“Think maybe you should call your friend the detective and see what’s going on?” Kelly asked as if he read her mind.
“DC isn’t his jurisdiction. I’m guessing he’s got to coordinate with the local police.” She glanced at Kelly. “I’m thinking the Coast Guard too. Who handles crime in these places?” Jonelle wasn’t embarrassed to admit she had no idea.
Kelly shrugged. “We don’t have crime here. Those security guys are pretty effective. Besides, most lowlifes don’t have a clue on how to handle themselves around all this water.”
Not knowing what was going on was driving her nuts. Jonelle pressed Burt’s contact button and the call went right to voice mail. Not sure whether that was a good or bad sign, Jonelle merely told Kelly, “His line’s engaged.”
“So what do we do?”
“We … hold on.” Jonelle squinted. Sure enough, two dark clad figures emerged from inside with guns pointed … and with a body held in front as a shield.
“Uh-Oh,” Kelly said. “Jack Carmichael’s got a bad heart.”
One Yazzie stood behind the other with the hostage. While Jonelle couldn’t hear anything, the police pulled back farther down the pier, their weapons still drawn. The three stumbled back inside.
“Damn. Looks like they’re trying to escape.”
She pointed back to the saloon. “That gun you had back there. Are you a good enough shot to back me up if needed?”
Kelly blanched. “I, uh, don’t know. I just bought the thing a week ago. All I really know how to do is load it. I’ve never fired it before.”
Great, just great. “I hope you’re a quick learner. You have to do exactly as I say, when I say it. Understand?”
Kelly nodded.
The motor on the Two Old Fogies kicked to life. She turned away from Kelly and watched in horror as the boat left the pier aimed toward Kelly’s vessel. Coast Guard or no, Jonelle couldn’t sit still and wait to be rescued.
The cruiser closed the distance.
Jonelle found two coolers and piled them one on top of the other on the starboard side to provide more cover. While it helped it wasn’t enough. “You got anything else I can use for cover?”
Kelly left and returned with two thick seat cushions. Jonelle placed those on top of the coolers. “I suggest you get below, Doctor.”
“What’re you doing?”
“Trying to save both our butts.” Jonelle crouched, opened a small space between the barriers and waited.
“Hold on a sec,” Kelly said behind her.
Inside the saloon items scraped across the floor and something smashed to the ground.
“Here, use this.” Jonelle risked a quick glance. Kelly had a deck chair in his hands. “If you sit down, it’ll be less stress on your knees.”
“Thanks.” Jonelle took up her position and waited. The Two Old Fogies slowed; the motor cut off.
“What the hell’re they doing now?” she muttered.
Kelly followed her gaze. “Ah, now I get it.” Kelly smiled.
“What’s so funny?” Jonelle peered at Kelly who’d kneeled down beside her.
“Why’d they stop?”
“They’ve realized, probably from Jack, that they don’t have easy access to open waters.”
“Is that right?” All Jonelle could see between the two land areas was nothing but water.
“This basin narrows as it enters the Potomac River, then you’ve gotta go into the Chesapeake Bay.”
“So, that means they’re sitting ducks. Not to mention that they’ll probably face kidnapping charges on top of everything else. That gets the Feds involved.” Jonelle raised her weapon.
“What’re you going to do?”
“If they decide to risk it I’ll remind the boys that I’m not playing. I suggest you take cover.”
Silence.
The Oh Susanna floated between the marina and park. She knew that if the Yazzie’s aimed the Carmichael’s craft toward the strip of land the most direct way, they’d pass by her. Would they abandon ship? Jonelle thought not. On the other hand, if they headed back toward the marina, cops waited on the dock.
And more cops approaching from the east as indicated by the appearance of two red-hulled response boats heading fast in their direction, the words Coast Guard printed in white. Mounted on the bow and stern of each vessel, two automatic weapons sat at the ready, their operators clad in red vests.
Someone used a bullhorn.
“This is the United States Coast Guard. Lay down your weapons and raise your hands above your head.”
CHAPTER 46
The Yazzie brothers released their hostage and placed their hands above their heads. The Coast Guard boarded the Two Old Fogies and took control. For all the horror the two men had perpetuated in the past several days, their surrender seemed anti-climactic.
Jonelle sat in the Coast Guard office as the investigators tried to sort everything out. At every step of the way she complied to their requests for information without question and felt heartened when Kelly did the same. Right now, the authorities had to figure out the mess of the kidnapping and stolen property. She quickly explained the reason she fired her weapon was in self-defense not only for herself but also for protecting Kelly. To add credence to her story, Kelly’s boat contained several bullet holes from the Yazzie weapons.
Although most of the agents ignored her after she’d given her formal statement, Jonelle overheard several snippets of conversation. The DC police and several federal agents were studying the floating crime scene and Burt and the law enforcement contingent from Maryland had arrived and were relaying information about the twins’ murders. Kelly had sobered up and gave the shorthand version of why he thought the brothers were after him. The brothers were charged by the Coast Guard and the DC police and released to the Maryland homicide division to face the more serious multiple murder charges.
