Murder at the Geo-Cache...A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 3)

by Victoria LK Williams

The other woman was perfectly dressed and groomed. When she reached for them, she barely acknowledged the two friends, instead she purred at the two handsome men. Megan decided she understood Lucy’s childhood dislike, there was something about Rita that spelled trouble. Scrutinizing the woman discreetly, Megan noted that Rita’s beauty was more artificial than natural. The telltale signs of a smoker were evident in her wrinkled lips and crinkled eyes that even heavy makeup had a hard time concealing. She exuded big city sophistication, and even in her casual clothes she seemed overdressed compared to the other women around her.

  When Rita found out who Aiden was, her interest peaked more. She reached into her fashionable purse, pulling out a business card to give him, saying as she walked away with a flirty little smile,

  “So you’re the private investigator that’s moved to town. Please, give me a call. I have a little job I would like you to take on for me.”

  Chapter 12

  Megan and Lucy looked at each other as they watched the exchange between Aiden and Rita. Lucy had a bad feeling about it, past experiences with Rita coloring her reaction. Megan smiled at the flustered expression on Aiden’s face, Rita was the type of woman that would always leave a man following her with their eyes, dazzled by her surface beauty. Her grin grew even bigger when she glanced over at her cousin Paul and saw him watch Rita walking away. His glance was as admiring as Aiden’s, and that could be a problem for him if Lucy noticed too.

  Deciding to avoid problems, Megan distracted everybody by reminding them they also needed to get back to their stations. They gathered their lunch trash to throw out, and the four of them got to their feet and started towards the parking lot. Right before they reached their cars, Emma and Taylor rushed up to meet them.

  “Hi everyone," said Emma as she hugged to her mother “We wanted to check in and see if there will be anymore last-minute changes for the players during the second half.”

  Megan pushed her hair out of her face as the wind blew it against her, hesitating for a moment before she answered her daughter. She hated the fact that she had to continue to lie. She hoped she could pull it off, because her daughter could see right through her. She told the two younger girls the things would go as planned for the rest of the day with no changes and she would meet them at Carol’s home when the last of the teams had checked into each site. Then, when she thought she’d gotten away with everything, Taylor made the comment that made Megan’s catch her breath.

  “I didn’t see Mary here at the luncheon. Did she decide to stay at the farm and watch over her animals? It’s a shame she didn’t come, she would’ve really enjoyed it. Maybe Emma and I should run a box lunch out to her before we head over to the packing house?”

  Megan looked at her in sheer panic, not sure how to answer the helpful young woman. Aiden took things into his own hands, knowing that Megan was fumbling for an answer.

  “We were out checking on things at the farm, and before we left something had come up. I’m sure Mary took care of her own lunch, so you don’t need to worry about her. Megan before we head back to Carol’s, I’d like to stop by my office if you have a few extra moments. We’ll catch up with you girls later.”

  Aiden’s smooth answer made Megan regard him in surprise. She knew in his line of work he often had to twist the truth to fit the situation, but she had never seen him use this tactic with her or any of her friends before. She was amazed at how easy it was for him. As if he felt her gaze, Aiden smiled at her and winked. He opened his own car door and waved the others towards theirs, indicating they should go ahead and leave. He had turned a potentially uneasy situation into a casual everyday conversation. Within moments the other cars were pulling out of the driveway ahead of them.

  As she turned the engine over, Megan spoke up “Thanks for jumping in, Aiden. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Oh, do you really need to stop by your office?”

  “Yes if we have time to swing by that would be helpful. I sent some of the pictures we took at the murder scene to my contacts at the FBI to see if anything corresponded with any cases they might be working on.”

  “Okay, lets head on over and then we’ll go straight to Carol’s. Maybe by the time we get back there, the sheriff will be there as well and he’ll have more information for us.”

  It didn’t take long to reach Aiden’s office, and Megan followed him in after he unlocked the door. She glanced around the office, noting that a reception desk was now by the front door for Jake. She making a comment about how excited the young man must feel about working with Aiden, Megan asked if he was going to enjoying having a small staff.

  “Well it’s not as though I have clients banging on the doors, but having Jake here will let me be out of the office when I need to be.”

  While Megan wandered around the main office area, Aiden went into his private office to check his computer for any information from his contacts. A few moments later Megan heard the sound of his printer running, and before she knew it, he was back out at her side ready to leave. He offered no explanations regarding the paperwork in his hands, but Megan figured she would find out what it was all about when he explained it to the sheriff. She could be patient until then, she had her own concerns to think about as she drove to Carol’s. It was a quiet ride, Megan lost in her own thoughts while Aiden went over the paperwork in his hands.

  When they pulled up in front of the house Megan was thrilled with the sight in front of her. Carol had been busy decorating her home for the night’s party with the help of the florist and the party planner Megan had hired. Together they had transformed the antebellum-style entry into an enchanted garden. Arched arbors were placed from the drive to the front door, forcing guest to walk through arches covered with beautiful and fragrant flowers. Candles waiting to be lit lined the walkway and stairs. Before Megan could open her car door, a valet was there to help her out and park the car. Aiden took her hand as they walked through the doors to be greeted by a sweet little girl who asked them to place their phones in the basket she held, a glittery gold bow on the handle.

