Wipe Out: A fun and fast-paced private investigator cozy mystery/beach read (Maggie PI Mysteries Book 3)

by Rose Pressey

  Dorothy had wandered off across the store. She was busy looking at a T-shirt, so I just left her there while I headed to the back to talk to the manager.

  He looked up as I walked toward him. “May I help you?”

  I didn’t do the wallet trick like last time, but I immediately gave him my name. I figured I would just be completely honest and see what he had to say.

  “I’m a private investigator researching a recent murder and I wondered if I could get a look at your video surveillance. It wouldn’t take me long.”

  “I don’t want to get involved in anything like that,” he said.

  To be honest, I hadn’t expected that answer. Involved? What, did he think that if he gave me the video the killer would come after him? How would the murderer even know? Unless I caught the person and they went to jail just because of video surveillance. I supposed that could happen, but it was unlikely in my opinion.

  Dorothy moved closer to where I stood talking to the man, but she wasn’t acting as if she knew me. She was just browsing the rack of clothing next to us. That was odd. What was she up to?

  “Excuse me. I have to get back to work.” The man resumed folding a shirt.

  He wasn’t friendly at all. What had I ever done to him? Dorothy she gave me a wink. In one fluid motion she collapsed to the floor. I knew what she was doing and she had saved the day.

  “Oh, man, is she all right?” The guy ran over to Dorothy.

  While he was distracted with that, I ran to the back and into the office. It was a long shot, but I had to give it a try. If she could keep him busy for a while until I came back out, then she’d know that her services were no longer needed.

  I rushed into the office. A laptop was on top of the desk. If the video was anywhere, it would be on the laptop. I opened it up and hoped that there wasn’t a password. Unfortunately, there was. That meant that I had to try to figure it out. I typed in one, two, three, four, five, and six. No, that didn’t work. I entered the name of the shop. This was getting me nowhere. Several more attempts and I figured I’d have to give up. I’d try one more time. Checking out my surroundings, I spotted a poster on the wall. A scene of the beach with a surfer. This was a long shot, but what other ideas did I have? I typed in the words from the poster, Catch a wave. Bingo. I was in. How had I even figured that out? I didn’t know, but I was thanking my lucky stars.

  Right away, I clicked on the link that would open up the video. I found the date back to the time of the murder. If I’d waited another day the footage would have been deleted since it looked as if it only went back a few days. I’d come in at just the right time.

  A noise made me pause. The doorknob rattled. My adrenaline spiked and my heart pounded harder. Someone was coming. It would all be over for me if I got caught in here. They would probably call the police. Jake would show up and I would have a lot of explaining to do.

  Now I had to find a place to hide. There was a closet across the room, but it was too far and I knew I wouldn’t get there in time. The only thing I could do now was crawl under the desk. If someone looked under there and saw me I would have no way to explain. I fell to the floor and scurried under the desk, scrunching my body up in a way that I’d never thought possible. But when the adrenaline kicked in I could do a lot of things I’d never thought possible.

  I held my breath, hoping that the person wouldn’t hear me under there. I watched as the person walked into the room. All I saw from under the desk was a pair of legs. Based on the flip-flops and painted toenails, it was a woman, probably the one from behind the counter. After I had mentioned the word murder to her, if she saw me under the desk, she really would freak out and call the police.

  I waited and watched as she walked around the room. What was she doing in there? Get what you need and get out. My legs were hurting and I was pretty sure my butt was falling asleep. After a few more seconds she walked out of the room. I scurried out from under the desk and across the dirty floor. It took me a second to get my legs unfolded. Now I had to move quickly before she came back.

  What I saw on the video was a bit of a shock to me. Well, maybe not so much a shock. I’d kind of suspected it anyway. Of course, this was no definitive proof, but it was definitely leading me in the right direction.

  Penelope was the person on the video following Henry. This had taken place a short time before he was murdered. That put her at the scene of the crime and in my opinion she had a motive. What more would the police need in order to make an arrest?

