Veils and Vengeance
Page 24
The clouds covered the moon and all was blackness around me, with only the distant lights of the Connelly home on the beach ahead, and their neighbor’s farther down the sandy strip. Another wave pushed me closer to the shore. I swam against it, unsure of what had happened to Heather. She was trying to kill me. It was her! She’d killed Charly. I dove back under the water, my arm knocking into a rock, a frantic feeling of doom closing over me. The ocean was dangerous with its land mines of lava rocks and coral dotted close to the shallow waters of the beach. I raised my arms to protect my head in case the waves slammed me into the rock.
A hand grasped my leg. I kicked and screamed, my voice gurgling as I was pulled underwater. My hands came in contact with the gritty sand of the ocean floor, and my fingers grazed a rock. I reached out again and grabbed onto the rock—it would make a good weapon. But my body was yanked backward before I could get a hold of anything.
I sputtered and sat up when I touched the ground underneath me. I had just taken a breath when I heard a whoosh and something hit my head. Hard. Bursts of light broke through my vision and I fell backward, turning as the water ran over my face. I needed to breathe. My lungs screamed for oxygen; every part of my body convulsed against my effort to hold my breath in the liquid death that threatened me from every angle. I lifted my head, and the pain was so intense, I teetered on the edge of consciousness. I couldn’t be sure that I’d actually moved my head, but when the cool breath of night air touched my cheek, I turned my head, and inhaled.
I pushed myself above the water with my hands, but I couldn’t move my legs to support myself. Someone was pulling on my legs. I turned and the moon broke through the clouds to illuminate Heather. She had a hold of me, and I saw the netting she was entangling my legs with. Black spheres that must have been weights hung from the edges.
“What are you doing?” I cried out. “Neil didn’t kill Charly. You did. Help!”
“No one can hear you. The tide’s moving out. Save your breath. You’re going to need it,” she chuckled.
I blanched. Who was this crazy woman? “Why?” I cried.
“All he cared about was his precious company.”
I was confused for a moment at her answer. “Wait. Neil doesn’t know that you killed Charly.”
“Oh, he would have figured it out the minute he saw my bracelet on her arm if you hadn’t taken it.”
A horrified gasp escaped my throat. She thought I’d taken the bracelet from the body. “You put your bracelet on her body? But Neil thinks that Jon killed her—the initials—they were J.C.”
Heather straightened. “Not Jon, those are my initials. My full name is Jillayne Heather Connelly, but I’ve always gone by Heather. Neil calls me J.C.”
Once she mentioned it, I recalled hearing Neil call her a nickname—Jaycee is what I’d heard. I had no idea it had something to do with her initials. “But why put your bracelet on Charly?”
“That tramp had been trying to take it from me ever since she first came to work for Neil.”
“But I thought the bracelets were just made.” I squinted in the darkness, trying to find what Heather had hit me with. She stood knee deep in the water as the current washed more salty ocean over me. My head was barely above the water. I wanted to close my eyes against the pain, but I forced myself to stay alert, to see what Heather was doing and figure out a way to escape.
“I meant my husband. Neil was sleeping with Charly.”
“He was having an affair?” Even as I asked the question, I comprehended the lengths that Charly had gone to in order to get the information to bring down the GMOs. “She seduced him for the files?”
“He was a fool.”
“But he fired her. Neil got back the files she was about to steal.”
“That’s what he thought. It doesn’t matter. He chose his company and her over me.” She dropped my legs and bent down to pick up a smooth piece of driftwood off the beach. We were closer to the shore than I’d originally thought. I wasn’t thinking or seeing straight. Even as I watched Heather grip the piece of wood, I wasn’t sure what to do. “It’s really too bad that you haven’t learned to be more careful on this island. It just seems bound and determined to kill you, doesn’t it?”
I remembered the feeling of someone pushing me at the Secret Lava Pools. Heather had pushed me then, but why? She must’ve thought that I’d figured out Neil’s secret affair and Charly’s ensuing death even though I had no idea. I heard a wave, a large one, coming behind me. Heather raised her arm and as the piece of driftwood came down, I sucked in a giant breath and rolled away into the wave. The water washed over me, and I continued rolling along the sand. Even with a head injury, I recognized the feeling of going deeper under the water. Several rocks snagged at my arms as I continued to roll. My legs were stiff and heavy with the netting cutting into the flesh of my calves. Pulling and tugging at the ropes was futile. It took me two seconds to figure out that the only way I would survive was to swim to the surface, despite the weight of the net surrounding me.
My feet found traction against a rock, and I pushed upwards, pulling myself through the water with powerful strokes. My head bobbed above the surface. I forced myself to remain calm as I swallowed a mouthful of air. Heather had a light. She would find me. She wouldn’t rest until I was unconscious and sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
The current pulled me farther out towards the moonlight on the water. Once my lungs stopped screaming for oxygen, I concentrated on what else I needed to do to survive. With the water pushing and pulling me, I worked to free myself from the netting tangled around my legs. The ropes burned and slipped against my skin, but I reassured myself that I could get them off. Heather hadn’t intended on me being conscious. Why hadn’t I seen the trap I was walking into?
