“The part about the love of my life is true,” Nick pleaded. “I embellished on the other part, but that doesn’t mean I knew it was a copy.”
“So where did you get it?”
“It was in a box that came in the mail, addressed to my father. I opened it because it came from the Cayman Islands, where he has a few not-so-secret-from-me bank accounts. I was positive the ring was something he’d found on one of his salvaging expeditions outside U.S. waters that he didn’t want the ship’s port-of-origin country knowing about. The laws of treasure salvaging are pretty strict. Three months went by and he never mentioned it, so I gave it to you. I told you not to wear it to the emporium, that it was too valuable, but you didn’t listen.”
“Obviously, it wasn’t too valuable. Blah, blah, blah,” Brittany said. “You can leave now. I have a shop to open. Oh, and if any of the other jewelry you’ve given me is fake, too, go to my condo and take them back—and be sure to leave your key or I’ll change the locks.”
“I’m not giving up,” he said, his voice cracking. “Now that I have my diving certification, we can do what we planned. Start our own treasure-salvaging company.”
“Ha. That won’t be happening. Our plan depended on financial backing from your father. Do you think he’s going to help you out now? Buh-bye, loser.”
Nick didn’t answer. A few seconds later, the double doors leading outside slammed with such force that the prisms hanging from the Baccarat chandelier crashed against each other, reminding Liz of her favorite scene in Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera. Liz waited under the table until she heard Brittany pass by, muttering a litany of curses that made Barnacle Bob seem like a choir-bird.
Finally, Liz stood. Pain shot up her spine from her lower back, and she let out a small groan that seemed to bounce off the tin-tiled ceiling. She held her breath, praying Brittany hadn’t heard, then scurried out the main door, making sure to close it as quietly as possible. Then she stepped out into the dense fog.
Chapter 35
Brittany’s car was the only one in the emporium’s parking lot. Liz turned onto the path that ran behind the emporium. The Indian River Lagoon was to her right. The strong, pungent, fishy odor filled her nostrils. The summer before she’d left for college, thousands of dead fish lined the lagoon because of a record-breaking brown tide. That year, the hot summer weather and lack of rain had caused the algae to consume large quantities of oxygen, leaving little left for the fish and thus causing their death. Liz couldn’t see, but she heard gulls emitting a high-pitched doomsday cry and the gentle lapping of the water against the boats moored at the Indialantic’s dock. In the distance were the faint outlines of the Serendipity, Queen of the Seas, and Edward’s skiff. She hurried along, engulfed by the suffocating mist.
Then she heard it. Not the wail of a seabird, but a wail nonetheless, followed by a faint “Help-p-p.”
It took her a split second to stifle the thought that it might be a trap, someone out to get her, hiding in the mist. She crossed the road and crept toward the sound. Another “Help…” sounded, slightly louder. She stepped onto the dock, then stumbled, the toe of her sneaker catching in the gap between the planks of wood. The sound of footsteps echoed from behind, louder and louder, as they got closer and closer.
“Stop!” a male voice said.
She didn’t. She moved faster toward the sound of the next garbled and whimpering call of distress. It was coming from Edward Goren’s skiff. She held on to the piling and felt for the rope tethering the boat to its slip. She grabbed the rope and tugged, bringing the boat closer, then she made a blind leap onto the deck, landing on her knees.
The voice called out again, “I know you’re there.”
She swiped at the long bangs that blocked her vision, and saw the silhouette of a tall, muscular body. Then she heard that same body jump on deck. The boat rocked at the man’s bulk.
“I told you to stop!” he said.
Liz stifled her own whimpering, as Nick Goren’s huge hand grabbed her by the shoulder.
“What are you doing sneaking around my father’s boat?” he demanded.
She ducked and stepped to the bow of the skiff, where the fog rolling off the water was thicker. “I um, I thought this was my father’s boat. This damn fog is relentless.”
“Brittany says I should stay away from you. You’re a nosy bitch who likes to steal things.”
Liz wanted to say, “I like to steal things! Get real.” Instead she said, “I’d better get going to meet my father on his boat. He’s waiting there with Agent Pearson.”
