Dead Man Talking

by Jana DeLeon

“Are they still there?” Zoe asked.

  “Yeah, they’re playing pool, but the game’s almost done.”

  Zoe nodded. “Get going. We’ll be fine. They’re not going to head this way until it’s dark. Someone might see their truck and report it.”

  “I’ll call as soon as I get on the walkway to the lighthouse. Be ready to let me in.” Dane headed out the back door.

  Sapphire looked over at Zoe. “I guess we can’t move the refrigerator until Dane gets back.”

  “You don’t need to be moving refrigerators anyway.”

  “It’s got wheels. Besides, we need something to do. We can’t just stand here watching the door for the next thirty minutes.”

  “Fine, so we’ll have a Danish in your new kitchen and then watch the back door for twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll make coffee.”

  “Eighteen minutes.”

  Sapphire laughed. “I’ve really missed you, Zoe. Please don’t wait so long to come visit again or I might fake another fall.”

  “About that…I was thinking of staying a while.”

  “Really? That would be wonderful! How long? A week? Two?”

  “I’m not really sure. As long as it will take me to find a job and my own place and—”

  Sapphire rushed forward and grabbed Zoe in a hug, twirling them both around. Finally, she stopped spinning and looked at Zoe with a grin that practically split her face.

  “You’re coming home,” Sapphire said. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. You belong here, Zoe, but it had to be your decision. And no talk of getting your own place. The lighthouse is your home.”

  Zoe shook her head. “You have your own life and routine here. I don’t want to interfere with that.”

  “You wouldn’t be interfering at all. You’d be completing the last piece of a puzzle. The lighthouse is yours, Zoe. It always has been but if it makes you feel better, I made it official years ago when I made my will. I left everything to you.”

  “But Dad…”

  “Your parents have no interest in returning to Everlasting, and they never wanted to live in the lighthouse. They prefer to live within walking distance of restaurants and stores. You know remote living was never their thing.”

  Zoe nodded, unable to speak for fear of starting to cry. And if she started, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. Sapphire had left her the lighthouse. She’d always figured her dad would inherit it or maybe Sapphire would leave it to the town with the stipulation that it become a historical landmark. Zoe never considered that the one place she’d always felt she belonged would become her home.

  “I have my doubts you’ll be here for long anyway,” Sapphire said. “I predict that before long you’ll be living in an adorable bungalow just down the shore.”

  Zoe shook her head. “I’m not ready to go there and I don’t think he is either.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I saw the two of you then and I see you now, and what’s between you hasn’t diminished. It’s never going to.”

  “I guess we’ll see. Now, let’s have that Danish.”

  Sapphire stared at her for several seconds, then hugged her again before bouncing across the kitchen like a child at a carnival. Zoe couldn’t help but smile. There was no one in the world like her aunt, and Zoe was just happy she’d come to her senses while Sapphire was still around. She could have lost her when she fell, but instead of losing anything, she’d found herself.

  They all sat at the kitchen island, looking at the clock every minute. They were three pots of coffee and one six-pack of diet soda into the night, and it was getting longer with every passing silent second. Periodically, Cornelius would pop inside and let them know he was still patrolling and still hadn’t seen anything. It was close to midnight and despite the nap she’d taken earlier, Zoe was starting to grow weary. But in all fairness, she’d had a big day already.

  “Maybe they didn’t find out we were going to be out of town,” Sapphire said.

  Zoe shook her head. “People in Canada know we’re supposed to be out of town. Maybe they changed their mind.”

  Dane sighed. “Anything is possible, but I can’t believe their intentions would change so drastically from one night to the next.”

  “Monte is certain they left the bar at eight?” Zoe asked.

  “He followed them out and saw them leave,” Dane said.

  “Maybe they had another job to do before this one,” Sapphire said. “I mean, they haven’t been caught yet, right, so what if they had something planned for tonight before they found out we weren’t going to be here? Something that had to be done earlier because the people who lived there were only going to be gone for dinner or a movie or something. They think they’ll have all night in here.”

