“So you diced people into chum and tossed them in the ocean. What would Harold think of that?” I worked my fingers over the strings uselessly.
“He’d think I was quite clever. Unfortunately, the tides gave me away, bringing everything right back where it came from. The sharks were too stupid to eat the pieces before they got to shore.”
The back of my head and neck throbbed. Whatever was in the syringe wasn’t long lasting. I’d never been roofied, but I didn’t think a dose came in a syringe. The description bumbling seemed more appropriate than nefarious. Then again, I was tied up, drugged and about to drown at her hands. Images of her patiently cutting someone’s arm into pieces small enough for her cooler and then toting it out to sea ruined my concentration. How long had she been at this sinister practice? I stole a look at the rising tide. Who all was out there waiting to float in?
“Mark’s going to jail for this. What about his wife? Hasn’t she been through enough?” I tugged and rotated my ankles, loosening the ties on each foot. Maybe she wasn’t too far gone for reason.
She clucked her tongue. A look of regret crossed her face. “It’s too bad. I suppose the upside is I get to keep all the money. Keeping all the money might save my business. I’ll have to stop now, though. If I don’t, they’ll see he wasn’t working on his own and I can’t handle another investigation. That boyfriend of yours is a pain in my patoot.”
“Mark helped you do this?” My tummy rolled and squeezed. I willed it not to be true. Nausea warmed my cheeks. “He’s guilty?”
“He can’t work forever in his condition. His is an awful plight. Medical bills, too.” She shook her head. “He needed the money as much as I did, and I needed the muscle. This wasn’t an easy undertaking.” She laughed at her play on words. I did not.
“Mark helped with the dicing, heavy lifting and cleanup. I made the drops after he went home to be with his wife. No one ever suspects a little old widow.” Her spreading grin didn’t reach her eyes. I recognized that look. Clients looked that way before telling me something traumatic. Helena was mentally retreating. Not good for me. As she detached emotionally, I worked my wrists and ankles against the binds until they bled. If she completely checked out, she’d stop talking and start killing.
“We were a team,” she said.
“You threw the Molotov cocktail. He left the note and all the dead birds?” The heaviness in my limbs made every movement infuriating and slow.
An icy burst of sea water hit the rocks and splattered us. The spray beaded on Helena’s yellow getup. I was wrong about her costume. She wore a surgical mask with waders and a raincoat. Smart planning ahead.
“Your friend Karen left the birds. I saw her do it.”
Karen. I ground my teeth.
“How long have you been following me?” My body vibrated from the cold. “You won’t get away with this. Mark will turn on you if it gives him more time with his wife, and you said Sebastian’s onto you. He won’t let this go.”
Helena ignored me. Her eyes glassed over and her voice became flat. “I’ve seen funeral homes do this before. Nothing new under the sun, my mom always said. I saw a show on television where one funeral home put all the bodies they didn’t cremate into a big grave, which was silly. My way is better. Besides, you and your boyfriend will die here tonight. The island will mourn. Time will pass. Let’s face it. Sheriff Fargas isn’t exactly a brilliant investigator. He’ll be content to close the case with Mark in jail.”
“Sebastian doesn’t work alone. He has a team. Surely you’ve seen the big black SUVs on the island lately. They aren’t hauling birders.”
“I might get interviewed one day for a television show. Maybe Unsolved Crimes. That one’s good. People like island crimes.”
Apparently.
“Can you move your arms or legs?” She lifted a syringe and eyeballed the contents.
“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t have to do this, you know. I keep lots of secrets. You can talk to me when the guilt gets to be too much.” I was on a roll. Lying got surprisingly easy under duress. Connecting a person’s level of stress with the ability to behave against their standard moral guideline sounded like a good dissertation topic. For example, if I got my hands free, I’d hit an old lady with a big sea rock.
“I won’t have guilt. James Trent and Minnie wouldn’t listen to reason. I had to kill them. I made them each an offer and they both chose poorly. The others were already dead. I wouldn’t have cut them up otherwise. I’m not a monster.”
