Cam’s eyes flew wide open. By kayak.
“No officers were injured in the apprehension. Westbury farmer Cameron Flaherty is being lauded for bravery in the capture, and her mother, Professor Flaherty, is in serious condition from a gunshot wound. Now for the weather.”
Cam punched the television Off button again and let out a long breath, not realizing she’d even been holding it. All the possibilities she’d imagined since leaving the island had been circulating in her thoughts. But Rudin hadn’t engaged in a shoot-out at the house. He hadn’t holed up inside with a cache of weapons. He hadn’t taken his own life. Cam hadn’t killed Geneva. And the best part: No officers were injured. Not Pete, not Ruth, not even the difficult Ivan. But she wished her own name had stayed out of the story. She’d had only one possibility: removing the threat of Geneva and her gun. It wasn’t particularly brave to want to save your own mother’s life, especially when she and Mom had gotten themselves into the whole mess in the first place. The brave ones were the law enforcement professionals.
Cam whirled when the door opened, hoping to see someone in scrubs telling her Deb had come through surgery with flying colors. Instead, William walked toward her. His wet hair clung to his head, and a raindrop hung from the end of his nose.
“Daddy.” She rested her face on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. She didn’t care that his jacket was wet. He again flapped his hands against her back before they quieted into a hug.
He pushed back and patted her shoulder, peering into her face. “No news about your mom?”
Cam shook her head. “No. Come sit down.” She perched on a chair that allowed a view of the soaked leafy courtyard. William sat at a right angle to her, but close.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he said. “It started raining in earnest, and I wanted to get the hens in. Thought we might be here for a while.”
“Thanks. Good idea.”
“And I got lost looking for the hospital.”
Cam smiled. Her father had always been hopeless at navigation. “It’s okay.”
“Brought us some sandwiches, in case you were hungry.” He set a paper bag on the table and joined her in the row of chairs facing the door.
Cam loved her father dearly, but emotional displays were not his thing. His wife had been shot and was in surgery, and what did he do? Get the chickens in and make sandwiches. Or maybe that was an emotional display. It was a caretaking one, at any rate.
“How is she?” he asked. “Any word about her status?”
Cam’s smile slid away. “Not yet.” Outside the interior glass wall an orderly pushed a prone patient on a gurney, almost running, while a woman in scrubs strode alongside steering the foot of the bed.
“So you and your mother ran into some trouble, it seems.” He patted her hand.
“Yeah.” The whole story poured out of Cam. She couldn’t help herself reliving the terror of those few minutes this afternoon. “I’m so sorry, Daddy. I told her it was too dangerous, but she was determined to find Geneva. I thought it was better for her not to go alone. And I’m glad I was there.”
“Me too. So Deb was shot in the shoulder. By Brunelle?” William asked.
“Yes. With Geneva’s gun. Mom’s in surgery now because they had to go in and take out the bullet.” She brought her hand to her mouth as she choked up. Hot tears stung her eyes.
“What is it, honey?”
“Mom passed out a little while after she was hit. And she hadn’t woken up before they took her into surgery. I’m worried.”
“Now, now.” He took her hand in his. “It’ll be all right. She’s a tough cookie. Everything’s going to be all right.”
Cam stared at him as he repeated what she herself had told her mom two hours before. She sniffed. “I just heard some good news on the TV. No officers were hurt, and the Coast Guard captured Rudin.”
“Excellent. Glad to hear it. Had he stolen a power boat?”
“No, a kayak.”
“Why do I think the man was a little lacking in wits?” William ventured a smile.
Now a giggle bubbled up where a sob had earlier. “Not exactly a high-speed getaway vehicle, is it?” Cam smiled back at him.
The door swung open again, and this time it was a petite woman in turquoise scrubs. A white surgical mask hung around her neck, and her name tag included the letters MD. “Cameron Flaherty?” she asked after introducing herself as Deb’s surgeon.
“Yes.” Cam stood in a hurry, as did William. “This is my father, William Flaherty.”
