Crazy in Paradise

by Brown, Deborah

  When Zach reached out to touch me, I pulled away before I could stop myself. “Will killed Oscar Wyatt,” I whispered. “Oscar blackmailed him over The Cottage deal. After Will paid him once, he came back for more money.”

  “That’s the problem with blackmailers. That’s why a lot of them end up dead.”

  “And Tucker knew what Will had planned. He only stepped in because Will was getting in the way of his interests.” I went on to tell Zach all about Tucker’s involvement. We stopped talking when the door opened.

  “What are you two doing?” Mother asked, coming into the room.

  “Where’s Brad?”

  He pulled out on a fishing trip the day before you…,” she paused, tears in her eyes, “went missing. He’ll return in a week.”

  “I’ll let you tell him. He can’t come visit me until he’s calmed down.”

  “That’s not going to be easy,” Mother snorted.

  “How bad do I look?”

  “I wish he was dead,” she said.

  “I do too.” I teared up again.

  Zach touched my cheek, dabbing my tears. “We’re all happy you’re alive. Are you up to telling us what happened?”

  “I think Madison should wait until she’s back on her feet. There’s no hurry,” Mother said.

  “I don’t mind.” And I told them. I started from the beginning, when I was gardening out by the pool, and took them through all of the events I could remember leading up to Zach finding me on the bathroom floor of the trailer. My voice was emotionless until the end. “He planned to kill me, to beat me to death.” Tears spilled down my cheeks.

  It was too much for my mother, who had to leave the room. Zach struggled to control his anger. “You gave me good clues.”

  “It’s hard to think when you’re scared. I had a difficult time coming up with what I did, and I hoped Mother already had you involved. I had to be careful choosing my words, because Will was listening on speakerphone. If he’d any idea I was trying to send a clue he would’ve ended the call and slapped me around some more. Or worse.”

  “When Madeline asked who Antonio was, I knew you were in big trouble,” Zach said. “I remembered telling you that was what my Mother called me when I was in trouble. Then she told me that Brad didn’t have a dog, and I thought, okay she’s trying to signal that she’s out in the Everglades.”

  “In the end, I’d already given up, and then somehow you found me,” I said, nearly in tears again. “He’d been threatening to kill me nonstop. Once he got the money, and refused to let me go, I knew he’d follow through.”

  “It’s over now.”

  “Are you looking inside my hospital gown?” I tried to look shocked.

  He ran his hand gently down my back and nibbled on my ear. “Look, easy access.”

  “There’s something very wrong with feeling up a woman in a hospital bed,” I said.

  He pushed me gently against the pillows, kissing me tenderly.

  “How did you figure out I was missing, and in trouble?”

  “Fab went by your house, and was surprised when you were nowhere around, especially with your Tahoe parked in the driveway, and your keys and purse on the bench in the entry. Like me, she knows you wouldn’t leave and not take Jazz, and he was asleep on the couch. She called you on your cell, and heard it ringing outside. She found it lying under some flowers by the pool, and then she became worried and phoned me.”

  “On my way over to meet Fab I called Madeline, and she told me you’d invited her to dinner, and she was on her way to your house. Right after I hung up, Kevin called to inform me that Will had escaped custody the day before. He also let me know someone had tried to run you off the road the previous evening. Why weren’t you the one to tell me about all of this?”

  “I’m sure I had a good reason at the time. Who knows now?”

  He arched his eyebrows and continued. “It took a couple of hours, but they found the car that tried to run you off the road abandoned in an overgrown field, and by then it had been reported stolen. I went and talked to the neighbors, and Mr. Wicker told me it was his Saab that had been stolen. I was sure Will had abducted you, and my guess was that he blamed you for The Cottage deal going south.”

  “He stole some fancy cars, but I spent most of my time in the trunk or on the floor of the back seat. Between you and me, I prefer the floor to the trunk because it’s so cramped back there.” I tried to smile, but my face ached.

