The Westport Mysteries Boxed Set

by Beth Prentice

  I pulled my iPad from my bag and typed in the web address. After putting in Grandma’s user name and password, it told me exactly where she was—401/27 Pickett Street. George’s house.

  Riley made good time getting us home. We’d left all our belongings at the hotel, with the intention of going back there after we’d made sure Grandma wasn’t with George. Thankfully Westport was only a half hour drive from the city and at this time of night, the trip was even faster.

  I was about to pick up my phone and give Ed a call when Riley’s phone rang instead. I looked at the caller. It was his mum.

  He pressed the answer button on his hands-free.

  “Hey Mum. What’s up?”

  I heard Anna’s tears before I heard her voice. My stomach flipped again.

  “Oh Riley, I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’ve gone away, but it’s your dad.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” asked Riley, panic tainting his voice.

  “He’s having chest pains so we called the ambulance. They think it may be his heart.”

  Could this night possibly get any worse?

  * * * *

  We decided I would drop Riley off at the hospital, and call Ed to ask him to meet me at George’s house. We didn’t know if Grandma was in danger, but I didn’t want her there even if she wasn’t. As soon as she was safe, I’d race back to be with Riley, and Ed could do the whole arresting thing with George, if indeed George and LGB were the same person.

  The Westport General Hospital was positioned on my side of town, taking up the entire block with Main Road to the North, Nelson Road to the South, Wood Street on the West, and Bell Road on the East. The ER was accessed from Wood Street. Riley parked the car opposite the Ambulance entrance and killed the engine.

  I quickly kissed him and gave him a hug, wishing with all my heart I could stay, just to be with him. I saw the worry in his eyes as I waved him goodbye and he ran into ER.

  I said a silent prayer that Mal would be okay, and got behind the wheel of Riley’s truck. I’d tried Ed’s number a couple of times, but it kept ringing out. This time was no different. Why was no one available when you needed them?

  I sat back and thought my next move through, and decided I would drive to Pickett Street and do a bit of surveillance to see if Grandma was okay. Putting the truck in gear, I turned it around and headed in the right direction, redialing Ed as I went. After my fourth attempt, I gave up and left a message for him to call me as soon as possible—it was urgent. But I was sure he’d figure that out from the ten missed calls he had from me.

  The night had turned out to be a wet one, the drizzle causing the headlights of on-coming cars to have a halo effect. At that moment I felt cold, lonely and sad. I thought of Riley sitting in ER with his family, and I thought of Mal. If only I could see a star tonight. My wish would be that he was okay.

  Reaching Pickett Street, I turned the truck into the Grange Retirement Village and made my way to 401. I was surprised to see that it was a six-storey unit block with a roof top garden.

  I pulled the truck to a stop in a park that was partially covered by an overhanging tree, and killed the engine. I got out and crept towards the building, checking for unit numbers. It appeared George’s was the unit on the ground floor.

  I looked towards it, but couldn’t see if Grandma was there as the front curtains were closed. I chewed my thumbnail as I checked my phone for messages. Nothing. As the rain fell, I moved back to the truck.

  I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t exactly go knocking on his door and demand to know if Grandma was there, yet if she was in danger then sitting here was just silly. But why would she be in danger? She didn’t know who LGB was.

  I sat there for about half an hour debating whether I should have a walk around, when a car pulled into the driveway. I ducked down in my seat a little bit as the female driver got out and beeped the doors locked. As she passed under the light from the porch, I noticed the woman was Allison.

  Not for the first time today I thought What the f...?

  What was she doing here?

  She inserted a key in the front door of the building and let herself in.

  Okay, I had to find out what was going on. Opening the truck door, I got out, pocketing my phone as I did so. I moved silently using the bushes to shield me, and ducked under the window. Even though it was a rainy night, the window was open an inch. An inch I strained to listen at, hoping to hear anything that might indicate Grandma was there.

  I heard George’s laugh.

