Danger in the Depths (Dune House Cozy Mystery Series Book 9)

by Cindy Bell

  “You can’t do this. Jim, I know you’re a good man, deep down.”

  “Am I?” He laughed. “The only thing I know I am about to be, is a rich man. Now, tell me where the treasure is. Time is running out for your friend.”

  “Okay, but I can’t tell you. I have to take you there.”

  “Why?” He narrowed his eyes.

  “It’s not on any map, and it’s hidden.”

  “Well, isn’t that convenient. Fine, let’s go then.” He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her down the beach. Mary’s heart raced when she spotted a couple on a stroll along the beach. She opened her mouth to scream, but he squeezed her arm hard before she could. “One noise, one word, and Suzie is going to lose her best friend.”

  “I won’t say anything.” Mary recalled the gun in his waistband and closed her eyes. She clenched her teeth despite the terror that rushed through her.

  “Good. We’re going to the dock. Take your car.”

  Mary did as he instructed and opened the door to the car that she shared with Suzie. Her hands trembled as she gripped the steering wheel. All she could think of was Suzie back in the shack, all alone. She didn’t have her phone, since that was part of the ploy, so she had no way to alert anyone to Suzie’s plight.

  “How long does she have?”

  “Never mind that. Just drive.”

  Mary drove fast, but Jim patted her knee. “Slow down. I don’t want us getting pulled over. No tricks.”

  “Sorry.” She bit into her bottom lip and parked at the dock. He led her down to the end of the dock to a small boat, and instructed her to get on. She did as she was told and gave him the general direction to go. She didn’t want to tell him too much, as she knew her usefulness, and in turn Suzie’s, would disappear the moment he found the treasure. After some time motoring across the open water, Jim stared hard at her.

  “Where are we going, Mary?”

  “There.” She pointed to the island and shivered. She could have lied and led him somewhere else, but she didn’t want to risk Suzie’s life. She only hoped that the time they spent getting to the island would be enough for something miraculous to happen. As he edged the boat close to the island she wondered if this would be the last place she would ever see. It was pretty, at least. She drank in the sight of the moon and the stars as they illuminated the water below. The sky had begun to clear.

  “Let’s go.” He turned the boat off and dropped an inflatable boat down into the water. “You first.” Mary struggled to get over the side of the boat, and landed awkwardly. Jim jumped in after her, and paddled them towards the shore. Mary considered trying to wrench a paddle from him, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough to overcome him. When they reached the shore, Jim climbed out first. “Where?”

  “I’ll show you.”

  “No. Just tell me.”

  “I can’t, it’s too hard to describe. I have to show you.”

  “Fine. Let’s go.”

  “Wait.” She climbed out of the boat. “What’s to stop you from leaving me here and never going back to save Suzie?”

  “This.” He held up her phone. “Once I have the treasure, I will give you this. You can call for help, I don’t care, I’ll be long gone. None of this would have been necessary if Rick had taken the fall like he was supposed to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I planted his shoes in that shack so that the local police would think he was the killer. But they’re not even smart enough to do that.”

  Her stomach churned. He’d taken Ben’s shoes by mistake because they were in his room and the same size as Rick’s. But what if he hadn’t? She came to the awful realization that she would have believed Rick was a killer if it was his shoes that Kirk found in the shack.

  “He was your friend, Jim. Why did you do this to him?”

  “Friends don’t lie and cheat. The only good thing that ever happened in my life was finding that shipwreck. I thought Curtis was protecting me when he said I shouldn’t go down, that it was too dangerous. But the truth was, he wanted to take the treasure for himself. He lied about there being nothing there, and then stole it right out from under me. I deserved it just as much as he did. But instead of being my friend, he was a thief. He deserved what he got.”

  “But I don’t understand. You never left your room. Did you have a partner?”

  “There’s more than one way to leave a room you know. I am experienced at abseiling, remember? I used the ropes that Curtis had of mine to abseil down the outside of the building, I tampered with Curtis’ equipment, then I climbed back up. Really, Curtis killed himself. He should have checked his equipment before he went diving, but he was always making stupid mistakes like that. If he had checked it, he would still be alive. But he didn’t, and now he’s dead. Your friend is going to be the next to die if you don’t show me where that treasure is.”

  “Over there.” She whispered as she pointed across the island. “Under the rocks.”

  Together they walked towards them. Mary wanted to believe that he would give her the phone, but she doubted it. When they reached the rocks, his tone became nastier.

  “Is this some kind of trick?” Jim stared at her. “You move them.”

  “I don’t know if I can move them all.”

  “You’d better make your best effort.” He gestured to the rocks.

  “All right, all right, I’ll try.” She grabbed the rock on the top and heaved it aside. Maybe Paul would wonder where Suzie was, maybe Ben or Cathy would decide to go looking for her. Someone had to do something, because she had a very strong feeling that Jim was not going to let her go.

