“And when you didn’t, he left?” She didn’t want to hear the sordid details, but figured she could buy more time by keeping the unstable woman talking.
“Oh no, I did, but he was too freaked out by everything, and left anyway. Everyone leaves me. That’s why there’s no reason to live,” she mumbled through her tears.
“I’m not leaving. I’m staying right here,” Tiara summoned up the courage to reassure the sadly disturbed woman sitting beside her on the ledge. “He can’t prove that you asked him to do this, right?” she asked.
“No, I suppose not. It’s just his word against mine,” her tears stopped and she looked thoughtful.
“Exactly,” Tiara led her down the path that might save both of their lives. “So maybe he was jealous of Bella. Maybe she rejected him and he wanted revenge, right?” she spun out the story, hoping that the blonde bought into it.
“Right!” Amber brightened, the light bulb turning on in her brain. “And who are they going to believe, a TV star or a chauffeur?” she asked excitedly, warming to the idea.
“I think I may have even seen Bella being mean to him,” Tiara continued the lie.
“Of course, because she was mean to everyone! We probably even have that on tape somewhere,” Amber grew more animated and Tiara was afraid she might accidentally wiggle her way off of the ledge.
“See, it’s going to be okay,” she promised, using a soothing tone to bring the excitement level down. “Let’s go inside and let them know what a sinister person Tucker really is,” she suggested, holding her breath while she waited for Amber’s reaction.
“Okay,” she nodded, with a ghost of a smile. Tiara sagged with relief, but tried valiantly not to let it show. Standing slowly, she reached for Amber’s hand, hoping against hope that she’d cooperate. Amber placed her hand in Tiara’s and stood too quickly, throwing herself off balance. She teetered on the ledge, seeming to hang in mid-air, then toppled down, dragging Tiara with her.
**
Marilyn screamed aloud when she saw her daughter torn from the ledge by the reality star, still holding hands as they fell. She hid her face in her hands, unable to watch any longer.
“It’s okay,” Kelcie’s shaking voice reached her ears. “They fell right into the net that the fire department set up,” she informed her boss, guiding her to a chair just as her legs gave out. “Look, they’re standing by the ambulance, they’re okay,” she soothed, patting Marilyn’s back as she sobbed with relief.
Marilyn forced herself to look at the screen, relieved to see her brave daughter looking none the worse for the wear, being embraced by Sabra Remington, while Bernard Cortland put handcuffs on Amber and led her to a waiting ambulance. She would be transported to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and from there, would be taken into police custody. Tucker had been located trying to leave the country in the cargo hold of a cruise ship, and was being held without bond.
**
“How did you know that it was Amber and not me,” Tiara asked Detective Bernard Cortland, after the ambulance carrying Amber to the hospital had pulled away.
“Because the hairs found on the body and at the scene were bleached blonde, not natural blonde, and because Amber wears a size six shoe that matches the prints we found. Your size nine made it pretty obvious. I also looked at your hands. Bella was strangled, which wouldn’t be impossible for someone with small hands like yours, but would present a bit of a challenge, and there were no indications of trauma on yours. When we searched the limo, we found the rope that had been used to strangle her, and when we checked Tucker’s hands, he had rope burns. There’s other forensic evidence too, but that’ll come out at the trial. Suffice to say, you and your mother are off the hook for this one,” he said, having the grace to look contrite.
“She’s still going to be mad at you, you know,” Tiara smiled.
“I’m aware,” the detective sighed.
Chapter 14
Marilyn went out to water the ferns on her front porch, and Fluffy, Tiara’s newly-adopted best friend, followed closely, observing her every move, always ready to offer and receive affection. She moved some fronds aside to make room so that the spout of her watering can could reach the soil in the pot, and was startled to see Tim Eckels face directly behind the fern. She was tempted to dump the entire contents of her vessel on the annoying man’s head, but still had doubts as to his sanity, so she refrained, her sense of self-preservation far more keen than her desire for revenge.
“So, they caught the murderer,” he said quietly.
“So it would seem,” Marilyn answered, moving to another fern.
“You thought that I did it,” Tim moved around the side of the porch to stand at the bottom of the steps.
“What’s your point, Mr. Eckels?” she stood, hands on hips, ready to sling her watering can and run into the house if necessary. Fluffy twined happily unaware around her ankles.
“I’m different,” he began awkwardly. “People think things about me because…I’m different, but being different isn’t a crime. You should know that,” he squinted at her from behind his glasses. “And I really do make great pies…my grandma taught me,” he finished sadly, then turned and shuffled back to his cottage.
Marilyn refused to feel guilty about having suspected the odd little man. He had behaved in a manner that was unlike anything she’d ever encountered, making her suspicion entirely understandable. Oh how she wished that Madge had never moved, but at least she had the comfort of knowing that her neighbor might be a seriously odd duck, but he wasn’t a killer, at least not provably anyway. She stared after him until he closed the thick mahogany door of the cottage behind him, then went back to her watering.
“I guess I owe you an apology,” a soft, nasally voice said from behind her as she watered the petunias that were potted on either side of the door.
Sabra Remington had taken Tim’s place at the bottom of the steps and stood holding a bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers. She set both on the top step, not wanting to presume that she’d be invited up.
