Deadly Gift

by Heather Graham

  And no one in the house.

  It was a big house, but he had gone through all of it, looked into every closet, every little storage space, and every nook and cranny.

  He had even looked under all the beds.

  Sean had probably been right, and the back door had just been left open. But he wanted Morrissey to know about the incident anyway. He also needed to give Morrissey the substance he had found on the island. He didn’t know what it was going to prove, even if it was talc. But it would at least be circumstantial, and with the detective showing him so much courtesy, he wanted to make sure that he returned it.

  “Let me get you some coffee,” Clara said.

  “Thank you, Clara. How you do it, I’ll never know. You cook and clean. As huge as this place is, it’s clean as a whistle and runs like silk.”

  “Except for the fact that you left the back door open last night,” Amanda announced, breezing into the room. “That can’t happen again,” she said firmly, taking the cup of coffee Clara had just poured for Zach right out of Clara’s hand.

  Clara frowned, wiping her hands nervously on the apron she was wearing. “I didn’t leave the door open, Mrs. O’Riley. I certainly did not.”

  “Yes, you did. Or Tom did.”

  “Tom went to the cottage before me. He had the tree glowing when I came in last night.” Her frown deepened.

  “You go out the back, right?” Amanda demanded.

  Clara nodded. “But I turned the key and threw the bolt,” she insisted.

  “Are you calling me a liar?” Amanda demanded.

  “No, of course not.”

  “Well, then, there is no other explanation.”

  Clara stared at Zach, as if asking for help.

  “Tell her, Zach,” Amanda insisted.

  “The door was open, Clara,” he admitted unwillingly.

  Amanda spun around suddenly to face him. “You were out,” she said. “I was so unnerved last night that I only just realized that. You went out.”

  “I went to the charter office.”

  “In the middle of the night?” Amanda said, shocked and suspicious.

  “I couldn’t sleep. And I’m here to find Eddie,” he said.

  Amanda sniffed. “Yeah? I think you’re here because that little bitch upstairs thinks I tried to kill her father.”

  Clara wore a look of white-faced horror. Zach tipped his head discreetly in her direction, and she fled.

  He turned to Amanda. “Mrs. O’Riley,” he said pointedly, “I’m trying hard myself to believe that you’re really in love with Sean. But if I were you, I wouldn’t go calling his daughter a bitch around here.”

  She smiled and tossed back the wealth of her hair. “Look, I’m married to the man, which means I’m stuck dealing with the bratty kid—”

  “Who’s almost your age,” he reminded her.

  She ignored him. “Not to mention having to deal with that other bitch married to Cal, with his dying old crazy aunt and that senile woman in the kitchen. I really don’t know how long my good graces will last. And I wouldn’t want you to bet on the fact that Sean would now or will always choose this harem of nutty sluts over me. So maybe you ought to tell the little bitch to behave herself.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, because she didn’t want one.

  She simply grabbed a scone and glided off.

  Why the hell had Sean ever married that woman? he wondered.

  But he was actually pretty sure he knew. In front of Sean, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. In front of Sean, when Kat was…catty, Amanda replied with calm and patient courtesy. She pretended to be gentle and loving when it came to Bridey.

  She didn’t keep the act up quite as well for Clara or Tom, because in her mind, they were just servants.

  And he knew damned well that she disliked him, pure and simple.

  And it was a wonder she hadn’t managed to get rid of Caer yet.

  He went into the kitchen to assure Clara that they had no idea of who was really to blame, and then he headed out.

  He opened the garage door, and then, before he got into the car, he walked out onto the lawn and looked around.

  It was a cool, crisp morning, and the wind had died down.

  In fact, it had stopped. There didn’t seem to be so much as a flutter in the air. It was amazing.

  As he drove toward the police station, he found himself wondering about Caer again. Sean had said that she would be staying until after Christmas. He had the feeling Sean had told Amanda that she was staying, and that was that.

  Strange.

  Why? he taunted himself. He had brought her with him when he should have gone out alone to the island, and he had told her what he wasn’t telling anyone else, other than Sean or the cops. He already missed the sight of her when he was away from her. He found himself searching her out when he could.

  Hey, he warned himself, watch it, or you’ll be imagining a whole lot more about her. Those eyes. That hair. Those impossibly long legs. Wrapped around you.

  He groaned aloud.

  And drove.

  First things first, Caer thought. Sean was getting stronger by the day, but she still sat in the chair in his room while he showered and dressed.

  He had an appointment with his cardiologist that morning, and Tom was going to drive them.

  To her surprise, Amanda opted not to go.

  Along the way, Sean pointed out some of the most famous mansions. “You need to go, young lady. They’re all decked out for Christmas.”

  “I’m working,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, you are. But I’m doing quite well, and no one works all the time.”

  “I’ve barely been here, and I’ve already been out on one of your boats.”

  Sean just smiled. He was charming, and quite handsome, especially when he smiled. Maybe it wasn’t so odd that he had attracted such a young wife.

  Actually, it wasn’t odd that he would attract anyone; what was odd was that he had chosen Amanda.

  Caer pushed that thought from her mind. They were nearing the doctor’s office, and anyway, Sean’s marriage was none of her business.

