Summer in Diamond Bay Complete Bundle #1-5 (Summer in Diamond Bay #1-5)

by Maci Grant

  In that moment she knew that she’d never be able to walk away from the case—not until the truth came out.

  Chapter 26

  Outside of the interrogation room Chief Pitman paced back and forth. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I had to do that.”

  “She’s a prisoner.”

  “She’s a person.” Blu shook her head. “You can’t forget that. At least I can’t. Can’t you see how much she is hurting?”

  “Blu, she could be involved in a murder and is refusing to give us any good information to work with. Am I really supposed to feel sympathy for that?”

  Blu sighed. “I don’t know what you’re supposed to feel. But I do know that Marta has never had anyone except for Oliver. Whatever she’s carrying on her shoulders is much heavier than any burden I’ve ever had to carry.”

  Chief Pitman paused in front of her. “You have a good heart, Blu. But there’s no room for that in police work. The fact is that if she doesn’t give us something, we’re stuck. She’s going to be the one that pays the price. She’ll have to take her chances with a jury and hope that it’s filled with people like you.”

  “I think we can do better than that.”

  “What’s your plan?” Chief Pitman studied her.

  “I’m not sure yet, but I know I have to do something. Maybe we’re looking at this from the wrong angle.”

  “I’m not sure how else to look at it.”

  “We keep thinking about who killed Emile, but I think the better question is why did he have to die? Was it because he stood in the way of Oliver and Marta’s relationship? Did he borrow money from the wrong person? What was it that he did that was so terrible it warranted him being thrown to his death?”

  “Love, money, revenge—those are the three most common reasons for murder, Blu.”

  “Well, then that’s where I’ll start. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “Alright.” He nodded. “In the meantime, I’m going to pick up Juan. I want to see what he has to say about all this.”

  “Keep me up-to-date.”

  “I will.”

  As Chief Pitman walked away, Blu spotted Joey and Marley with officer Tinsley. Joey had a bandage on the back of his right hand.

  “What happened?” Blu looked at the bandage.

  “I found the cat.” Joey smiled proudly.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, he got to the cat before I could.”

  Blu smiled as she met Joey’s eyes. “I guess you are a great cat detective.”

  “I try.” Joey giggled.

  “That was one mean cat.” Marley shivered. “I think I want a bunny.”

  “Well, we might have to wait until we get back to the city for that.” Blu grinned. “For now, why don’t we go have some lunch at home?”

  “Can we invite AJ?”

  Blu thought about the question for a moment.

  “Not today, sweetie. Today I think it should be just us. We can have lunch outside on the patio and then play in the sand. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Marley smiled.

  Blu drove the kids back to the beach house. She prepared a picnic-style lunch to take outside. As she settled the kids at the patio table she thought about the three motivations that the murderer might have had.

  Emile was a stern man, who clearly had certain standards for his family. Hilda implied that he was cheating on her, but so far neither she nor Chief Pitman had turned up any evidence of that. If he had a mistress, where was she? If he didn’t, then why would Hilda believe that he did?

  The kids chatted about their adventure with Officer Tinsley as Blu thought through all of the possibilities. She felt as if she just couldn’t make the connection. Hilda certainly was lying about a lot of things.

  Just when Blu was about to set the kids loose in the sand, Rachel walked out through the back door.

  “Hi, guys!” She smiled. “Guess what? My meeting was canceled. So I get to spend the afternoon with you.”

  The kids cheered.

  “Look, Mom, I got sliced by a cat!” Joey lifted his hand and pointed to the bandage.

  “Oh, wow. I bet there’s a story there.” Rachel laughed.

  “Rachel, let me make you some lunch.”

  “No, it’s fine. I already ate. If you wouldn’t mind running to the shop and picking up some milk, I’d really appreciate it. I meant to stop on my way home and forgot.”

  “Of course, no problem at all.”

  “Just bring it home with you when you can. You’re welcome to have the afternoon off. Alright?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I could use some playtime and some beach time.”

  “I’ll be back in time to get dinner ready.”

  “That would be perfect.”

  “Bye, guys!” Blu waved to the children.

  Each one grabbed one of Rachel’s hands and tugged her out onto the sand. Blu smiled as she watched. She was glad that they were all getting some playtime, but she was also glad that she would have the chance to do some more investigating.

  As soon as she grabbed her keys she knew where she was headed. She could pick up some milk after hunting around for a little more evidence.

  Chapter 27

  Blu pulled the car to a stop a few blocks down from Hilda’s shop. She didn’t want to give Hilda any warning that she was there. As she approached the shop, she noticed that the windows were dark. It struck her that, with a death in the family, they might have closed up for a few days.

  When she tried the door it didn’t budge. Still, she lingered outside the shop. She was sure that the proof she needed was inside.

  She started to turn away when she heard a voice coming from inside.

  “I’m so glad it’s over.”

  Blu recognized the voice as Hilda’s.

  “It’s so amazing to finally be free. I never thought it would happen. I really didn’t. I thought I was going to be stuck with him for the rest of my life. All of his nitpicking and tradition. He smelled like a hot dog, even right out of the shower. Disgusting.”