  I watched the video a bit longer. Penelope stopped. She talked with a man. He was mostly out of the screen, but I noticed his large hands as he took something she handed him. I took in as much of the man’s appearance as I could get from the limited video. He was wearing black flip-flops. I couldn’t gauge his height, but I figured he was over six foot tall.

  Now I had to convince the manager to show the police the video. I supposed if I told Jake, they could get a warrant and collect the video that way. Or perhaps the guy would be more willing to work with the police than just some random private investigator. Either way, I had what I needed now.

  A sneaky idea crossed my mind. I had to move quickly. Time was running out. Dorothy could only stay out there pretending to be sick for so long before they would call an ambulance. I had my cell phone. I could take video of the video. I didn’t know how that would turn out, but cameras on phones were amazing nowadays, so it was worth a shot. I grabbed the laptop, opened it again and got to the right section. I videoed the section with Penelope.

  Now all that was left was finding a way to tell Jake that I had gotten this video. I’d worry about that when the time came. I closed the laptop, shoved my phone back into my pocket, and hurried over to the door. I eased it open and peeked out to make sure that no one was coming. I slipped out of the room. Thank goodness I had gotten out of there. Sure enough, Dorothy was still over on the floor, and the guy was hovering over her. She was waving his hand away.

  “Are you sure I can’t call you an ambulance?” he asked. “I really think I should.”

  I eased around him and headed toward the door, giving Dorothy a nod to let her know that it was safe to get up. My gaze shifted to the guy and he made eye contact with me. He looked down to Dorothy. The realization hit him. He was definitely suspicious, but he didn’t come right out and accuse us… yet.

  Dorothy sprang up from the floor as if she was on the Olympic gymnast team. The manager stumbled backward a couple of steps. He was in shock that Dorothy had moved that easily. She hurried in my direction.

  “Hey, what do you two think you’re doing? Are you stealing something?” the guy yelled.

  When I looked back he was coming after us. I’d had a feeling that he was onto us, but I’d never thought he would think we were stealing something. He was running toward me as if I was in a football game and I was about to be tackled. I didn’t even have the ball. Okay, technically the video was the ball, but he didn’t know that. It was on my phone.

  “Get away from me,” I yelled. “I’ll sue you.”

  Dorothy chuckled, as if it was funny.

  “Dorothy, is this funny to you?” I asked as we ran for the door.

  “It’s mildly humorous,” she yelled and she ran.

  How could she be so spry at that age? I hoped that I was half as good at her age. Heck, I was only half as good now at my age. Thank goodness we made it to the door without the guy being able to tackle me. The only thing that saved us was the rack of T-shirts I shoved in front of him in our wake.

  Of course everyone was staring at us. We had created a huge commotion. Dorothy and I burst out onto the sidewalk, running toward the parking area. The guy was still yelling for us to stop, as if that was really going to happen. Checking over my shoulder I realized that he had given up. Apparently we were better runners than him. He was totally out of shape. He might think about getting a treadmill. I mean, for heaven’s sake, he was worse than me, and I’d thought I was bad.

  “I th
ink we can stop running now.” I stopped, placing my hands on my knees and bending over, trying to catch my breath.

  Dorothy was standing there, barely showing any signs of exertion.

  “How do you do that?” I asked.

  “Do what, dear?”

  “Not be exhausted after running like that,” I said.

  “That?” she asked with a wave of her hand. “Oh, I take these vitamins in the morning. You should really look into them. They’re great.”

  Dorothy was going to live to be a hundred and ten.

  “Did you get what you needed?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I got it. I recorded it on my phone, and you’re never going to believe who was following Henry.”

  “Penelope,” Dorothy said.

  Chapter 6

  I placed a call to Penelope. Unfortunately, she didn’t answer. I left a voicemail for her to return my call. Of course I acted as if nothing was wrong. I didn’t want to tip her off that I’d seen the video.

