The Killing Sands

by Rick Murcer

  They sat on the deck, watching the coastline fade as Jake took them farther away from shore. The bright, orange sun was starting to make its descent into the horizon. Clay wrapped his arm around Ramona and whispered in her ear. “I don’t know what you are up to, but I know it’s no good.” He squeezed her shoulder so hard, Ramona winced.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ramona excused herself, volunteering to go downstairs and grab the bottle of wine to refill everyone’s glasses. Patting the side of her purse, she was reassured when she felt the small pill bottle.

  Thank goodness for my anxiety attacks, she thought.

  Positioning herself facing the interior steps, she quickly opened the pill bottle. She had crushed the sedatives before leaving her room this afternoon, saving her some time. She just wasn’t sure how much to pour into the bottle. The men would require more of the medicine to effectively knock them out, she thought. So she ended up dumping all the medicine in the wine bottle. She corked it, swirled the wine, while keeping an eye out for anyone who may come down to check on her. Satisfied the powder had melted into the red liquid effectively, she put the empty pill bottle back in her purse.

  Pouring a small amount in a plastic cup, Ramona took a taste test. The sedative didn’t affect the taste at all. She smacked her lips and headed back.

  “Refill anyone?” she asked, joining the others on the deck.

  She topped off everyone’s glass, including her own.

  ***

  Jake anchored the catamaran about a mile offshore from the Jekyll Island coastline. Luckily, the water was pretty calm with only a light chop. The last thing he wanted was someone getting seasick and throwing a wrench in the plans.

  How lucky was he that he not only found his soul mate in Tessie, but that they shared the same ideals, the same cravings for adrenaline-pumping activities, and the same need to kill. When he met Tessie, he was not only impressed with her beauty but with her brains. She was highly intelligent and continued to impress him on a daily basis.

  Killing the three honeymoon couples was her most brilliant plan yet. The authorities were scrambling to connect the dots, but they never would. The FBI would have a hard time profiling the honeymoon killers. He relished that thought.

  No one would have ever expected that this beautiful, popular couple had committed three perfect murders together over the course of six months. The copy-cat Panama City Beach murder had his blood boiling, though. But that was something he would think about later. Tonight, they had an opportunity to get things back on track.

  Jake looked back over at his wife, beaming with pride. Tessie’s long, dark hair cascaded in waves down her back. Her green eyes were alive with excitement as they always were before a big kill. She was talking to Clay about some new cholesterol drug when suddenly she swayed and then fell off her chair, hitting the deck with a thud.

  “Tessie!” Jake yelled as he jumped up from the captain’s chair and rushed over to her. Just as he was kneeling down, Clay tumbled over on top of him. Jake pushed him off.

  “What the hell?” Jake asked.

  “I don’t feel so good,” Marlo said as she laid her head down on Tim’s lap.

  Jake felt a faint pulse on Tessie’s neck. He looked up in time to see Tim close his eyes, while his head lobbed crazily back and forth like he was a puppet on a string.

  He looked over at Ramona who sat perfectly still watching her husband lay on the cool deck. She seemed to be the only one not affected by the weird things happening around them.

  Food poison? Bad wine? A virus? All these thoughts ran through Jake’s mind. He started feeling a little woozy himself. Was that real or just a reaction to what was going on around him? He tried to fight off the dizziness.

  “What’s happening?” His words came out slurred as he tried to focus on Ramona. He was starting to see double.

  She shrugged. “I feel fine. Really relaxed.”

  All of a sudden, he was very tired. He grasped Tessie’s hand and fought the urge to lie down.

  “What did you do?” he tried to ask Ramona, but it came out more like “Wadda dooo?”

  His last thought before passing out was that he hadn’t planned as well as he should have. He’d underestimated his opponent.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ramona had to get busy. Jake was the biggest of the men, and she didn’t think he’d had much to drink. Now was the time to see what she was made of.

