Murder is a Beach (Maggie, PI Mysteries)

by Pressey, Rose

  In spite of being extremely quiet, the couple stopped talking. I held my breath, wondering if they knew somehow that we were back there listening to them. How would they have known we were here unless they’d seen us come back here? Since they’d been talking already I was sure they hadn’t seen us. Sure, we’d spoken, but I doubted the sound would carry over to where they stood.

  Just then the sound of footsteps clicked against the floor as if they were moving closer. I held my breath. Jake moved closer to me. He turned around with his back to me. He stood in front of me as if he was ready to attack whoever came back there. The footsteps finally paused when they were just at the edge of the lockers. We waited, but no other sounds came from the other side of the lockers. Had they gone? It had been a long time since we’d heard anything.

  I’d just released a deep breath, thinking we were safe, when the footsteps sounded again and I knew they were coming closer. They hadn’t left the room after all. Maybe they were just playing games with us.

  Jake grabbed my hand and he rushed over to the broom closet. He thrust open the door and shoved me in. Jake jumped in the tiny space with me, then eased the door shut behind us. His body was pressed against mine. Yeah, needless to say there wasn’t a ton of space. Not to mention I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I knew Jake’s face was extremely close to mine because I couldn’t almost feel it.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I whispered.

  He covered my mouth to see his hand and said, “Don’t talk now.”

  I felt Jake’s sweet breath against my lips as he spoke.

  In spite of us being extremely quiet, footsteps drew closer to us. I knew that soon they would yank open the door and we’d be caught. What would my excuse be for hiding in a closet with a very handsome man? The footsteps had stopped and I wondered if they were listening to us. They probably heard the sound of my breathing since I heard it loud and clear in the tiny space.

  The door yanked open and light flooded the little space. It was at that moment Jake stopped. His lips had just brushed against mine. The tingle hadn’t even left my limbs yet. “What the hell are you all doing in there like a couple of teenagers?” Dorothy stood in front of the door with her hands on her hips. “Get out here.”

  I knew she wouldn’t believe me when I told her the true reason we’d been hiding in the closet. Jake stepped out of the closet first. I pushed a broom out of my way and stepped out from the tiny space. Dorothy looked us up and down, then shook her head. A huge satisfied smile spread across her face.

  “We were just hiding from Spencer and Megan.” I looked around at the empty space.

  “It was probably not the best idea,” Jake added.

  Dorothy crossed her arms in front of her chest, her bangle jewelry jingling with the movement.

  Jake gestured over his shoulder. “I’ll be going now, Maggie. Just be careful, okay?”

  Dorothy continued looking at us.

  I nodded. “It’s okay. I promise we’ll be careful.”

  I shrugged as I followed him out the door. I knew Dorothy was staring at our backs with that smug smile on her face. So I’d almost kissed Jake. Big deal.

  Chapter Thirty

  I only had a couple small tables and was managing quite nicely when a large group of people entered the restaurant. It was a struggle just getting their drink order and I figured I’d already lost the tip by the looks of disdain on their faces.

  “You are a terrible waitress,” one of the men said.

  Dorothy was standing behind me at this point. “She’s trying her best and if that’s not good enough for you then maybe you should go somewhere else to eat.”

  Unfortunately, the manager was standing beside us when Dorothy uttered these words. The next thing I knew, Dorothy and I were headed to my car. We’d been relieved of our duties. Permanently.

  “To be honest, I’m shocked that we lasted this long,” Dorothy said as she climbed into the car.

  “Yeah, me too,” I said with a chuckle. “I really like the way you stood up to that guy for me.”

  “Well, someone needed to tell him,” she said. And Dorothy was just that person. “Now what do we do?” she asked.

  “I have to find Spencer’s address, and then we’ll pay him a little visit,” I said.

  No sooner had I spoken the words when I saw Spencer. Dorothy had decided that we should move closer to Spencer and listen in on his conversation with another man. I figured it was a good idea, so I agreed.

  Spencer approached a blue sedan and the man jumped out of the car. Dorothy and I walked across the lot. My car was backed into a spot near the men at the rear of the lot, so we casually stood by the car. I opened the trunk so that it would look like we were busy. Do you live in your car? Why do you have this clothing? Dorothy picked up hat. I don’t have a lot of room in my apartment, I said. We should have disguises, Dorothy said, slipping on a pair of sunglasses from her purse. She picked out one of the hats from my trunk and placed it on her head.

  I grabbed a hat from the trunk and sunglasses from my purse. When I looked over at Dorothy she was wearing a Miami Heat cap and huge black sunglasses with rhinestones on the sides.

  “Don’t look at me that way,” she said. “You look just as ridiculous as me.”

  I knew she was right when I glanced in the mirror and saw my appearance. I had on a blue and white plaid newsboy cap and aviator sunglasses. This was our attempt at disguises.

  “We need to be closer,” I said.

  Dorothy adjusted her sunglasses. “Let’s do this.”

