Behind The Gates (A Maggie McFarlin Mystery Book 1)

by Charisse Peeler

  “Nice to meet you,” Silas said, shaking Maggie’s hand. His grip was firm and his skin not too soft. His warm brown eyes melted her as he made solid eye contact. Just like Britney said, both men were in great shape for their age.

  Maggie could hardly take her eyes from Silas: he was still looking so directly in her eyes. She absolutely was impressed—and a little distracted—by the size of his arms. She had to make a concentrated effort not to stare; but he was so good looking…and his smile was entrancing. She was pretty sure he hailed from some exotic Latin country.

  “Go ahead and touch them,” he said without a hint of an accent.

  “What?” Maggie felt her face turning red. She looked around, but Britney was already fully immersed in her own conversation with Jay. “Excuse me?”

  He held up his arm and flexed. Without hesitation she reached out and put her hand on his bicep. It was rock-solid. She felt something stir in her, remembering her youth and the guys she had been attracted to…they all spent too much time in the gym. But in those days she was a tall thin girl with Farrah Fawcett hair.

  “Very impressive,” she said.

  “I’m at the gym at five a.m. every day.”

  Of course you are.

  “I can tell,” she said aloud. The guy was definitely full of himself—but what the heck? She didn’t have anything else going at this point, and Britney seemed to be fully engaged with Jay.

  “What do you guys do for a living?” Maggie asked, smiling at Britney.

  “Contractors,” Jay said.

  “Interesting,” Britney said. She narrowed her eyes at Maggie. “What kind of contractors?”

  “We build sea walls.” Jay eyed Silas, who nodded his head in agreement.

  “I bet that’s big business around here,” Maggie said.

  “We mainly work in Miami but are down in the Keys at least once a month,” Jay said.

  “I love the Keys,” Maggie said.

  “We should all go down there,” Silas said.

  Britney spread her arms wide. “How about tomorrow?”

  “Great idea, but we’re busy tomorrow,” Jay said.

  Seeing the disappointment on Britney’s face, Silas said, “It’s a funeral.”

  “Oh no, I’m sorry.” Maggie was relieved, truth be told. She didn’t want to go to the Keys with guys she didn’t even know.

  “He had cancer,” Jay explained, “so it’s actually a relief he isn’t suffering any longer.”

  “How old was he?” Britney asked. “Not that cancer discriminates.”

  “Fifty-seven,” Jay said.

  “Too young,” added Silas.

  Jay nodded. “His son just graduated high school.”

  A brief silence ensued. “Can we get four green tea shots?” Britney called to the bartender.

  They waited quietly until the shots were placed in front of them.

  “What’s your friend’s name?” Britney asked.

  “Mark,” Jay said.

  They all lifted their shots.

  “To Mark,” Britney said.

  “To Mark,” the other three repeated.

  “What do you ladies do?” Silas asked.

  “I’m a contractor,” Britney replied.

  Both men turned to her, looking her up and down.

  “What kind of contractor?” Jay asked.

  “I’m a G-C,” she said.

  “You’re a general contractor?” Silas raised his eyebrows in doubt.

  Britney was used to this response, so she was prepared. She enjoyed the faces people made as they processed the contradiction. Their expressions usually changed from shock, to interest, to doubt, and finally to curiosity.

  “That’s a shocker,” Jay said, “but very impressive.”

  “And you?” Silas asked Maggie.

  “I’m a writer,” Maggie said.

  “Wow,” Silas admired, “what do you write about?”

  “Mostly technical stuff.”

  “Honestly? Sounds a little boring,” Silas said.

  “It is,” Maggie said, smiling. “But I’m going to try writing some fiction.”

  Silas nodded. “That’s cool,” he said.

  “Would you ladies be interested in dinner?” Jay asked after a moment.

  Maggie looked down at her torn jeans and Chucks. “How about tomorrow?”

  “The funeral is at two, how about we pick you girls up at seven o’clock?”

