Death on the Bella Constance (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 6) (19 page)

We stopped at Dennis’ Hideaway and were greeted by a man who,
at first, gave us the once-over until he saw Bella and Loukas. After being
seated, Bella explained that even though this was a casual dress restaurant,
patrons were expected to dress up more than we were, but as long as no one was
wearing just a bathing suit, we would be allowed to dine here. The food was
excellent, and the service superb. Bella and Loukas treated us to lunch, and
after looking over the menu and the prices, I figured that meal must have cost
them about four hundred dollars.

An hour later, we got back on the bus, ready for the grand
tour of
Ordnance
Island
and the surrounding places of interest.

We visited the
Unfinished
Church
, a Gothic structure that had not
been completed due to lack of funds and governmental upheaval, our driver,
Ollie, explained. He stopped the bus so that we could hike up to the structure
to get a better look, and those of us who wanted to, did. Unfortunately, the
only ones who wanted to go were
Savannah
,
McCoy, Billy and I. We made the visit short so as not to hold up the tour too
long.

I was amazed at the view of the village below with its pastel
buildings and narrow alleyways.
Bermuda
was an interesting place with its beautiful pink beaches, strange signs, and
friendly people. When we returned to the bus, I made a comment to Bella about
the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road, and I didn’t know if I
could get used to that.

“Who says they’re driving on the wrong side of the road?” she
asked, smiling. “Maybe we’re the ones who drive on the wrong side.”

“I never thought of it like that,” I replied.

The tour bus continued on its trek. The driver explained that
Bermuda
has six main islands and a hundred
and twenty others in a little less than twenty-one square miles. He also said
that
Bermuda
had more golf courses than anywhere
else. They even have a golf academy. He asked if anyone wanted to play a round
of golf.

“I’d rather go to the dentist,” Bertie said. “Golf is so
boring.”

“Stop it!” Dorothy said. “Some people like to play golf.”

“Here we go again,” Mabel said. “Don’t start!” she gave her
sisters a dirty look.

I was just glad they had been seated at the back of the bus…
across from
Utah
… who hadn’t said a word worth
repeating since we left the ship. Grouchy jerk!

Our tour included a trip to Fort St. Catherine where we took
the self-guided tour, and then on to
Tobacco
Bay
. From there we toured as much of the
island as we could, until, finally, we were worn out and ready to call it a
day. We’d been on the bus for over three hours. We all agreed that the tour was
fun as our driver headed back to town.

“Can we stop at the beach?” Bertie asked. “I’d love to walk
in the sand and then get my feet wet in the ocean.”

Bella motioned to the driver, who then pulled over, and
opened the door. This time, everyone got off the bus to stretch, including
Dorothy, who was still using a cane. I didn’t say anything, but I think the
cane was more for sympathy than necessity. Occasionally, I’d catch her walking
fine, but when she’d see me looking, she’d get that limp going again. It didn’t
matter. The poor woman probably deserved a little attention after being around
her argumentative sister, Bertie. Thank goodness, Mabel was there to keep them
straight.

We strolled on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine and the
light banter between Loukas and Bella. They joked about all the fun times they
had shared together on this island. He teased her about the skimpy bathing suit
she used to wear, and she kidded him about flirting with all the young women.
Even after all these years, one could tell they were still very much in love.
They had a bond that could never be broken.

I particularly took interest when I looked over and saw
Bertie and
Utah
standing head-to-head, fingers
pointing, and their bodies dancing around as if they were going to start boxing
next. I smiled, looked around, and then realized that nobody was paying any
attention to them. And if they were, they probably brushed it off knowing that
someone would intervene before the two actually came to blows. When I looked
back over at them, they saw me staring. I didn’t care. I stared right back. I
wanted them to know that their behavior was embarrassing. They were making
fools of themselves. Grow up!

They turned and puffed off in opposite directions, but not
before
Jena
captured a photo of them at their
best. I grinned when
Jena
looked my way. She gave me the
thumbs up signal.

One truly odd thing I also noticed was that Ruby’s husband,
Jeff, was continuously text messaging someone. Can’t one take a vacation away
from all that, or are they so addicted to that little gadget that they can’t
stop? I approached him and asked him about his cell phone, saying that I found
these new ones too complicated for me. He went on to explain the functions of
his Blackberry in great detail. I commented that it took me an hour to write my
very first email letter. A gadget that did all the stuff that thing could do
would send me around in circles. He assured me that it would not. I had to drag
myself away from him. I was sorry I asked.

