by Nancy CoCo
I shook my head. “How did he get you?”
Trent swallowed. “He was taking me to see the director. When we walked by the alley, I thought I heard someone shout out my name. I turned and he was on me. Next thing I know I woke up tied up.”
I ran my fingers lightly over his temple. “There’s a pretty good lump on your head. You probably should stay for observation.”
“I think Mother’s had enough stress for a while,” he said. “It’s probably best if we all go home.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you came looking for me.”
I smiled at him. “I can’t have you dying on me.”
“Then Dirk was right. You do love me.”
“Of course, I love you.”
There was the sound of a man clearing his throat. I looked up to see that Rex had just stepped into the curtained area. I knew from the look on his face that he had heard me. There wasn’t anything I could do about it. The truth was I did love Trent, but love wasn’t always enough to make things work.
“Officer Pulaski has offered to see that you get home safe and spend the night patrolling your property,” Rex said. He looked at Mrs. Jessop. “If you feel the need to skip the doctor’s advice, we can accommodate you.”
“Finally,” Mrs. Jessop said. “Someone who is listening. Come on, children, let’s go home.”
I turned to Rex and left the Jessops to gather Trent up and take him home. Taking Rex by the arm, I pulled him toward the door of the clinic. “Did you pick up Dirk?”
“Lasko and Anderson are picking him up now,” Rex said.
“Do you think he’s the killer?”
“I don’t know,” Rex said. “There is no evidence to suggest he did anything but take Trent. I need to question Dirk to learn more.”
“He could have been working with Jeffery Jenas,” I said. “Then Jeffery turned on him. How else do you explain finding Dirk tied to a chair?”
“I’ll find out,” Rex said. “You’ve had a trying time of it. I suggest you go home and get some sleep.”
“What about the Jessops?” I asked. “Is Brent going to be enough protection to keep them safe?”
“It’s the best we can do,” Rex said.
“What about Jeffery? Have you found him yet?”
“We’ve got everyone looking,” he said.
“And Mrs. O’Connor? Do you think she’s still safe?”
“As best I can tell,” Rex said. “Seriously, Allie, you need to go home and get some rest. You’ve done some good work today. There are two men who owe you their lives.” He put his hand on my forearm. “Let me finish putting all the ends together.”
“Okay,” I said. “I guess I’ll go home.”
“Let me walk you home.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Seriously, you need to see to Dirk and Jeffery.”
“There is no way I’m letting you walk out of here alone,” Rex said. “Do you need to say good-bye to Trent?”
“No, I’m sure he’s busy with his family,” I said. “Come on then, let’s get me home.” I pushed out the clinic door and strode down the dark, quiet street. Rex strode beside me.
We walked in silence for blocks before he finally cleared his throat. I glanced at him. “What?”
“I heard you tell Trent you were in love with him.”
“I told him I loved him,” I said. “It doesn’t mean I’m in love with him. I wouldn’t have accepted your dinner invitation if I were in love with Trent.”
“I see,” Rex said, and went silent again.
I refused to comment further. We got to the McMurphy’s front door, where Jenn stood by watching for me. She pushed the door open. “Oh, thank goodness you’re all right.” Jenn gave me a hug. “I heard you found Trent. Where was he?”
“He was in an empty house not too far from here,” I said. Then I turned to Rex. “Thank you for walking me home.”
“I know you have new security measures, but I’m sending a patrol by once an hour until we get this thing wrapped up.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Take care,” Rex said, and turned and walked down the street toward the police station.
Jenn pulled me inside and we locked the door behind us. “Was it really Dirk Benjamin?”
“Trent says Dirk was the one who kidnapped him,” I said. “But it doesn’t make any sense. Why did we find Dirk tied up, if he was the killer?”
“Maybe he wanted to throw off any suspicion,” Jenn said. “I bet he didn’t expect us to go out and snoop around.”
“You think he tied himself to the chair? What about Jeffery Jenas?”