  She ran downstairs to the kitchen and grabbed the butcher knife she’d seen earlier that evening, along with a pair of latex gloves she’d stashed in her purse.

  “Focus on the big picture,” she kept telling herself. Hauling Tim and Clay off the boat was going to be a challenge. Ramona weighed one hundred nineteen pounds and was five-four. Jake was at least six-one and probably weighed over two hundred pounds.

  She raced back upstairs and was relieved to see everyone was still knocked out. She took a deep breath, gripped the butcher knife in her gloved hand, and stood over Jake’s body. Taking her right foot, she firmly placed it on his stomach and prepared to push him on his back. As soon as her foot hit his stomach, Jake grabbed her foot and pulled.

  Ramona tumbled sideways, the butcher knife slicing her left forearm as she fell on the deck. She felt a crack in her right foot where Jake still had a firm grip.

  Pain shot up simultaneously through her right foot and up her left arm. Blood was oozing out of the wound, and she fought to stay conscious and not throw up. She jerked her ankle free as Jake tried to sit up. Fighting through the pain, Ramona hopped up at the same time Jake pushed up on his knees. She scooted behind him and held the knife high up, ready to plunge into his back. As he tried to stand, she drove the knife into his back, connecting with his spinal cord, severing it.

  She pulled the knife out as he groaned and fell back on the deck. Ramona sunk to her knees, sucking in deep breaths while trying not to pass out. She needed to tend to the deep wound in her forearm before she passed out from blood loss.

  This was going to be hard enough with two functioning hands, but with an injury to her left arm, this was almost impossible. What the hell was she thinking? How was she going to pull off murdering five people all by herself?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tackling Tim’s body next, she was thankful he was lighter than Jake. She grabbed Marlo by the hair and lifted her off of Tim’s lap. She pulled Tim by his legs, dragging him to the stairs. Ramona got him as far down the stairs as she could before stepping over his body to push him feet first into the ocean. Her heart was hammering wildly as she gave one final push on his shoulder, then Tim’s body hit the water, and he immediately sank. Marlo’s body followed behind him. Ramona watched to make sure they went completely under the water, hoping they’d drown quickly.

  The makeshift bandage was already soaked with blood when she sat down to rest for a minute. She looked at her watch. An hour had already passed by quickly. The sun had set, and the others could be waking up at any minute. She didn’t know if she had the strength to continue.

  Now, Tessie and Clay were the last ones left. She wanted to save Clay for last. All the torment he’d put her through the last few years was getting ready to come back to him threefold.

  She was beyond tired as she dragged Tessie by her arms and got her as close as she could to the back steps. This was going to be hard. Tessie had become her friend in the last few days. Ramona had few friends back home due to Clay’s jealous behavior. But she reminded herself that Tessie and Jake had done bad things to those innocent couples. Ramona was just righting a wrong. Clay had abused her over the years. And Tim was a creepy guy who she was sure had done something wrong. Marlo was the only innocent in this matter, as far as Ramona was concerned. Unfortunately, Ramona couldn’t let her live. Marlo would tell everyone the truth.

  With some regret, Ramona heaved Tessie over the edge of the last step. Just as Tessie hit the water, she thought she saw Tessie open her eyes. Ramona held her breath, watching Tessie sink slowly
down into the dark, inky water. By now, it was pitch dark, and even with the full moon shining down, it was hard to see anything more than five feet beyond the boat. Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she quickly forgot about Tessie and went about taking care of the last person on the boat besides herself.

  Ramona stood next to Clay. She surprised herself by crying. “You charmed me and made me fall in love with you. I thought you were my knight in shining armor. Then you turned on me. Showed me a side of you that I didn’t see coming. The first time you laid a hand on me, you made me think it was my fault. You made me alienate all my friends and family. You took away everything that I loved. You made me feel dirty and shameful.” Ramona plunged the knife deep in his chest. “I hate you.” She collapsed on the deck next to him and passed out.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ramona awoke in a panic. Clay was still lying next to her, his white dress shirt soaked in blood. She checked her watch. It was nine thirty. She got up, stripped off the bloody gloves before tossing them overboard. She proceeded downstairs to call for help. It took her a few minutes to figure out the boat’s phone system and to get the Coast Guard on the line. Exhausted, she curled up in ball on the couch and cried herself to sleep again.

