No Place to Vanish

by Jaden Skye

  Olivia was outraged by his comment. “Rip it up all you want,” she flung back. “I would still do this even if I wasn’t paid a cent. I’m doing it for Raine.”

  Sean’s jaw clenched.

  “And I have other questions, too!” Olivia’s voice grew louder as her resolve grew. “What package did Victor pick up at the casino? I heard the package was supposed to be for Raine.”

  Sean stamped his foot hard on the floor. “You heard, you heard, what the hell do you know? Why are you asking me?”

  “Why did Victor pick up the package?” Olivia asked swiftly. Sean had said that he’d paid all of Raine’s gambling debts. Why wouldn’t he know what was in the package?

  “How the hell do I know?” Sean looked furious. “Raine probably told him to do it for her. And I’m glad she did. It gave us a trail straight to Victor.”

  A strange thought hit Olivia intensely then. It gave them a straight trail to the one who paid Raine’s gambling debts, she thought. Could it have been Sean?

  Sean closed his eyes slowly, stood there, and didn’t move, as the noise in the next room grew louder.

  Olivia felt herself break into a sweat. “Who’s in the next room?” she pushed harder, wanting for Sean’s facade to crack. There was more to the story, Olivia was positive now.

  “Get the hell out of here.” Sean came toward Olivia slowly, as if he were about to push her out the door.

  “Stop it, Sean, stop it.” Pastor Harris suddenly entered from the next room. “In the name of God, calm down!”

  “I can’t calm down anymore and I won’t.” Sean turned to the pastor now. “I’ve taken too much for too long.”

  “You will and you can,” Pastor Harris assured him. “And I also want you to tell Olivia the truth about everything you know. Olivia needs it. Everyone does.”

  “The truth, the truth!” Sean became frantic. “Please get out of here now and take a walk,” he said to the pastor. “I’ll tell Olivia the complete truth if you’ll leave us alone.”

  “Agreed,” said the pastor as he then flipped around and walked out of the house down a thin back lane.

  Olivia was trembling as Sean turned back to her. “What truth?” she asked breathlessly.

  “The truth is that Raine deserved everything that happened.” Sean’s voice became stranger as he spoke. “Nobody knows what I went through with her! And I was the one who paid all her gambling debts.”

  Olivia was stunned. “You? Why didn’t you tell anybody that?”

  Sean’s face grew red. “The pastor knows it!”

  “How about law enforcement?” demanded Olivia.

  “Enough was enough,” Sean thundered. “I didn’t want to be implicated in Raine’s sins! I told Pastor Harris that too, but he said she was my wife and I had no choice about it. Raine bled me for money, it didn’t stop. Edward refused to help out.”

  “Raine’s condition was worsening and you knew it,” Olivia shot back.

  “And it wasn’t only the gambling,” Sean went on. “She couldn’t even be a mother.”

  “She needed help,” Olivia cried out.

  “She needed to be punished,” Sean growled. “It was one thing after another. I knew about Victor all along. That’s how she thanked me! By cheating on me right under my nose. Raine went from bad to worse and nothing could stop her!” Sean bared his teeth.

  “She needed help, Sean,” Olivia gasped again.

  “She wouldn’t take it, though, no matter what I did.” Sean suddenly looked completely helpless. “I tried and tried and so did the pastor. Nothing worked. So she finally got what she deserved.”

  “No one deserves to die!” Olivia felt a wave of horror.

  “Raine did,” Sean suddenly insisted. “Stop looking at me that way!” Sean lunged over to Olivia. “I tried to keep my awful life with Raine quiet for as long as I could. I begged her to straighten up, go to Pastor Harris to help her, and at the end, she laughed right in our faces.”

  Suddenly the pieces were falling together in front of Olivia’s eyes.

  “All the time you made it look like it was Victor, didn’t you?” Olivia quickly got it. “He was the perfect foil. You set him up to look guilty as hell. Including his picking up a package at the casino meant for Raine.”

  Sean stopped on a dime.

  “You even pulled Miranda into it, didn’t you?” Olivia went on breathlessly. “Her friends were plenty jealous of her. This could have been paradise for them. You got Miranda to get between Raine and Victor.”

  Sean reddened.

  “Did you try to make Miranda feel sorry for you?” Olivia went on. “Did you tell her if she broke up Raine and Victor it would help save your marriage?”

  Sean laughed loudly. “That part was easy. What I didn’t expect was that Miranda and Victor would actually fall for each other. There’s no end to the stupidity of women.”

  “You’re the fool,” Olivia hissed.

  “Look at that.” Sean took a step closer. “Now you’ve turned on me, just like Raine did. One after another. But I can’t let that happen again, can I? I did what I had to, to save all of us.”

  “You did what?” Olivia trembled.

  “Three guesses.” Sean smiled oddly. “You’re on a roll, keep going!”

  “You killed Raine?” Olivia trembled. “You?”

  “And it looks like you’re next,” Sean growled. “And no one will ever know what happened to you, either. Basically, they won’t even care. You made a mistake, Olivia!”

