Independence Day Murder

by Linnea West

  I kept on spewing the sort of pep talk I frequently gave myself, trying not to think about the fact that our situations were more different than they were alike. Losing a husband suddenly is much different than killing a lover. But it didn't seem to matter to Rebecca. In her eyes, we were in the same situation.

  Finally, I got to the end of my spiel. We were still watching the beach, where the few kids who were left were running around in the twilight with sparklers. I still had my arm around her shoulder, squeezing her tight. Rebecca had collapsed down a little, her head on my shoulder as we watched. She seemed tired, both physically and emotionally.

  Behind me, I suddenly heard a little thump and the boat moved ever so slightly. I cleared my throat and squeezed Rebecca's shoulder, hoping she was too drunk to figure out that another boat had just landed next to us. She didn't seem to notice, instead hiccuping a few times.

  I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and wondered who was calling me this time. Trevor and I had to have left the groom's dinner at least three hours ago. We would have a lot of explaining to do once we were actually able to escape this boat.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  So there I was, standing in a boat with a drunk killer clad in a sequined ballgown while we watched children play on the beach. It was another moment in my life where I wondered how I got myself into such predicaments. My mother was not going to be happy when she heard about this one. She hated when I got myself mixed up in all of this. At least this time there wouldn't be a large picture of this moment splashed across the front page of the local paper.

  "Rebecca, turn around and put your hands up," Max said, using his Officer Marcus voice. His voice was firm and steady and I knew that I was in good hands. Together we would figure out a way out of this.

  We both turned around to see Max, Trevor and Philip all staring at us. The small fishing boat was tied to our boat and Trevor was sitting in it. Philip and Max were both standing on the bench seat on the opposite side of the boat, weapons drawn and pointed at Rebecca.

  I snapped my head over to look at Rebecca, whose eyes were wide and darting around everywhere. She swallowed a big gulp and licked her lips as she tried to figure out what to do. I hoped she would just turn herself in as she was obviously caught.

  But to my horror, she raised the gun and leveled it at the police. Her finger was on the trigger and ready to shoot. She had weighed out the risks and apparently figured she would rather go down shooting than be arrested and taken to jail. The weight of her guilt must feel so heavy. It must feel like so much more of a burden to simply giving up and having to live with it than trying to end things here and now.

  I couldn't let that happen. There was no way I would let her try to shoot my boyfriend and my friends, especially not the groom of tomorrow's wedding.

  I looked back and forth between the gun and Max and Philip's determined faces. They were both calm and steady. Philip had obviously grown up a bit and gained some confidence from the last time he helped me face down a killer. His red hair no longer made him look childish. Instead, he looked like a man who knew what he was doing. Time seemed to be crawling along, but I knew that at any moment it could speed up and seem to go double-time, so I made a snap decision to act.

  Without any preparation that might alert Rebecca, I jumped suddenly onto the arm she was holding the gun in. I grabbed the top of the gun in my hand and put all of my weight on her arm, forcing it down. If she did pull the trigger, at least it would hit the bottom of the boat and not any of us. Of course the boat would sink if that happened, but that was better than killing someone.

  Max and Philip quickly put their weapons in their holster and rushed towards us, grabbing onto Rebecca and trying to help me force the gun out of her hands. The three of them stumbled backwards and I managed to rip the gun out of her hands, watching as they all fell over the edge of the boat and splashing into the lake.

  "Take this," I said, handing the gun to Trevor who was sitting in the fishing boat watching in horror, unable to do much to help.

  I knelt on the bench seat and looked over the edge into the water as the boat tipped slightly with me. The three of them were treading water, but Rebecca looked like she was having a hard time staying above water. I assumed it was a combination of her heavy sequined ballgown and the amount of whiskey she had consumed in the last few hours.

  "Max, Philip, are you okay?" I yelled.

  "We are fine," Max said. "We will make our way around to the back of the boat with Rebecca. You just stay in the boat."