  An hour later, she felt someone tapping her on the arm.

  “Ma’am? Are you okay?” A man stood before her in a dark-blue uniform.

  She slowly sat up and nodded.

  “Are you the one who called?”

  Another nod.

  “What happened here?” he asked as another man joined him, also in uniform and flashing a light around the darkened room.

  “They’re all dead,” she whispered.

  “Who are the two men on the deck?” he asked.

  “My husband, Clay Myers. And the other is Jake McBride.” Ramona started shaking violently. “She killed my husband.”

  “Who killed your husband?”

  “Tessie McBride. The Honeymoon Killer.”

  Epilogue – a year later

  Tessie sat calmly in her Mercedes, watching as the bride came out of the hotel entrance wearing a champagne-colored wedding dress with her strawberry-blond hair cascading down her slim shoulders. The bride was accompanied by her sister, who was carrying a small makeup case and a bouquet of flowers.

  As the limo whisked the bride and her sister away, Tessie cranked up the engine and prepared to follow them. She didn’t need to stay on their tail. Tessie knew where the wedding would take place. Reaching over to the passenger seat, she grabbed a copy of the latest People magazine and read the article again.

  Lone Survivor of the Jekyll Island Murders Marries Again

  Ramona Myers, the only survivor of the Jekyll Island Massacre, is getting married.

  Ramona and her then-husband, Dr. Clay Myers, were attacked a year ago while on their honeymoon at Jekyll Island, Georgia. Clay was killed by Tessie McBride, who authorities had dubbed the Honeymoon Killer. Tessie and her husband, Jake, had been targeting honeymooners and killing them for over six months when they’d lured Clay and Ramona on a sunset cruise and planned to murder them along with another couple, Tim and Marlo Mathis.

  Against all odds, Ramona survived. After a distress call to the Coast Guard was sent out, authorities found an injured Ramona on the rented catamaran. She told authorities that Tessie and Jake had used sedatives to spike the other couple’s drinks and then proceeded to murder their guests, one by one. Ramona said she had awakened from the sedative to find Tessie and Jake arguing while dumping the body of Marlo Mathis overboard. Ramona crawled away while the couple was distracted and was able to get hold of a kitchen knife for self-defense. She recounted to authorities that she’d crept back to the deck where the McBride’s were preoccupied with killing Ramona’s husband. Ramona had approached Jake from behind and stabbed him in the back. Tessie and Ramona then fought for the knife, and Ramona received a cut to the forearm. Tessie slipped on a puddle of blood, lost her balance, and hit her head before falling overboard. Ramona called for help before passing out.

  The body of Marlo Mathis was found by authorities a week later on the shores of Jekyll Island. The bodies of Tessie McBride and Tim Mathis were never found.

  Fast forward a year later, Ramona has found love again and is marrying technology tycoon, Lucas Perrona. Their wedding is taking place in the beautiful wine country of Napa Valley. Ramona moved out to California a couple months after the incident to work with her sister, Julia Capstone, who owns the famed Capstone Advertising Agency. Ramona met Lucas Perrona during a photo shoot that her sister’s agency was overseeing. After a whirlwind courtship, Lucas and Ramona will be married this month at the Blue Duck Winery. This story is a great example of one woman who found love again after enduring a great tragedy.

  Tessie snorted as closed the magazine and tossed it in the backseat.

  “Tragedy, my ass.” Tessie remembered the night of the sunset cruise very clearly, and what Ramona told the authorities was a complete farce. The only truth in what Ramona had said was that she’d killed Jake, the one and only true love of Tessie’s life.

