Risky Vengeance

by Rhonda Brewer

  Claire grabbed her phone off the counter, and after tapping the screen several times. She held up a picture of two women with their arms linked together and smiling.

  “Who’s this?” Trunk asked.

  “The woman on the left is Lydia, and the woman on the right is Sharon. I think they were a couple. Lydia’s page didn’t have a lot of pictures on it, but Sharon’s did. Could the woman be Sharon?” Claire asked.

  Trunk scrolled through both profiles and felt like Claire could be right. Every picture with the women looked intimate and as if they were together romantically.

  “I could see why Mrs. Maher would be confused, especially since she doesn’t have the best sight. These two women have a strong resemblance,” Trunk said.

  “Growing up, a lot of people used to mistake them for sisters. There was another girl younger than us who was always mistaken for their sister as well,” Claire told him.

  “Let me see the picture,” Abbie said, and Trunk placed the phone in her hand.

  Abbie swiped through the pictures, and Trunk wondered if she recognized anyone. After several minutes she raised her eyes to meet his and shook her head.

  “Mrs. Woodman had one of those hats with a veil that hung over her eyes, but I don’t believe it’s either of these women. I guess I didn’t get a good look at her face.” Abbie shrugged.

  Trunk sent James copies of the pictures from the Facebook profiles. If Lydia was dead, then it wouldn’t be surprising if Sharon would be out for revenge. Especially if Lydia killed herself over the past. He didn’t know if Abbie’s mother was on to something, but he had a feeling they were heading in the right direction.

  Chapter 32

  Abbie’s mother paced the floor as she frequently glanced down at her phone. James had suggested she message Sharon and ask to meet for coffee so they could catch up. James wanted to make it look as if Claire wanted to reconnect with an old friend.

  It had been over two hours, but Sharon hadn’t responded, and everyone was frustrated. Sandy clicked away on her keyboard, searching for something Abbie didn’t understand. All she knew was there was something about pings and triangulating. It was all gibberish to her.

  Trunk searched through some papers they’d found in the attic of Mrs. Maher’s home, hoping by some slim chance he’d figure out who they were looking for. Mrs. Maher gave the police permission to search the house for any clues on who was involved.

  The police didn’t find the jewelry chest, but they did let Mrs. Maher know they recovered the original ring. She was overjoyed and told Fatima she wanted her to keep it. Trunk’s mother refused, but Mrs. Maher insisted. She said when they found the box to bring it to her so they could open it together. Mrs. Maher didn’t want her nephew to get his hands on it, considering what he’d done.

  James said they also found three bodies in the shed behind the house. He couldn’t reveal the names, but it was a woman and two men. Abbie shivered when she realized how close she came to joining the poor individuals.

  Abbie stepped out on the front step of Trunk’s home and took a deep breath. It was early May, and it seemed as if the snow would never disappear. It had been warmer over the past couple of days, but she still needed to wear a coat. Since Hopedale was a small town surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the wind off the water could be bitter on the hottest days.

  “I don’t think you should be out here, Abs,” Trunk said in a gruff voice.

  “I need fresh air, Ben.” Abbie rolled her eyes.

  “You can go out on the back deck.” Trunk wrapped his arms around her from behind.

  “I like the view out here.” Abbie sighed and leaned into his body.

  “Enough to move in here?” Trunk whispered in her ear.

  Abbie turned in his arms and stared up at him in surprise. His lips twisted up into a smile, but he looked nervous, which was not a bit like the Trunk she knew.

  “Are you asking me to move in with you?” Abbie raised an eyebrow.

  “Maybe.” He rested his forehead against hers.

  “I have a house,” Abbie whispered.

  “Sell it. I know a great real estate agent.” Trunk ran a finger down her cheek.

  “I love my house.” She used to.

  “More than you love me?” Trunk murmured against her lips.

  “That’s not fair. You know I love you more than anything,” Abbie poked him in the chest.

  “Then move in with me. I know we can’t do it all right now. At least until we get these bastards but give me some hope that after all this is over, you’ll at least think about it.” Trunk stared into her eyes.

  “I’ll think about it,” Abbie promised.