Kelly was arrested for withholding information in a murder investigation. Jonelle almost felt sorry for him when, hands cuffed behind his back, his eyes pleaded with her as he was taken away. In spite of everything, if he didn’t have a criminal lawyer, she’d recommend a few.
For her part, Jonelle was admonished for acting without waiting for law enforcement and released into Burt’s custody which pissed her off. At least Burt assured her he’d fight against her being charged with any crime.
“Thanks, I owe you one,” she grudgingly said.
“Your IOU’s are adding up,” he replied, as they were escorted back to the marina after the interrogation. The sun sat low on the horizon and in the dim light she glanced at the empty slip where the Oh Susanna had been moored. Towed away as evidence, Jonelle felt Kelly wouldn’t be too heartbroken if he never saw the craft again.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m grateful. Really.”
Burt thanked the Coast Guard for the lift back to the marina.
Jonelle and Burt walked along the dock in silence. A few boats had lights inside where the live-a-boards were settling in for the night after that day’s excitement. She wondered what kind of person would choose to live where there was always movement under your feet. She shuddered.
“Cold?” Burt asked.
Jonelle shook her head. She turned and grinned at him. “If you think for one minute I’m going to let you take your coat off and put it over my delicate shoulders, you’ve got another think coming.” She winked at him to show she was just kidding.
He laughed. “Right. Forgot who I was dealing with for a minute.
Except for a few police cruisers and Burt’s unmarked, there weren’t many cars in the visitor’s lot at that time of night. Jonelle’s Jeep sat all by itself under a sodium light. She strolled over and stood next to her vehicle. She turned to Burt before she let herself into the driver’s seat. “My stupid mistake. I should’ve assumed that once I caught them following me the first time, they wouldn’t let up. I didn’t pay any attention when I came here. I was so focused on confronting Kelly, I let my guard down. Dumb. Just du
mb.”
Burt placed his hand on Jonelle’s arm. It felt warm and dry on her cool skin. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Kelly’s alive because of you. Don’t forget that.”
In more ways than one, she thought, remembering the pistol lying in the middle of the table and how drunk and depressed he was.
“After all that went on today, Kelly still doesn’t know where Susanna hid the money. Maybe we’ll never find it.”
Burt stretched his arms above his head, cracking a few bones in the process. “I find it hard to believe that someone who wasn’t all that familiar with the area around here could hide money so well it couldn’t be found. It’s got to be somewhere so obvious we can’t see it.”
Jonelle removed her cellphone and pulled up the information on the note. She squinted at it for a few moments. “What if …”
“What?”
“She had to hide the money fast, right?”
Burt nodded.
“You told me the cops thoroughly searched the hotel, plus she didn’t have time to open a bank account and I went through the hiding places at the warehouse with Luther. But.” Jonelle stopped.
“But what?”
In the waning light, she smiled at Burt. “I searched all through the warehouse. What if the money is somewhere on the outside?”
Burt shook his head. “I’m not following you.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, unlocking her Jeep. “You’re following me to the warehouse.”
“Now?”
“Let’s go before someone else figures out what I just did.”
Jonelle’s Jeep and Burt’s unmarked sedan pulled up in front of Luther’s warehouse—that’s how she thought of it these days. A few of the homeless, on their way through the gap in the fence, stopped and stared when they saw Burt.
“Don’t worry,” Jonelle called out. “He’s not here to bother you.”
Burt grunted his objection but stayed quiet.
Jonelle dug in her bag for her cellphone again. “You got your flashlight?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Check out the codes. Now look around and tell me what you see.”
“I’m tired and it’s getting too late to play games.”
“Humor me. Do as I say. Please.”
Burt walked closer to the warehouse and shined his light around the outside. “I see a helluva lot of trash—mostly bottles, cardboard boxes, metal barrels, five rusted out old cars, stacks of old tires and some rickety old grocery carts.” He faced Jonelle. “That what you wanted to hear, Sherlock?”
Jonelle ignored the comment and studied the note that held the code found on the first twin’s body. “There are four letters here. WH printed together, then a V and an M.” She could barely contain her excitement. She picked her way over to the third of five rusted out old vehicles, and pointed to an ancient van. “Look at this. WH could mean white, and V might stand for Volkswagen. And check this out.” She motioned for him to shine his light on the rusted license plate. “M probably stands for Maryland, ’cause the only other white car with a plate has DC tags. The numbers are the actual plate numbers. See?”
“I’ll be damn,” Burt said, his voice tinged with awe.
Jonelle moved to look inside.
“Don’t! I’m calling forensics out here.”
She motioned for him to shine the light on what was left of the interior. “What’s the harm in looking? Might save them some time.”
Burt hesitated.
Jonelle turned and glared at him. “Oh for goodness sakes! Hand that thing to me will you? I’m not gonna spoil your scene. Look at all this damn rust. No way I’m going to tear through here and risk getting a cut. Can’t remember when I had my last tetanus shot.”
Burt handed over his police-issue flashlight. “If I catch any flak for this I’m gonna say you overpowered me and took matters into your own hands.”
“Whatever. How big was that satchel?”
Burt told her.
