Madison Westin 02-Deception in Paradise (10 page)

“I’ve been all over this town, in every dumpy bar, and no sign of Pavel,” Jax said. “His girlfriend is a drunk, babbling mess. All she could do was shake her head when I asked if she’d seen him. I scoured the docks and talked to his co-workers. He hasn’t shown up anywhere.”

I had obsessed every moment of the day that Pavel was going to show up any minute. I wanted to be supportive, but I was worn out. “I don’t want you here.”

“You know I don’t have anywhere else to go. After posting bail, I’m a little short on funds.” He pulled his pockets out of his shorts to stress his point.

I took a deep breath. “I saw the boat today. You failed to mention the damage. And what the hell did you do to the interior, walk on the white seats with muddy shoes? You’re lucky I don’t file grand theft charges against you.”

“I hope you don’t do that, but I can’t blame you if you did. ‘Sorry’ sounds lame, but I am sorry.”

I believed he was sorry, but somehow I knew he’d probably make the same choice again. “I need two aspirin, a margarita, or both.”

“You need a little loving from Mr. Sir.” He smiled.

“Thanks, but I have a boyfriend.”

Jax threw back his head and laughed. “Sure you do.”

I was surprised when the doorbell rang. My friends all walked in through the back French doors like cat burglars. I walked over to answer the door.

“Hi, Mother.” I briefly thought about falling on the floor in a pretend faint, but she would know I was faking and wouldn’t see the humor.

I hesitated, then stepped back so she could enter. I wanted the right setting to unload all of the dirty details, preferably public. Her first target would be Dickhead.

“Spoon and I got back about an hour ago. I thought I’d stop by on my way home.” She hugged me.

I knew the second she saw Jax.

“What are you doing here?” Mother demanded.

“Hi, Mother Madeline. Happy to see you, too.” He stood and hugged her.

“Why don’t you sit down, and Jax can tell you why he’s here,” I told her.

“This ought to be good.” Mother sat in a chair opposite Jax and stared at him.

“I’m here because of Madison, to show her how much I’ve changed and talk about the future.”

“I liked you as a son-in-law until your life went off the rails and you seemed incapable of helping yourself,” Mother said.

“I remember you telling me you wished me well as someone else’s husband.”

“Still doing drugs?” Mother asked.

“I’ve been clean for a year now. No drugs or cigarettes. I still drink, but only beer.”

“This is where you might want to get to the good part,” I said.

“Look, I hate these family things.” Jax stood up. “I’ll see you later.”

“Sit. Down.” He’d never admit it, but part of him was afraid of his ex-mother-in-law. “Madison, why don’t you tell me?”

I looked at Jax, and he turned away, but not quick enough. I saw the smirk on his face. He hated confrontation of any kind. The fact that I had to do all the talking was fine with him.

I started from when I found him sitting on my couch. I didn’t give her glossed-over highlights; I told her in tabloid headline detail. I stopped the tale just before the phone call from the Coast Guard.

Mother was red-faced with anger. Jax refused to make eye contact. I wanted to puke.

“What in the hell were you thinking?” She wagged her finger in Jax’s face. “How could you put Madison at risk?”

To his credit, Jax stayed quiet. He gave me a look that said, “What about the rest of the story?”

“Your lawyer will never get one of his grimy fingers on the deed to this property,” Mother said. “Here’s a better idea. Use a public defender to get yourself out of trouble.”

I jumped up. “I’ll get you a shot of Jack. Would you like some ice on the side?”

Mother had suspicion written all over her face. “Do I need a cigar, too?”

“That would be a good idea.” I was such a coward, trying to liquor her up before spilling the rest of the story.

Mother whirled and grabbed Jax’s arms, forcing him to look at her. “What else have you done?”

Jax stared at her.

“Mother, I…” I fumbled for the right words.

“If there’s more to the story, then spit it out,” Mother said.

I told her about the call from the Coast Guard, the missing Pavel, and that I’d been to see the boat and it was set for release in the morning.

“How did he get access to the boat?” Mother demanded.

“That’s a good question. I’ll let him tell you.” I pointed at Jax.

“I knew Madison wouldn’t care if I took it for the day,” Jax said.