  “Hi Grandpa,” I heard Allison say.

  Grandpa?

  “Hello, girly, you’re just in time.”

  “Why have you got Mabel Phillips tied up?”

  “Well we were on a date, and she started asking questions about my hand and how I lost it. She’s a bit smarter than I gave her credit for—which is a bit of a shock as I hadn’t given her any credit for being smart at all.”

  I heard Grandma protest.

  “Shut up,” said Allison, as I heard the slap. “I’ve wanted to do that to your stupid granddaughter for weeks, but instead I had to contain myself. If I’d known it felt that good, I would have bloody done it.”

  “Allison, don’t get distracted. This isn’t about your love life. We need to sort this mess first.”

  “Grandpa, there’s nothing to sort.”

  “Of course there is. They know the truth. I’m eighty-seven. I can’t go to jail now.”

  “Relax, you’re not going to jail. They may not know anything.”

  “They know everything! Avis’s diary tells the whole damn story.”

  “They don’t know it’s you,” said Allison patiently.

  George thought about this for a second.

  “But what about that video thing on the Internet? The one that named me.”

  “I handled that.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I made the kid remove it from the Internet and then I killed him.”

  I suddenly realized I didn’t need to worry about Riley leaving me for Allison. This woman was certifiably insane.

  “We will need to get rid of Mabel though. Maybe we should just kill Lizzie too. It would solve more than one problem. She’d no longer be in my way to get Riley back.”

  I knew she was after him.

  “I’ve tried to get rid of her a few times, but she doesn’t want to die.”

  I dropped to my knees and hid below the windowsill as my phone started to ring in my pocket. My hand shook as I hurriedly swiped to answer it.

  “Hi Lizzie, its Ed.” I could hear the smile in his voice. He obviously thought this was a social call.

  “I need help,” I quickly said. “I know who the killer is and he has Grandma.”

  “Where are you?” His voice instantly changed to police mode.

  I gave him the address and a quick rundown on what was happening.

  “Okay. Stay where you are. Do not enter the premises. I’ll be there with back up as soon as possible.”

  I hung up the phone and tried to slow my heart rate as a shadow passed between myself and the streetlight.

  “I knew I heard a vermin out here,” said Allison, standing over me. She grabbed my hair and pulled me to my feet. I looked at her and wondered if I could take her down. I mean, I had anger, contempt and jealousy on my side so I could take a pretty mean swing at her, but on closer inspection she was the one with the gun. I decided to play nice and do what she said.

  She grabbed my arm and pushed me towards the door, looking around her as she went.

  “Are you alone?” she asked.

  “Y...y...yes.” I said, my voice betraying my fear.

  She slammed the door behind us and pushed me forwards into the room where Grandma was tied up.

  “I thought this country had anti-gun laws?” said Grandma, as Allison pushed me to the floor.

  “You really need to shut the hell up, Mabel,” snarled Allison.

  “Don’t talk to her like that,” I
said.

  “Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie,” said Allison, walking close to me. “Please don’t give me a reason to kill you sooner than I want to.”

  “Allison!” said George. “Stop. We don’t want any more dead bodies. We have enough already.”

  “Grandpa, I have to kill her anyway,” she said, kicking me in the stomach with the pointy toe of her Louboutin. “First of all, she knows too much and second of all, I really, really want to. I just don’t want to rush it.” She pouted like a child.

  George laughed. “Yeah, I guess I can see your point.”

  Allison turned to me, her gun shiny under the overhead fluorescent bulb. “Have I mentioned how much I hate you, Lizzie?”

  I whimpered as she kicked me again. Grandma yelled.

  “Hey Bitch, leave her alone!”

  Allison backhanded her with the gun. I looked up to see Grandma’s eyes glaze and her head slump.

  I moved myself into a sitting position. I’d been in a situation similar to this once before, and as it turned out it taught me a lot. First off, I could handle fear—at least this kind of fear. It apparently brought out the fighter in me.

