by Rachel Woods
“Go on,” prodded Leo, when Besi’s gaze drifted away … but not too far that she wouldn’t be able to get the jump on him if he tried to rush her and grab the gun.
Besi shook her head. “A few weeks after our first meeting, Jones called me. Said he wanted to share some interesting DNA results with me, so I agreed to meet him again. At our second meeting, he explained how he’d stolen my DNA. I was pissed, but DNA don’t lie. Jones had exposed my mama’s dirty little secrets. Come to find out, a year before I was born, mama gave birth to another baby girl she named Elizabeth. Mama thought one of her many hookups was Elizabeth’s father so she sent her off to live with daddy’s driver, Guillermo Davis.”
“So, you find out you really do have a half-sister,” said Leo. “Then what happened?”
Scoffing, Besi said, “Jones said Elizabeth wanted her share of Mama’s estate, which she felt she was entitled to because she was Mama’s daughter, too. Well, I informed Jones that Mama didn’t have any money. That’s why she married daddy.”
“What did Jones say?” asked Leo.
Besi shrugged. “Wasn’t much he could say. I told him to go to hell and to never contact me again.”
“But, Jones did contact you again,” said Leo.
“He sent me an email claiming he had urgent, life-changing information I had to know and couldn’t ignore,” said Besi. “I met with him a third time. Turns out it wasn’t the charm.”
“That’s when you found out that Sam Beaumont wasn’t your father,” said Vivian.
“I’m the bastard daughter who has no idea who her real daddy is,” said Besi, an edge to her tone. “I’m the result of mama’s skanky sexual shenanigans.”
“How did Jones find out that Sam wasn’t your father?” asked Leo.
“After our second meeting didn’t go as well as Jones had hoped,” said Besi, “he and Elizabeth decided to see how much they could get for this locket Mama had mentioned in the letter she wrote to Elizabeth.”
“I remember that locket,” said Leo, recalling that Tom York had referred to it as a cheap trinket.
“Jones and Elizabeth went looking in Guillermo’s attic for the locket, which they found,” said Besi. “They’d hoped the locket might be worth some money, but it wasn’t even real gold. Jones also found a box of documents and books in the attic that belonged to Guillermo. Jones asked Elizabeth if he could go through the box. He was hoping to find an old insurance policy or some stock certificates that Mama might have left to Elizabeth.”
“Jones was determined to benefit from his investigative endeavors,” said Leo.
Besi nodded. “Turns out, he did. Or, rather, he would have, if not for Elizabeth.”
“He found the letter from Guillermo to Adrienne in that box,” Leo said.
“Jones translated it and realized Guillermo suspected that Samuel Beaumont was Elizabeth’s daddy,” said Besi.
Leo asked, “Did Jones tell Elizabeth what he’d found?”
Besi shook her head. “Jones told me he wanted to verify Guillermo’s suspicions before telling Elizabeth.”
“How was he able to do that?” asked Vivian.
Besi said, “He went to daddy’s estate and bribed one of daddy’s nurses to swab the inside of daddy’s cheek. Jones did the DNA tests—”
“And proved that Elizabeth’s parents were Adrienne and Samuel Beaumont,” said Vivian.
“But that got Jones to thinking: Elizabeth’s DNA and my DNA showed one common parent, who he assumed to be mama. But if Elizabeth and me have the same mama, then we don’t have the same daddy. And if Elizabeth’s daddy is Sam Beaumont—”
“Then … who’s your daddy?” asked Leo.
Besi glared at him. “My daddy is Samuel Jefferson Beaumont.”
“Not according to the DNA test Jones did on you and Sam Beaumont,” said Vivian.
“Jones had no right to test DNA he stole from me against DNA he stole from my daddy,” said Besi.
“So Jones tells you that Sam’s not your father, and then what?”
“I had a DNA test done to make sure Jones wasn’t trying to pull a scam,” said Besi. “When I had proof that Jones hadn’t lied about Samuel Beaumont not being my daddy, I called him and we met again. I told Jones that if he would tell Elizabeth that Adrienne was her mama, but not mention anything to her about Samuel being her daddy, then I would give him five million dollars. And I told him to tell Elizabeth that I would give her ten million to keep her mouth shut about the fact that she was Adrienne Beaumont’s daughter.”
