They entered and were directed down a hallway and a narrow set of stairs. At the base was a wooden door and a man sitting on a chair to the side.
He shot to his feet when he saw them approach.
The man with Sean and Sara spoke to the guard. “Go. Tell him they are here.”
Him. The person behind all of this was a man. Still, that fact didn’t trim down the potential suspect pool by much. Most of those that he and Sara had locked away were men. Even if their maid was behind this somehow, it could be an ex.
The man rushed by to fulfill his order and on the way his shoulder hit Sean’s. The Jamaican made no apology but kept going, bounding up the stairs, two at a time.
“Inside.” The man who had rounded them up pushed Sean into the room with another nudge of the weapon.
Once Sean caught his balance and straightened, he was facing Jimmy. He hugged him and Sara followed suit.
“Oh, Jimmy.” She tapped a kiss to both of his cheeks as they embraced. “Thank heavens you’re all right.”
“None of you will be for long.”
All three of them faced the person standing in the doorway, and their identity came as a shock to all of them.
ADAM HAD MADE THE CALL and was taken seriously. The matter was being considered an emergency and of utmost importance. Adam prayed that also meant immediate action.
He parked behind his computer. The words Jamaican heritage and familiarity kept running through his mind. To whom in the McKinleys’ circle would that criteria apply?
If he let his brain get carried away, it would have him filtering through all their employees, but that list was too vast. With companies located around the world, that would be impossible.
Around the world…
He clicked at the keyboard.
A sigh left his lips when he realized one place they didn’t own a company—Jamaica.
There had to be another connection that he wasn’t seeing.
He broke down what he knew. The person behind this had a history with them, but also the means to orchestrate everything—both monetarily and as far as manpower. They had to know about Jimmy’s vacation—in advance.
Then it struck him. He knew who it was. He brought up a photo and then the person’s history. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, the mother was American and the father Jamaican, meaning dual citizenship.
He kept going and then the picture filled in.
“BETHANY?” HER NAME CAME FROM Sara’s lips with the arch of a question. She was apparently in as much shock as Sean.
“Don’t play all cute with me, Mrs. McKinley. I’d say get your own peanuts on the next flight, but you won’t be taking another trip.”
The man who had been posted at the door came in behind Bethany, bringing Meredith. Seeing she was alive and uninjured, Sara’s immediate concern went to their co-pilot.
“What about Anthony?”
“Oh, don’t you worry about him. He hasn’t wronged me or mine in any way.”
“What are you talking about?” Sean asked.
Jimmy, who’d had his arm around Sara, let it drop, and Meredith ran to Jimmy’s arms.
“Isn’t that cute? Love until the grave,” Bethany said.
Sean backed up the few steps to Sara and took her hand.
“Neither of you know who I am, do you? Why should I be surprised?”
“Whatever we may have done, we are—”
“Please, Mrs. McKinley, save the speech. Maybe your memory will clear when you see his face. Jamaar, you can come in.”
At the mention of his name, Sara had her answer. During their first case together, she and Sean had solved a homicide but had also brought a grow op to an end. Jamaar had been involved and, somehow, had managed to get out of prison already and return to Jamaica.
Jamaar stepped farther into the room. “We are having a reunion. Most excellent.” He rubbed his hands together. “You have all made my life miserable.”
Sara wasn’t going to point out that he had made good for himself, at least as far as the criminal world went.
“My girlfriend had a baby on the way. I have never got to see him in person. Now, she won’t let me. I can’t go back to the United States.”
Sara’s gaze slid to Bethany.
“Bethany is my sister,” Jamaar explained.
Now Sara remembered why Bethany had looked familiar. She’d been at Jamaar’s trial. She was a dual citizen with an American mother and a Jamaican father—Jamaar’s father.
“You took my brother from me. He no longer can live in America. He has to live like a criminal.”
Again, Sara and Sean opted to remain silent, Sean likely doing so for the same reason as Sara. Jamaar’s lifestyle here placed him at the top of the food chain, not somewhere in the middle.
The wash of helicopter blades sounded overhead. Sara turned toward the noise and noticed a small, barred window. Through it, she saw strobes of lights.
“Take care of this,” Jamaar yelled at a couple of his men. “Now,” he took steps toward Sean, “I could just kill all of you. Four bullets. But I’d rather take my time. Make you feel—”
Sean’s foot met with his chest.
The nimbleness of Sean’s movements didn’t go unnoticed by Sara, but she had her own opponent to deal with. Bethany came at her with force, her hands clutching around Sara’s neck.
Sara’s hearing dulled as she struggled to get free of Bethany’s grip. She heaved for breath but came up wanting. Her eyes shut and her legs lost strength. She fell to the ground, but seconds later, she was gulping air.