“They still haven’t found Jeffery?” Jenn asked. Mal came running up to me and begged for me to pick her up. I did and rubbed her ears.
“He couldn’t have gotten far,” I said. “There are a lot of people out looking for him. What about Mrs. O’Connor? Is she all right?”
“She’s had the locks on the boardinghouse changed. If Jeffery comes back, he won’t be able to get inside.”
“That’s good,” I said. I put the puppy down and put my arm through Jenn’s. “I saw Shane.”
“We’re having a good-bye dinner tomorrow night,” Jenn said. “Come on, it’s been a long day. Let’s go to bed.” We walked up the stairs to the apartment. I opened the door and Jenn had her suitcases sitting near the door.
“Oh,” I said, and a sadness fell over me. I looked at her. “You started packing?”
“Yeah, I have a lot to pack.”
“So, you’re really leaving.”
“I told you I was.”
“I know, but . . .” I shrugged. “Thank you for helping me this summer.” Mal looked from me to Jenn and back. She didn’t look happy with the suitcases, either.
Jenn got tears in her eyes. She dashed them away with a smile. “It’s been the best summer of my life. Don’t think I won’t take you up on the offer to return at any time.”
I hugged her. “Good.” Then I yawned. “It’s been a long day. Good night.” I took Mal and Mella into the bedroom and closed the door. What a day. I’d found Trent before he was killed. I’d rescued Dirk. The only one who hadn’t been found was Jeffery Jenas. I went to my window and looked out on the street below. The street-cleaning wagon went by slowly. The two men working together. One driving the wagon and the other jumping out and scooping up the remains of a day of horse traffic.
It hit me then how easy it would be to simply not see the people who clean the streets. I grabbed my phone and went out the back door.
Chapter 29
By the time I’d gotten down the stairs and through the alley the cleanup wagon was nearly to the marina. I followed it from a distance. It made sense, really. No one wanted to look inside the wagon. The smell is ripe and would hide a dead body.
Hurrying behind it, I ensured I stayed in the shadows. Ryan was doing the scooping with a heavy shovel. Who was driving the horse? Where did they go with their load? The Carriage Company?
I hadn’t given much thought to the street sweepers and cleaners and flushers who worked diligently to keep the streets of the island clean. It was clearly more than a two-man job in the height of the summer season. It was one of those jobs no one wanted to think about. What a perfect way to get by with murder.
The street cleaners finished their rounds and went back to the Carriage Company to empty their loads. The driver got down and I recognized him as Avery Banks. I frowned. I knew Avery from the occasional times he’d come into the McMurphy to ask if we needed any handyman work done. It had taken some doing, but I’d convinced him that Mr. Devaney had everything covered.
I sneaked around to the building to peer into the windows. The lights were on and I saw Jeffery Jenas sitting at a bench playing cards with two other men. Holding up my phone I snapped a couple of quick pictures and sent a text to Rex.
“Allie McMurphy.”
I nearly dropped my phone at the sound of my name. I looked up to see Dirk Benjamin towering over me. “Dirk,” I said as the spit dried up in my
mouth. “I thought . . .”
“What?”
“That Rex had you down at the station,” I said weakly.
“Clearly a mistake on your part.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me around the side of the building and into the light. He plunked me down on an empty chair next to Jeffery Jenas. “We have a visitor.”
“Well, crap,” Jeffery said. “How the heck did you find us?”
I shrugged. “I saw the street cleaners and thought it would be a good way to move bodies.”
“And you followed it.”
“Yes.”
“Out,” Dirk said to the other men there and they picked up their cards and left.
“Do they know?” I asked.
“Know what?” Jeffery asked.
“That you have killed two men,” I said.
“They don’t know anything,” Dirk said. “Because Jeffery didn’t kill anyone. Doesn’t have the stomach for it. Do you?”
“I write mysteries,” Jeffery said. “I don’t commit crimes.”