  Trunk lowered his head, and his lips barely touched hers when the front door opened. They spun around to see an excited Fatima waving for them to come inside.

  “Claire got a message,” Fatima said.

  “Sharon?” Abbie asked.

  Fatima nodded as they followed her. Abbie’s mother messaged back and forth with the woman who could be responsible for the attempts on Abbie’s life as well as her kidnapping, not to mention Cole’s shooting and the murder of the three people found in Mrs. Maher’s shed. They didn’t know why she did it all, but the first step was stopping her.

  “What is she saying?” Abbie asked.

  “She apologized for drifting apart and not keeping in contact,” Abbie’s mother said.

  “Is it possible it isn’t her?” Abbie wasn’t convinced.

  “Who else could it be?” Claire asked.

  “It’s easy to fool people behind a screen,” Sandy interjected.

  Abbie’s mother chatted with her old friend. From the messages, Abbie didn’t see anything suspicious, and according to the woman’s profile, she didn’t live in the province. It was why when her mother asked to meet for coffee, Abbie was surprised Sharon agreed.

  “I guess she doesn’t live in New Brunswick anymore,” James said.

  “Maybe she’s visiting,” Abbie interjected.

  “Abs, why are you so reluctant to believe this woman is involved?” Trunk asked.

  “I don’t know.” Abbie shrugged.

  “We need to set up a meeting,” James said.

  “She wants to go for coffee tomorrow.” Abbie’s mother showed them the screen.

  While everyone worked to put a plan together to capture Sharon, Abbie slipped away and found some peace in Trunk’s bedroom. She had so much running through her mind, and there was something in the back of her head telling her Sharon was not responsible.

  Mrs. Woodman resembled the women in the picture, but Abbie couldn’t say with certainty if either woman was Mrs. Woodman. Then again, Abbie didn’t know if she could recognize her. Abbie flopped back on the bed and sighed.

  Maybe she should decide about moving in with Trunk. It wasn’t like she hadn’t dreamed about living with him, but she wanted more too. She never thought a day would come when she would want to be someone’s wife, but with Trunk, she did.

  Before she made that decision, she needed to sell her house. It was great but being with Trunk was so much better. Plus, his house was in such a beautiful place, and she’d be closer to Billie. Who was she kidding? There was no doubt in her mind she wanted to live with him forever.

  Abbie did need to go to her house and get some things if she stayed at Trunk’s place for longer. For some reason, Trunk seemed to think it was too dangerous for any of them to be anywhere but in Hopedale, but she could be in worse places.

  “Laurie, do you think you could give us a hand down here?,” Abbie whispered.

  The next afternoon, after a heated discussion between Abbie and Trunk, he agreed to bring her home to get what she needed. James and a team of officers headed to the coffee shop to wait for Sharon with strict instructions for Abbie and her mother to stay away. Her mother wanted to be bait, but James wouldn’t hear of it, not to mention, Abbie’s father forbid it.

  Abbie and Trunk arrived at her house and stepped inside. A cold chill skitte
red up her spine, but she had no idea why. The house was cool, but something made her normally cheery house seem foreboding. When she walked into her den, she gasped.

  “They destroyed this place.” Abbie started to pick up some papers off the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Abs. I should’ve had someone come clean this up.” Trunk stood up a toppled chair.

  “Is that blood?” Abbie noticed a dark stain on her rug.

  “I think so. The officer was attacked in here,” Trunk told her.

  “I’m suddenly not liking my house so much anymore.” Abbie shivered.

  “Why don’t we go upstairs and get the things you need? Then we can head back to Hopedale.” Trunk wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

  Abbie walked into her closet and grabbed a suitcase from the corner. She opened it on her bed and started to toss some things inside. As she returned to the closet, Trunk turned away from her dresser with a huge smirk on his face.

  “I’m assuming this is something you came to pick up.” Trunk held up a see-through red teddy.

  “Yes, that was the main thing I came back to get.” Abbie rolled her eyes.

  Trunk tossed it into her suitcase and continued his search through her lingerie drawer. He would be there a while if he went through all her sexy things.

