A Beach House to Die For

by K C Ames

  Dana nodded. “I know that, but thank you for saying it. It’s hard to believe that if I had walked away and just let Roy have this property, he might still be alive.”

  “Don’t go there,” Courtney said.

  Too late, Dana thought.

  Wally seemed to materialize out of thin air, and it was like he knew that Dana was feeling sad. He jumped on the counter and then plopped on her lap.

  “Who is that?” Benny said. He sounded surprised as he smiled, looking at the white cat on Dana’s lap.

  “This is Wally. He sort of moved in, I guess,” Dana said, smiling at the purring cat.

  Benny left at around nine o’clock that evening. Dana and Courtney hung out in their favorite spot of the house, the patio. Wally perched on the porch’s railing like he was standing guard.

  It was a warm tropical night, but there was a nice sea breeze coming from the Pacific colliding with a misty breeze from the jungle, making it a lovely temperature on the porch, especially with the overhead fan moving the air around.

  “I don’t think I’m going to make it out here, Courtney. You were right, this is too drastic, too impulsive, and that was before I had to contend with not only a murder, but being accused of it by Skylar, who’s probably telling that crabby detective right now that I’m the killer, and I’m in a foreign country to boot. It’s getting to be too much. Maybe it’s best for me to go back to San Francisco with you,” Dana said.

  “Nothing would make me happier than you moving back, but not under these circumstances,” Courtney said, a strong resolve in her voice that Dana was not used to from her flighty best friend.

  Dana looked at her, a bit surprised.

  “If you go back, it should be under your own terms, not out of fear,” Courtney said, wiping a tear from her eye. “Besides, I’m not leaving here until this stuff is all settled. So, I’m sorry, but you can’t hog up this view and keep those howler monkeys and that cat all to yourself.”

  Dana went to bed at eleven p.m., but it wasn’t until around two a.m. that she finally began to drift off to sleep. Off in the distance, a howler monkey did its thing, loudly.

  Wally jumped on the bed and kneaded at the sheets by her feet for a while, purring loudly until finally getting his spot just right, and he plopped down next to her. Dana smiled then fell asleep.

  Thirteen

  Dana slept until almost nine in the morning, a rarity for an early riser like her, but she didn’t fret about it. She needed the sleep after being awake for almost twenty hours straight. When the body wants to sleep, it will get it.

  She went downstairs and Courtney was already up, having a breakfast of cereal with milk, a plate of fruit, and a cup of coffee next to her.

  “Morning,” she said. Dana greeted her back and poured herself some cereal and a cup of coffee. She began to eat the cereal dry.

  “I’ve been watching you eat cereal without milk since college and it still boggles my mind every time I see you eating it like that…it’s cereal blasphemy,” Courtney said, breaking out in laughter.

  Dana shrugged her shoulders and ate her cereal out of the bowl with her hands like it was popcorn. Dana watched as Wally came running into the kitchen for eggs and bacon. He sniffed around and the smell of dry cereal didn’t catch his interest, so he sauntered out towards the living room.

  “How are you doing?” Courtney asked, turning serious.

  “I’m done feeling sorry for myself. I feel terrible about Roy’s death, but I’m not letting Skylar run her mouth about me in my new little community, calling me a murderer. It’s not right. I’m here for the long haul, Skylar is not, so I’ll do anything I can to help the police catch the killer, but Skylar better knock it off with her vile accusations,” Dana said, sounding strong and confident.

  “Welcome back,” Courtney said, raising her cup of coffee at Dana.

  “I can’t thank you enough. I would have had a nervous breakdown if you weren’t here,” Dana said.

  “You’ve helped so many times with my knack for making terrible life decisions over the years, so don’t even mention it. I’m just happy I could be here with you and thrilled that you have that determined look in your eyes again,” Courtney said.

  Dana showered and got dressed. At ten a.m., Benny arrived. He seemed harried as he went inside the house, holding a small briefcase and his laptop messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

  He accepted Dana’s offer of coffee and the three of them were back sitting around the kitchen center island.