  Blu’s eyes widened as she listened to the hateful words. She knew that Hilda wasn’t fond of her husband, but the fact that she was happy about his death was a different matter.

  Hilda paused as if she might have been on the phone with someone, then continued. “I feel a little bad for Oliver. He’s pretty torn up over it. But he’ll move on and see it was for the best. His father would have messed up his life, just like he ruined mine. Marta will get out when they can’t find any physical evidence. She never should have been there in the first place.” She clucked her tongue.

  Blu’s heart skipped a beat. She pulled out her phone and sent Chief Pitman a text.

  Meet me at Hilda’s shop. She’s definitely involved.

  Then she pressed her ear against the door to hear more.

  If Hilda was still on the phone, she was too far away for Blu to hear her. Minutes passed. Blu didn’t want to leave and give Hilda the chance to escape. She wanted to confront the woman face-to-face.

  Out of respect, she waited for Chief Pitman to text, call, or show up, but time was quickly passing. She checked the time on her phone again. There were still no texts or calls from Chief Pitman.

  Blu’s impatience increased with every minute that passed. She tried to resist the urge to take matters into her own hands. When she checked her phone again she began to feel irritated. Wasn’t the case important enough to Chief Pitman that he’d make it a priority to get there? She shoved her phone deep into her pocket and crossed her arms.

  There was a crash inside the store.

  Her heart lurched. Something bad had happened inside. She was sure of it. Was it Hilda? Was it Jack? Or could it be both?

  A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if Jack was killing Hilda? Or even vice versa?

  She stared in through the window, but the store was too dark for her to see inside. Could she really stand outside while another murder was potentially being
committed?

  She started to reach for her phone to check it again, but decided against it. Instead, she walked around the side of the shop and then behind it. She saw Hilda’s car parked there but no other cars.

  When Blu tried the back door it swung open. As quietly as she could. she slipped inside.

  On the floor was a large amount of cans and boxes. It looked like an entire shelf had been tipped over. Blu picked her way through it to the other side.

  Just when she was going to call out to see if Hilda was there a large shadow filled the doorway. Blu took in a sharp breath as the shadow moved toward her. Within a few steps she was able to tell that it was Jack, Hilda’s boyfriend.

  “Jack, what are you doing here?”

  “I work here.”

  ‘The shop is closed.”

  “Then I guess I should be asking you what you’re doing here.” He crossed his arms.

  Blu looked past him toward the main part of the store. “Where’s Hilda?”

  “She’s not here. Why?”

  “I know she’s here. I heard her from outside the shop.”

  “Is that so?” He shrugged. “Then I guess you just missed her.”

  “Did you hurt her, Jack?”

  Jack took two large steps and within seconds was nearly on top of Blu. “Why would you ask me that? I love Hilda.”

  “What did you do with her, Jack? I know she was here.”

  “She left, alright. When I got here, she hung out with me and then went out the back. On her way out she knocked over the rack.” He tilted his head toward the mess on the floor. “I was just coming back here to clean it up. I think the real question, is, what are you doing in here?”

  “I came in to check on Hilda. When I heard the crash, I thought maybe she was hurt.”

  “Oh?” He leaned a bit closer to her. “Just what else did you hear?”

  Blu only stared back at him in response. “Too much.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I guess that means I’ll have to deal with you.”

  Blu took a step back and stared at the man before her. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. I wouldn’t have had to do anything else if you had just stayed out of things. Now I have no choice.”

  “How can you just kill people? It’s a horrible thing to take another life.”

  “You’re right, it is.” He frowned. “But it’s worth it to me. If it means I get to be with Hilda, it’s worth it.”

  “I think you should think this through, Jack. What if Hilda decides that she isn’t really in love with you? What if you’re the one who has to spend the rest of your life in prison? Is that something that you really want to risk?”

  “I’ll be fine. I would go to prison a thousand times to protect Hilda.”

  “Jack, she’s using you. She is never going to marry you. She has her son to think about.”

  “With Emile gone Oliver will learn to accept me. Sure, it will take some time, but he’ll eventually come to know me as a father figure.”

  Chapter 28

  Blu stared at Jack as her heart raced. It was clear to her that he was not in his right mind. His loyalty to Hilda bordered on obsession.

  “What is Oliver going to think when he finds out that you were the one who killed his father?”

  “That was an accident.” Jack gritted his teeth. “It was never supposed to happen like that.”

  “What was supposed to happen, Jack?” Blu inched her way back toward the door of the shop. She continued to stall him. “What did the two of you plan?”

  “We were just going to scare him. That was all. Hilda thought that if we scared him enough, he’d give up and run. We sent the letter saying that he was going to be sued. Then I went to meet with him—just for the purpose of scaring him. I was only going to threaten him, make him realize it would be best for him to just take off. Then he’d be out of our lives forever.”

  “But that didn’t happen.” Blu narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t it happen that way?”

  “Because of that stupid girl. I was scaring him. I had him pushed back over the railing, just to give him a taste of what it would be like. Then this girl pops up out of the blue. She started to shout at me. She interrupted everything. While she distracted me, Emile pulled off my mask. Then he said my name. That was it. He knew who I was. I couldn’t risk Hilda going to jail.”