  So with our hats and shades in place, Dorothy and I took off across the parking lot to see what we can discover about Spencer. He was up next to the car and the other man had stepped in front of him at this point. They were talking to each other, but unless I got closer, I wasn’t going to find out what they were saying. Dorothy and I weaved around the cars, slinking down, trying not to be noticed. I didn’t know if we were any good at hiding, but we were sure giving it a shot.

  Dorothy and I were crouched down behind a red sports car. We had a good spot for listening now.

  Spencer said, “I told you to bring me the money. Where’s the money?”

  The young guy replied, “I just couldn’t get it. If you can give me a few more days, I promise I will have it.”

  “That's not good enough,” Spencer yelled.

  “I promise I’ll get it.” the man pleaded.

  “I told you to bring it now.”

  A loud thump sounded and I didn’t know what had happened. I peeked up over the side of the car.

  “What’s going on going?” Dorothy whispered, pulling on my arm.

  I glanced back, crouching down again. “They’re arguing and now Spencer is beating the guy up.”

  Dorothy covered her mouth and then said, “This isn’t good.”

  Another loud noise sounded from next to the car again. I eased up and saw Spencer pull his arm back and swing. He hit the guy again. The guy was trying to defend himself by throwing punches too. Groans and grunts sounded across the air. I had to do something. I couldn’t just let this guy get beat up.

  I was ready to call the police, so I fumbled around and finally found my phone in my pocket. I pulled it out, but when I punched in the numbers, it beeped and immediately lost a signal.

  “Dorothy, do you have your phone with you?” I asked.

  “I left it in the car.” She gestured.

  I knew I’d have to go back for it, so I crouched down and inched over to the edge of the car. I’d have to weave my way around the cars again.

  Before I took off for my car, I glanced over and saw the men still fighting, but the young man finally managed to break loose from Spencer. He ran for his car and jumped in, backing out and squealing the tires as he took off out of the parking lot. Spencer immediately jumped in his car. How the heck would Dorothy and I get back to my car in time? I wouldn’t be able to catch up to find out where they were going.

  “D
orothy they’re leaving. We have to try to catch up to them,” I said

  Dorothy and I ran across the parking lot. When we finally made it to the car, Spencer was pulling out of the parking. He was so occupied with catching up with the guy that I knew there was no way he’d seen us, probably not because of our disguises though. Dorothy and I jumped in the car as quickly as possible and I cranked the engine and took off out of the parking lot. Spencer seemed to do everything fast—drive, walk, talk. What was his hurry?

  After just a short distance, I’d amazingly caught up with Spencer. Surprisingly, we’d turned a complete circle and Spencer had turned into the restaurant’s parking lot again, but I didn’t see the man he’d beaten up. There was another man waiting for him though.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I wasn’t sure, but I suspected Spencer was talking to the man from the boat. His back was facing me, so I couldn’t be sure.

  These men were on my radar now though, so now that I’d spotted him out there in the parking lot talking, I had to know what they were saying.

  “Come on, Dorothy, let’s go listen.” I pointed at the men.

  “How are we going to do that?” she asked.

  “We’ll just have to hide,” I said.

  We’d officially ditched our disguises.

  Dorothy pointed. “What about those bushes over there? We can hide in there. It’s close, yet they won’t see us.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a great idea,” I said.

  “Yeah, do you see any other place to hide?” she asked.

  “Well, no, but…”

  “Okay, well, how about we don’t hide it all,” she said with her hands on her hips.

  “That’s not what private investigators are supposed to do. Remember we have to listen and find out details of what’s going on. How else will we ever solve a case if I don’t spy on people?” I said.

  “That’s my point. We have no other options other than the bushes.”

  We made our way over to the bushes and got down on the ground. Dorothy and I crawled between the branches. I was doing my best to keep the twigs out of her hair. I pulled one out and tossed it on the ground.

  “Here,” Dorothy said, handing me her pocket book.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.

  “It’s just in case one of them comes over here. You’ll need something to hit them with. I think you’re a much better aim than I am.” She gestured for me to take the purse.

  How could I argue with that? I took the big brown leather purse and then peeked out of the bushes.

  Dorothy and I watched the men and listened closely, but I just couldn’t make out what they were saying. As they spoke, they moved their arms and were having an animated conversation. It didn’t look like they were fighting, but just really intent on what they were talking about. If I could just move closer to them…I looked for more shrubs to hide behind, but there was nothing. I could possibly sneak around some of the cars, but I thought it was just a little bit too risky. We would just have to stay put. Obviously, we weren’t going to find out what they were saying anyway.

  “We’re just like Charlie’s Angels,” Dorothy whispered.

  I snorted. “Yeah, just like the Angels. Which one are you?”

  “Definitely Farrah, don’t you think?” She smiled.

  Just as I was about to give up on them, they quit talking for a second. Spencer reached in the car and grabbed something out. He handed it to the man and then the man gave him something in return. I couldn’t make out what exactly was in their hands. It was just too dark to see. I had to know what it was that they were doing though. I didn’t know how to find out without getting caught.