“What’s the plan, Mrs. Flick? I don’t understand what you’re doing with me.” Speaking of crime shows, the hostage stalled for time.
“Now, I do myself a favor and get rid of you and your Agent Clark. You two are ruining my forced retirement. Time to wash ashore.” She wiggled her fingers. “You two came here to be romantic and didn’t notice the tide until it was too late.”
Another wave crashed against the cave’s wall, dousing us in icy water this time. Each wave hit closer and harder. The mouth of the cave was accessible by beach during low tide or through a split in the ground above anytime. During low tides the inside of the cave was a miraculous and beautiful testimony of the ocean’s power. Centuries of continuous waves worked on the rocky interior, smoothing the walls and creating a variety of ledges, shelves and stalagmites. It wasn’t uncommon for hikers to take shelter inside the cave’s cool shade and enjoy a snack at low tide. During high tide, water nearly filled the cave.
“Washed out to sea. Yours is a sad love story, the stuff parents will warn children about for decades. Folks will say your ghosts can be seen walking the beach hand in hand some nights at high tide. Sad—especially since I’m Team Adrian.”
Yeesh. I rolled my eyes and cringed as pain shot through my head. I needed Tylenol.
“Now, I need your help.” She dug through a small black plastic bag hung on a large rock and retrieved my phone. “I tried to find his number while you had a nap, but I can’t read any of this gibberish. No names. Which one is Agent Clark? And don’t try any funny stuff.” She faced the screen to me and scrolled slowly through my contacts.
I told Claire nicknames were a smart idea.
“My head hurts. I think I’m going to throw up.” I closed my eyes and rolled my face away from her.
“Go ahead. The water will wash it away. Is it double-oh-seven? I don’t see another one that would fit. Deputy Doofus is fitting, but I don’t want him. Well?” She bonked my forehead with the phone.
I moaned, faking sick. Hours had passed since I’d left the cemetery. High tide wasn’t until evening and already the water twinkled pink through the cave door. Another wave washed in, raising the water level on the cave floor. Helena was up to her knees.
“Fine. Double-oh-seven it is.” She tapped a text into the screen with her pointer finger one letter at a time. Sebastian had time to save me before she hit send.
The next splash of ice water hit my bare stomach and I had to pee. My potential humiliation grew exponentially.
“Do I hit the arrow now?” she asked, hovering the phone over my face.
“I have to use the bathroom.” I feigned agony and tried to look as green and groggy as possible.
“Me too. I’ve got on my special pants, though.” She looked at my body with too much interest. “Those lacy scraps are hardly underwear. What kind of lady wears underwear like that? What will your mother say when they find you in those?”
“You mean when they find my body washed out to sea after meeting my lover for a tryst? I’m not sure my underwear will add to that story.” I bit my lip. The drugs were wearing thin. My attitude was back and pretty pissed. I counted down. Do not provoke the crazy lady.
“In my day, people believed in marriage.”
I scrunched my nose.
Time seemed to still and drag as I shivered. My sk
in burned and my bones ached with the cold. Only the tide told the time. I formulated a dozen faulty plans, none of which I could execute while tied up on a rock, especially if she dosed me with anything else. I closed my eyes and played dead while we waited for poor Adrian to show up. Oh boy. I had no idea how she’d react to that plot twist. At least she liked him. Maybe he had a chance.
The intensity of each wave doubled as they broke closer and closer to us, rushing in and soaking my frigid skin. Hypothermia became a real possibility. Ice cold hair hung limp against my face and shoulders, rewetted every minute as the relentless ocean invaded our cave. The water level climbed to Mrs. Flick’s hips before she moved to a bigger rock.
Thunder cracked in the sky, shaking the walls around us. Clouds rushed in the darkness and lightning flashed outside as though Mother Nature had hit a light switch. One more fascinating addition to this night of hell.
“Patience?” Adrian’s voice boomed from above.
