Legend of the Crown and Thistle

by Janie Brians

  "Ah..ah..ah. Stay back there, my girl." He waved the pistol at her, "Don't do anything stupid."

  "But why?! How could you do that to her?!" she shouted "How could you hurt her?!"

  "How could I? My dear, she was such an ignorant child," he said disdainfully. "A stupid child that didn'a have the sense to keep herself from getting pregnant. I warned her it she still let it happen. Thought she could force me into marrying her, she did." Then he added calmly, "She merely got what she deserved for her stupidity."

  Anne could stand it no longer.

  "You horrible, deceitful monster!" she yelled. "You promised to marry her!"

  "Rubbish! She was a... a... diversion. Nothing more. If she had any other notions, they were of her own making."

  "You filthy liar!" Anne screamed. "You demented old man!"

  "Tush, tush, dearie. Ya shouldn'a let yourself go like that. Tis very unbecoming," he sneered.

  "You killed that Dr. Denton too, didn't you?" In Lizzie's voice they could hear the fear that these realizations brought her. Malcolm McAllister was a cold-blooded murderer.

  He smiled as if proud of himself.

  "Well, he'd started to get greedy. You see, he'd worked for me from nearly the beginning of, shall we say, my little international endeavor. I had always paid him fairly but lately he'd been getting too greedy. Some greed is quite understandable, of course," he smiled, "but he was getting out of hand. So, I had to straighten him out." He chuckled evilly, "I'd say I did a pretty good job of it too, wouldn't you? He's straight and stiff as a board now. "

  Anne could no longer stand to look at him. Her stomach was churning and she felt that she would vomit. How had this beloved friend- no, more than that, he was a part of their family- how had he become such a hateful, demented psychopath? When, in all the years they'd known him had they ever seen him anything but funny, dashing Uncle Malcolm? They'd have staked their life that his love for them was as strong as their love for him. How had he disguised himself so completely? How could he be standing here in front of them looking for all the world like the same man they'd always known and loved and yet be so completely changed? He cared nothing about the misery he had brought to people who had loved and trusted him. He had no morality. He had no human decency. Could he really be so wholly corrupt?

  “Well, my girls, we've talked long enough. Time's awastin', as they say. Sorry it had to wind up this way, but I guess it's best all around now. You have been amusing over the years but ..well, life goes on," he chuckled again, "at least for some of us, that is.

  He raised his gun a little higher. "Who wants to be first?" he asked coldly.

  Suddenly, from a cocoaplum bush no more than three feet behind Malcolm, Chris Dean emerged with his gun pointed directly at Malcolm's head.

  “I wouldn’t try it, Malcolm. This thing is pointed right at your skull. You move so hair and I'll blow you back to Scotland."

  Malcolm stiffened for a few seconds, a look of shock on his face, then dropped his arm as if defeated. Chris moved closer.

  Suddenly Malcolm whirled around to fire at Chris but he was not fast enough. Chris shot into Malcolm who fell to the ground. Dead instantly. Blood oozing from his shattered skull covered the sand beneath his head.

  Anne’s churning stomach became accompanied by a spinning head as she felt like she was beginning to fall into a dark pit. Her legs could no longer support her. The darkness engulfed her until there was no more light or sound.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  FROM FAR AWAY, as if down a long tunnel, Anne heard voices. Slowly the darkness receded. She felt the sun on her face. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in her bedroom and the sun was streaming through the window. Two familiar faces smiled down at her.

  “There you are. Welcome back," Jason said and squeezed her hand.

  “Let me freshen that cool compress, sweetie," her mother said as she took the cloth Anne's forehead and went into the bathroom.

  “How...how'd I get here? Where's Lizzie and...and the others?”

  Lizzie is with Liam at the hospital. She's fine...just a little shaken up. Liam lost

  some blood. He's pretty weak, so they're going to keep him there for a few days 'till he gets his strength back. He'll be fine though."

  Darlene came in with the cloth and gently laid it on Anne's forehead.