  “Let’s go, move it.” Jim gave her a light shove from behind.

  Mary pushed the last of the rocks aside, then stood back. Her heart lurched as she realized that the moment he saw the treasure, she would become nothing but a liability to him. As he walked up to the edge of the hole she glanced around in search of anything that she might be able to use as a weapon. She could try to run, even with her bad knees, but the island was so small, and there was nowhere to hide.

  Chapter 19

  “I knew it.” Jim stared down into the hole. “I knew it!” He turned towards Mary with wide eyes and red cheeks. “You’re a liar!”

  “What?” Mary took a step back and stumbled on one of the rocks as Jim advanced on her.

  “Where is the treasure? I thought you cared about your friend, but I was wrong. Now if you don’t tell me where the treasure is I’m going to go back to that old house and reunite your son and daughter with their dear aunt. Do you understand me?”

  “No wait, please. The treasure should be there. That’s where it was when we found it.” Mary made her way to the edge of the hole and looked inside. Nothing but a pit of sand greeted her. She crouched down and dug in the sand. The further she dug, the more her hands shook. If the treasure was gone, then she had no way of protecting Suzie, or her children. Nothing would stop Jim from going after them all. “Someone must have taken it.” She closed her eyes.

  “Someone? Who could? I thought you said only Suzie and you knew where the treasure was? Or was that a lie, too?”

  “No, it was the truth. I thought we were the only ones, but someone must have found out about it.”

  “Or maybe Suzie isn’t the trustworthy friend that you thought she was.” He laughed. “Just like Curtis. He wanted to keep all of the money for himself. Suzie probably moved the treasure so that she would have it for herself. How does that feel?”

  “She wouldn’t.” Mary shook her head.

  “That’s what I thought, too. But look how that turned out. Honestly, I feel sorry for you. I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you considered to be a friend. But none of that matters right now. All that matters is me getting that treasure. No matter how much sympathy I have for you, please understand, I will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to get it.”

  “Just let me talk to her. If you let me talk to her, I’m sure she’ll tell me
where the treasure is. If she knows that you’re threatening me, or Ben, or Cathy, she’ll do anything to keep us safe. Please, just let me talk to her.”

  “Fine. I will. But that’s the last chance either of you are going to have.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the boat.

  Mary was certain that Suzie hadn’t moved the treasure, but at the very least she would be able to see her friend again. As they headed back towards the boat, Mary heard something splash in the water not far from her. She glanced to the side, and spotted a small rock as it landed in the water. She looked up and saw a police boat, hidden by the shadows of one of the few trees. Instantly she knew what to do. She lunged away from Jim, and suddenly the entire island lit up with the flashing lights of the police boat. Jim was tackled to the ground by an officer while Kirk shouted at him to stay down.

  “He has a gun!” Mary gasped. She watched as the officer wrestled the gun out of Jim’s hands. She had no idea how Kirk found her, but tears of relief spilled down her cheeks. “Suzie! Someone has to help Suzie.” She breathlessly explained Suzie’s location. Kirk barked into his radio, then wrapped an arm around Mary.

  “It’s okay, Mary. We’re going to take care of her. Let’s get you off this island.”

  After a few minutes on the boat Kirk walked over to her.

  “Suzie has been found. She’s fine. There were no dangerous fumes, I think that Jim was trying to scare you. She was just knocked out.”

  “Oh, thank goodness.” She pressed her hand against her chest. “But how did you find us? And where is the treasure?”

  “I got notification during dinner that they managed to trace the last call that Curtis made the morning of his death and it was to a pawn broker so that heightened my suspicions that he might have had treasure. I also found out that R. Norris was not Rick it was a different diver so I didn’t think that Rick was the murderer, but I wasn’t sure. After Suzie mentioned the cave, and that Curtis might be looking for a hiding place, I thought about this island. When I spoke with Paul after dinner, he mentioned you and Suzie going out on a boat with Shawn. I thought it was strange. So I decided to take a look at the island myself. I found and confiscated the treasure. I knew that the killer would come looking for the treasure eventually, so I kept a patrol on it. When they spotted you and Jim they alerted me. It’s a good thing they did, because you could have been killed, Mary.”

  “I know.” She sighed and wiped at her eyes. “It was a risk I had to take.”

  “I wish you had come to me first. Now that we have Curtis’ killer, it’s hard to be upset. I understand you were worried about Ben, but your life matters, too.”

  “Thanks Kirk.” She smiled at him as the boat pulled up to the docks. Jim was led off in handcuffs. The moment Mary stepped off the boat Suzie ran towards her. She threw her arms around her friend.

  “Oh, Mary I’m so sorry. I never should have let you be in such danger.”

