Behind The Gates (A Maggie McFarlin Mystery Book 1)

by Charisse Peeler

“Come with me.”

  Fonzie grabbed Maggie’s arm with his free hand while keeping the gun set close to her body. He led her into the garage, where he pulled some tie wraps out of a built-in drawer; then he pulled her back into the house. He sat her in a sturdy dining room chair and fastened her arms and legs securely to the arms and legs of the chair. Maggie watched him closely. A thought occurred to her. “Is your real name Miguel?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “Now shut up, I need to think.”

  It finally hit Maggie, the situation wasn’t good. Hopefully Britney wouldn’t try to find her.

  Fonzie pulled up one of the large chairs so he could sit facing Maggie.

  “So why did you follow me here tonight?” he asked her.

  “Rodney gave me a list of all the people who came in the gate the day Marco was murdered, so I was checking into everyone. You came in twice that day. Once at ten a.m. and once at ten p.m. The bar is closed at Boca midnight.”

  “Boca midnight?”

  “Nine o’clock,” she said. “You know, cause all the old people are asleep by then.”

  Fonzie just shook his head. “You people just don’t exist in reality,” he said.

  “Did you kill Marco?” she asked. What did it matter at this point? she figured.

  “It was an accident,” Fonzie said shaking his head as if to get rid of the memory. “I went to confront him about something, and that crossbow was just sitting there, I picked it up and pointed at him—and it just went off. Shot straight through him.”

  “What were you going to confront him about?”

  Fonzie scoffed lightly. “I had about ten million dollars’ worth of questions…”

  “He scammed you too?”

  Fonzie shook his head. “No, someone I work for. He had the cash stashed somewhere, I wanted to know where and get it back. I definitely didn’t want to kill him. He was worth much more alive than dead. I had to stick around to find out where the money was. I thought for sure he would have told his sister.”

  Maggie raised her eyebrow. “Did you kill Angie?”

  “No,” Fonzie said, again shaking his head. “I’m sure that was her idiot husband. I paid him to get anything he could from Marco’s house, but as soon as he found that insurance policy, he saw his opportunity to cash in, and he forgot about me.”

  “So why did you stick around?”

  “I was hoping you three amateurs would uncover something,” he said.

  “Why would we tell you?”

  “You’re at the bar every day talking about it,” Fonzie said. “I’m not deaf.”

  “So now what are you going to do with me?”

  “I don’t know, yet.” He pulled his phone out and sent a text. Maggie watched him.

  “Who are you texting?”

  “None of your business,” Fonzie said.

  “Fonzie,” Maggie asked, “are you going to kill me?”

  “I will if you keep calling me that.”

  “What? ‘Fonzie’?”

  “My name is Miguel, not Fonzie. Your girlfriend named me that when I first started, it’s stupid.”

  “Sorry,” Maggie said.

  Fonzie stood up and took his phone out of his pocket again then turned away from Maggie.

  “I have a problem,” Fonzie said into the phone. He nodded, listening. “How long?…Shouldn’t be a problem…Okay…See you in thirty minutes.”

  Fonzie took a small knife out of a drawer then slid the blade between the tie wraps around Maggie’s wrists. He still held the gun in the other hand. Maggie rubbed her wrists one after the other while Fonzie undid the wraps around her ankles. Maggie decided not to do anything drastic.

  “Let’s go,” Fonzie said.

  “Where are we going?”

  Fonzie smiled quietly at her. “It’s a surprise.”

  He pushed her out the door and led her to the back of the car. Then he popped the trunk.

  “Get in.”

  “I won’t fit,” Maggie said.

  “Jesus, get in, now.”

  He pushed her as she tried to swing one leg in. Just then Maggie heard a noise behind them.

  “Freeze!”

  Fonzie grabbed Maggie and spun her around, pushing her into whomever had come up behind them; then he took off around the garage.

  “Go!” yelled a second voice.