  “Your dad and Chris are at the hospital with Lizzie. She won't leave Liam for a minute,“she smiled and winked at Anne. "I'm looking forward to getting to know him much better.

  “Me, too." Anne smiled and tried to sit up. Jason propped the pillows up behind her.

  "I thought you were in Nassau," she said.

  "Well, Miss Jones, Nassau just wasn't the same after you left and I thought, 'why should I stick around here when the real attraction is now in Freeport?' I explained this to my folks who were quite understanding." His eyes twinkled mischievously. "So, I hopped on the first flight this morning. By the time I found your place, you had already left. I figured you were out on your treasure hunt, so I decided to wait in the car for you to return."

  "Which were you more interested in seeing, me or the treasure?" she teased.

  "What do you think?" he replied and squeezed her hand again. "Annie, how about I make us some soup? Are you feeling a little hungry by now? You should put something in your stomach," her mother advised.

  Anne said she was and Jason agreed that soup sounded good. Darlene went off into the kitchen and set to work.

  "I'm so glad you're here Jason. I wasn't on that plane five minutes last night before I started missing you. How did my folks get here?"

  "Well, after the honeymoon couple left it was just going to be your folks and mine here since I was coming here. Then, when my folks decided to come, next thing I knew, your folks had decided to come too. I think they really wanted to be in on the treasure hunt and since they weren't scheduled to have any guests for the next week, they decided to close up shop and join the fun."

  "Fun," Anne repeated dryly.

  "I know. You poor girls. If your friend Chris hadn't stopped that maniac, no telling what would've happened. From what Lizzie has told us, he was really messed up, mentally. It never ceases to amaze me how the really psychopathic ones can appear to be so normal for so long and then suddenly their mask slips and it's all over." Anne remembered Malcolm's cold stare and twisted smile as he had aimed the gun at em. She couldn't control the shiver that ran through her body. Jason sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her comfortingly. She rested her head on his shoulder as tears ran down her face, wetting his shirt. He didn't say anything at first. He just held her close and gently kissed her hair. Then he said, "I love you, Annie."

  With those three simple words Anne was given the strength she needed. She looked up into his eyes and smiled through her tears.

  "I love you too, and I always will." She knew then that wherever Jason was would always be her home. Her safe haven.

  Several minutes later, her mom came back into the room and informed them that the soup was ready.

  "Do you want to eat at the table or in here, sweetheart?" she asked as Anne wiped the tears from her face.

  "Let's eat in the dining room together."

  After lunch, she and Jason helped clean up the kitchen and then the three of them squeezed into her little car and headed for the hospital. She directed while Jason drove. He said he was becoming accustomed to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.

  They walked into the hospital room just as Lizzie was handing Liam a glass of water. His right shoulder was bandaged and his arm was in a sling. The T.V. was on in the background.

  Anne went over to Lizzie and hugged her tightly. She hadn't seen her since she'd fainted on the beach. Lizzie had always been stronger than her in almost any crisis.

  "Feeling better, Annie?"

  "Much. How are you?"

  "Fine...now," then turning to Liam, she said, "Annie, I'd like you to meed Liam McFallen. Liam, this is my sister, Annie.
You two really didn't get a chance to introduce yourselves on the beach," she said with irony.

  "I'm glad to meet you, Liam. I've heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you."

  He laughed a bit and said, "From what Lizzie tells me, you probably didn't get a very good first impression. After I get out of here, I hope that will change."

  "It has changed already," Anne said and gave him a warm smile.

  "Where are Chris and dad?" she asked, turning to Lizzie.

  "They went down to the cafeteria for a bite. They'll be back soon."

  "What about you, honey?" her mother asked Lizzie, "have you had anything to eat yet?"

  "No, but dad said he'd bring something back for me."

  "He certainly did," Ed said as he entered the room carrying a tray of food. Chris was right behind him. Anne walked over and kissed her father and then went to Chris.

  "Thanks," was all she could get out without her voice cracking. She hugged him tightly.

  "You don't think I'm a scoundrel then?" he teased.

  "Well...I'm, not sure yet," she teased back." "What were you doing anyway? Why were you skulking around Scotland, for one thing?"