“Nice to meet you, sir. I’m happy to report that Debra is out of surgery. She did well. We expect her to make a full recovery after the wound heals. She might need a bit of rotator cuff repair at a later date, but the shoulder joint should be functional.”
“We’re pleased to hear it,” William said. “Aren’t we, Cam?”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Cam swallowed. “Thank you.”
“When can we see her?” Cam’s father asked.
“She’s in the recovery area. Someone will come and get you when she’s been moved to postsurgical care. We’ll keep her overnight for observation, but as long as her vitals continue strong, she should be able to go home tomorrow.”
William extended his hand, and the doctor shook it. She cocked her head at Cam. “Heard you were pretty brave this afternoon, Ms. Flaherty.”
“You did?” Cam asked, cringing. She’d let her mother do a foolhardy thing and had gone along with it. It wasn’t exactly courageous to try to rescue them both.
“We have another patient in here under police watch,” the doctor said. “Word spreads.”
“Actually, it was all the law enforcement officers who put themselves at risk, including the Coast Guard,” Cam said. “They were the brave ones.”
“Is Geneva going to survive?” Cam’s father asked.
“I believe so. I’m off now to set a few of her broken bones so she can stand trial. Thank you for your courage.” She extended hand to Cam.
Cam clasped the surgeon’s small hand and marveled at her strong grip. “Believe me, it was desperation more than courage. I wasn’t about to let anybody shoot my mother.”
* * *
William and Cam ate their sandwiches while they waited. They finally got the call to sit with a bandaged and groggy but conscious Deb. She opened her eyes and gave them a ghost of a smile, then closed her eyes again. Nurses came and went, checking on Deb’s IV and her responses. She gradually grew more alert, but winced when she moved. When she seemed fully awake, William stood and stroked her hand.
“You made it, hon. And we’re right here.”
Cam’s mom looked from William to Cam and back. She opened her mouth to speak, but William put a finger to his lips.
“You just rest now,” he murmured.
Deb nodded but beckoned ever so slightly with one finger to Cam. William stood back so Cam could approach the bedside.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Deb whispered. “Thank you.”
Cam’s throat thickened, but she swallowed it down. “I’m just glad you’re alive.” She stroked her mom’s forehead, smoothing her hair back off the cool, silky skin. The lines in Deb’s brow smoothed under Cam’s touch.
She and her dad settled Deb into her hospital room at around eight-thirty, and the nurse assured them she wasn’t in any danger. After the nurse added that William would be a better help to Deb tomorrow if he went home and got some sleep, William drove Cam back to the farm. She let Dasha into the house and fed both him and Preston. William went up to bed after kissing Cam good night on the forehead.
“Told you everything was going to be all right, now, didn’t I?” he’d asked, smiling.
“You sure did. Good night.”
Now she sat swirling whiskey in her glass, listening to the rain outside, replaying the day, every one of the last five days. Finding Nicole. The questions about Carlos. Seeing Jake again. The business with her mom, the long-ago dog incident, and what happened in Florida.
Geneva and Rudin.
Preston jumped up on the back of the couch and purred like a fluffy, well-oiled motor. So many things Cam still didn’t know. How had Carlos died? Had Rudin or Geneva injected Nicole with abrin, or had she been killed with another method? Had Cam’s surmising about Rudin’s bankruptcy been correct?
An incoming text beeped, interrupting her thoughts. She checked to see Ellie’s ID.
Cam u OK? Yr mom? Heard about capture on news. OMG.
Cam texted back. Yes. Fine. My mom’s going to be okay, too.
Awsm. Thx. XOXO. Frm Vince 2.
Cam tapped out, Thank him from me. As soon as she sent that, a different text came in even as Cam heard knocking. Pete wrote I’m at the door and followed the letters with a winking smiley face.
She rose to let him in. He gave her a hearty kiss before rubbing an eager Dasha’s head. Pete held out his arms to her, smelling of fresh rain. Their silent embrace lasted what seemed like an hour.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his shirt.
