by Rachel Woods
I squeezed Icarus’s hand, and he gave me a comforting glance. I smiled back, hoping to reassure him I was okay, but nothing could comfort me when I thought of Icarus’s stab wound. I was still panicked and traumatized by what had happened to him.
Clearing my throat, I said, “I know, but you could have—”
“But, I didn’t,” he said and then gave me a mischievous grin. “I wasn’t about to die and miss my chance to be with you.”
“Silly,” I said, teasing as I bent my head to give him a quick peck.
“Good news!” Octavia announced as she entered the hospital room, smiling as she walked to the foot of the hospital bed. “Great news, actually.”
“What is it?” Icarus asked, carefully sitting up.
Curious, hopeful and wary, I stared at Octavia, my heart pounding.
“So, I just got back from a meeting with Detective François,” Octavia said. “Doris did the old ‘villain’s soliloquy’ yesterday, going on and on about how she’d killed her brother, Sam, Stazia and how she’d stabbed Joshua and Icarus because they were wicked and evil and deserved to die, and how she was executing the Lord’s righteous judgment.”
“I doubt very seriously that the Lord told her to kill three people,” Icarus deadpanned.
“I’m sure she was upset that she didn’t kill me,” I said, remembering what Doris had called me, a wicked Jezebel.
“Profoundly upset,” said Octavia. “But, the point of the meeting was to inform me that there is a video recording of Doris killing her brother.”
“What?” I stared at Octavia, unable to register any other emotion except extreme shock.
“How?” Icarus asked.
“Remember the ugly fake gold medallion Henri always wore?” Octavia started. “Well, he was always recording every damn second of his miserable life, it seemed. The medallion worked like a digital camera. It had a SIM card that stored the videos he recorded. So, at the end of each day, Henri would remove the SIM card, place it into his laptop, and download his recordings for that day. Then he’d erase the SIM card and put it back into the medallion.”
Astonished, I shook my head though I had a feeling I knew where the story was going.
“The day Henri was killed,” Octavia said, “he was recording his life. But, of course, because he was killed, he didn’t get a chance to download the recordings to his laptop.”
“But, wait,” said Icarus. “How did the medallion end up at Joshua’s place?”
“Doris told me that Stazia beat her up and took the medallion,” I said.
“Joshua is doing a bit better and has been able to talk to the cops,” Octavia said. “He confirmed that Stazia asked him to keep the medallion for her, but she didn’t tell him why. It’s possible Stazia knew about the recording device, but we’ll never know for sure.”
“No, we won’t,” I said, sobered by the memory of Stazia’s body zipped up in that black bag.
Octavia said, “Joshua also admitted to tampering with the video he filmed for Quinn so he could extort money from Doris.”
Icarus shook his head. “Who knew there were so many extortionists working at the Heliconia.”
“Well, according to the detective,” Octavia said. “The video from the medallion on the day Henri was murdered shows Doris and Henri arguing about the blackmail money. Doris accuses him of tricking her and tells him she burned the ‘filthy lucre.’ That’s when Henri went ballistic and hit Doris. But, Doris isn’t having that. She picks up a kitchen knife—the same knife you tried to use to defend yourself with, Quinn—and she stabs Henri. Detective François said the video is crazy. It’s from Henri’s point of view and, apparently, when you watch it, you feel as though it’s happening to you when Doris comes at Henri with that knife.”
“Wow,” Icarus said and then sighed.
“My sentiments exactly,” I said, still reeling from the revelation.
“The great news is,” Octavia said, “that the recording Henri was making the day he was killed also showed him trying to assault Quinn. The detective said it clearly shows Henri knocking you out and leaving you on the floor unconscious. In fact, when Doris came over, she argued with her brother about what he’d done to you.”
My mind still spinning, I asked, “So, what’s next, Octavia?”
“Well, after I talked to the detective, I spoke to the prosecutor.”
“And?” Icarus prompted. “What does the evidence against Doris mean in terms of the charge against Quinn?”
My heart skipped, soared, fluttered, and did all sorts of crazy things as I thought about what it would mean to finally have the murder charge dismissed. The black cloud that had loomed over my life for the past weeks would disperse, and I would be able to enjoy, and appreciate and be grateful for, the blue skies and sunshine that would greet me.
“The prosecutors have dropped and dismissed the murder charge against you, Quinn,” Octavia said, smiling. “You’re a free woman and now you can feel free to move on with your life.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Icarus said, slipping an arm around my waist.
“What’s that?” I asked as we strolled along the water’s edge of the hidden beach, the beautiful, magical expanse of white sand Icarus had introduced me to the day we first met so many months ago when I was a different person—anxious and illogical, suffering from crazy nightmares.
But, there were no more bad dreams.
And I absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, was no longer going to be making unethical decisions, trying to be the hotshot litigator, desperate to make partner. The woman in black who always tried to kill me in those strange nightmares hadn’t been trying to kill me. I’d been trying to kill the diabolical ambition threatening my soul and my sanity. I had regained confidence in all of my positive attributes, but I had a different purpose now, different dreams and desires.
