Flamingo Realty Mystery Box Set

by CeeCee James

  I grabbed the stuff and headed back to my car, being sure to lock the door on my way out.

  As I drove, I saw a grandpa walking into a restaurant with his grandson. It reminded me, when was I going to work up the guts to see Oscar? He was half the reason I moved out here. How many more times was I going to drive past his place?

  Soon, I promised myself. When I get this Valentine business wrapped up.

  I glanced at the Sold sign bouncing on the seat next to me as I rattled down the road. Soon was coming up awfully fast.

  I pulled into the Valentine driveway and parked the car. I smiled, so excited to nearly be done with this place. As I walked up to the porch, I saw the carved heart I’d seen before, the one that was scratched out. I leaned down to see if I could make it out any better.

  There was definitely a K, which could stand for Kyle. But what was the other initial? Despite being scraped, there was an odd flourish still visible that seemed strange to be a part of a G for Gladys. I puzzled over it, wondering what it was.

  The door opened then, making me jerk up.

  “Ms. O’Neil,” Ms. Valentine said. She smiled. “Ms. Missler said you’d be stopping by with an offer.”

  Her brother, Richard, popped up behind her. “She’s probably going to try and get us to accept something that will rob us blind.”

  “Now, Richard. Ms. O’Neil is quite capable. I’m sure she has our best interests in mind.”

  My mouth dropped. Was Ms. Valentine being the voice of kindness?

  Was a certain fiery place freezing over?

  “Hello. Yes. I do have some papers to go over with you.” I fumbled the folder of papers, managing to drop the pen. I picked up the pen and dropped the sold sign. When I glanced up, Richard had disappeared. Ms. Valentine stared down her nose in her usual disapproving way.

  “I don’t happen to have much faith in your competence, but it’s important to make a show of confidence in front of my siblings. I hope you won’t make me regret my support.”

  I grinned—a bitter one—and stared right back. I’d had just about enough. I’d cleaned this house, stayed all weekend to show potential buyers, talked to police, and overcame my fears just so that I could help sell her manor.

  I could feel it bubbling up— a low blow. It was coming. I gritted my jaw to stop it.

  “Are you coming in, or are you here to waste my time again?” she asked.

  “I noticed this carving here,” I said, lightly touching it.

  Her eyes went wide as she glanced at it.

  “It looks like a K and a G. Was that you and Kyle?”

  Her mouth opened even wider than her eyes. I immediately kicked myself. I thought for sure she was going to slam the door in my face, but instead she brought her cane around front and leaned on it with both hands.

  She raised her eyebrows. “I knew you were snooping. What have you seen?”

  Well, score one for her. I wasn’t expecting to be confronted so boldly. But it was true. I had been snooping. And for good reason. I’d found a dead person in her house.

  I lifted my chin and answered, “I saw a picture of your family. There was a baby in it, a baby that no one acknowledges or seems to have any information about. Was that baby yours and Kyle Murphy’s?”

  Her eyes hardened as she watched me. Her gaze chilled me, like she could see something inside me that I didn’t know myself. I shifted slightly.

  “You think I’m Kyle’s illicit lover?”

  I licked my lip and nodded. “I think that was a good possibility. Is that why Marla cut her friendship off from you?”

  “Well, you’re wrong. Dead wrong.” She laughed then, shocking me to my core. Her eye sparkled with a superiority as though I were ridiculous with my conjecture.

  I didn’t know how to recover, to be honest. I stood there, like a catfish that had just been caught by noodling, papers limp in my hand, wondering what to do next. Do I just carry on like nothing had happened?

  Ms. Valentine knew she’d won that round. “Now, are you ready to come in, or shall we continue?”

  I swallowed and lifted the folder. “Time to sign, I think,” I said.

  She led me down the hall, her cane making its characteristic thumping. There was a moment she veered toward the library and I panicked, but then she opened the study door.

  “Charity! Richard!” she called.

  I went over the offer as quickly as possible like my realty classes had taught me. There was nothing unexpected, which is probably why Kari allowed me to do it. Richard signed and then immediately left. I heard the car gun it outside, and dirt spit as he drove away.

