An officer came in and handed each of them the envelope containing their personal possessions.
Once they were in Jeremy’s car, Cordelia said, “Suzette, what were you thinking? Were you trying to get arrested? I think it was very foolish of you to talk that way to a pompous ass like Sheriff Miner.
Suzette shrugged. “I was already arrested. I just lost my cool. I’m so darn tired of being accused of things I haven’t done that I can’t think straight.”
Cordelia nodded. “At least things are starting to break. We’ve got Justin back and under armed guard. With luck, he’ll be able to tell us who’s behind this.”
Suzette grimaced, “That would be much, much too easy.”
Chapter 31
When they walked in the door, Hallie hung up the phone. She ran to throw her arms around her brother Jeremy, her aunt and then Suzette and Sean. “You’re back. Thank goodness.”
She looked embarrassed at her emotion, saying, “That was the mortuary. They can’t do the funeral on Thursday. There is some problem with the body. They want to do it on Saturday with the viewing on Friday night. I told them that was okay.”
Cordelia nodded wearily. “I’m going to go take a nap. I’m so tired, I could die.” She began to climb the stairs to her room.
Suzette looked at Hallie, noticing the dark circles under her eyes and the droop of her mouth.
“Hallie, how are you holding up? We seem to be leaving everything to you. I’m sorry, that doesn’t seem very fair.”
“Well, it hasn’t been too bad. Deidre hasn’t been around much. Dr. Lin and Dorothea have been spending the nights on the salvage ship to watch for thieves.” She hugged herself. “I don’t seem to be able to feel anything. I guess I just want the funeral over with.” She started down the outside stairs toward the board walk. “I want to walk on the beach. Want to come with me?”
“Yes,” Suzette said fervently. “I can use a little calm.”
As they headed north, toward the shuttle gantries, Hallie said, “What happened last night?”
“Before or after we were arrested?”
“Before. Aunt Cordelia said something wonderful happened.”
“It did, but before I can tell you, you must promise me that you won’t say a word about this to anyone, no matter what.”
“Okay. I promise.” Hallie made a motion of crossing her heart.
“We found Justin.”
“Wow. You’re kidding!” Her face lit up like a lighthouse.
“No. We followed Doug. He led us down a little used dirt road just off the highway that leads to Melbourne. Justin was well hidden in an enormous eagle’s nest.”
Hallie grabbed Suzette’s hand. “Are you serious?”
“Yes. He’s in Melbourne Community Hospital under armed guard. But,” Suzette cautioned again, “that’s just between you, me, and Cordelia. Absolutely no one else gets told, not Dorothea, Dr. Lin, or even Sheriff Miner. Okay?”
“I already promised, but why is it so important?” She wrapped her arms around herself in a big hug.
“Because his life is in danger and he’s in no condition to protect himself. If Sheriff Miner finds him, he’ll arrest him, since he thinks he killed your mother. And I’m hoping that we may be able to use him to capture our murderer.” Suzette yawned, “Dr. Roberts said that if we hadn’t found him when we did, Justin would have died. He needs rest and care so the Melbourne police have a man posted in his room 24 hours a day.”
“I take it you don’t think that Justin killed my mother?”
“No. I know he didn’t. I’m confused about Doug. Sometimes I think that he’s the one and other times I’m just not sure. I do think that he’ll lead us to the real killer.”
“How?”
“I think sooner or later, he’ll lose his temper and we’ll get his boss. Besides, Sean is taking Ken Abbot to the place where we found Justin. He’s going to keep a lookout to see if someone else comes to feed or drug Justin. I’m afraid that it might be too late because of Sheriff Miner’s stupidity, but all we can do is try.”
Hallie looked up at the sky. “Another storm’s coming. We’d better head back. I don’t like the look of those clouds. We could get anything from plain rain to a hurricane from them. Those copper colored clouds generally mean lots of wind and lots of rain, possibly a hurricane, but it’s the wrong season.”
“Ouch,” Suzette cried, “the wind has picked up enough that it’s blowing sand.”