  “It’s okay, Marie. These nice people do not have to turn in their electronics. You go find Miss Charlotte and get a treat before our real guests start arriving,"

  Carol heard them come in and came out to greet them, giving her niece a kiss on the top of her head. Then she shooed her off to find Charlotte, who always had a candy in her pockets for the children.

  “That’s my sister’s youngest. Isn’t she adorable?”

  “She’s a doll. What’s with the basket for electronics?”

  “Well, Megan, the sheriff wanted to be sure that the team members coming in couldn’t talk or text the other teams before they arrived. He wants to be able to talk to each person, hopefully before they know about Mary’s murder. So, Charlotte and I thought this would be a great idea. Who can say no to such a precious little girl without feeling like a real heel?”

  “That’s brilliant, and so wickedly like Charlotte. What have you all planned for our unsuspecting guests?”

  Carol laughed along with Megan before she answered her. She quickly explained that they had set aside two areas of the kitchen for the sheriff to begin his inquiries.

  “We thought this would be perfect. People will be filtered through this area to the guest rooms, where they will change for the party. Evening clothes set over by the players are all set up in the bedrooms for them to change into. Then, they’ll come back down the main staircase and out into the ballroom. Hopefully, by keeping everyone busy, no one will be the wiser about what is going on. At least that’s the plan as it stands now.”

  While they’d been talking, Carol led them to the kitchen where the sheriff was waiting. As they walked over to the table where the sheriff was sitting, she smiled smugly.

  “See how easy that worked? Now let’s hope Sheriff Green can get through his questioning quickly and eliminate our family and friends from his suspect list.”

  Carol could see that the sheriff wanted to talk to the two of th
em, so she excused herself and left the kitchen in search of her niece and Charlotte. Aiden pulled a chair out for Megan and they sat down at the table with the sheriff for a quick discussion. They all knew time was short and they would need to make the most of it before the real suspects arrived. As he sat down, Aiden asked the sheriff if anything new had been found at Mary’s barn.

  “We found more money hidden in boxes but that was about it. I’m hoping that the papers we found on her body will give us some idea of what’s going on. In the meantime with our questioning, I want to concentrate heavily on the female suspects. The footprints that Megan found were a woman’s footprints. As much as I hate to say it, from the angle of the blow, and the height of the hidden boxes, we’re talking about an average size woman. I’m hoping that whoever killed Mary, wasn’t smart enough to change their shoes between then and now.”

  Aiden nodded his head in agreement at the sheriff’s comments. Megan, however, looked doubtful. She didn’t want to discourage the sheriff, but she had a pretty good idea those shoes worn in the barn would be too scuffed up and dirty for most women to want to wear to a party. Plus, as awful as the image was to think about, common sense told her in order to hit Mary as hard as she had, the woman had to have been close. Chances were, there were blood splatters on those shoes as well.

  “Sheriff, we’d like to be in on the questioning too. Is there any way you can make this possible?”

  “I figured you would. Megan I would like you and Deputy Young to question the male suspects. Aiden I’d like you to sit alongside me as I question the women. If anybody asks, Megan is sitting in because of her position of running the geo-cache game. Aiden, I will be frank and tell them I asked you to assist with the investigation due to your FBI experience. That should eliminate any questions about your presence here. Megan I would suggest you take care of any items regarding the game quickly, so we can meet back here. Aiden while she is doing that, there are a few things that I’d like to ask you about.”

  Megan sensed she was being dismissed even though the sheriff had made it clear he wanted her involved. She wondered what was up. Had he found out something she would be upset about? Well it didn’t matter, she would find out soon enough. There was no way she would be excluded from any part of the investigation. She nodded her head to the sheriff, smiled at the two men, and commented that yes there were a few things that needed to be taken care of. After her obligations to the geo-cache were completed, she would be glued to the investigation. Nothing was going to get by her.

  Chapter 13

  The questioning went smoothly. As the teams of players arrived at Carol’s home, they were so enthralled with the decorations and elegance of Carol’s home, that they didn’t realize they were being herded, like the sheep on Mary’s farm, into the kitchen to speak with the sheriff. As expected, those being questioned had little to tell. All were shocked and out-raged over Mary’s death, promising the sheriff their complete cooperation. The guest-rooms upstairs quickly became a hive of discussion as everyone tried to make sense of the day’s tragedy.

  At least, everything was going smoothly until Emma’s arrival. Hearing her daughter’s raised voice as she questioned the poor staff member who was assigned to escort her to the kitchen, Megan excused herself and left Deputy Young to finish with the player they had been questioning.

  “Emma! For crying out loud, lower your voice. I heard you all the way in the kitchen.” She held her finger up in the air to silence her as Emma started to say something more. Turning to the young man that had been bringing her daughter back, Megan signaled to him to go back to the front entry. She would take Emma back herself and hopefully calm her down before she stirred up too much trouble.

  Emma held her tongue until they reached the kitchen and she saw the police officer. It barely took her a second to figure out something alarming was going on, and she turned to her mother for an explanation.

