Chapter 32
As Megan stared at the small screen of her phone, she noticed that she was holding her breath. With a conscious effort to breathe in and out slowly and deeply, she wondered why she managed to find herself in this type of situation again. Biting her lip, she realized that there was one major difference with tonight’s escapade. She was alone. And that meant that she would have to be self-reliant. Not only was it up to her to find out what was going on at the lighthouse, but also to keep herself safe.
Through the video feed Megan knew the exact moment that the two women walked into the open area from the wooded path. It was clear that the two of them were arguing, hands were flailing and heads were shaking as they argued with each other while walking towards the lighthouse. The two women were dressed in resort wear, and Megan saw they were young and beautiful. One of the two was having difficulty walking in the loose sand, and Megan glanced down at her feet. She could make out the woman was wearing sandals rather than shoes that would be more appropriate for the beach. The other woman had on flip-flops, cute designer wear that Lucy would love. At one point the woman in the flip-flops stopped and grabbed the other woman's arm, forcing her to stop as well. The two women glared each other as they talked, whatever they were arguing about, they were passionate in their opinions.
After a few moments they turned and continued towards the lighthouse. It seemed that they had reached an agreement because they were no longer arguing. As a matter of fact they were barely talking to each other and all.
As Megan watched, they reached the pathway that would take them directly to the lighthouse and the stairs leading to the landing. With the window open Megan heard their approach, as well as watched it. As they drew closer she could hear snatches of their comments to each other. From the tone of their voices it was clear that they were still upset, but listening to the words she realized they weren't upset with each other.
"I think this is a mistake. He said to watch our backs. To me, that means he's watching us. And here we are, leading him right to our money."
"You're probably right, but there's no way he could have driven up from the south and gotten here this quickly. Remember, he said he was meeting with that nosy gardener on Thursday."
Megan didn't know whether to be offended or to laugh at being called a nosy gardener when she realized it was her they were talking about. She could distinctly hear two different voices, one had a nasal tone to it, as is that she was suffering from a sinus infection. The second woman spoke with a whine in her voice, like a child who is pouting because she hadn’t gotten her own way.
"I know he said Thursday, but I want to get the bag and get out of here before he hits town. We should've never pursued him, I had a feeling all along that he was a bad choice, and that we would regret trying to blackmail him." Megan heard the fear in the nasal tone and listened closely for more conversation.
"You said that before, but we can't go back and change the past. We made one bad selection, and you want to throw in the hat. Maybe if we give him back the ring and his money he will go away."
"You don't really believe that. Plus there’s the fact that you murdered that old farmer woman. We need to get away before the police figure out what is going on and we end up spending the rest of our life behind bars."
"You know I never meant to kill her, I had no idea I had hit her so hard. But we had to stop her before she went to the authorities to report the money we’d stashed in her barn."
Megan's eyes opened wide with astonishment, the last thing she expected to hear was a confession to Mary’s murder.
The women were moving up the pathway and were now right outside the lighthouse, ready to walk up the stairs. Megan said a silent prayer of thanks she had put the money back where it was. The two women were silent as they walked up the stairs, but Megan heard their steps on the mental rungs. As she listened, they walked up to the first landing.
"It's not going to be so bad. This worked out so well here in this little redneck town, surely we can find another. You know as well as I do, the trick was to be outside the major metropolitan area so we wouldn't be suspect. Men with money and who are willing to cheat on their wives are plentiful in the big cities. And their willingness to pay to keep their transgressions silent is laughable."
"You're right, we had a good run for the last couple years, but it's time to move on. I'm almost thinking I’d like to leave the U.S. There are plenty of rich men in Europe too." The two women laughed at the whiny woman's answer.
It took a second for Megan to realize that she had just been listening to the entire explanation of Mary's murder and how the money played into it. This was no money laundering scheme as Aiden and the sheriff thought. No, it was something much more basic and cruel. As she had thought, it was blackmail, and these women sounded like they had the scheme down to a fine art.
She listened, waiting for more condemning information from the two women, but they had grown silent. Megan faintly made out the sounds of paper shuffling and realized that the two women were digging for the money bag in the box. With a glance at the phone in her hand, she watched the figure of a man clearing the tropical plants on the path leading to the lighthouse. He walked with a determined stride, his eyes glued ahead of him and it was clear that he had his destination in sight.
Megan knew the exact moment when the women caught sight of the man coming towards them. The lid of the comment box slammed down and Megan heard the nasal voice of the one woman telling the other to take the money and hide it in her pockets. She heard them fumbling as they started to go back down the stairs. They must have reached about the halfway mark between the landing and the pathway when they realize that they would not get away from the man coming towards them.
The man saw them and realized what was going at the same time and he quickened his pace hurrying towards them to cut off their escape through the pathway. Megan watched the scene play out on her phone while she listened to the sounds through the open window.