  Ms. Valentine—spurning my offered pen and using her old-fashioned metal nub ink pen, carefully signed her name.

  It was as Charity was signing that I noticed a flourish she used on the C. Very similar to the one carved into the pole outside.

  I glanced up at Ms. Valentine, and she narrowed her eyes.

  I gulped and looked back down. Don’t say anything. Just get these things signed.

  They finished signing and I gathered the papers up. No one spoke. Honestly, I left the house with a flood of relief. Shake the dust off your feet, I thought as I walked down the steps.

  As I walked to my car, I noticed a pick-up truck out at the end of the driveway. The back had a weed-eater poking out. Maybe they were a local yard worker looking for new clients.

  As I reached my car, my gaze landed on the shed in the back, and I remembered when I’d seen someone there. And, just like last time, I saw movement at the small building. Pausing, I held my breath, hoping it would be Richard poking around. The figure began to walk from behind the building but saw me and jumped back. My heart sped up.

  He wasn’t tall enough to be Richard.

  I looked around but there was no one around to help. It was up to me.

  “Hello? Can I help you?” I asked, slowly walking toward the shed and hoping I wasn’t being the dumb girl in the horror movies that you scream at for going toward the danger.

  There was a crash in the building.

  “Hey! I’m calling the police!” I pulled out my phone when the man came running around the side and toward me.

  “Wait, wait!” He held his hands up in front of himself, showing me they were empty. “Please don’t do that! I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Hurt me? I pressed the 9 and the 1. “Who are you?” I held my phone in front of me, my finger waiting to push the last 1.

  As he got closer, I saw he was quite old. He walked with a limp.

  “Please, I just...” He rubbed his hands through his gray hair, sighing. “Look, I know this family and this house.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. “You need to go up to the front door then and knock. Why are you wandering around back there?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Who are you?” I repeated.

  He ignored me and reached into his back pocket, causing me to hold up the phone, finger poised. “Watch it!” I yelled.

  He held out a hand. In the other one was a newspaper. “They found a skeleton here. Do they know who it is?”

  I stood, shocked and unsure of what to do next. Where the heck was Richard? He was always skulking about. Ms. Valentine? Charity?

  The man stared at me with dark eyes. He was watching me, trying to read what I was thinking.

  That expression reminded me of someone.

  I swallowed and asked, “How do you know the Valentines?”

  “Mr. Valentine was a caring man. I messed up, okay? He took me in like one of his own but...no, I’m not a Valentine. But my son was.”

  “Your son?” I could barely hear him through the rushing of blood in my ears.

  “Yes. Charity’s and my son.”

  My mouth dropped. His eyes watched me, his empty hand still loose and non-threatening, but something had my body in the fight or flight mode.

  I picked up my jaw enough to ask, “Kyle Murphy?”

  He didn’t answer, but he
didn’t deny it. “I just want to see Charity. I have some questions. Is there any way you can get me in?”

  My determination rose quickly. “No, there’s no way I can just let you in. I mean, let me get…Gladys.”

  “No!” Anger colored his face red. “No! I don’t want her or Richard knowing I’m here. They’ve always hated me. All these years. There’s no way they’d let me see her.”

  “Why not?” I shot a look toward the windows, wondering if anyone had seen us yet. Maybe they would call the cops or come out and save me all the trouble and panic.

  “It’s a long story, I just want to see Charity and talk to her for just a minute, okay? I want to ask her about this.”

  He still held the newspaper in his hand.

  “What questions do you have for her? Who do you think the skeleton is?” I asked. I was scared to hear the answer.

  Chapter 22

  “Who was it?” I asked again, my voice ratcheting up with anxiety.

  “I think it was Brian. My son. Charity’s and my son.”

  “How?” I asked, reeling at hearing what I’d suspected to be true coming from his mouth.