“But you left me the notes,” I said. “You had to have. You wrote the book on Bobby Fischer.”
“It wasn’t the chess moves that were important,” Dirk said. “I thought perhaps you were smart enough to figure that out. But you weren’t, were you?” He tied my hands behind me.
“The chess moves weren’t?” I paused. “No, they weren’t the clue at all. It was the name . . . Donald Byrne. It was my clue that it was you all along, wasn’t it, Dirk Benjamin?”
“Ah, now she gets it,” Jeffery said. He leaned against the table. “D. B. I was afraid it would give it away at the start. But you didn’t get it, did you?”
“I have to ask why? Why would you kill these men?”
“Research,” Dirk said. “I wanted to know what it was like. But you see, I wanted to have a story. A real reason why I would kill someone, so I asked Jeffery for his help.”
“That’s crazy,” I said. I looked at Jeffery. “Why would you go along?”
“Why does anyone do anything? Money,” Jeffery said. “I was broke. Dirk brought me in to write the series. This was just an extension of that.”
“But you won’t have a series once you are caught,” I said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“That’s saying we’ll get caught,” Jeffery said.
“I found Trent today. He knows that Dirk is the one who kidnapped him. The police have figured out that you two are working together.”
“And the publicity will make the series popular,” Jeffery said.
“You are crazy,” I said. “You can’t write it in jail.” I turned to Dirk. “You can’t act in jail.”
“What about that hot felon guy?” Dirk said. “He went to jail and his mug shot got out. One picture and now he’s screwing some international hottie. No, jail is not a bad thing.”
“Why me?” I asked. “Why draw me in? What did I do?”
“You’ve been all over the local news since May,” Jeffery said. “I’ve been watching you. Dirk and I talked. We thought you would be the perfect foil.”
“We were wrong,” Dirk said. “You aren’t as clever as we hoped.” He sighed. “You made us kill twice. We had to hire pranksters when you stalled out on your investigation.”
“You hired Ryan,” I said.
“Again, you should have thought of that right off,” Jeffery said. “The Jenases have run the street cleaners for years.”
“Now that we have you, what are we going to do with you?” Dirk asked. He ran the back of his hand along my cheek.
“Rex is going to be here any minute,” I said. I started to shiver terribly. It gave away the fact that I wasn’t all that sure that Rex had seen my text.
“We shouldn’t kill her here,” Jeffery said. “The guys know she came here. Witnesses and all that.”
“Killing me now will serve no purpose,” I said. “You proved your point. I’m not clever. I’m just a fudge maker.”
“You’re the writer,” Dirk said to Jeffery. “They have an idea about Trent but no proof to track us to anything else. How do you want to play this?”
“Emma is about her size and weight, right?”
“Yes,” Dirk said.
“Emma?”
“The stand-in,” Dirk said. “Go on, Jeffery.”
“The guys saw you bring Allie into the building. They need to see Allie leave.”
“I’ll call Emma,” Dirk said, and got out his phone. “She can divert their attention.” Dirk walked around behind me. “From the back they look the same.”
“Police, hands in the air!” Rex’s shout startled me. Jeffery scrambled out of his chair as Dirk backed up away from me. “I said hands where I can see them!”
Brent entered from the back door, his gun drawn. Officer Lasko came in behind him and encircled us.
“Dirk Benjamin, you are under arrest for kidnapping and suspicion of murder.”
“Dude, all I did was play a joke on Trent.”
“Anything you say can and will be used against you in court,” Rex continued. Brent went around and slapped handcuffs on Dirk.
“Jeffery Jenas, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder,” Rex said, and waved Officer Lasko forward. She grabbed Jeffery’s arms and cuffed him as well. “Read them their rights and get them to the station.”
“Yes, sir,” Officer Lasko said.
Rex came over and cut the ties that held my hands. “What did you think you were doing going out alone?”