Bethany lay beside her.
Jimmy stood over Sara and held his hand out to help her up.
Sara continued to gasp for air, sucking up the oxygen hungrily. “Sean, help…”
SEAN DUCKED EACH BLOW, and Jamaar’s fist struck air. Sean threw a punch that hit Jamaar in the jaw and had him staggering back.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Jimmy catapulted at Jamaar, hurling himself into the man’s torso and pushing him into the wall.
Jamaar hit so hard, air rushed from his lungs and he crumpled to the floor.
One of Jamaar’s men, who had been standing in a corner, raised his gun. He was obviously too cowardly to get involved in hand-to-hand combat and preferred the comfort afforded those behind artillery. “Stop right th—”
His words stalled as the barrel of a gun was put to his head. “Lower your weapon,” the man said.
The Jamaican held up one hand and then he slipped his firearm over his head and placed it on the floor.
Now what? was all Sean could think. They had fought against Jamaar and his men to face a mini-army who’d arrived from the sky. Were they now caught in the middle of something else?
Sean took one step and the uniformed man lowered his gun. “We were told some Americans needed saving.”
“Yes, sir.” Sean smiled and turned to Sara. They were rescued. All of them were safe.
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Chapter 28
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
THE FOUR OF THEM—Sean, Sara, Jimmy, and Meredith were on the beach, seated in a single row of lounge chairs and facing the sea. The sun was toasting them and, between the heat and piña coladas, their spirits were high.
“So what are you guys thinking for dinner? We could go back to that restaurant.” Sean’s words warranted a groan from all of them. Sara accompanied hers with batting his arm.
“No, thank you. I don’t ever want to see that place again.” Jimmy peeled the skin from a shrimp and popped it into his mouth. “I say we just stay put and eat these. They are delicious.”
“And low enough in calories to offset these?” Meredith laughed as she lifted her glass in a mock toasting gesture before taking a draw on her drink.
The beach vendor had approached them, but it had been the smell of hot
and highly aromatic garlic shrimp that had reached them first. It would have been a sin not to try them. They had bought a pound but had devoured them quickly and sought out the Jamaican for a few more pounds.
“Mr. McKinley.” Anthony and their pilot were coming toward them.
Sean stood. “Good to see you.”
“Good to be seen.”
They had found Anthony, with a black eye, but otherwise alive and well, tied to a chair in his room.
“You’re taking good care of him, I hope.” Sean directed the comment to Samuel, the pilot.
“I am. We were curious if you’d be ready to head out,” Samuel said.
Sean surveyed the group. Despite all that they had been through, everyone was shaking their heads. Sean put his hand on the pilot’s shoulder. “Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day right?”
“Ah, yes, sir.”
“Well, why don’t you get ahold of your wife and get her down here? Everything is on us.”
The man was speechless at first. His eyes darted over all of them. “On you?”
Sean smiled and bobbed his head.
The pilot grinned. “I’ll call her right away. Thank you, Mr. McKinley.”
“You’re very welcome.”
Anthony didn’t leave with the pilot but settled on the sand next to Meredith’s chair. He was mooching for shrimp, and the bag was passed over to him.
With his mouth full, Anthony spoke. “My word, these are amazing.”
“Yes, they are.” Sean sat back, next to Sara, lifted the straw sunhat off her head, and kissed her lips.
WITH ALL HIS TIME IN SOLITARY, Jimmy had had a lot of time to think. His mind had covered all topics, including that of romance, Meredith specifically. When faced with the possibility of his life coming to an end, it had put things in a different perspective.
Meredith brushed the corner of his mouth with a fingertip and smiled at him. “A little spice was there.”
They hadn’t talked much since their rescue—the result of a certain genius back home who had the brains to contact the US Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica. On top of it, Sean and Sara had exposed a counterfeit gold operation that pawned off fake coins and jewels to unsuspecting tourists for cold, hard cash.
They had also obtained closure for Meredith. With the waiter’s body retrieved, the medical examiner concluded the cause of death as drowning. While it was suspected the captain was behind the man’s demise, a full investigation was still underway.
There was one thing that Jimmy never got answered, though. He looked down the line to Sean and Sara. “Hey, did you two ever have a plan to get us off the compound?”
Sean and Sara looked at each other and laughed.
“You didn’t.” Jimmy shook his head. At least they had made it out with their lives. His thoughts turned to something else.
“What are you thinking,” Meredith asked.
Her statement slingshot him right back to where this all began—sitting in that restaurant, absorbed in self-talk about why he shouldn’t let himself get involved with her. He wished he could simply silence the nattering that still sounded warnings and go with the flow of life. “I am thinking…about us.”