  “Picado is in town. He arrived late last night. I called him this morning to let him know you’re my client,” Benny said.

  That statement comforted Dana.

  “What did he say?” Courtney asked before Dana could pose the same question.

  “He wants to talk to all of us today and get our statements.”

  “We have nothing to hide,” Dana said.

  “That is true; however, it’s important to understand that the Costa Rican legal system differs greatly from that in America,” Benny explained, sounding ominous.

  “How different?” Courtney asked.

  “Costa Rica follows the French civil code, not the English, so for starters, you don’t have the assumption of innocence like you have in America. And although you’re not actually assumed guilty, the burden to prove you are not guilty is on you, not the authorities. In America, the prosecutor has to prove you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Here, the fiscal, that’s the prosecutor, doesn’t have to prove it.”

  “Yikes,” Courtney blurted. Dana took in the information quietly.

  “There are more glaring differences.”

  Oh, brother, Dana thought.

  “There is no trial by jury; a trial is presided over by a single judge or by a three-judge panel. And there is no double jeopardy, so even if acquitted, the Ministerio Público, the Public Ministry, can try a person again and again even if they’re found not guilty.”

  “Sheesh, anything else?” Dana asked.

  Benny thought for a moment and said, “The Public Ministry and the OIJ can pretty much lock you up at the judicial system’s whim using what’s called ‘preventive detention,’ which is a popular strategy they use with foreigners who are deemed flight risks,” Benny explained.

  “So they can lock someone up without charging them with a crime?” Dana asked.

  “Correct. There are a few cases of expats being held for months under preventive detention without having been charged with a crime or even gone to trial. They’re locked up while the prosecutor works the case,” Benny explained.

  Dana and Courtney exchanged a nervous glance.

  Dana had agreed to meet the OIJ Investigator at Casa Verde in a couple hours. Benny had provided her a legal briefing on how to handle the interview with the detective.

  "We need to find you an attorney," Benny said.

  “I have you,” Dana replied, blushing. It sounded more personal and intimate than she intended. But she hoped it just sounded that way in her head. He didn’t seem to have taken the comment that way, so she felt relieved.

  “I practice real estate and business law. The way Skylar is raising a stink to cast you as the perpetrator worries me, so I believe it’s prudent to think about bringing in an attorney that specializes in criminal law. I know a few criminal lawyers that I trust, and I’ll check to see if they’re available so we can have them on standby.”

  “I don’t care how loudly Skylar shouts it, I didn’t kill Roy, so I don’t need a criminal lawyer, but thank you for your help with this mess.”

  Benny smiled, but Dana could tell it worried him. And she appreciated it.

  Benny drove back to his beach house, which was ten minutes away, to pick up some files he needed. He told Dana he would be back in about forty-five minutes, which would give him plenty of time to get back before Detective Picado’s arrival.

  Dana refused to sit around twiddling her thumbs, waiting for Agent Picado to arrive, so she jumped on her laptop and sen
t a text via Messenger to her friend Bucky Moreland back in San Francisco.

  I need your help. Are you around?

  Bucky replied right away, Yup what’s up?

  Bucky was a software engineer with a pile of degrees and a Ph.D. in computer engineering and mathematics from MIT and Stanford. He made a fortune writing code for unicorn startups in Silicon Valley. In the valley, a unicorn company was a startup tech company that was valued at over a billion dollars. The Ubers and Facebooks of the tech business world.

  She had known Bucky for a long time and back when she worked as a reporter. She had interviewed him for a story she was working about the company he was working for that was disrupting some old industry. She couldn’t even remember which, since every startup had lobbed on to the whole disrupt mantra regardless of its validity.