Amazed by Jones’ duplicity, Vivian asked, “And he agreed?”
“For five million?” Besi scoffed. “You bet your ass he agreed. He took the deal and didn’t say anything to Elizabeth about Sam Beaumont being her father. Jones kept his word. But, Elizabeth didn’t keep hers …”
52
“How did Elizabeth not keep her word?”
“Jones convinced Elizabeth to take the ten million dollar deal,” said Besi. “He told her I’d changed my mind and was giving her the money so she would stay quiet about being Mama’s daughter. But, Elizabeth had another condition—she wanted to meet me in person. Looking back on it now, I never should have agreed to her demand. I should have known she was planning something.”
“You agreed to meet Jones and Elizabeth in the Aerie Islands,” said Leo.
“I was going to the Rakestraw-Blake Center to get this damn bump removed from my nose,” said Besi. “Something I should have done years ago. I figured it would be best to meet at my place down there, so she agreed.”
Staring at Besi, Vivian felt something near her hip vibrate. The cell phone. She prayed the message was confirming that the police had been called and were on the way. She hoped her staff didn’t think it was a prank or ruse.
“When Elizabeth and I met, it was like looking in a mirror,” said Besi, traces of amazement in her tone. “Turns out, we both look exactly like mama—except I had the bump. Elizabeth didn’t, but she knew I was getting it removed. And that’s when I think Elizabeth decided to get rid of me and steal my life. She never had the bump, so she could pass herself off as me after the plastic surgery.”
“So, you meet your half-sister, you look alike, she decides to steal your life and then what?” asked Leo.
“She sent me a text, pretending to be Jones, saying that Elizabeth wasn’t going to keep quiet,” said Besi. “The fake text from Jones said that he wanted to meet with me, so I agreed to that. When I opened the door, Elizabeth was standing there. She knocked me out. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in the underground hurricane bunker. Aaron Jones is there with me. He’s got bad news. He tells me Elizabeth tricked him and forced him, at gunpoint, into the bunker. Apparently, I was out for two or three days. Jones and I figured out that Elizabeth had decided to become Bessemer Beaumont.”
“How did the two of you figure out how to get out of the bunker?” asked Vivian.
“Took us about two months, but we found an emergency exit,” said Besi.
“How did you survive for two months in a bunker?” asked Leo.
“It’s a luxury bunker,” said Besi, shrugging. “It’s designed to withstand a Cat-5 hurricane. There are about six months’ worth of provisions down there. It’s got five bedrooms. Five baths. An industrial kitchen. Air conditioning. Bunker cost more than the damn house. Only thing we didn’t have was access to outside communication, thanks to Elizabeth. She took our personal phones and the bunker’s satellite phones.”
“I guess you and Jones got to know each other better,” said Leo. “Is that when you came up with a plan to kill Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth didn’t give us much of a choice,” said Besi. “We doubted she would give up being Bessemer Beaumont. And it wasn’t like I could expose what she’d done. Couldn’t tell the world that Elizabeth was pretending to be me. She would have denied my claims and in order to prove my identity, both of us would have been forced to do a DNA test to determine which one of us was really the Beaumont heiress.”
&nb
sp; “If Elizabeth took a DNA test,” said Leo. “It would prove that she was the daughter of Samuel and Adrienne Beaumont, not you.”
Besi said, “Jones and I realized we had to get rid of Elizabeth.”
“So how was it supposed to go?” asked Leo. “Jones hires a guy to kill Elizabeth, and then you do what? Come back from the dead with some bullshit story about a secret half-sister who tried to steal your life?”
“The plan was that Jones would hire a guy to get rid of Elizabeth before she walked down the aisle,” said Besi. “The hitman was supposed to kill her and get rid of the body without anyone ever knowing what he’d done. Ideally, he would have grabbed Elizabeth taking a walk alone on the beach or in her room taking a shower, but he was never able to get her by herself.”
