Murdering the Roses (A Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery) (8 page)

Aunt Ida smiled triumphantly. She loved the fact that
Vicky could follow along with her ideas.

“So if it is a treasure chest, and it is
buried, where is it buried?” Aunt Ida wondered with a frown. “If he went to this much trouble to hide it, then he probably did a good job of burying it. But this property is so huge, we may never be able to find it,” she sighed with disappointment. It was not like Aunt Ida to give up on anything, but this task seemed particularly impossible.

Vicky
was lost in thought for a moment. She was trying to remember if she had ever noticed Bob digging anywhere in the short time that he had worked there. The truth was it could be buried anywhere, even off the property. But Vicky had a hunch that Bob would have done anything to keep the spoils from his robbery close to him. He would have wanted to keep an eye on it. He probably knew the whole time that there were criminals searching for it.

Then she remembered the first time she had realized she made a mistake by hiring Bob. It was when she asked him to finish adding some decking to the employee quarters. He promised it would be an easy task for him, and that he was more than capable of doing it. She had gone out back to check on him, and found him digging beside the deck instead of in front of it where she wanted the deck to be extended. She watched him for a few minutes, trying to figure out just why he would need to dig beside the deck. She was always trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then finally, she had asked him.

"Why are you digging over here?" she asked, mystified. "I told you, I want the deck built straight forward from the one that is already there," she reminded him and crossed her arms with irritation. She had even considered that he might have been drinking. She distinctly recalled sniffing for the scent of alcohol, and getting a nose full of dirt kicked by his digging instead.

"I know what I'm doing," Bob had barked at her sharply, as he pushed the shovel back down deeper in the dirt. "Just leave me alone, it'll get
it done,” he had been very rude and brusque, as if he wanted to get rid of her as quickly as possible.

Vicky
had been put off by the way he talked to her, but at the same time she needed the deck done, so she decided to let it go and walk away. What did she care if he dug extra holes? He obviously was not very bright, and that was something she had remembered about him from high school. He never did very well in his classes. She had never really thought about that day again, since Bob had finished the deck and it had turned out just fine. He filled in the extra hole he had dug, and she had just assumed that he realized his mistake.

"I think I know where he buried it,"
Vicky whispered, absolutely stunned as the memory played over in her mind. Was it really possible that she had interrupted Bob creating a hiding place for his stolen money? She couldn't believe how naive she had been to think that he was really just looking for a job. She had been rubbing elbows with a violent criminal without even realizing it. He was looking for a place to lay low until he was sure it was safe to spend his fortune.

"Where?"
Aunt Ida pressed and grinned eagerly as she snapped her fingers. "I'll get the shovel!"

"By the deck,"
Vicky nodded slowly, trying to recall the exact spot where he had dug. "If it's going to be anywhere, it's going to be buried beside that deck!" she said with confidence.

It felt a bit like a wild goose chase. What were the chances that they were right? But what harm would it do to dig a little hole beside the deck? It would do a lot of good if it turned out to be true. They stopped at the garden shed on the way to the employee's quarters to grab a shovel. All of the tools had been inspected and evaluated, but none had shown any evidence of being involved in the crime. When they reached the area beside the deck,
Vicky carefully looked over the dirt and grass. She was replaying the memory so that she could find the exact right spot. Aunt Ida couldn't stop talking.

"Oh I bet there are jewels," she said gleefully, her eyes wide and shimmering. "How I love jewels. Just think of all that booty!"

"Aunt Ida," Vicky actually managed a laugh as she began digging where she thought the right spot was. "Bob wasn't a pirate,” she pointed out as patiently as she could.

"A pirate, or a thief, what's the difference?"
she shrugged mildly with a smile. "Who cares as long as there are diamonds in that treasure chest!" she was practically drooling at the thought.

Vicky
thought Aunt Ida's wild ideas were getting a little out of control, but again, she didn't think they would do any harm. As she pushed the shovel deep into the dirt, she hoped there really would be a treasure chest. If there was, she could turn it over to the police, and all of this would be put to rest. Vicky tossed quite a few shovels of dirt to the side.  It was hard work on an unusually warm spring day, and she was getting covered in sweat. The physical labor was also aggravating the bump on the back of her head, but she kept digging. Aunt Ida kept prattling on.

"Maybe Bob really did steal it from pirates," Ida pointed out dreamily. "We don't know what he might have stolen. So there really could be diamonds in there. If there is, it wouldn't do any harm to keep just one, now would it
Vicky?" she asked with a quiet giggle.

When
Vicky didn't answer she looked over at her niece. "Vicky?" she asked again.

Vicky
's shovel had struck something hard and large. Too large to be a pipe. Something was down there under the dirt.

"I think I found it," she murmured back, her brow covered in sweat. She crouched down and began to brush the dirt away with her bare hands. It wasn't long before she uncovered a large box. It was metal, and didn't exactly look like a treasure chest, but it did have a lock on the front that looked like it would fit the small key.
Vicky picked it up out of the hole and was about to turn around to show it to Aunt Ida, when they heard a booming voice call out to both of them.

"Put the box down!" Timothy commanded. He was positioned right behind them and must have sneaked up on them while they were busy staring at the box. When
Vicky looked up at him she looked down the barrel of a gun that was pointed in her direction. She was terrified, she had never had a real gun pointed at her before. Slowly, with trembling hands, she lowered the box to the ground in front of her.

"Well,
I can't tell you both how much I appreciate the two of you doing my dirty work for me," he laughed, and his gratitude actually seemed genuine. Vicky knew why, since the hot day was causing sweat to trickle down her back, and her arms were aching from digging.

“Why don't you just mind your own business?” Aunt Ida snapped, causing
Vicky's eyes to go wide.