  Maggie stayed low on the ground. She rolled up into the fetal position, waiting for shots to be fired. But nothing happened. The next moment she felt a large hand on her back.

  “Are you okay?” a familiar voice said.

  Maggie slowly uncurled herself. She sat up and shook her head in disbelief.

  “Silas…” she said. “How did you know I was here?”

  Silas smiled and helped her to her feet. She wrapped her hands around his big shoulders and didn’t want to let go.

  “Britney called Jay. We got here as fast as we could,” Silas said.

  Jay appeared next to Silas, stepping from somewhere out of the darkness.

  “He’s gone,” Jay said.

  “Aren’t you going to call it in? Are you cops?” Maggie suddenly asked.

  “Not quite,” Silas told her. “We work more on the private side.”

  “So, you’re definitely not contractors?”

  “Not the kind you’re thinking,” Silas said.

  “But you’re not cops, right?”

  “Nope.”

  “Oh my God, so you slept with me for the job?”

  “In all fairness, you put the moves on me.”

  “I certainly did not,” Maggie insisted.

  Jay sighed. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get you home.”

  They walked out of the gate then came over to where Silas had parked his truck next to Maggie’s SUV. As soon as Britney saw them, she ran over and wrapped her arms around Maggie. They remained that way for several long moments, then Britney pulled away. “You okay?” she asked. She held on to Maggie’s shoulders and looked into her face.

  “Yes,” Maggie answered. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

  “You left FaceTime on…I heard everything. But I had to finally hang up and call Jay.” She shook her head. “I was so scared!”

  “So was I,” Maggie said. She felt her eyes grow moist but wiped the tears away before she lost total control. “Did you hear his confession?”

  “No.”

  “How did you know to call Jay and not the police?”

  “I knew Jay and Silas were spying on us,” Britney said. “But not in a bad way.”

  Jay spoke up. “You knew?” he said.

  Britney turned to him and winked. “Not my first rodeo, big boy.”

  “How long have you known?” Maggie asked her.

  “Since the first night I met this guy.” She pointed to Jay.

  “And you still slept with him?”

  “Um, sister, look at him…yeah!”

  “All right ladies,” Silas said, “let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’re going home,” Silas said.

  “But don’t you want to know what Fonzie told me?”

  “Nope, got it all.” Silas held up a small device.

  “How?

  “I bugged your phone,” he said.

  “How?”

  “I encrypted it when I was in your car.”

  “Oh my God, you have been spying on me!”

  This time Silas winked. “It’s my job.”

  Maggie looked from Silas to Britney and then back to Silas. “Where are the police? Didn’t anyone call them?”

  Silas shook his head.

  “We can’t call the police,” Britney said.

  “Why not?”

  “Alex hired Fonzie,” Britney said.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Now Maggie felt the tears falling down both her cheeks. Silas came over and wrapped his arms around her. She was tempted to melt into him but found her strength and pushed him aside.

&nbs
p; “Wow,” Maggie said, shaking her head.

  Wiping her tears away she opened the door to her SUV and got behind the wheel. But she couldn’t drive. Britney stood next to her.

  “You can’t drive,” she said. “Get in the passenger seat.”

  Maggie climbed out of the car then climbed back in on other side. She settled down and fastened her seat belt. She could feel her hands start to shake so she clasped them together….She had just about been shoved into the trunk of a car, maybe even killed, and nobody seemed to care.

  “You okay?” Britney said again.

  She looked sideways at Maggie as she drove down the dark streets, following Silas’s truck.

  “Where are we going?” Maggie asked weakly. She just wanted to go home.

  “I’m not sure where,” Britney replied, “but we’re meeting Alex.”

  Chapter 22

  Last Call

  It was the lights that woke Maggie from her trance; they were at the small airport in Boca. They parked next to Silas’s truck and climbed out of the car. The guys signaled to Britney, indicating that she and Maggie should follow them to the only plane parked near the runway. Alex was just getting out of a black sedan. She saw her two friends and the two large men walking toward her. She walked over to them and wrapped her arms around Maggie.