  “How about PF Chang’s,” Britney suggested, “we can sit at the bar.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Silas said.

  “Perfect.” Jay pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and waved at the bartender.

  “I’ll get mine,” Maggie said.

  Jay waved her away. “I got this.”

  Before Maggie could object, Britney had elbowed her into silence.

  “Thank you,” she squeaked out.

  *

  It was only 6:45 the next evening when Maggie’s doorbell rang—and luckily she was ready. She opened the door to find Silas holding a small bouquet of flowers, obviously purchased at Publix.

  “Come in,” Maggie said.

  Silas handed her the flowers. “Britney’s idea.”

  “Of course.” Maggie smiled tightly. “Please sit….Do you want a glass of wine or something?”

  “I’ll have a Bud Light if you have one.”

  “I have Corona Light.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Lime?” Maggie asked. She walked into the kitchen and checked the vegetable drawer in the fridge.

  “No thanks.”

  She was relieved. The only lime she had was so old, it looked like a chunk of petrified wood. She immediately threw it away and brought Silas the beer.

  “Nice place,” Silas said, looking around at Maggie’s sparsely furnished home.

  “Thanks, it’s still a work in progress but definitely coming along.” She paused, standing close beside him. “Are we meeting Jay and Britney at her house?”

  “No, we’re going to meet them there.”

  “Okay.” She nodded, watching Silas down his entire beer in a matter of seconds. “Should we go?”

  “Sure,” Silas said. He was standing so close to Maggie she could feel the testosterone emanating from his skin. She breathed deep, taking it all in. She followed him to the door as if in a trance. Silas held it open and watched her walk through it.

  “Are you going to lock it?” he asked, shaking her out of her fog.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  She punched in the four-digit number: 1944, the year her mother was born.

  “I hear you can’t be too careful in this neighborhood.” Silas laughed.

  “Nope,” she said, smiling.

  When they turned out of the screened-in porch, Maggie noticed the large black flatbed truck with giant chrome wheels parked in her driveway. The truck was lifted so high off the ground she wondered how she was going to gracefully climb into it, especially since the skirt she had chosen was on the shorter side, and the shoes were not the sensible type.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” Silas must have recognized the panic on her face. He opened the door, and a sideboard step magically appeared from somewhere under the truck. “My lady…”

  He held out his arm. Maggie stepped up onto the step and grabbed the handle just inside the door. Then she shifted her body until she was safely in the seat.

  “Got it,” she said.

  Silas shut the door, and Maggie buckled her seat belt.

  “This sure doesn’t look like a contractor’s truck,” Maggie said when Silas slid in next to her.

  “This is my toy,” Silas explained proudly. “My work truck is a 2005 Chevy Duramax Diesel with three hundred and eleven thousand miles.” He turned the key, causing a loud roar. Maggie jumped. She was sure the noise would irritate her neighbors. “Doesn’t she sound great?” Silas asked. Maggie shook her head, lost in the whole experience….Not much later she and Silas had joined Britney and Jay at the bar at P
F Chang’s, where they promptly ordered drinks and dinner.

  Because the four acquaintances were sitting in a row instead of facing each other, Maggie and Silas discussed Maggie’s work in Seattle and her progress toward her new goals in fiction. Silas seemed genuinely interested. Maggie finally managed to take a breath, accepting this as a positive thing. Britney and Jay were also fully engaged; but they had already been out a few times, so they were even more at ease. Before Maggie knew it, their dinner was drawing to a close.

  “Would you girls like to go over to Louie Bossi’s for a nightcap?” Jay asked.

  “You know I would,” Britney said, “but I have an early morning flight and haven’t even packed.”

  “Where are you going?” Jay asked.

  “Bahamas,” Britney said. “I need to walk a property and bid a job.”

  “Why don’t we all go?” Jay asked with a big smile. “My treat.”

  “I’m in,” Silas said. “What airport?”

  “Fort Lauderdale, six o’clock,” Britney said. “Maggie?”