After the murder charges against me were dropped, Icarus and I spent a month getting to know each other and realized we were falling in love and wanted to explore the possibility of what might develop between us.
Additionally, I wanted to explore potential career opportunities in the Palmchat Islands. With Octavia’s help, I’d secured my first client, a local man from St. Felipe who hired me to represent him in a lawsuit against the powerful auction giant, Rutherford’s. The case centered on a fancy vivid pink diamond, which my client claimed Rutherford’s had stolen from him. I’d filed a suit, claiming the auction house knowingly tried to sell the diamond in contravention of the plaintiff’s ownership rights. I’d won the case, and the gem had been returned to my client. It was a victory I could be proud of, one that hadn’t given me crazy dreams.
“The Esperança House isn’t the only thing my aunt left me. She also left me this,” he said, pulling something from one of the pockets on his board shorts, and then displaying it on his palm.
“Oh …” I squeaked, staring at the large, emerald-cut diamond ring. “It’s beautiful.”
“She left some explicit instructions with this ring,” Icarus said.
“Explicit instructions?” I asked as we stopped near a palm tree.
“She said I couldn’t sell it,” he said. “And I couldn’t pawn it, and I couldn’t remove the stone and have the diamond cut into smaller pieces, or anything.”
“Why would you want to destroy such a beautiful ring?” I asked, staring at the stone and then at Icarus, intoxicated by the desire and love in his gaze.
“Well, I think she just wanted to make sure I followed the instructions.”
“And what were the instructions?” I asked, leaning toward him, my heart fluttering and soaring, as unrestrained joy pooled in my chest.
Slipping an arm around my shoulders, Icarus said, “Her instructions were that the only thing I could do with the ring was give it to the woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with …”
“Those are pretty explicit instructions,” I said, my hear
t slamming.
“She wanted me to find a beautiful, sexy, exciting, intelligent woman—”
“Beautiful, wonderful, sexy …” Laughing, I asked, “What was the rest of it?”
“Exciting and intelligent,” Icarus said, laughing with me. “And I’m happy to say, and you’ll be glad to know, that I have found that woman.”
“Oh, really?” I asked. “And is she beautiful, wonderful, sexy, exciting, intelligent?”
“She’s all that, and so much more,” Icarus said, leaning closer to me, his lips inches from mine. “And, you know her?”
“Is that right?” I put my hand on his strong jaw and then kissed him. “Well, she’s a very lucky girl.”
“And I’ll be a lucky guy if she says yes,” he said.
“Yes …” I whispered, an entrancing rapture dancing throughout my body, “to what?”
“Quinn …” Icarus took my hand, and his whiskey-colored gaze was so intent and potent, I felt my body responding in a way that only his love could accomplish.
Moving into his arms, I said, “Yes …”
Icarus put the gorgeous diamond ring on my finger and then said, “Will you marry me?”
“Yes …” I whispered, kissing him.
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Ominous Island
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Prologue
The first time I hit him in the head with a shovel, he was surprised, shocked, stunned.
As he turned toward me, his eyes were wide and confused. I almost felt sorry for him. But not quite. Not so sorry that I wouldn’t kill him. Because I had to. He had to die. And he knew why. He knew exactly what he’d done.
I swung the shovel again, connecting with the side of his head.
Crying out in shock and pain, he stumbled to one knee.
“I can’t let you live,” I told him. “Not after what you did …”
I whacked him again, a resounding thwack that put him face down on the floor and shut him up. Sprawled on the carpet, he didn’t move. Was he dead? Or, just unconscious? Maybe he was just pretending to be dead?
Just in case, I decided to hit him again. The crunch of bone and the spray of blood and brain matter comforted me.
I was convinced that he wouldn’t get up because I knew he couldn’t.
The son of a bitch was dead.
Continue reading …
Murder in Paradise Series
Stand-alone romantic mystery novels all set in the fictional Palmchat Islands.
REUNION ISLAND
TEMPTATION ISLAND
OMINOUS ISLAND
Also by Rachel Woods
SPENCER & SIONE SERIES
Gripping romantic suspense series with steamy romance, unpredictable plot twists and devastating consequences of deceit.
FLAWLESS MISTAKE
FLAWLESS DANGER
FLAWLESS BETRAYAL
About the Author
Rachel Woods studied journalism and graduated from the University of Houston where she published articles in the Daily Cougar. She is a legal assistant by day and a freelance writer and blogger with a penchant for melodrama by night. Many of her stories take place on the islands, which she has visited around the world. Rachel resides in Houston, Texas with her three sock monkeys.
For more information:
www.therachelwoods.com
[email protected]
About the Publisher
BonzaiMoon Books is a family-run, artisanal publishing company created in the summer of 2014. We publish works of fiction in various genres. Our passion and focus is working with authors who write the books you want to read, and giving those authors the opportunity to have more direct input in the publishing of their work.
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