  “Yes, but they don’t know what they’re looking for,” Zoe pointed out. “And if it’s the last robbery they’d ever have to do, assuming they find the emerald, wouldn’t they concentrate effort on the job that leads to instant retirement?”

  “You’re probably right,” Sapphire said. “I wouldn’t make a good criminal at all. So many things to take into account.”

  “Most criminals don’t make good criminals,” Dane said. “That’s why they get caught.”

  “Well, these might prove that theory wrong,” Zoe said. “Either that or they got drunk somewhere else or in a fight somewhere else or a wreck driving drunk.” She sighed. “How many nights are we going to have to do this?”

  “As many as it takes,” Dane said.

  “Maybe Sapphire could just get a big rottweiler,” Zoe said.

  “I think the cats would vote that one down,” Sapphire said.

  “I suppose a pet tiger is out of the question?” Zoe asked. “Can you talk to big cats?”

  “I don’t know,” Sapphire said. “I’ve never had the opportunity, but it’s an interesting thought.”

  “Before anyone starts playing Dr. Dolittle,” Dane said, “let’s give this a few tries.”

  “If we were vampires, this wouldn’t be a problem,” Sapphire said.

  “If we were vampires,” Zoe said, “we’d be dead and all of this would be moot.”

  “True,” Sapphire said, “but—”

  “He’s coming!” Cornelius burst through the wall and ran into the kitchen. “He’s creeping out of the woods now, headed for the front door.”

  Zoe repeated what he said for Dane.

  “Only one man?” Dane asked.

  “Yes,” Cornelius said.

  Zoe nodded.

  “Keep us updated,” Dane said. “Everyone in position.”

  Zoe and Sapphire hurried upstairs and Zoe grabbed the rifle from her room and crept back down the stairs, stopping where the bend would have exposed her to the living room. Sapphire stayed behind on the landing, ready with her cell phone and the army of cats behind her. Dane had headed for his spot on the side of the cabinet, where he would be hidden from anyone entering through the front door. Now all Zoe had to do was wait for Dane to give the signal, then block the thief from going up the stairs.

  She took in a breath and slowly let it out, trying to slow her racing pulse. Calm was good. Calm was steady. She just had to keep reminding herself of that. Straining, she tried to make out noise from downstairs, but the only sound she heard was the wind whistling through the trees.

  “He’s opening the door!” Cornelius yelled. “Still only one man.”

  Zoe frowned. The second man had run because of the cats that first night. Maybe he had refused to come inside again. He might be waiting in the truck, playing the getaway driver, and had probably been the one to call her from the hospital the night before.

  She heard the door open and prepared for what was coming next.

  Cornelius’ voice sounded through the lighthouse. “He’s inside!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Zoe clenched the rifle so tightly her hands started to ache. Every second seemed like an hour but finally she heard Dane’s voice.

  “Stop or I’l
l shoot!”

  She ran down the stairs and aimed her rifle at the masked man standing in the middle of the living room, looking back at Dane, who stood in the front doorway, blocking his access. When the stairs creaked, the man whirled around, his eyes widening when he saw Zoe on the stairs with a rifle. He glanced to the side but the refrigerator blocking the back door completely eliminated it as an option.

  Cornelius stood a couple of feet from the man, clapping and cheering.

  “Drop the rifle.” A man’s voice sounded across the room and Zoe looked past the thief to see a masked man standing behind Dane. “I can shoot you and your girlfriend before you get that rifle swung around,” he said. “Drop it now.”

  “Oh my God!” Cornelius yelled. “Send down the cats! Sapphire! Unleash the beasts!”

  Dane sat the butt of the rifle on the floor and let it drop.

  “You too, Annie Oakley,” the man said, and nodded at Zoe. “On the floor in front of you.”