  Tom opened the car doors, but when he would have helped Sean out, the older man said, “Tom, I appreciate the offer, but I can walk in on my own, and I need to do so.”

  Tom looked at his boss with real affection and concern, then nodded and said that he would stay in the car.

  A little while later, Caer accompanied Sean into the exam room, where a nurse took his blood pressure and listened to his heart, then took his temperature. The cardiologist, a Dr. Rankin, came in then and asked Caer about Sean’s medications. She just smiled and said that he should ask Sean, who rattled off the names of everything he was taking, how much and when.

  Sean went for a scan of his veins, and Caer went out to the waiting room.

  A woman there was reading the newspaper, and Caer saw that there was a picture of Eddie still on the front page, though it was smaller than it had been. The caption read Local Man Still Missing in Bizarre Mystery.

  While Sean was still in the middle of his procedure, the doctor sat down with her in his office and asked her about everything that had gone on in Ireland. She was glad that she’d been in the emergency room as she described everything that had happened and everything they’d done.

  Dr. Rankin shook his head. “And they suspected food poisoning?”

  “Yes.”

  “But they couldn’t find anything?”

  “I assure you, the testing in Ireland is thorough,” she told him.

  She must have sounded a little indignant. He tried to hide a smile. “I believe you. I’m just completely baffled.”

  “They were baffled, too,” she admitted.

  “And you have no idea?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “He’s doing well now, right?” she asked.

  “Yes, I’ve checked his heart, his veins, and given him a low-level stress test. Mr. O’Riley’s in excel
lent health overall, thank God. But no one lives forever. We age. And the body reacts to the kind of stress he’s just been through. But he’s doing well. I understand you’ll be with him until New Year’s?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s good. Keep a close eye on him.”

  She hesitated. “Is he healthy enough to get back to, uh…normal relations with his wife?” she managed, looking away at the last. Hell. She was his nurse. This was all matter-of-fact stuff.

  To her surprise, Dr. Rankin hesitated. “Medically?” he asked her.

  “Of course,” she said.

  He looked probingly at her. “She was with him when this happened, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sean told me he’s down on the first floor and she’s still upstairs. Let’s just keep things that way for a bit.”

  “Mrs. O’Riley won’t be happy.”

  “Mrs. O’Riley should want to play it safe,” Rankin said.

  She smiled. “You’re the doctor.”

  He nodded, then excused himself to see other patients. Sean reappeared, buttoning his top button and grinning. “I’m officially in good shape,” he told her.

  “You’re not in the clear yet.”

  “I can drive any day,” he said happily.

  “But you shouldn’t,” she said.

  “We’ll see.”

  “You have Tom.”

  “It’s a big house, big lawn. Tom is a busy man.”

  “And Clara. She must be busy, too, keeping up with that place.”

  “We have maids in a few days each week. No one human being could keep that place clean.”

  She smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.” She paused, frowned and asked, “Sean, do any of those maids…”

  “Do they have keys to the house?” he asked her.

  “Do they?”

  “No. Of course not. Clara lets them in, and Clara watches them like a mother hen. A very suspicious mother hen.”

  She nodded. “It’s just that…well, that door was open last night.”

  He grinned, then leaned down to whisper conspiratorially, “Did you hear?”

  “What?” For some reason, she found herself whispering back.

  “There’s a banshee in the house.” He smiled and winked.

  She smiled weakly in return, and linked her arm through his as they made their way back out to Tom and the car.

  But when they were settled in the backseat, she looked at him gravely.

  “Sean.”

  “Yes.”

  She hesitated. “You know…Zach is convinced that your friend Eddie is dead,” she said quietly.

  “I know.”

  “And I’m afraid someone is trying to kill you, too,” she told him very quietly.

  He didn’t look at her; he stared straight ahead.

  “I know that, too,” he replied. “That’s part of the reason you’re here, right?”

  She felt as if every muscle within her tensed. “Pardon?”

  “To see that some sneaky S.O.B. doesn’t do me any medical harm, right?”

  “Right,” she said weakly, trying to hide her shock.

  “I’m going to be fine,” he assured her. “I still have things to do.”

  “Don’t we all say that?” she asked softly.

  “Of course. And I know that time waits for no man and all that. I just don’t think that it’s my time. Hey, I’ve been wrong before. But I have you and Zach to look out for me. And all any of us can do is our best, right?”

  She nodded as he dismissed the subject and pointed down the road. “That’s the way to Green Animals. It’s an old mansion with an impressive topiary menagerie. Bridey loves the place, but you know Bridey. She loves everything magical. Like banshees,” he said, and grinned.

  Detective Morrissey sat behind his desk, studying Zach gravely. “You should have called. We could have sent out officers to look around the neighborhood.”

  “Sean refused. He insisted the door had just been left open accidentally, and he could be right. Nothing was stolen.”

  “Do you think the door was left open?” Morrissey asked.

  “I don’t know. Several people heard noises, but they could have been hearing each other tramping around. I’ll make sure the alarm is set from now on. What about the sample I brought you?”