  Zach turned away and coughed. I wanted to tell him that his laughing would make me feel better. When he turned back, he was serious again. “The first check Anoui ran was on Will Todd and no red flags there. But Bobby James had a lengthy criminal record: con artist, thief, assault and battery, in and out of jail since he was sixteen. I knew he wouldn’t be easy to find, but I figured if I was patient he’d make a mistake.”

  I touched my head and felt the bald spot. Zach and I looked at one another. “Will pulled my hair out. Thank goodness for the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I didn’t realize it at first.”

  “It doesn’t look bad.”

  “That was a nice lie. Were you the one who told Mother that I was missing?”

  “When she arrived at your house, the last thing I wanted to tell her was that you were missing, and we had no clue as to why or where you’d been taken. I was certain Will’s motive was money, and he’d have to contact her. From what we’d learned, he couldn’t have financed a life on the run.”

  “Your mother is one tough cookie,” Zach continued. “We waited for the call to come, and I had her prepped, and when the phone rang, she did exactly as we rehearsed. Followed the game plan to a tee.”

  “My mother is amazing in a crisis, and very protective of her children. I need to tell her how lucky I am to have such a great mother.”

  “I know she was relieved to hear your voice, and terrified at the same time.”

  “Just hearing her voice brought a ray of sanity into an unreal situation,” I confided to Zach. “Will honestly believed I could write a check for a million dollars, and I let him. I told him whatever he wanted to hear.”

  “You did the right thing.”

  “Where did the money come from?”

  “Anoui has connections I don’t question. They helped her wire the money to his account. Once we got confirmation he’d verified the deposit, she reversed the transaction.”

  “Very impressive. I’d like to meet her and say thank you. If the money hadn’t been there, Will would’ve killed me first and then Whit. The whole time, I sat in Whit’s office hoping he’d pull out a gun and shoot Will.”

  “He felt like he let you down when Will drove away with you.”

  “When the deposit was confirmed, I thought I’d be able to get up and leave. How did you find me?”

  “The Glades are so vast, we had to draw him out. I had a man staking out your house, one at The Cottages, and Spoon stayed with Madeline. It surprised me to see Will had his flacks in the same locations. They were so stupid they never figured out we had them under surveillance.”

  “Slice put a couple of men out on the Tamiami Trail, which we thought was a long shot, but we covered it anyway.” Zach rubbed his neck. “Kevin had issued a police bulletin, and local cops were on alert to locate the stolen car. The original plan was to grab you once the two of you arrived at Whit’s, but we realized he had a gun on you and we had to hang back.”

  “When you and Will walked into Whit’s office, Fab placed a GPS device on the underside of his car. Fab’s motto is ‘always be prepared’, girl scout that she is,” he laughed. “I didn’t expect him to get out of the parking lot. I thought he’d release you, and once he did, the sheriffs were waiting to take him into custody.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I sighed deeply, trying to shake off the dark memories.

  “I’ll tell you the rest later. Your eyes are going close any second.”

  “No, I want the details now. Don’t keep anything from me.” Worry lined his face, but I need
ed to know.

  “I wanted to kill him when I watched him coldcock you with his gun and throw you in the back of the car. The four of us followed him, in separate cars, trading off so he wouldn’t see the same car in his mirror. I was behind him as he pulled off the highway. We regrouped at the road and hiked in so he’d never suspect we’d tracked him to his hiding place. When we found the trailer, Will was pacing in and out, drinking liquor straight from the bottle.”

  “He’s a big fan of dark rum. Didn’t smell as bad as the cigarettes.”

  “Fab crept around the perimeter to locate you, while Slice rigged a small explosive device to create a diversion. When we were ready, Fab had you move into the bathroom. We waited for Will to come back out on the porch, and then detonated our surprise. Although it wasn’t a major boom, it was big enough to catch him off guard, and get him cuffed and hauled off in a sheriff’s car Kevin had waiting at the turn-in.”

  “I heard the blast, but by that time he’d pretty much beat the sense out of me.”

