“There’s just one problem with your theory.”
She looked at him expectantly.
“If Lou did kill Leo three months ago, why did he kill Alex? Alex was blackmailing Bruce and Penny, not Lou.”
“But Alex knew too much. He saw Leo’s body go overboard three months ago and he saw Lou here at the lighthouse. If he talked to the wrong person, Lou’s little plan would have been in danger. That’s why he shot the man right in front of you.”
“And Tucker and Courtney? Why would he want to kill them? Why did he point a gun at us last night?”
Grace opened her mouth then closed it. “I’m not sure yet.” At his look of dismay, she said, “Come on, give me a break. We only figured out Lou’s been masquerading as Leo a few seconds ago. I’m sure we’ll figure it all out soon enough. We just need time to think and do a little more digging.”
A flash of pink in the parking lot caught Grace’s attention. Courtney was in front, dragging a reluctant looking Tucker up the stone steps towards the lighthouse.
“Show time,” Kyle whispered as he pulled away.
She tugged at his arm. “What are we going to do? I don’t think either one of them is guilty. In fact, I’m starting to think that maybe they were lured here by Lou.”
Kyle looked conflicted. “Then where is he? It’s just us here.”
“We weren’t on the lookout for Lou. He might have seen us up here and changed his plans at the last minute.”
Kyle glanced over her shoulder. “Speaking of a change of plans…”
She turned, watching in dismay as Tucker began leading Courtney back down the steps and away from the lighthouse. “Where are they going?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I say we sit them down and confront them with what we know. Maybe they can explain why Lou might want them dead.”
“Okay, I’ll grab our things and meet you down at the lighthouse keeper’s house.”
Nodding, he turned on his heel and hurried to the wrought iron stairs while Grace began gathering their things together.
She glanced through the railing, watching as Kyle raced down the stone steps towards Courtney and Tucker. When he passed out of view, she returned to her task, her mind whirling. “I don’t get it,” she mumbled to herself. “Lou Rycroft killed Leo, Bruce, Penny and Alex, but why is he after Courtney and Tucker? Why is he after us?”
“Because you all keep getting in my way,” a strong angry voice said from behind her.
Chapter Twenty-four
She spun around and faced Louis Rycroft.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. “Where have you been hiding?”
“The lighthouse keeper’s house,” he said calmly. “I was waiting for Tucker and Courtney to arrive when I saw your husband race out of here.”
His gaze swept over the catwalk. “It looks like you two have been busy up here. I heard a lot of hammering.” His eyes narrowed. “Just what have you two been up to?”
“Not much. We’re just trying to trap a murderer and here you are.”
He smiled in bemusement. “Some trap.” He took a menacing step forward backing Grace up to the railing. “Just what did you have planned for me?”
“You? Nothing.” She glanced down at the rocks below. “Just what do you have planned for me?” she asked surprised at how steady her voice was at the moment. Her heart was hammering wildly against her chest, but otherwise, she felt remarkably calm. I must be getting used to these situations, she thought with wry amusement as she stepped to the side and backed up along the catwalk.
“I’m afraid you leave me very little choice, my dear,” he said following her. “Please believe me, this doesn’t make me happy.”
“Well, that’s two of us then.”
“No, I’m very serious. I don’t go around killing people as a rule. I’m not a serial killer.”
“Considering you’ve killed about four people in the last three months I think you might want to think about that statement a little more.”
He looked pained. “Four? I guess it was four.” He glanced over the railing. “Soon to be eight after I take care of the Bernards, and then you and your husband.” He closed his eyes wearily. “I hope your husband isn’t out there blabbing to anyone else.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s quite the talker.” She glanced over at the plastic tarp covering the broken window. The stairs were just a few feet away, and all she had to do was make a run for them.
Just then, the heel of her tennis shoe caught a loose floorboard causing her to stumble. Quickly righting herself, she backed up a few more steps as he advanced towards her, cutting off her escape. She flung her hands out protectively in front of her as she backed around the catwalk. “If I were you, I’d quit at four and let the rest of us go.”
“Then all those deaths would have been pointless, wouldn’t they? I would have killed them for nothing. No, there’s no way around it. You all must die. Then hopefully all this will be over and I can go home and get some much-needed rest. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll never kill again.”
“No, oddly enough that doesn’t make me feel better,” she said glancing over at the scaffolding. There was just one way out of this, she thought as she continued walking backward. “Just how are you going to explain my death?”
“I don’t have to explain anything. I’m in Paris right now. Figuring out who killed you all will be up to the authorities. The way I figure it, Courtney will be blamed.”
“Why her?”
“She’s the most likely suspect. She made everyone quite aware of her feelings for Leo, Bruce, and Penny. When they find all your bodies, they’ll assume she snapped and killed you all before killing herself. Poor girl. I feel rather bad for her, but someone must be blamed.” He made a move to her and she jumped. “But then again, perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe they’ll blame Tucker.”