I wanted to go into the water for a dip, but wasn’t dressed
for the occasion. I surely didn’t want to wear wet clothes the rest of the
trip, so that was not an option. I thought about this and I thought about that,
but my mind kept coming back to the scene with Bertie and
Utah
. What were they arguing about? Was it just their
dislike for each other, or was it something else? My detective mind went into
overdrive. What was really going on with those two? I let my mind wander. Was
this a scene between two criminals who were arguing because their plans had
gone asunder or failed to materialize? I put those thoughts and suspicions on
the back burner for now, but I knew something was amiss with those two. I just
knew it!

Thirty minutes later, we got back on the bus and listened to
the driver tell us more about the wonderful town of
St. George
as he drove. He rattled on until we
hit a bump in the road that tossed all of us forward.

A gunshot echoed throughout the bus, shattering a window.

“Sorry about that folks,” Ollie said, not even hearing the
blast. “I’ve driven this road so…”

“Stop the bus!” Billy yelled. “Everyone get down. Get on the
floor!”

The driver brought the bus to a screeching halt as everyone
else got knocked around trying to hit the floor. I looked over in the direction
of Loukas, who had been riding alongside his personal bodyguard, Jacob, and saw
that he was on the floor under Jacob. Jacob’s arm was covered in blood.

Allison yelled, “Bella’s okay! Is Loukas hit?”

“He’s safe!” Jacob yelled back. “I’ve been hit in the arm,
but I’m okay... fortunately.”

A second later, the screaming stopped, and all I could hear
in the now silent bus, was the action of guns being brought out, and slides
being pulled back. The bodyguards! They have guns! It was music to my ears.
Nobody moved. I don’t know if we were waiting for our commander, Bella, to tell
us what to do next, or if we were just too scared to move.

Finally, Billy called to the driver, “Okay, Ollie, you think
you got enough in you to get up in your seat and get this bus moving again?”

Ollie was balled up in the stairwell of the bus. He crawled
back up into this seat and yelled back to Billy, “You bet I do.” He floored the
accelerator.

We were traveling at a dangerously high rate of speed when
Billy told the driver he could slow down. “I think we’re safe now. The shooter
didn’t get his intended victim, so I’m sure he’s run off like the coward he is.
You need to get us to a hospital as fast as you can. Jacob has a gunshot wound
to his arm.”

“No!” Loukas yelled to Ollie. “Take us to Welsh Clinic.”

Some of us were stunned that Loukas didn’t want to go to a
hospital, but no one questioned his decision.

“I’ll have you there in ten minutes,” Ollie shouted back.
“Everybody grab onto something and hold on!”

Everyone slowly got up off the floor of the bus, and started
checking each other out. Shattered glass covered the seat in which Loukas and
Jacob had been sitting, and shards of it were on the floor.

“Be careful,” Bella said. “There’s glass on the floor.”

I looked over at
Savannah
,
saw that her hand was bleeding, and cried, “You’ve been hit!”

“No, I haven’t,” she said as she clutched the bleeding hand.
“I cut it on this glass.”

McCoy was by her side, his arms around her, holding her. “She
won’t let me see it,” he said. “I think she’s too scared to look at it.”

“Let me see,” Billy said in a calm and rational manner,
crouching as he went to her. He looked at me as he passed and asked, “Are you
okay?”

“Yes,” I whispered nervously. My stomach was in knots, and I
had the shakes as if it were ten degrees. “Check on
Savannah
. I think she’s hurt worse than she
lets on.”

Billy took
Savannah
’s hand in his, looked at it, and
immediately pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket. He wrapped her hand
snugly with the cloth and said, “You’re going to need stitches,
Savannah
. That’s a nasty cut you have there.”

The ride to the clinic was short. During those few minutes,
conversation was minimal, and when someone did speak, their voice would trail
off in mid-sentence as if they knew no one was interested in what they had to
say.

Billy hugged me as we rode. He knew I was scared, and he also
knew my mind was racing. “What’s on your mind, `ge ya?” he finally asked. “I
know something has your attention. You’re too quiet.”

“What would’ve happened if Ollie hadn’t hit that bump?”

His words, although spoken in a hushed tone, echoed
throughout the bus. “Loukas would probably be dead.”

