“That one detail can also be a matter of life or death for one or several individuals, so it’s imperative that everything is examined over and over until we are sure we are ready to act on our findings. I know that you have a keen sense of things and seem to have some instinct about what is ‘off’ in a given situation. I wish I had the luxury of being able just to act on that because you’ve been right in the past. But I need to be able to have evidence that we can use in the courts to make sure that once we’ve arrested the criminal, they can be put away for their crimes. Oh, I know it doesn’t always work out, no matter how strong the evidence; there are times when you just can’t fight the politics of the game. But if I do my job and have what the prosecutors need, then I at least know that I did all I could before I turned over my case files. And I’ve waited too many years to close this case to risk missing that one detail that can give Tom back the life he once enjoyed.”
“Aiden, you’re definitely one of the good guys, a vanishing breed at that. What can I do while they’re all occupied with getting lunch ready?”
“Grab that pile of notes that Tom started when he first came out of the hospital and let’s compare his speculations, as scarce as they are, to what I have here. Tom is sure that there was something that he had hidden before we were to meet in the warehouse that night. It’s just a feeling at this point, but he’s positive that he had something solid that would put Fields away for a long time.”
“Okay, squeeze over and we can start. You don’t mind sharing the loveseat, do you?”
“I’m happy to. I just wish we could be sitting here together for a different reason. You still owe me a dance I need to collect on, don’t think I won’t remember. I think I’ll add on an evening in front of the fireplace, cuddling on the sofa like this, to my list. When this is over with, you and I are going to spend some alone time together--away from family, friends, animals, and criminals!” Aiden gave her a swift kiss on the lips, as if to seal the promise and then pulled out one of the files in front of him.
They went over file after file, line by line until Taylor came in and called them to join everyone else for lunch. Putting the paperwork aside for the moment, they went into the kitchen to join the laughing group that was already filling plates full of food. Aiden rubbed his stomach as it growled in appreciation for the delicious smells that filled the room. Laughing at his rumbling stomach, they all made room for him at the head of the food line.
Lunch was a lively affair, with much talk and laughter. Beth and Taylor tried to outdo each other with the stories that they recanted to Tom about Taylor’s teenage adventures and mishaps. They deliberately stayed away from any talk of Gina or the business and Malcolm’s role in either one. This was a time to relax and get to know each other, as adults, and reminisce over the years that Tom had missed out on.
When they had their fill of food, Robert sent everyone out of the kitchen, claiming that he would do all the cleanup. Since he was so willing to do the work they agreed and Taylor and Beth headed back downstairs to the growing piles of storm debris being collected and left at the tables by the volunteers. Tom looked exhausted and pale and was ordered to one of the bedrooms to lay down and rest. Just rest, no trying to probe the memories that were still waiting to break through the fog in his mind.
Megan and Aiden headed back to the living room and the piles of notes they had scattered across the coffee table. Barney had snuck enough handouts from the lunch table that he was now full and lazy. He curled up under the coffee table to grab a catnap like Tom. With everyone having a task in front of them, the afternoon crept by quietly. By four o’clock, Megan and Aiden were also showing signs of falling asleep as they re-read every fact laid out in front of them. It was the sound of Taylor yelling goodbyes to the group of volunteers leaving for the day that pulled them out of their reverie. Shortly after that, Tom wandered out of the bedroom, rubbing the back of his head like he still had a headache. Looking up at him, Megan smiled and put the papers down on the table with a snap.
“What we all need is a break. Something to clear our heads and relieve some of the tension. I suggest we hit the beach for a bit. A walk or a dip in the water is just what the doctor would call for. Let’s get Beth and Taylor and just forget about everything else for an hour. How does that sound?”
Both men readily agreed, knowing that they did need a break. Barney gave a happy bark when he realized that there would shortly be some activity and he wanted to be sure he wasn’t left out. Seeing the men nod in agreement, Megan got up and went out to tell the two women what they were planning to do. It wasn’t long before the five of them were heading down the boardwalk to the beach. Megan was pleased to see that Robert had managed to build a set of temporary stairs from the boardwalk to the sand below that looked much sturdier and safer than the ladder that she and Lucy had attached.