  Next, I searched again and managed to locate what I thought was the correct address for Henry. Now I could pay a visit to his home and see what was going on there. I wondered if he lived with anyone else or if anyone would be home. Would they talk with me? If not, I’d have to abandon my mission. It was just on the other side of town, but with the traffic, it would probably take me at least an hour. It wasn’t like I had a lot going on today otherwise, so I supposed I could spare the time.

  “Okay, Dorothy, I’m just going to take a little trip. I’ll be back in a few. Answer the calls for me,” I said, grabbing my purse.

  She didn’t stop knitting, but looked up at me suspiciously. “I don’t trust you not to get into trouble, Maggie.”

  When I reached the door I looked back at her. “I can’t believe you think I will get in trouble. I’ll be just fine. I’m a professional.”

  She snorted. “I’ve known you long enough to know that’s not the case.”

  I waved as I walked out the door.

  A second later I received a text on my phone. When I checked the screen, it was blank. That was kind of odd. I’d have to try the number later. I surveyed the beach one last time before heading back over toward the parking lot where I parked my little Ford Focus. Seagulls swooped down at my head. That was the result of Dorothy’s feeding them. When I reached the car, I noticed Dorothy was leaning against the passenger door.

  “Dorothy, what are you doing? I thought you were going to stay and answer the phones.”

  She waved her hand with her big pocketbook draped over her arm. “You’re not gonna get any calls anyway. I have them forwarded to your cell.” She motioned toward the car door. “Let’s go.”

  I sighed and unlocked the door. She opened it and climbed in, placing her big pocketbook on her lap. Now she was happy. I shoved the key in the ignition and started the car, backing out of the parking space. It would be a long drive with the traffic.

  I was sitting at a red light waiting when my phone rang.

  “Don’t you dare answer that phone and drive at the same time,” Dorothy said.

  “It’s a red light. I can answer at the red light, right?”

  She looked at me disapprovingly. As soon as I answered, no one was there. Apparently, the call had gone to voicemail. Was it Penelope calling me back? I didn’t recognize the number. I couldn’t check the message right now anyway, I needed to drive. Dorothy would knock the phone out of my hand if I tried something like that.

  We reached the street where Henry’s house was located. I counted down the house numbers. It was a white stucco house with a palm tree in the front yard. There was no car in the driveway, but I didn’t pull in. Instead, I parked in front of the house. I didn’t want to park in the driveway in case someone came home. If they did, had the police talked to them yet? Of course, they had to have done, right? This had probably been Jake’s first stop.

  Dorothy followed me as we walked up to the door. Of course, if they answered I wasn’t entirely sure what I would say. I would have to make up an excuse for why I was there. Insurance salesperson? Magazine sales? No, they’d probably close the door in my face. I just needed to tell the truth, but leave out the part about Henry having my name on a piece of paper in his hand.

  Before I even knocked on the door, it opened just a bit. Dorothy and I exchanged a look.

  “I don’t like the looks of this,” she said.

  I didn’t either, but now I needed to find out if anyone was home. I opened the door a little bit more and poked my head in.

  “Hello? Is anyone home?” I called out.

  No one answered.

  “You’re not thinking of going in there, are you?” Dorothy asked. Before I could answer, she said, “Oh, what am I thinking? Of course you’re going in there. I’ll go first.”

  Her black orthopedic shoes squeaked against the hardwood floor.

  The place looked as if someone had just left and would be right back. I peeked into the kitchen and spotted a glass of water sitting on the counter. The newspaper had been left open to the sports page. The faucet was dripping at a slow, steady pace that would drive me crazy if I didn’t go over there and turn it off soon. I eased into the kitchen, just in case somebody was in there. Feeling somewhat safe that we were alone I went over to the sink, took my sleeve, stretched it out over my hand, and turned the faucet off. I didn’t want to leave any fingerprints.

