The Legend of Tabby Hollow (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 5) (12 page)

“You’re welcome. I’m glad it worked out. I’m sure things have been tough for both of you.”

“Yeah, they really have. I know it will take time for us to feel like our lives are back to some sort of normal, but in the meantime I feel like we’re struggling to get through each day. Or at least we were. I won’t say Angel has completely filled the hole that was created when my wife died, but Amanda seems to have a spring in her step that hasn’t been there for quite some time.”

“If there’s ever anything I can do just let me know.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“I should get back. Have a wonderful time. We’ll catch up later.”

I looked around the room for Amanda. She was chatting with a group of girls about her age. I was so happy so see she was smiling and apparently having a wonderful time.

“Finn’s looking for you,” Velmalee informed me as I headed toward the entrance to scare a new batch of kids. “He’s waiting down the hall in the front office.”

“Okay, thanks.” I turned around and headed down the hallway.

Finn laughed when I walked in. “You look adorable.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is terrifying.”

Finn shrugged. “If you say so. I’m sorry to interrupt your brain eating, but I found something at Leif’s. Something I think we should all take a look at.”

“Do you want me to look at it now?”

“No, I think this is something we might want to look at as a group. I’m pretty sure it provides us with the motive we’ve been looking for.”

“Okay. I’ll get the gang together tonight. It will have to be after seven. I promised to eat brains till the end.”

“That’s perfect. I have some things to take care of anyway. I’ll bring Chinese for everyone.”

“Sounds good. Oh, and Finn…would you say Leif died prior to Bradley and Grover?”

“Yeah, it looks that way. Why?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but somehow it seems important. I’ll see you tonight.”

When I arrived at my cabin I found Siobhan sitting with Maggie on my deck, which overlooked the water.

I ran over and hugged my sister. “I thought you left!”

“I did. I went back to Seattle and met with the toad I realized I could never work with again for any amount of money. I knew he was a jerk, but somehow I guess I must have let myself forget that part of it. When he called me all I could think of was the fabulous corner office he was promising and the fact that I wouldn’t have to move after all. Once I actually talked to him I turned him down flat.”

“So you’re back for good?” I asked hopefully.

“Maybe. Maggie not only agreed to let me stay with her for as long as I want but she offered me a job. It’s only temporary, but it’s enough for now.”

“A job? You’re going to work at the Bait and Stitch?”

The Bait and Stitch sold sewing and fishing supplies, neither of which seemed to be something Siobhan would be interested in.

“I’m going to be the mayor. It’s a temporary positon until an election can be held, but I think it will be just the thing I need to help me move on.”

“The mayor?” I asked. I looked at Maggie. “Can you do that? I mean, I know you’re on the council, but can you just give the job of mayor to Siobhan?”

“Actually, I can. Or
we
can. The council as a whole, I mean. The island bylaws state that the council can replace members who die or must leave midterm by any means we deem necessary to conduct council business.”

I did remember that from when Keith Weaver died while in office.

“The bylaws also state that the mayor will be chosen from among the current council members. I talked to both Francine and Byron, and they agreed Siobhan would make a wonderful interim council member until we get around to holding elections. And because none of us wanted to be mayor, we decided to offer the position to Siobhan. She’ll need to run for and be elected to the position to keep it in the long run, but I know she’ll be fabulous.”

I had to agree. Siobhan would be the best mayor the island had ever had.

“And the fifth council member?” I asked. They still needed to fill the slot of the second man who had died.

“We plan to offer it to Drake Moore. He was the runner-up when Francine and I were elected. If he’s no longer interested I guess we’ll have to have a further discussion about it.”

I hugged my sister. “Congratulations. I know you’re going to be a great mayor.”

“It’ll be a challenge, but I like a challenge. I need a challenge. Besides, I feel like I need to completely reinvent myself and the island will be a good place to do that.”

“Well, don’t reinvent yourself too much; I like who you are, but I’m happy you’re staying. I think everyone will be happy.”

“Maybe most people will be glad I’ve decided to stay, but I’m not too sure about Finn. I called his cell, but he didn’t pick up.”