  “He’d been shot in the leg. It was serious, but not deadly. I don’t know why he didn’t make it.” Kyle stared at me beseechingly, almost begging for understanding. “I’m not a monster. I’m not a good man, either, but I didn’t leave him alone to die. I should have protected him.”

  “How did he get shot?” I felt sick to my stomach. I knew, but I wanted to hear him say it.

  “He was just like his old man, always in trouble. Only he never outgrew it.” Kyle glanced at the newspaper article and his face crumpled as his eyes filled with tears. “Honestly, I wasn’t the best man, but I tried. I really tried with him. After Mrs. Valentine died, Gladys forced Brian into my arms and told me I had to take him. That Charity was fragile and couldn’t handle the stigma of having a baby out of wedlock. No one knew it was hers. No one does to this day.”

  He lifted his head. His eyes were red-rimmed. “I moved him clear to Ohio to try to give the boy a new beginning. I gave it my best shot. But, it was drugs that got that boy, and once they grabbed hold, they never let go. Then, he found out that I’d been writing a woman here.”

  “Do you mean Mrs. Crawford?”

  He started with surprise and then gave a hollow laugh. “You know about her, too? Yeah, it wasn’t too hard for Brian to get the whole story out of me. Well, he thought he could come back to the Valentine Manor and force them to accept him. It didn’t work out so well. I don’t even know if he got to say who he was before Gladys had Richard toss him out on his ear. Brian called me. I could hear the shaking in his voice, and thought it was from drugs.”

  A tear ran down Kyle’s cheek. “He said he’d gotten into trouble. That he’d been shot in the leg. I’m still not sure what happened. He said I needed to come and he’d be waiting for me down in the woods behind the town’s park. I told Brian to call an ambulance, but he said he needed me.”

  He sighed. “I jumped in the car immediately, but it was still a five hour drive. On my way, I called Gladys to see if she’d help him. I told her where Brian was, begged her to help him. ‘He’s your blood!’ I reminded her. She hung up on me. When I went to the spot that Brian said he’d be at, he wasn’t there. I spent the next two weeks searching for him.”

  “Did you come here, too?” I asked, gesturing toward the house.

  “Yeah, it was the first place I came. I was hoping that Gladys had relented. That somewhere in her cold heart, she’d felt a drop of mercy and had come to that boy’s aid. Her nephew. But she denied it. Said she’d never seen him, and then Richard came out with his gun and told me to leave.”

  My heart ached to see his pain. At the same time, his words scared me. “You think Brian made it here after all.”

  Kyle didn’t say anything. Just crumpled the paper and nodded.

  I vaguely heard the rev of an engine, but it didn’t register, amidst the horrible truth that was implied by Kyle’s nod. I glanced down, suddenly drowning in my own thoughts.

  A sudden weight slammed into my waist as Kyle knocked me to the ground.

  I beat at Kyle with my hands until I realized the old Valentine car skidded to a stop exactly where we’d both been standing.

  If he hadn’t knocked me to the ground I would have been hit. I could have been killed.

  Fury filled me and I started to scream to give the driver a piece of my mind. All stopped when the car door sprang open. Richard got out with a shotgun in his hands.

  I gasped, feeling like I’d been punched in the gut. I didn’t have air to defend myself, or breath to plead.

  He pulled back the lever, his face dark with anger. He leveled it at me, and I swear the whole world started to swim.

  Then I realized he was pointing the rifle at Kyle.

  “It’s over now, boy,” Richard said, his voice shaking with fury.

  Think, Stella.

  I glanced down at my hand and sent up a quick thank you as I saw I still held my phone. I pushed the last 1 on the cell, completing the emergency call. Now my hope was that police would respond faster than Richard could decide to shoot Kyle.

  “Richard, we can figure this out. I have an answer,” I bluffed, holding my hand up in a way that I hoped was calming.

  He didn’t even look at me.

  “Noooooo!” A blood-curdling shriek came from behind us.

  I was too afraid to look away from the gun to see who was screaming. I didn’t normally play hero, but I hoped by staring Richard in the eye, he’d be less likely to shoot.