  “Go fuck yourself, Allison,” I said.

  “Ooh hoo hoo.” She laughed. “Listen to you. If Riley could hear you now, what would he think of that potty mouth?” She grabbed my mouth with her free hand and scrunched my lips together. I swatted her away.

  “I know it was you with the blood,” I said, trying to keep her talking long enough for Ed to arrive and save the day.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  Oh, so it wasn’t Allison then. She stood, the hand holding the gun falling to her side.

  “Just so you know, Lizzie. Once I’ve killed you, I’m going to take Riley back. Yes, he’ll be upset at first, but he doesn’t really love you. So it won’t take long for him to forget you. Then I’ll remind him of how great we were together and we’ll get married and have lots of children.” A dreamy look clouded her eyes. “Oh and lots and lots of sex. Yes. We won’t be able to keep our hands off each other. I mean, I already have experience with him, so I know just what he likes.” Her eyes glittered, giving me a glimpse of crazy.

  George turned his back on us, covering his ears. “La la la,” he hummed as he sat on the lounge chair opposite us. Allison stopped, her face only inches from mine.

  “Yes, I know how much he loves to hear breathing in his ear. I know how much it arouses him.”

  I wanted to block my ears like George had done. I knew how much Riley liked that too.

  Allison giggled. “Oh, I also know how much he loves...” She moved close to my ear and whispered.

  I’m not going to tell you the details of what she said, but she was spot on with exactly what Riley liked best.

  She laughed loudly, moving away from my ear. “Oh yes. I’m going to do that to him a lot!”

  Hatred for her built inside me.

  “But you only have yourself to blame, Lizzie. You see, if you never bought that house, none of this would have happened.”

  “How the hell do you figure that?” I spat.

  “Well you see...you were right when you said you recognized me from the auction. I wanted to buy it that day, but my stupid bank couldn’t get their shit together fast enough. If I had bought it, the bones would have stayed safely buried and you would never have met Riley. Your stalker, Joe Woods would never have been watching you, causing all those nightmares. You never would have walked into my office that day, and we would never have met.”

  As Allison spoke closely to my face, my phone vibrated in my hand. She shifted her gaze and snatched it away from my hand.

  Scrolling through my call list she saw that my last call was to Ed.

  “Shit! She’s called the bloody police.” She cursed as she stood, turning her back to me.

  As she threw my phone across the room in temper, I took my opportunity and kicked her in the back of the knee.

  She fell forwards as the gun discharged, the bullet lodging itself into George. I heard his scream as Allison fell to the floor. I didn’t stop to see what had happened to him. Instead, I got to my feet and rushed at her from behind. I needed to get the gun out of her hand before she spun around and shot Grandma.

  I underestimated her strength. She grabbed my clothing and pulled me over her shoulder, slamming me into the floor. She then held the gun on me.

  “I should just kill you now,” she yelled, her eyes crazy.

  “Allison,” I heard George croak.

  She instantly turned her attention away from me. George lay in the chair, a pool of blood appearing on his chest, seeping through his shirt, his complexion pale. Allison hurriedly went to him, and fell to the floor.

  “Grandpa, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she cried. “Don’t move, I can help you.”

  “No...” I heard George reply.

  My attention was on Grandma. She hadn’t regained consciousness after Allison hit her.

  I crawled over to her and checked her pulse. Her eyes flickered, and I felt my heart rate decrease. I quickly untied her and dragged her to the floor behind the couch.

  Allison’s primeval scream rang through the night air, and I turned just in time to see George take his final breath. I felt the tears sting my eyes as panic raced through me. I didn’t know how to get out of here. I couldn’t leave Grandma, yet I knew I couldn’t get out with her. I only hoped I could prevent Allison from killing us both before Ed got here with back up.

  I stood up, prepared to do whatever it took, when Allison turned to me.

  Her eyes were wild, her usually perfect make-up running down her face. Her hair messed, making her look crazier than before.

