by Ivy Dawson
As they were speaking, Alexa walked out to meet them, carrying Carey’s laptop under her arm. When Carey noticed the laptop, her shoulders drooped.
“You were right,” Alexa said, walking up to them. “I checked Carey’s bank transactions around the date of the photo with Helen.”
“Thank you,” Shae said, nodding at Alexa. “Okay, we checked. How did you rack up a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of debt in one weekend? And before you lie to me, remember that your bank records are right here.”
“Okay,” Carey said, looking around wildly, “I met Helen a few months ago. We hit it off immediately, and she invited me to go on vacation with her. I told her that I don’t really have money, but she offered to pay for everything. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t miss out on, so I said yes.”
“This woman sounds like an amazing friend,” Alexa commented. “Why don’t my friends ever do that for me?”
“Listen to what happened,” Shae said, giving her an annoyed glance. Alexa smiled sheepishly and motioned for Carey to continue.
“She booked us into this boutique resort on the edge of the desert,” Carey sighed, remembering the luxurious week. “Apparently, she chose this ultra-luxurious package that included spa visits, private flights and nights out in the desert. On Monday, someone brought up that her card wasn’t working. She laughed it off and said there must’ve been a mix-up. This carried on all week, people lost their jobs over this,” Carey winced at the memory.
“I can’t imagine how they’d let that slide,” Mark said, shaking his head in disgust. “How did she even book the vacation without using a working credit card?”
“She used the same trick to get on this boat,” Carey sneered, causing him to blush. “That’s how Helen was. She could get anything she wanted. People just automatically trust her for some reason. She was probably one of the best scam artists anyone’s ever seen.”
“Wait,” Shae said slowly. “Who paid for the vacation?”
“Eventually, the staff cornered us in our room,” Carey gulped as she spoke, her eyes misty, “and they threatened to throw us in jail. I didn’t want to go to Moroccan jail! Anyway, she said that it was just a misunderstanding, and she asked me to quickly pay with my credit card.”
“How was the bill that huge?” Shae asked in disbelief. “I mean, yeah, it was a fancy place, but how was it that much money?”
“She went on shopping sprees at the hotel, there was a clothing shop there. Like for local fashion and stuff,” Carey explained, rubbing her arms unhappily. “She’d invite groups of people to eat with us then pay for their food. I just thought she was generous.”
“Let me guess,” Shae said sympathetically, “she never paid you back.”
“No,” Carey said, shaking her head. “When we got back, she promised to be in touch with the money, but I never saw her again. I tried calling, I even went to her work. Eventually, I had to go to the police, but there was nothing they could do for me. Apparently, because I chose to pay the bill, she didn’t technically steal it from me.”
“What a nightmare,” Alexa said, shaking her head in disgust.
“I had to pay it on my credit card,” Carey said, her voice choked, “and now I’m drowning in debt that I can never pay off.”
“So you decided to get revenge,” Shae said. She felt sorry for Carey; it wasn’t a pleasant situation to be in.
“No,” Carey shook her head emphatically. “I know that wouldn’t do any good. I just wanted to get away from it all. I didn’t do anything to Helen.”
“She was with you when the shooting happened,” Mark pointed out, “and she’s way too small to have forced those pills down Malcolm’s throat.”
“She wasn’t with me when Malcolm died,” Shae remembered, “and she didn’t have to leave me to kill Helen.”
“Someone else is paying for her vacation here,” Alexa told them when Mark looked confused by Shae’s statement, “a man.”
“A man that you met a long time ago,” Shae said severely, “not just this morning. You asked him to help you with this murder. You’re the one who said that jacket was one-of-a-kind, and we all just believed you.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Captain Tim said, as the truth dawned on him. “That’s right. It would’ve been easy to make a replica of the jacket if you knew that’s what Malcolm was going to wear.”
“He was bragging about it on his social media,” Alexa said, pulling up a photo of Malcolm proudly displaying his designer jacket. “It wouldn’t take a lot of detective work to figure out what he would wear on his night out.”
“I bet if we go search Henry Morgan’s cabin, we’d find the tiger jacket, or the gun that you guys used,” Shae said thoughtfully. “We’ll probably even find footage of him going into the club that night.”