The Welsh Clinic was several blocks from
Town
Center
, which was only two blocks from the
police station. Luckily, our route didn’t have to go past the latter. I was
sure that a bus with a shattered window filled with erratic people, riding by a
police station while exceeding the speed limit might catch the attention of at
least one cop. As soon as the bus pulled up in front of the pastel blue
building, Loukas took control.

“I want everyone to get off the bus and then surround Jacob
and
Savannah
. I don’t want spectators to see
blood, and then call the police. I also don’t want our celebrity to attract the
attention of onlookers. We’ll handle them later. The clinic doesn’t allow tours
to anyone except contributors. If people are watching, they’ll just think we’re
another group of rich Americans who want to know how those millions of dollars
we’ve donated to the clinic have been spent.”

“Won’t there be other patients at the clinic?” McCoy asked.
“They’re bound to see us. If a large group walks in, and a couple of them are
bleeding, people get curious.”

“Loukas and Bella will fix this,”
Utah
said in his usual snide manner. “They always do.”

Everyone ignored
Utah
’s
remark and got up to leave the bus… all except Ollie. Loukas instructed him to
stay with the bus and cooperate with the police when they arrived.

We followed Loukas’ advice and maintained close contact
within the group. We snuggled together like a bunch of penguins protecting
their young eggs from the frigid cold in
Antarctica
.
We even walked like them.
Savannah
was the first to laugh. By the time
we got inside the building, everyone was laughing. How silly we must’ve
looked—people bleeding and laughing.

A door chime went ding-ding as we entered. It reminded me of
the alarm system we have at our office. Since Jonathan’s house was blown up,
everyone in our family has had one installed. I loved that sound. It made me
feel safe.

The office was empty, so happily, the only crowd we drew was
the girls behind the glass enclosure of the doctor’s clinic. They didn’t have
time to react before Bella stormed their room through the patient’s entry door
and requested in a most demanding way to see Dr. Welsh.

“He’s with a patient,” we heard one of the girls say.

“Go tell him right now that Bella and Loukas Constance have
an emergency and need his attention immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am, Mrs. Constance. I’ll get him right away.”

Bella walked back out into the waiting room and said, “He’ll
be right with us.”

“Are you one of those rich Americans who donated millions to
this clinic?” I asked with a smile on my face. “Or, do people just
automatically jump when you say so?”

“Both, my dear.” She smiled back at me.

A minute later, before we had time to sit down, a tall,
handsome man with a white doctor’s coat walked out into the waiting room and
greeted Bella and Loukas. His skin was tanned from living on the island, and
his body showed no signs of fat anywhere that I could see.

“I’m sorry to pull you away from your patient, Dr. Welsh, but
we have an emergency,” Loukas said. “My bodyguard has a gunshot wound to the
arm, and
Savannah
needs stitches in her hand. We had a
little accident.”

“I would say so,” the doctor replied. “You know I have to
report gunshot wounds to the police.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re well aware by now, but do what you
must. We had a security detail following us. There have been death threats on
my life.”

“More threats? Don’t they get tired of trying to bump you
off?” The doctor chuckled, and then turned to one of the girls behind the glass
enclosure and motioned to her. She hustled to his command.

“Ask Dr. Voight to finish up with my patient. It’s Mrs.
Waterfield. He’ll know what to do. Tell him I have two people who are bleeding
and need emergency care immediately.”

“Yes, sir,” the girl replied and hurriedly left the room.

“Okay, everyone follow me.”

“All of us?”
Utah
asked. “Why do I have to go?”

“Because in about two minutes this place is going to be
crawling with cops,” Loukas said. “And you’re the last person I want to be
running off at the mouth.”

“The cops can’t go past these doors,” Dr. Welsh added. “That
will buy you some time to decide what you want to tell them.” He looked at
Loukas. “We’d better move quickly. I’ll stitch up the young lady’s hand while
your bodyguard’s arm is cleaned and x-rayed. Then I’ll fix him up.”

We walked through a door and down a hallway that led to a
large nurse’s station in the middle of the room. Other hallways led off in four
different directions. Closed doors spaced evenly apart lined the hallways.

“This reminds me of Greene Family Medicine,”
Savannah
said. “Their new office in
Ruckersville is set up just like this. It’s nice, just like your clinic, Dr.
Welsh.”

“Thank you,” he replied.