“Well then it’s safe to say it’s gotta be in a place at least that size. My guess is it’s probably under one of these seats.” Jonelle lifted her leg as if to go inside.
“Absolutely not,” Burt said, grabbing her arm and pulling Jonelle back.
She jerked away. “I’m not going to touch it, I just wanna see if it’s here. Won’t you feel a right fool if you call them all the way out here and they find nothing?”
“I’m willing to take that risk.”
Jonelle sensed Burt’s patience with her was wearing thin. She noticed a metal pole on the ground, grabbed it, hurried over to the van and began poking under the two remaining bench seats. Nothing. The other seats had long since disappeared. Was this too obvious for someone as devious as Susanna?
A quick look at where the engine resided revealed nothing but a few loose wires.
Burt spoke into his cellphone and gave the warehouse location.
Frustrated, Jonelle prodded all over the vehicle. She knew in her gut that was what the codes represented. Where the hell was the money?
Jonelle leaned against the passenger side door panel. Though cockeyed and resting on one hinge the structure felt secure under her weight. She tapped the side over and over in frustration. Deep in thought she tried to place herself in Susanna’s shoes as she continued tapping. And stopped. She tapped again and this time Burt heard it too.
“Sounds different right there,” he said, pointing to the lower quadrant. The excitement in his voice matched her feelings. Before he could say anything else, Jonelle cautiously probed with her fingers around the edge and felt a narrow opening. She forced the tips of her fingers inside and pulled. Instead of meeting with resistence, the outside panel gave way a little. She aimed the light into the crack and smiled.
CHAPTER 47
Jonelle paced the area while the crime scene techs set up their lights and removed the brown satchel. Except for several bite marks where rats had tried to make their way inside, the contents were deemed intact. Inside the bag, money and another note with a similar code lay taped against an inside flap. Using the same logic as before unearthed more money hidden in the wheel well of an old green Pontiac and encased in a black plastic bag. This time however, several tears in the bag disclosed some of the bills were shredded. No other notes were found.
“Check the rest of the vehicles in case she split up more cash without leaving a code,” Burt instructed the techs. “We need to make sure in case a good bit of the money was used to make more rat’s nests.”
“Why on earth did she wrap the money in plastic? She had to know rodents would chew through the package.”
“She probably figured she’d get to it all before that happened,” Burt said.
“I guess.” Jonelle glanced over at the warehouse and caught Luther standing there, arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. This was the second time she’d brought the police to his home and she couldn’t blame him for being angry with her.
“Look, Burt,” Jonelle said. “I hope you’re not planning to bring Luther down to the station again. If he’d known where the money was, he would’ve taken it by now.”
“Agreed. But I might need to ask him more questions.”
Jonelle touched Burt’s arm and stared into his eyes. “The person who stayed here initially for all those months was Susanna. It was only in the few days leading up to the first murder that the sisters changed identities to allow Susanna to try and stash the money someplace safe. He told me she sometimes hung around after everyone else had left. I’m betting that on those occasions, she hid the money. Sophia had the codes of the first hiding place pinned to her dress so she could retrieve the money when Susanna was ready.”
“We’ll leave him alone. For now anyway.”
“I’m going over there to talk to him.”
Luther stood in front of his ragtag group of followers like a general ready to lead the charge against the enemy. She hoped he didn’t consider her a threat, and that he understood that she truly did care for him.<
br />
“Hi, Luther,” she said, stopping a few feet in front of him. Somewhere in the distance she heard the word, traitor, and a few other comments attesting to what those assembled thought about her and her latest intrusion on their patch.
“I wish I’d never know’d you,” he spat out.
Somewhat taken aback by the force of his words, Jonelle swallowed her disappointment and plunged ahead with what she wanted to say.
“I don’t blame you for being mad as hell at what’s going on here.” She swept her arm around all the activity and lights.
“Burt, the lead detective over there, has all the information he needs about what happened to the twins and the money. He’s promised not to bother you anymore unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Jonelle inhaled. “As it happens, Sophia was murdered in the same fashion as, uh, Susanna.” No need to go into any details about the identity switching at this point. Still, sometime in the future, when he wasn’t as angry with her as he was now, the man had a right to know everything that went on almost on his doorstep. He had a relationship with Susanna, and also for a brief moment, whether he knew it or not, with Sophia.
“I know I’m not your favorite person at the moment.”
Several more rude noises greeted that comment.
“I get that,” Jonelle said. “But before you completely dismiss me out of your life, I want to tell you everything I know about Susanna’s last moments.”
A slight softening of his posture was the only sign Jonelle received that indicated Luther was listening to her. “How about this. Meet me at the Inner Harbor sometime tomorrow, say around lunch time. My treat. How about it?”
Luther sniffed. “I got things to do t’morrow.”
Jonelle waited a few beats. “I’ll be there, around one o’clock in front of the Disney store, whatever you decide.” With that she turned and walked back to where Burt stood at a distance, watching.
“I really don’t understand your connection to him,” Burt said as she stood by his side.
“It’s complicated.”
The Trickster (A Jonelle Sweet Mystery Book 3) Page 27
