Kelly's Koffee Shop (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystey Book 1) (17 page)

“So you put some weights
in a burlap bag, tied the weighted bag to her body, and dropped her in the
ocean.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much
what happened. I put her and the bag that was tied to her in the dinghy and
covered her with a tarp. It was early and there’s just a few people around here
who live on their boats. I got in the dinghy and motored out a few hundred
yards. I looked around and didn’t see anyone. I lifted her out of the boat and
eased her into the water on the seaward side of the dinghy, so no one could see
what I was doing from shore. After that I came back to the boat, relaxed a
little bit with some recreational stuff I have,” he said, winking, “and fell
asleep for the rest of the day. Next thing I knew someone was knocking on the
door of the boat. It was the sheriff, asking if I knew anything about her
death. Told him I didn’t. That’s about it. Think your time to be asking a bunch
of dumb questions is about up. If you got any prayers to say or anything like
that, might want to do it now. Think I’ll do the dog first so he won’t bark
when I kill you.”

Mike, I am so sorry. I
should have kept my promise to Doc. I know who did it, but it sure isn’t going
to do any good
. She bent down and scratched Rebel’s ears, tears in her eyes. “You’ve
been a good friend. So long. I love you”

Doc pulled in next to Kelly’s car and
turned to Mike. “Do you know which boat Chris owns?”

“Yes. I talked to all the
live-aboards the night Amber was found. I remember he was at the end of the
floating dock. We’ll go down that first gangway. What’s wrong?”

“Uh, Mike, I’ve never been
on a dock before, much less a boat. You see, I’m terrified of being around
water. I really don’t feel good about it.”

“Doc, look at it as a
learning experience and that you’ll probably be helping Kelly. Remember, you’re
the one who called me. Come on, we can’t waste any more time. She’s about ten
minutes ahead of us as it is.” He opened the door of Doc’s truck as quietly as
he could and took his gun from his holster. He noticed that Doc pulled a gun
out from beneath his shirt. “Doc, are you authorized to carry that gun?”

“Yes. I’ve got a permit,
but I’ve never done this before.”

“Well just stay behind me
and cover my back. Are you a good shot?”

“The best. Believe me,
that’s one thing you don’t need to worry about.”

Mike put up his hand.
“Stop. Doc, did you hear that? It sounded like a dog bark.”

Doc listened for a moment.
“Don’t hear a thing.”

“I must be skittish, but
it sounded like Rebel’s bark, although I don’t hear anything now. Come on.”

The only sounds they heard
were from the merrymaking at the yacht club and water gently lapping against
the sides of the boats. The lights coming from Chris’s boat, Avalon, glowed
softly on the water. As they neared Chris’s boat they heard music and Doc
whispered, “I think he’s playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. If he wasn’t a
suspect, I’d be impressed.”

“Well, don’t be, because
he’s definitely a suspect in my book, although I don’t hear any voices coming
from his boat and you know how Kelly loves to talk.”

When they reached the side
of the boat, they looked in the window. Chris was sitting on his couch reading
a book. There was no sign of Kelly or Rebel.

Mike knocked on the side
of boat. A moment later Chris opened the glass sliding door at the rear of the
boat and said, “Who is it?”

“Chris, it’s Sheriff Mike.
I need to talk to you a minute. Mind if I come on board? Have a friend with me.
Okay?”

“Sure, Mike.”

Mike looked over at Doc
whose face was ashen. Doc whispered to Mike, “I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can. You’ll be
fine. The boat’s tied up and nothing’s going to happen to you. Trust me.”

“Mike, why do you have
your gun drawn? Am I under arrest for something?” Chris said, laughing. “And
your friend has a gun as well. What’s going on?”

“Well, Chris. Why don’t
you tell us? Where are Kelly and Rebel?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t
seen either one of them since this morning when I had breakfast at the coffee
shop. Care to fill me in? I mean there must be some reason you’re coming onto
my boat with guns drawn.”

Mike kept his gun in his
hand. “Chris, you’ve become a prime suspect in Amber’s case. Kelly told Doc she
thought maybe you’d admit everything to her if she confronted you. He made her
promise she wouldn’t do it without me. She never called me and we have good
reason to believe she’s here. Her minivan is parked in its usual place in the
lot.”

