Eve Lloyd's A Deadline Cozy Mystery - Books 1 to 5

by Sonia Parin

  “He was looking for some place to hide the canister?”

  “Yes.”

  “Under the veranda? Behind a bush? No, Mira’s just had them trimmed.”

  “And that would be too risky. The canister is made of metal. It could glint in the daylight and give its hiding place away.”

  Eve pulled into the drive and, cutting the engine, sat back to look at the house. Behind her, Mischief and Mr. Magoo whimpered. “What are the chances the boys will sniff it out.”

  “It can’t hurt to try.”

  She climbed out of the car and let them out. “Go boys. Fetch.” They raced off toward the veranda as if trying to beat each other to the prize. Mr. Magoo, however, stopped midway and strayed off.

  “I’ve been trying not to think about it, but someone snuck in here to get the life buoy. I hope they didn’t come in the middle of the night while we were inside asleep.”

  They strode up the path, taking their time to look around. When they climbed up to the veranda, Mischief was curled up by the front door. “Well, so much for that. Although, we can’t blame them. They had nothing to go on with.” She sent her gaze skating around the collection of knick-knacks. “The rope is the only obvious place and big enough to hide something under.”

  “Or this piece of driftwood. Is this the one you brought back from the beach?”

  “Yes. To think it nearly made me a prime suspect.” She nudged the rope with her foot. The thick coils formed a mound big enough to possibly... maybe hide something. Narrowing her eyes, she bent down. “You’re kidding.”

  “What?”

  Eve gasped. “It’s here.” She dug behind the rope and retrieved the canister. Holding it, she jumped on the spot. “All this time, it’s been here.”

  “Brandon must have thought it was safe enough to leave it there. Otherwise, he would have come for it. Then again, they might be trailing his every move. He must have been worried someone would follow him so he decided to leave well enough alone.”

  “Until we put on our thinking caps.” Eve grinned. “Come on. Let’s go inside and see what all the fuss has been about.” She waited for Mischief and Mr. Magoo to come but they seemed content to stay outdoors, so she left the front door open and followed Jill in, all the while smiling. “I think I might have to share this with Jack. We could say we were sitting out on the veranda and caught sight of it—”

  “Eve.”

  Eve held the canister close to her ear and shook it. “I know, I know. Jack probably won’t believe me. But you’ll back me up. You only need to nod. That’s not lying. After all, we were looking—”

  “Eve.”

  “Honestly, Jill. You worry too much. We won’t get into trouble. I promise.”

  “Eve,” Jill shouted.

  Eve stopped shaking the canister and looked up.

  “We’ll take that, thank you.”

  She looked at the men standing in front of her and tried to remember their names but her mind froze.

  Her gaze dropped to the gun pointed at her.

  A gun.

  A gun?

  “How did you get in?” she demanded.

  A gun? Pointed at her?

  Her heart pounded against her chest.

  The man holding the gun chuckled.

  Eve scraped her back teeth together. If they’d broken the back door lock or... or a window, she’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do when Mira returned.

  The man with the gun took a step toward her.

  Eve clutched the canister against her and stepped back.

  Robert.

  Robert Pierce. The lawyer.

  Of all people. And the other man...

  The drinking buddy.

  Adam... no, not Adam.

  Alex Green.

  Of the two, he looked apologetic. The lawyer, on the other hand, looked ready to pounce on her.

  “Come on, hand it over.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m holding a gun. I don’t need to explain myself.”

  Without thinking of the consequences, Eve pulled on the lid and withdrew the contents.

  It wasn’t the Picasso drawing.

  The lawyer shook his head. “You should not have done that.”

  Eve took another step back and unrolled the document.

  A will.

  Her gaze shot up.

  The lawyer sighed. “This complicates everything.”

  So Mel had been in cahoots with the lawyer.

  Yes, Mel had taken the bait. But Eve had expected her to come, if not alone then with Stevie in tow. Instead, Mel had gone running to her accomplice.

  Accomplice? Or instigator.

  Mastermind.

  Ringleader.

  Eve tried to catch Jill’s attention, although she had no idea what she’d try to say to her.

  Run for your life?

  She waved the document. “You were after this, were you?”

  The lawyer shrugged. “Having two wills messes everything up.”

  “Yes, I would imagine another will would rather spoil things for you.” She tried to remember what she’d overheard the entourage talking about during their lunch at Shelby’s Table. They’d all seemed quite happy. Robert Pierce had been going over a document with a fine tooth-comb. Had he been studying another will? He’d said something about it being watertight.

  “This is a new will,” Eve said.

  “Smart girl. Too bad.”

  Too bad? She didn’t like the sound of that.

  “The police are on their way,” Eve said.

  “Sure they are.”

  “They’ll be here any minute.” And Jack would see her wearing an old sweater, instead of the sexy little dress she’d picked out for tonight. Eve gritted her teeth and growled softly. “You killed Reggie.”

  “I beg to differ. You tried to poison him,” Robert Pierce said, “And when that failed—”

  “How dare you. You used my aunt’s life buoy as a murder weapon.” Eve knew she had to keep them talking. Kill time so that Jack could come to her rescue.