Suddenly the skiff moved to the right and they heard a guttural moan, like a bear trying to free its foot from a trap. Nick moved to the leeward side of the boat and called out, “Who’s there?”
“Nick-k-k…”
“Father?”
Nick flipped up a bench, removed a lantern, then turned it on. At first, all they could see was the mist bouncing back at them. Then Liz saw a hand hanging on to a cleat on the edge of the boat. She peered over. Edward looked up at her from the inky water. She clasped his wrist in both of her hands and tugged. “Help me, Nick. He’s heavy.” She didn’t have time to worry about whether Nick was Regina’s killer. They had a life to save—his father’s.
Nick pushed her aside. “I’ve got it.” He leaned over and grabbed Edward’s arm above the elbow and tugged. Thirty seconds later, Nick laid his semiconscious father onto the deck. A huge gash on Edward’s forehead oozed red, and he mumbled, “David… David tried to kill me.”
Nick put a hand on either side of his father’s head. “David Worth? Why would he want to kill you?”
Except for the blood that trailed from his scalp into his left eye, the lantern made his face appear ghostly white. Through blue lips, he said, “He had me stab him. But I didn’t kill her. I swear, I didn’t.”
“Stop. You don’t have to tell us anything more right now,” Nick said.
Edward closed his eyes and his head drooped to the side.
“I don’t have my phone. Call nine-one-one, then run to the hotel to get help. I’ll stay with my father,” Nick said.
As Liz stepped off the boat, she heard Nick say, “I took diving lessons and I’m certified now. You can be proud of me now, Daddy. Hang in there. Help is on the way.”
Chapter 36
Liz called 911, then ran toward the hotel, stumbling to her knees three times before she reached her father’s office door. She banged her fist against the door like a madwoman, but no one answered. She sped to the outside kitchen door. It was locked, the kitchen empty.
When she finally made it to the revolving door at the hotel’s entrance, she collapsed against the glass and was spit out into the lobby. She tripped on the Persian rug and landed on her knees, knees that were bleeding from her previous falls. Out of breath and wheezing, she pushed herself up to a standing position and saw Aunt Amelia sitting on the floor. Betty was crouched next to her, holding a glass of water to her great-aunt’s trembling lips.
“Auntie! What’s happened?” She rushed to her side. Her great-aunt’s cheeks were flushed, and her scarlet hair had escaped its ponytail. Liz placed the palm of her hand on Aunt Amelia’s forehead, just like her great-aunt had done to Liz when she was young and awakened from a nightmare. “Betty, what’s going on?”
Betty set the glass on the bamboo table, and they helped Aunt Amelia onto a chair.
“Amelia saw David Worth in the lobby with his suitcases,” Betty explained. “She tried to convince him to stay, but he flew past her, knocked her to the ground, then sped off in his Bentley.”
“A rude young man,” Aunt Amelia added.
Barnacle Bob squawked from his cage by the reception desk, “Rude young man.”
“You said it, BB.” Aunt Amelia attempted to stand, but sat back down.
“An ambulance should be here any minute,” Liz said.
“I’ll have them take a look at you, Auntie.”
Betty said, “I’ve already called Ryan. He should—”
Ryan flew through the revolving door and was at Aunt Amelia’s side. “What’s happened?”
Betty explained while Ryan checked Aunt Amelia’s vitals. He said, “Your pulse rate is slightly elevated, but I think you’ll be fine.”
“Of course I’ll be fine, Ryan. I’m a certified zumbaoligist. Could beat you in a relay race, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure you could.” he said, grinning. “What’s a zumbaoligist?”
“An expert at Zumba.”
“I’ll explain later,” Liz said hurriedly. “Ryan, can you step outside for a moment? I hear the ambulance.”
“I don’t think your great-aunt needs an ambulance.”
Liz caught his gaze and nodded her head toward the front of the hotel.
“Okay, ladies, I’ll be right back. I’ll talk to the paramedics and tell them they aren’t needed.”
“Of course, they’re not needed,” Aunt Amelia said.