"I wanna to talk to you two. You assured me that my wife’s ring would never show up here in the state of Florida. But lo and behold, my wife gets a phone call asking about her ring. Do you two have an explanation for this? More importantly, how are you going to get my ring back so I can put it back in the safe deposit box before my wife realizes that I've put a fake in its place."
The man was yelling at the women as he walked towards them, and Megan recognized his voice as that of Henry DeChante. As he talked about the ring, he confirmed his identity to her. She had been right in thinking he would show up earlier than Thursday. And from the sounds of it he had taken the two women by surprise too. Megan could hear them pleading with him, trying to make him understand that they didn’t know the ring was missing from their stash. But the man's anger kept him from listening to their explanations, and he started up the stairs towards them threateningly. In fear, the two women turned and ran back up to the landing before realizing there was nowhere to go but up, and he would just follow them.
“Henry, darling, you have to believe us when we tell you that we had no idea the ring was even missing. This is the first time we’ve heard about it. Your wife isn’t going to notice anything different about the rings. The copy we gave you was flawless. Come on, let’s go somewhere where we can all relax and talk about this in comfort. We know how to make you comfortable, Henry -”
“Stop that! I’m done listening to you. You’re like a siren of the sea, luring me into your bed and out of my money. Now my marriage may be in jeopardy and I still have the two of you threating to tell my wife about our little escapades. I’m done with you both.”
Megan heard the heavy footsteps of the man as he walked up to the landing. The women were still pleading with him to calm down, but it was no good, he was in a rage. She watched on the tiny little screen as a scene larger than life played out just on the other side of the wall from where she stood. She saw the woman in heels put her hand on his arm to calm him down, but he shook her off as he adva
nced on her, forcing her to move closer to the railing. As they moved closer to the railing, the sound of the surf made their words impossible to understand.
The woman must have realized that her pleading and beguiling ways would not get through to the man. She stiffened her back and stopped backing away from him. Lifting her arm, she poked at his chest as she spoke, as if to get her point across.
Her actions seem to only incite the man farther, and he pushed her arm away. That did not stop her and she poked at his chest again, making the man lose control. Henry grabbed her arm before she could poked at him a third time. With his other hand he grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her hard. Megan heard the second woman yelling at him to stop, but Henry DeChante was beyond listening. As he shook the woman, he moved her closer and closer to the railing. She tried to fight him and Megan could hear her words as she yelled at him.
"Henry, please, stop. You’re hurting me!"
She was trying to get his arms off of her shoulders by struggling and turning but to no avail. Megan heard her yell to the other woman to go get help. But she was too late, and too close to the edge of the platform. With one final, violent shake, Henry pushed her away from him.
Megan did not need to see but was going on, she could hear the scream as the woman went over the railing and heard Henry and the other woman cry out in distress.
Megan heard the running footsteps of the other woman as she started down the steps. Looking back on the screen she saw that Henry was looking over the railing, not paying attention to the second woman. Acting on impulse Megan ran to the door of the light house and waited for the exact moment when she thought the woman would run by.
Her timing was impeccable as she whipped open the door, startling the woman enough to stop. Megan didn't give her a chance to speak, she simply reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room with her. With a slam, she closed the door and locked it, then hissed at the stunned women to be silent.
In her haste to open the door, Megan had dropped her phone on the floor, and it was too dark to find it, but they both knew the moment when Henry realized the other woman was gone, and yelled with anger for her. Within seconds his footsteps were racing down the same stairs in search of the woman.
Chapter 33
The moment that Aiden saw the text from Megan with a picture of the money bag, he knew she was in danger.
He and his two companions had landed in Citrus Beach a short time before he received her text. Aiden and Sam helped Charlotte and Carol carry their bags filled with purchases from their shopping expeditions to Carol's car. As they walked to the car, Aiden was pleased to see that his delivery had arrived and now waited for him to inspect. He had finally taken Megan’s advice and purchased a car. It was love at first sight. It was not the type of car he drove in in his past line of work, nor would it fade into the background if he ever found the need to do surveillance work, but he had purchased it anyways: a 1965, cherry red, Cutlass Convertible, fulfilling a childhood longing.
Sam and Aiden spent a few male bonding moments admiring his new toy while the women waited. As the women yawned behind them, the men realized they were all tired. After loading their bags, Sam got behind the wheel to drive the two women home, and saluted a goodbye to Aiden. They agreed to meet at Aiden's office in the morning where he planned to reveal the day's findings to his client.
After watching the car leave the property, Aiden drove his new prize to Megan’s, wanting to show it off. He expected to find her and the two dogs relaxing by the pool as they often did in the evening. Instead he found Megan's note and two dogs eager to go outside and play. Deciding to spend some time with them, he took the dogs for a walk. Then he received the text.
The sight of the money in Megan's hand was the first thing he noticed. He didn’t have a clue how she managed it, but she had found more of the killer’s loot. In doing so, she’d placed herself in danger, and Aiden felt an urgent need to get to her. He tried to call her cell phone, but found himself being re-routed to her voice-mail.
