by Rose Pressey
As I neared the water, I stopped in my tracks. My heart raced and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A body was facedown on the shore. I looked to my left and right and saw a few people down the beach, but no one was nearby.
When I glanced back, I spotted Jake on the pool patio. He threw up his hand. Obviously he couldn’t see what I saw. I waved my hands through the air to show a sign of distress, then I took off running toward Jake.
He met me half way with a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a body in the water,” I said breathlessly.
“What?” He glanced over my shoulder. “You’re kidding,” he said as he took off running toward the water.
I quickly followed behind him. When I reached the body again, Jake had already pulled out his cell phone and was talking to what I assumed were his fellow police officers. Jake must have turned the body over because now I saw the man’s bloated face. I was sure I recognized him right away.
“That’s the man who was here the day Arthur was murdered.” I looked plaintively at Jake.
“That’s the owner of this building, Mr. Shaw,” Jake said as he shoved his phone in his pocket.
My mouth dropped. I knew it. My instincts had been right—the man had been Thomas Shaw. People had started to gather around by the time the police arrived. They probably wondered why two people were standing over a dead body.
While the police inspected the crime scene I stepped back into the pool area and watched the action. I sat on one of the loungers and tried to wrap my mind around what had happened. If this man was dead, then who had killed Arthur? Had he killed Arthur, then been murdered too? I had suspected that he had killed him, but now I would never know. Now I had another mystery on my hands. Who killed Thomas Shaw? Was his death connected in any way to Arthur Abbott? It had to be, right? Two people murdered in the same area. Well, I was getting ahead of myself, I wasn’t sure that he’d been murdered. But I was pretty darn sure because it looked as if he had a bullet hole in his chest.
“How are you?” Jake asked as he approached.
“I’m doing okay,” I said as I ran a hand through my hair.
“I’ll probably be here for a little while longer. You should go get lunch,” he said.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure I’m very hungry after finding him.”
He nodded. “That’s understandable.”
I pushed to my feet. “I can wait around if you need a ride.” I motioned over my shoulder toward the street.
He smiled softly. “I’d like that, but like I said, I’ll be awhile. I wouldn’t want you to wait around. I can catch a ride with one of the other detectives.”
I nodded. “Okay. Well, thanks… for your help.”
I walked toward the door. I knew he was still watching me. After a few more steps, I turned around. “You do know that this murder is connected to Arthur Abbott, right?”
He looked me in the eyes and said, “I can’t say that for sure.”
I let out a deep breath, then turned on my heel and walked away. This time I didn’t look back. I knew he had a job to do, but so did I. Now I just needed to prove to him that I was right.
Chapter Twenty
I stepped back into the tower, crossing through the foyer and toward the door.
“Is something going on out there?” The woman who had been in the lobby before asked as she craned her neck to look over my shoulder. “I saw all the police cars.”
I had hoped I would get out of there before anyone asked me questions. No such luck. “There was a bit of an incident,” I said glancing back at the door. “Someone is dead.”
She gasped as her hand flew up to her mouth. “Did someone drown on the beach?”
Considering the man was fully clothed, I had a feeling he hadn’t gone for a dip. “I’m not sure what happened at this point, but yes, he was in the water,” I said.
She shook her head. “When will they learn that the water can be dangerous? They get sucked out in the rip current and don’t know how to get out.”
“Yes, well, I must be going now.” I pointed toward the door.
She grabbed my arm on my way toward the door. “Do you know who it was?”
She was just full of questions. I wasn’t about to tell her who it was, although now that I thought about it, I wondered if she’d seen anything suspicious.
I turned around to face her. “I don’t know who it is,” I lied.
“That’s simply awful,” she said as she twisted her hands together.
“By the way, did you see anything unusual today?” I asked.
She frowned. “What do you mean unusual?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know…anyone hanging around who shouldn’t have been? Maybe they were acting strange?”
She scrunched her face in concentration. “I can’t think of anything.” She held her index finger up. “Wait. There was one thing.”
My eyes widened. “Yes?”
“The owner of the building was here in the lobby arguing with a man.” She looked as if a light bulb had gone off. She had just figured out that I wanted her to share the details. “Oh, he’s the man who owns the buildings. Well, I say owns, but he has other partners. We’ve never seen the other partners though, just him. I guess they’re just the money involved.”
Bingo. I froze. What good fortune that I’d gotten this information before the cops. Yes! What I would do with the info I wasn’t sure, but just the fact that I’d gotten it first was pretty good in my book.
“He was here today talking with someone, but who? Do you know the man he was speaking with?” I asked.
“Um, no I can’t say that I do know who he was.” She smiled as if to say she was truly sorry.
“Do you know what he looked like?” I asked.
She waved her hand. “Oh, he had graying hair, average height and weight.”
Well, that didn’t tell me much. There were plenty of people around matching that description. “Did you overhear what they were talking about?” I asked.
She scowled. “I’m not in the habit of eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.”
