A Beach House to Die For

by K C Ames

  “It’s okay, kitty, I’ll get this mess sorted soon enough,” Dana said.

  Wally meowed, rubbed his body against her leg, and then sat on guard, his tail wrapped around his paws. Dana was looking at Wally being protective when she noticed, for the first time, a rolling whiteboard that was tucked away in a corner.

  Under Wally’s watchful eyes, Dana wheeled it out to the center of the room. There were three markers—two black, one red—and an eraser on the whiteboard’s tray. Dana picked up the black one; she removed its cap and sniffed it. It smelled like it still had some ink left. She then tested it on the whiteboard, and to her surprise, it worked. After at least three years of sitting there untouched, she was sure the markers would have been dried out. She took the eraser to get rid of the test squiggly line she had drawn and she went to work.

  She wrote SUSPECTS at the top of the board and underlined it, then she began to map out what she had in her head.

  Thirty minutes later, she heard Courtney calling for her.

  “I’m in the library,” Dana called out, rousing Wally from a deep sleep. He had crashed out on a pile of books. He got up, stretched, yawned, and bolted from the room as if he had seen a ghost.

  “Weirdo,” Dana said with a chuckle.

  “I thought you snuck…What are you doing?” Courtney said, looking at the whiteboard.

  “My suspects,” Dana said, looking at her handiwork.

  “Okay, newsflash, you’re not a detective. You don’t have any suspects,” Courtney said.

  “Check it out,” Dana said, ignoring what she said. “We all know that Skylar is at the top of the list, but we also have Gustavo Barca, who might have gotten wind of Roy waffling about contesting the will now that he and Marisol were in love. I doubt he would get his hands dirty, but he has the connections and money to hire a killer.”

  “Dana…”

  She continued talking, “But I started to think that it makes little sense that Barca would hire a professional who would then use a steak knife from his resort, putting him in the crosshairs of the police. So that makes this more of a passion thing, so that’s why I put Marisol Arias second on the list. Think about it. I don’t know her from Adam, so for all I know she puts on this soul mate routine for me when, in reality, Roy meets up with her at the resort. He dumps her, she goes into a rage because she thinks they are soul mates, so she picks up the steak knife, and boom, kills him.”

  “And then she drags him all the way down the footpath? She weighs like a hundred pounds soaking wet,” Courtney said.

  “Yeah, I thought about that too. But maybe she took the steak knife earlier and had it in her bag.”

  “I don’t know. And why on Earth is Claudio’s name up there?” Courtney asked.

  “He, more than anyone, would have easy access to the resort cutlery. He hates his boss, and Barca, who is not only a terrible employer, but he’s trying to take his grandmother and his parents’ home. He knows that if Roy is dead and the legal case ends, that I won’t sell to Barca and his family’s homes are safe. That’s a huge motive.”

  “Okay, that all makes sense, but what are you going to do? Go all Jessica Fletcher and go catch a dangerous killer? Just leave it to the cops. I’m sure they’ve come up with these same scenarios as you have. I’m going to make us some daiquiris so we can chill out and stop thinking about murder,” Courtney said as she turned and walked out of the library.

  Dana looked at her whiteboard. “I hope Picado is looking at these suspects too,” she said out loud to an empty room.

  Twenty-Eight

  Dana adhered to Detective Rojas’s advice to stay home. Benny was in San José, so she wouldn’t see him for a few days. Then Courtney went on a daiquiri-making spree. They drank cocktails while playing cards and watching a couple movies on Netflix on her laptop. She woke up in the morning with a daiquiri-induced headache and blamed Courtney for it. She was sure her friend wanted to get her woozy with rum to keep from snooping, and the plan had worked like a charm. But now her head was paying the price.

  She took a long, hot shower, then dressed in an orange San Francisco Giants T-shirt and her khaki cargo shorts. Wally lifted his head up from the bed briefly to see what was going on before plopping it back down and going back to sleep.

  Courtney was still sleeping, so Dana left her a note that she was headed out to get some coffee and bagels from Mindy’s place and would be right back.

