Trouble in Paradise (23 page)

Didier walked in the front door. “Bon jour,” he said before
kissing my cheek.

Fab and Didier made an attractive couple, sexy and
hard-bodied. “Have fun you two. Make me your first call if you need bail
money.”

“Ignore her,” Fab said to Didier. He grabbed her bag and
they disappeared out the door.

As soon as the door closed, the sound of my phone ringing
interrupted the quiet.

“This is Sheriff Wallack. I’m here at The Cottages. We need
you to get over here.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’ll be expecting you.” He hung up.

“See you later, Jazz.” I picked him up, nuzzled his neck and
then set him back on the floor.

Today was the perfect warm, sunny day to take the long way
to The Cottages. I drove along the beach watching the waves lap the shore,
which made me want to pull my SUV over and dig my toes in the white sand. I’d
heard that an abundance of sand dollars had washed up on the beaches. My plan
was to stop on the way home and fill the buckets that I always kept in the
back.

“I’m tired of these sheriff calls,” I mumbled to myself,
pulling into a parking space.

I scanned the driveway, no sheriff car parked anywhere. It
surprised me that they would summon me here and then leave. It was unusually
quiet; maybe the sheriff had run everyone off. There wasn’t a single person
milling around; doors closed and no cars. This had to be a first.

I hit the redial on my phone hoping to find out when the
sheriff would be back. It rang incessantly, apparently no voice mail. Oh well,
it wasn’t bad news until I heard about it directly or was forced to listen to a
message

I got out of my SUV, still looking around, and then went to
check out the office. No emergency messages there. Half way to the pool, Kibble
stepped out from behind Cottage Two, blocking the walkway, a threatening look
on his face.

“How’s tricks?” Kibble laughed.

The sound of his laugh unnerved me. “I don’t want to fight
with you,” I said. As I turned to go back, his hand shot out, shoving me up
against the building. 

“Don’t you ever lay one of your grimy fingers on me again,”
I growled, but my bravado was starting to fail.

Kibble rushed me like a bear, jerking me around and off my
feet in a crushing bear clench. “You dumb mouthy bitch,” he hissed in my ear,
shaking me until I thought my brains would scramble. “I hate you more than I
did Cosmo.” Spit flew out of Kibble’s mouth.

He opened the laundry room door, sending me airborne across
the small space. My head hit with a thud against one of the dryers.

“Cosmo?” I reached for my Glock, but Kibble was one-step
faster, twisting my arm as the gun dropped to the floor. He kicked it under the
dryer.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” I screamed as loud as I
could.

“Scream one more time and I’ll stab you in the throat,” he
threatened, pulling a switchblade from the front of his pants. “Don’t think
anyone’s going to hear you. The place is deserted and the sheriff call was a
friend of mine.”

‘Focus!’
My instructor always shouted at me. I jumped
up, kicking Kibble in the upper thigh. He fell back, blocking the door. The
knife fell to the floor and I scrambled after it, but he kicked me hard and
pushed my face into the concrete.

Triumph showed in his eyes; he knew he had me blocked in. I
wouldn’t go down without a fight, but I couldn’t discount the fact that he was
three times my size and a foot taller. I’d make sure he got the death penalty
by leaving enough DNA to seal his fate.

“Have you lost your mind? Just leave and we’ll forget this
ever happened.” I had my back against the far wall. “You’re not going to get
away this.” I needed to keep him talking to buy time; someone had to come home
soon.

“I have before,” he said, his laugh hysterical. “I’m leaving
alright and taking you with me. So sad,” he mocked. “You’ll disappear without a
trace. This time I’ll use weights so there’s no chance of you floating onshore.
Maybe a gnawed on piece or two, but that can’t be helped.”

His eyes told me he was savoring this moment. I needed to
regroup for the fight of my life. “At least tell me why you want to kill me. Is
this about asking you to move?”

“You’re always getting in other people’s business, asking
questions, snooping where you don’t belong. You know how I know you’re not
going to be missed and that there’s a long line of people who hate you?
Joseph’s old lady. She kept a log of everything you did and reported back.”

“You killed Cosmo? Why?” 

“That dumb bastard. Barbie Doll told me he forced her into sex,
then blackmailed her. Said he would ruin our marriage by telling me about it if
she didn’t continue to service him when he called.”