“No, I didn’t think you’d do it on purpose. I just thought perhaps you’d overheard something.”
She looked down at her feet. “Well, I may have heard something,” her voice lowered. “The man was demanding money and the owner said that someone should have done the job himself if he hadn’t been happy with the way it turned out.”
I had no idea what I would do with this information, but I knew it was big and it meant something.
“Thanks for everything,” I said as I hurried to the door.
After leaving the condo tower, I headed home. More than anything, I needed a shower and time to think about everything. My lunch and dinner had consisted of a peanut butter sandwich and a margarita. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly the best combination. I really needed to improve my nutritional intake. But in my defense, after discovering two bodies, I really felt the margarita was necessary. I’d gotten one of the bottled mixes with the tequila already added in. It took too much time to mix them up from scratch.
Later that evening, my phone rang. I scrambled up from the sofa, where I’d fallen asleep, tripped on the rug, then finally reached the phone.
“Maggie here,” I answered.
I’d decided that answering the phone by announcing my first name sounded like a great private eye kind of thing to do.
A chuckle sounded from the other end and I knew immediately who was calling.
“How’s it going, Maggie, P.I.?” Jake asked.
He was up to something. I could tell by the tone in his voice.
“Why do you want to know?” I asked suspiciously.
“Good job today. You got to the witness before we did,” he said.
So he’d talked with the resident. “You win some, you lose some,” I said with satisfaction. “Just trying to do my job.”
“Are you doing okay?” he asked.
“I
had a margarita,” I said.
He chuckled. “So I guess you are doing better now.”
“I’ll make it. Thanks for calling,” I said.
“I’ll see you around, Maggie, P.I.,” he said in a teasing tone and then clicked off the phone.
Chapter Twenty-One
When I walked through the door, I was surprised to see Dorothy already at her desk. And even more shocking, she didn’t have her knitting needles. However, her hair was poofier than normal. I was glad I hadn’t stayed around the salon longer or my hair would have turned out in the same style. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Dorothy how I’d found another dead guy.
She tapped her fingers against the wood of her desk. “I can’t leave you alone for two seconds.” She held up the newspaper.
A picture of the beach with a ton of people standing around was splashed on the front page with the headline “Body Found on the Shore.” The worst part of the photo was that I was at the crime scene with Jake. It would be impossible to deny my way out of this one.
I sat my purse and gun down on my desk. “Oh yeah, that.” I waved my hand dismissively.
She glared. “Don’t act all nonchalant with me. It says right here in the paper that you found the body. That’s two bodies you found.” She held up two fingers.
“Well, it was just a coincidence,” I said.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two people were murdered there at that condo,” she said.
“How do you know that he was murdered?” I had my suspicions, but still.
She tapped the newspaper and handed it to me. “I know it was murder because it says so right here on the page.”
That changed everything for sure. I had to find out who Mr. Shaw had been talking to before his murder. I knew it was related to Arthur’s murder—call it a hunch.
The morning had been a long one. I’d spent time going over every clue I’d found. I wrote out a list of all the clues that I’d collected so far. Yes, the list was short; that was why the morning had dragged on and on.
When the phone rang, Dorothy and I stared at each other in shock. Yeah, I didn’t get a lot of calls, but with any luck that would change in the future. Finally after a pause, she answered it. She motioned for me to pick up the phone.
The entire time I talked with the woman on the other end of the line, Dorothy stared at me. She might as well have picked up her line and eavesdropped. It would have been easier. Surprisingly, I’d gotten a call for another case.
When I hung up the phone, Dorothy demanded to know who it was. “Was it about the murders?” she asked with enthusiasm.
“A simple cheating spouse case,” I said.
I paused and looked at her. “Yeah, maybe the cheating spouse cases aren’t so simple after all.”
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t turn out like the last one,” she said.
“If it turns up with another dead body, then I am getting out of the business,” I said.
“Good idea.” She waved her hand.
I tapped a pen against the blank legal pad as I contemplated my next move. I’d woken up with a plan, but I hadn’t quite pulled the trigger on it. Now was that time.
“Dorothy, I’m stepping out for lunch,” I said as I picked up my bag and gun.
She grabbed her giant pocketbook. “Not without me, you don’t.”
“What? I’ll be fine, Dorothy. I can’t put you in danger. It’s not your job. You’re not licensed as a private investigator,” I said.
“Well, I’m not investigating, am I?” she said.
I looked at her. “Well, I guess not.”
“So where are we going?” she asked.
“Do you like to exercise?” I asked.
In spite of the little voice in the back of my head telling me not to, I made the call to the trainer. He seemed a little too excited about the prospect of training me. The guy made my skin crawl, but it was the price I’d have to pay if I wanted to catch the guy who had followed me.
Dorothy insisted that her beige linen pants and bright pink blouse were fine for going to the gym. I, however, had to change into workout clothes.
“I don’t intend on breaking a sweat,” she said with a clack of her knitting needles.
