Pink Lemonade and Penalties
Page 8
“Picked up on what? You don’t know anything,” Vincent said.
“I know that Julia thought her ex-husband had money that he was hiding from her. From your actions, I’m guessing that it’s hidden in that figurehead. That’s the reason why there is one on this boat. It always looked a little silly on a modern boat like this, but it was the perfect place to hide something from your wife before a divorce. However, when she unexpectedly won the boat in the settlement, you had to act fast. You were about to lose everything that you were hoarding from her.”
“No,” he said, but he sounded nervous.
“You were even more upset when she sold the boat to her lawyer. You tried to steal from the figurehead before, but someone almost caught you. That caused Mel to amp up security around here. You knew that you couldn’t be caught near the boat again, so you decided to try something else. You knew you had to act fast before Bill Vector had his boat changed to another marina where you weren’t friendly with the owner. Julia mentioned that Bill was going to move it because he didn’t want to be rude, but was too sleepy to fully explain this. It was because you did work at this marina.”
“Yes. I work here. I don’t know what you thought I was doing, but you’re wrong.”
Lydia continued, hoping Leo would hear. “You gave Bill the poisoned fishing line in a spot you knew would be off-camera. As someone who did odd jobs, it would be easy to explain why you were wearing gloves. Bill never expected that receiving the fishing line would be dangerous – even if it was from someone on the opposite side of one of his cases.”
“How would killing him get the boat back?”
“You thought that whoever inherited the boat wouldn’t want to keep it after Bill Vector died there. You thought you could buy back the boat and get everything you were hiding there,” Lydia said. “It’s a shame you didn’t know about his allergies. That’s why I started to suspect that it wasn’t someone Bill was close with. That person could have found an easier way to commit the murder and make it look like an accident.”
“Did you tell Mel about the cameras and the police taking the boat tomorrow? Is this a setup?” Vincent asked.
Lydia looked toward land to see if the detectives had heard her. They were finally rushing over to her.
“Freeze,” Leo yelled.
Vincent didn’t heed this advice. He lunged at Lydia and pulled her into the water with him.
“You ruined everything!” he cried as they fell.
They hit the water, and Vincent kept ahold of her. Lydia struggled to swim with the man holding her down.
She wanted to see what happened, but she never wanted to become a hostage – especially underwater. She kicked, hoping it would keep her afloat or hurt her assailant. However, it seemed to have no effect.
She was struggling to stay conscious as she was kept under the water but tried to hold on. She didn’t want to let this man kill again, and she didn’t want to be the victim. She had too much to live for.
She felt a new hand grab hold of her arm. She tried to make sense of the movement of the wet bodies around her.
When her head finally came out above the water, she saw that Daniel was the one who grabbed her and pulled her up. She wanted to thank him but kept coughing instead.
Daniel started swimming with her, helping her to the shore. She was dimly aware of Leo and the others catching Vincent Calhoun in the water.
By the time she felt her feet on the sand, she had caught her breath.
“I’m sorry that took me so long,” Daniel said. “I was trying to sneak around to be behind Vincent when you got him talking, but then he jumped off the dock with you. I’ve never been so scared. I was afraid I wouldn’t get to you in time.”
“You saved my life. Just like you did at the beginning of the summer. You saved me.”
He held her close. “You saved me too.”
Lydia wasn’t quite sure what he meant, but she liked being in his arms again.
Epilogue
“Has everyone had enough to eat?” Aunt Edie asked.
All of the human guests around the table proclaimed how full they were and how they didn’t think they could eat anything else. Between Aunt Edie’s delicious meal and Lydia’s saltwater taffy, they had all stuffed themselves.
It was only Sunny who barked as if it say that she was still hungry. Even though she had already been given some food, Aunt Edie gave her some more. Everyone was in a good mood, and they wanted the dog to be too.
“I have an announcement I want to make,” Aunt Edie said.
She looked around the table. Lydia was seated next to Daniel, worrying that this would be their last meal together. Suzanne and Leo were holding hands. Detective Grey was trying to compose himself after listening to a funny story Trina told him about the hair salon.
“Is it about how Lydia and Amber made a peace accord?” Trina asked. “Amber was so grateful to Lydia for clearing her name and finding the real killer that she said that they would get along now.”