  “Get out of my drawers, pervert.” Abbie tossed a pillow at him.

  “Hey, we can’t have this stuff sitting here, not getting used.” Trunk flicked the pillow on the bed.

  “Whatever.” Abbie laughed as she headed into her closet.

  She reached for a pair of sneakers in her shoe cupboard, and the light above her flickered. As she looked up, she noticed something sticking out of the top shelf. It wasn’t something she’d placed there, and she pulled it down off the shelf.

  In her hand, she held a gold square box with etchings on the side and top. It looked old with intricate carving, and she ran her finger over the large B on top. It was then she saw the square and star inside the letter.

  “Ben,” Abbie practically screamed and felt awful when he ran into the closet, looking completely unnerved.

  “Abs, what’s wrong?” Trunk scanned her up and down as if he expected to see an injury.

  “I think this is Mrs. Maher’s jewelry box.” Abbie held it up.

  Chapter 33

  Trunk took the beautiful chest from Abbie’s hands and turned it over. He ran his fingers around the edges and tried to open it, but couldn’t see anything to open.

  “See.” Abbie pointed to the star.

  “It’s been here, and you didn’t know?” Trunk was dumbfounded.

  “It was up there on that shelf. I never look up there. The only reason I did was because the light flickered.” Abbie pointed to the burned-out light.

  “Jerome must have hidden it here and didn’t tell anyone.” Trunk turned to exit the closet.

  He stopped and shoved Abbie behind him when he saw the barrel of a gun. His eyes moved up the arm attached to the gun and locked gazes with an older woman. He didn’t know who she was, but he had a feeling it was the elusive Mrs. Woodman.

  “I knew that bastard hid it here.” She smirked.

  “I guess you think you’re going to take this and walk out of here.” Trunk held up the box.

  “Not exactly. I need to get rid of both of you, first. I can’t have you coming after me.” The woman smiled.

  Trunk studied her face. It certainly wasn’t Lydia or Sharon, at least it didn’t look like the women in the picture Claire showed him. So, who the hell was she?

  “You know the police are looking for you.” Trunk pushed Abbie back further into the closet.

  “The police are looking for Sharon. As you can see, I’m not her. She’s dead, by the way. She figured out that I helped Lydia die. She wanted to call the police, so I fixed the situation,” she said, confirming the identity of the woman the police had found.

  She reached for the jewelry chest, but Trunk tucked it under his arm. The woman lifted the gun and aimed it at his head. The last thing he wanted was to let this woman kill him and leave Abbie unprotected.

  “Give it to her, Ben.” Abbie tugged on his arm.

  “Yes, Ben. Give me what’s mine.” The woman sneered.

  “I’ll give it to you if you tell me who you are.” Trunk held up the box.

  “Why does it matter? It’s not like you’ll live long enough to tell anyone.” The woman scoffed.

  “Let’s just say I’d like to die knowing the truth.” Trunk had no intention of letting this woman end Abbie’s life or his.

  “Ben, I don’t want either of us to die,” Abbie whispered.

  The woman glared at Trunk then she sighed and backed out of through the door. She aimed the gun at Trunk as she motioned for them to come out of the closet.

  “Don’t try anything because I’ll have you know I’m a crack shot, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you both everything. It’s not like I’ll be going anywhere for a while. Abbie here has some nosey neighbors, so I’ll have to wait until it’s dark.” The woman chuckled.

  Trunk sat on the bed, putting himself between Abbie and the weapon. He wanted to keep all of Mrs. Woodman’s attention on him, and if he saw a chance, he’d get Abbie out safely.

  “You see, a long time ago I was in love with a man who promised me the world. He was older than me, but he promised to marry me one day,” Mrs. Woodman said.

  “I’m guessing he didn’t,” Trunk interjected.

  “No, he betrayed me for a half-wit who ended up breaking his heart,” the woman sneered.

  “You were in love with Gary Sweeney,” Abbie said.

  “Didn’t take you long to figure that out.” Mrs. Woodman snorted.

  “How did you know about Mrs. Maher’s jewelry case?” Trunk asked.

