The Eyes Tell No Lies (16 page)

Arie
p
lopped down on the couch and ble
w out an exhausted breath. She had just got
ten
in from a
lunch
with the Craigs
while Cris went fishing with his cousins.
I
t was fun yet exhausting.
It had been a month since they found Kylee in the abandoned sugar factory and they
still hadn’t found the Daytime Killer
, which
was weighing heav
il
y on both
Arie’s
and
Cris’s
minds so much so that it was hard for them to sleep or think about anything else.
The only good they could see out of it was he hadn’t taken a new victim since the
fiasco with Kylee.

Arie
moaned and closed her eyes as events of the past month clouded her mind. They had
exhausted all their leads from
Grace
’s notes and their own.
They e
v
e
n brought in a fresh pair of eyes but nothing was working so far. Neither of them
w
as
happy and
the case was
tak
ing
over their lives. It
was
starting to put a strain on their lives. So
Cris
felt as though they should take a
small
step back and start over from the beginning to see if they missed anything.

Cris
had also taught
Arie
to drive in the past month and she had got
ten
her
l
icense. She thought since she could drive a boat since she was eight that driving
a car would be easy.
I
t wasn’t easy
.
I
t took a while for her to get everything under control
,
especially watching out for
the
crazy drivers who seemed to make up their own rules
on the road
.

Arie
was drifting into a much needed sleep when a vision over
came
her. She could see herself running into the woo
ds at a fast pace trying to out
run something. No
,
she realized it was
Grace
running from somebody when the person called out
Grace’
s name.
Arie
tried her best to turn around so she could see the person chasing
Grace w
hen she realized it was more than likely the night she died and the person chasing
her was the Daytime Killer. Just as she thought she wasn’t going to see the killer
,
Grace
turned her head around and
Arie
was looking into Tate’s eyes.

She was pissed off when she startled awake
.
S
he had suspected him for a
long time now and never said anything.

“Shit,” Arie mumbled when she remembered she let Cris borrow one of her father’s fishing
boats.
Now
Cris
and Mark both were in danger out on a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean.

She jumped up off the couch
,
h
urriedly slipped on her shoes
,
grabbed her
car
keys
and
the keys to her father’s boats
,
and her gun. As she ran toward
the car
,
she took out her phone and called the
c
aptain
t
el
ling him to send backup to the M
arina and that
Cris
was in danger and on a boat with the Daytime Killer.

Ignoring the
c
aptain telling her to stay home
the
police
would handle it
,
she jumped in her father’s car. As she drove toward the Marina
,
she called the Marina
’s
office so her boat would be ready to sail as soon as she
arrived
. Since
Cris
, Mark, and Tate were on one of her father’s many fishing boats he gave her
so she
knew
their coordinates. The Marina manager was also one of her father’s friends so he
didn’t really ask her any questions.

Twenty minutes later
Arie
was pulling up to the Marina. She parked as close to the docks as she could and
ran straight to the boat she needed
, a
Hison Jet boat since its Suzuki engine made the least
amount
of noise and the waves would
drown out the rest
. As she rounded the corner toward the boat she noticed someone was already there
untying the boat for her.

“Thanks
,
B
,
”
Arie
said as she jumped on the boat as the Marina owner
’s
son untied it for her.

“No problem
,
A
,
I already gassed her up for you. Be careful there is a
small
storm rolling in
,
” Brandon said as he threw the rope into the boat just as
Arie
started it.

“I need one more favor
,
the cops will be here soon
,
give them the Chapattis coordinates and one of my boats if needed.
Also cut off all communication to my radio unless I initiate it
,
”
Arie
said before taking off.

Arie
felt at home as the smell of the ocean hit her
nose
and the wind blew through her hair. She never thought she would be able to glide
her boat across the ocean again.
She felt
alive and nothing else mattered to her
w
hen she was on the ocean. Everything that was happening on land went away and it
was just her and the
water
.

She looked over at the coordinates and knew exactly where they were anchored. They
were up a few more miles ahead either inside of the hidden cave
s
he and Brandon spotted when they were younger or somewhere around it.

The waves whispered h
er name every time they crashed
against her boat
,
w
ell at least that
’
s what she heard every time they hit the boat when she was on the ocean.

Stop thinking about the ocean
,
Arie,
you don’t have time for that. You have to
save
Cris
from
Tate
. Come on
,
you only got a few more minutes to go
,
time to get your head in the fight
,
Arie
thought as she sped the boat up.

****

Five minutes later
Arie
was making sure everything was shut off on the boat as she coasted into the cave.
She stopped the boat a few inches away from the fishing boat and tied the rope Brandon
tossed on board to one of the rails on the
back of the
fishing boat. There was just eno
ugh light coming down from the
hole in the top of the cave for her to see what was happening on the boat.
Cris
and Mark were hanging from a rope tied to the head of the mast.

As she crouched down and took her gun out
,
she quietly made her way to the stern of the boat. She was being as careful as she
could since she hadn’t seen Tate since she stepped foot on the boat.