  “Slice dragged his ass off, and I ran in and picked you up. Fab and I drove you up to the highway where paramedics were waiting. They loaded you in their truck, and we followed you to the hospital.”

  “Did you blow the trailer to bits?”

  “No, but local law enforcement is demolishing the old relic and hauling away the pieces. No one will be able to use the place for hiding out in the future. I’d like to know how he found it in the first place. That land is highly restricted. No one’s ever been given a permit to live back in there.”

  “What happened to Forrest?”

  “He’s long gone, not a single sighting of him. We circulated an old booking photo. Turns out his real name is Morris Pribble. He and Will were a match made in criminal heaven. Long criminal histories, Pribble’s more violent.”

  “Will told me he had a woman friend out by the dog track that helped him.”

  “We’ll continue to show his picture, but I don’t expect a sighting. He’s smart enough to be long gone. This scam was all Will’s. He’s the brains, if you want to call it that, and Forrest the muscle. His only motivation was to profit, and that vanished. So he vanished, too. He knows if he comes back, he’ll be caught.”

  Chapter 35

  Mother slept beside me, her head on the mattress of my hospital bed. I lightly stroked her hair.

  “I willed you not to die,” she said, lifting her head, looking tired. “Zach promised to get you back alive, and I had to trust him. I also believed him when he assured me he’d find that nutbag, and make sure he never got out of jail.”

  “Zach’s a good guy. I’m glad you let him help.”

  “He told me he owed you for saving his life, and that he wasn’t going to let you down. Something about IOU’s. I had no idea what he was talking about.” She stared at me. “Imagine my surprise when I found out you killed a man who was trying to kill him.”

  “I was going to tell you all about that during our dinner that never happened. So Zach told you what happened?”

  “No, I tricked Slice.”

  “Does he know that?”

  “No, he doesn’t, and you’re not going to say anything. I talked to him as though you’d confided in me, and found out all sorts of interesting things about your life. He’s quite a fan of yours.”

  “I won’t tell him,” I said.

  “The foursome of Zach, Axe, Fab and Slice work well together,” she said. “They were committed to finding you, along with the help from a couple of other odd ones.”

  “They’re an easy bunch to like,” I said, trying not to cry.

  “When you get out of here, you can tell me how you zip-tied Dario. And how you became so friendly with Mr. Spoon.”

  “Spoon is a friend of Elizabeth’s.” I tried to laugh, and instead started coughing.

  “He never said one word about knowing Elizabeth. How did she meet him? Do you think they had anything personal going on?”

  “Mother, he’s a little young.”

  She raised her eyebrows at me. “Elizabeth liked men.”

  I was speechless. “I was told he helped keep a friend of hers in the poker group from going to jail. Apparently, she had a bad day and decided to rob a liquor store. Spoon was vague on the details.”

  “I wonder why he didn’t mention any of this to me. She was my sister. I did ask if he had another diamond to match the one in his ear. Have you ever seen anything so big?”

  “Mother, you did not. What did he say?”

  “He told me he could read my mind, and that he had only one, and no, I couldn’t borrow it. I really hoped he would tell me he had two. He was right; I wanted to wear them to my next poker game,” she winked.

  “Zach sent Spoon over to stay with me while I waited for the phone to ring. He was positive Will would call. I wasn’t so sure. Zach wanted me at home in case that bastard had someone watching me, and he turned out to be right. Skinny little dude, full of energy. He twitched around – never stopped moving – and chained smoked.”

  “Spoon, hmm. Did you enjoy yourself?”

  “He stayed by my side, and was quite reassuring,” she said. “I like him.”

  That was enough for now. Details could wait for another time.

  Fab walked in holding a gigantic shopping bag. “You look like crap,” she informed me with a smile.

  “That good?” I groaned. “I’m hoping to go home this afternoon.”

  “I’ll let you two catch up. I’m going outside. I need a cigar,” Mother said. She gave Fab a hug and left the room.