  She drove down to Ark Row and parked in front of Mindy’s cafe. It was early, and there weren’t many people around, so she jumped when she heard a horn honk. She turned to see Felicia Banks pull into the parking spot right next to her in the sporty Audi Q2.

  Dana sighed. The last thing she wanted to do before coffee was fend off the pushy real estate agent once again.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” Felicia said, hopping out of the car.

  “Oh, why is that?” Dana asked.

  Felicia seemed in a hurry, and she seemed frazzled in a black T-shirt and black sweatpants, not her usual stylish attire.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, sorry to bug you like this, but I really need to talk to you,” Felicia said, pulling strands of blonde hair from her face. She was chewing on a large wad of bubble gum that made her thick Boston accent even more difficult for Dana to understand her.

  "If this is about selling or renting out Casa Verde, I'm not interested."

  “No, it’s not about that. I have some information about your cousin’s murder and about Skylar. I think I can prove she did it.”

  That got Dana’s attention.

  “What?”

  “It’s very sensitive information. I live just down the street. Let’s go to my place to talk in private. It’s not as good as Mindy’s, but I have coffee brewing,” Felicia said.

  “Have you talked to the police about any of this?” Dana asked.

  “No, especially since it involves you and your land, so I wanted to talk to you first, as a courtesy. Ask Benny to come along, since he’s your lawyer.”

  “He’s in San José.”

  From her facial expression, it seemed Felicia was happy to learn that.

  Dana still thought this was a ploy to talk her into selling, but her curiosity got the best of her. What information did she have? So she got into Felicia’s car. It was a nice and fancy car but too cramped for her taste, especially for what was supposed to be an SUV.

  Felicia drove away from Ark Row and off Main Street as they headed away from Mariposa Beach.

  “I thought you lived in town?” Dana asked.

  “No, I’m just right outside of town. Like Benny,” Felicia said.

  “Well, this is pretty private now, what is it?” Dana asked.

  “I’ve been working with Roy and Skylar for the last two years as the go-between between them and Gustavo Barca. That deal with Mr. Barca, I set it up. Roy had assured me he would inherit Casa Verde when his father died. It made sense to me since he was his only child, so when that didn’t happen and you came into the picture, I’m the one who convinced Gustavo Barca to pay for them to fight you for the property. I’m sorry, I know it’s crappy, but my commission upon the sale of the property to Mr. Barca would be huge, the biggest of my career. I wouldn’t have to peddle Airbnb rentals anymore, so I’ve been advising Roy and Skylar…Well, now just Skylar,” Felicia said as she drove.

  Dana was stunned. “I didn’t see your name mentioned in any of the paperwork regarding Casa Verde.”

  “I have a signed agreement with Roy and Skylar, which I had amended with Skylar after Roy’s death. The real estate disclosure laws in Costa Rica aren’t as restrictive as they are back in the States, and all my business dealings are through a company I set up just for this deal, so my name will never be attached to any of these dealings. I know it sounds shady to you, but it’s all legit,” Felicia said.

  Dana wasn’t so sure.

  “So why are you telling me all of this now? You’ve been helping them make my life quite
miserable these past few months.”

  Felicia pulled into a driveway. Like Casa Verde, there was a tall wall surrounding it and a big black metal gate. The wall and gate were much bigger than Casa Verde. Dana assumed the home on the other side of that wall would be quite bigger and more luxurious than her home. Felicia pressed on a gate remote opener.

  As they waited for the gate to open, Felicia turned to look at Dana. “I might be ruthless in business. I won’t make any apologies for that. When a man is shrewd and cutthroat in business, he’s admired. But a woman…well, you know what they call us. But when it comes to murder, I will not be a party to that. Skylar told me everything that happened the night of Roy’s murder, and you’re now in grave danger, and I’m terrified I’ll be next because I know too much.”

  The gate finally opened and Felicia drove onto the property as the big gate closed shut behind them. Dana was still reeling about everything Felicia had said, but she was taken aback at the stunningly beautiful, large, three-story home in front of her.

  “This is your house?” Dana asked.