“He’s coming over this evening. He said he had new information on the murder case. He’s bringing Chinese. I need to run in and take a quick shower before everyone gets here. I washed the bulk of my makeup off in the sink in the girls’ bathroom at the school, but I’m pretty sure I still have goop in my hair.”

The new evidence Finn brought to share was disturbing. While he had been searching Leif’s house for evidence as to who might have killed him, he’d found a video in the VCR. It showed Leif and Bradley on Leif’s boat during a huge storm. On the boat with them was Jeremy Vance. Leif and Bradley were tormenting the poor guy. The beginning of the tape showed the older men teasing the younger one because he was puking up a gut as a result of the rough seas. Leif taunted the young man, insisting that a real fisherman would have better sea legs. Leif insisted that the fact that Jeremy was ill served as confirmation that he was lying about being a fisherman. The guy insisted he was, but Leif was having none of it. At one point Leif and Jeremy ended up in a fistfight. Initially it looked as if Jeremy was winning, but Leif hit him over the head with a metal pipe. Then he picked the guy up and tossed him overboard.

“Oh, God,” I groaned. “I can’t believe they killed him in cold blood.”

“Leif could be a bit of a jerk,” Danny confirmed. “Bradley too. I talked to Buzz Walton, and he told me that when the guy showed up and wanted to join the lodge, Leif flat out told him to go away. He said Jeremy said he’d looked up our bylaws and all that was required for membership was that the applicant be a resident of the island, male, and a fisherman or the descendant of one. He insisted he was male, a resident of the island, and a fisherman. When Leif asked Jeremy who he fished for, he gave him the name of a company from out of the area. He said he’d just moved to Madrona Island and really wanted to fit in.”

I could totally imagine the men from the lodge shunning the younger man. They valued their old boys’ club.

“Anyway, Buzz said the guy might have been a pest, but he did have a point, so they couldn’t forbid him from attending lodge functions. According to Buzz, it was Bradley who had the idea of inviting him to the backroom poker game. I guess he figured they’d massacre him financially and he’d toddle away with his tail between his legs.”

“But it didn’t work out that way.”

“Nope. He creamed everyone.”

“Okay, so Bradley and Leif are on tape beating the kid before tossing him overboard,” Siobhan began. “Who was doing the taping? Grover?”

“There’s no way Grover was on that boat the night of the storm,” I said with certainty. “He wouldn’t even take the ferry. The guy was terrified of water.”

“If Grover wasn’t the person who did the taping then who else was on the boat and where did Grover fit into this?” Siobhan asked.

Cody laced his fingers through mine as we discussed the grisly murder of an innocent man. Part of me really wanted to solve this puzzle, but most of me just wanted everyone to go home so Cody and I could be alone together.

“Let’s look at this systematically,” Finn suggested. “Siobhan, why don’t you flip the whiteboard over and draw a timeline of the relevant events as we know them.”

Siobhan smiled at Finn and he smiled back. It looked like things were going to be okay between one of my favorite couples.

“We know Jeremy Vance was murdered by Mayor Bradley and Leif Piney during the big storm we had on September fifth.”

“How do you know it was September fifth?” I asked.

“The video had a date stamp,” Finn explained. “We also know Vance’s body was found by the Coast Guard on September fourteenth.”

I frowned. “The newspaper article Cody and I found indicated that Jeremy died of dehydration. It looked like he must have drowned when he was tossed overboard.”

“The records I dug up indicate he did die of dehydration,” Finn confirmed. “He must have been alive and conscious when he was tossed overboard. Somehow he made it to the island and died at some point after that.”

“How awful.” Tara shuddered. “He survived the ocean but died due to a lack of fresh water? It doesn’t seem fair.”

I had to agree.

“I didn’t see either of the men drop a black poker chip into Jeremy’s pocket in the film, so the chip must have been placed there by Jeremy at some prior time,” Finn continued. “I spoke to several men who take part in the backroom game and they confirmed that black chips are used.”

“Leif had a whole pile of them on the table in his house,” I informed the group. “I wonder why. Doesn’t everyone usually cash their chips in when the game’s over?”

“Usually,” Danny confirmed.