After hurrying into my apartment, I slipped into my black yoga pants—they were more slimming—and tank top. I rushed back outside and climbed behind the wheel, pointing the car in the direction of the gym. Much to my chagrin, the parking lot was full of cars. That would mean the place would be full of sweating bodies. I had my fingers crossed that there would be at least one more female on the premises.
When Dorothy and I stepped into the place, not one person looked up to notice us. They were all too busy watching their reflections in the wall-to-wall mirrors. My new trainer must have sensed the presence of someone without muscles because he glanced over and looked right at us.
When he saw Dorothy he frowned. I hadn’t told him about the added bonus of my knitting needle-carrying assistant. He sat his dumbbells down and walked over to us. He smiled then looked from me to Dorothy.
“I didn’t know you were bringing your grandmother,” he said.
“You got a problem with that?” Dorothy asked.
He held his hands up in surrender. “No, no problem.”
“Dorothy is my assistant,” I said. “She wants to do a little exercise too.”
“I’ll just walk on the treadmill.” She waved over her shoulder and marched toward the treadmill as if she’d been to this gym a million times before.
Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she had been to the gym many more times than me.
“So what do you want to tone up first? Those flabby arms or your stomach? How about firming up that butt?” he asked looking me up and down.
I quirked a brow. “I’m not that flabby.”
“Well, no, but everyone can tone up a little, right? That’s why you called me, huh?”
“Um, yeah, sure, that’s why I called you,” I said.
I stretched my arms and legs, reaching down and touching my toes. I wanted to be ready to sprint if I had to chase someone. Oh, who was I kidding? I wanted to be ready to run from my crazy personal trainer.
This guy had way too much caffeine because he’d already had me do lunges, chest presses, bicep curls, and triceps dips. I wouldn’t be able to move tomorrow.
While I was doing a squat, I spotted the guy who had followed me. Now what would I do? I hadn’t thought this plan through well. I straightened my legs until I was in a standing position again.
“I need a drink of water,” I said without giving Erich the chance to say no.
I marched toward the front of the gym.
When I neared the treadmill, I called to Dorothy. “We have to go.”
Dorothy was moving so slowly on the treadmill I wondered if the thing was even on.
“Had enough of the workout, huh?” she asked as if she’d been waiting for this moment since we arrived.
“The guy who followed us just walked out the front door. We have to follow him,” I whispered.
That statement got Dorothy moving fast. She climbed down from the treadmill and rushed past, beating me to the door.
By the time we made it outside, the guy had jumped into his car. I snapped a couple of photos of him. It occurred to me that spying and following was good, but was I really doing all that I could to find out who these people really were? I knew I had to follow this guy, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t find out all I could about the suspects whose names I already had. I needed to research any court filings against them and check their property records.
All of this might end up being fruitless, but I had to give it a try. Then I’d go back to the gym and ask everyone in the place if they recognized this guy. Now that I had his picture it would be easier to ask who he was. Those guys would probably sing like canaries for a few protein bars and shakes.
There was only one thing to do. I had to follow him. Do
rothy and I jumped into my car and peeled out of the parking lot. Confrontation probably wasn’t the best idea now that I thought about it. I didn’t want to get myself in another iffy situation where bullets were whizzing past my head. Spying might give me more information without the risk of an altercation. If I did end up catching this guy, I’d immediately back off before a confrontation.
When I glanced in the rearview mirror, my trainer was standing outside the gym shaking his head. No doubt he figured I’d given up. Whatever. He deserved it for that comment about my butt.
We were headed down the street and I knew this guy had no idea that we were following him. If he was clueless, then I was even worse because I had no idea what I was going to do if I found out where he was going. Maybe his destination would give me answers. I’d find out the reason why he’d followed me in the first place. Had he seen me at the gym? If so, why hadn’t he confronted me?
“What are you going to say to this guy if you catch him?” Dorothy must have read my mind.
“Well, I don’t know for sure. I should ask him why he’s following me,” I said.
“If he is some random stalker, then I wouldn’t recommend that,” Dorothy said.
“I’ll take him down and make him cry,” I said.
Dorothy rolled her eyes, seeing right through my fake tough guy act.
Dorothy rattled her purse and pulled out a peppermint. She unwrapped it and stuck it up to my mouth. “Here, suck on this. It’ll calm your nerves.”
Those little peppermints were like a cure-all as far as she was concerned. Instead of arguing with her about the fact that I really didn’t want one, I just took it from her and popped it into my mouth. At least my breath would be minty fresh..
Chapter Twenty-Two
After many turns and almost losing the black car more than once, we followed it into an office building parking lot. I stayed at the back of the lot while the car drove to the front row of parking spaces and pulled into a spot by the door.
I backed my car into a spot close to the exit in case I needed to make a fast getaway. I waited for what seemed like forever and the man didn’t get out of his car. My heart thumped in my ears. I just knew that he was aware that I’d followed him here. Why else was he just sitting in his car?