“Come on, Barney, I’ll race ya,” laughed Taylor as she took off running down the beach.
“You going in, Megan?”
“Not me, I’m more of a pool swimmer than an ocean swimmer. I’ll just walk along and get my feet wet; that’s plenty for me. You guys go on in.”
Shrugging his shoulders, as if he couldn’t believe Megan didn’t want to venture into the cooling ocean waves, Aiden pulled his shirt over his head and headed towards the water. Megan couldn’t help but to notice the fine physical condition he was in; maybe she should go in for a quick swim, after all.
“I’ll join you, Aiden. I know my mother will keep you company, Megan. She’s not one for swimming either.”
Tom quickly caught up with Aiden, leaving Megan and Beth standing on the sand, watching them dive under the incoming waves as they swam into deeper water.
“Well, those are two happy men out there. It’s amazing how fast they can revert into little boys; look at the two of them dodging the waves. Megan, why don’t we walk a bit? If you can take your eyes off Aiden long enough, that is.”
“Sure, a walk is just what I need.” With an embarrassed laugh at being caught, Megan looked away from the ocean and saw Beth smiling broadly at her.
“Oh, I don’t think a walk is all you need, but it will do for now. So, tell me all about Aiden; Charlotte seemed quite impressed with him. And convinced that he is just the added excitement that you need in your life.”
“Wow, when did this conversation take place? You and Charlotte have only been around each other for a few days. Surely, you had more important things to catch up on than talking about me.” Megan looked at Beth in surprise and a touch of embarrassment.
“You’ll find as you go through life, dear, that there will be some friends that you share everything with, no matter how much time has passed since you last talked. Charlotte and I simply picked up where we left off and in no time we were caught up with each other and ready to start gossiping about everything else.”
Megan laughed along with Beth, thinking of her friendship with Lucy. The older woman was right, there are some friendships that are life-long and precious. They needed no extra work to thrive, it was simply a thread that was woven throughout life. Walking along the beach, Megan filled Beth in on the budding relationship between her and Aiden. When they had walked a fair distance from the boardwalk, they turned around to head back, joined at that point by Taylor and Barney. Once they came closer to the men who were stretched out on the sand drying in the sun, the puppy left the women behind as he raced to see if Aiden or Tom would play with him; maybe a quick round of “fetch.” Laughing, Megan watched the dog jump on Aiden without slowing down, causing his loud grunt to fill the air.
“Holy cow, dog! Ease up, Barney. Okay, okay, I’ll play” Getting to his feet, a bit slower than normal, Aiden grabbed a stick that was lying on the sand and gave it a long toss. In no time, the puppy had retrieved it and was waiting for the next throw.
“Hope your arm is strong, he can keep at it for a long time,” laughed Megan, as she and the other two women sat down with Tom to watch the puppy in action.
&nb
sp; Barney out lasted Aiden and soon he was joining them. “This is nice, I could easily get used to being a beach bum,” he laughed as he dusted the sand from his hands.
“I don’t know, Aiden. I think you would be bored after a day or two at the most. The best way is to have a job that allows you access the beach … you can get paid to have fun.”
“That’s a great idea, Megan. I think Aiden would make a terrific cabana boy,” Taylor teased, and the rest laughed along.
They all sat there enjoying the salty breeze for a bit, then by mutual consent, decided it was time to head back to the cottage and the problems needing to be solved that were waiting for them. Megan led the way, with Aiden bringing up the rear. When they reached the work area, Aiden saw that his security detail was getting ready to change shifts. Excusing himself from the others, Aiden joined the two groups of men; one leaving and one starting their evening patrols.