“Moving on with the timeline,” Finn continued, “the medical examiner has estimated Leif’s date of death as October sixteenth or seventeenth. His office is still running tests. Mayor Bradley died on October nineteenth and Grover died on the twenty-second.”

“Did Leif have a black poker chip in his pocket?” Tara asked.

“No.”

Everyone sat quietly for a moment while Siobhan caught up.

“We’re assuming the deaths of the three men are related to what happened to Jeremy Vance,” she began, “but if that’s true, how does Grover fit into this? Was he a member of the poker group?”

“Grover joined the game occasionally but hadn’t played lately,” Finn said. “The men I spoke to all indicated that he was having financial issues, which we’ve already established to be true.”

“Maybe the person who filmed the event is the killer,” Cody suggested. “If we’re assuming it wasn’t Grover—and I think that’s a safe bet—it seems like the fourth person on the boat that night would likewise be a victim, and the fact that we don’t have another body could indicate that the person doing the recording hasn’t been a victim because he’s the killer.”

“Okay, so how do we find out who the fourth person is?” I asked.

“I hate to even suggest this, but maybe we should look at the video again,” Cody said. “The first time through we were all so horrified we weren’t really looking for details.”

“Good idea.” Finn rewound the video and we watched it again and again.

“Pause it,” Cody said the fourth time the horrible images played on my television screen.

Finn did.

“Look there.” Cody got up and pointed to a reflection on the glass. It was faint but clearly visible.

I squinted. “It looks like Buzz Walton.”

It had been two days since we’d thought we’d solved the mystery of who had killed Leif, Bradley, and Grover, but Ichabod was still with me, which seemed to hint at the fact that we might not have things as wrapped up as we thought. On every other occasion when Tansy had sent a kitty helper, the cat had been gone within hours of the mystery being solved.

Buzz confessed to killing Leif, although for whatever reason he insisted he didn’t kill either Bradley or Grover. He told Finn that the events of the night on which Jeremy Vance had died had haunted him ever since. If Buzz was to be believed, the whole thing had been Leif’s idea. A lot of the men at the lodge weren’t thrilled that Jeremy had wormed his way into their sacred lair, but Leif was the most furious of all. When he heard a storm was on the way he’d convinced Bradley and Buzz that they would be justified in having a little fun with the guy. Buzz swore the plan had been simply to take him on a bumpy ride to prove he didn’t have what it took to be a real fisherman. Buzz insisted they were only trying to scare him, but Leif had hit Jeremy with the pipe and tossed him overboard before he and Bradley even realized what was happening.

After a month of dealing with nightmares, he took the tape to Leif and insisted he was going to give a copy to the sheriff if Leif didn’t turn himself in. Leif not only refused but attacked him. They struggled, and Buzz confessed that he pushed Leif, who hit his head. When Buzz realized Leif was dead he panicked and took off running.

Buzz’s confession made perfect sense, but if he didn’t kill Bradley or Grover we had a second killer. At first that seemed unlikely, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that might have been just what had happened.

We never could figure out how Grover fit into things, and maybe that was because he didn’t. If Bradley and Grover hadn’t been killed by Buzz it made sense for us to return to our original theory that the business deal the men were involved in was in some way responsible for their deaths. But who, other than Maggie and I, had motive?

“What are we missing?” I asked my furry roommate.

Ichabod yawned.

“Did Cody and I keep you awake last night?”

Ichabod rolled onto his back. I thought about my night with Cody as I scratched the cat’s belly. Things were going so well. I couldn’t remember ever being this happy, despite the horrible things that had been going on.

“I suppose I should get up and get dressed,” I said to my feline companion.

It was Halloween and the island was holding a celebration on Main Street, and Tara and I had decided to close the store so we could attend. Cody was coming by later to pick me up and I knew Tara planned to bring all three Paulson girls with her.

“I do wish I could figure out the last piece of the puzzle, though. I hate it when things are left hanging.”

I crawled out of bed and headed downstairs to make some coffee. I studied Siobhan’s murder board as I waited for it to brew. She really had had a good idea about using the board. She’d saved old motives and suspects off to the side as new evidence was brought forth in case we needed to go back to reconsider them. If Buzz hadn’t been lying about killing Bradley and Grover that was exactly what we needed to do.