“I had an idea and I wanted to see if it was true or not,” I said as I stood on shaky legs and rubbed my raw wrists.
“And you couldn’t just share your idea?”
“You were busy looking for Jeffery and protecting everyone. I didn’t want to take you away from that focus if I was wrong.” A giant shiver shook me, rattling my teeth.
Rex muttered something dark under his breath, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around my shoulders. I leaned into the warmth of his body heat.
“I’m taking you down to the station,” he said none too gently. “We need to be debriefed.”
“I know how they moved the bodies,” I said.
“The street cleaners,” he said.
“Yes, how did you know?”
“The building gave it away.” He helped me outside. The air was cool and crisp and the stars filled the sky.
“For a brief moment I didn’t think I’d ever see the stars again,” I said.
“It’s a good thing I’ve learned to watch for your texts,” he said. “I wish they were a bit sexier.”
“What? Solving murders isn’t sexy?” I said through shaking teeth.
“No,” he said. “Not in my wildest imagination.”
Chapter 30
“So it was Dirk Benjamin all along,” Jenn said as we sat at the Harbor Café for our farewell lunch.
“He hired Jeffery to write the notes,” I said. “Jeffery thought it was funny to add the chess game because of the initials.”
“You learned chess for no reason.”
“Well, I did have fun playing and I learned that Sandy is a whiz at the game.”
“I’m going to miss this island and all the cool people. Too bad I have to leave even earlier than planned,” Jenn said, and sipped from her teacup.
“What time is your flight?”
She glanced at her phone. “It’s about two hours away. I can’t believe I was able to buy a ticket from Sophie. She was heading to Chicago anyway to pick up a client so she gave me a great deal on the price.”
“I’ll go to the airport with you,” I said.
“No, thank you,” she said, wiggling in her chair. “Shane is taking me.”
“Did you ever work things out between the two of you?”
“I guess,” Jenn said, shrugging. “He isn’t happy but he understands the value in my going and gaining experience and such from the clients in Chicago.” She leaned in close. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“I heard that you told Trent you loved him.”
“I might have,” I said, and sipped my coffee. “So?”
“So you had a date with Rex the other night. Is that over?”
“How can it be over when it never really started?”
“Seriously, are you and Trent a thing again?”
“I don’t think Trent wants to date a girl who gets his family in trouble. I mean, if he wasn’t my boyfriend, he would have never gotten kidnapped.”
“But you told him you love him,” she said pointedly.
“Yes, well, love doesn’t mean anything. We’re two different people in two very different social structures.” I sipped my tea. “Besides, I understand Mrs. Jessop is calling all of her children back to Chicago for the winter. It will just be me on the island.”
“And Rex.”
“Rex heard me tell Trent I loved him.”
“Oh, that’s complicated.”
“Here’s the thing, I think I love Rex, too.”
“What?”
“I love them both, I just need to figure out if I’m in love with either of them.”
“Ah,” Jenn said. “I see what you mean. You know what you need?”
“What?”
“A third choice,” Jenn said, grinning. “I know this guy . . .”
“Stop it!” I laughed.
The bells on the door rang and I looked over to see Frances and Mr. Devaney walking into the café.
“Frances!” I said, and called them both over. I got up and gave my manager a nice big hug. “Welcome back. How was the honeymoon?”
“We had a marvelous time,” Frances said, and sat down. She took off her fall patchwork jacket, revealing a white shirt and embroidered Western skirt that touched the floor. She ran her hand through her short locks. “You really must go sometime.”
“Go where?” Jenn asked.
“Why, to the Caribbean, of course,” she said. “The cruise was amazing.”
“Not nearly as amazing as my new wife,” Mr. Devaney said, and lifted her hand to plant a kiss on the back.
“We just got off the ferry and saw you sitting here and thought we’d join you for lunch if that’s all right,” Frances said.
“Of course,” I said. “Please take a seat. You were missed. Sandy called her cousin in to take your place for a while.”