As the rest of them went up to the main level of the cottage to shower the sand off and change into dry clothes, they were surprised to find that Robert wasn’t there. Instead, he had left a note explaining that he was going to join his family for dinner and would return later that night. He also mentioned that the grill was ready for use and that there were plenty of hotdogs and hamburgers for an easy meal. With the decision of dinner taken care of, they quickly went off in different directions to wash away the beach from their hair and skin and meet back in the living room as they finished.
Since Beth had been the first to claim the shower, she felt it was only fair that she start dinner and by the time the rest finished, she was taking the food off the grill. They enjoyed a simple meal and then got back to work; Taylor and Beth outlining what they wanted to accomplish with the retrieved items and the others once more going over with Tom anything that he could remember.
“So now that we’ve all had a chance to recharge our batteries, where do you want to start, Aiden? Anything new jump out at you while we were at the beach, Tom?’
“Not anything definite, just a nagging feeling that there was something I kept hidden, something that was key to Malcolm’s scheme. It’s just there, on the edge of my brain, waiting for something to nudge it loose. Aiden, let’s go over my notes that I kept as I wandered across the state trying to figure out who I was. Maybe that will be helpful,” reaching over to the table, Tom randomly picked up a stack of papers to look through.
They were working their way through the third pile of papers when Megan noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Barney trying to belly crawl his way behind the loveseat. Turning to look directly at the dog, Megan found that he was also trying to push Taylor’s wooden box in front of him with his nose. Megan’s voice stopped him in his tracks, he looked at her, knowing he was in trouble, but gave a halfhearted wag of his tail as if trying to soften the stern look she gave him.
“Where do you think you’re going, puppy dog? And what have you taken--again? Bring it here, Barney; that’s not your toy.”
He hesitated a moment, as if to gauge how serious she was about the command just issued. Seeing that his mistress meant business, Barney picked up the box in his mouth and dejectedly brought it over to her. The two men watched what was going on in front of them, trying to hide their smiles from Megan.
“Here, Tom. I hope he hasn’t marked it up with his teeth.” Megan looked it over as she started to give it back to Tom. She stopped suddenly as her fingers moved over a rough spot on the top of the box. Looking at the surface closely, she noticed that the part of the box with the frog inlay had shifted and was now loose. She looked over at Tom and pointed out the irregularity that hadn’t been there before when they first looked over the box.
“Darn it. Tom, I hope that these marks can be smoothed over easily.”
“Let me take a look, he couldn’t have done any more damage than its being buried in the sand.”
Tom took the box from Megan’s hand and looked it over, a strange look was on his face as he stared at the frog closely. Suddenly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocketknife. With a determined twist, he pushed the knife into the space created with the shift of the inlay. Megan looked at him in horror; why would he do this to the box that meant so much to Taylor and him?
With a smile of satisfaction, Tom worked the inlay loose and then popped it off. Holding the box out for Aiden and Megan to look at, he revealed a small space under the inlay. It would have been unnoticeable to anyone who didn’t know it was there. But Tom had remembered it and was now able to show Aiden the small memory card that he had stored in there many years prior.
“We should thank Barney. With his help, I now remember gathering this evidence and hiding it in Taylor’s box until I could safely get it to the FBI. Aiden, you are going to find copies of the manifest for shipments coming in to the US. And they show no records of the coins and bottles that I took pictures of hidden in the crates that were listed on that manifest. Here is your evidence that you need to make your case against Malcolm.”
Hearing the excitement in his voice, Beth and Taylor got up from the table where they were working and came over to see what was going on.
“Jeez, Dad, I never even knew that was there; it’s like a secret compartment.”
“Oh, son, all those years it was packed away in a box in storage with my wedding albums and pictures of Taylor when she was little. We had the proof to put Malcolm behind bars and never knew? It took a storm and a nosy puppy to find it. We are so blessed it didn’t get washed away.”
“I never intended for this to be a secret hideaway, Taylor. I needed someplace safe and fast, your box was there on my desk where you had left it and, somehow it clicked that no one would look there. You’re right about this puppy … Barney, we are lucky you’re on our side.” Reaching down, Tom gave the dog a scratch behind the ears in thankfulness.