Liz and Ryan stepped into the same section of the revolving door. It was tight quarters, but after what Liz had just been through, the closeness was comforting.
Once outside, Ryan said, “Hey, you’re bleeding.”
“Just a couple of scrapes.” She grabbed Ryan’s elbow and led him onto the path on the south side of the hotel. “We have to hurry and meet the ambulance at the dock.”
“I thought the ambulance was coming for Aunt Amelia?”
It was endearing to her that he’d added the word “aunt” to her title.
Liz continued to hold his arm as they walked through the fog, explaining what had gone down with Edward and Nick Goren.
When she’d finished, Ryan said, “Not even I would have guessed about Edward Goren stabbing David to give him an alibi for his wife’s murder. When Betty called me about David Worth’s behavior and his frantic exodus from the hotel, I called Charlotte. She sent a couple of cars to look for him, but I doubt, in this fog, they’ll have any luck. I also told her about what Betty had texted us.”
“What text? I didn’t get a text.” Liz took out her phone, brought it up to the tip of her nose, and read: I called all the nearby hotels that allow pets, and none of them were booked for Thursday night, the night the Worths checked in. Their claim, that staying at the Indialantic Hotel was their only recourse, was a lie. I also talked to Josie from Josie’s Flower Shop. She saw Edward Goren walking toward Squidly’s around seven, when she went to pick up an outdoor potted tree she’d left behind, which means that his alibi might be legit, if the murder happened at 7:30, as Captain Netherton said. Let’s meet later this afternoon. Betty.
Liz recalled that Regina had been the one who wanted to the leave the hotel. It was David who’d said he’d called around and found that all the hotels were booked.
“I can’t believe David Worth is going to get away with killing his wife,” Ryan said. “Hopefully, they’ll catch him.”
“What if Edward recants his story about stabbing David, giving David an alibi for Regina’s murder? Edward was pretty delirious. What if he dies?”
Strobe lights flashed up ahead. When they reached the dock, an ambulance was already pulling away with its siren blaring—a good sign that Edward was still alive. Agent Pearson was standing next to Liz’s father. Liz removed her arm from Ryan’s and ran toward them.
“Dad! How badly is Edward hurt?”
Her father wrapped her in a bear hug and said, “It’s pretty bad, but we won’t know more until he gets checked out. He was unconscious when we got here.”
Agent Pearson had a phone to her ear. She put the phone into her suit jacket pocket and said, “David Worth’s Bentley just went off the Sebastian Inlet Bridge. There’s no chance he could have survived. We are going to have the CSIs go over Mr. Goren’s boat for evidence. Do you have any idea what went down here?”
Ryan said to Liz, “Why don’t you go check on Aunt Amelia? I’ll stay and explain everything to Charlotte and Fenton.”
Liz felt relief, since she was so emotionally drained. The adrenaline rush she’d had earlier had sapped all her energy, and she was worried about her great-aunt. “Thank you.”
She trekked slowly back to the hotel in the fog. When she entered the lobby, Barnacle Bob was in a frenzy, flapping his wings and squawking in parrot talk, not English. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.
“He’s probably upset about the way that hooligan David Worth roughhoused Amelia,” Betty said.
Liz moved toward Barnacle Bob, then lifted his brass stand and cage, then carried them over to Aunt Amelia.
Aunt Amelia said, “There’s my pretty boy. Don’t you lose a feather worrying about me.”
“Rude young man,” Barnacle Bob said.
“Yes, he was. But I am fine, my feathered friend.”
Barnacle Bob calmed down. He whistled, then said, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
Aunt Amelia let out a full-bodied laugh, her huge, dangling earrings slapping against her chin. “Don’t you know it, old buddy.”
“Where’s Ryan?” Betty asked.
Liz looked at Aunt Amelia before she continued. Her great-aunt looked like she was back to her competent self, and so Liz told them what she’d witnessed at the dock.
Aunt Amelia said, “So Edward stabbed David Worth in order to give him an alibi?”