Frustrated, he looked down at the picture and couldn’t place the location. Hoping that she might have left some clue where he could find her, Aiden called the dogs to his side and hurried to her private office. Once inside, he inspected her desk, but it seemed too neat for Megan to have spent any time at it. He moved into the large conference room and found what she had been examining before she left the property. Now he needed to figure out what she discovered that had sent her on the trail to the money.
He saw she must have spent hours going over the pictures spread out across the conference table. Aiden regarded each pile and could tell which ones she had lost interest in and pushed aside. Without going through all her work, he concentrated on the two final piles she’d made. Picking up her pages of notes, he followed her thought process, noting that everything narrowed down to the farm and the lighthouse. That meant the odds of Megan being at one of those locations were high. He needed to know which one.
Dialing her phone again, he let it ring a few times before hanging up. There was no message he wanted to leave, he wanted to talk directly to her and assure himself that she was safe. He had to decide, which direction should he head: west to the farm or east to the lighthouse?
He scattered the pictures in front of him across the table, in a search of some clue that would tell him where Megan had snapped the picture she sent him. The color blue that caught his eye, and he pulled one picture out of the mess on the table. It was the same blue bag in the picture on his phone. He looked over the picture in more detail.
He took a few moments longer than Megan to catch on to where the bag was located, mainly because he wasn’t as familiar with the area as Megan. Once he identified the location, he was off and out the door. Without realizing it, his two companions were right behind him. He opened the heavy door of the Cutlass, and the dogs jumped inside before he could say no. Not wanting to take the time to make them go back to the house, he pointed to the back seat and told them to sit. They seemed to know they were getting away with something and did as he told them. Moments later, Aiden pulled the car out onto the main road, heading east.
Chapter 34
Megan hadn’t thought about the fact that the woman she was pulling into safety was a murderer, but it dawned on her as the two of them stood in the darkness, listening to the man outside. She moved silently, inch by inch, and tried to put some distance between them. As she moved, leaning against the wall behind her for guidance, she could hear the yells of the man outside as he tried to figure out where his second blackmailer had disappeared to.
Motionless in the dark, with a killer at her side, Megan wondered how she would get out of this mess. As she ran the scenarios through her head, each one more sinister than the last, she moved her hand against the wall. Megan wanted to be sure there was nothing in her way that would fall and bring the women’s attention to her. As she was about to take another sliding step her fingers touch a cold metal object. She stopped and tried to the room’s furnishings. It deliberately sparse, just as it would have been during the early years of the lighthouse’s mission to guide sea vessels past the coral reefs off Neptune’s Trident.
As sparse as it was, Megan remembered an antique toggle harpoon leaning against the wall as part of a display of maritime antiques. Her fingers were touching the iron head of the harpoon, and she eased her hand down the wooden shaft until she thought she had reached the center, or at least to a location where she could grab it and swing easily if she had to.
While Megan had been preparing herself to use the old fashioned weapon if she had to, the sounds from Henry DeChante had grown fainter, and the spell they had cast over the second occupant of the room grew weaker. Just when Megan thought she had the advantage, the light from her phone flashed, indicating that there was an incoming call.
The light and the sound of the phone vibrating against the old stone floor was enough to bring the woman to her senses. Turning on Megan, the other woman rushed to her, i
ntent on causing physical harm and to get away quickly and unobstructed. As Megan read her body movements, her own hand tightened around the shaft of the harpoon and she instinctively swung the weapon toward her opponent. Her hand placement was perfect, and the balance of the harpoon in her hand felt like the familiar weight of a baseball bat.
Megan put all of her weight behind that swing, knowing she would only get one chance to come out ahead in this fight. She connected like a pro and heard the sickening sound of bones shattering as she connected with the other woman. The woman let out a cry, sharp and painful, and fell to her knees, holding her injured arm. Megan felt sick to her stomach, but held her ground. She didn’t know what would happen next, but she would not be caught off guard by trying to render aid. It went against every fiber of her being to not rush to help the woman, but the vision of Mary’s body lying crumpled on the barn floor stiffened her resolve.
Adjusting the position of the harpoon, she pointed the tip of the harpoon, dull with age, but still deadly, at the woman.
“Don’t make any movement without being told to. I’m not sure how much force I would have to use to stab you with this harpoon, and I really don’t want to find out. Sit down completely, on your butt, with your legs out in front of you. Let your arm rest on your lap, that’s right, lean forward, taking the weight off of it will ease the pain a bit.”
Megan gave the woman directions in a crisp tone, not wanting the fear or pity she was feeling to sway her actions. She drew on the memory of a long ago summer when Emma had broken her arm skate boarding and gave the women the same advice she had used for her daughter. It was clear that the pain was keeping her from focusing on Megan, and Megan used that to her advantage. With the weapon in her hand still pointed at her captive, Megan moved over to her phone and picked it up with her free hand.
Murder at the Geo-Cache...A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 3) Page 20