“You can call me
Savannah
,”
she said.

“I thought you looked familiar,” the doctor replied. “You’re
Savannah Kelley! My wife reads all your books! It’s an honor to meet you.” The
doctor stopped gushing and said, “Now, let’s have a look at that hand. When I’m
finished with you, the scarring will be minimal. If you ever get your palm read
you can tell the psychic that tiny little scar in your lifeline was just a bump
in the road of life.” The two of them turned and walked down the hallway.

Bump in the road, huh? Now, isn’t that a coincidence? Another
possible suspect. There goes my suspicious mind, again.

The rest of us were shown into a large conference room by a
cheerful young lady dressed in scrubs bearing designs of the characters in
Peter Pan. She must be the one who examines the children who are brought here,
I thought to myself.

When the Peter Pan lady walked out of the room, Loukas closed
the door, turned to us, and then said, “As you all just heard, I hired a
security detail to watch over us while we were on the island.”

The ding-ding of the door alarm chimed, and a few seconds
later, it chimed again… and then again… and again.

“That must be the security detail I hired,” Loukas said.
“It’s about time they got here.”

“Maybe someone heard the shot and reported it to the police,”
Billy said. “It could be the police.”

“Let’s hope so,” Loukas said. “I’d like to have a word with
them.”

Loukas wasn’t happy. Not only had he hired a security team
for extra protection, but I’m sure he had expected the police to do their job
as well, thus doubling our safety coverage.

“If the detail dropped the ball, I’m sure there were plenty
of people on this island who would’ve noticed when a bus got hit by a sniper.
They would’ve heard the shot. Someone should’ve reported the incident by now.
Why hadn’t they?” I asked Loukas. “Why didn’t we alert the police as soon as
the bus was attacked?”

Loukas turned to me and replied, “I knew my team was out
there, and they were instructed to immediately call the police if something
happened. I’m sure the cops are in the waiting room along with my team.” He
looked at Billy. “I want you and McCoy to come with me to give my report to the
cops about what happened. I chose not to take our injured to the hospital
because it was too far away, and I have no idea who could have done this.” He
looked at McCoy and said, “I’ll leave it up to you to let me know what
questions I shouldn’t answer. I don’t anticipate a problem in that department,
but just in case…”

“Sure,” McCoy said. “I’ll make sure everything is done
legally, and if it turns out anyone in this group needs legal representation, I
will handle that as well.” He looked around the room.

“What does that mean?” a furious Bertie asked. “Why would we
need your services? We didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I think what Mr. Kelley meant, Bertie,” Dorothy started to
say when McCoy interrupted her.

“All I meant was that I’m a lawyer, and if anyone needs my
help, I’m here for them. Anything could go wrong when one is on vacation.” He
looked at Bertie and smiled. “I didn’t mean anything accusatory about it, if
that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Then why…”

“Enough,” Loukas said, silencing the room. He motioned to
Billy and McCoy, and then looked at me and said, “Please stay close to Bella
for me, Jesse.”

“Sure. I’ll tie a rope around her if I have to.” I put my arm
around Bella and added. “We’ll take care of each other.”

Loukas looked at Bella. “Don’t go anywhere, Bella. I must
insist. I know how you like to slip off and nose around. Don’t do it. Jesse
will be here for moral support and to make sure you don’t.”

I wondered why he didn’t ask Bella’s personal bodyguard,
Allison, or one of his daughters until he added, “I know you’ll lie to Allison
and the girls, but Jesse will see right through you. She won’t buy your
fabricated tales. I know I can count on her to keep you straight.”

I laughed. “Go ahead,” I said to Loukas. “You’re right. She
can’t get away with lying to me. It’s in my blood to automatically suspect she
has something up her sleeve. I’ll stick to her like glue.”

“If you think you’re going to the bathroom with me, you’re
wrong,” Bella joked. “I have certain demands when it comes to my privacy!”

“All right, Minnie. Am I going to have to call you that?
You’re acting just like her.”

“You wait until I meet your mother, young lady. I’m going to
tell…”

Loukas, Billy, and McCoy left the room to go out and talk
with the police. I could just imagine how that conversation was going to go.

Ten minutes later,
Savannah
walked out of the examination room with her hand bandaged.

“I’ve stitched her hand, and she’s going to be fine,” Dr.
Welsh said. “Now, I must attend to my other patient.” He immediately took
leave.