Kibble laughed, scratching his head like he had bugs. “The
best part? Not one word of what Barbie told me was true. She didn’t tell me
until after Cosmo floated up that she was testing our relationship, wanted
proof of my love.”

“How did you get Cosmo out into the Gulf?”

“He never saw it coming. I knew he needed the cash and
tossed him a side job when I knew there wasn’t another boat leaving out for a
few days. When we got out to the middle of the Gulf, I beat him until I’d
broken most of his bones, then threw his ass in the water. I never expected him
to wash up. Damn those currents.”

“What about your crew?” Half a dozen men work his boat, and
all of them stood by while Cosmo got beaten to death and they all kept quiet?
That was shocking to me.

“They were ordered to stay below; it was a personal issue
between me and Cosmo. None of my crew would dare talk. They know I’d make an
example of them, cut them up alive and throw ’em in the water for shark bait.”

“Did you even bother to ask around to see if anyone ever saw
them together?” When Kibble left town I’d never seen Barbie with anyone but
Angie, and their relationship was well known.

Kibble’s face puffed up, even angrier. “You’re like everyone
else, no one believing my girl.”

“What do I have to do with all this?” I asked.

“You snotty bitch. You beat Barbie twice when I wasn’t
around, ’n’ got her fired from her job. You tried to have Kibble Junior put in
foster care and now we’ll be out on the street. I caught Barbie crawling out
the bathroom window and she told me she did it because she was afraid of you.”

“If the three of us could sit down and talk we could
straighten this out.”

Barbie had a job?
There were rumblings that she was
the neighborhood drug runner for that pony tailed weasel, a big time dealer who
couldn’t get his hands dirty since he was still on felony probation.

“I’m going to straighten this out all right, you’re going to
die.” Kibble clapped his hands. “You’ll be lucky number three.”

“Three? You killed someone else?”

“Five years ago Batty’s torso washed up on shore. He’d been
fish food for a long time. Another smart, know-nothing ass who thought he could
fool with my wife. I thought I’d sent a pretty good message the first time with
Batty, but I guess Cosmo must not have understood my ‘no touch’ policy.”

“You murdered two men based on what Barbie told you?”

“First, I never murdered anyone. I pushed Batty overboard.
Not my fault he couldn’t swim and he drowned. Cosmo was alive when he went in
the water. He could’ve dog paddled to shore if he hadn’t been unconscious. Dumb
bastard sank. I got a boner feeling his bones snap under my fist,” Kibble
bragged.

All this carnage based on lies from that evil wife of his.
“I’ll give you money, you can go anywhere you want.”

“That sounds good but you know what I’d like better, is to
beat you until every single one of your bones is broken and then toss you over
for fish food. Sharks love fresh blood.”

I didn’t entertain the thought of his plan succeeding. He
was going to get the fight of my life; he’d have to drag my dead ass off this
property. I tried to stay calm, waiting for him to make the first move.

“I know you’re thinking there’s a way out of here, and there
is. I promise you’ll be alive.” Kibble grinned. “That big dick brother of yours
threatened me. I’ll have to attend your funeral out of respect so I can watch
Brad cry like a girl.”

“You’ll never get away with this.” My family flashed before
my eyes, happy that I always told them, ‘Love you.’

“Ready to leave?” he asked as he advanced, reaching for my
hair. I let out a blood curdling scream, jumped, extended my leg, and connected
just short of his groin. His belly fat protected his small brain.

“Bitch,” Kibble hissed, spraying me with spit.

Swinging my fist, I aimed for his throat and caught the side
of his neck.

Stunned for a nanosecond, he jerked me off my feet like a
stuffed animal and shook me back and forth. My head whiplashed so hard I
thought my neck would snap. I sank my nails into his back, like claws, raking
downward, ripping his skin open, blood coming out in tiny spurts.

Kibble screamed, his grip loosened. Grabbing a fistful of my
hair, he dragged me up to eye level, then slapped me with his open hand,
followed by his fist.

I crumpled like a sack. He tightened his hold, and I sank my
teeth into his forearm, clamping on. He hit me in the side of the head and
rammed it against the wall.

“Kibble!” someone yelled, followed by rapid-fire gunshots.
Kibble let go of me and slid to the ground.