With one leg free, I struggled against the dead weight pulling me toward the bottom. Why was Heather trying so hard to kill me? I didn’t even know she was the killer until she attacked me. There was still something I hadn’t discovered. I was a threat to Heather several days ago and so she’d tried to incapacitate me. What was it?
The net pulled me down under again and I panicked, flailing against rocks to push myself to the surface for another breath. I couldn’t scream for help and risk alerting Heather to my conscious state. If I kept my head above water long enough to get my bearings maybe I could swim with the current toward the shore. But first I needed to finish untangling the net that constantly pulled me down. I pulled my leg up and pushed at the tight lashing of the rope around my calf until it bit into my skin. My head throbbed, and I was on the edge of hysteria as I struggled to stay above water.
I remembered Jon’s warning about the temperature of the ocean. It was tricky because it felt warm, but it was just cold enough that if you stayed out too long, you risked getting chilled, which led to sluggish muscles and reduced ability to swim through the powerful ocean waves.
“Adri! Are you out there?” a voice called.
It pushed me into motion, and I thrashed through the water, dragging the net behind me as I struggled to put space between me and the voice. A wave rolled over my head and I sputtered, wiping the salt water from my face.
“Adri! I’m not going to hurt you. It’s Jon. Tell me where you are.”
My ears perked up. It was Jon’s voice, both times it had been him calling. He must have been in the water close by. I hesitated. What if it was a trap? There was still a possibility that Jon had helped his mom. Was that why he was sure of his father’s innocence? Because he knew that Heather was the real killer?
I swam away from the moonlight, toward what I hoped was the shore, but the weight of the net kept me in place, tugging me below the surface.
“Adri! Please let me help you. Adri!”
He was closer, and I turned to locate him amidst the waves but the moon hid behind the clouds again and everything went black. I treaded water as best I could with a net trailing from my left leg, and listened. A splash to my right alerted me that Jon was
close by. I closed my eyes and prayed for help. I didn’t want to die.
A memory pinged at my consciousness, and all at once, I knew exactly why Heather had tried to kill me. The dinner at the Beach House Restaurant. I had mentioned seeing something on the body, but I couldn’t remember what it was. It was then that Heather must have decided I had taken the bracelet. Even now, she didn’t know that Jon had taken the bracelet and turned it over to the police. She thought I was the only person who knew about the initials, J.C.
Jon didn’t have anything to do with Charly’s murder—I knew that without a doubt now. My remark at the Beach House had been such an inconsequential thing, but it was enough to make Heather worried. She must have known I would eventually figure it out, only with all the wedding plans it’d been swept to the back of my mind, and I’d completely forgotten until I found the bracelet in Jon’s pocket.
Jon. I could trust him. He would save me.
“Jon! I’m here. Help me!” I screamed. I had to get out of the water because I knew where Heather was headed. I had to prove Neil’s innocence before Heather got away. “Jon!”
“Adri! I’m right here.” He was right behind me, swimming furiously, his strong arms stroking through the water. He grabbed hold of me and started to pull.
“No. Heather wrapped a net around my legs. It’s weighted, dragging me down. I can’t get loose.”
“Hold on. I’ll get you loose.” He had a snorkeling mask on, and he dove under the water. Something jerked on my leg. I tried to hold still and clenched my eyes tight as I was pulled underwater again. He tugged on the net and it scraped against my skin, but I moved my ankle more as Jon untangled it.
“I’ve got you.” Jon pulled me above the surface. “You’re almost free. The net got caught around a big rock down there. Can you hold on for one more minute?”
“Y-yes.” My teeth chattered. I swept my arms back and forth, filling my imaginary basket with apples as I treaded water like I’d been taught when I was ten years old. It was much different in the ocean as wave after wave rocked me back and forth. Water rolled over my head, and then I was free, my body cascading toward the beach.
Jon resurfaced and spit out his mouthpiece. “Hold on, Adri. We’re almost there.”
He grabbed my arm, and I held onto his wrist with both my hands and kicked with him toward the surface. When my toes skidded along the sand, I cried out in relief. Jon hauled me onto the beach, and we both lay there breathing heavily as the water lapped at our feet.
A light blinded my eyes, and I closed them and groaned.
“Sorry, I’m just checking your legs for injuries.”
He moved my legs. They felt like two pieces of driftwood, numb from the cold water and lack of circulation, but my right toes tingled. I figured that was a good sign. “My head.”
“We need to get you to the hospital. I think you need stitches.”
“No, I don’t want to move anymore. Please,” I mumbled.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe now.” Jon lifted me into his arms and carried me across the sand. I linked my arms around his neck and kept my head as still as possible against his chest. Every step reverberated like my head was being squeezed in a vice. After a few minutes, I noticed the sensation of warm blood trickling down the side of my face.
“How did you know I was out there?”
“Luke. He couldn’t find you in the house, and so he went out back and heard screaming. He was running back to the house for a flashlight when I came in. I told him to call for help, and I grabbed my snorkeling gear.” He shifted my weight and took in a breath. “I saw my mom running down the beach. She didn’t stop when I called out.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment, and when I did my voice sounded raspy, probably from drinking too much seawater and screaming. “She tried to kill me. At first I didn’t know why, but then I found out she killed Charly.”