Rocks slipped as he climbed in through the opening above where the cave was covered in craggy grasses. Hikers wore down paths for cave exploring every summer. The mouth of the cave was scooped out by the sea long ago. Inside, we were invisible from the beach and, at this time of day, with storm clouds overhead, we were impossible to see or hear.
“Are you down there?”
“Adrian! G-g-get help!”
Mrs. Flick jumped off her rock and waded through the waist-deep water. The tide pulled and shoved, making her trek difficult.
“C-c-call Sebastian. Don’t c-c-come down here. Mrs. F-f—”
A little pruny hand clamped over my mouth. “I thought you were sleeping.”
“Patience? What’s going on?” He waded into the water toward us. Water dripped from his hair, running paths over his worried face. “Where are your clothes?”
“R-r-run. C-c-call for help. She’s trying t-t-t—”
“Hurry. I’m trying to untie her, but my fingers aren’t as nimble as they once were. Please help me.” Mrs. Flick wrapped her hand over mine and shot Adrian an imploring look.
Adrian lunged through the water with a gasp and closed the small remaining space in seconds. “Here, let me.” He worked at the binds on my wrists expertly.
“N-n-no. She d-d-did this.”
He stopped. “You couldn’t text me like this.”
Mrs. Flick stabbed him with the syringe.
“What the fu—” Adrian’s knees wobbled. For his sake, I hoped those weren’t his last words.
“Adrian.” Hot tears burned my cheeks. The next wave swallowed me, filling my open mouth and retreating as I hacked and gagged for air.
“Dang it.” Helena braced herself against the cave wall and locked her fingers in Adrian’s shirt. “How’d he find us?” She slid her hands under his arms and floated him in the rib-deep water to the nearest flat rock. “Well, it’s not the way I planned it, but I’ll manage. I’ve been through worse. You’ll both be dead in an hour anyway.”
She half-floated, half-waded to me, lifted my free wrist and dropped it. “The tide should pull you out of here if the sharks don’t get you first.” As she spoke the words, she examined the water pushing her off her feet with each new wave.
“There’s no time to undress him. The new story is you tried seducing him and were rejected. Tell my Harold I love him.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Helena grabbed her bag and climbed out of the cave the way Adrian came in. She used him as a step stool and slid several times on the little rock ledges before she succeeded. Part of me hoped she’d fall and break a hip, but the water was too deep. Thunder shook the earth and waves washed over me, submerging my rocky bed every few seconds. Adrenaline burned the haze off my mind, but my limbs weren’t as fast to respond.
I counted seconds between waves, gauging the time available before I held my breath again. I curled onto my side and shouldered my way up to a seated position. My arms felt like pudding, but at least Adrian had loosened the bindings before he got dosed. I fit the binding over the rock’s sharp edge and snapped it apart as another wave lifted and shoved me into Adrian. His head bashed into the dark earthen cave wall.
“Ahh!” I clutched his shirt with frozen, newly freed hands to keep the next wave from ripping us apart. Thunder rumbled long and low in the cave, like a faceless monster ready to swallow us deeper into his tummy. “Adrian!” I smacked his cheek. “Adrian. I need you. Wake up.” His heavy body slid from the rock beneath us, dragging me under with him.
Rain pounded the earth outside, sending mudslides into the cave. I couldn’t touch the cave floor anymore and Adrian looked dead. I couldn’t hear his heartbeat or feel his breath. I shook too hard to yell more. My chest ached from the cold. From fear. From grief. If I lost him because I hadn’t listened to Sebastian and left his case alone...the idea ejected from my brain.
I forgot to count and the next wave took me by surprise. I went under and Adrian went with me. My head cracked against a rock and my palms scraped over the cave floor. I dug my feet into the ground and pushed, driving me back to the surface. Adrian popped back up looking as bewildered as I felt. His blue eyes were wild and frantic. Confusion crumbled his brows.