“I think it will last at least until the end of the season,” Lydia said. “Hopefully, she’ll feel the same way next summer.”
“It’s actually about my traveling,” Aunt Edie said.
“What is it?” asked Leo.
“I saw many wonderful things and had a wonderful time going around the world, but I’m planning on moving back to Ocean Point now. This doesn’t mean that my travels are over, but the next trip I go on, I’d like to have company. I hope that my delightful niece and nephew can accompany me on my next trip.”
“We’d love to,” Lydia said. “Leo, do you think the force would be all right if you went on a vacation?”
“I’m sure Detective Grey can handle things,” Trina said.
They started discussing where they wanted to go and what they wanted to see. It was a spirited discussion that somehow made everyone hungry again.
Lydia told them that she had some more pink lemonade taffy in the kitchen and headed into the other room to get some. It was there that Daniel met her and seemed determined to have their talk.
“Lydia, please just listen to me.”
She felt like running away in a panic but knew she couldn’t do that. Even if it hurt to end things, she didn’t want their finals moments to ruin her memory. She nodded and stayed still, listening to what he had to say.
“I was broken when I came here. I was. I was grieving so much that I didn’t know what to do. Spending time with you changed that. Yes, solving those murders brought me some excitement. But the real surprise was that I found that I could care for someone again.”
“It was a surprise for me too,” Lydia said.
“I feel like myself again, and that’s because of you. I’d like to return to my former career at the Coast Guard where I feel like I can make a difference.”
“And you’re going to move back to where you used to live to do it. I understand. You need to do what you need to do. No matter how much I’ll miss you, I’m glad that you’re healed and I want you to be happy,” Lydia said, trying not to tear up. “I’ll always think fondly of this summer. Maybe not stumbling across a dead body or two. But fondly of my time with you. Goodbye, Daniel.”
Daniel frowned. “Do you think I’m trying to end things with you?”
“Aren’t you?” Lydia asked. “Aren’t you going to move back to North Carolina? You know I can’t come with you. I have my business here and my family. I have to stay.”
“I’ve been trying to have a serious conversation with you because there would be periods of time when I would be out at sea, but I want to be stationed in New Jersey. I’m not trying to end things. I’m trying to make sure that we could survive periods of long-distance while I serve our country. The truth is – I love you.”
Lydia couldn’t help laughing. All the stress she had been carrying around had been for nothing.
“After all we’ve been through, we can survive anything,” Lydia assured him before giving him a big kiss. “I love you too.�
�
Also by Allyssa Mirry
The Sticky Sweet Series
Book 1: Pineapple and Poison
Book 2: Double Chocolate and Death
Book 3: Cinnamon Swirl and Suspicions
Book 4: Cotton Candy and Corpses
Book 5: Banana Split and Bodies
Book 6: Dragon Fruit and Dread
Book 7: Strawberry Kiwi and Slayings
Book 8: Fireworks and Felonies
Book 9: Sour Apple and Animosity
Book 10: Chocolate Cherry and Chills
Book 11: Almonds and Arson
Book 12: Blueberry Pies and Burial
Book 13: Macadamia and Mayhem
Book 14: Marshmallow and Malice
Book 15: Hazelnut and Homicide
Author’s Note
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my books, the storylines, and anything else that you’d like to comment on—reader feedback is very important to me. My contact information, along with some other helpful links, is listed below. If you’d like to be on my list of “folks to contact” with updates, release and sales notifications, etc.… just shoot me an email and let me know. Thanks for reading!
Also…
… if you’re looking for more great reads, I am proud to announce that Summer Prescott Books publishes several popular series by Cozy authors Summer Prescott, Gretchen Allen, Patti Benning, as well as Carolyn Q. Hunter, Blair Merrin, Susie Gayle and more!
Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing
Twitter: @summerprescott1
Blog and Book Catalog: http://summerprescottbooks.com
Email: summer.prescott.cozies@gmail.com
And…look up The Summer Prescott Fan Page and Summer Prescott Publishing Page on Facebook – let’s be friends!
To download a free book, and sign up for our fun and exciting newsletter, which will give you opportunities to win prizes and swag, enter contests, and be the first to know about New Releases, click here: http://summerprescottbooks.com