“Shh!” she hissed at her aunt, who she was certain was going to get them both killed. “Just do what he says!”

Timothy laughed in reaction to the antics of the two and stepped forward to pick up the box. “Thanks again,” he called out.

Before he could bend all the way over, Aunt Ida shouted loudly.
“Now!”

Vicky
only stared as her aunt sprung into action and swung her foot hard between Timothy's legs. Timothy let out a loud yelp of pain and buckled over in pain before slowly tipping to the side and collapsing on the ground. He jerked and curled up, a loud low groan escaping his lips. He didn't look very scary when he was curled up like a baby, with tears slipping past his tightly squeezed lashes.

“Why didn't you help me when I yelled
‘now’?” Aunt Ida demanded with irritation as Vicky scooped up the box into her arms. It was a little heavy.

“I didn't think you were going to do that!”
Vicky pointed out breathlessly, her heart pounding so hard that she could barely hear her own voice over it. “Come on, hurry up, before he gets up off the ground.”

“Oh, he'll be a minute,” Aunt Ida said dismissively. “But just to make sure,” she landed one more swift kick between his legs just as he had stopped writhing on the ground. Still he clutched to his weapon for dear life.

“I'm going to kill you old woman!” he shouted through gritted teeth and writhed in pain once more.

“Ha, we'll see about that,” Aunt Ida smirked and stuck out her tongue at his rude words.

“Let's go, let's go,” Vicky tugged at her aunt's hand, there was no time for getting offended by a criminal's words. “Hurry!” She knew that as soon as the man was recovered enough to stand up they would both be in trouble. She thought it would be too much of a risk to try to disarm him, as he was clutching his gun, besides she had never shot one in her life and didn't think it would do her any good to have it. They couldn't run back towards the house, as he was already starting to get up, and to do so would mean that they would have to run past him.

“The truck!”
Vicky gasped out as she tugged Aunt Ida towards the staff parking lot. They had a truck for transporting large furniture and loads of supplies for the gardens. Vicky hadn't driven it for quite some time, in fact she was pretty sure that Bob would have been one of the last people to use it. But she still had a key for it in on her key chain in case of an emergency or if one of the staff lost the key to it. As they ran across the parking lot towards the truck, Vicky couldn't believe what they had just lived through. She kept glancing over her shoulder to see if Timothy was chasing them. He wasn't. In fact, he had stopped running towards them. He was looking past them when he shouted loudly.

“Get them! They have the box!”
Vicky turned back to the parking lot just in time to see Timothy stepping out of his car which he had just parked there. She felt a wave of dizziness as she wondered if she was losing her mind.

“Aunt Ida,” she gasped out, thinking that maybe she had a concussion after all. “Are you seeing what I'm seeing?”

Aunt Ida for once was stunned into silence. She too looked between the two men who appeared to be absolutely identical. When she finally found her voice she stumbled at her words.

“There are definitely two of them,” Aunt Ida said incredulously. “I just didn't expect they would be carbon copies of each other.”

“Twins!” Vicky suddenly cried out as she realized that this was the only way that there could be two of them. That was how one could have an alibi while the other was committing the crime!  “Aunt Ida we're going to have to move fast,” she hissed at her aunt and pulled her swiftly behind her. If they didn't make it to the truck then it was certain that they would end up just like Bob. Timothy and his twin brother weren't there to play games or to let people go, especially after what Aunt Ida had done to one of the brothers. So their only chance was to get into that truck, hopefully before either of them got off a shot in their direction.

Vicky
ran as fast as she could, though she had to be careful not to trip up Aunt Ida at the same time. Still it felt like it took them an eternity to get all the way across the parking lot. The entire time her heartbeats were thumping in time with the sound of the brothers' footsteps digging deep into the gravel parking lot. When she finally felt the cool surface of the door handle of the driver's side door of the truck, she felt an instant sense of relief, as if she had reached home base in a childhood game of tag. But this wasn't home base, and she wasn't automatically safe for reaching the truck. The men were still swiftly approaching them. Vicky tore open the door and pushed Aunt Ida up into the seat. Aunt Ida got stuck climbing over the middle console. Vicky reached up and gave her aunt's behind a firm shove until she tumbled into the passenger seat of the truck.

“
Oof, ouch!” Aunt Ida gasped and complained, but it was the only way to get her over the hump.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,”
Vicky mumbled quickly.  Then Vicky jumped up into the truck herself. She tossed the box onto the floorboard of the truck on the passenger side and shoved the truck key into the ignition.

“Please have gas, please have gas,” she mumbled as she tried to pull the driver's side door shut. Before she
could close it all the way, an arm shoved into the truck. It had the same tattoo on the forearm that Bob's did.

“Leave us alone!”
Vicky shrieked and slammed the door shut as hard as she could. The man cried out in pain as his arm was crushed by the heavy truck door. In the same moment she threw the truck into gear and slammed on the gas. One of the brothers fell down beside the truck and was half-dragged across part of the parking lot before he was able to get his arm free from the truck. The other brother pulled his gun and was preparing to shoot at the truck, when his identical counterpart commanded him not to.

“Don't! Gunfire will bring
the cops, that's the last thing we need! Those two have the box!” he shouted and ran towards the car he had driven into the parking lot. “Hurry up, get in!”

Vicky
saw this through the rear view mirror and cursed under her breath. She had hoped that once they got into the truck they would be home free. But the twins were pulling out of the parking lot right behind the truck! Aunt Ida finally managed to get herself upright in the passenger seat. She wasn't hurt, but she was more than a little frazzled.

“Ugh, I think I broke a nail,” she fretted as she looked down at her perfectly manicured fingernails.