She glanced over the railing. It would be a straight drop into the ocean if either one of them fell over. “Just how are you going to get them up here?”
“I figure your husband will come running up when he finds that you’re missing. That’s when I’ll take care of him. As for Courtney and Tucker, I was hoping the little excursion package I created for them would work, but getting Tucker to do what I want is a little like trying to herd a cat. He never ends up going where I want him to. My brother Leo was the same way.”
She turned her attention back to Lou. “Why would you kill your own brother? Are you that greedy?”
“Greed? No, it’s not about greed. It’s about wastefulness. Leo would have just wasted all that money. I want to preserve it.”
Grace raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound greedy at all.”
He nodded in agreement. “It was supposed to be so easy. Three months ago, I had it planned perfectly. I convinced Leo to meet me here at the lighthouse. Everyone knew he was a drunk. They wouldn’t have been surprised to hear he accidentally fell while taking a look around. They would have just chalked his death up to drunken misadventure. At the very least, they may have suspected his unfaithful wife and her lover had a hand in it, but no one would have ever suspected me because no one knew I was here. Only Leo changed his mind. He must have figured out what I was up to and he turned tail and ran. He met Tucker’s wife down there and then followed her back to the ship. So, I had to change my plans. I went back to the ship, hid backstage, and waited for him to arrive. When he did, I killed him, then took his place on stage. No one was the wiser. Not Tucker. Not Bruce. Not Penny. Not the audience. When I was ready. I placed my brother’s body in the locker and waited for him to be discovered.”
“But Bruce and Penny surprised you.”
“I should have anticipated they would hide Leo’s body—Bruce had some prior history with injuring his co-workers—but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. But then they compounded the problem by making it seem as though Leo was alive. If they had just opened the locker and let his body be found, al
l this could have been avoided. The authorities could have pronounced my idiot brother dead leaving me as my dying grandfather’s only living heir.”
“I see.” They had made a full circle around the catwalk and were back where they started. She glanced towards the stairs again and came to a stop. “But then Penny and Bruce decided to do a little sleight of hand. They disposed of the body and then made it seem as though Leo was still alive. So, when your grandfather died, he left everything split between you and Leo.”
Lou pursed his lips together in a thin line as his face darkened in anger. “And before my grandfather’s body was even cold, Penny was there claiming Leo’s half of the money. I wasn’t about to let her get her hands on my money. Not after all I did to get it. So, I came back here pretending to be Leo. Don’t you see? They knew Leo was dead. I had to kill them before they told everyone who I really was.”
“Dead men tell no tales, huh?”
“Exactly. I couldn’t trick them. Well,” he said rolling his eyes, “I couldn’t trick Bruce. Penny was a little slow on the uptake but she eventually figured it out. She confronted me on the deck the other day.”
“And that’s when you killed her.”
“Oh, absolutely,” he said with a ruthless smile. “I enjoyed killing her more than my own brother. I warned him that she was after his inheritance, but would he listen? No. He never listened.”
She glanced at the stairs again. It was now or never. She made a move that way, but he anticipated her actions and jumped in front of the doorway.
“What about Alex?” she asked taking a few tentative steps back towards the railing. “Why did you kill him?”
“Alex came up to me yesterday morning and asked me how I survived. Then he started asking me nosy questions about my twin brother. I killed him a few hours later. I didn’t enjoy doing it, but it will all be worth it very soon.”
“Without a body, it’ll be years before Leo will be officially declared dead. You won’t be seeing that money any time soon.”
“Au contraire. My attorney says there’s an exception for people lost at sea. The presumption drops down to mere months, if that. Luckily, there were several witnesses to my poor dear brother’s unfortunate end. That security guard I knocked out will be so very useful when I need to present proof of my brother’s death. Now I just need to tie up a few more loose ends and I’ll be done.” He started to raise his hands.
“Hang on a second,” she said breathlessly trying to think of something to say. She reached behind her, searching for the heart shaped lock Kyle had given her. Thinking of him, she gripped it tightly in her hand. “I understand why you killed the others. You wanted to save your grandfather’s money from Leo, and the others knew the truth about Leo’s death. I get that. I even understand why you want to kill Kyle and me. We were investigating and getting too close to the truth, but why kill Tucker and Courtney? They don’t know what happened to Leo three months ago.”
His eyes bugged out of his head. “Tucker recognized me,” he said slowly, spacing out each word as he dropped his hands to his side. “When all of you were waving goodbye to your loved ones four days ago, he recognized me. He called me Lou. Not Leo. Lou. I had to get rid of him after that. I couldn’t take the chance that he wouldn’t realize who I really was and it was only a matter of time before that wife of his remembered seeing me up here at the lighthouse and said something about it. Once she did, I knew Tucker would realize that I was here that day and start asking questions about it. I have to get rid of both of them.”