  Max knew that my first inclination was trying to figure out how to help them. I grabbed an extra life jacket from the floor of the boat and threw it in the direction of the two men. In the darkness, I couldn't tell which one was Philip, but I knew he could use a life jacket.

  "No, I'll help her," I said. "You and Philip just get to the boat and then you can help me."

  I wasn't just going to sit back and watch Rebecca drown. I plunged my hand down into the water and leaned as far out from the boat as I could. I felt around, trying to get a hold of her dress. After a bit of searching, the scratchy fabric brushed my hand and I grabbed on with all of my might.

  "Work with me Rebecca," I said, my teeth gritted together.

  I pulled as hard as I could, hoping I could get her closer to the boat. Slowly, it felt like I was making some progress. Rebecca managed to turn herself to face me, her eyes wide in terror. If I didn't work fast, Rebecca was not going to be able to keep herself above the water for much longer.

  "Listen to me, as soon as I let go of your dress, you grab onto my hand," I said. "Do you understand?"

  Rebecca nodded her head or at least I was pretty sure she had. The sun had slipped down below the horizon and we were losing daylight fast. A water rescue was going to be much more difficult when I couldn't see what I was doing. I took a deep breath and counted down.

  "Three, two, one, go," I said.

  I let go of the little grasp I had of her dress and felt around for her hand. It was so dark that I couldn't tell what was what. Rebecca was flailing and thrashing around, making it hard to tell her arms from her head in the darkness.

  Finally, I landed on her arm and held on tight. I walked my fingers down until I was holding her closer to her elbow and she closed her fingers on my arm too. The moment our arms locked together, the boat started to tip perilously towards the water.

  I felt something tugging at the back of me. Looking over my shoulder, I could see Trevor had a firm grasp on the back of my life jacket and was leaning back as much as he could, trying to act as a counterbalance to me. While that meant that the boat wouldn't take on any water, it also meant that I couldn't pull Rebecca up over the edge of the boat.

  Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes for a moment while I weighed my options. I could try to walk around the edge of the boat to get Rebecca to the back where it had a small platform that would be easier to pull her up onto. But I was afraid that if I lost my grip on her while we moved around that boat, that she would go under and not resurface.

  The only other option that I could think of was to have Trevor let go of me and grab onto Rebecca's arm to help me pull her aboard. We would have to work fast because with all of us on this side of the boat, the water would start to come aboard fast and now that it was dark, I did not want to deal with a capsized boat on top of everything else.

  "Trevor, can you hear me?" I asked. I turned my head slightly, but didn't dare take my eyes off of Rebecca. She may have killed Murray, but that didn't mean I could take the risk of losing her.

  "Sort of," Trevor said.

  "I think you're going to have to help me pull her up," I said. "When I say now, let go of me and grab onto her arm. Together we can pull her up and over the edge. Are you ready?"

  "I think so," Trevor said.

  Rebecca was starting to get heavier, like she wasn't helping at all anymore. I knew that we would only get one shot at getting her in the boat. I just hoped we could do it for her sake.
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  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I took another minute to take a deep breath and calm myself as much as I could. I needed to keep a level head if I wanted this to go well, but I also couldn't wait too long. My mind kept trying to race away to think about if Max and Philip were okay or how Mandy was doing. The police officers were splashing in the water still, but their splashing sounded more like swimming than distressed. As for Mandy, she would just have to wait a little bit longer.

  "Ready?" I yelled. "Get set. GO!"

  On my call, Trevor let go of my life jacket and lunged forward so that he was standing next to me. He grabbed my arm and felt down for Rebecca.

  "Give me your other arm," he yelled at her.

  She raised her other arm up and Trevor grabbed hold of it. Her arms were wet and slippery, but we held on as best we could. Water was starting to rush onto the boat from the edge. The water was starting to lap around my feet, soaking the cute flat shoes I had picked out especially for the groom's dinner.