He pushed back. “What’s that?”
Cam shrunk into her shoulders for a second. She straightened. “I said I’m sorry. It was foolish to let my mom go to the island to confront Geneva.”
He took her face in both his hands. “You’re loyal and caring. And wicked brave. And I love you for it.”
“And foolish, right?”
He snorted. “Right.”
“Come tell me about the dramatic capture.” She took his hand and led him into the living room. “You’re off duty, I hope?”
“At last. I’d love some of what you’re having.” He sank onto the couch, his legs sprawled. Preston stayed put on the back of the couch, a true indication he’d accepted Pete into his life.
Cam brought a glass of bourbon for him, as well as the bottle, which she set on an end table. “So you had to call the Coast Guard?”
“It wasn’t actually such a bad move on Rudin Brunelle’s part. He could have slid into any number of small beaches around the Basin. Walked off and phoned a cab to take him to the airport before we even got the alarm up. But a woman in a neighboring house noticed him stealing her bright yellow kayak, and she called it in. It didn’t take long for the Coast Guard cutter to round him up.” Pete clinked his glass with Cam’s and took a sip. Dasha padded in and sat at Pete’s feet.
“The same doctor who took the bullet out of my mom was going to be setting Geneva’s bones next, she told me,” Cam said. “I’m really glad I didn’t kill Geneva.”
“You did what you had to do.”
“I guess.” She ran her finger along the side of her glass. “Pete, when Rudin reached Geneva at the bottom of the stairs, he said, ‘Not again!’ Mom talked about Nicole’s accident, falling down a flight of stairs. I wonder if that’s what he meant. So maybe Nicole’s was an accident after all.”
“Possible.”
“Or . . . remember I told you what Bobby said? That Rudin had contacted him and said he’d tried to talk Nicole out of the divorce. So maybe on Plum Island he thought he’d lost another woman in his life.”
Pete laughed, but it didn’t hold any humor. “He’s lost her from his life now, for sure. They don’t let couples stay together in prison.”
“So were you and Ivan on Rudin’s trail?” Cam asked.
“We were close. The actual evidence was pretty thin, though, and the DNA testing was taking forever. Your tip about the abrin was spot on. Once the lab knew to test for that, they easily found it in Nicole’s system. The working hypothesis is that Brunelle injected her with powdered abrin in solution.”
“Powdered from grinding up the rosary peas?”
“Yes, unless he brought some from Florida and the missing beads were a coincidence.” Pete held up his glass and swirled the alcohol, watching it. “He probably injected it the day before she died, or maybe that morning.”
“But you’ll need to find the syringe or whatever.”
“We will. We found a witness who says he saw Brunelle toss something in the Dumpster behind the Food Mart. Ivan has guys going through it right now under floodlights. Kind of stupid. If Brunelle had discarded it in the ocean, we’d never find it.”
“Anybody who commits murder has to be a certain level of stupid, in my view,” she said, shaking her head. “Right? From what I’ve seen, even if they think they have it all worked out, they always slip up somewhere along the line.”
“That’s certainly the hope of my department,” Pete agreed.
“Did you figure out how Carlos died?” Cam asked.
“That one looks like an actual heart attack. The pathologist is going to look closely for drugs, especially tropical ones, but so far it’s being called natural causes.”
“I wonder what he was doing at the house on the day of the parade,” Cam said.
“Once again, it could be as simple as he was upset about Nicole’s death and he wanted to confront Brunelle.”
“Who probably isn’t talking.”
“No, he isn’t.” Pete sipped his drink and set it down. “We’ll get the whole story out of him, though. Sooner or later.”
“When Geneva was aiming her gun at us, she said something about Rudin dragging her up here for his project. I assume that meant killing Nicole.”
“Yes. She’s definitely an accessory to the murder. I imagine we’ll be able to persuade her to give us some details about Brunelle in exchange for a reduced sentence.”