“I’d say that was entirely appropriate under the circumstances,” Marilyn agreed, setting down her watering can and folding her arms. Fluffy slunk over to the steps, carefully examining the wine and flowers.
“I’m really sorry for the way that everything turned out,” the producer’s chagrin was readily apparent. “I made arrangements with Tiara this morning and brought my whole crew and as many people as I could find out on the street into your shop this morning so that we could film everyone enjoying your pies. That segment will be included in the last episode, along with endorsements of your business from some very high profile people. I figured it was the least I could do,” she bit her lip.
Marilyn nodded. “Well, thank you, I appreciate that.”
“You have a very talented daughter, you know,” Sabra said honestly. “I told her if she ever wanted to give reality TV another try, she just had to look me up.”
“How did she respond to that?” the concerned mother raised an eyebrow.
“She laughed,” the producer smiled.
“That’s my girl.”
Chapter 15
Tim Eckels had stopped turning up on Marilyn’s porch unannounced, and had taken to edging her lawn whenever he did his, slowly changing her perception of him from dangerous to merely eccentric, so when she had the urge to go for a late night walk, she felt no reservations, and headed out.
The beach was about four blocks away from her cozy cottage, and it was a beautiful moonlit night, so she set out for sand and surf, gulping in deep breaths of the cool, salty air. Kicking of her shoes the moment that she made it to the beach, Marilyn walked along counting her blessings. She had an amazing daughter, who, when push came to shove, not only showed tremendous courage and ability, but who also seemed to have a maturity that caused her to make the right decisions most of the time. She also had a thriving business that had been booming as a result of the endorsements by reality TV stars a
nd crew, and had finally found an employee whom she could trust. Life was good – perhaps the only thing that might make it a tad better would be to have a handsome man with whom to spend some time.
“What’s a lovely lady like you doing out alone on a beautiful night like this?” she heard the unmistakably familiar voice of Detective Bernard Cortland call out from behind.
“What’s it to you?” she challenged, still angry at the detective for having suspected her and Tiara of having committed a heinous crime. “Did someone rob a bank or something? I assure you I’m not out here looking for my escape boat,” she drawled sarcastically.
“Okay, okay, I suppose I deserved that,” he held his hands up apologetically. He had jogged over to where she stood, arms by her side, flip-flops dangling from her fingers. She’d never seen him in casual clothing before, and had to admit that the sight of the handsome detective barefoot, tanned and toned, in board shorts and a Senor Toad t-shirt, was a sight to behold. “Mind if I join you?” he asked, seeming almost shy.
“It’s a free country,” Marilyn shrugged, secretly pleased when he fell in step beside her. “You look almost normal in street clothes,” she observed with a mischievous grin.
“Does that mean that I don’t look normal otherwise?” he chuckled.
“Well, I just always assumed that you dressed well to intimidate criminals,” she teased.
“Does it work?” he shot back. When Marilyn’s mouth dropped open in astonishment, a grin broke across his face like the dawn. “Ha! Gotcha,” he laughed.
“Oh just you wait,” she warned, smiling at his antics. She’d never seen this side of the typically taciturn detective before, and she found it wildly appealing.
“Are you threatening an officer of the law, ma’am?” he asked gravely, trying hard not to smile.
“Why, are you going to handcuff me?” she retorted.
“Nah, I’m not into the rough stuff,” he responded without thinking. “Oh geez, I totally didn’t mean that the way that it sounded…” he floundered, clearly embarrassed.
“Hmm…even in the moonlight, that’s a lovely shade of red,” Marilyn mused, enjoying his discomfort tremendously.
“You do like having the upper hand, don’t you?” he asserted with barely disguised admiration.
She shrugged and shook her head. “No, honestly, I’m tired of it,” she admitted. “I face challenges every day, and I actually think that it would be quite nice if I could just relax for a while and not always be the one who has to take care of every situation.” She’d had similar thoughts many times in the past, but had never told anyone until now.
“Ever consider the possibility that some situations can take care of themselves and that others can simply be let go?” he challenged.
“Well now, what fun would that be?” she laughed at herself. “I may be tired of it, but I seem to thrive on it.”
“Some people find it helpful to share the load. Food for thought,” he said, looking at her strangely.
“Food for thought,” she echoed, returning his look.
“Well, this is my turn-off,” he said gesturing to the boardwalk that disappeared up the beach, away from the water.
“Thanks for keeping me company,” Marilyn smiled, drinking in the sight of him one last time.
“The pleasure was all mine,” he grinned and trotted toward the boardwalk.
Marilyn took in the view and had to disagree. “No,” she said under her breath. “The pleasure was definitely mine.”
Smiling a goofy smile that refused to go away, she turned for home, where her amazing daughter would be waiting for the pizza guy and selecting a romantic comedy to watch, her new best friend curled up and purring in her lap.
Yep, life was good, and seemed to be getting better by the day. Marilyn looked up at the moon, and, for the moment at least, all was well with her world.
A letter from the Author
To each and every one of my Amazing readers: I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think by leaving a review!
I’ll be releasing another installment in two weeks or so to stay in the loop (and to get free books and other fancy stuff) Join my Book club.
Stay Curious,
Summer Prescott
The Lime and the Dead: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 3 Page 6