I remembered discussing the fact that it would take a compelling reason to get Bradley to go into the hollow. Assuming the mayor was lured to the ledge and then pushed, the killer would also need to have had access to the black poker chips because one had been found in both his pocket and near Grover’s body.

I wandered into the kitchen as the coffee finished its cycle. I poured myself a cup and then went over to the window. I tried to figure out who would have all the pieces of the puzzle as I watched a flock of seagulls on the beach.

I felt like the killer was just beyond my reach. All I needed to do was put all the pieces together so a picture could emerge. I headed over to the murder board and began to list the things I knew for sure.

Assuming the removal of the cats was really the motive for the deaths of Bradley and Grover:

1. The killer would have to know about the project in the hollow.
   
2. The killer needed to have a strong conviction that the project shouldn’t happen.
   
3. The killer would have to have something to use as a lure to get Bradley into the hollow and Grover into a boat.
   
4. The killer had to have access to black poker chips.
   
5. The killer had to have a reason to use the black chips; perhaps as some kind of a decoy?
   

I continued to study the board and suddenly knew exactly what had happened.

I hurried upstairs to get dressed. I was going to call Cody and Finn, but then I decided to check out my hunch first. If it turned out to be correct I’d call Finn.

When I arrived at my destination I hesitated. Maybe I should have called Finn and asked him to come with me. On the other hand, if Finn was with me the killer would probably clam up, and knowing what I did about my suspect, I doubted the killer could actually harm me. I knocked on the door and waited.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here?”

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Sure. I guess.”

I walked into the entryway and immediately began to regret my rashness. It sounded as if my suspect had been expecting me.

“What can I do for you?”

“I know what you did,” I blurted out.

Smooth move, Cait.

“You can’t prove anything.”

That was actually a good point. I had no proof.

“Do you know what Mayor Bradley and Mr. Cloverdale planned to do?” the suspect asked.

I nodded and said, “I guess you must have seen the contract when you were cleaning Grover’s home.”

Lacy walked across the room and leaned against a secretary table that was positioned against the wall. “He really wasn’t very careful about what he left lying around.”

“Look, I know you love the trees and the cats. I do too. And I know why you felt you needed to do what you did. I can even relate to your feelings of anger. But killing two men seems like an extreme solution.”

“Mayor Bradley and Mr. Cloverdale were going to kill the cats and then cut down all the trees. Those trees have been on the island longer than any of the settlers. It wasn’t right. Someone had to stop them.”

Suddenly I knew what
TLB
stood for. I’d heard Bradley refer to Lacy as a tree-loving bitch on more than one occasion when she’d tied up a council meeting with her protests any time a tree on the island was cut down for any reason.

“How did you get Bradley to meet you in the hollow?”

“I had leverage.”

“The tape,” I realized.

“I clean Leif’s house once a week, or at least I did. I’ll need to get a new customer now that he’s dead. Anyway, I went to clean and found him dead on the floor, with the tape sticking out of the VCR. I knew who the guy in the video was. I remembered reading about his death in the newspaper. I saw the stack of poker chips, and suddenly I had the plan I’d been struggling to find.”

I watched as Lacy slowly opened and closed the drawer next to the table where she stood. I was pretty sure she must have a weapon inside.

“So you called Bradley and told him you had the tape. I imagine you even described its contents, so he would know you were telling the truth. You told him to meet you in the hollow, I imagine to discuss the price of your silence. He couldn’t refuse, so he made the trip and you pushed him off the ledge. Then you put a poker chip in his pocket to link his death to Leif’s. Smart.”

“I thought so, but I didn’t realize it would take so long for someone to find Leif’s body. I almost called it in myself, but I didn’t want to call attention to myself.”

“And Grover? What did you have on him to get him into a boat?”

“He was a little harder. I actually had more dirt on him because I cleaned his house, but he had a greater fear, so I knew I’d have to find something really scandalous. In the end I threatened to reveal something about his wife.”

“His wife?”

