Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 02 - Island Intrigue

by Marty Ambrose

  “What?” Kevin looked at her, then me. Puzzlement clouded his small face.

  “Go to the office, Kevin. Get the principal,” I said in an urgent voice.

  “No” Beverly lunged at him, but I swung my mammoth canvas bag in a wide arc and caught her in the face. She dropped the knife. I heard a crunching sound and realized the mammoth load of junk in my bag must’ve hit Beverly in the jaw. I hoped it was broken. Served her right. She staggered backward.

  I seized Kevin’s arm and pulled him toward me. But Beverly recovered and grabbed at him. An adrenaline rush flooded my body. I couldn’t let her hurt Kevin. Releasing his arm, I assumed my Tae Kwon Do fighting stance and aimed a roundhouse kick at her ribs. It connected! She screamed and cradled her left side. Kevin scrambled away and ran out the door.

  “You witch!” Beverly lurched at me, yanking at my hair. I jabbed an elbow into her stomach, and she grunted but managed to keep a grip on my curls. Her fingers remained locked in their intention to pull out my hair by the roots.

  I yelped. It hurt like hell. Forget the Tae Kwon Do moves. I stomped on her foot as hard as I could. She shouted in pain and released me.

  “Marley, attack!” Madame Geri emerged from her hiding place behind the file cabinet. The parrot flapped its wings, then settled back down again.

  Stupid bird!

  But the small movement distracted Beverly. I took the opportunity to swing my canvas bag at her once more. This time it landed smack dab against her already injured ribs. She cried out and doubled over. I readied myself for another go at her…

  At that moment Nick Billie rushed in, gun drawn. “Everybody, freeze!”

  We all complied.

  After holstering his gun, he pulled a gasping Beverly to her feet and handcuffed her. He turned toward me, his lips drawn tightly in annoyance. “I got your message from Sandy. Couldn’t you have waited for me?”

  I massaged my sore scalp. “We were waiting, but then I heard Beverly say she was leaving. I thought she might get away before you-“

  “I don’t suppose it occurred to you that I was ready to bring her in for questioning. I’d located the sites Frank was researching on his computer, and her name came up. Then Jake’s son came in this morning and told me he’d taken one of his father’s fishing nets to school for show-and-tell. But somehow it disappeared in Beverly’s classroom. That confirmed my suspicions, because I already had a receipt showing that she’d filled up a boat with gasoline the day Tom died.” He leveled a withering glance in my direction. “But you couldn’t wait for me to do my job, could you? Anything to get your story.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I said. My voice shook, matched by my shaking extremities. Reaction was setting in. “I didn’t want to take a chance on her harming Kevin or the other kids.”

  Kevin raced in. “Miss Mallie, the principal is coming-“

  “It’s okay, Kevin. Detective Billie has everything under control” I held out my arms, and he threw himself into my embrace. I’d have Wanda Sue and his mom explain everything to him later. “Madame Geri heard everything that Beverly said: full confession.”

  “If you’re expecting me to thank you, you can wait till hell freezes over,” Detective Billie spat out.

  “It’s no use fighting it.” Madame Geri spoke up. “The spirit world says you two are destined for each other.”

  “She’s destined to drive me crazy,” he muttered.

  “He’s destined to deserve it,” I retorted.

  Without another word, he hauled Beverly Jennings out of the classroom, and I continued to hug Kevin.

  Madame Geri shook her head in dismay.

  GGHoney, how can I ever thank you?” Wanda Sue said as we sat on the picnic bench outside my Airstream. The cold spell had finally passed, and we basked outside in the warmth of the afternoon Florida sunshine. We were both wearing shorts-mine loose khakis, hers tight spandex-and T-shirts. Needless to say, Wanda Sue filled out her top a lot better than I.

  “There’s no need to thank me. What are friends for?” I heard myself say the words, and, for the first time in my life I knew what it meant to care about someone enough that I would risk my own well-being to help her. I wasn’t the family flake that no one could count on. Even Nick Billie had complimented me on my quick thinking at the elementary school-once he’d gotten over his irritation. Nevertheless, our “karmic destiny” was still very much in question. Oh, well. “How’s Frank?”

  “He’s doing better than a June bug on a summer’s day”

  I interpreted that to mean that he was on the mend. “Are he and Sally Jo going to get together?”

  “Lordy, who knows?” She shrugged. “Maybe down the road. Right now she’s putting her energies into helping Kevin get through all this stuff. The school counselor is lending a hand. It turns out Kevin wasn’t starting all those fights with his classmates. Miz Jennings was goading him into being angry with the other kids.”

  “She’s a nutcase, that’s for sure”

  “Thank goodness that crazy woman has been brought to justice-with your help.”

  “She almost yanked out my one claim to beauty” I rubbed my sore scalp ruefully. “I hate to admit this, but I’m going to miss having Madame Geri as my sidekick. Of course, she’s a total sham, but she did help me bring down Beverly. Or, rather, Marley did.”

  Wanda Sue clucked her tongue. “She’s not a fake. She’s the real thing. You have to have faith, honey”

  “I prefer to put my trust in things I can see and prove for myself.”

  “Humbug.”

  At that point I heard the door to the RV next door open, and two voices filtered over to my site. My eyelids shot open. I looked at Wanda Sue. “It’s them” The famous mystery couple!

  The voices drew closer, and I turned toward the sound. Excitement darted through me like an arrow zinging toward its target. It had to be Christina Aguilera and her man. I just knew it.

  As they rounded the front of their motor home, I got my first glimpse of the mystery guests.

  I jumped to my feet, and my mouth dropped open. “Mom. Dad. What are you doing here?”

  “We wanted to surprise you,” my mother tittered. “A friend from Tampa loaned us their spanking-new RV, and we’ve been scoping out your little island in our rental car for the past weekjust to see if we wanted to buy a place here. We didn’t want you influencing our decision, trying to get us to choose Mango Bay”

  As if that was a possibility.

  “Anyway, your father and I are pulling out this afternoon and heading for Sun City. I’m sorry to say it, Mallie, but this is the dullest place we’ve ever been. Nothing happens on this island, does it?”

  I started to protest, then thought better of it.

  Sometimes silence was the best answer.