Jaxon dove down as did Ray and they hung there in the water for what seemed an eternity. The light above slowly dimmed as Jaxon thought his lungs would burst. Finally he surfaced and watched the patrol boat moving away at a good clip. Ray came up next to him breathing hard. He pulled the snorkel from his mouth.
“I guess we get to swim.”
Jaxon grinned and they started swimming. After the patrol boat dropped the johnboat off at the dock, tying it back up, it drove off to the west and continued its patrol. Jaxon and Ray reached the shore a few minutes later, exhausted and wet, but glad it was a success. Jaxon was still in his camo outfit of course and it sloshed as he walked through the sand. They strode up to the beach and looked in the Mustang. It was empty.
* * *
Gil shivered in the night air and wondered if he was getting a fever. He hadn’t been feeling too well the last couple of hours and though he knew it would take a while to recover from the snakebite, he was disappointed in himself. He wasn’t functioning at 100% and he didn’t like it. He and Mel were leaning against the car watching Jaxon and Ray row away into the night when a car engine signaled its approach and they watched a security vehicle pull into the parking lot. It moved slowly through the lot, cruising up and down the rows.
Every once in a while it stopped and a flashlight beam shone from within the vehicle, inspecting whatever they were supposed to inspect. Gil motioned for Mel to get in the car. He slipped in beside her and shut the door.
The patrol vehicle approached the Mustang and then stopped. The flashlight came on and illuminated the inside of the car. After it found them in the back, the light clicked off and then two men got out. They approached the Mustang and knocked on the window. Gil thumbed it down and a man with bottle bottom glasses and a very thin mustache spoke.
“You folks need to retire to your room. We don’t allow loitering in vehicles.”
“Yes, sir,” Gil said. “We’ll head right back. Sorry.” He opened the door and he and Mel got out.
The man’s partner, a short, older gentleman who chewed on a toothpick and leered at Mel, said, “Enjoying your visit?”
Bottle bottom glasses guy looked away and tried to keep from laughing.
“Yeah,” Gil said. “It’s great here. Again, we’re sorry.”
“No problem,” toothpick said. “Have a special night.” He waved.
Gil blipped the car locks and grabbed Mel’s hand. They started walking toward the resort area and Gil could feel the two patrolmen’s eyes following them. They entered a covered walkway and then turned right, leaving the parking lot behind. Gil stopped.
“That was close,” Mel said. “I can’t believe they didn’t even ask to see our room key or anything.”
“Yeah. I think they were too busy thinking about what we were doing. Let me check if they are gone.”
Gil peeked back around the corner and saw the two walking around the Mustang. Short, toothpick guy stopped at the back and wrote down the license plate. Bottle bottom glasses shone the flashlight inside the car and then they both got back in and drove off.
“They took the plate. Shit.”
“Do you think they’ll check it?”
“I don’t know. But we better not waste any time getting out of here. Come on, Jaxon. Hurry up.”
Gil looked out toward the water, but could not make them out. He did see a boat slowly cruising around the bay. That was not good.
* * *
Jaxon tried the door and it was locked. “Where the hell…?”
Ray bent over, peering inside the Mustang. He stood. “I wonder what happened.”
“We need to get the hell out of here.”
A sudden noise behind them caused them to jump as Gil and Mel came running up.
“You’re all wet,” Gil said to Jaxon.
“No shit. Everything ok? Where were you?”
“Security found us and sent us back to our room.”
“They didn’t ask for ID?” Ray said.
“No, but they wrote our license plate down. We need to get out of here, now.”
“I agree.”
Gil unlocked the doors and they all climbed in quickly. Lights shone in the distance and Gil cranked the car up and headed in the opposite direction toward the resort area’s exit.
“Did you get it?” Gil asked.
“Yeah,” Jaxon said. “We had our own run in with security.”
“That boat?”
“Did you see it?”
“We saw it cruising around out there. What happened?”
“I’ll tell you in a bit. Just drive and get us out of here before security returns.”
Gil accelerated and moved through the curves of the road expertly. No one else joined them on the road. At Vista Boulevard they turned left and headed back into town. Jaxon told Gil and Mel what had happened.
“Man that is awesome! I can’t believe you didn’t get caught,” Gil said. “I bet you shit your pants.”
“Just find a gas station or something,” Ray said. “I want to get back into some dry clothes.”
“Only for a minute,” Jaxon said. “We have to get moving to the next point.”
“What was in the box?” Mel asked.
“We haven’t opened it yet.”
“I hope it’s what you needed,” she said.
“Me too. We didn’t have time.”
Jaxon opened the box and pulled out a piece of paper. He read it out loud.
I’m amazed. I assume that since you’re reading this, you have somehow gotten to the bottom of Bay Lake and retrieved this cache. Congrats. A little bonus for you. I’m not what you think I am. You may just figure this out. In that case, I’ll be waiting for you. Enough about me, here’s the next stop. Bethany is waiting. N30° 9.51792’, W81° 43.90974’
Jaxon plugged the lat/longs into the GPS and stared at the map.
“Shit!”
“What?” Mel asked.