  "On my count, we try to pull her up," I said.

  Trevor was close enough to my face that I could sort of make out his features in the dark. He nodded, his face set in a more serious expression than I had ever seen.

  "One, two, three, pull!"

  We both pulled with all of our might, trying to haul Rebecca up and over the lip of the boat. I put my foot up on the bench seat as I leaned back, pushing to try and help. Once she could get her arms over the side, I let go of her arm and grabbed her waist. Trevor followed my lead and we got her most of the way into the boat.

  Rebecca kicked her legs over the side of the boat and all three of us collapsed on the floor. The floor was all wet from the cold lake water that had washed up over the edge while we were pulling her in. I pulled myself up and laid down on one of the seats, trying to get out of the cold water.

  Max and Philip were at the back of the boat, trying to pull themselves up onto the platform. If they had been struggling, I would have tried to help, but I was just too tired. I was glad to see that Max was able to climb up and offer Philip a hand.

  "Rebecca, you are under arrest," Max said. "You're coming with us down to the station."

  Max stuck his hand out towards Philip, who stared at it for a second before realizing Max was obviously not carrying any handcuffs with him. He fumbled around, finally pulling the handcuffs out of a pouch and handing them over.

  As Max put the handcuffs on, he read Rebecca her rights. She almost seemed to be in shock, looking from face to face as she absently held her handcuffed hands out in front of her.

  Philip climbed back into the fishing boat with Trevor and started towards Murray's house, Trevor holding up Philip's flashlight to illuminate their path on the lake. I took Rebecca by the arm and helped her sit down on one of the seats while Max took his place in the captain's chair. I wanted to give Max a big hug and a kiss, but instead I settled for just putting my hand on his shoulder as he drove.

  The moon was round and full, shining out overhead amongst a smattering of stars. It had cooled down significantly from the hot day, but the breeze that blew was warm. The lake was softly rolling with waves hitting the side of the boat. It was a beautiful night, besides the fact that someone had tried to murder us.

  "Tessa, I'd like to say something if that is alright," Rebecca said. Her red hair was plastered to her head and she was shivering, her teeth chattering as she tried to warm herself up.

  I nodded at her. She opened her mouth to say something and then snapped it shut, thinking over what she wanted to say. Then she tried again.

  "I'm starting to think that maybe what I did was wrong," Rebecca said slowly.

  I managed to refrain from snorting at just how ridiculous that sounded, but I could see that Rebecca was being sincere. Whatever had been clouding her mind was gone now, washed away during her unexpected swim. Now she was seeing things for what they really were.

  "Murray was a jerk, a giant jerk and there wasn't much about him that he did right," she said. "But one thing he did right was to pick my sister. People ask why Carol didn't just leave Murray, but she couldn't. They had it written in a prenuptial agreement that if she left, she wouldn't get a penny. She would be right back to where she started and she knew she couldn't do that to herself or to me. Carol was stuck and Murray wasn't about to let his trophy wife go. So I have one favor to ask of you."

  Rebecca paused. She glanced around at the scenery as we slowly puttered through the lake, following the fishing boat and the tiny flashlight spotlight.

  "I need you to look after Carol," Rebecca said. "No matter what, I do love her and now I won't be around to take care of her. You don't have to become her housekeeper or anything, but if you could look in on her from time to time and maybe try to get her some help. I have a feeling that now that Murray is out of the picture, she won't have as much of a reason to drink."

  Rebecca was right that this situation was going to totally blindside Carol. Not only had her husband been murdered but her sister was the one who did it and she would also lose her housekeeper in the process. Life was going to look a lot different for her after this. I agreed to look in on Carol a few times and Rebecca smiled a small smile of thanks at me.

  We rode the rest of the way in silence. Murray's house appeared once we came around a bend and with it, a big group of police officers waving flashlights on the docks. Rebecca's breathing picked up as she saw them, knowing they were there to take her into custody.