  “You!” she spat, her voice low and menacing.

  My heart missed a couple of beats.

  “This is all your fault!”

  With that she ran at me, hatred replacing the crazy in her eyes. I felt her body pound into mine as we fell to the floor. She rolled off me and I took my chance, scrambled to my feet and ran for the door, hoping to get her away from Grandma. She was faster than I was though. Grabbing my hair, she stopped as the flash of blue and red lights shone through a gap in the curtains.

  Help was here.

  I saw the panic in her eyes as she quickly considered her options. She looked at me and pushed me forwards as she bent to retrieve the gun. I tried to duck from her grasp but stopped as she pointed the gun at my head. I knew without a shadow of a doubt she would pull the trigger.

  “You’re my ticket out of here,” she said. “Get going.” She moved behind me, forcing me out of the unit and towards the stairs at the back of the hall. I didn’t know where she was taking me, but I decided until I had a better plan, I should just go with it.

  We walked up six flights of stairs and came to a door. She pulled a key from her pocket and opened it. We walked out onto the rooftop garden. It looked like it would have been nice at some point in time. Right now, it just terrified me even more.

  She pushed me to the edge of the safety rail and made me step over it. I was grateful the rain had stopped and the roof was not any more slippery than it was. Holding me by the arm, she followed and forced me towards the edge. Leaning precariously over it, I looked down at the scene below.

  I could see the flash of lights of two police cars, as four officers moved towards the building.

  “Stop!” called Allison.

  “What are you doing, Allison?” yelled Ed, as all officers pointed their guns in our direction.

  “What does it look like, Officer Rude.”

  She obviously hadn’t gotten over how he’d been rude to her the day of the car accident. Great.

  “It looks like you’re not thinking clearly. Why don’t you take a step away from the edge and let Lizzie go?”

  “No!” I yelled, thinking she would probably love to do just that, allowing me to fall to my death.

  Allison laughed. “Oh no, I’m taking Lizzie with me. She’s the reason you’re going t
o let me go. You wouldn’t want her hurt now, would you?” She laughed.

  Ed was six storeys below me, but the strobe lights from the cars gave me enough light that I could see his face clearly.

  He gave the order for everyone to holster their guns. They did as asked. I noticed a shadow move close to the building and to the door, and prayed it was back up.

  “What do you want us to do?” he called up to her.

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t thought this through. Give me a minute, will you?”

  You could have sworn she was talking to the kid at the deli counter at the supermarket, while she tried to decide what meat she wanted. As she stood debating what she wanted to do, I heard the door behind us open. Allison turned as I fell forwards an extra inch, the roof tiles slipping under my feet.

  My heart raced as I saw Ed’s fear as he looked up at me.

  “Let her go, Allison,” I heard Riley say. I moved my head and saw his eyes huge and vulnerable.

  Seeing him, Allison’s grip on my arm loosened.

  I felt the world slip a little bit more.

  “Riley! What...what are you doing here?” she asked, her tone uncertain.

  “I’ve come to get you,” he said.

  A sob escaped my throat.

  “Get me?”

  “Yes, isn’t that what you want? Us to be back together?”

  “Well yes. It is.”

  “Then put Lizzie down and come over here.”

  Riley smiled the mega-watt smile, and Allison swooned under his gaze. I wanted to use the distraction to push her away and run, but I still hung precariously close to the edge with Allison the only anchor point to safety. She also still had a gun.

  “Do you really love me, Riley or are you just saying that so I’ll let Lizzie go?”

  He took a deep breath. “I really love you. I always have.”

  Okay, I know this was all for my benefit, but it still hurt to hear those words leave Riley’s lips.

  “But, how do we get out of this situation?”

  “It’s okay. I’ve got a plan. We give Lizzie to Ed, and he’ll be so happy he won’t even notice us slip out the back door.”

  Allison looked down at the scene below us, and I saw the crazy slip out of her eyes.