“Does it hurt?” Bertie asked as she walked over to
Savannah
. “I hope you don’t think I had
anything to do with the shooting, because I didn’t, and I don’t know who did.”

Surprised,
Savannah
said, “Of course, I don’t, Bertie.
Why would you say that?”

“Well…” Bertie’s words lingered as she looked at me. “Some
people think one of us might be a killer.”

“Don’t look at me!” I said, defiantly. “I never accuse anyone
without reason, and I never pointed the finger at you. As a matter-of-fact, I
never suspected you of anything. Should I?” I lied. I suspected something
wasn’t right about that woman from day one. Annoying people such as her usually
have a reason to be that way. Either they’re sad souls, unhappy with their
life, or just plain hateful people. I didn’t, however, think she was a hateful
person. I figured she just never got the attention she wanted out of life. Too
bad. Sometimes that’s the way life goes. As long as she wasn’t the type to
cause trouble to get what she wanted, I could deal with her obnoxious ways.

“Bertie,” I continued. “Admit it. When McCoy offered his
services to us, you were the one who got defensive. Why don’t you just tell
Savannah
the truth? McCoy was the one who got
you all riled up, so don’t insinuate that it was me. You should know by now
that I’m not going to let it slide. If you try to put the blame on me with your
eyes or your mannerisms, you should be well-advised that I am not weak, and I
will stand up for myself.”

Bertie was flabbergasted that I stood up to her. Apparently,
very few people ever did, probably because she’d bore them to death trying to
prove she was right.

“Ladies, please,” Bella said in a soothing voice, calming the
situation. “What does it matter? The important thing is that everyone’s all
right. Oh, here comes the doctor. Let’s hope the news is good.”

“Jacob is one tough fellow—and lucky. The bullet went right
through his bicep and never touched the bone. I cleaned his wounds, stitched
them up, and gave him a shot of penicillin. Amazingly, he never flinched once.
Yes, he’s one tough hombre.”

“And he’s dedicated,” Bella said almost in tears. “He’d take
a bullet for me or Loukas.”

“He did,” I said. “You’re lucky to have that kind of dedication,
Bella. All these guys, and Allison, would lay down their lives for you. That’s
one of the things I noticed about them. I can tell from the way they act.
They’re not just protecting you. They genuinely care about you and Loukas.”

“You’re correct,” Allison agreed. “Bella and Loukas aren’t
just our bosses, they’re our friends. We love them as we do our own family. I
can tell you one thing—if I’m going to eat a bullet for someone—I’m going to be
the one who chooses who I die for.”

“Yeah,” Bella added. “When we hired Allison, she was the one
who did the interviewing. She specifically said that no matter how much money
she was offered, if she didn’t like the person, she wouldn’t take the job. She
asked Loukas and me more questions than I had ever considered asking her. We
hit it off right away. And then when she suggested her brother, Jacob, for
Loukas, well… I couldn’t wait to meet him. I knew that if he was anything like
her, I’d love him. She won me over with her determination to be in charge,
because she should be when it comes to our safety. Anyone who will let me plow
right over them isn’t worth having.” She smiled warmly at Allison.

“So, Jacob is your brother?” I asked. “I didn’t know that.
That’s been hidden well. And believe me, Billy and I checked you guys out. I
guess we didn’t dig deep enough. We thought it might be a waste of time. You
just never know, do you? Life can sure throw a few surprises at you.”

“I’m divorced, but I still go by my married name.”

“See, if we had dug deeper, we would’ve found that out.”

“Jacob will be out in a minute,” Dr. Welsh said. “I think
he’s trying to hit on my nurse.”

We chuckled.

“Ah, here he is now,” Bella said, gleefully. She walked up to
him, looked at his bandaged arm and said, “Thank you so much, Jacob. You saved
my husband’s life. I’m forever in your debt. Does it hurt badly?”

“Yes,” Jacob responded. “It hurts so bad that I think I need
a night off. Yeah, rest, that’s what I need.”

Bella looked at him funny and said, “Jacob, you’ve never
asked for time off before. Did that nurse agree to go out with you?”

“You know she did,” he said, smiling. “How could she resist?
I’m charming, good-looking, brilliant…”

Bella looked at me and asked me where my boots were. We both
laughed, got the crowd going, too, and then our laughter was quelled when
Loukas, Billy, and McCoy walked back into the room.