  "Following Malcolm. We knew he was up to something. We've suspected him for quite a while but no one has ever been able to get any hard evidence on him. I followed him when he went to Mexico. Somehow I lost him for a couple of days and then he suddenly showed up again. Next thing we know, the National Museum in Venezuela had been robbed. Coincidence? We didn't think so, but still we had no proof. He was a wily, shrewd character."

  "That's why you came in the library that day asking for info on art," Anne said.

  "But you keep saying 'we', who is 'we'?"

  “For about two years, now, I've been working for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency). You see, with my past they thought I'd be the perfect guy for the job," he smiled wryly. "So, Marissa and I talked it over and decided to make it look like I'd returned to my former habits. She took the girls to her folks place to keep them safely out of the way. We pretended that we'd separated."

  "You played your part well," Anne said. "We were really worried about you. But what's the DEA got to do with Malcolm's organization?"

  "He was involved with drug smuggling too." Chris looked at them sadly, as if to apologize for having to tell them. "He'd been doing it for years, evidently. Even before he set up this theft organization. The DEA had been working on getting evidence against him and while working on that angle, they began to suspicion his involvement with the robberies. Then I was called in to work on the case from both angles. Whatever it took."

  "So you followed us to Scotland," Lizzie joined in.

  "I have to tell you, Lizzie, for awhile I wondered if you were in on it too, since you worked so closely with Malcolm," Chris smiled.

  Lizzie laughed, "Don't feel bad , Chris. Paranoia and suspicion were running high on my side too," and she took hold of Liam's hand.

  "When you saw Chris and I in the garden at McFallen House," Liam told her, " he had just approached me and asked a few questions about the robbery at Maddy's house. He showed me his ID, so I knew I could trust him. I told him I'd heard someone leave my house late the night before the robbery. At that point I couldn't be sure whether you were working with Malcolm or not, if he was in fact the one who had done it."

  "I heard it too," Lizzie said. "But never for one second did I suspect Malcolm. " She added sheepishly, "You were my prime suspect. And then that afternoon when I saw you with Chris it seemed to confirm my suspicions. That's why I left so suddenly. I was just confused by it all."

  Liam nodded to say he understood. "Malcolm left right after he came back to the house and read the note you had left for him," he said.

  "He told us that...that if he'd found out that I suspected him, he'd have arranged an...an accident for me right there in Scotland."

  Her dad went to her and put his arm around her, "He fooled us all, sweetie. He'd been masquerading for years. When I think of the danger you were in..." he took a deep breath. "I'm just thankful to you, son, " he looked at Liam, "and to you, Chris, for being there for my girls."

  Liam said, "I talked Chris into letting me come with him back to Nassau. I couldn't write, eat or rest for worrying and wondering about Lizzie. So we made a deal. We'd both keep our eyes on Malcolm, hoping he'd trip up somewhere along the way. In the meantime, at least we'd be sure you girls weren't in any danger. We figured he had brought at least some of the Balintore things with him to sell, if he hadn't sold them already. So we were determined not to let him out of our sight."

  He was scheduled on a flight to Freeport the same day you and he returned from Scotland, but he didn't get on the flight so we knew he was still in Nassau," Chris said to Lizzie.

  "We left him at the airport that day," Ed said.

  "When we realized he hadn't gone back to Freeport, we went to every hotel in Nassau trying to find him. Finally we found him registered at the Little Orchard Hotel. We staked it out using some of the local police. Later Liam and I saw him go into a restaurant. He returned to his room that night. Didn't come out until the next morning. Didn't do anything special just some shopping on Bay Street. He returned to his room la that afternoon and, as far as the police who were watching him saw, he never left it."

  "But he must've sneaked out sometime during the night and gone to Denton's, got the money, killed Denton and then sneaked back into his room. He was clever," Liam said dryly.

  "That's what I said to Anne, he was a very cool customer," Jason added. "Why didn't you come to me or Annie and tell us what was going on? Maybe we could've helped," Lizzie asked Chris.