  “I’m so sorry, Maggie. The boys got there as soon as they could.”

  Maggie shook her head. “I’m just so confused…”

  “I’m sure you ladies have a lot of questions,” Alex said.

  “A few—like…” Maggie pointed to the plane.

  “Aw, yes, Jay and Silas both work for me. Private security.”

  “Does Fonzie work for you too?” Maggie asked.

  “He does—or did.” Alex shook her head. “I’m not really sure when things went wrong. I needed to keep an eye on Fonzie, but also on you two. I wanted to keep you safe.”

  “I slept with him,” Maggie said, pointing to Silas.

  “Good for you,” Alex said, smiling. “He’s a hunk.”

  “Did you have Marco killed?” Britney asked.

  Alex turned to her. The expression in her eyes hardened. “Absolutely not. Fonzie’s job was to keep an eye on Marco and get my money back. After Marco died, he was going to leave after a reasonable amount of time to avoid suspicion.”

  “Did you know he killed Marco?” Maggie asked.

  “I had my suspicions but he finally admitted it to me yesterday.”

  “Shouldn’t we call the police and tell them?” Maggie asked.

  Alex frowned. “It’s no use. He’s gone, he’ll be out of the country within the hour.”

  “How?”

  “He’s a very resourceful man. The only person the police will arrest tonight is me. That’s why I’m heading back to New York, where my attorneys can sort it all out. I had nothing to do with Marco’s murder. I just didn’t want my son to find out about my entanglements with Marco; so I set up a side business with him until he stabbed me in the back. I just wanted to get my money and get my hands on some important papers that tied me to Marco. He could have bankrupted my company.”

  “What about the life insurance policy?” Maggie said. “The premiums were being paid by your company….”

  “Yes, but we put that together as a protection. The first year, we made a huge profit, so we reinvested, but I wanted to make sure if something happened to him, I could get my money back. The company was worth over ten million dollars after less than a year. I had no idea we would be so successful. Since I had made Marco a full partner, he was able to assign his sister as the beneficiary to his shares. It was supposed to be paid to the company—which was me. Changing it was just his last shot at me for wanting to liquidate the company and go our separate ways.”

  “You didn’t tell us,” Britney said.

  “I love you girls and I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” She drew closer and embraced them. “I have to go, but I would appreciate you ladies keeping this to yourselves tonight. I need a bit of a head start.”

  “I’m not telling anyone,” Britney said.

  “Why don’t you call the detective tomorrow, Maggie?” Alex said.

  “Why?” Maggie asked.

  “They’re going to find out anyway, you may as well be the one to tell. Maybe you could get a date out of it.” She smiled then walked to her plane.

  Maggie and Britney watched her go. The guys climbed aboard, waving as the door closed. The girls stood back by their car; they did not climb in until the plane lifted from the ground.

  “This is all too unbelievable,” Maggie said.

  “Anything is possible in this town,” Britney replied. “Believe me, I’ve lived here my whole life.”

  *

  Britney drove into her driveway and got out of the car. Maggie got out and hugged Britney before getting into the driver’s seat.

  “Do you think I should call the detective?” Maggie asked.

  Britney shrugged. “She said to, so yeah.”

  Britney waited at the front door until Maggie drove down the street. She went into her house then directly to her closet. She pushed the code into the keypad until she heard the click. The door released. She had converted the spare bedroom into a closet just to hold her shoes and bags. The walls were lined with racks and specialized hangers. The lighting was motion sensitive: as soon as she walked in, each of the shelves illuminated, highlighting the specific shoe or bag lying there with highly filtered bulbs that would not affect the colors or deteriorate the fabrics. A large crystal chandelier hung right above a large velvet round bench that she had designed for the room.

  As she did often, she stood for a moment, admiring her creation. She had imagined this room since she was a child. Her imagination was what gave her the motivation to design high-end lobbies.