  Maggie stared at her friend. She was stunned. The other three stood, waiting for her reply.

  “I guess…” Maggie said softly.

  “Well, okay, ladies, see you bright and early,” Jay said.

  When Maggie stood up, Silas slipped his arm around her shoulder. Together they walked out of the restaurant. He helped her into the truck—it was easier this time; but just before he shut the door, he rested his hand on her bare leg, sending shivers through her body.

  “Wow,” she said to herself, before he came around and climbed in.

  During the short ride home, Silas told Maggie about growing up in the Dominican Republic and emigrating when he was twelve years old. He couldn’t even speak English. Maggie was impressed: she could not detect an accent at all.

  When they were finally parked in front of her house, Silas turned the engine off.

  “I had a great evening,” he said.

  “I did too, thank you.”

  She unbuckled her seat belt, but before she got it off, he leaned over and kissed her. Hard.

  “Wow,” she said.

  “Wow is right.”

  He kissed her again, and she responded, letting go of all inhibition; her senses returned only when a neighbor walked by. He held his dog’s leash loosely in one hand and a small flashlight tightly in the other.

  Silas sat back, breathing hard. “Neighborhood watch?”

  “You’re not kidding,” Maggie said. “I don’t even put my empty wine bottles in the recycle anymore after I saw one of my neighbors counting them.”

  Silas laughed as she opened the door. Then he quickly got out and ran around the truck in time to help her down.

  “Would you like me to come in?” he asked.

  “Um, well,” she said. “But if we’re going to the Bahamas tomorrow, I really have to pack.”

  “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, Maggie,” Silas said in a low voice.

  Maggie swallowed hard. “Me too.”

  "Goodnight, Silas." Maggie shut the door. She leaned against it until she heard Silas’s truck start up and drive away.

  Maggie’s cell rang, bringing her out of her fog. She looked at the screen, hoping it was Silas, but it was Britney.

  “Do you like him?” Britney asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Maggie said.

  “This is going to be so fun.”

  “I’m a little nervous that we don’t even know these guys and we’re going to another country. What if they kidnap us?”

  “Just go with it. It’s only a couple days, not a lifetime commitment. They’re not kidnappers.”

  “I do really like him, but…” Maggie started.

  “You’ll be fine. Actually, you’ll be better than fine, you’re probably going to get laid.”

  “Oh my God, girl, good night.”

  Maggie touched the end button disconnected the call, not even letting Britney say goodnight.

  Chapter 17

  Hurricane

  “This machine isn’t working,” Maggie said as she attempted to check in at a Spirit Airlines kiosk.

  “Mine worked,” Britney said, pulling her ticket and receipt from the dispenser.

  “Oh wow, there are the guys,” Maggie said. “What the hell are we doing?”

  Britney smiled encouragingly at Maggie. “Chill, mama. This is going to be fun.”

  “Whatever, you say Britney, I’m trusting you.”

  The men approached the two women.

  “Hey guys,” Britney said, “ready for some fun?”

  Jay embraced her. Silas embraced Maggie.

  “You girls checked in?” Jay asked.

  “I am, but Maggie is having an issue.”

  “I’ll go up to the counter and see what I can do,” Maggie said. “You guys go ahead.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Silas said.

  Maggie pulled her suitcase toward the counter. She noticed Silas had both a suitcase and a large duffle bag with him.

  “That’s a lot of luggage for a weekend,” Maggie said.

  “This bag just has shoes.” Silas held up the duffle. Maggie considered how many pairs of shoes she had brought: one. And she was wearing them. Maybe she should have brought at least one more pair?

  The Spirit agent took Maggie’s license and asked for her passport. She handed him her passport card; she had not been able to find her passport.

  “I need your actual passport,” the agent said.

  “That’s all I got,” she answered. “It says I can use it for the Bahamas on the back.”

  “It actually says by land or sea.” The agent pointed to the small print. “You have to have a real passport to fly.”

  “You have to be kidding,” Maggie said, defeated.