  “Gary promised I could have all the jewelry, but his stupid sister screwed it up. Her aunt took the ring back, but Lydia asked the guy she was screwing to get it back for her. He was good at getting in there since they were neighbors.” The woman lowered the gun a little.

  “Jerry,” Trunk growled.

  “Yes, you’re very familiar with him, aren’t you, Benji.” Mrs. Woodman tilted her head.

  “Yes,” Trunk said with distain.

  “You see Jerry, Gary, Lydia, and I knew each other from spending summers in Calvert. I lived there, but the guys would be there every summer.” Mrs. Woodman went on.

  “That’s how you knew all of them.” Abbie nodded.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I knew your parents too. Gary thought he wanted your mother once, but Claire was more into that bastard who almost killed him.” She glared at Abbie. “He could have killed Gary that night if it wasn’t for me.”

  “I thought Lydia stopped him?” Abbie asked.

  “Lydia took credit, but I was the one who called the cops. Lydia was more worried about someone finding out she was fucking Sharon inside the house,” she snapped.

  “You were at the party, too,” Trunk said.

  “Of course, I was. Everyone was there, and I was hoping Gary would come to his senses and make a move. That was until I saw him with that slut Claire.” She sneered.

  “My mother wasn’t a slut. Gary tried to rape her,” Abbie shouted.

  “Is that what she told you? Honey, your mother was teasing him for months, and when he made a move, she made it look like he attacked her.” The woman narrowed her eyes and glared at Abbie. “You look like her.”

  “I take that as a compliment,” Abbie snapped.

  “Why go after Abbie?” Trunk asked.

  “We needed money for when we could convince the old woman to sell Gary the house. That way, we could tear it apart until we found what we wanted. When Jerome couldn’t get money from Cole, we had to figure out another way. Your agency was new, and it was easy for Jerome to get into your systems. He was actually pretty smart that way. God rest his soul.” Mrs. Woodman smiled.

  She enjoyed telling them the intricate plan and almost seemed proud o
f what she did. It was blatantly obvious she didn’t like Cole either because when she said his name, she cringed.

  “When you got the money, why didn’t you leave Abbie alone?” Trunk asked.

  “Because that idiot suddenly got a conscience and wanted to return all the money before anyone noticed. He also found that box and hid it from us. I knew he was gutless, but his father thought he’d never turn on us,” she went on.

  “You killed him because he didn’t want to hurt people?” Abbie sounded shocked.

  “I got rid of him before he spoiled everything. Do you realize there is over a million dollars worth of jewelry inside that chest?” Mrs. Woodman waved the gun.

  Trunk looked down at the beautiful gold chest that wasn’t as big as a shoebox. He found it hard to believe it could contain so many valuable items. It didn’t matter. Trunk wasn’t about to let this woman take what belonged to Mrs. Maher.

  “Why shoot Cole?” Abbie asked.

  It was the first time Trunk saw Mrs. Woodman’s confident demeanor crack a little. She looked enraged and Trunk worried that she might stop talking, or worse, snap and shoot them before they could get help. He also wanted to get as much out of her as he could.

  “He ruined my life. He turned my family against me, and I lost the one person I ever loved more than Gary.” She sneered.

  “Your husband?” Abbie asked.

  “No, my daughter,” she sneered at them.

  Trunk saw something familiar about the woman as he studied her. When she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear it hit him. The resemblance was too great. Mrs. Woodman had the same shape nose and mouth as well as Paige’s petite stature. Mrs. Woodman was Cole’s ex-wife Rebecca.

  “You were married to Cole,” Trunk said.

  “You really are smarter than you look,” she scoffed.

  “Why marry Cole if you were in love with Gary?” Abbie asked.

  “I married him because of Jerry. He was crazy about Fatima, but she wouldn’t give him a second look because of Cole. When she got pregnant with you, Jerry thought he’d lost his chance with her, but Cole’s father wanted him to go away for school. Jerry took that opportunity to get what he wanted. He told Cole he’d take care of Fatima while he was away at school.” Rebecca laughed. “Cole was so easy to convince Fatima was screwing Jerry long before he left Newfoundland.”