“And then with Elizabeth dead and gone, you would have just stepped back into your life with no one the wiser,” said Vivian, worrying about the text she’d sent the staff. Had Sophie or Stevie or Beanie taken her message seriously? Had they called the police? Was Baxter François on his way?
“Except you still have the bump,” said Leo. “You didn’t get the surgery.”
“Because my sister knocked me out and stashed me in a bunker,” said Besi.
“When people saw you with the bump they would suspect something,” said Leo.
“I knew I would have to fake some sort of complication that would send me back to the Rakestraw-Blake Center,” said Besi. “I was going to tell everyone that I had to have another surgery but I would actually be getting the bump removed. The wedding date would have to be rescheduled but Derek would have been okay with that.”
“How did the plan go sideways?” asked Leo. “How did Jones end up dead?”
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“Aaron Jones was impatient,” said Besi. “And mistrustful. I thought we were on the same page when we left the Aerie Islands, but—”
“You were the brunette in sunglasses who arrived in St. Killian with Jones on that chartered plane?” asked Vivian.
“I had to give away a very expensive piece of jewelry to pay for that flight,” said Besi. “But, we couldn’t fly commercial, for obvious reasons.”
“And that was you at the cocktail party,” Vivian said. “Asking about Besi and Derek.”
“I bought a brunette wig so no one would notice me,” said Besi. “I was hoping to corner Elizabeth so the hitman could kill her, but she’d faked a headache.”
“How did you and Jones get off the same page?” Leo asked.
“Elizabeth had taken all of my identification and anything I could use to prove that I was really Bessemer Beaumont,” said Besi. “I told Jones money would be tight until I could get my life back. He told me we would need cash to fly to St. Killian and to pay someone to kill Elizabeth.”
“How’d you get the money for the hitman?” asked Leo.
“All I had left to pawn was the Rolex I’d planned to give Derek as a wedding present,” said Besi, her tone wistful. “Jones used it to buy a gun for the hitman he’d hired. Anyway, like I said, Jones was impatient. I think he was getting worried that I might stab him in the back after Elizabeth was dead, so he decided to blackmail Derek—behind my back.”
“How did Jones find out why Derek was fired?” asked Leo.
Besi sighed. “That was my fault. I was cooped up with Jones and I confided in him things I shouldn’t have. I told him about Derek’s gambling and how he’d embezzled two million dollars from Hennessy Capital. Jones and I did get close. He confided in me about when Elizabeth contacted him and how he found the letter from Guillermo to mama and how he stole my DNA. He filled in all of the blanks for me.”
“Did you kill Jones?” asked Leo.
“I didn’t want to,” said Besi. “But, Jones knew too much … and there really is no such thing as a one-time payment to a blackmailer. It’s a lifetime commitment. I had to get rid of everyone who knew the truth, or I would never really have my life back.”
“And what about Skip Taylor?” asked Leo.
“All I wanted from Skip was that blue file Jones had given him,” said Besi. “I didn’t want to kill Skip. When I broke into his rental house, I didn’t shoot to kill, even though I could have. I was trying to scare him, so he would get out of the house, and I could look for that file.”
“If Jones was blackmailing Derek about his termination,” said Leo, “then why did he give Skip the DNA test results that showed you weren’t Sam Beaumont’s daughter.”
“Jones claimed that he’d accidentally put the DNA results in the file he gave to Skip,” said Besi. “Why he had a copy of them in the first place, he couldn’t say. But, I’m not stupid. Jones kept those DNA results close at hand to hold over my head. To keep me in line. Jones and I worked together against Elizabeth, but eventually, he would have stabbed me in the back. That’s why he had to go.”
Leo took a deep breath, trying to reconcile the Besi he’d grown up with and the cold-blooded, callous woman standing in front of him. Where was the sweet, caring girl he’d known? Had finding out that Samuel wasn’t her father turned her heart to stone? Or, had Besi Beaumont always been, secretly, capable of homicide? Maybe the idea of losing everything she held dear had driven her to commit murder.