  Felicia ignored the question and said, “Let’s go inside. Once I tell you everything, we can call Detective Picado.”

  She parked, and they walked inside the house. The front entrance was actually the top floor of the house. It was an open space like a loft, but it was palatial.

  Dana looked down below and she could see lower floors along with a wraparound staircase. It felt like she was standing at the top deck of a cruise ship.

  There was a beautiful large bar carved from the exotic woods that looked like the one Dana had seen at the resort.

  It was a full bar like you would find at a business, not a private home. Behind it were large floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

  There was a half-empty bottle of Glenlivet 18-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch on the bar next to an empty glass. Dana could see that the glass had been recently used, which struck her as odd at seven in the morning.

  Felicia walked up to the bar. She removed the big blob of chewed-up gum from her mouth and put it into a napkin. She then poured herself a drink.

  “He always has the good stuff,” she said as she held up the glass and downed it like it was a shot of tequila. She winced, then she poured herself another drink. “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Um, no thank you. It’s seven in the morning, Felicia,” Dana said.

  Felicia shrugged. “This is like my fourth drink already, or maybe it's my fifth, I’ve lost track.”

  Dana looked around at the posh home and thought there was no way this was Felicia’s house.

  “You said he always has the good stuff, who is he?” Dana asked.

  “Gustavo Barca, of course. Honey, you think I could afford a place like this with the pittance I make? I still haven’t recovered from the real estate meltdown of two thousand seven to two thousand nine. You thought it was bad in the States, you should have seen what it did to the Costa Rican real estate market, especially my specialty selling homes to Americans. As they say, when the United States catches a cold, the rest of the world gets pneumonia. Well, I got it bad, and I’ve barely recovered,” Felicia said. She downed the drink in one gulp and slammed the glass on the bar's counter.

  “What’s going on, Felicia? Why did you bring me here?”

  “Because of Skylar, I told you.”

  “What about Skylar?”

  “She’s here,” Felicia said, slurring her words and giggling.

  “I’m leaving,” Dana said, turning towards the door.

  “How are you going to get back, silly?”

  “I’ll walk.”

  “Wait, wait, we’ll get the whole truth from Skylar herself. She right in there,” Felicia said as she walked towards a closed door.

  Dana watched her as she opened the door and went inside. “Come on, get up,” Dana heard Felicia saying, but she couldn’t see what was going on inside the room.

  A moment later, Felicia walked out of the room with Skylar, whom she had gagged with duct tape over her mouth and had restrained her arms behind her back. Felicia shoved her from behind. That's when Dana noticed she was holding a gun.

  Dana took a step back and Felicia pointed the gun at her.

  “You’re not going anywhere, troublemaker,” she said.

  Crap. Dana froze. She could tell that Skylar had been crying. Her eyes and face were red and puffy.

  “What are you doing, Felicia?”

  “In the real estate business, we call it a ‘commissionectomy.’ It’s when a real estate agent does everything they can to save a commission from going down the toilet. I’ve been working this deal for two years and I’m not letting it go down the toilet because of you. So sit down,” Felicia said as she pointed to a large sectional couch with the gun.

  Dana did as she was told and sat down. Felicia then shoved Skylar, who fell on the couch next to Dana.

  Skylar began crying. The duct tape muffled her cries and whimpering over her mouth. It was a side of the usually fiery tomcat that Dana had never seen before, but then again, she had seen no one tied up, gagged, and held at gunpoint before. She had never had a gun pointed at her. And she didn’t like it one bit, especially since it was obvious that Felicia was drunk and was waving that gun around like it was a toy.

  Dana was calm. And it surprised her that was staying calm under the dire circumstances. She felt anger at the whole situation.

  “So you’re going to kill us both for a commission?” Dana asked.

  “It’s an enormous commission,” Felicia said, sounding almost offended at the question.

  “You killed Roy,” Dana said.

  Felicia smiled. She walked over to the bar, still pointing the gun in Dana and Skylar’s direction. She reached behind the bar and removed a plastic bag with a big steak knife inside. She put on latex gloves and removed the knife. She held it up so Dana could see it. The Tranquil Bay Resort logo was on the blade just as Detective Rojas had said.