“Wait a minute, Mike. I
don’t know what you’re talking about. Amber was a student of mine and I saw her
at the football games and with Brandon. That’s it. She’s never been on my boat
and I’ve never seen her outside of class or on the football field. You’re
welcome to look around. What is it that makes you think I did it?”

“Later, Chris. Right now
we’ve got to find Kelly. If she’s not on your boat, she must be on someone
else’s.” He turned to Doc. “Remember when I told you I thought I heard a dog
bark. I’ll bet it was Rebel.” He turned back to Chris. “Who else lives on their
boat down here?”

“I just remembered I saw
Amber down here once. It looked like she was coming out of a boat one row over.
I’d completely forgotten about it. At the time I thought it was odd, and that
was the end of it.”

“Do you know whose boat it
is? Is someone living on it?”

“Yes, someone lives on it,
but I don’t know the guy’s name. Think I heard that his aunt owned the boat and
he was only going to stay on it for a few months. Do you think she could be
there?”

“I don’t know, but I’m
going to find out. That was definitely the direction I heard the bark coming
from. Doc, come on.”

“Wait a minute, I’m coming
too,” Chris said. “If I’m a suspect, I’d like to clear my name. I don’t own a
gun, but with both of you packing, I probably don’t need one.”

Mike was back on the dock
before Chris had finished speaking. Doc was right behind him, more than happy
to get off of Chris’s boat. Mike held his finger up to his lips indicating for
them to be quiet. He looked over at the row of boats next to Chris’s and he
could see lights coming from the third boat down the dock. He motioned for them
to follow him.

A few steps from the boat,
Mike stopped and indicated that Chris and Doc were to stay there. He silently
walked over to the boat and heard Kelly talking to Rebel. Instinctively, he
jumped aboard. At the sound of Mike landing on his boat, Derek turned and fired
a wild shot at him. Fortunately for Mike, the drugs Derek had used earlier
affected his vision and the shot missed Mike by less than an inch.

“Attack, Rebel, attack,”
Kelly screamed at Rebel. In one blindingly fast movement Rebel leaped onto
Derek, snarling and growling, biting the arm that held his gun. Derek fell to
the floor, writhing in pain, his gun sliding out of his hand and clattering
across the deck of the boat. Rebel stood on top of him, growling, his teeth
inches from Derek’s face. Doc and Chris jumped on board. Mike and Doc both
pointed their guns at Derek.

“Kelly, get Rebel off of
him.”

“Rebel, stand down. Stand
down, boy,” she commanded.  He walked over to her and lay down, panting. She
rubbed his ears, “Good boy. You saved Mike’s life and mine too.”

“Get up,” Mike said to
Derek. “You’ve got some serious explaining to do.”

“Mike, he killed Amber,”
Kelly blurted out. “I recorded it all. I know you told me not to buy that
little miniature recorder when we saw it for sale on the Internet. You told me
it was just a come-on, but I did it anyway. I hope it worked.” She rewound the
tape in the recorder and pressed the play button.

A second later, all of
them heard, “You’re the one who killed Amber…” She turned it off and smiled at
Mike. “His full confession is on this recorder. Amber visited him the morning
of the murder and told him she was pregnant. He pretended they needed to make
love to celebrate their upcoming marriage and he hit her on the head with one
of his weights. From there everything that happened was just like we’ve
suspected. We just had the wrong man.”

She turned to Chris. “I
owe you a big apology. I was certain that you had killed Amber…”

Chris interrupted her.
“Whatever made you think that? My sister was murdered and I still have
nightmares about it. That’s why I don’t own a gun. I’m the type that takes
spiders outside and lets them go rather than kill them. I’d be the last person
to kill anything. I can’t believe you thought I was the killer. I felt like we
were friends. I noticed you got kind of funny when you saw the free weights on
my boat and I couldn’t figure out why.”

“Think about it, Chris,”
Kelly said. “You’re a good looking man, a man a young woman might have
fantasies about. You live on your boat. You row your boat every morning and you
knew Amber. She was drowned in the bay. Only someone who had a boat or access
to a boat could have taken her out into the bay and dumped her body overboard.
There aren’t many people who live on their boats here at the marina, so you
were a natural suspect. I pretty much eliminated the other suspects, but I
couldn’t eliminate you.”