  “Or you, isn’t that right, Jack? Was this really ever about Hilda or was it about protecting your own skin?”

  “I got scared. I needed to go after the girl, and I needed to keep Emile quiet. So I shoved him a little too hard and over he went. I just didn’t expect that to happen. I didn’t.”

  Blu shook her head. “All you had to do was be honest. If you and Hilda told Emile the truth then maybe none of this would have happened.”

  “I know!” He sighed. “I begged Hilda to just let it be known that we were together. But she refused. She said that Emile was loyal to her, that he adored her, and he would never let her go.”

  “But she doesn’t feel the same?”

  “Hilda was forced to marry Emile. Her father was friends with Emile’s father. He thought Emile would be a perfect match, and wouldn’t leave Hilda alone until she agreed to marry him. She was barely nineteen. She was just a girl. She never had the chance to know what real love was. Is that a good man? A man who would marry because his parents told him to?”

  “It’s not for you to judge. If Hilda wanted to leave she could have divorced her husband. Why did he have to die?”

  Jack shook his head. “He never would have let her go. He was too traditional for that. Hilda got it in her head that we could find one of Marta’s relatives to help us out. She asked Marta, but Marta got upset and told her she didn’t want any part of it.”

  “So Hilda went to Juan herself.”

  “Yes. She told him that she wanted Emile gone. Juan was the one that came up with the idea of the lawsuit. He said it would be enough to scare Emile away. But it wasn’t. Emile wanted a meeting to discuss the lawsuit. I was just going to scare him. But I guess Juan must have told Marta what we were planning. I don’t know why she showed up there—I guess to protect Emile. Stupid girl.”

  “She wasn’t stupid. She was brave. She knew that you were going to hurt Emile and she wanted to stop you. Now she’s trying to protect her cousin, because he was involved with all of this.”

  “It doesn’t matter now, does it?” He smirked. “We’re all alone here, you and I.”

  “You’re not going to hurt me, Jack.” Blu watched him as he moved closer to her.

  “What makes you think that?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m stronger than you think. Emile never had a chance, did he? You just shoved him over. You didn’t give him a chance to fight back. But I’ll fight back. You might be able to get rid of me, but I will leave my mark on you. I will make sure that there’s plenty of evidence to prove who hurt me.”

  Blu was glad that the words coming out of her mouth didn’t reflect the crazy nervous beating of her heart as she watched Jack in front of her.

  “I got away with one murder, I don’t think I’m going to have too much trouble with another one.” He reached his hands out as if to grab her throat.

  Blu swung her hands up to block him before he could grab her. His hands fell away but only for a split second. Then he surged at her again. She tried to duck out of the way but he was too fast. He pushed her back against the wall, then stepped in front of her to make sure that she had no way to escape.

  “You can fight as much as you want, but no one is going to rescue you. Things went sideways with Emile, but this won’t be any accident.” He grabbed her by the throat again and began to squeeze.

  Blu struggled to get free, but the more that she wriggled, the tighter his grip became. Her vision began to blur. Her chest ached for air. Her mind filled with all of the things that she’d never had the chance to do. Just when she thought she was about to lose consciou
sness, the side door was flung open.

  “Get on your knees, Jack.” Chief Pitman pointed his gun right at him.

  Jack’s eyes sparked with heat as he looked from Blu to the gun that was pointed at him. His grip loosened on Blu’s neck.

  “Let her go, Jack. I have no problem doing what I have to do to protect her. Understand?”

  Blu looked over at Chief Pitman as she drew a deep breath of air. “He’s done something to Hilda!”

  “Shut up!” Jack sank down to his knees. “Why can’t you ever just keep your mouth shut?” He glared at Blu.

  “Where’s Hilda?” She glared back at him. “What did you do to her?”

  “I told you, I didn’t do anything! She left right before you came in.”

  Chapter 29

  Chief Pitman rushed up to Jack and pinned his arms behind his back. Blu heard the click of the handcuffs and finally believed that she was safe. As she rubbed the curve of her neck she drew in another breath.

  “I don’t believe you!” Blu shouted at Jack. “Where’s Hilda?”

  “Just call her!”

  “Quiet.” Chief Pitman pulled him to his feet. “Blu, what happened here?”

  “Jack killed Emile. Hilda was in on the plan.”

  “I did what I had to do. I did what she wanted me to do, whether she knew it or not. Hilda tried to tell me she just wanted to scare Emile, but I knew better. She wanted him gone. That’s why she told Marta that Juan was part of it all. She knew that Marta would try to interfere.”

  “But she’s not the one who pushed Emile, is she?” Blu crossed her arms and kept her distance from the two.

  “I’m calling for backup. We’ll find Hilda and get the whole story. Do you need an ambulance, Blu?”

  “No. I think I’m fine.” Blu frowned. She wasn’t fine. She was terrified. She could still feel Jack’s hands around her neck.

  “Let’s go.” Chief Pitman pulled Jack out of the shop. Blu followed at a safe distance.

  “Blu? Are you okay?” AJ jogged up to her from the front of the shop.