“
Cris
and Tate
,
I didn’t want to kill you two
,
but neither of you know how to mind your own business. I wouldn’t have to kill you
like I had to do
Grace’s
nosey ass. She just didn’t know how to mind her own bus
iness
. Now not only do I have to kill you two but I have to fake my own death
,
”
The
Daytime Killer said to
Cris
and Tate as they struggled against the rope.

What the hell
,
Mark is the killer not Tate
?
Arie
thought as she turned her head
, squinted her eyes, and realized it was Tate tied to the mast not Mark. She turned
back
and watched as Mark picked up his gun and pointed it at
Cris
.

Her hea
rt p
ounded and her hands became sweaty when she realized the gun was pointed at
Cris
. She knew it was time to make her move now or let
Cris
die and she couldn’t lose him. If he died
,
it
would be
her fault and she didn’t think she could live without him.

A distraction was what she needed to make her move. She picked up a large lug from
the boat and threw it into the water on the other side of the boat.
She quickly climbed on board as Mark was leaning over the railing looking for what
made the noise. She kept her eyes on him as she made her way toward the guys. He
was still leaning over the boat checking to see what, if anything had fallen off,
giving Arie the time she needed to sneak behind him.

Mark quickly turned around when he notice a hint of a reflection
.
Arie
kicked his gun out of his hand and sent it flying into the water when he turned back
around.

“Bitch!”
Mark screamed out as he punched her in the face.

Arie
stumbled back a
few steps
but she quickly caught her balance and recovered. She wanted like hell to go after
him for what he did to Kylee and
Grace,
but she couldn’t let her emotions overcome her. She waited until he charged at her
to make her move. Before Mark knew what was going on
,
Arie
had dodged out of his way and landed two successful
punches, one
in his stomach and
the other in his
throat
,
knocking the wind out of him.

“Put your hands up slowly and turn around
,
”
Arie
said as she pulled her gun out and pointed it at Mark.

Mark wasn’t going down this easily without a fight. He pretended like he was going
to cooperate as he slowly raised his hands. Before
Arie could blink, Mark knock
ed
her g
un out of her hand and sent it a few feet to the right of her.

Don’t dive for the gun and let him get the upper hand on you
,
Arie
thought just as the boat began to rock slightly.

Arie
noticed the cause of the sway of the boat. When she looked out the corner of her
eyes
she
saw
Cris
was screaming behind the
D
uc
t
tape trying to get lose from the ropes. His moving was causing the boat to sway.

“Stop moving
,
Cris,
you’re making it worse
,
”
Arie
said
,
never taking her eyes off Mark as she spoke to him.

Arie
couldn’t figure out how and didn’t have time to ponder on it as Mark somehow managed
to get her legs out from under her and she landed on her back with a thud. She groaned
as he landed on top of her
and then
quickly drew in a deep breath as his hands wrapped around her throat. Instead of
panicking
,
she thrust out her palm striking him in the nose as hard as she could.
As b
lood squirted
from
his
broken
nose
,
he howled
then
immediately
covered
his nose
with his hands
. She knew she could recover so she str
uck
him again
,
this time in the chest
,
sending him flying off her.

Before he hit the ground
,
she was reaching for her gun. Her hands brushed against the steel of her gun just
as he began pulling her toward him by one of her f
eet
.
Dumbass
,
she thought when she realized he had just her left leg in his hand. She wiggled and
twisted until she was in the right position
,
raised her right foot
,
and kicked him as hard as she could. As he was stumbling back
,
she managed to grab her gun this time.

Cris’s
screams drifted into her ears as she saw something metal glisten in Mark
’s
hands. She quickly took off the safety on her gun and shot him twice in the chest
and once right between the eyes as he pointed the gun in his hand at her. His body
dropped onto the boat and halfway into the water causing the boat to lean onto its
side.

Arie ran over toward
him and pulled Mark’s dead body back into the boat before he made the boat tip over.
After checking his pulse to make sure he was dead
,
she reached into her boot and pulled out a knife.
Cris
was still screaming at her as she pulled him and Tate’s bod
ies
onto the boat. First she cut them loose from the rope before ripping the
D
uc
t
tape off their mouths. She didn’t want to hear whatever
Cris
felt like he had to yell at her about.

“Why the fuck would you come out here alone knowing a killer was on the boat
?
”
Cris
screamed as he pulled her into a hug
;
he was more scared of what Mark was going to do to her instead of him
self
.

She could feel and hear his heart as it thum
ped loudly against her head
.

“Thanks for saving my life,
Arie
.
Oh, you’re
welcome
,
Cris,
”
s
he said sarcastically as she reached for the radio to radio it in to the
c
aptain.

“Whatever
,
smartass
,
you almost got yourself killed
,
but thank you for saving m
ine
and Tate’s
lives
.
One minute we were drinking beer with Mark and the next we w
ere
hanging from the ropes
a
s Mark told us about each woman and animal he ever killed
—
” Tate interrupted
Cris
before he could finish.

“
Cris,
my wife
,
” Tate said as he jumped up and began pacing the boat.

“
Arie,
get the
c
aptain on line and tell him Mark had Tate’s wife locked in his house with a bomb and
some trip wires surrounding it. Tell him to send out the bomb squad as quickly as
possible
,
she’s pregnant
,
”
Cris
said to
Arie
as he tried to get Tate to
calm down
.