“I found photos of her with another woman. They were old photos, most likely from before he even married her, but I was certain she wouldn’t want them passed all over town.”

I frowned. Mrs. Cloverdale and another woman? I would never have guessed that in a million years. She seemed so proper. I found it tragic that Grover had died trying to protect his wife’s reputation.

“So what now?” Lacy asked. “Are you going to turn me in?”

“I think I have to.”

“Even though the men were going to destroy the hollow for mere profit?”

“Even though.”

Lacy opened the drawer she’d been playing with and took out a gun. “I’m sorry to hear that. I actually thought you might be more reasonable and see things my way.”

“If you had dirt on both of the men why didn’t you just use that to blackmail them into dropping the project in the hollow?”

Lacy frowned. “Yeah, I guess that might have worked as well.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. The woman was a loon.

“But I didn’t do it that way, so now I guess I need to clean up my mess.”

Lacy pointed the gun at my head.

“The neighbors will hear the gunshot,” I warned her.

Lacy hesitated. “I suppose that’s true. Perhaps we should take this to the basement.”

Lacy motioned for me to walk down the hallway, which I did. I just needed to figure out a way to create a distraction. Lacy told me to open the door to the basement and head down the stairs.

“The neighbors will still hear a gunshot from here,” I reasoned.

“No, they won’t.”

Lacy flipped on the light.

“What is this place?” The room was padded with a thick black material and there were chains hanging from the walls.

“It’s my playroom. It’s soundproof; no need to share my sessions with the neighbors.”

“Sessions?”

“With men. I like it rough.”

Ew.

Lacy pointed the gun at my head once again. “I really am sorry about this,” she said as she pulled the trigger.

I screamed but nothing happened.

“Damn. I guess I’m out of bullets. Hang tight; I’ll be right back.”

Lacy headed up the stairs. I hoped she wouldn’t lock the door behind her, but of course she did. I looked around the basement for something to use as a weapon. There were plenty of props but nothing that was going to win out against a gun.

I had to face it: I had no option but to wait for Lacy to come back and shoot me. I couldn’t try to overpower her; she outweighed me by fifty pounds. I couldn’t try to talk her out of it; she’d already killed two men, so I doubted there was much I could say to change her mind.

I paced around the basement and waited. I didn’t want to die. I finally had the relationship with Cody I’d always dreamed of. I needed more time.
We
needed more time.

I began searching the walls for something—anything—that would give me a chance. Even a slim one. I couldn’t just stand there while she ended my life.

What in the heck was taking her so long? She’d made it sound like she was simply heading upstairs for bullets. Maybe she was completely out. Maybe she had to go out for more. Maybe someone would rescue me after all.

The minutes turned to…well, probably more minutes. I was sure I hadn’t been there an hour, although in many ways it felt that long. I paced and I prayed. Really, what more could I do?

“Sorry that took so long,” Lacy said as she came back into the basement. “There was someone at the door. Now, where were we?”

Lacy pointed the gun at my head once again. I was willing to bet she had bullets this time.

“Wait!”

Lacy lowered the gun. “Wait for what?”

“I’m not sure the trees are as safe as you think they are,” I improvised.

“Why not? Bradley and Grover are dead.”

“Yes, but there was a third partner,” I lied, hoping Lacy was as dumb as she appeared to be.

“I didn’t see a third partner listed on the paperwork.”

“He was a silent partner.”

Lacy lowered her gun slightly.

“Let me go and I’ll tell you who it is,” I tried to negotiate.

“How about I kill you and then look into it myself?”

Lacy raised her gun again.

“It’s Buzz Walton.”

Lacy scrunched up her nose. “Really? Buzz Walton? Why would Buzz be in on the deal? He doesn’t own any of the land in the hollow.”

“Bradley cut him in.”

“Why on earth would Bradley do that?”

“Did you ever stop to ask yourself who was behind the camera the night Jeremy Vance died?”

Lacy hesitated. She lowered her gun just a bit. “Buzz?”

“Yep. Buzz was going to go public with what he knew, so Bradley agreed to give him a cut. A big one. I bet he continues without the others. You know how badly Buzz needs money.”