“I was keeping tabs on Skip,” said Besi. “I knew he liked to walk around the lake behind the hospital in the afternoons. One day, I met him out there, and we had a conversation. He didn’t recognize me with the dark hair and sunglasses. I told him I was Jones’ girl and I wanted the file.”
“You really thought he would give it to you?” asked Leo.
“Didn’t hurt to ask,” said Besi. “He refused to give it to me. I figured it was somewhere in this house, but I couldn’t find it. So, I decided to offer to pay Skip for the file and if he refused, well …”
“You would kill him?” asked Leo.
“I’d like to know the answer to that …” said a familiar voice, behind him.
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Gasping, Vivian spun around, relieved to see the man whose voice she recognized.
“Detective François, thank—“
Vivian’s gratitude was cut short by several bullets.
Screaming, she saw, peripherally, a blur of movement. In front of her, the detective charged forward, yelling commands. “Put the gun down and your hands up!”
Unsure of what was happening, or what to do, Vivian turned, and—
Something hard slammed into the back of her head. Crying out, Vivian pitched forward but was yanked back as an arm snaked around her neck. Cold metal pressed against her temple.
“Stay back!” Besi’s voice was inches from her ear, loud and panicked. “Stay away, or I will blow her head off!”
Trembling, Vivian froze, staring at Leo, Detective François, and the two deputies flanking the detective, their weapons drawn.
“Besi, let her go,” said Leo. “Please.”
“Ms. Beaumont, just put the gun down,” said Detective François. “This doesn’t have to end badly.”
“Take me instead,” said Leo, taking a step forward. “Let Vivian go, and I will make sure that you get off the island—”
“Shut up and do not come any closer!” screamed Besi, yanking Vivian backward, causing her to stumble.
“Besi, listen to me,” said Leo, hands raised as he inched forward. “You’ll have a much better chance if you take me.”
“He’s right, Ms. Beaumont,” said Detective François. “Believe it, or not, but if you want to get off this island, I think you should take Mr. Bronson up on his offer.”
“How could you say something like that?” Vivian glared at the detective. “Leo can’t—”
“Mr. Bronson has significantly more resources than you do, Mrs. Bronson,” said François.
“The detective is right,” said Leo, staring at her.
Focusing on her husband, Vivian caught an almost imperceptible signal in his blue eyes as his gaze shifted to the left, away from her. Leo was trying to tell her something, she realized. He’
d given her a sign with his eyes. What was he trying to tell her?
“You should take my husband,” said Vivian. “You know how much money his mom has and you know that Burt has connections, so—“
“Just shut up!” Besi screamed, her hot, dry breath slanting across Vivian’s cheek. “I don’t want Leo’s money or any connections!”
“Then what do you want, Ms. Beaumont?” asked the detective. “Tell me how I can help you?”
“Oh, now you want to help me?” Besi scoffed. “Where was all your help when Elizabeth Davis knocked me over the head and stole my life?”
“Besi, I know what Elizabeth and Aaron Jones did to you was wrong,” said Vivian, grunting as Besi tightened her hold and pressed the barrel of the gun harder against Vivian’s head. “And you have every right to feel as though Elizabeth and Jones got what they deserved—“
“If you don’t shut up with your trite psychobabble,” warned Besi, “you’re going to get a bullet in the head!”
Vivian flinched, but when she looked at Leo, his gaze seemed to have drifted away from her. Was he looking at something behind her?
“You don’t want to do that, Ms. Beaumont,” said the detective. “You’re already in enough trouble. You don’t want to—”
“Don’t tell me what I want,” Besi cried. “You have no idea what I want!”
“Then, tell me, Ms. Beaumont,” said François. “What do you—”
“Derek!” Besi said. “I want Derek. I need him. Where is he?”
“If we get Mr. Hennessy down here,” said the detective. “Then you’ll let Mrs. Bronson go?”
“I need to talk to Derek,” said Besi, her voice hoarse with choked emotion. “I’m not saying another word until you call my fiancé and tell him that I need him! Now!”
“I’ll call Mr. Hennessy, but you have to do something for me, as well,” said François. “I want you to lower the gun and—”
“I’m not lowering the gun,” said Besi. “You tell Derek to come now, or so help me, I will—”