  “There was more to that detour from Mary’s farm wasn’t there, Mom? What have you got involved in now? It must be bad if the sheriff is involved. Aiden, you’re not just here as my mom’s date for the day are you? This all seems way too official to me.”

  Not sure how to answer her daughter, Megan countered with a few questions of her own.

  “How did you get here before the last of the players? Where is Taylor?”

  Emma was having none of that. She brushed aside her mother’s questions and waited for an explanation, tapping her foot impatiently.

  “I tried to call you again and got concerned when I didn’t get an answer. Taylor stayed at the packing house so I could get here to see if you were okay or needed any help. Guess we were right, something is up.”

  The sheriff got to his feet and walked towards her, diffusing any further arguments between mother and daughter. He took Emma by the arm, leading her over to the table where she could sit down, and he began his questioning. Even though she wasn’t a suspect, Emma knew as many details about the layout and strategy of the game as Megan did. He hoped through questioning her he’d pick up more information, or she might have noticed something.

  “Yes, Emma, and sorry to say I asked your mother to do the detour to keep people away from Mary’s farm. It saddens me to tell you that our dear friend Mary was murdered. Your mother and Aiden were the ones who found her.”

  Emma gasped and put her hand over her mouth in horror. She looked at her mother for confirmation, and seeing her mother’s nod, bowed her head for a quick prayer. She straightened up and nodded to the sheriff, ready to answer any questions and be of any help he needed.

  “I need you to give me a brief rundown of how the day had been planned for the geo-cache teams. Yes, your mother’s already told me much of it, but I’d like your version as well. There might be a point or two you’ve remembered that your mother didn’t. Start from first thing this morning.”

  “I was in a rush this morning. I over slept because we had stayed late at my mother’s going over last-minute details, and we decorated the starting point so it would feel festive this morning. Taylor and I drove over to Mom’s in separate cars, just in case we needed to do any last-minute errands. When I got there, Mom had already started the coffee and was talking to Aiden. I got the team packets ready, and soon the first of the players were arriving. I greeted people as they arrived and mingled a bit until it was time for Mom to officially welcome everyone and begin the game. All the players seemed excited and in good spirits. I can’t say that anybody was missing because when we handed out the packet it went to a team leader, not to each member. I’m pretty sure everybody who was there had signed up to play.”

  “Were there any players you didn’t recognize? Or any bystanders that showed up throughout the day that didn’t seem to ‘fit’?”

  Emma thought over the sheriff’s questions, Megan could see her mentally going through the list of people she’d seen throughout the day. With a shake of her head she answered.

  “I wish I could say somebody stood out, Sheriff. But, I honestly knew everybody I saw today. 90% them I see every day, they live right here in Citrus Beach. The other 10% were visitors I’ve met over the years. To answer your question about how the game worked, it was pretty straightforward. We had true geo-cache sites; the yacht club, the dog park, the lighthouse, Mary’s farm, and the citrus packing house. We also worked in some detours and false locations, just to make the game more interesting and challenging. But each of the sites was a public location that is normally busy. At each site, teams were simply to pick up a new clue and destination, then head off towards the next site. And of course we had everybody meet for lunch at Neptune’s Trident and then back here at Carol’s for the culmination of the day with dinner and dancing. We weren’t trying to make this too difficult for anybody. After all, is a charity event and the goal was to raise money and kick off the fall season.”

  The sheriff nodded his head in understanding before asking Emma what her role was during the day.

  “My station was at the citrus packin
g house with Taylor Jamison. If any problems arose throughout the day, I had all the information with me to answer questions. Since most of the clues were set there wasn’t much for me to do other than occasionally sending out a red herring by text. Mom and Aiden were visiting the different sites throughout the day. You know Mom, she’s so good at micromanaging. We thought with the two of them showing up at the different sites they could help any players that might get discouraged. It was all straightforward, we worked out all the details ahead of time. Of course, having a murder to start the day with not in the plans.”

  The sheriff remained silent as Emma finished speaking. He had learned in the past that if he didn’t rush his witnesses they would often remember details on their own as they went over their statements. He was aware that was what Emma was doing, and he smiled with satisfaction when she remembered some detail she thought might help the investigation.

  “I don’t know if this will help, sheriff, but we tried to make this geo-cache as realistic as possible. Each team was assigned a tracking device, a GPS, and a notebook to detail their times and donations at each site. We asked that the teams write down what time they arrived in each site and to record the condition of the cache. We have prizes for the team that got the fastest time between sites and a few other small items just to make it more interesting. Maybe if we go over the notebooks we might find something that can be useful. If nothing else, at least they will note that each team made it to each of the geo-cache sites.”

  Megan and Aiden exchanged glances at Emma’s suggestion. Without a word, Aiden got up and left the room. Minutes later he was back with a GPS device and log book one team had turned in upon their arrival. Walking over to the sheriff, he placed the items on the table in front of the man for him to examine. Sheriff Green nodded his head in thanks and opened the log book.

  The sheriff carefully looked over the information that the team members had written down on each page. When he finished examining the entire book he nodded his head in approval to Emma.