  Zoe heard the stampede coming behind her as she dropped the rifle onto the rug. She leaned against the wall as the cats came running by at breakneck speed. They skidded off the stairs and made a beeline for the front door.

  “Hell no!” the man with the pistol yelled and shoved Dane, sending him tumbling over an accent table. “Get out of there,” he screamed at his partner.

  The man with the pistol whirled around and sped out of the lighthouse, the cats and Cornelius close behind. The first thief attempted to run through the front door, but Dane launched forward from the floor and tackled him at the knees.

  Cornelius, who’d run outside after the other thief, barreled back through the front of the lighthouse screaming. “He’s going to shoot the cats!”

  “Not my babies!” Sapphire yelled. “Zoe, use your gift. Do something.”

  Zoe ran out the front door and saw the man on the drive, leveling his pistol at the herd of running cats. Something at her core started to burn and she felt a rush of energy course through her almost like an electrical current.

  A second later, a bolt of lightning burst from the sky and struck the thief, throwing him on the ground, steam coming off the pistol. Sapphire ran up behind her.

  “Are they all right?” she asked. “Are my babies okay?”

  “They’re all good,” Zoe said, still unable to believe what had just happened.

  “Is he dead?” Cornelius asked.

  “Do you care?” Sapphire asked. “Trying to shoot my babies.”

  Zoe looked over at Dane, who had just finished tying up the first thief and left him sitting on the living room floor, slumped against the couch. He didn’t appear to have any fight left in him.

  “I’m going for the other one,” Dane said, and headed outside with his rifle and more rope.

  Zoe stomped into the living room and yanked the mask off his head, ready to level her fist at Frank Belmont, and stared in shock as Dr. Prescott looked up at her. Sapphire stepped up beside her, looking as bewildered as Zoe felt.

  “Why?” Sapphire asked. “Why would you do this to me?”

  “I need the emerald,” he said. “It’s my only hope.”

  The cancer.

  “You’re dying, aren’t you?” Zoe asked.

  Dr. Prescott nodded.

  “How long?”

  “A couple of months,” he said. “Maybe more.”

  Suddenly, it all made sense. It was Dr. Prescott who’d prescribed the sleeping pills for Sapphire, thinking she’d be out cold when he broke in. It was Dr. Prescott who’d kept her in the hospital longer than Mary Jo had expected, planning to lure Zoe out of the lighthouse. But how a doctor could believe in cure by magic emerald, she had no idea.

  Before Zoe could open her mouth to ask any one of the hundred questions that came to mind, she heard Dane yelling for them to come outside. As they exited the lighthouse, the cats began to stroll back in, looking incredibly pleased with themselves. Zoe and Sapphire hurried over to Dane, who stood over the second thief.

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Dane said and pointed down at the now-exposed face of the other man.

  Deputy February.

  “Is he dead?” Zoe asked, her voice shaking. She wanted February to pay for what he’d done to Sapphire, but she didn’t want to be responsible for killing someone.

  “Unconscious,” Dane said. “And his gun is completely melted.”

  Sapphire looked down at the deputy, then threw her hands in the air. “The whole world has gone crazy. The other man is Dr. Prescott.”

  “Your doctor?” Dane stared at them in surprise. “What the hell is going on in this town?”

  “I don’t know but after I call the sheriff, I’m calling the state police,” Zoe said. “Clearly there needs to be some calendar sorting down at the sheriff’s department, and I don’t know the rules on Sheriff Bull arresting one of her own deputies.”

  Dane nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

  Zoe pulled out her cell phone and called the sheriff’s department and the state police, explaining that she had apprehended two intruders in her aunt’s house and one of them was local law enforcement. Dispatch at the sheriff’s department said they’d roust Sheriff Bull out of bed and get her over there. The state police had an off-duty in town for the festival and said he would be there in fifteen minutes. She also asked them to dispatch paramedics to the scene as one of the intruders had been struck by lightning.