Carey was shrinking back as they spoke, retreating into herself with a terrified expression. When Shae stopped speaking, she looked at her friend with a pitiful expression.
“Shae,” she said, her voice muffled by tears, “please, you know me. You know I wouldn’t be able to do something like this. I’m not that kind of person.”
“You are,” Shae said severely, “and you’ll make it a lot easier on yourself if you just confess to all of this. We’re going to search Henry’s room, and we’re going to find everything. You’re the one who put the bullet in Emmie’s bag, aren’t you?”
“She’s a dying woman,” Captain Tim said angrily, glaring at her. “Why would you do that to her? She has to go to the hospital now because you put her under so much stress.”
“I don’t know,” Carey said tearfully. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
“I told you what we want,” Shae said unsympathetically, “we want you to confess so that we can put all of this behind us. You’re done, we’re going to find what we’re looking for and you won’t be able to get away with it.”
“At least it’s not Moroccan prison,” Mark said, shrugging slightly. Carey immediately burst out sobbing and tried to hug Shae.
Shae shook her head and took a step back.
“You didn’t come here to catch up, you used me to get to Helen. Instead of asking for help, you decided to kill two people. Malcolm didn’t even hurt you. Why would you do that?”
“He figured out who I was,” Carey said, speaking quickly between sobs. “He was going to tell everyone. I had to stop him.”
“There are so many different ways that this could’ve ended,” Captain Tim said sadly, “and this is how you chose to do it. Poor Emmie.”
“I saved Emmie,” Carey said harshly, wiping her tears. It quickly became apparent that the tears were just for show. Shae marveled at the woman’s talent. “Helen and Malcolm were just using her. They were going to bleed her dry then throw her away. She should be thanking me.”
“Yeah,” Mark said, shaking his head as he quickly pushed the emergency button on his phone. “No. I don’t think she’ll see it that way.”
It didn’t take long for the security guards to show up.
“I can’t believe her name wasn’t even Helen,” Emmie said in disgust, shaking her head and staring off at the beautiful open sea in front of them. They were having lunch on her father’s private island, and Emmie looked more relaxed than they’d ever seen her.
Shae was still in shock from the wide variety of food that was laid out in front of them. The seafood looked incredible and tasted even better. She could understand why some people would want to lie and cheat their way into a life like this.
“Yep,” Alexa said, lying back and putting her hands behind her head. “Her real name was Liesl Schmidt. Her dad drives a taxicab somewhere in Germany and her mom is a seamstress. I’m just glad I won’t be around when they’re told what their daughter was up to.”
“I still can’t believe it,” Emmie said again, still in shock. “The way she acted; it was so real. You wouldn’t believe that she wasn’t rich. It was even in the way she walked. I feel sorry for the woman she swindled, t
hat’s a lot of money to throw away like that.”
“I’m sorry for her too,” Shae admitted. “She was a good person. I guess the desperation and anger got the better of her. At least Helen died before she did too much damage to you.”
“I wish she’d stolen from me, and not from that other woman. At least we would’ve caught her and been able to do something about it. There’s no way my father would’ve let her get away with all that.”
“How did she do it, though?” Alexa asked. “I mean, according to some people, she was flashing cash around the city and only stayed in the best hotels.”
“Okay, so she wanted to buy this building and turn it into this high-end hotel,” Shae explained. “So she applied for a loan from Capital Bank. They needed $50,000 for fees and stuff. So she went to Eastside Bank and borrowed the fifty grand from them. That’s how she always had so much cash on her. Although, that wasn’t going to last very long. Capital Bank was also investigating the documents she gave them, and it turns out that they’re all fake. She was going to jail soon anyway, all Carey had to do was wait.”
“This is a sad story,” Emmie commented, shaking her head again and reaching for her fruit juice. “I can’t really blame Carey for what she did, but I can’t say she did the right thing. It only ended worse for her. Did you find everything you needed in her room?”
“It was all in Henry’s room,” Shae said, “the jacket, and even the gun. I think they were too afraid to throw it overboard. I don’t know why they didn’t just get rid of it.”
“That’s enough of this, I think,” Emmie decided. “Look, they’re bringing out dessert now. I hope you like strawberry Pavlova.”
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading Nautical Mayhem. Please look out for book 3, which will be available soon!
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