  A tickle formed in my throat and I knew I was about to cough. I had to keep it in. If I made any noise, the men would figure out we were behind the bushes. Who knew what they would do if they found us spying on them? My gun was in the car, so I didn’t have any protection other than Dorothy’s purse. I didn’t know how much good that would be if the men actually came after us. I tried to suppress my cough again, but all of a sudden I let out a big cough.

  Dorothy slapped her hand over my mouth. “You can’t cough out here. See, I knew you should have taken that peppermint candy from me.”

  I kept my composure and moved her hand from my mouth. When I peeked out, the men had stopped talking and were looking around the parking lot. They were trying to figure out where the noise had come.

  The man stepped closer to us. Since the sun had set, I still couldn’t make out which man was talking to Spencer. As they moved even closer to the bushes, my heart pounded in my chest and I was pretty they would hear my heavy breathing. Dorothy grabbed my hand and squeezed, but didn’t say a word. The most important thing was I hoped that I didn’t have to cough again. One little noise and they would find us in the bushes. I didn’t know what they would say when that happened.

  Finally the man stopped looking and marched back over to their cars. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “That was a close one,” Dorothy whispered.

  I shook my head and said, “It was too close.”

  The men shook hands and then got into each car and took off out of the parking lot. We slumped down. I didn’t want them to shine the car headlights on us. We’d be like a couple of cats in the night.

  “What exactly is going on here?” Jake’s voice sounded from behind me.

  I didn’t want to turn around, but I knew I had to eventually. I stood quickly and saw his handsome face staring at us. The corners of his mouth twisted at the sides and he quirked a brow.

  “Did you lose something?” he asked, trying to get an answer out of me.

  Dorothy grabbed her purse from me. “Thanks for finding my purse, Maggie. I don’t know how it got in the bushes.”

  She stepped away from the bushes and over to the car, leaving me alone with Jake to explain myself.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about earlier,” he said.

  I shook my head. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it wasn’t very professional of me.”

  I was beginning to rub off on him. Professional wasn’t always the way to go with this job.

  “So what exactly why were you in the bushes?”

  “Just research. What are you doing back here? I thought you left,” I said.

  He shrugged. “Thought I might find something I missed.”

  Okay if he was going to keep things from me then I didn’t feel so bad about not telling him everything.

  “Well, I’d better get Dorothy home,” I said, gesturing over my shoulder.

  He nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”

  “You know I will,” I said with a smile.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  It was early the next morning when I made it back to my office. I’d spent so little time there lately and now I really missed the cramped place. After running in to do a quick search, I’d found out that Spencer lived not far from the restaurant. I’d also found out that he’d been arrested a couple of times in the past couple years—once for disorderly conduct, and another time for drugs. It looked like he wasn’t such a nice guy, but I had suspected as much.

  I jotted down the address and headed back outside where Dorothy was waiting in the car for me. Before I could visit Spencer, I had to drop Dorothy off at Mr. Grant’s house so they could go on their coffee date.

  Dorothy was busy putting on a bright red lipstick instead of messing around with her knitting needles and crossword puzzle book.

  I hid my smile. “That shade looks nice on you.”

  She smacked her lips together. “Thank you. I appreciate you driving me here. You can never be too safe. I didn’t want to go to a strange man’s house without an escort.”

  “I completely understand,” I said.

  When we pulled up in front of his house, Dorothy said, “Now you wait out here until I make sure he is home. Don’t leave until we are safely in his car and pulling away from the house.”
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br />   “Yes, ma’am,” I said.

  Dorothy released a deep breath and then climbed out of the car with her big brown purse.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” I warned.

  “That leaves me a lot of options,” Dorothy said with a smirk.

  Mr. Grant lived in a beautiful two-story brick home with a landscaped yard and gorgeous glass front door. I watched as Dorothy walked up the front path with her pocket book draped across her arm. She’d worn her best gold shoes and bright red pants with white silky blouse. I knew she’d taken extra time to fix her hair this morning.

  I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel and stared up at the bright blue sky. My thoughts were lost in the case and occasionally visions of Jake popped onto my head. I flipped on the radio for distraction and began scanning the channels. I finally settled on oldies from the 80s. The songs reminded me of simpler times when I was at home with my mother.

  I leaned my head back against the seat and tried to relax. I hoped that Dorothy wouldn’t be too long. But if she started chatting with Mr. Grant, they might let the time slip away from them.

  Somehow I sensed Dorothy’s presence and I looked up to see her hurrying down the path toward me. She had a look of distress on her face. I knew something was wrong right away.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as she opened the car door.

  “I think you should come inside right away,” she said breathlessly.

  “Is there something wrong with Mr. Grant?” I asked in a panic.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s not there.”

  “What do you mean he’s not there?” I asked.

  “Exactly what I said. The door is open, but he doesn’t appear to be home.” Dorothy glanced back at the house.

  I stepped out of the car and moved around to the front path.

  “Is his car here?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. The front door was open a little, so I just stepped in the house and called out for him. But he didn’t answer.”

  “Okay, we’ll just remain calm. I’m sure he just stepped out for a moment and he’ll be right back.”