“By poisoning him.”
Skylar took a bite of her apple and rocked back and forth in her chair while nodding. “Yeah, she topped off his drink at home with it, thinking it would kill him off and wouldn’t be detected because it was a form of alcohol. The only problem is…”
“It is detectable,” Harvey said.
“Yeah, and as death can occur within twenty-four hours after ingestion, it didn’t take long for it to shut down Nick’s system.”
“So you think she gave it to him before he went out that evening.”
Skylar nodded. “And she knew he would drink more. She figured the police would focus on the bar not her.”
“So why did she go to the bar?”
“Well that’s where it gets a little convoluted. That guy you were searching for, the friend of Bo, who told him Keith was at the bar, and the one who picked him up later that evening to go to the airport. It was Conor.”
“Hold on a second. You are saying that Conor knew him?”
“It appears when he was snooping through Nick’s belongings he didn’t just uncover the video of him cheating but he came across the case Nick was working on with Wendy and Bo and the video. He figured that if his mother didn’t do anything he would. He got in contact with Bo and told him about Nick, and Keith’s relationship and said that he could hand both of them on a platter to him.”
Harvey’s brow pinched. “Holy crap.”
“On Conor’s phone. It’s all in text messages between the two of them.”
“So that’s why he didn’t want to mention him. He was protecting the kid.”
“A kid that’s eighteen and responsible for his actions,” Skylar said. “He showed up at Ruby’s Bar that night to keep an eye on Keith and to confront Nick when Bo turned up but Keith slipped out.”
“Conor didn’t see him leave?”
“No, Conor wasn’t there by that point. We have him on surveillance. When his mother showed up, she told him to go home. To leave it and that she’d take care of it.”
“Poisoning him.”
Skylark nodded. “You see one of the effects of having consumed antifreeze is that a person might appear drunk. And I recall the bartender saying that when Nick rolled in he was already acting like he’d drunk one too many but according to Nancy, he only had one drink at dinner with his meal.”
“The one she poisoned.”
“Exactly. Then it was just a matter of time before his internal organs shut down.”
Harvey got off the desk. “The lengths people will go. So Conor didn’t listen to his mother and she probably didn’t tell him that she’d poisoned Nick, so he took matters into his own hands and drove him off the road.”
“Bingo!” Skylar said. “Except he didn’t stick around to watch the curtains close.”
“And she admitted to this?”
“Like I said, not initially but she did it to protect her boy from being accused of murder.”
“And yet he’s still going to be arrested for attempted murder.”
Skylar nodded. “Look, I got to head out. I said I would meet with Ben. He’s home now and he wanted to chat. I should get going.”
She walked backwards thumbing over her shoulder.
“Hold on a second, you didn’t tell me what happened with Reznik and Keith’s vehicle,” Harvey said.
“Oh, right, yeah, the blue Chevy was there. No damage to the front. Obviously.”
“But why was he storing it there?”
“It had two hundred thousand zipped up in a bag in the trunk.”
Harvey smiled. “That old dog. He did have it.”
“Did, would be the correct word,” Skylar said winking at him before exiting the building.
Twenty minutes later she turned off her engine outside Ben’s home. It was nearly dark out, the air was thick and humid and she was looking forward to crawling back into her boat and returning to a world without murder — even if it would only be for a few days.
Small lights illuminated the outside of his home as she walked up to the door to knock. Before she did, the door opened up and Ben came out. He was wearing a blue shirt, white shorts, and a pair of Nike sneakers.
“Well, hey there, stranger,” Skylar said clasping her hands behind her back.
Ben pulled the door closed. “Thanks for coming.”
“No problem. How’s Sam?”
He shrugged. “He’s fine.” He motioned for them to talk by her cruiser. The truck wouldn’t be repaired for a while because after she arrested Conor, his father naturally didn’t want to do business with her.
“You want to go get a drink, maybe a bite to eat?” she asked assuming everything was okay.
“No. I…” He pursed his lips together and looked past her as if he was trying to find the words. “Look, please don’t take this the wrong way. I appreciate you stepping in at the last minute and looking after Sam but…” He frowned. “Teaching him to fight. That’s what you thought would help him?”
Skylar was a bit taken aback by the tone. “Look, I just thought that if he knew how to protect himself he might not end up coming home with a black eye or skipping out of school.”
“The school has suspended him.”
“What? No, that can’t be.”
“You wanted them to deal with bullying. Well they just did.”
“But I told the school that if they tried playing that card I would...”
He put a hand up to cut her off. “You would do what? Huh? Arrest them? I’m the one that has to deal with this on a daily basis. I’m the one that has to show up there every day. You only needed to do it for two days. Now he’s confused. You were telling him to fight back. I’m telling him that’s not the way and the school now has him in their crosshairs as a bully.”
Skylar opened her mouth but before she could get a word in edgeways he put up a finger. “No, before you justify your actions like you always do, let’s be clear here — you have only made the situation worse.”
Skylar saw Sam looking out of the window.
“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to make your life hard.”
“Well you did.”
Her brow furrowed. “Ben.”
“I know you were trying to do what you think is right but it didn’t help. You’re not his mother, Skylar. Leave the parenting to me.”
With that said he turned and walked back into his home leaving her there speechless. Sam disappeared from the window but not before quickly waving. Skylar remained there for a few more minutes second-guessing herself and chewing over his words. Skylar climbed back into her cruiser with a heavy heart and turned over the engine. She thought about going back and apologizing again but she figured she’d done enough damage. That evening she returned to her empty boat and for the first time since arriving in Carrabelle she felt a longing to return to the city. Skylar scooped up her phone and made a phone call to an old friend, the one person who could lift her spirit.
A few seconds later he answered.
“Scot,” she said.
“Hey, you. You keeping out of trouble?”
She blew out her cheeks. “More like creating it.”
“Uh oh, I’m guessing all that therapy isn’t working.”
She chuckled and over the next hour sat on the edge of the boat looking across the bay, drinking a beer and chatting as the final streaks of red disappeared beyond the horizon. A light breeze blew in causing waves to lap and a distant harbor bell rang out. Life in Carrabelle was very different to the big city, it had taught her a lot in a short time but most of all it had shown her that it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, you had to be prepared to weather the storms, and she could feel a storm brewing, deep inside her.
About the Author
Emma Rose Watts is the not so cozy pen name of the bestselling cozy mystery author Emma Watts. Under the name Emma Rose Watts, she writes gritty suspense and mysteries based in Florida. She is from Maine. She is married, and has kids and a dog.
www.emmaro
sewatts.com
[email protected]
Also by Emma Rose Watts
Dead Calm: A Coastal Suspense Series Book 1
Death Match: A Coastal Suspense Series Book 2
Death Blow: A Coastal Suspense Series Book 3
Death Drop: A Coastal Suspense Series Book 4
Dead Drop Page 14