  Jack. Jack. Jack.

  She filled her mind with his name thinking he might pick up the vibes of her desperate plea and come rushing to her rescue like a knight in shining armor. She knew it was all nonsense, but it didn’t hurt to try.

  Robert Pierce again gestured with his gun. “Hand it over.”

  Eve decided, right then and there, she’d get herself a Rottweiler. A fierce dog who’d leap to her rescue... or at least growl.

  “And if I don’t? What are you going to do? Shoot me?”

  “Yes.”

  That wasn’t the response she’d expected. Lawyers were meant to be smooth talkers and long-winded about it. They loved the sound of their own voices and... and Latin words... archaic words no one knew the meaning of.

  He sighed. “I suppose you want me to bargain with you.”

  “I’m open to negotiation,” Eve said, not for a moment believing he would be prepared to give her something in exchange for the document. This was far too valuable. He’d killed a man for it... Or had he? He might be holding the gun, but Eve didn’t think he’d be the type to get his hands dirty.

  Alex Green wasn’t saying much.

  Eve looked at him.

  “How did you do it? How did you manage to get Reggie in the harness?” Belatedly, she wished she’d asked Jack a few leading questions. Reggie would not have been a willing participant in his own death. His neck had looked swollen and not necessarily from the rope that had been tied around it or the life buoy that had been a snug fit around his fat neck.

  Eve tried to think what else might make someone swell up the way he had.

  Food poisoning.

  No, he’d already survived one bout proving he had the constitution of an ox.

  An allergy to—

  “Peanuts.”

  The lawyer grinned. “And you made it so easy for us by bringing him all those donuts he could never resist,” Robert Pierce said. “Of course, at
first we didn’t know about his allergy so we tried other means. It’s amazing what a bit of fecal matter can do to a person’s digestive system. But Reggie had a strong constitution.” He looked at Alex Green, “Then someone let the cat out of the bag.”

  His drinking buddy had stabbed him in the back.

  “Of course, Reggie did play a part in it. After you approached him, he became rather obsessed with you. You gave him enough fodder to go on with for days. Putting the life buoy up in the lighthouse was his idea of fun. He wanted to see if he could send out a donut signal to you.”

  Eve couldn’t help smiling. At least he’d managed to have fun in the end, albeit at her expense.

  “He and Alex spent some time trying to fix the light in the lighthouse,” the lawyer continued, “They set up the winch and harness. Reggie wanted to be the one to put the life buoy up there. Once he got the harness on, we took care of the rest giving him a donut laced with a sprinkle of peanuts.”

  She held up the document. “You ended a man’s life for this?”

  Robert Pierce shrugged. “We tried to reason with him.”

  Mel had said she wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Had the task fallen on her to sweet-talk Reggie into giving up the new will?

  Mel had messed everything up.

  She’d been too pushy. Too impatient.

  “What did he do? Leave you out of the new will?”

  “He left us all out. After all the years we spent hovering around him, paying homage to him, listening to his incessant blabbering. He cut us all out of the will.”

  Eve couldn’t help it. She had a quick look at the document, scanning it for a name. “Brandon McKay.”

  “As if we’d let the Johnny-come-lately walk away with the main prize. It seemed Reggie resented us. Said we always made him feel as though he owed us his success. All those years of us picking up the tab, of investing in him, and talking our friends into buying his art and he thought he didn’t owe us.”

  Eve lifted her chin a notch. “You can’t kill us.”

  “We can and we will.”

  “You’ll never get away with it. They’ll trace the gun back to you. You’re already under suspicion. Why do you think you’re still on the island? Jack’s not going to stop until he finds the murderer.”

  “Well, he’ll have a long search on his hands. This gun is not registered to me, or anyone from the group. Remember, I’m a lawyer. People in my profession meet the most resourceful felons.”

  “I’ll... I’ll come back and haunt you. You’ll never get away with it.”

  Robert Pierce laughed. “Reggie was right about you. You’re nuts.”

  Eve could feel her thighs quivering.

  Her body had gone into fight or flight alert.

  She knew she didn’t stand a chance in hell of making a run for it. But she had to get Jill out of there. Somehow, she had to create a diversion and hope Jill took it as a prompt to run for her life.

  She tried to fast forward to the moment just after she did something. Anything. She remembered seeing Jack a couple of months before bringing down the killer in two easy moves and thinking, she could’ve done that, if only she’d thought of it. She’d seen those moves in films often enough...

  Think, damn it. Think.

  In hindsight... what would she think she should have done... or could have done if she’d thought about it at the time?

  Eve scooped in a breath, pushed it out and drew another one in. In and out. In and out. Until she could feel herself working up to... something. A furious rage?

  Actually, she was starting to hyperventilate.

  Think, damn it. Think.

  Inspiration struck.

  In an instant, she thrust her arms out, yelled at the top of her lungs and lunged for them, all the while telling Jill to, “Run. Run,” at the top of her voice.

  She was Mel Gibson in his Scottish kilt and war paint running like a madman in the movie Braveheart. She was a Viking gone berserk. She was a Banshee.