Jaxon ignored her and picked up his phone. He dialed quickly. Vick answered on the fifth ring.
“You need to get out of the house. Now!”
She sounded half asleep. “Why? What is it? Where are you?”
“Just go, Vick. Don’t pack, don’t shower, don’t do anything, just put some clothes on, take your phone and get out. He knows who I am.”
“What? How?”
“The next waypoint. It’s our house. Call me when you’re out. Move!”
CHAPTER 19
Bethany stared at the picture.
Danielle was in her band uniform, next to a palm tree, smiling, holding a clarinet, with the ocean behind her. In the glow of the moon, she looked happy. Then the tide shifted the box she was in and the light winked out. Danielle disappeared. Bethany held her breath and waited. The box shifted again and the moon shone through the crack. Danielle was still there. She breathed.
Every time Danielle disappeared, Bethany’s heart sank and she went back to that horrible place where Danielle died. Not the day she took her life. But the day when Bethany and her friends took away everything she had. The day they made her ashamed of what she was. The day they killed her spirit. The day she began wishing for death to take her away.
It had all started normally, then went to hell quickly.
The locker room was always a place of rumors. If you had something to spread there was nothing like being naked in a public place to remove any inhibitions that might hold you back. At least for some.
Bethany’s best friend on the squad was Rebecca Murray, but everybody called her Becca. That day in the locker room, Becca came running up to Bethany, looking like something was about to burst from her.
She sat on the bench and whispered, “I saw them.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Mary.”
“No way.”
Becca nodded, the smile growing on her face.
The rumors had been flying around the campus that two girls were hot for each other and one of them was Mary Masterson. Mar
y was a junior who wore biker clothes, had her hair cut short and generally tried to look like a dude. She had been easy to spot and didn’t seem to care what people said about her. And there was always a lot being said. She took shop, worked on cars, and did basically anything a guy would do except play football. And that was only because the guys didn’t want her around.
“I saw them behind the lockers in the math wing,” Becca said. “They were kissing. It was gross.”
“Who was the other girl?”
“That’s what’s so funny. You know the geeky little thing in band? She’s plays clarinet, I think. She always has stupid stuffed animals in her backpack.”
“Danielle Newsome?”
“Yeah. That’s her. They were kissing and Danielle looked like she liked it. We know Mary did.”
Bethany couldn’t believe it. Two lesbians in her school.
Bethany had even talked to Danielle a few times in geometry. She had seemed nice enough, just a little shy. Not the kind of girl Bethany would hang out with, but at least someone she would talk to now and then.
“When was this?”
“Just a few minutes ago.”
“Oh my God. I have to see. Let me get dressed and show me.”
Bethany threw her clothes on and they ran to the math wing.
Becca put her finger to her lips as she opened the door and they slipped in quietly. Becca led the way, tiptoeing to the back of the lockers and peeking around. She pulled back and nodded her head, grinning. She moved out of the way and let Bethany in.
She didn’t know what to expect, but what she saw surprised her. Mary was holding Danielle’s hand and her arm was wrapped around her. She was staring into Danielle’s eyes and Bethany almost didn’t recognize her. Her face had changed. It was so soft and caring and the look she had on her face was one she wouldn’t recognize herself for a few years. Then Mary leaned in and kissed Danielle. On the lips. Danielle kissed her back and it grew more passionate.
Bethany had kissed a few boys in her life and she had liked it of course, but this was something different. It was like a movie. The kiss was so deep and so passionate, Bethany just stared and wished in her heart that she had something like this. Something this strong and this special. And that’s when the flash on Becca’s camera ruined everything.
Mary’s face pulled away from Danielle, and Bethany watched it change immediately to one of shock, and then rage. Then the camera flashed again.
Danielle’s face had turned toward them and she looked like a deer in the headlights. Bethany would never forget that look. It was what she saw in her mind every time she thought of that day. The face that broke her heart. The fear that tore at her soul and left her feeling empty and lonely.
“Hey!” Mary had shouted and then Becca pulled on Bethany’s arm. Giggling she said, “Come on!” and ran.
Bethany took one more look at the two and saw something in Danielle’s face that haunted her still. It was a plea. For her to let it go. Her face said ‘Please’ and Bethany ignored it. She ran.
Later that night, Bethany, Becca, Sloan, Taylor, and Ellie were all at Becca’s house looking at the two pictures on Becca’s camera. They laughed and made up names for the two, pointing to the second picture where Mary’s face was turning to the camera in surprise and Danielle could be seen half turned toward the lens. But you could tell who both of the girls were.
Becca was uploading the pictures to her MySpace page and the other girls were giving her things to put for the caption. Bethany had stayed mostly quiet, until Sloan had said to her, “I can’t believe them. How gross. How could someone do that?”
Bethany had nodded and said, “I know. I can’t believe it. But don’t you think it’s bad to put those pictures up on MySpace? Everybody will see them.”
“That’s what we want,” Becca had said. “We need to expose these two for what they really are.”
Under the pictures on the web, they had put ‘One time at band camp…’ and hit submit.