Betty said, “That explains something I just realized. The bottle of oxycodone that David Worth was supposedly using for the pain after he’d been stabbed, had actually been prescribed days before. The immediate pain from a stab wound would be much less if you were hopped up on megadoses of painkillers.”
Wow. Liz should have picked up on that clue, but even “Mr. Investigator,” Ryan Stone, had missed it. Pre-medicating also explained what Captain Netherton had told Liz about David’s slurring and the behavior he had overheard coming from the Oceana Suite on the evening of Regina’s murder.
“There’s one more thing. David Worth’s Bentley just went off the Sebastian Inlet Bridge. Agent Pearson said there is no chance he could have survived.”
Aunt Amelia gasped. “Why do I get the feeling you two have been leaving me out of things? I’m not a fragile hothouse flower.”
Liz took her great-aunt’s hand. “We didn’t want you to worry until we had more than just supposition.”
“Then what you’re saying is, David Worth killed his wife by strangling her with an Ace bandage? Why did he do it? For her money?”
“It wasn’t for money, because he didn’t get any,” Betty said. “I think we will learn more when Edward confesses his role in the crime.”
“I can’t believe David Worth is dead,” Aunt Amelia said.
Barnacle Bob repeated the old Timex watch jingle, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
“Not this time, BB,” Liz said.
Chapter 37
A month later, Liz was in the hotel’s luggage room with her great-aunt.
After David’s body had ironically washed up near Castlemara, Aunt Amelia arranged a double funeral for the Worths. Divers located the Bentley under the bridge. Nearby, on the ocean floor, they also recovered a suitcase filled with gold bars that Edward had given David in exchange for the jewels that, in his mind, he, not Percival Harrington II, had salvaged from the San Carlos. In a storage space leased by Edward, Agent Pearson found an entire glass display cabinet of priceless jewelry recovered from the San Carlos. There was even an easy chair in the center of the space, where Edward could relax and peruse his collection, finally one-upping “Percy.”
Edward confessed that, months ago, he’d contacted David about buying a few pieces of Queen Maria Luisa’s jewels from Regina before they were scheduled to go to the Sotheby’s auction—the same auction that Minna said Regina’s father had canc
eled because they weren’t hers to sell. David and Edward then hatched a plan to make copies of the jewelry from photographs David took when Regina wasn’t around. Edward sent the photos to the Cayman Islands, where he knew of a jeweler who made copies of famous eighteenth-century salvaged treasure for museums around the world. The only difference was that the pieces used in treasure museums were actually labeled as “reproductions.” When Regina questioned the authenticity of a bracelet the pair had copied, David came up with the idea of a fake robbery. The morning of the Spring Fling, when David came into Gold Coast by the Sea, he wasn’t really looking to buy something for Regina; he was complaining about the workmanship on a fake bracelet that Edward had commissioned. Edward swore he had no idea that David planned to kill Regina, saying he tried to leave when he walked in and saw Regina’s strangled body. David threatened to blame the whole murder on Edward if he didn’t go through with the stabbing part of the plan. David had been recording their conversations and had followed Edward to his storage space. Edward paid David for the jewels with gold and cash. To Edward, it had never been about money. He wanted the treasure from the San Carlos because he felt he’d discovered it, not Percival II.
Liz had been right about the dumbwaiter being used. Edward said that David had waited until he saw Fenton leave for the emporium, then checked that the outside door to the office was open. Later, when David went down to the ice machine, supposedly to retrieve ice for his wife’s knee, she was actually already dead. At that time, he let Edward in and brought him up to the Oceana Suite. After Edward stabbed David, he took the dumbwaiter back down and exited via Fenton’s office, leaving behind a drop of David’s blood from the knife he later threw in the lagoon. David faked the scuffle with his supposed knife-wielding assailant after he was sure Edward had safely exited the Indialantic via Fenton’s office. The faked scuffle gave Edward an alibi, because he was safely on a bar stool at Squidly’s at seven thirty. David got the idea of having Edward enter the hotel from Fenton’s office on the same day Regina accused Liz of stealing her necklace. After Regina’s fall, David watched Ryan carry his wife through Fenton’s apartment and into the interior of the hotel.
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