  “I made the mistake?” Olivia was suddenly filled with loathing.

  “I hired you to cover up for me and make me look good! Not to take me down,” thundered Sean.

  “You hired me to make it look like a real investigation was going on!” Olivia exclaimed. “Does Pastor Harris know that you killed Raine?”

  “Nobody knows,” Sean growled. “Except you. And how can I let you live after you know that?”

  Sean edged over to small, wooden table on top of which sat a huge, craggy rock. In one fell swoop, he leaned over and grabbed it.

  “Put the rock down!” Olivia took charge. “You don’t know what you’re doing! You’ll never get away with it. Everything will point to you!”

  Sean grinned. “I know just what I’m doing. And I knew what I was doing then. You girls think I’m a dunce, well, think again.”

  Olivia began to feel alarmed. “I never thought you were a dunce. I thought you were a good person.”

  “I am a good person,” Sean thundered again. “Raine was the monster, not me. She had it coming for a long time. And I’m not only good, I’m smart. I knew she was going to Key Largo with Victor that night and I went down the same time. Then I waited for exactly the right moment. When they were swimming that night, I hid in the bushes, watched and waited.”

  Olivia shuddered. “Like a crazed animal.”

  “At first they were swimming, but then they started fighting,” Sean continued. “I was thrilled, delighted! It made me happy. Raine was yelling at him for all she was worth and finally Victor had enough. He ran out of the ocean telling her to go to hell and flew away on the beach. I ran right in then, ready to send her to hell myself. First I grabbed the big rock I brought with me. Then I charged into the water, splashing for all I was worth. At first Raine thought it was Victor returning. It wasn’t, though, it was me. When she saw my face close up to hers, she started yelling like a wild bird trapped in a net. Trapped, she was trapped, and I was happy for it.”

  Olivia’s heart pounded as he spoke.

  “It’s me, it’s Sean, and I’m nobody’s fool, I yelled right in her face. Then I raised the rock and hit her hard. It was quick, it was easy. She deserved what she got. I was freeing the world and myself from her sins. The pastor told me when the vermin are cleared away you make a space for something good to come. I was cleaning the vermin! Raine deserved to die. And now you do, too!”

  As Sean stared into Olivia’s eyes, she felt a huge, dark cloud descending over both o
f them.

  “Wayne knows that I’m here.” Olivia’s voice trembled. “If I don’t return he’ll come searching for me!”

  Sean laughed again and grabbed Olivia’s shoulder with his free hand.

  “Nobody will search for you because you don’t mean a thing to them,” he barked.

  Thankfully, Olivia heard the sound of a rustle again, this time right outside the front door.

  “Help!” she started shouting, hoping the pastor was returning.

  Sean grasped Olivia’s neck then, enjoying every ounce of fear that was racing through her. But she wasn’t going to die. She refused to. The rustling noise got louder.

  “What’s that? Do you hear that?” Olivia barely managed to speak as Sean held the rock directly over her head now.

  “In a moment it will be as if you never lived at all,” he whispered. “Take a minute to think about that, Olivia. All your stupid plans will die down. Your crazy eyes will stop flashing. Your body will fall limp on the ground. Your life will amount to nothing at all. Like Raine’s!”

  “Pastor!” Olivia summoned her strength and managed to cry out, as the front door suddenly burst open.

  To Olivia’s total amazement, Wayne and another officer charged in with their revolvers out, pointed.

  “Give me that rock immediately or you’re dead on the spot,” Wayne shouted as Sean stood there, horrified.

  The other officer ran over, grabbed Sean, and pulled the rock from him. Then he yanked Sean’s arms behind his back.

  “You can’t take me in for anything,” Sean started mumbling. “Olivia’s alive, she’s unharmed.”

  “We have every word you said on tape,” Wayne shot back. “I slipped a recorder into Olivia’s pocket before she left.”

  Sean’s face grew dark as suddenly the pastor walked back up into the house again.

  “I thought I heard someone calling for me,” the pastor declared. “Do you need me, Sean? Is something wrong?”

  “He doesn’t need you for anything anymore,” Wayne replied for him. “Say good-bye to him now. It’s way too late for your golden-haired boy.”

  The officer pushed Sean to the side and, finally able to move, Olivia fled from his side.

  Both Olivia and Wayne ran straight to each other then, as he pulled her to him in a long, comforting embrace. Olivia had forgotten how wonderful it could be to be held like that. How strengthening and healing.

  “My God, my God,” Wayne murmured. “Thank God we got here in time. Thank God you’re okay, Olivia. I don’t know what I would have ever done if something happened to you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  In what seemed like a matter of moments the news flashed everywhere.

  Olivia Wells bravely hunts down the real killer. Raine’s death is finally solved. Victor to be let out of jail.

  The commotion and shock the news caused could not be contained. Over and over the announcers mentioned what a fine citizen Sean had been. How he must have gone temporarily insane when he discovered his wife’s infidelity. They also mentioned the uncanny bravery and insight that Olivia had displayed.