“Wait a minute, Kelly,”
Mike said. “What do you mean ‘you eliminated them? I think once again you’ve
forgotten that I’m the sheriff of this county and this case is not only in my
jurisdiction, but officially it’s my case, not yours.”

“You’re absolutely right.
I just know how busy you are and I wanted to help you.”

“You helped all right. You
solved the case, but you almost got both you and Rebel killed in the process.
Do me a favor and don’t try to help me with any more cases. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said, mentally
crossing her fingers.

“I heard Kelly call you
Derek. Derek, you’re under arrest for the murder of Amber Cook. I’m going to
read you your Miranda rights and then we’re going to take a little trip to the
county jail. You’ll be arraigned and then a trial date will be set. Don’t know
if you have any money, but the judges in this county don’t look too kindly on
letting accused murderers out on bail, so even if you do have some money, don’t
think that will happen. Doc, keep him covered while I get the Miranda card out
of my wallet.” He read Derek his rights and then called his deputy to come down
to the marina. He told his deputy he didn’t have his car and he had a prisoner
in custody that needed to be transported to the county jail.

“Kelly, I think it’s time
for you and Rebel to go home. I’ll be along when I finish this up. Doc, thanks
for following your gut instinct and calling me when Kelly promised you she
wouldn’t visit Chris without me.” He looked over at Kelly who had a very
contrite look on her face.

“Chris, you can go back to
your boat and listen to the rest of the sonata. Sorry I had to bother you, but
I’m sure after you’ve had a chance to think about it, you’ll realize you were a
very viable suspect. I’m glad it wasn’t you.” Mike turned to Doc, “Derek’s
going to walk up the gangway and into the parking lot where my deputy’s car
should be waiting. I’ll be right behind him with my gun on him and I’d like you
to follow us in case he has any last minute grandiose ideas like jumping into
the ocean and swimming to safety. If he makes a move, shoot him.”

“It would be my pleasure,”
Doc said.

The three of them made
their way up the gangway where the red and blue lights on top of the deputy’s
car were blinking in the parking lot.

Kelly turned to Rebel and
said, “Well, Rebel, that was a little more exciting than I’d planned. Good boy.
Think we need to get home and give you some treats, however, I’m not sure what
the proper food is to give a dog that has just saved my life.”

He let out a woof, wagged
his tail, and followed her up the gangway.

The graduates filed into the school
auditorium, black caps and gowns on, proud looks on both their faces and the
faces of their family members. Mike squeezed Kelly’s hand knowing how hard it
must be for her not to see her goddaughter graduate. Amber’s parents, Ginger
and Bob, had chosen not to attend the graduation. Their loss was still too
fresh for them to sit through the graduation ceremony. The town had been full
of rumors the last two days, and as usual, some were right and some weren’t. All
that was really known was that Dottie’s nephew had been arrested on her boat
and charged with murdering Amber.

Dr. Ricketts, the school
principal, walked up to the podium. The faculty members were seated behind him.
He spoke for a few moments and then began calling out the names of the
graduating seniors. After their name had been called, the students walked
across the stage and Dr. Ricketts’ secretary handed them their rolled diploma
tied with a blue ribbon. The high school in Cedar Bay wasn’t a large one and it
didn’t take long to call the names of the one hundred twenty-six graduates.
After the last diploma had been given out, Dr. Ricketts again stepped to the
podium.

“Today it is my distinct
pleasure to introduce Brandon Black who will deliver the valedictorian address.
I’ve known Brandon since he came to Cedar Bay High School as a freshman. While
his performance as a quarterback has already become legendary, I want everyone
here to know that his academic accomplishments are equally legendary. It is rare
to have a student graduate with a perfect 4.0 average, but Brandon was able to
do that. He is a role model for every current student as well as future
students, and although he will be missed, all of us will be following his next
challenge, playing football for Oregon State on a full scholarship. What most
people don’t know is that not only was he awarded a football scholarship, if he
had chosen not to play for Oregon State, the university also offered him a full
academic scholarship. To say this school is proud of his achievements would be
the understatement of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, I can think of no one
more deserving to deliver the valedictorian address than Brandon Black.”