  She had become friends with Bucky, and whenever she needed to find information about a story she was working on, she could always count on Bucky to help her find the goods. She hadn’t needed his help in that regard as much since she had gone into public relations, but he had her on retainer, since most billionaire techies seemed to need the service of a public relations expert at one time or another. Usually for saying or doing something dumb. He had even offered to keep her on retainer as a freelancer when she moved down to Costa Rica, but Dana was adamant that she was finished with that line of work.

  Bucky loved helping her out when she needed information about something. It was the work that reminded him of his teen hacker days, he had told her a few years ago.

  She had even offered to pay him for his expertise, but he sneered at it, telling her he didn’t need the money, that it was just for fun and to help a friend.

  Dana tapped on her keyboard.

  Need you to work your magic background on someone.

  No problem. Name? Bucky replied via text.

  Skylar Kirkpatrick, Dana messaged back.

  “What are you up to?” Courtney asked. She was eyeing her suspiciously.

  “Just asked Bucky to look into something for me,” Dana replied.

  “Oh, boy. Are you sure that’s a good idea? The last thing we need is to tick off that detective,” Courtney said.

  “Well, I can’t sit here doing nothing while Skylar is throwing dirt my way, so let’s just see what dirt Bucky can find on her. See how she likes it,” Dana said.

  “I have two words for you that will keep me up tonight: preventive detention,” Courtney said.

  “I won’t even dwell on the fact that there is a killer on the loose out there and no one seems too concerned about that, so if I can offer the detective a little nudge in the right direction, why not?” Dana said.

  “Again, two words: preventive detention,” Courtney said. She turned away and walked out to the porch.

  Before Dana could say anything, Courtney yelled out, “Benny is here.”

  “Who opened the gate?” Dana wondered.

  Benny parked out front and looked up and saw Dana and Courtney above on the patio. He smiled and waved.

  “Come on in,” Dana said.

  They met downstairs and sat in the living room.

  “Did Ramón open the gate for you?” Dana asked.

  “Yes. He was doing some yard work by the front gate. He heard me pull up and when he saw it was me, he opened it. Sorry if that was fresh on my part,” Benny said.

  “Oh, no, not at all,” Dana said, feeling awkward, then added, “With everything going on and since there is still a killer out there, I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a problem with the front gate.”

  “It’s good to be security-minded. Ramón only let me in because he knows me, so don’t worry that he’ll be letting just anyone off the street.”

  They went into the kitchen and gathered around the island. Dana mused it was becoming their de facto headquarters for serious discussions.

  “No cat?” Benny asked, looking around for Wally.

  “He’s a free spirit, comes and goes,” Dana said.

  Benny put his briefcase on the countertop.

  “This has become our conference room,” Dana said, smiling.

  “I read somewhere that regardless of the palatial accouterments available, people end up gravitating to the kitchen to talk,” Benny said.

  Benny provided the latest update on the legal battle for Casa Verde. “I received a call from a powerhouse attorney that is handling the case for Roy. He wanted to let me know that the case was moving forward with Skylar. There will be no slowdowns or delays because of Roy’s murder. Skylar wants this resolved and will keep the case going with whatever the OIJ is doing to bring the killer to justice. He was adamant these are two different matters, and Skylar wants nothing to interfere with the real estate feud with you,” Benny said.

  “That poor grieving widow,” Courtney said with an eye roll that was so slow, complete, and dramatic, that Dana cracked up. Benny didn’t join in the laugh. He was in legal eagle mode.

  “Sorry,” Dana said, clearing her throat as Courtney giggled.

  “From my interactions with Roy and Skylar, this doesn’t surprise me. Seemed like she was the one pushing Roy into this,” Benny said.

  “What about Roy’s body? Will it be difficult to transport him back to the States for burial?” Dana asked. It was a question out of left field that had nothing to do with the legal matters at hand, but it was a question that had been bothering her to think what would happen to her cousin’s body.