“We’re at the r-r-rock caves. Helena Flick drugged you. She texted you f-f-from my phone after she brought me here and t-tied me up. She took my clothes. H-hold your breath.” I went limp as the next wave tossed me up and pulled me back. Adrian bobbed, wide-eyed and openmouthed, coughing out sea water. I forced my hands down and my knees up, working at the bindings on my ankles. I straightened and curled my body a few times before the little bindings gave way.
“Breathe.” I fisted my fingers in his shirt and kept talking before the next wave. “She left us here to die. She wanted Sebastian but I have nicknames on my phone. She dialed you. She thinks she got away with everything.”
“I can’t feel my body.” The fear in his eyes tugged at my heart. Adrian was my hero. The tides had turned. This time I needed to be his.
“H-hold your breath.” Another wave rocked over us, slapping water into my eyes and up my nose. When I refocused, he looked calmer, as though he understood. “The waves come between f-f-f-forty-five and sixty in my count. You’re not paralyzed. I felt like that when I woke up from whatever s-she had in her syringe. She screwed up the doses. You’ll feel it wearing off soon. Do y-y-you think you can you swim?”
He shook his head. As night and the storm settled in to stay, light grew dim and scarce in the cave.
“S’okay. Don’t worry. We’ll tread water together. I can keep you up until your legs wake up.” I scanned the cave’s interior through squinted eyes. “This isn’t the f-f-first storm we’ve listened to from this cave.” Or the first time I’d ended up in my underwear. “Somehow, I remember this place being w-warmer.”
Adrian’s cheek lifted, pulling his mouth into a lopsided, self-deprecating smile. “I should’ve called Sebastian and told him about the text. I knew it was screwy. It’s been a long time since you called me sweetie or signed your texts with exes and ohs.”
“Oh, jeez. Mrs. Flick texted you. I was tied up.”
I swam against him, moving us with the water until my feet hit a rock. Adrian tipped backward, stuck on a large hunk of flattened rock. I grunted, pulling his shoulders until he was seated and a good six inches taller than me. I couldn’t tread water with him all night in my condition.
He smiled, but it wasn’t the smile I loved. Our odds of surviving sucked. My limbs were slow and heavy. If we were on land, I doubted they’d hold me up and Adrian was the equivalent of a two hundred pound sack of sand with a head. Lighter in the water, yes, but more than I could handle.
“I think we can get out the way you came in if we ride the water up and grab onto the grass when the cave fills. Then we don’t need the strength to climb the rocks. We can float up and then hang
on.” I didn’t want to think long about the cave filling.
“Hold your breath.” Adrian interrupted me. I got half a mouthful of salty ocean water. My stomach revolted and I choked it back up all over him as the water rushed away.
“The next wave will clean that off.” I frowned in apology.
“I’ve experienced worse. Like this one day I got a flirty text I thought came from a pretty girl and it turned out to be from a maniacal old lady.”
“Yeah. That day sucked.” Lightning lit the world outside and illuminated the cave.
“Can you swim?” Adrian’s stormy blue eyes had renewed clarity. He was formulating a plan. “Not tread water. Swim.” He looked past me to the cave opening.
Any other day, I could swim out of the cave and keep going for a mile before my limbs felt the way they did now.
“Yeah, a little.” Not at all. Maintaining the awkward tread water position and holding him upright on a rock had already exhausted me.
“I want you to climb on my shoulders and get out. Go for help. I think you can reach if you climb up here,” he patted the stone where he sat, “then here.” He touched his shoulder with one hand. The hand fell limply to his side.
I shook my head. “I can’t climb, Adrian. I don’t have the strength to pull myself out of the water and I don’t think I can walk. If I somehow make it out, I still couldn’t go for help.”
“Yes, you can.” His voice thickened with emotion. “You can. You’re the strongest person I know and you’ve got this, Patience. Now, get up there. Get help.”
My head swung left and right throughout his speech. “I won’t leave you. If you tell me to again, I’ll pull your hair.”
Murder Comes Ashore Page 24