“Did you ask? Did she give you the keys? Tell you where it was docked?” Mother fired her questions without waiting for answers.

“Madison,” Jax whined.

“Even if you were still part of the family, this would not be okay,” Mother said.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done any of this.” Jax hung his head. “I would fix all of this if I could. I still love Madison.”

“Love her?” Mother snorted. “Tell me this; would you want your sister married to you?”

“I don’t have a sister.” He paused. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Do you think you’re smart enough to scam a lawyer all by yourself? Did you ever ask yourself why the lawyer is doing this? Is there anyone else involved that you’ve failed to mention?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, putting his hands over his face.

She turned to me. “Did you give permission for Dickhead to take the boat out?”

“Of course I didn’t.”

“Have you filed a police report?”

“It’s in the Coast Guard report that he didn’t have my permission. I’m going to talk it over with Brad to see what steps we need to take to protect ourselves. I’ll take responsibility for fixing the boat, and I’ll be the one to tell Brad.”

Mother glared at Jax. “You need to leave.”

“We were just talking about that. He needs to stick around and help clean up this mess,” I said. “Would you mind if I called Spoon and had him pick up the boat in the morning?”

“Why Spoon?” she asked.

“He has the best towing equipment in town, and the boat needs to be moved to Moron’s for repairs.” With my mother doing whatever with Spoon, he’d be one less contact for me in the Cove. Putting him in middle would be out of the question.

“Don’t you think you should wait for Brad and see what he wants?” Mother asked. She was still angry with Jax, but had gone into cleanup mode.

“If Brad was in town right now, then I could do that, but the boat can’t sit at the Coast Guard indefinitely. I’m capable of making decisions.”

“Well, you have a lot of them to make. How long has he been here?” Her eyes cut to Jax.

“Long enough. I got a lawyer referral from Whit, and my new attorney should be back in town in a few days. I’m going to get all my questions answered and then make a plan. Do you want that drink now?”

“No, thanks. I have a long drive home. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” She hugged me and whispered, “We’ll figure this out.”

“I prefer Jax,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Mother asked.

“Do you think you could drop the Dickhead?” he asked.

Mother laughed. “I’ll think about it. Don’t get too comfortable.” She walked out the door. To her credit, she didn’t slam it.

I knew she’d been deprived of screaming her frustration, but she was good at not saying things she’d have to take back later. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let myself cry in front of Jax.

“Please don’t cry,” Jax said. “If you do, I’ll start crying, too.”

“The smartest thing you did was make her laugh.”

“I thought about telling her one of my stupid knock-knock jokes.” He smiled. “I don’t remember her being this scary.”

“That’s because when times got rough, you were scarce, avoiding my family completely.”

“What now?”

“You know she’s relentless. She’ll be back.” I started up the stairs.

He turned up the sound on the television.

CHAPTER 14

My phone rang just as I took a sip of my coffee. Getting a bad feeling, I hesitated before answering.

“Madison, sorry if you’re asleep, but I have news I know you’d want to hear.”

I was happy to hear Zach’s voice. “Good news, I hope.”

“I got a call from my friend at the Coast Guard. They pulled Pavel out of the water down by 21st Street.”

“So much for the theory he swam to shore. Why did it take so long for the body to show up?”

“There’s a lot of reasons. The biggest one being the currents. A man was out on his balcony, drinking his morning coffee, spotted him floating, and called the police.”

“That’s a terrible way to start the day.”

“There’s more. He didn’t drown. He died of a gunshot wound.”

“You mean murdered?” I screeched. The whole situation just went from bad to worse.

“Looks that way.”

“Jax would never shoot anyone. He hates guns. He doesn’t even own one.” Thank heaven I’d locked mine in the safe when he first showed up at my house.

“Did you know any of the people on the boat that night?” Zach questioned.

“No. New friends of Jax. I’m going to sit Jax down and wring specific details out of him about his night of joyriding.”

“Why don’t you let me do the investigating?”

“I’ve asked you a couple of times for information and haven’t gotten any,” I reminded him. “If stonewalling me is your way of telling me to mind my own business, you can forget it. I’m going to be involved. I can ask around, and then we can share information.”