  Tessie picked up the hunting knife and twirled it around by the handle. Now Ramona was going to pay in spades.

  About the Author of The Honeymooners

  Traci Hohenstein is the best-selling author of the Rachel Scott series, Burn Out and Asylum Harbor.

  She lives in Northwest Florida with her husband and three children. In her spare time, Traci likes to paddleboard and play with her kids at the beach. She is working on her next Rachel Scott novel.

  You can visit her at:

  Website: www.tracihohenstein.com

  Or send an e-mail to:

  E-mail: tracihohenstein@gmail.com

  The Rachel Scott Series (suspense)

  Burn Out

  Asylum Harbor

  Cut and Run (coming Winter 2012)

  The Honeymooners Trilogy (thriller/suspense)

  Jekyll Island – Book 1

  Napa Valley – Book 2 (coming Fall 2012)

  The Hollywood Hills Series (romantic comedy)

  Special Delivery

  Split Decision

  As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

  by Tim Ellis

  Tuesday

  Verona Izatt wanted to scream as she watched the man’s hands forcing the thick curved needle and catgut through the skin of her lips like a demented tailor, but her throat wouldn’t work. In fact, nothing worked anymore. Her whole body was paralysed, but she could feel everything. He had slipped something small inside her mouth, but she had no idea what. Now, he was sewing her lips together, and the pain forced her to peer through the gossamer veil separating sanity from insanity.

  Above her was the full-length mirror that had hung on the wall by the door. He had strung it up from the light fitting and positioned it just right, so that she could watch everything he did to her. The bedside light was on. She was naked, and could see a pool of blood had formed between her open legs.

  She’d been asleep when the needle had pierced the skin of her neck, and a hand had smothered her scream. The drug had acted within a handful of seconds. She became a petrified witness to her own demise.

  He laid out his instruments on her dressing table. Prepared everything for his work. Using a pair of long, thin scissors, he had slashed up the front of her nightdress, and then raped and sodomised her for what seemed like hours. At last, he grunted like a pig as he ejaculated into a condom, and saliva dripped onto her face through the mouth of the evil clown mask he was wearing.

  Was that it? Please let him leave now. But he hadn’t left. He had all the time in the world to take a shower. She lived alone in the cottage her aunt had left her in the village of Little Haven in Wales. It was situated on a hill overlooking the beach. Each morning, before breakfast – come rain or shine – she would follow the winding path down to the beach, and walk along the beautiful sand. In the summer she went barefoot, and paddled in the sea. In the winter she wore the pink wellies that she
kept by the back door. Little Haven was meant to be her slice of paradise. She had left her job behind, and was trying to earn a living as a writer. Had nearly forgotten the past, and begun to believe her own lies.

  Water dripped from his white, flabby body as he came back into the room, and she thought it strange that he was completely hairless. It was then that he had threaded his needle and begun the task of sewing her mouth shut. He pulled the last stitch through, knotted the end, and stood back to admire his handiwork.

  Was he finished? What was he going to do to her now?

  He left the room. She heard him padding downstairs in his bare feet. After a while he came back with a mug of something hot.

  It must be thirsty work, she thought. She didn’t want to think that. In fact, it was probably the last thing she ever wanted to think, but it had popped into her head all the same. What she really wanted to do was focus on the scalpel in his right hand, and what he planned to do with it.

  ***

  Wednesday

  ‘Jesus,’ Detective Inspector Inigo Morgan said, turning away to catch his breath and to stop his breakfast of poached egg on toast from regurgitating.

  The pathologist, Dr Jess Reese, looked up, a strand of black hair falling from the hood of the white zip-up suit. ‘Didn’t they tell you downstairs what to expect?’

  He heard the bitterness in her voice. ‘Yes, but you never really believe it’s going to be as bad as it always is.’ He and Jess had history – a failed marriage and a twenty-three-year-old daughter – but this was neither the time nor the place to re-visit the ghosts of his past.