  “Why?”

  “Because of you,” Felicia seethed. “Two years I’ve worked on this deal. Putting up with Roy and Skylar’s insufferable demands and, nonstop, day and night, whine, whine, whine, for two years. Shaking me down for money for this and that. And it was okay. I had the contract signed. I just had to wait for that idiot, Blake Kirkpatrick, to die. He held on way too long, but finally he died. Casa Verde would soon belong to Roy and the deal would go through, but no, Roy’s such a piece of work that his own father cut him from the will. So I’ve been in commissionectomy mode ever since then,” Felicia explained.

  “So you were that anonymous buyer that approached Benny,” Dana said.

  “One of my many shell companies. All you had to do was accept my offer. But nope, you’re going through some sort of mid-life crisis and you want to move down here and blow my deal. I would not let that happen, so I convinced Barca to bankroll Roy and Skylar so we can end up with the land. Then Roy starts to waffle. He’s in love with a freaking yoga teacher. Can you believe that? Are you kidding me? So I have two idiotic cousins going through a mid-life crisis that will cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, no way. So I figure with Roy out of the way, then I only have to deal with Skylar, who I know wants nothing more than to sell the land to Barca and leave the country. It was perfect,” Felicia explained.

  “But you wanted insurance, so you were going to plant that knife on me, that way they would arrest me for the murder, making it a certainty that Skylar would get Casa Verde,” Dana said.

  “Smart cookie, that one. Don’t you agree?” Felicia said to the gagged Skylar. “Oops, sorry, you can’t talk,” she said, giggling drunkenly.

  “I kept trying to get onto your property to plant the knife, but you wouldn’t even take my calls, how rude by the way, you hurt my feelings,” Felicia said mockingly.

  “That simpleton Ramón was always there, so I couldn’t sneak into Casa Verde. Bravo on your security. So that gave enough time for you and Picado to
find out that Roy was in love and Barca tired of supporting Skylar. He told me the other night the odds of winning in court were slim to none and he was tired of supporting Skylar and putting up with her not so endearing personality, and to boot, his sources in the OIJ warned him that Skylar would soon be arrested for Roy’s murder, so he was going to walk away from the whole bloody mess. So easy for him to walk away after all that time and money, he’s a billionaire. It’s just another blown deal to him. He gets to move on with life still stinking rich. But for me? It would ruin me.”

  “I don’t get it,” Dana said. “If Skylar was going to be arrested and charged with killing Roy, you would have gotten away with murder, scot-free. No one knew about your involvement.”

  “Did you not hear what I said? This blown deal would leave me destitute. I’ve been stealing from my clients to keep up my good life. But they will soon catch on. And I’ll be worse than poor, I’ll be in jail. I will not let that happen. Besides, I earned that money! It’s my money. I’ve gone this far. I already killed Roy, so why not go a little further to make sure the deal goes through?” Felicia said.

  “So you’re going to kill us both, how is that going to save your sale?” Dana asked.

  “Barca let Skylar stay here for a few days so she would be out of his hair while he made the arrangements to send her back to California. This is one of his many homes I manage, like a servant. Everyone knows how snoopy you are sticking your nose into Picado’s case, so it won’t surprise anyone that when you found out that Skylar was here, you drove out here in your jeep. We’ll never know what went down, perhaps you were both in cahoots to kill poor Roy, but in the end, you kill Skylar with the same knife that killed Roy, but good old Skylar manages to shoot you with this gun Barca keeps at this house. You both die. I still have the signed contract with Roy and Skylar, so I have that covered, but why settle just for the commission? After all that hard work I’ve done and putting up with all the Kirkpatrick dysfunction, I deserve it all. So all I need for you to do is sign this new contract, where you’re selling Casa Verde to me for a very favorable contract for deed which I’ve backdated. Barca’s high-powered lawyers will make sure our contract is validated and I’m a millionaire by next summer. I have my eye on a lovely condo in Ibiza.”