The world now knew and there was no taking it back.
Danielle killed herself two weeks later.
Bethany stared at the picture in the sliver of moonlight and held on to the image as the box shifted with the tide. She closed her eyes as the picture went dark, but instead of the smiling Danielle Newsome with her clarinet in front of the ocean, wearing her band uniform, she saw the face that would haunt her for life. The pain and shock behind those lockers when the flash went off on Becca’s camera. And in her mind, Bethany could even hear the girl’s voice in her head.
“Please.”
CHAPTER 20
Victoria didn’t listen to Jaxon.
There was no way she was leaving her house without a few precious things. She grabbed a bag in the closet and threw in some clothes, then went to the study and took the pictures of Michael off of the mantle and put them in the bag. The last thing she had to have was the laptop computer on her desk. Then she ran from the house. As she opened the front door to run out, a blast of heat and pressure threw her forward into the yard and then the sound of her house exploding behind her filled her ears. She lay on the lawn, ears ringing, head swimming, thinking that at least she had saved Michael. At least she had saved Michael. Then the world went dark.
* * *
Jaxon ran in to the hospital and screamed at the receptionist.
After she told him she would not tolerate him treating her like that, he finally got himself under sufficient control to learn his wife was in room 2432. He ran to the room and showed some ID to the uniform standing at her door and he let him in.
She was lying in the bed, a bandage on her forehead, her eyes closed, holding a picture of Michael in her hand. He touched her softly and her eyes opened. She started to cry.
He held her gently and said, “I’m sorry, Vick. So sorry. I should have been here.”
She shook her head and pulled away. “I’m all right. I’m just angry.”
“So am I. I’ll find this guy. I promise.”
“We’ll find this guy. We got careless. I won’t let that happen again. This is the second time a house has blown up on me. I’m not about to let this asshole get away with it. It was my house.”
“I don’t want you near this thing.”
She grew even angrier.
“What? You do remember that I was a cop and an FBI agent too. Don’t treat me like some little scared girl you can cuddle and make all better. We work this together. You and me. You need my help anyway.”
He hung his head. He knew she would be this way. She was right, of course, but it was hard to put her in harm’s way. He wanted nothing more than for her to be that scared little girl he could cuddle and then hide away from the monsters. Only she wasn’t and he was thankful for that too.
He took her hand in his. “You and me.”
She squeezed his hand and then squirmed in her bed. “These bandages are driving me crazy. They itch like mad.”
He sat her up, watching her grimace, and looked at her back. She had bandages covering her from shoulders to hips. Small blood spots had seeped through in a few places. He winced.
“Scratch them for me,” she said, wriggling against him. He scratched her gently and she smiled. “Oh, you don’t know how good that feels.”
He must have hit a sensitive spot, because she flinched and then pulled away. She looked angry again. “I can’t believe this happened again.”
“I’m just happy you’ve survived two houses blowing up in your face. You should be proud. Not too many people can claim that.”
She grinned then. “Strike three and I’m out? I only get one more.”
He laughed and then he heard a knock on the door. It swung open slowly when he answered and Ray, Gil, and Mel came in. Ray carried some flowers in his hand. Mel had balloons.
“I hope we’re not intruding,” Ray said. “We just wanted to see how you were. Hi. I’m Ray.”
Vick reached for the flowers, smiling, and took his hand in hers.
�
�I’m Victoria.”
Gil and Melanie introduced themselves and then they all left. Jaxon said he would be down in a few minutes. Ray nodded and closed the door behind them.
“Your team,” she said. “I like them.”
“They’ve been lifesavers.”
She nodded and grew thoughtful again. “Have you been to the house?”
“Not yet. I’m going there next. I wanted to make sure you were ok.”
“I didn’t look for the clue. I got out like you said.”
“Not exactly like I said.”
She smiled sheepishly. “I know. I couldn’t leave without Michael.”
He understood and picked up the picture of his dead son. He set it on her nightstand and adjusted it so she could look at him.
“How long will you be in?”
“I should be out of here in a few hours,” she said. “They wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. I don’t.”
“Go to the motel we stayed when we first got here. You remember? I won’t tell anyone where you are. Especially the police. I talked with the detective on the phone and they still haven’t found Fanucci. He hasn’t called in or reported for duty.”
“He’s been too busy.”
Jaxon nodded. “I’ll stay.”
“No. You know you can’t. I know you won’t. I’ll call when I’m out and we’ll get this guy. Now go.”
He grabbed her hand and she pulled him to her. He kissed her gently, lingering a little longer than normal. He knew she had been lucky and he felt a little like he was abandoning her. She pulled away and let his hand go.
“Go find him. Beat the crap out of him for me.”
He closed the door behind him and fought the urge to stay. The cop at the door nodded to him and Jaxon told him to keep his eyes open. He turned and walked out of the hospital.
The asshole was out there and he had to find him. But first, he had a girl to find.
* * *
Jaxon stepped from the Mustang and surveyed the ruined wreckage of his home.
Cache 72 (A Jaxon Jennings' Detective Mystery Thriller Series, Book 2) Page 13