  Wayne would not leave Olivia’s side though, now. “You’ve been through an ordeal,” he kept saying. “You need time off to take care of yourself.”

  Olivia appreciated his concern greatly. “Time off?” She finally smiled. “I left my job at home, remember? Right now I’m unemployed. I have all the time in the world.”

  “Of course I remember,” Wayne replied. “But you need time down here to just relax, hang out at the beach, take walks in town.”

  The idea sounded good to Olivia. Where else would she go now? The last place she wanted to return to was the city.

  “And I have more to say when you’re ready, too.” Wayne’s voice lowered.

  “I’m ready now,” said Olivia, curious. “What is it? Tell me.”

  Wayne smiled. “I’ve had a few calls from Chief Tan since all of this happened.” Wayne paused nervously. “There was a lot we had to discuss.”

  “Yes?” Olivia was curious. She wondered why Wayne was speaking in such a halting tone. It wasn’t like him. Whatever he had to say seemed very important.

  “Chief Tan said the force is ready to offer you a job, if you enter the academy and get licensed,” Wayne finally burst out. “We’ve got more cases down here than we can handle and you’re top notch!”

  Olivia was startled. “A job for me as a detective?” It was the last thing she expected to hear.

  “A job as my partner,” Wayne added emphatically. “You’re such a wonderful addition to the force and we work so well together. You can get whatever extra training you need on the job.”

  Olivia felt a long chill. She loved the idea of being Wayne’s partner, but it was also a huge change in lifestyle. She’d have to move down to the Keys, give up her apartment in the city.

  Wayne turned to her directly, suddenly looking boyish. “Are you up for it?” he asked hopefully. “It’s fantastic work. There’s never a boring day. You learn a tremendous amount and help lots of people.”

  Olivia looked at the sudden twinkle in his eyes. A sense of excitement and purpose flooded her. She had no idea if she was up for it, but she knew this was a unique opportunity. It wouldn’t come again. And she would definitely regret it if she passed it by.

  “Yes,” Olivia said suddenly, from out of nowhere.

  Wayne grinned.

  “Okay, let’s go to the station now and work out the details.”

  She walked with him, and as she did, slowly she felt that old feeling returning, welling up within her: hope. Before her, she suddenly felt, awaited a whole new life.

  NOW AVAILABLE!

  NO PLACE FOR VENGEANCE

  (Murder in the Keys—Book #3)

  NO PLACE FOR VENGEANCE is book #3 in the new romantic suspense series by #1 bestselling author Jaden Skye.

  As soon as Olivia receives her license as a Private Investigator and opens her office in Key West, a startling case comes in. A beautiful young woman, who has come down to Key Largo with her husband to celebrate their first anniversary, has gone missing during a tour in the Everglades.

  Battling the heat, insects and hopelessness of others, Olivia slowly digs out the details of Amanda’s life—and the secrets of her marriage. She realizes that all is not what it seems—and comes to learn what is truly buried in the hearts of those we love.

  Was she murdered?

  Or is there time to save her before it’s too late?

  NO PLACE FOR VENGEANCE is book #3 in an explosive new romantic suspense series filled with love, tragedy, heartbreak, betrayal and suspense, one that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #4 will be released soon.

  Jaden is also author of the #1 Bestselling series MURDER IN THE CARIBBEAN, which begins with DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1), a free download with over 200 five star reviews!

  NO PLACE FOR VENGEANCE

  (Murder in the Keys—Book #3)

  Please visit Jaden’s site, where you can join the mailing list, hear the latest news, see additional images, and find links to stay in touch with Jaden on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and elsewhere:

  www.jadenskye.com

  Books by Jaden Skye

  THE CARIBBEAN MURDER SERIES

  DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1)

  DEATH BY DIVORCE (Book #2)

  DEATH BY MARRIAGE (Book #3)

  DEATH BY DESIRE (Book #4)

  DEATH BY DECEIT (Book #5)

  DEATH BY JEALOUSY (Book #6)

  DEATH BY PROPOSAL (Book #7)

  DEATH BY OBSESSION (Book #8)

  DEATH BY DEVOTION (Book #9)

  DEATH BY BETRAYAL (Book #10)

  DEATH BY REQUEST (Book #11)

  DEATH BY ENGAGEMENT (Book #12)

  DEATH BY SEDUCTION (Book #13)

  DEATH BY TEMPTATION (Book #14)

  DEATH BY INVITATION (Book #15)

  DEATH BY WEDDING (Book #16)

  THE TOM’S RIVER SAGA

 
A PERFECT STRANGER (Book #1)

  MURDER IN THE KEYS

  NO PLACE TO DIE (Book #1)

  NO PLACE TO VANISH (Book #2)

  NO PLACE FOR MARRIAGE (Book #3)

  THE KILLING GAME

  INVITATION TO DIE (Book #1)

  INVITATION TO MADNESS (Book #2)

  INVITATION TO AGONY (Book #3)

  Tap here to download Jaden Skye books now!