“Open your damn eyes,” Brad pleaded and rolled Kibble off my
legs.

“Stop yelling, my head hurts.” I flexed my feet, thankful I
wasn’t paralyzed.

“What a fat lard.” Brad scooped me up in his arms and
carried me out of the laundry room. “Don’t look at him.”

“Where the hell did you come from? I didn’t have any more
for him, gave it everything I had. He was just too big for me.”

“That’s not a very nice thank you,” Brad complained, kicking
open the pool gate, sitting me on a chaise by the pool.

“Have I told you lately that you’re my very favorite
brother?”

“Why didn’t you shoot him? Surely you don’t wear a holster
without a gun,” Brad said as he examined my swelling face, sitting down next to
me.

“Kibble got the jump on me, knocked my Glock out of my hand
and kicked it under the dryer.” I leaned my head against Brad’s chest and
cried. “I thought I got shot.”

“You look like crap, but no bullet wounds.” He rubbed my
back. “Stop with the tears, you know I hate that. And I’m your brother they
don’t work on me.”

“Yes… they do…,” I choked as tears streamed down my face.

He touched my face gently. “I forced myself not to think
about what if I got here too late to warn you.” He checked me over, did the
finger test. “How many?” He held up two fingers.

“Six. You need to call 911 or something.”

“If you can dazzle me with your humor, you’ll live. Your
voice sounds weird; must be the fault of the fat lips.” Brad called Kevin,
informed him that in addition to paramedics, he’d need to call out a coroner
van. The conversation was short as Brad related few details. “Agreed.”

“What was that about and when did you get Kevin’s number?” I
wiped my nose on his shirt.

“I told him Kibble was dead and he said ‘good riddance.’”
Brad hugged me. “Kevin wanted to meet the guy who was dating his sister. Said
he got tired of hearing from Liam how cool I was. Having met you and Mother, he
didn’t know what to expect. The four of us went to dinner, had a great time, and
we swapped numbers.”

I nodded, somewhat absently. “I wish I’d shot Kibble.”

“Better this way. Word will get around the Westin family
packs and isn’t afraid to shoot your ass. Weeds out the weak-kneed criminals,”
he boasted and lightly touched the bruises on my face, anger in his eyes.

“You never come here. How did you know to show up today?”

“Pretzel cornered me earlier at the fish scales; told me
Kibble was in an out of control rage about shutting your mouth. Told me Barbie
winds Kibble up, and then people end up in the hospital.”

“Kibble killed Cosmo and a fisherman named Batty a few years
back,” I told him. “Barbie told Kibble that Cosmo forced himself on her and
then blackmailed her into having sex.”

Brad was stunned. “Cosmo never had sex with Barbie. When he
wasn’t working, he spent every minute with his kids. Custody was already a
fragile issue with the ex-girlfriend. He wouldn’t have mucked that up for a
skank like Barbie Shiner. Every man I know steered clear of Barbie because of
Kibble.”

“Barbie waited until after Cosmo washed up to tell Kibble it
was all a lie. From day one I knew the Shiners were trouble but I had no idea.”

“This should surprise me but it doesn’t,” Brad said. “She’s
come down to the docks just to start trouble and leaves when fists are flying.”

We both turned to look as sirens screamed into the driveway.
“Don’t move,” Brad ordered. “I’ll send the paramedics to you.”

Kevin ran through the pool gates. “Who shot Kibble?”

“I did,” Brad said. “Gun’s here on the ground by my right
leg.” He pointed.

“You okay?” Kevin asked me, kneeling down in front of me.

“Bruised, that’s it. Where’s Liam? I don’t want him to see a
dead body.”

“I called Julie on the way over here and told her to stay
away until I give the ‘all clear.’ If something had happened to you, Liam
couldn’t see that, he would’ve… I don’t know, he likes you. This isn’t the way
we like to solve the few murders we do have.”

I turned to Brad. “Let me use your phone.” I called Zach,
but it went straight to voicemail.

A cute paramedic walked in the pool gate pulling a
stretcher, then dropped his medical bag on the ground next to me. “How are you
doing?”

“My head aches, my face is throbbing, and there isn’t a
place on my body that doesn’t hurt. Other than that, I’m damn grateful to be alive
since I didn’t think it would end this way. The best I hoped for was a quick
death on the laundry room floor.”