“Us?” One corner of her mouth lifted.
“I’m ready to give this an honest try.”
She sat up straighter, flinging her legs over the side of the lounge chair. “I don’t want to rush you.”
“Truth is, I’ve waited long enough.”
She smirked and leaned over for a kiss.
He pulled back first. “Just don’t break my heart.” The words came out and he hadn’t remembered feeling this vulnerable in a long time.
“I’ll do my best not to.”
“Hey, you two lovebirds,” Sean called over to them.
“What do you want, kid?” Jimmy moved to allow room for Meredith to get on his chair with him.
“Sara and I were just thinking something.”
“Uh-oh. Why does that scare me?”
“Don’t be afraid, Jimmy,” Sara said.
“We were thinking all’s well that ends well.”
Don’t be afraid…that was easy for them to say. They weren’t the ones falling in love. “Funny, because I keep thinking Valentine’s Day is murder.”
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Preview of Coffee is Murder
A cup a day won’t kill you, but a few might.
Their first case as private investigators have Sean, Sara, and Jimmy neck-deep in coffee beans trying to find a killer. With their client certain that her mother was poisoned through her coffee of the month club, it has them setting out to Williamsburg, Virginia. But instead of approaching matters from the traditional standpoint, Sean and Sara brew a robust plot and stir Jimmy into the blend, all to get close to their top suspect and grind out the truth.
Going undercover at Tasty Beans, the coffee company, the three of them work to expose the culprit before anyone else dies.
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Chapter 1
A MOMENT OF APPRECIATION
FOR SARA, COFFEE WAS ONE of life’s greatest—and simplest—pleasures. Every time she took a draw of freshly brewed java, her eyelids automatically lowered in appreciation of the robust flavor. Somehow, when drinking it, life seemed less complicated, or maybe it was just how it coated the palate and calmed her nerves despite what some scientific studies might say.
She was in her home office, seated behind her desk, staring at the blinking cursor on her monitor, but it wasn’t because she had writer’s block. Her wrists needed a break. Better yet, she needed to indulge in this cup.
Leaning back in her chair, she swiveled from side to side and closed her eyes, savoring the aroma of the dark beans. While they were ground at the time she pressed the button, the only way to get it any fresher was picking the beans off the plants in Brazil. With their money, she supposed it was an option.
She let herself get caught up with the thought. It might not be a bad idea. As her daydreaming grew in scale, she laughed. She wasn’t going to board a plane to South America for a cup of coffee, even though it might be the best she’d ever had. She wasn’t that obsessed—was she?
Sean knocked, but entered without awaiting a reply. He held on to a glass of orange juice and she admired his self-restraint. For some reason, his body required only one coffee a day when he first woke up. Otherwise, he moved on to juice or water.
If Sean had his way, Sara would drink only one, but coffee was a habit she wasn’t willing to break. Maybe she was an addict, although, that word carried such a negative connotation. She wasn’t an alcoholic simply because she enjoyed an evening beverage, so her coffee in
dulgence shouldn’t be considered an addiction. Even her thoughts betrayed her. Indulgence.
“Good morning, darling.” Sean kissed her forehead and then her lips. “I hope I’m not interrupting.” He glanced at the screen. “I guess I’m not.”
She smirked at him, realizing only a chapter number was showing. “I’m just taking a small break. I can’t always be typing, you know. I’m not a machine.”
“The way you’ve been holed up in here lately, I’m starting to wonder.”
She pouted. “Are you feeling lonely?”
“A little bit like a writer’s widower actually.”
“Well, let me make it up to you.” She stood, cupped his face with her hands, and kissed his mouth.
When they parted, any pleasure she derived from the coffee had diluted. It was replaced by the need to hold her husband.
“Hmm. Not bad,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“You have coffee breath. I have orange juice breath. Still, the kiss, not bad.”
She narrowed her eyes and was about to say something when the phone on her desk rang.
Sean answered. “Hello…yes, Helen…all right, make the appointment for two hours from now.”
As she listened to her husband speak, she had a good idea what this was about. There was a job.
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Chapter 2
THE ORGANIZATION
SEAN AND SARA HAD THEIR private investigator licenses and had decided to open a firm. They didn’t want to work from home, even though it was quite likely there would be some crossover. The building was more or less a meeting place for clients. While she, Sean, Jimmy, and Adam had offices there, they would only go in when there was a case.
Jimmy had a barebones office, designed to his liking, which afforded him a wooden desk, a desktop computer, two vertical filing cabinets, and a colored print on the wall. The latter was non-negotiable. Just because the man had simpler taste didn’t mean the place couldn’t be classy.
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