“I tried to get her to tell me, but she refused.” Cam savored her whiskey. “I read online Rudin had filed for bankruptcy. And Bobby said he thought the divorce might not have been final. Is that why Rudin killed Nicole, to get his divorce settlement back?”
“Probably. Some version of that.” Pete twisted to look at her. “So where’d you get your moves, disarming her in more ways than one?”
“It just popped into my head. I didn’t exactly have time to plan my moves. I had the height advantage. The stairs were slippery from the rain. And she looked away from us when Rudin drove in.” Cam swallowed. “It seemed like the only thing I could do was knock the gun out of her hand and get her away from us. It worked a little better than I thought it would.” She yawned, covering her mouth. “Excuse me.”
“I know I’m not very interesting.” Pete laughed. “How about I fix that by offering you something not quite so boring?” He drained his whiskey and stood, holding out his hand to her.
She took it and rose, as her heart rate rose, too. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter 36
By nine-thirty the next morning, Volunteer Wednesday was going strong. The rain had again blown through overnight, and now the soil was a happy and thirst-slaked deep brown.
After a very satisfying night of intimacy and hours of spooned sleep, Pete had said he was taking a personal day. He’d gone off with Dasha for a long walk but said he’d be back to help with whatever farm chore Cam wanted to assign him.
William had gathered eggs and communed with the hens earlier before heading out for the hospital. He carried a map Cam drew for him of the route because she wasn’t sure he could manage the GPS on a phone. Her dad’s smarts lay in other areas than finding his way around.
Now Felicity was watering in the hoophouse. Lucinda had showed up, saying she’d taken the morning off work so she could help. Cam assigned her to harvest more asparagus along with Sue Biellik. Cam was in the barn when two people on bicycles appeared backlit in the wide-open doorway.
“Look who I found!” Alexandra called. The two dropped their bikes and walked toward Cam hand in hand.
“DJ!” Cam exclaimed. “How great to see you.”
Dasha ran up and barked in a friendly way.
DJ rubbed Dasha’s head. The young man’s formerly shoulder-length hair was now a light brown half-inch long all over his head. “You too, Cam,” he said, leaning in for a hug. “Heard you had some excitement. But it’s all good now?”
“It is. And how was the retreat?”
“Most e
xcellent.”
“Doesn’t he just seem so calm?” Alexandra asked, her eyes shining.
“He always seemed calm to me,” Cam said.
“So what can we do?” DJ asked.
“Weed the cornfield? But really carefully so we don’t disturb their baby roots.”
“How about mindfully?” DJ raised one eyebrow and grinned. He sauntered off with Alexandra, again holding hands.
Sim’s truck pulled into the drive. She climbed out holding a large, flat box. “Donuts for the farmer?” She grinned.
“Why not?” Cam waved Sim toward her. She startled as Ellie and Vince jumped out of the back of the truck. “Don’t you guys have school?” she called.
“Teacher in-service day,” Vince said. “Thought we’d do our own in-service here at the farm.”
“Sim stopped at the bottom of the hill and offered us a ride, so we threw our bikes in the back.” Ellie smiled and took Vince’s hand.
“The more, the merrier,” Cam said. “Come on back.”
“What do you want us to do?” Ellie asked.
“Hang on a second.” Cam stared at the driveway.
A large white van with MORAN MANOR written on the side pulled in behind Sim’s truck. It doesn’t rain but it pours. The driver climbed out and extracted both Marilyn’s walker and Albert’s wheelchair from the back. He slid open the side door and helped them to their metal steeds. Cam hurried toward them as the van reversed with a series of beeps before driving off.
“What a lovely surprise,” Cam said. “I didn’t know you were coming, Albert and Marilyn.” She hugged each of them. “And Sim, you too. I feel like I hit the jackpot.”
“I wanted to show Marilyn the farm, don’t you know,” Albert said as he maneuvered himself into his chair. “Plus hear a bit about your adventure yesterday, if you have time. The van was out taking folks to appointments and whatnot. They agreed to drop us and come back in an hour or two.”
Mulch Ado about Murder Page 22