Grace faintly heard Kyle’s voice and looked behind her. Tucker and Courtney were standing near the bottom of the stone steps looking up at her in horror while Kyle ran up the steps. He was too far away, she thought with a sinking heart. He’d never make it in time. She smiled sadly as he raced toward her. “Courtney did say something about seeing Leo at the lighthouse this morning at breakfast,” she added as she turned back to Lou Rycroft.
Lou’s face darkened. “See, I knew it. How did Tucker react?”
“He didn’t. She thought you were Leo and that he was performing some kind of illusion. It never occurred to her that Leo had a twin brother and that he was at the lighthouse that day. As for Tucker, it went right over his head. He was more concerned about what a jerk your brother was to Courtney that day. Didn’t mention your name at all.”
He paused in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah,” she said reaching behind her and gripping the railing with both hands. “You don’t have to worry about those two. I’m confident that the likelihood of them realizing you were plotting to kill Leo will never enter their mind. So, you don’t have to kill them.”
He glanced down at his feet. “Maybe not,” he said lifting his head, “but I still have to kill you and your husband.” He lifted his hands up as he faced her. “I really am sorry about this.”
“So am I.” Grace braced herself as Lou Rycroft lunged towards her, his hands outstretched in front of him. When he was within inches of her, she pivoted around and pushed forward against the railing with all her might, hanging on tightly with one hand as it swung out away from the catwalk. With the other, she grabbed Lou’s arm and jerked him forward.
He screamed as he fell over the edge and plummeted down towards the ground.
Grace held on, praying the railing wouldn’t break and send her hurtling down after Rycroft.
It creaked and groaned under her weight as she tried kicking her feet out to swing the railing back towards the lighthouse. It took a few tries, but she was finally able to get close enough to hook her foot against the part of the railing still attached to the catwalk and pull herself back in. She dropped to her knees on the catwalk and breathed a sigh of relief just as Kyle reached her side.
He dropped to his knees beside her and took her in his arms.
“Where is he?” he asked.
She smiled. “Well, your trap didn’t work exactly as planned…” she said breathlessly as she leaned over and looked down over the edge. She waved at Lou Rycroft who was struggling in the net she and Kyle had strung up between the scaffolding earlier that day. “But it looks like we caught the killer nevertheless.”
Epilogue
Day Six
Grace waited in the aisle as Kyle shoved their carryon bags into the overhead compartment and then slipped into the seat by the window.
She took the middle seat next to him and sat down. “I’ll be so glad to get home.”
“Not me,” Kyle said his blue eyes twinkling. “I don’t ever want this honeymoon to end. Yesterday was pretty nice and relaxing. Just you and me by the pool, then dancing the night away with you in my arms. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.”
She smiled in remembrance. “The perfect honeymoon. Too bad it was just for one day.”
“It’s not over with yet,” he said linking his fingers with hers. “We’ve still got seven more hours of our honeymoon left.”
Smiling softly, she brushed the back of her fingers over his cheek before reaching for the mystery book she bought at the airport gift shop. “Yes, I’m looking forward to the two hour layover in Atlanta,” she said as she opened the book. “I expect it will be the highlight of our honeymoon.”
“Yeah, but at least it’ll just be you and me,” he said reading over her shoulder. “What else could go wrong?”
“Oh hey!” came the high feminine voice from their side.
They looked up to find Courtney and Tucker standing next to their aisle. “I didn’t know you two were on this flight. Look who’s here, honey.” Courtney glanced at the empty row across from them and pointed. “We’ll sit here. That way we can be neighbors again.”
Tucker looked down at his boarding pass. “Do we have assigned seats?”
Courtney waved her hand dismissively. “No, it’s first come first serve.” She pushed him into the middle seat before settling into the aisle seat. “This is just so great,” she said leaning across the aisle. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in f
orever.”
“Where have you two been?” Grace asked. “You disappeared after the authorities took Lou Rycroft away.”
Courtney blushed as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger. She glanced at her husband with a shy smile. “We… decided to spend the rest of the cruise alone making up for lost time. We dropped by your cabin this morning, but you had already left. I wonder what’s going to happen to Lou Rycroft. You know after we spoke that morning, Tucker and I started talking about how Leo could just disappear from the top of the lighthouse like he did, and he explained that magicians sometime use doubles for their disappearing act. Then he said I must have seen Leo’s brother.”
“And that got me to thinking about how strange Leo was acting that last day,” Tucker said. “Then it suddenly hit me, it was Lou, not Leo, on stage that night.”
Grace raised her eyebrows in surprise. Clearly, she underestimated the two.
“Color me shocked,” Courtney said. “I had no idea the man had a twin brother. We were going to tell you when we got back to the ship that afternoon, but by then, you already knew. Lou’s lucky someone put that net there, huh?”
The Body in Davy Jones' Locker Page 23
