary.
“That’s not the worst part.” Mary stepped closer to the door. “I smell smoke.”
“Are you sure?” Suzie’s heart began to pound. “Maybe there’s a campfire in the distance.”
“No, I don’t think so. It smells too strong for that. I think she might have set a fire.”
“Help!” Suzie cried out as she moved towards the back wall. The fire would not take long to spread. “Someone help us!” She slammed her foot against the wood, but despite its age it was stronger than she expected. “Mary, is the phone working?”
“No, it’s not, not at all.” Mary gasped, then began to cough as the smoke filled the shack.
“Get low.” Suzie pulled Mary down beside her, then lifted her blouse to cover her mouth. Mary did the same. “Don’t worry we’re going to find a way out of here.” She swept her gaze through the shack. It was mostly empty, but she spotted something on the floor near the opposite wall. It looked like a long, metal pole. What it might have been used for she didn’t know, but she hoped it would be enough to break through the wood. As she scrambled to get it, the heat from the fire singed her skin.
Even the pole was hot by the time Suzie grabbed it. Luckily it was not too hot to grasp. She pulled it back to Mary’s side then heaved it against the wall. The end of the pole made a small dent, but it didn’t break free any of the wood. As Suzie tried to take another swing, she took a breath of the smoke-filled air and began to cough. When she dropped the pole, Mary picked it up and swung it hard against the wall. To her shock a large gap formed. Then another. She realized it wasn’t the pole that had broken the wall. Instead someone on the other side had an ax.
Chapter 17
“Jason!” Suzie gasped as he tore down another portion of the wall.
“Give me your hand!” Jason thrust his hand through the damaged wall.
“You first, Mary.” Suzie guided her friend towards the opening.
Mary grabbed Jason’s hand, but reached back and grabbed Suzie’s hand as well. She pulled her friend through right behind her. Once outside, Jason steered them both away from the still burning shack.
“Thank goodness you found us.” Suzie wiped at tears caused by a mixture of fear, smoke, and relief.
“I couldn’t have said it better.” Wes rushed up to them and threw his arms around Mary. “I was so worried about you.”
“Jason, do you have them?” Paul’s voice boomed from the edge of the water. “Suzie?”
“I’m okay, Paul!” Suzie ran towards him and waved at the same time, nearly tripping over her own feet to get to him.
“Suzie!” Paul stretched his arms out to her and helped her onto the small boat. “Are you hurt?” He ran his hands along her arms, then looked into her eyes.
“I’m fine.” Suzie drew a deep breath, despite the fact that the air was still laced with smoke. “It was Lavinia! She’s really JuJu Lurue!”
“We know.” Jason stopped beside the boat, then offered his hand to help Mary onto it. “Don’t worry about any of that right now, we just need to get you
home and safe.”
“What about the fire?” Mary looked back at the shack which was almost completely destroyed. Her heart lurched as she realized that she and Suzie had been inside of that inferno only moments before. As the boat pulled out into the water, she clung to Wes’ hand.
“It should burn itself out, but a fireboat is on its way to handle the flames.” Jason stood near the end of the boat and looked back at the shack as well.
When Suzie noticed him shiver, she rubbed his shoulder.
“Jason, you saved us.”
“Actually, it was these two that did the saving.” Jason gestured to Paul and Wes. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have even known that you two were missing. What were you doing out here?” He crossed his arms as he turned to look at them.
“We just followed the path we thought the killer might have taken, but we had no idea that we might run into her. Honestly.” Suzie leaned into Paul’s chest as he steered the boat out into the open water.
“I believe you.” Jason glanced at her, then back at the fire that could still be seen in the distance. “I’m just glad that we got to you in time. We have been looking into JuJu. We got a break on who she was just a couple of hours ago.”
“You knew that JuJu did this?” Mary’s eyes widened. “You knew that Lavinia was JuJu?”
“Yes, and no. With not much to go on, Kirk and I decided to start tracing the typewriter, we didn’t know the make or model, but we did know that someone had given it to Amelia. Sophia told us that Amelia didn’t own a typewriter, and that she had mentioned borrowing one from a friend, but she didn’t know who the friend was. We figured if we could trace the typewriter to the friend, we might find out more about Amelia. Once we did, we discovered a connection between the friend, Nina Brambrose, and Judy Lurue.”
“JuJu.” Suzie nodded.
“Yes, she goes by the name JuJu for her job. After more investigation we found out her sister was Lavinia Robertson. The guest that was supposedly staying at Dune House during the murder. When we spoke to Lavinia, she said she knew nothing about Dune House and claimed that her identification had been stolen. Apparently, Amelia and Nina worked together at Jessica Cate Public Relations briefly. They remained friends. Nina got her cousin, Judy a job at a magazine she had contacts at, and Amelia and Nina continued their friendship. Nina loaned the typewriter to Amelia, but what Nina didn’t realize was that before she lent it to Amelia her cousin had been using it on a regular basis. She never thought her cousin would be one of the reporters involved in the scandal that Amelia was going to write about.”