  We went through the rest of the house, the living room, the dining room, and next decided to head upstairs. There were three bedrooms up there and a couple of bathrooms. One of the bedrooms was being used as an office. That was where I thought I might be able to get some clues as to what had happened to Henry. I was sure his murder was related to his girlfriend’s murder. My main question was if Skye was murdered because of Henry or if Henry was murdered because of Skye.

  Dorothy and I were upstairs in the bedroom when footsteps echoed from downstairs. My stomach sank and my heart thumped faster. This was the last thing I needed right now. Somebody was in the house. Henry had been murdered and the killer could have come back looking for something in the house. If it was someone who lived here with Henry, then I would look extremely guilty. Dorothy looked at me and I knew she wanted me to tell her what to do. Of course I had no plan. The best thing I could think of was to hide.

  Where could we go? Into the closet? We’d stand a chance of never getting out of the house if this person took forever to leave. Maybe it really was the killer coming to find someone else in the house. This was definitely not something a private investigator should be doing. Okay, it was something that my uncle would have done. But that was beside the point. I needed to think of something because the footsteps were getting closer.

  Dorothy and I were scrambling around like a couple of scared rats. We dashed toward the closet. I had my hand on the knob when the bedroom door opened.

  “Freeze,” the male voice said.

  Of course I did as I was told and I didn’t move.

  “Maggie Thomas, what are you doing?”

  “Uh-oh,” I said.

  “Uh-oh is right,” Dorothy echoed.

  When I turned around I looked Jake right in the eyes. Was he stalking me?

  “He certainly finds ways to be near you, doesn’t he?” Dorothy lifted an all-knowing eyebrow.

  “Hi, Jake.” I tossed my hand up in a wave, as if I’d just casually strolled down the street and run into him.

  “What are you doing here? You know this could be dangerous.”

  I opened my mouth and for some reason no words came out. Honestly, I didn’t know what to say. I supposed I had to be perfectly honest with him.

  “We were just here to look for some things,” Dorothy said.

  After exchanging a glance with Dorothy, I focused my attention on Jake’s handsome face. “Here’s the truth. Since the man had my name, I assume he wanted my help, so I came here to see if I could track down anything about the case.”

  “And which case would that be, Maggie?�
�

  “Well, the case of his murdered girlfriend, of course.” I stared him right in the eyes.

  The side of his mouth tipped to the side. I had him on this one.

  “You didn’t know about that, did you?” I asked.

  “Of course I knew,” he said.

  “Well, you couldn’t have known for long.”

  Dorothy shook her head. “That’s true, Maggie.”

  “Okay, we have to get you out of here before the police get here.”

  “But you are the police,” I said.

  “You know what I mean. Let’s go.” Jake motioned for us to exit the room.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as we moved down the steps.

  “It’s official business,” he said.

  “Yeah, I guessed that’s what it was.”

  We walked out the front door and I headed down the path to the car.

  “Whoa, wait a minute.” He grabbed my arm.

  I spun around. We were in close contact now. I was inches away from his handsome face.

  “Where are you going now?” His eyes sparkled in the sunshine.

  I gestured. “I’m going to solve this case. Unless I end up in jail or something.”

  “Maggie, I’m not going to let you go to jail.” He was so sexy when he looked at me like that.

  “So you believe me?”

  His lips turned up at one corner. “Of course I believe you.”

  “You’ll keep me informed on what you find out.” I studied his face.

  He stared at me. “I don’t know that I can do that.”

  I sighed.

  “Promise me you won’t get into any more trouble,” he said.

  “Of course not. Now I guess I better go.” I motioned toward my car. Dorothy was behind the wheel. “Oh, no. I have to go. Dorothy wants to drive.”

  “I’ll call you later,” he said as I dashed away. “Maybe to get dinner?”

  I turned around one more time and placed my hands on my hips. “Are you just trying to get information out of me that way?”

  He shook his head. “Maggie.”