  "I won't say you'll be alright," I said to Rebecca as we got closer. "Just tell them how everything happened just like you told us. It will go much better that way."

  Once the boat was safely up to the dock, two officers reached down. They each grabbed one of the Rebecca's arms and helped to haul her out of the boat. Before I could even stand up, she was being escorted up the hill and across the backyard. I could see the red and blue flashing lights of the waiting police cars around the side of the house.

  "Here pretty lady, I can help you."

  Max was standing next to me, holding out his hand. I smiled at him and grabbed onto it, glad that Max was here with me. Together we climbed up and out of the boat. Another officer had jumped in to park the boat for us and start taking pictures of it. Technically it was a crime scene now.

  "I'm surprised you're holding my hand with all of these other officers around," I teased.

  "I think just this once I can make an exception," Max said, squeezing my hand. "Besides, I'm not actually on duty."

  We walked slowly off of the dock and up the stairs. My shoes were cold, wet, and squishy. I couldn't wait to take them off. In the backyard, another officer was waiting to wrap us both in big blankets. We walked through the house, clutching the big white blankets around us and came out the front door.

  I spotted a bench next to the door and I pulled Max over to sit down next to me. Together, we watched the cop car with Rebecca in the back drive around the circle and off, racing towards the jail and whatever fate would await her there.

  "Can you believe that she was that delusional?" I asked. "I really don't think she understood what she had done until tonight."

  "I can't say for sure," Max said. "But I am glad it's over."

  Max took a quick look around and noticed we were alone. Reaching over he cupped the side of my face with his hand, drawing me close and giving me a long, intense kiss that I didn't want to end.

  "I can't believe we caught a killer!"

  Max jumped, always afraid of looking unprofessional. I giggled to myself as Trevor rounded the corner and stopped short, apologizing for interrupting us.

  "Sorry my dude, I'm just kind of excited," Trevor said as Max's face turned red.

  I was wondering if Max was going to laugh or explode when an officer appeared behind Trevor and asked for Max to follow her. As a police officer, they were counting on Max to help piece everything together. Trevor took Max's spot on the bench, just a bit further away from me than Max had been sitting.

  "I'm beginning t
o understand why you like to solve crimes," Trevor said. "That was such an adrenaline rush."

  "To be fair, that isn't really why I do it," I said. "I kind of get roped into these things and once I'm roped in, the only way to untangle them is to solve them."

  "Either way, wow," Trevor said.

  He sat back, putting his hands behind his head and stretching his legs out long. Suddenly his phone started to ring and Trevor and I looked at each other.

  "Mandy!" we both shouted at the same time.

  "Do you think she'll believe me when I tell her what happened?" Trevor asked.

  "She kind of has to," I said. "You better answer that."

  Trevor stood up as he answered Mandy's call. I knew Mandy and while she might be annoyed, she would get over it and forgive Trevor for biking away from the groom's dinner with the maid of honor and accidentally getting roped into taking a boat ride with a killer.

  I just hoped that this wouldn't overshadow the wedding tomorrow.

  Chapter Thirty

  "I now pronounce you man and wife," the pastor said. "You may kiss the bride."

  Trevor put his arms around Mandy and dipped her, planting a big romantic kiss on her. The crowd clapped and cheered. I was holding two bouquets of flowers, so I settled for hooting and hollering for them instead. I caught Max's eye as he stood on the other side of the bridal party and he winked at me with a smile. Some day, that would be us.

  Once Trevor put Mandy back upright, I handed her bouquet back to her. Mandy flashed a big smile at me, lingering just an extra moment before she and Trevor took off down the aisle to the recessional music.

  After everything had been said and done the night before, Trevor had answered Mandy's call and told her everything that had happened. Of course she hadn't quite believed it the first time, but once we were able to bike to their apartment and tell the story in person, she knew we weren't lying. In true Mandy fashion, we were instantly forgiven for leaving the dinner.