  Benny seemed taken aback by the question. “Well, the body has not been released to Skylar by the authorities yet. Agent Picado had a forensics team from San José come down to process the scene and they were there for a while before they let the coroner remove the body. After that, they transported it to the Medical Examiner’s office in San José late last night. Officer Freddy told me that Skylar wanted Roy’s body released to her ASAP, and that she planned to cremate him in San José, since it would be too expensive to have the body flown back to the States. She said it would be a lot cheaper to just bring his ashes in an urn back to the States,” Benny said.

  “She seems a little eager to have the body cremated, don’t you think?” Dana asked.

  Benny shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know how to respond to her question, so she changed the subject. "Do you know how he was killed?"

  “Officer Freddy told me he was stabbed. But please don’t repeat that to anyone outside our little circle. Freddy could get in a world of hurt if Agent Picado finds out he’s been telling me stuff about the case on the down low.”

  “I never reveal my sources,” Dana said seriously.

  “Mum’s the word,” Courtney said as she touched the tips of her thumb and index finger, and slid them across her closed mouth in a my lips are sealed gesture.

  “So, what can I expect from this Detective Picado?” Dana asked.

  “A lot of disdain and condescension,” Benny replied instantly.

  “Fan-Tas-Tic,” Dana replied.

  “He will ask you about your strained relationship with Roy,” Benny said. Dana interrupted him.

  “I didn’t have a strained relationship with Roy. We really have had little of a family relationship in over ten years,” she corrected him.

  “Your families have been estranged. You inherited his father’s property instead of him. He sued you in California. He sued you here. His widow is telling everyone and their brother and sister that you killed him over the legal dispute. So trust me, in the eyes of the law, you had a strained relationship,” Benny said.

  “I understand. I get it. I’ll try not to sound so defensive when the detective brings that up,” Dana said contritely.

  Benny smiled and nodded. “Excellent.” Then he said, “The investigator will want to know your whereabouts for the time of the murder.”

  “Well, that’s easy, we’ve been inseparable since we landed in Costa Rica. I can vouch for her,” Courtney said.

  After going over a few more details about the case, Dana, Benny, and Courtney moved o
ver to the living room area to wait for the police to arrive.

  They didn’t say much. A few minutes later, the front door buzzer screamed to life, causing all three of them to jump in their seats.

  Fourteen

  Agent Picado arrived on time, and it didn’t take long for him to live up to his surly reputation. He barely shook Dana’s hand and only did so because she left it in the air, forcing him to acknowledge it and shake it. He shrugged at Benny and Courtney.

  There were two other people with him whom he did not bother to introduce.

  There was a woman who seemed to be in her early thirties. She wore a black open blazer and pants. Her hair was black, and she wore it in a professional low ponytail. She was beautiful.

  The woman seemed to wait for Picado to introduce her, but when he wandered into the living room looking around the house, she took it upon herself to introduce herself.

  “I’m Detective Gabriela Rojas, an investigator with the OIJ in Nicoya,” she said.

  “Junior detective,” Picado said dismissively with his back to everyone as he continued to look around.

  Rojas rolled her eyes and gave Dana a see what I have to put up with look. Unlike Picado, she seemed nice, Dana thought.

  The third person was a blond-haired, fair-skinned man that looked American to Dana.

  “I’m Adam Mitchell with the United States Embassy.”

  “The Embassy?” a surprised Dana asked.

  “The OIJ is kind enough to let an embassy official sit in when they question American citizens, and they keep us in the loop when a U.S. citizen dies in their country. So we’re two for two in this case,” Mitchell explained nervously.

  Mitchell seemed unsure of himself and his role in the proceedings, which couldn’t be more polar opposite than the way Picado presented himself. There was no doubt Picado was in charge and that Mitchell was intimidated, if not downright frightened of him. Picado immediately took charge of the meeting.

  “I’m the senior homicide detective in this area and the lead investigator into the murder of Mr. Roy Kirkpatrick,” Picado said. “Mr. Mitchell is here as a courtesy, and he’s only here to observe. If you have questions about these proceedings, you ask me, not him.”