  I’m not sure what surprised me more: the fact my mother hugged Fab, or that Fab didn’t seem to mind. They’d become friendly and I wanted details. But which one would I ask?

  Fab held up the bag. “I brought a gift.”

  “I love gifts. Especially big ones.”

  “I wanted to be here sooner, but I had to finish this first.”

  “You made me a gift? You’re full of surprises. It’s heavy.” I pulled out the tissue paper, and Fab helped me pull out a wooden stand. She sat the miniature door complete with doorknob on my hospital bed.

  I stammered, “Uh, thank you?”

  “There’s another present in the bag to open. Maybe then the whole thing will make sense,” she laughed.

  I ripped the paper away from the smaller package. Inside was a small black leather case containing eight chrome tools. “A lockpick set?”

  “Yes and there’s a door to practice on. I’m giving you your first lesson. Axe helped me build it.”

  “Fab, you’re the best.” I didn’t want to, but I started to cry.

  She gave me a hug. “No crying.” She put the door on the tray table, and pulled out one of the tools and went to work showing me how to use each tool.

  We laughed while I enjoyed the show-and-tell.

  “Are you two having a good visit?” Mother asked, walking in the door. “What is that?” She pointed to the doorknob stand.

  “Fab brought me a get well gift. She’s teaching me to pick locks.”

  My mother clearly struggled for something to say, looking from me to Fab and back again. “That sounds practical,” she said, pulling up a chair.

  Fab picked up the case, and showed us both how to pick locks.

  * * *

  The hospital was finally kicking me out but not before I could prove I could walk down the hall and back by myself. The going was slow, but I got it done.

  Mother had brought me a cotton beach dress to wear, since all that I had was that disgusting brown dress and a hospital gown. Trying not to jolt my aching arms, I slid the beach dress over my head, and slipped on a pair of sandals. All I wanted was to go home and curl up with Jazz.

  “Thought you might need this,” Zach said as he walked in the door. He handed over the cane he’d used after being shot in the leg.

  He came over, put his arms around me, and peeked inside the neckline of my dress. “This is one of those dresses I like,” he whispered in my ear.
<
br />   “You have no hospital manners.”

  “I came to take you home,” he kissed me gently.

  “What about Mother?”

  “She’s totally good with me picking you up. She’s on her way to your house. We’re waiting for the wheelchair escort to take you to the car.”

  “I’m impressed you got her to agree. She must like you.”

  “Wait till Brad gets back and finds out Madeline and I are bonded. Tight,” he said, crossing his fingers.

  A nurse arrived with the wheelchair. At last it was time to go home.

  Chapter 36

  Zach helped me into his Escalade. I was excited to be leaving the hospital. “Ready?”

  “I miss my hairy bed mate, Jazz.” He reached out and took my hand in his. I rolled down the window and let the fresh air blow in my face.

  I never thought I’d leave the Everglades alive. I figured Will would kill me and toss what was left of me to the alligators to eat.

  The sight of my house brought tears to my eyes. “Home at last,” Zach said, helping me out of the massive SUV.

  “It’s good to be here,” I smiled. Jazz met me at the door and stood howling at my feet.

  “Welcome,” Mother, Fab and Axe called out in unison from the kitchen.

  I walked into the kitchen, and they all stood around the island. In the middle of the counter sat a large vase of deep red hibiscus.

  “Hi, everyone,” I smiled. “The flowers are incredible. A work of art, Florida-style.”

  “Plus there’s pizza and beer,” Axe pointed out.

  “Beer? My favorite,” I said, making a face. “What kind of pizza?”

  “Shrimp scampi,” Mother said, coming across the room to kiss me.

  “You guys are the best.”

  I sat quietly eating, and listened to the talk and laughter. I enjoyed being home and, best of all, sitting with friends and Mother; the fastest way to get well.

  I slid off the stool and tapped my spoon against my glass. “Your attention please,” I said, looking serious. They all looked a little surprised.