“We’d better hurry,” Hallie said as she spit out some sand. She broke into a run, closely followed by Suzette.
The rain began to pour as they ran up the stairs. As Hallie pushed open the door a huge gust of wind tore it out of her hand, slamming it back against the wall, then the suction pulled the door closed catching Suzette’s sleeve in the door. When she finally got the door opened enough to free her sleeve, she turned to face an immaculately dressed Dr. Austin.
Feeling incredibly stupid as well as unkempt, Suz said, “Dr. Austin, it’s nice to see you. I’m sorry I missed you last night, or rather early this morning.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but the test kit has arrived. I wondered if you wanted a doctor or some official to do the actual testing.”
“Well, I guess that’s really up to you. But if you’re concerned we can have Jeremy, who’s an attorney witness the test. Or we can have Mike or Mitch who are both cops witness it.”
The door flew open, bringing in gusts of rain, followed by two very wet men. Mitch and Mike struggled through the door, pausing to push the door shut. They had to push against the door with their whole weight to get it to close against the wind. “Man, I’m afraid we’re in for a hurricane,” Mitch said.
Hallie said, “You didn’t leave--” she paused, looked at Dr. Austin, then added, “Him alone, did you?”
“No. Don’t worry about him,” Mitch said, “I left two of my colleagues sitting with him. He’s probably safer than any of us.”
“You have a friend who was in an accident?” Dr. Austin inquired.
“He had a run-in with a snake and lost,” Mitch said, easily.
“Heavens, what kind of snake?”
“We don’t know, but he had a mean bite. He’ll be okay, but he’ll be in the hospital for a few days until he gets the poison out of his system.”
Suz smiled to herself. Mitch is really good. He’s used innuendos so well that he’s told the truth without telling her anything.
Dr. Austin nodded. “Interesting. I’m beginning to wonder if getting involved with Suzette could be hazardous to my health.”
“Why would you think that?” Mike asked.
“Well, I’ve nearly been run over twice since I met Suzette. I’ve never been accident prone before, but I’m almost afraid to try crossing the street. It seems like every time I do, a white car tries to hit me.”
“Well, maybe you’ve been a little absent minded lately, meeting Suzette and all,” Hallie grinned.
“Could be, but--” She turned to Suzette, “you haven’t been having a rash of near miss accidents have you?”
“Well, I was nearly hit by a white Camry when I left your office the other day.”
Mitch said, “Were you able to get the license number?”
“No. I’ve been too busy getting out of the way. It’s funny though, it never happens when I’m with someone, only when I’m alone.”
“That’s the way it happens with me,” Dr. Austin exclaimed.
Suzette thought, this isn’t good. Could whoever is after me, have me confused with Dr. Austin? How can I explain that I think someone is out to get me and is getting her instead? She really won’t want to be my sister if I tell her that.
Dr. Austin shrugged, “It’s probably just me. I think we’d better get our identity crisis solved soon, just in case, I’m the cause of the accident.”
“Identity crisis? What’s going on?” Mitch asked.
“Dr. Austin and I may be related. As you can see, we sort of look alike.”<
br />
Mike said, “You think you found a family member?”
“Well, we certainly look alike. Dr. Austin has a DNA kit that we’d like to use. We’d like to have the two of you witness that we did it according to the instructions and that you’ll overnight it for us so there would be no chance to tamper with the test.”
“Of course we’ll witness it. Why don’t you do it now and we’ll get it mailed so that we won’t get distracted and forget.”
“Suzette, you could go into the library to do the test, then you could ask your friends to stay for dinner.” Cordelia was a small regal figure standing on the stairs.
“Cordelia, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you standing there. Let me introduce you to Dr. Rebecca Austin, hopefully my long lost sibling. Dr. Austin, this is my kind hostess and employer, Cordelia Campbell.”