  “No, sorry,” the agent replied. “But there are two more flights that go out today and three more tomorrow; so if you find your passport, we can likely get you on one of those.”

  “I just have no idea where it could be….” Maggie shook her head.

  “There’s a same day passport office in Miami. If you get there by noon, you might be able to make the five o’clock flight,” the agent said.

  “Really?” Maggie said. “Thank you.”

  She turned to Silas. “You guys go, I’ll try to get there this afternoon.”

  “How about we let Jay and Britney go and I’ll come to Miami with you?”

  “Seriously,” Maggie replied, “you don’t need to do that. I don’t want to ruin your vacation.”

  “The only reason I agreed to go was to get to know you better,” Silas told her candidly. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Now we just have more one-on-one time; so let’s go tell those two.”

  Britney and Jay agreed to go ahead, saying they would meet Silas and Maggie later at the bar at the SLS Baha Mar.

  “We can take my car, I parked in valet,” Maggie said. They had left the ticketing area and were approaching the parking garages.

  Silas looked surprised. “You parked in valet at the airport?”

  “Britney has a pass, so it doesn’t really cost anything except a tip.”

  “Well, I’ll get that,” Silas said. He dug in his pocket then pulled out a huge wad of cash. He peeled back a few hundreds until he reached a twenty. “Do you think this is good?”

  Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Very generous,” she said.

  When the valet handed her the keys, she turned to Silas and held them out to him “Would you mind driving? I don’t know my way around Miami.”

  Silas nodded. “Not a problem.” They climbed into the car. “Can you bring up the map to the place?”

  “Sure…Siri says head south.”

  Silas nodded then drove out of the parking area and exited the airport. Maggie relaxed once he merged onto the highway.

  “I am sure sorry about this,” she said. “I should have paid more attention.”

  “Aw, relax, no problem,” Silas told her reassuringly. “We’ll g
et there eventually, and if we don’t we can go out to a nice dinner here tonight.”

  Maggie smiled. “You’re sweet.”

  “Thank you, I try,” he said, placing his hand on her bare leg.

  “What’s it like in the Dominican Republic?”

  Silas scoffed. “It’s a shithole.”

  “I wish I knew more Spanish…” Maggie said.

  He shifted in the driver’s seat. “Not to change the subject, but tell me about this dead guy? Britney was telling Jay what you girls are up to. Sounds interesting.”

  “It’s actually kind of a crazy story, but we have a few suspects.”

  “What do you mean ‘we’ have suspects?”

  “Well, it’s just for fun. Britney, Alex, and I are seriously investigating the murder.”

  Silas shook his head. “That doesn’t sound very smart.”

  Maggie laughed. “We live in a country club, what could happen behind the gates?”

  “I don’t know, the killer might kill you too?”

  “Honestly, I think it was just a terrible accident. Marco and Rodney were probably just fooling around, and Rodney was so drunk he pulled the trigger, shot Marco in the chest, and went to sleep.”

  “That sounds pretty unlikely,” Silas said, “No matter how drunk you are, I think you might realize that you just shot someone with a crossbow.”

  Maggie considered. Then she said, “I’ll bet if the cops tested Rodney they might have found Oxy in his system.”

  “I’m sure they tested his blood for everything,” Silas said. “Do you know if he’s been cleared?”

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I tried to get it out of the detective, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “You mind?”

  Silas didn’t wait for Maggie’s answer, he simply plugged his phone into Maggie’s car radio and pushed a few buttons. The screen flashed a couple of times: several rows of random letters and numbers flashed across it so fast Maggie barely had time to notice. Then the name Ana Vidovic settled in the middle of the screen and the most elegant, stunning music surrounded her.

  Maggie looked at Silas. “Is that a woman playing the guitar?”

  “Yes, isn’t she incredible?”

  “I’ve never heard anything like it…”

  “There’s something about the Spanish guitar…It’s like listening to a full orchestra.” Silas’s face seemed to soften as he talked. “Very relaxing….”