  "I couldn't , Lizzie. Remember, I still wasn't completely sure you weren't in on it and if you weren't then I sure didn't want to involve you. Like I said that night at my uncle's house, it was way over your heads. Too dangerous. I thought I could scare you away long enough to give us time to catch Malcolm with his finger in the pie."

  "I thought it was Liam in the bush, not Malcolm. When I said I wouldn't let him get away with it, in my mind I was speaking to Liam."

  "You mean when you said the part about loving me," Liam teased. Chris said, "Well, that may have been who you meant but you didn't say a name so I thought somehow you must know something about Malcolm. When you said you'd turn him in, at least then I knew you weren't working with him. I knew it had to be him in the bush, because it wasn't Liam. I knew where Liam was. When you threatened him I thought Malcolm would try to...to hurt you. That's why I pulled you out of there so fast."

  "We thought you were afraid of Liam for some reason," Anne said. "I was afraid, but not of Liam. We were beginning to see just what a psychopath Malcolm really was, if he was the one that had killed Denton. Just because he'd been like n uncle to you two all those years, didn't mean he'd let you ruin him. I was pretty sure of lat."

  "He told us he killed Kate. He was proud of it. All these years he'd pretended to be her friend. He'd killed her because she was pregnant and wanted him to marry her. He lied her." Anne could still hardly believe it was true.

  "A sick man," Chris said.

  "When we knew you two were headed back to Freeport, I breathed a sigh of relief I hoped he would leave you be," Liam said.

  "Right, but that sure wasn't the case, was it," Chris said. "He got on the next flight for Freeport and we knew that wasn't a good sign. He was after you, Lizzie. We followed him here and when we got in we tried to call you to warn you but there was no answer. We were afraid something had already happened so we went to Malcolm's place to see if he showed up there. He was home, we could see him through the window. We stayed there all night. Next morning we saw him leave his apartment with a picnic basket. Liam was sure he'd seen him put something in it that looked like a gun. At that point we decided to split up. Liam watched Malcolm while I ran to your apartment to see if there were any signs of life. I was really worried by that time. But just as I got to the security gate of your building, I saw you putting a p
icnic basket in the car. I put two and two together and had an idea what was going to happen. I followed you at a distance. I didn't want you to recognize me or you might have mentioned it casually to Malcolm and then the game would've been up."

  "We saw Liam speed by after Malcolm. Thinking the way we were about him, it made us pretty nervous but we didn't want to say anything to Malcolm. We were such dopes. We could tell something was up with him but we just thought that he was in a bad mood," Lizzie said. "When he called us up this morning...was it just this morning?...he had sounded different, very tense. We were wanting to tell him about the cave and Edwin's treasures. I just said that we had something important to say to him."

  "Poor choice of words, Lizzie. I'm sure when you said that he thought you were going to confront him with some evidence or something," said Chris.

  "You're right. That's what he insinuated later, just before he tried to..." Lizzie shuddered. "If you hadn't been there, Chris...."

  "I was there from the beginning. I needed to hear him confess something, to incriminate himself. Then I could nab him. Sorry you had to go through all that. Liam had offered to stir things up a bit for me."

  "Look!" Liam said, pointing up to the T.V. A man standing in front of the coroner's office gave his report:

  "The amazing story of international piracy and drug smuggling that has spanned over a decade, has climaxed today in the death of its mastermind. Malcolm McAllistair died of his wounds shortly after ten this morning. Investigators now reveal that they have been following him for nearly two years. Newly discovered evidence shows that it was he who was the organizer of the international ring of thieves that has been perpetrating several amazing robberies over the last ten years. McAllistair, owner of the Freeport Oceanic and Antiquities Museum, is well known by museum directors around the world. His position was the perfect front for his illegal activities. Evidence also shows that he was the murderer of Fort Charlotte Museum curator Dr. Melvin Denton. Denton who was poisoned by McAllistair, had worked as a liason between McAllistair and perspective buyers of the stolen goods he procured. Several of the accomplices in the group have already been apprehended since police discovered records in McAllistair's office that named them...."