While they were talking, Aiden had picked up the memory card and was peeling away the protective plastic Tom had wrapped around it years ago. Satisfied with what he saw, he glared at his computer, then looked over at the others.
“This looks like it survived the elements without any obvious damage. The only problem is the card is too old to be read on our computers. I’m going to have to take it into the local FBI office and get a technician to get it up and running. Tom, I want you with me so that you can explain to me just what we have. It’s too late to do anything about it now; we’ll have to leave first thing. Megan, I’ll take one of the security staff with me and leave the rest here to watch over you ladies. Between them and Robert, you should be perfectly safe. I have to admit, Robert intimidates even me and that’s without the pistol I know he has with him.”
They all laughed in agreement with Aiden’s assessment of Robert and spent the next few hours talking and wondering what was on the memory card. Finally, Robert returned from spending time with his family and after filling him in on their plans for the next day, they all scattered to try and get some sleep. Megan and Aiden were the last to file off to bed. They spent a couple of moments out on the deck, hand in hand listening to the sound of the ocean waves. Wishing they were here enjoying the moment on their own, Megan sighed and then with a kiss goodnight, she too headed in to bed. She would only be able to grab a couple of hours of sleep before the night was interrupted by a phone call from Citrus Beach.
Chapter Sixteen
The sound of a phone call in the middle of the night will make most wake up with their heart racing. It’s usually a call bringing bad news and a call from Sheriff Green was no exception....
Megan’s phone woke her out of the light sleep that she had finally fallen into and she was able to pick up by the third ring. Even though she tried to get to it before anyone else woke up, she saw Aiden in her doorway as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Sheriff Green here, Megan. I need to know what you and that FBI friend of yours have gotten tangled up in this time.”
“Excuse me? What’s going on, is everyone okay?”
“Ever
yone is fine, but I had an arson in my town tonight that I think you might be able to clue me in on. Are you awake enough to talk?”
“Fire? Was anyone hurt? Wait, Aiden’s right here, I’ll put you on speaker phone so we can both hear you.” Megan pushed a button on her phone and Aiden sat down on the edge of her bed to be closer to the phone.
“Aiden Tory here, sheriff. What happened tonight?”
“Hello, Aiden. Why is it that when you show up in town, I suddenly have my citizens getting shot at, attempts made to run them down by trucks, and now buildings being burnt to the ground? Now I’ll admit, that it’s only the fire that coincides with your current appearance here, but you do seem to attract trouble.”
“I don’t know how to answer that, Sheriff Green. Tell us about your fire.”
“Well, about two hours ago, we got a report of a fire out by the Potter Groves. When fire rescue crews got there, they found that the rental cottage Charlotte Potter owns was entirely engulfed in flames. We contacted Ms. Potter and found out that her tenant was out of town with you and Ms. Cassidy.”
“What makes you think that it was arson and not an accident, especially this early in the investigation?”
“Normally, I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions about a crime scene, but this one is different. It was pretty obvious that whoever set the fire intended for the occupant of the cabin to die in the flames; both entrances where blocked, and all of the windows had some kind of fire accelerant poured around them, making escape out of them impossible. If there had been someone inside, they would have perished in the flames. Now do you mind telling me what’s going on and why there was an attempted murder in my town tonight?”
Megan and Aiden exchanged looks and realized that it was time to bring the sheriff up to date on the case. Before Megan could start to explain, Aiden took over the conversation.
“Sheriff, it looks like an old case of mine has resurfaced and, unfortunately, it opened up wide in Citrus Beach. I want to bring you into the loop, but my prime witness needs protection and bringing him back to town is the worst place he could be. You saw for yourself tonight that there are criminals that want him silenced and, in their minds, death is the only way to accomplish this. Would you be willing to meet with me in the morning?”
SCENT OF A MYSTERY...A CITRUS BEACH MYSTERY (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 2) Page 16