  She succeeded in surprising them.

  Robert Pierce and Alex Green cowered.

  Before they realized she was all bluff, they’d both lost their footing and stumbled back.

  Eve wasn’t shutting up or easing back.

  She screamed louder.

  She grabbed at anything and everything she could get her hands on and threw it at them. A vase. A side table. Books.

  She had no idea how she’d explain all the damage to Mira.

  She’d promised she’d stay out of trouble.

  And she had tried.

  But trouble had found her.

  That made her madder.

  She kicked.

  She screamed.

  She scratched.

  She remembered to kick in the right places.

  She stomped.

  She was fierce. She was possessed.

  And furious.

  This was supposed to be her date night.

  She’d planned on soaking in the tub, relaxing and pampering herself for her date with Jack.

  She screamed even louder.

  Then...

  The gun went off.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Eve’s ears rang from the gunshot.

  It took all her willpower to pull herself together and focus.

  There’d been a gunshot.

  Her eyes widened.

  “You fired at me,” she yelled.

  The lawyer was writhing in agony. Clearly, one of her kicks had connected with a significant part of his body.

  “You fired at me.” She knew she’d raised her voice only because her throat ached. She must have lost part of her hearing.

  Eve’s hand shot up to her ear.

  It was still in one piece. She looked over her shoulder.

  “Oh, now I’m really mad.” Her hands fisted. She turned back to the lawyer, pulled her fist back and aimed for his cheek. Her hand connected, slipped and hit his nose instead.

  “There’s a hole in the wall,” she yelled, “How am I ever going to explain that to my aunt? I promised her, I promised her I’d stay out of trouble.”

  She couldn’t stop pummeling him.

  Not even when a strong pair of hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

  Her fisted hands kept punching the air.

  “A hole in the wall. You shot at me. Now there’s a hole in the wall. I’ll kill you.”

  “Eve.”

  Jack.

  She scooped in a big breath and let her arms drop. But then she saw Reggie’s drinking buddy sit up. Eve launched into another punching bout.

  “Eve. Settle down.”

  “What? I can’t hear you.” She punched out with both hands. “Let go of me. That one’s going to get away.”

  “He’s not going anywhere, Eve.” Jack swung her away from the two men and carried her out of the house.

  Eve couldn’t stop punching the air, she was that furious.

  Jack set her down on her feet and wound his arms around her holding her for what felt like an eternity. Bliss, Eve thought and felt her body relax.

  “Are you all right?” he eventually asked.

  She nodded and gave him a small smile. She’d promised Jack she wouldn’t get involved. Now he’d never trust her again. He might never want to see her again.

  Then she remembered.

  “It’s date night, and look at me. I’m a mess.”

  “But you’re in one piece. That’s all that matters.”

  “He pointed a gun at me, Jack. Can you believe that? And now there’s a hole in the wall. How am I ever going to explain that to Mira?” Another surge of anger had her propelling herself toward the house but Jack grabbed her and dragged her back out.

  “Don’t make me handcuff you, Eve.”

  “You wouldn’t dare. They’re the killers.” She growled. “And that cost me another hundred dollars.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You have no idea how much money I’ve lost these last few days
. All because of them.” Her breath eased down. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. “What are you doing here? It’s not seven o’clock. You said you’d pick me up at seven.”

  “Jill called. We were over at the lighthouse. And just as well we were nearby. I don’t want to think what you would have done to those men if we hadn’t arrived in time. And I sure as hell don’t want to think about what they could have done to you.”

  Her legs wobbled. “My hand hurts.”

  “You got him good. Where did you aim?”

  “I didn’t exactly have a plan of action but I didn’t want to break my fingers so I aimed for a soft spot. He’s flabby. I think I got his throat, and I might have hit his nose. I can’t really remember, I was that angry. I could only think about getting Jill out of the house and away from danger.” She fisted her hands again. “They had a gun, Jack. A real gun. With real bullets and now there’s a hole in the wall.”

  He gathered her in his arms again.

  “It was them, Jack. They killed Reggie. All because of the will.”

  “What will?”

  “There’s another will. It names Brandon McKay as the sole beneficiary.” She rambled on, telling Jack about Brandon faking the paintings. Then Eve remembered what Robert Pierce had said about contaminating her donuts. “Jack. Throw the book at them. They used my donuts to kill him. He was allergic to peanuts. I don’t use peanuts in my donuts so they put them in. Alex Green let on he was allergic to them. Did you know about his allergy?”

  Jack nodded. “Did you say there’s another will?”

  “In the canister. Brandon fled with it that night he came over here and hid it. That’s proof of the motive. Jill and I knew we were on to something. Jill noticed the canister in the photos.”

  “Slow down. What photos?”

  “The ones we took of the studio. We compared them.”

  “You did that after you promised me you’d keep your nose clean?”

  “What did you expect me to do? They used Mira’s life buoy. I suspected they’d used my donuts to make him sick. They dragged me into it, Jack. I couldn’t stand by and let them get away with it.”

  Eve watched the police officers stream out of the house; both Robert Pierce and Alex Green had their hands cuffed behind their backs.