  Morrissey shrugged. “I expect you’re right and it’s talc, but I’m not sure where we go from there.” He hesitated for a second, then sighed. “We still don’t have a body. Let’s face it, we all assume that Eddie Ray is dead, but without a body, we can’t be sure. And, I’ll admit, I don’t think your idea of a diver killing him and swimming away is a long shot anymore. But we’ve done the rounds of the dive shops and came up empty. But plenty of people have their own setups, so…”

  “Thanks.” Zach rose.

  Morrissey leaned back. “You know, people are usually killed for a reason. Sure, you have your psychos, your random killers. But a thought-out murder—and this was well thought out—is committed for a reason. If we can find the reason, maybe we can figure out who did it.”

  “I know.”

  “Any ideas?”

  “I’m working on it,” Zach assured him.

  “Keep in touch. I’ll do the same,” Morrissey said, standing and shaking his hand.

  Once he was back in the car, Zach headed for the charter office.

  He noted again how different the day was from the night before, with the wind still nonexistent.

  Cal and Marni were both in. Cal was on the phone, making arrangements with a cleaning service, and Marni was going over the books.

  “Slow day?” Zach asked. It was so beautiful out that he was surprised no one had stopped in to book a last-minute sail. There were certainly plenty of tourists around. A lot of retirees, in particular, came in December to see the Christmas decorations.

  “Yes, and a good thing,” she said. “If it were summer, we’d have to be hiring extra help, on top of the seasonal employees we always hire. So far, Cal has been able to handle everything we’ve booked.” She sighed. “But the holiday flotilla is coming up—we always show off our fleet then. And then there’s New Year’s…. I guess I’m going to have to talk to Sean soon about hiring on another couple of captains. I don’t know what else we can do.”

  “I can take one of the boats out for the holiday flotilla,” Zach offered. “That’s just a few days before Christmas, right?”

  “The Sunday before,” she agreed.

  “Maybe Sean will be up to snuff by then.”

  “Maybe. So what brings you in today?” she asked him.

  “Eddie’s computer.”

  “Oh?” She arched a brow. “Well, it’s over there. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” He didn’t mention that he already knew where it was.

  Zach sat at Eddie’s desk, booted up his computer and went back ten days. As he accessed areas that the casual user might not, he realized that Marni had moved to stand behind him and look over his shoulder.

  “How did you do that?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Go back so far. I can only pull up the most recent sites I’ve visited.”

  “It’s not all that tricky, really. A computer—even the worst computer—has an amazing amount of info saved in its memory, and this is a nice setup, so it’s got even more.”

  “Yeah. Eddie insisted he had to have this computer. I don’t get it, myself. The Internet is the Internet, you know? We have a great business site, though. Eddie did it. Do you believe that? The old guy is the one who figures it all out,” Marni said affectionately. She was smiling, but her smile faded as she realized that she was speaking in the present tense about someone who was probably dead.

  She didn’t walk away, though.

  “Hey, you got any coffee?” Zach asked her.

  “Sure,” she said, and went to pour him a cup.

  He thought of the facts he had so far. Eddie had gone out with a man who called himself John Alden. The m
an had paid cash. The boat had been found by Cow Cay. There was talc on the boat, and talc on Cow Cay. And then he added the facts he couldn’t prove but believed all the same. Someone had killed Eddie, used diving equipment to reach the island and disappeared from there. And that someone had killed Eddie for a reason.

  Then he moved on to the more questionable suppositions. Someone might be trying to kill Sean. If so, who? Amanda, his wife, who stood to gain? Logical, maybe. She was young and beautiful; Sean was old and rich. A likely scenario. Maybe too likely. Why did people kill? Passion, envy, greed.

  Eddie had been accessing all the information he could on Rhode Island and the American Revolution. He had gone to sites that featured maps and charts of the area. He had studied battles and commanders and the congress. He had looked up Nigel Bridgewater, the local hero who had been hanged for treason, on a number of different sites, sites that focused specifically on Bridgewater and sites where he was only mentioned. He had done a lot of cross-referencing.

  But hadn’t written any notes or conclusions on his computer. At least, none that Zach had found so far.

  Zach went to Eddie’s calendar. There were notations about work-related events, and then a notation followed by several exclamation points on Christmas Day.

  Sean will get the gift and then he’ll know!!!!

  He exited the calendar and turned around. Marni was behind him, smiling, carrying his coffee. “Black?” she asked him.

  “Black is fine,” he said. “Thank you.”

  As he accepted the coffee, she sighed. “Poor Eddie.”

  “We can still hope,” he said.

  “Of course. We’re all hoping, but…Eddie wouldn’t just go away without telling someone. I know he wouldn’t.”

  “Thanks for this,” he said, lifting the cup to her.

  “Sure.”

  She went back to her own desk. The door opened, and a group of young men came in, hoping they could charter a boat for a sail around the bay. Cal, who was off the phone by then, went over to speak to them.

  Zach closed down Eddie’s computer. He was pretty sure he had discovered what he could from it, which really wasn’t much. He needed to get into Eddie’s house, and he needed to talk to Sean.

  Passion, envy, greed. People were killed because they knew too much. They were killed because others envied what they had.