“Do you want my help? Stay out of it. I don’t want you getting hurt. Someone murdered Pavel, and we’ve no idea who or why.”

“Will you at least keep me in the loop?”

“When are you getting rid of Dickhead?”

“Don’t you have an ex-wife? Is that what you would do?” I decided to take a page from his playbook and answer a question with a question.

“When you make up your mind what you’re doing, let me know,” he grumbled.

“What’s going to happen with Pavel now?”

“They’re in the process of sending his body to the morgue,” Zach said. “They’ll notify his family. A detective has been assigned to the case, though my friend didn’t know who. You can expect a visit from the police with all kinds of questions.”

“I’ll call Cruz and have him advise me on how to deal with that visit.”

“I don’t know what you’re going to tell Jax. His problems just got a whole lot worse,” Zach said.

“I should tell him they found Pavel. After that, I don’t know.”

“Did you get together with your mother?”

I didn’t want to relive that conversation. “She’s good in a crisis.”

“What did she have to say to Jax?”

“We both told him not to get comfortable.”

“Happy to hear that,” Zach said.

“Thanks for being the one to tell me about Pavel.” Zach didn’t know me very well if he thought I’d sit around and be scared, waiting for the next shoe to drop. “I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up the phone.

I wanted to pull the covers over my head and stay in bed all day. Pavel murdered! Was there a chance Jax was somehow involved? Zero chance, I answered myself.

I went upstairs and quietly opened the door to the guest bedroom. Jax was nowhere in sight, and the bed hadn’t been slept in. I didn’t want to deal with him anyway. I wanted more coffee.

Jazz lay on the couch, fast asleep. I noticed his food bowl was full and he had fresh water. No wonder he wasn’t weaving between my legs, howling. Jax loved Jazz, and the feeling was mutual. He had a way with animals and small children. I’d wanted a child with him, but it never happened. Later, I realized that was for the better.

I took my phone out and called Spoon.

“Madison Westin, what can I do for you?”

“Would you pick up my boat at the Coast Guard and tow it to Moron’s? I’ve already signed the release.”

“I’ll give the Coast Guard a call and take care of it,” Spoon said. “Anything else?”

“I really appreciate this. Send the bill to my house.” There was no need to give Spoon details. He knew the second anything happened in the Cove.

“You remember when I told you I could fix anything? Well, I can,” Spoon reminded me. “Keep that in mind.” When I first met him, he called himself “The Fixer.” That, coupled with the look on his face, had made my hair stand on end.

I called Moron and left a message to expect the boat. No explanation was necessary with him, either. He knew when a tourist stubbed their toe, which always surprised me since he was so unsociable.

Jax walked in the through the French doors.

“You look like crap. Did you sleep on the beach?” I asked.

“I couldn’t sleep. The damn sand gets everywhere.” He brushed some off on my floor. His eyes were bloodshot, and he reeked of liquor.

“You need to pull yourself together.”

“I want to go pick up the boat and drive it back. I’ll work on cleaning it up,” Jax said.

“I’ve already had it towed, and hopefully the repairs will be complete before Brad’s boat gets in.” It wasn’t true, but I didn’t want to fight with Jax. He’d never again get near the boat, no matter what I had to do.

“Have you heard anything?” Jax asked.

“I got a call this morning. Pavel’s body was fished out of the water.”

“What the fuck?” He covered his face with his hands. “I knew the guy for one hour, and he’s dead.” He looked up at me. “What? What else?”

“The police will be here today or tomorrow with more questions.”

“You and I could make all of this go away,” Jax said.

This ought to be good. “How’s that?”

“You tell the cops you were driving. Everyone knows you don’t drink and drive. By eliminating the alcohol factor, they’ll write it off as an accident.”

“The gaping hole in your fat idea is that I wasn’t on the boat that night,” I pointed out. “The four other people on the boat know that, and let’s not forget the Coast Guard knows it, too.”

“Oh, calm down. I’ll talk to all of them and tell them what to say,” Jax said with confidence.

“So everyone’s going to lie for you and face criminal charges and jail time? And what about me? I can think of several felonies I might be charged with.”