  Charity leaped into the tangled pile of us on the ground. She wrapped her arms around Kyle. I was astounded at the strength and speed of the short woman.

  “Richard, no!” she cried, holding tightly to Kyle. Kyle said nothing. In fact, he hadn’t even moved.

  “Get out of the way, Charity,” Richard growled.

  We stared back like three owls at Richard.

  Richard’s jaw jumped as he chewed his cheek. Slowly, he lowered his gun. But he wasn’t done yet. “I said, get away from him!”

  I shimmied backward to get clear of them, before glancing at my phone. It was connected to the police. I could hear the faint voice repeatedly asking if I was there.

  I lifted it to my ear and whispered, hoping I wouldn’t distract Richard. “Yes, I’m at the Valentine mansion! Please send help.”

  “Where?”

  I rattled off the address I knew by heart now.

  “What’s the nature of the emergency?”

  “There’s a man with a gun and I don’t know if he is going to shoot someone or not.”

  “Where is the gunman? Has he shot anyone?”

  “No, he’s just really mad and he was pointing it at another man but his sister stopped him.”

  “How did she stop him?”

  The questions were infuriating. “She’s blocking his shot. Please hurry!”

  Meanwhile, Charity was talking animatedly to Richard. Frowning, her brother slowly raised his shotgun again.

  “Stop, Richard! The police are on their way!” I walked over with my hands in the air until I was standing in front of the two that stayed on the ground. What was I doing?

  I was trying to save someone’s life, that’s what I was doing.

  “What’s going on here?” An abrupt question jerked our attention to the side. Gladys strode forward, her cane stabbing into the ground and pulling out divots. Her eyes passed over me and locked onto Richard.

  “What are you doing?” she asked her brother, before drawing her gaze down to Charity and Kyle.

  “Charity, what is the meaning of….” she trailed off when she saw who Charity was protecting. Her lips pressed into a grim line.

  I tensed, my arms still out, like a cat about to spring away.

  “Richard, put the gun away now. The police are on their way, unless Ms. O’Neil would care to stop that.” She glared at me.

  The answer was a
hard no from me. How did I know what was going to happen next?

  “Ms. Valentine, they already know about a gun...”

  “Lovely. Well, everyone needs to get out of the yard and come inside, at the very least. The neighbors surely have gossip for years to come already and once the police arrive, we’ll have a crowd.” She reached down and grabbed Kyle’s shoulder. “Inside, now. Everyone. Richard, you too.”

  Kyle patted Charity on the arm and whispered to her. She smiled at him, her face glowing, and allowed him to help her stand.

  This place really was the funny farm. I glanced at my car, overcome with desire to race away.

  Two things stopped me, I knew the cops would want to know where I was when they arrived. I did call them, after all. And I wasn’t so sure about Kyle’s safety if I did leave.

  We all slowly moved into the parlor. Kyle sat in one chair, and Charity in another. Richard stood by the fireplace and Ms. Valentine sat on the love seat.

  I stood at the doorway, even though the shotgun was no longer in sight. I had no idea where he’d stashed it, but I didn’t trust him.

  Or any of them.

  “Why were you going to shoot him?” Charity glared at Richard. “How could you?”

  Richard sighed, suddenly looking very tired. “Charity, I’m just doing what I’ve always done. Protecting you. And it’s been a job and a half, I’ll tell you that.” Richard turned to Kyle. “Why are you here?”

  Kyle pulled out the newspaper he had shown me and laid it on the table. Ms. Valentine’s jaw tightened as Charity looked back and forth in confusion between them.

  “What is it?” Charity whispered to Kyle.

  “It’s an article about the skeleton that was found here,” Kyle answered, his jaw tightening.

  “Here, as in this house?” Charity asked in her little girl voice.

  Kyle nodded.

  Charity turned to me, her eyes wide. “It was real?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  Ms. Valentine knocked her knuckles against the side table. “We need to have a discussion, but I think it best that Charity isn’t here. Sister, why don’t you take a long bath and get cleaned up for dinner tonight? You can put on one of your new dresses.”