  She walked over to the signed Amy Burnett painting of a woman in a large hat. She pulled at the painting. It slid aside to expose a small wall safe. She pushed several numbers in sequence until the safe unlocked. She carefully placed the small notebook that she had recovered from Marco’s place in the back of the safe, behind several stacks of money and a few jewelry boxes. She placed the cell phone Jay retrieved from Fonzie’s house, next to the notebook. She would eventually give it back to Maggie, but she didn’t want her to be tempted to call anyone tonight.

  *

  Alex sat back in her seat and opened the Palm Beach Post. A photograph of Preston Parker, being led away in handcuffs, took up half the front page. Alex read the caption. Preston was being charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Angie.

  “What a shame,” Alex said aloud. “Let’s see how long you last in prison.”

  Alex had used the young man a few times for certain errands. He was reliable most of the time; however, when she sent him to Marco, he was supposed to keep her informed. He had turned out to be more unreliable than she foresaw…and she was fairly certain Marco figured it out. He had given Preston false information that he would pass on to her.

  Those boys had no idea who they were dealing with.

  She folded the paper back in half and closed her eyes. Tomorrow shit was going to hit the fan; she would need to be well rested. Her lawyers were already on standby, and the plant was opening on Monday. So her return was justified. She would deny any knowledge of Fonzie’s background. There was no law against hiring an investigator. Maggie would confirm his confession: she had it recorded on Maggie’s phone, which would be returned tomorrow.

  *

  Maggie awoke the next morning, thinking she had heard a knock on the door. She tied on her bathrobe then hurried to the front door and opened it. No one was there—but a plastic Publix bag was hanging from her doorknob. She pulled off the bag and closed the door. Her phone was inside the bag…but it was dead. She plugged it in then got in the shower.

  When she was fully dressed and had drunk a good cup of coffee, she took the semi-charged phone to the back patio and sent a text to the detective.

>   Maggie: I know who killed Marco.

  Mike: Seriously Maggie? It’s Sunday and I’m tired.

  Maggie: I’m not kidding. It was Fonzie and he tried to put me in the trunk of his car.

  Mike: Very funny.

  Maggie: I am not kidding, please come over.

  Mike: On my way.

  Mike was there before Maggie finished her coffee. She told him everything that had happened, making sure to downplay Alex’s involvement.

  “How did they find you?” he asked.

  “Silas bugged my phone,” she said.

  “Let me see it.”

  Mike reached for her phone. He swiped a few times then tapped when he found the app he was looking for. He played back the recording of Fonzie. Then he seemed to resume swiping and tapping. Maggie watched quietly.

  “Everything else is erased,” Mike said. “Who had your phone?”

  “I don’t know. I left it on the counter at Fonzie’s.”

  “Okay.” Mike nodded. “Well, I’m taking it for evidence.”

  He pulled a plastic bag from his pocket.

  Maggie blinked. “Seriously?”

  “You can go get a new phone,” Mike suggested.

  “Is Alex in trouble?” Maggie asked.

  “I don’t know, but we definitely need to talk to her.”

  Maggie tried to deflect the conversation. “I wonder what Marco did with all the money?”

  “This is going to sound crazy,” Mike said, “but a lot of it went to care for his mother.”

  “What?” She stared at the detective in disbelief.

  “She’s in a very expensive home in upstate New York. A place that specializes in Alzheimer’s.”

  “Wow.” Maggie shook her head. “Did Angie know?”

  “Yes. That’s the reason for the life insurance policy, he wanted to make sure if something happened to him, Angie could keep paying for it.”

  Maggie stared at Mike uncertainly. “Is Marco a good guy or a bad guy?” she said.

  “It seems like both,” Mike replied.

  His phone was buzzing, and he pulled it from his pocket. He looked at the screen and immediately went pale.

  “What is it?” Maggie asked.

  “My sister,” he said. “I have to go.”