Dr. Austin stepped forward to shake Cordelia’s hand. “Please call me Rebecca. We’ve me before. I believe at the open house of the English building. I believe you donated a lot of money to that. I wish you’d consider donating a building to the Graduate Science Department. Maybe they’d put in an elevator and get rid of the mildew smell.”
“Yes, I remember now that you reminded me.” Cordelia turned to Suzette, “I told you I thought I had met you before.”
“I know. I can see why you thought that. You said I had a twin but maybe, it will turn out that I have a sister.”
“Hallie, would you go tell cook that we have extra guests. Mitch, you may as well move out of your hotel and move in here. I have plenty of room.”
“Well, Miss Cordelia, I’d like that very much, if you’re sure you could stand another man hanging around you.” His accent was very heavily southern rather than his normal voice.
“I’m sure you’ll come in handy,” she responded. “It’s only a few minutes until dinner time. Let’s go into the living room and have a ‘before dinner’ sherry.”
“Could I freshen up first, please?” Dr. Austin said.
Cordelia turned back to Dr. Austin, “Rebecca, I might consider donating a building if you turn out to be related to my darling Suzette.” She turned to Hallie, “Thank you, darling. Now if you would show Dr. Austin, I mean, Rebecca, to the downstairs powder room? I need to talk to Suzette alone.”
Cordelia motioned Suzette into the breakfast room “Dorothea and that disgusting Doug refuse to make the rest of her group leave the house. What do I do?”
Suzette rubbed her forehead. “Let’s ask Mitch. We can have the police in to throw them out, but I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be better to keep them here until we solve the murder, or at least until after the funeral.”
“You think Dorothea is involved in Jeanette’s murder?”
“Don’t know, but I’d sure like to get a look at those photos of the underwater galleon that you saw. I have a feeling that Dr. Lin isn’t what he seems to be.”
“Do you want me to ask to see them again?”
“That would be great, but how would you go about it without telling them why you want them?”
“I could say that I’ve been thinking about helping fund the project, but that I’d like to look at the pictures again, just to make sure I’m remembering it correctly.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. Just make sure that you don’t do anything to spook them.”
“I won’t.” She shook her head. “I guess I won’t be able to back you up for a few days, but I was sure hoping to rid the house of my unwelcome guests.”
Mitch stuck his head into the room. “If you don’t want me around you can just tell me, but break it to me gently.”
Laughing, Cordelia picked up a big, squishy pillow and threw it at him.
He ducked, then said, “Dinner is served, my lady.”
Chapter 32
After they had finished the test and said goodbye to Dr. Austin, they all struggled against the wind to get to the cars.
“I hope we don’t have problems getting to the hospital in this wind,” Mitch said as he put his arm around Cordelia to keep her from being blown off her feet.
After a harrowing ride through the wind and the rain both cars pulled into the hospital parking lot. They took the elevator up to Justin’s room. Mike stopped at the nurses’ station. “Has he regained consciousness?”
“He hasn’t but I think he’s getting close to coming out of it. He’s starting to move around and mumble some.”
“Has the doctor seen him this evening?” Mitch asked.
“No. He just started his rounds a few minutes ago, but he started at the other end of the hall.”
Mike smiled. “We’ll wait for him in Justin’s room. I want to see if he’s awake yet.”
The nurse nodded.
Mike led the way down the hall. He pushed the door open. The police officer, who was sitting in the corner, had his hand on his gun when they entered the room. “Oh, it’s you. Some guy has been trying to get in but he hasn’t gotten farther than the door.”
Mitch asked quickly, “Who was it?”
“Bill Hellman, a reporter for the daily paper here. He’s really trying to get his own byline so he’s really a pain in the butt.”
Justin groaned, scratched at his hand, then opened his eyes. “Where am I?” His voice was slurred and his eyes were still glazed.
Cordelia stepped over to the bed and took his hand. “Justin, it’s Cordelia. You’re in the hospital in Melbourne, Florida. How are you feeling?”
“Like hell,” he groaned as he struggled to sit up.
Mike put a hand on his chest. “Stay down, Justin. You’ve been pretty hammered.”