  “We had our reasons, Suzie.” She filled her in on what Jim told her about Curtis taking the treasure for himself, and how he was able to escape from his room without being seen.

  “It’s hard to believe we were under the same roof as a murderer all this time.”

  “But all that matters is that we’re all safe now.” She saw her son as he approached from the parking lot. “Almost all of us. Kirk, do you have a minute to talk with me and Ben? He has a difficult matter he’s dealing with.”

  “Sure.” He nodded. “Anything that I can do to help, I’m here.”

  “Thanks.” She hugged Ben. “I want you to come with me and speak to Kirk so we can sort out your little problem.”

  “I don’t know, Mom. Dad gave me more money so I have some more time.”

  “No, we need to solve this once and for all so you can put it behind you. Trust me.”

  “Okay.” Ben nodded. Mary put her arm around him and led him off to speak with Kirk.

  Suzie rubbed her head where she’d collided with the wall. Paul walked up to her in the midst of all of the flashing lights.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Suzie filled him in on the events, the arrest, and being left in the shack. “I came to when Ben found me. Kirk called him because he knew he would be the closest. Poor Mary must have been beside herself.”

  “I’m so glad that you’re safe.” He looked into her eyes. “Shortly after I docked I heard all of the sirens, it scared me. I knew something was up.”

  “I’m sorry, in all of the chaos I should have called you, but I wanted to make sure Mary was safe, it was all I was thinking about.”

  “I understand.”

  “What do you think they’ll do with the treasure?”

  “I don’t know. Once they decide who it belongs to, they’ll go from there.”

  “I’m just so glad this is over.” Suzie hugged him. “Now, finally Curtis can have some peace.”

  “He was lucky to have you as a friend, Suzie.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “Ouch!”

  “Oops, sorry.” He smiled and kissed her cheek instead. “Next time, keep me in the loop, hmm?”

  “Yes, I will, Paul. I just wanted to keep you safe, so I thought the less you knew the better.”

  “I’d like to be able to do the same for you once in a while. I’m not sure how you think you can keep me safe, when you’re always putting my heart at such risk.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you carry my heart with you, Suzie, whether you know that or not. When you’re in danger, it’s in danger.”

  “That’s sweet.” Suzie smiled at him. He had such a rugged exterior with his broad shoulders, curly hair, big bushy eyebrows and weathered skin that he always surprised her with his sensitivity.

  “It’s the truth. So the next time you think you’re protecting me, please try to remember, whenever you take a risk with yourself, you’re taking a risk with my heart, too.”

  “I’ll remember.” She gazed into his eyes. “And I promise not to cheat on you anymore.”

  “Good, because Shawn was going to pay for that.”

  “Stop!” She laughed. He hugged her again. Over his shoulder she saw Hal and Trish huddled close in the parking lot. All of the commotion had woken up just about the entire town of Garber. The two clung to each other. Suzie realized that their relationship might not be perfect, but it was still strong. Hal had a checkered past, and a bit of a temper. Trish had a wandering eye, and a desire for a little drama. But they loved each other, and in the end, stuck together through a very difficult time. Just as Mary and Ben walked away from Kirk, Cathy and Rick walked up to them. Mary offered her hand to Rick.

  “I’m sorry for doubting you, Rick.”

  “I’m sorry for giving you reason to.” He held her gaze. “One of these days, we should talk. I’ll answer whatever questions you have. But the most important thing you can know, is that I would never do anything to harm your daughter, or your family.”

  “I believe you, Rick.” Mary looked over at Cathy. “I trust your judgment, Cathy, I’m sorry that I questioned it.”

  “Maybe if Jim had someone to protect him, and look out for him, the way you do me, none of this would have ever happened. I know everything you do, you do out of love, Mom. I’m sorry if I lost sight of that.”

  “What do you say we give this vacation another try?” Suzie smiled as she walked up to them. “Starting tomorrow morning, Mary is officially off for the week.”

  “Suzie, you can’t handle everything alone.”

  “Oh, I won’t have to, right Paul?” She grinned at him.

  “Huh? Oh sure, right.” Paul nodded.

  “Just don’t let him do the laundry.” Mary laughed.

  “Hey!” Paul chuckled. “Actually, that’s probably for the best.”

  As they walked back towards Dune House, Suzie looked over her shoulder at the open water. She couldn't see the island, but she imagined that Curtis was there, putting the last rock back into place. He'd loved adven
ture, and though his life was short, he'd lived it fully. Even though his dishonesty had led to his death, she hoped that justice being served, would give him some peace.

  The End

  Thank you very much for reading ‘Danger in the Depths’. I hope you enjoyed it. You can sign up for Cindy’s newsletter to be notified of her latest releases so you don’t miss out on the special new release price at

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