“I can’t believe it.” Jon hesitated and gasped for breath. “I’m so sorry.”
I leaned my head back. “We have to tell the police to get to my hotel room. That’s where Heather’s going. She’s probably going there to look for any evidence I found that links her directly to Charly’s murder.”
“But why did she kill Charly?”
I licked my lips and tried to find the courage to share what I’d discovered. “Your dad was having an affair with her.”
“No,” Jon cried. “That can’t be true! My dad loves my mom.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured.
We didn’t talk anymore as Jon carried me toward his house. I imagined the anger and betrayal welling up inside him. I thought about how his world had been turned upside down. I heard Luke’s voice a few seconds later.
“Is she okay?” he asked.
“I think her head needs stitches, and her legs are pretty torn up,” Jon said.
“Put her over here.”
I cracked open an eye as Jon set me carefully on a blanket, and Luke wrapped a towel around my shoulders.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” Luke rubbed my arms gently with the towel to dry them off. “I just can’t believe it was Heather all this time.”
“Did you see her?” Jon asked.
“I was on the phone with the police when I heard a scream. I looked out front and she was driving away in the white SUV. Here, let’s get some pressure on that head wound.” Luke held up a towel and moved it toward my head.
I cringed as he made contact with the gash on the side of my head. Lifting my arm required more effort than I anticipated, but I held the towel gingerly in place. “Call the police again. Tell them Heather’s going to the Hyatt to get into my room.” My chattering teeth made it a struggle to form my words. My head was heavy, pulsing with pain. I was aware of a burning sensation coursing through my legs.
“Okay,” Luke said. “I think you should lie down.”
Jon sat next to me while Luke relayed the information about Heather to the police. Jon cradled me in his arms, lowering my head carefully against his chest. “I’m so sorry. Stay with me, Adri. Don’t go to sleep yet.”
My eyelids fluttered, and it seemed as if the net was still attached to my body, dragging me under the water. I wanted to sleep, to escape the pain and the fear of drowning as my lungs cried out for oxygen.
“An ambulance is supposed to be coming, but do you think we should head in the direction of the hospital?” Luke asked.
“It’ll probably take them about twenty minutes to get here from the time they were dispatched. I think it’s best to wait at this point.” Jon took my hand from the towel on my head. “Just be still. I’ll hold it in place.”
Something rubbed my legs and I opened my eyes to see Luke blotting the water with another towel. He looked up at me, worry etched on his face. “You’re going to be okay now.”
I struggled to keep my eyes open. His face swirled before me. Jon was speaking, but I had an urge to say something else. It was important. With a deep breath, I focused on Luke’s face. “I’m sorry I got mad at your heart. I don’t think it’s broken, Luke. You have a strong heart. Thanks for saving me again.”
Luke said something and it sounded like Jon laughed, but the blackness was too deep and I couldn’t swim out of it. I let my head sink into the darkness and I floated there, feeling the pain on the edges of my consciousness.
Chapter 23
GET WELL CARD
This card features a miniature box of tissues on the front.
1. Fold 4 ¼” x 11” piece of cardstock (your choice of color) in half to make 4 ¼” x 5 ½” card base.
2. Cut a square, sized for the tissue box, and score it to look like a box.
3. Cut a piece of tissue about 2 ” x 2 ” and pinch one end together. Glue onto the back of tissue box square.
4. Glue tissue box onto the cardstock, centering it on the front of the card.
5. Stamp a Get Well message either above or below the tissue box.
Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com
The police had intercepted Heather at the hotel. She had been trying to find a way to sneak into my room, most likely to steal the bracelet as I’d suspected. The word “unstable” had been mentioned several times and so far Heather hadn’t confessed, but we were still hoping she would change her mind. I didn’t want to testify against her in court. No matter what happened, she would be locked up for a very long time.
Jon told me that Neil Connelly arranged for a private nurse to care for me back at the hotel, which was more than I needed, but I was so happy to be away from the beeps and smells of the hospital that I didn’t mind accepting his generosity. Once I was settled back into my room, the manager of the hotel came to visit me and apologized for Chelsea’s and Mrs. Harper’s behavior.
She’d seen the police escort Mrs. Harper and her henchmen off the premises, and the news had leaked stories about PFI being in trouble. “The news indicated that charges were being brought against them for vandalism, harassment, and attempted manslaughter. I’m not sure of the details, but I know for certain that you won’t have to worry about them anymore. PFI will no longer be operating according to the news.”
“Thank you.” My head still felt muddled, but her words brought a sense of relief to me.
The manager handed me an envelope with a brochure. “This is a voucher for a five night stay in our best suite. It never expires. I know that it can’t undo the damage, but I hope it will help in some way. We want you to know that our customers are our first priority.”
“Thank you.” I took the envelope. “Your hotel is fantastic. It’s a perfect venue for a wedding. I’m just sorry it didn’t work out how we planned.”