Mitch said, “I’ll go get the doctor.”
“Let me,” Hallie said as she darted out the door.
Justin turned his head, his eyes still not focusing. “Mike, is that you? What are you doing here?”
“It is me. Boy, you’ve really had us worried. I thought for a while that I was going to have to break in a new partner.”
Justin smiled weakly, “You aren’t that lucky, pal.”
“It’s a good thing,” Mike retorted. “Justin, can you actually see me or are you talking to the sound of my voice?”
He looked in the direction of Mike’s voice, then shook his head and looked again. “Well, other than there’s about five of you, yes, I can see you.”
“You took quite a knock on the head. I imagine that the double vision will go away as your brain heals.”
“So how did you get here?”
Cordelia said, “I called him when you disappeared. I couldn’t get that stupid ass sheriff to do anything to find you. He was sure that you’d killed Jeanette and then ran away.”
“What? What are you talking about?” He began struggling to sit up.
Suzette put both palms against Justin’s chest and pushed him flat. “Justin, lie still or the doctor will throw us out of here. You’ve been pretty sick so you need to take it easy. We’ll explain it to you after the doctor looks you over. You shouldn’t strain yourself right now. Just relax. Everything will be okay.”
“Suz, you’re here, too?”
Suzette laughed. “Yes. You disappeared so Cordelia called Jeremy who hired me to find out about the fire and Jeanette’s death, but when I found out you were missing I came charging in with the rest of them to rescue you.”
Hallie pushed open the door, followed by Doctor Roberts. “Well, sir, you’ve decided to wake up. How’s your head?”
“It feels like it’s been stuffed with paper and then run over by a truck.”
“Do you have a headache?”
“Yes and no. My head doesn’t really hurt. It just feel buzzy–like a bee is caught in my brain, but when I open my eyes, I see one person with five identical people circling it.”
“The double vision is from the concussion. Normally, we keep a person awake when they’ve suffered a concussion, but you were so heavily drugged that we couldn’t do that.” He looked in Justin’s eyes. “Your eyes are looking better. They are no longer dila
ted or bloodshot. The stuffed with fluff feeling is from the drug they used to keep you sedated. We’ve done a full blood work-up on you, but I don’t have all the answers from the lab. The fuzzy feeling will go away, but it may take a while, depending on what they gave you and how much.”
He looked at the bites that covered Justin’s bare arms, and in fact, covered every portion of his body that he hadn’t been laying on. “Do you need something for the bug bites? You don’t seem to be scratching, much.”
“They’re beginning to bother me.”
“I’ll send the nurse in with some cortisone cream. I’ll also send up some food. For the time being, I think you’d do best on soft food.” When Justin frowned, he added, “It will only be until we know that your stomach will tolerate food. You’ve been on an IV for two days, but when you came to us you were suffering from malnutrition. We don’t want to overwork your stomach, since that will set you back.”
“Can you give him something for it?” Cordelia looked worried.
“I’d rather not until he’s ready to go to sleep. Since we don’t know what drug they used or how much, it would be better to just let him work it out of his system gradually.” The doctor took his blood pressure and checked his hearts and lungs. “Everything sounds good. If you can work up to solid food and if you have a good night, I’ll release you day after tomorrow.”
Justin nodded. “Well, hopefully I won’t be seeing double by then.”
“If you are, I won’t release you. You’ve had a pretty horrendous experience. I want you to take it easy so don’t let these people upset you. I’d also like you to try to sleep on your own without any drugs. I might authorize a Tylenol but nothing stronger. Okay?”
“Sounds good to me.” Justin said. “And thanks for helping me.” The doctor nodded and left the room.
Justin looked over at Mike, “Mike will you crank the bed up a little. I think I’d like to sit up for a few minutes.”
When Mike got the bed arranged the way Justin wanted it, Justin said, “Now tell me what’s been going on.”
Sun, Sand and Murder: A Suzette Bishop Mystery (Suzette Bishop Mysteries Book 3) Page 19