  She stuck the phone back in her pocket and looked at Dane and Sapphire.

  “I am so confused,” she said. “But the good news is this is over.”

  Zoe sat on a huge rock at the end of the beach path and looked out over the ocean. The wind blowing across the water was chilly, so she zipped her jacket and pulled the hoodie over her head. The cold didn’t at all detract from the beauty.

  And now, you can see this every day.

  That thought made her smile, and that in itself was huge because when she’d left Everlasting, she’d believed the only thing that could make her happy was to never be back. Now she couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else. Maybe she’d had to leave before she could realize that she belonged here. That Everlasting was where her future was, even though she had no idea what that future held.

  She was still processing the events of the night before and had yet to reconcile Dr. Prescott and Deputy February as the bad guys. In a way, she understood Dr. Prescott’s reasons, at least on an emotional level. He was dying and desperate, and given Sapphire’s incredible health for her age, he thought she held the secret that he needed to cure himself. He’d begged her forgiveness before the state police arrived, and even though Zoe was still angry at him for putting Sapphire at risk, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him.

  As for February, she had no idea why the detective had taken up with Prescott. He hadn’t regained consciousness by the time the paramedics arrived and the state police had accompanied them to the hospital. The police had spent a couple hours taking their statements, and then admonished them against similar action in the future as they had gotten lucky that no one was hurt except one of the bad guys.

  The statements hadn’t included any mention of Zoe’s summoning the lightning, of course. Dane was completely in the dark about her newfound skill set, although she was sure he knew something had changed. But she wanted to talk to him about all of it—the weather, her resignation, her feelings for him—when everything had settled down. Last night definitely hadn’t been the right time. When the police were done, they’d all been exhausted and more than happy to go straight to bed. The next day was going to be a busy one because as soon as word got out, Zoe had no doubt that a constant stream of visitors and phone calls would be in her aunt’s future.

  She’d been right. Dane had dropped by that morning to see how they were doing and said he was going to check in with the police and he’d be back that afternoon, hopefully with an update on everything. By 9:00 a.m. the phone started ringing, and at 11:00 a.m. the first visitor arrived. A group of f
our women from Sapphire’s yoga class had shown up about fifteen minutes ago, and Zoe had taken the opportunity to step out and find a quiet place to decompress. It had been an extraordinary night and an excitable day, and she just needed to get away from the hum of voices for a while.

  “I take it you are escaping the yoga club excitement?” Dane’s voice sounded behind her.

  She turned to see him step off the path and he took a seat on the rock next to her.

  “After the tenth telling,” Zoe said, “I got a little bored. I thought a little peace and quiet was in order.”

  “I didn’t mean to disrupt your peace.”

  “You didn’t. Besides, I want to know what you found out. Is February awake? Did he say anything?”

  “Awake and singing like a bird, not that it matters. His excuse isn’t nearly as compelling as the doctor’s.”

  “This ought to be good.”

  “Money. Good old-fashioned green. But the reason he was desperate for the money is one I haven’t heard before. He said Sheriff Bull wants to marry him and he needed the money to get away.”

  “Seriously? Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

  “Who knows? Dr. Prescott has been treating him for anxiety, which is how they hooked up, so I’m guessing the good doctor could confirm February’s claim if it came to that. But it doesn’t matter.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “The state police are bringing them both up on breaking-and-entering charges and assault for what happened to Sapphire and for shoving me. I don’t think he will serve a lot of time but as a cop, anything February serves will be unpleasant. He’ll probably plead out if they offer him anything less than what he’d likely get at a sentencing. It’s doubtful Prescott will even make it to jail, much less out.”

  “I wonder how they found out about the emerald to begin with.”

  “Oh, I know that too. February said Mary Jo told Prescott the story after that dinner, probably just relaying an interesting tidbit that she’d heard, and he verified it with September. I’m sure she wouldn’t have repeated it if she’d known the doctor would go off the rails.”