Murder is a Beach (Maggie, PI Mysteries)

by Pressey, Rose

  We pulled up in front of Spencer’s place. There were quite a few cars parked on the street, so I had to drive by several times before I found a place to park.

  “So what do we do now?” Dorothy asked.

  “One of your favorite things,” I said. “We sit and wait.”

  “So we’re just going to sit out in front of his house too? I’m not so sure that worked out well for us last time.” Dorothy and I had spent way too much time on stakeouts with the last case.

  “What are you talking about? We got a lot of info from doing that before. It’s what Magnum would do,” I said.

  She rolled her eyes. I watched Spencer’s house as Dorothy clacked her knitting needles.

  I glanced over at her. “What are you knitting anyway? That’s got to be the longest scarf in the history of scarves.”

  I hadn’t mentioned the pasties debacle again.

  “I thought I’d knit you a full-body suit,” she said snarkily.

  I focused my attention on the building again.

  Silence filled the car for a moment, until Dorothy finally said, “Maggie, do you ever wonder why they drive on a parkway but park in a driveway?”

  I shook my head. “No, Dorothy, I can honestly say that the thought never crossed my mind.”

  Finally, I spotted movement. “He’s coming out the front door,” I said excitedly.

  “Thank goodness. My butt is starting to fall asleep,” Dorothy said, putting her needles in her purse.

  I watched as Spencer walked along the sidewalk and stopped at a car. He looked around and I lowered my head.

  “Is he looking this way?” Dorothy asked. “Follow him.”

  “Not yet, but he was looking around. I think he senses us,” I said.

  “He’s not a dog. I doubt he’ll sniff us out,” she said.

  “No, but he can probably feel four beady eyes on him,” I said.

  Spencer finally climbed behind the wheel and pulled away from the curb. I waited a few seconds, then cranked the engine and pulled out a few car lengths behind him.

  “I have to admit you’re getting good at this following cars business,” Dorothy said.

  “Why thank you, Dorothy. That was very sweet of you.” I smiled.

  “That doesn’t mean that your driving skills are any better than mine though,” she warned with a wave of her finger.

  “Of course not,” I said.

  I followed Spencer through the streets and for a while I wondered if he knew where the heck he was going.

  “This had better not be a wasted trip,” I said as I turned right and followed him down the next street.

  We neared the park and finally his car slowed down. Spencer pulled in to the parking lot that was for the park access. It was dark, but there was a light on the street nearby and I could make out most of what was going on.

  I stayed back and waited. Another car pulled up a few minutes later and a man got out of his car. He walked up to Spencer and they talked for a moment. I was pretty sure this man was the one from the boat, but I needed a closer view to know positively.

  This meant that just as I’d expected that there had to be a connection to Spencer and Kristin’s murder. But what about Mr. Grant’s disappearance? How would I get a closer look? Was I brave enough to walk through the park? There weren’t a ton of areas that would conceal me. Even though it was dark they would probably see me if I got that close.

  But from my vantage point, I couldn’t even see them at all now so I had no idea what they were doing or where they’d gone. After a couple minutes, the men came into view again. Both of the men climbed into Spencer’s car this time. The car’s lights came on and he put it in reverse. It looked like I was going to have to follow him again.

  As they were pulling out, I dialed Jake’s number.

  “Is he answering?” Dorothy asked.

  “Jake,” I said breathlessly when he answered the phone. “I’m following the guy from my work. The one who was messing around with my car.”

  “A guy was messing around with your car? Why are you following him?” Jake asked.

  “Because I wanted to see what he was up to, what else?” I asked. “Listen, they are going somewhere.”

  “Well, I figure if they are in a car driving, then they’re going somewhere. By the way, who are these men?”

  “One of the men works with me at the restaurant. Well, until we were fired I worked with him. His name is Spencer. And I think the other one is the guy from the boat.”

  “Where are you?” Jake asked with tension in his voice. His tone had definitely changed. “Tell me the name of the street. I’m coming there right now.”

  “Why, what’s going on?” I asked.

  “Just tell me where you’re at,” he said.

  “I’m on Second Street, turning on to Biscayne.”

  “I’ll call you right back, okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, okay.”

  I was glad he hadn’t told me to stop following the men because his request would have fallen on deaf ears. As I drove, I concentrated on following Spencer’s car so that I wouldn’t lose it. There was no way I would let him get away from me.

  “You’d better punch it,” Dorothy said.

  “I think they’re headed to the beach,” I said.

  “Good observation,” Dorothy said.

  I drove behind them for a little longer, and sure enough, they were going to the beach. Spencer pulled up to the parking lot for the beach access and parked. There was only one other car there. Were they meeting the person who had driven that car? There was only one way to find out.

  The men got out of the car and headed toward the beach.

  “I have to follow them,” I said.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should wait for Jake to call you back. He’s probably on his way. You’ll tell him exactly where we are and he’ll be here in no time,” Dorothy said.

  “I don’t think I have time to wait for him to show up,” I said.

  “At least call and see if he’s on his way,” she said.

  “Fine.” I dialed Jake’s number while I kept my eye on the men.

  They walked over the beach access and disappeared from my view. Jake’s line rang repeatedly.

  “He’s not answering.”

  Dorothy released a sigh. “I guess we’ll have to take care of this then,” she said, climbing out of the car.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  I jumped out and joined her. We crossed the road and headed in the same direction the men had taken. Dorothy and I walked across the parking lot. I stepped close to the car and peered in, but didn’t see anything. We stepped over to the other car, but there was nothing unusual about it either. Food wrappers and a bunch of junk littered the back seat. I was just glad not to see a dead body in the car. But heck, maybe that was in the trunk.

  I swallowed hard and then said, “I guess we should look on the beach now.”

  Dorothy nodded. “Yes, I guess we’d better.”

  Dorothy and I walked across the access and made our way to the sand. A slight breeze glided by. I looked up and down the shore, but didn’t spot the men.

  “Do you see them?” Dorothy asked.

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t see them.”

  “Maybe we should walk over there?” Dorothy pointed toward a little covered area with a few picnic benches.

  I wanted to find out what the men were doing, but I was afraid to find them at the same time. What would they say if they knew I’d followed them?

  The men were still nowhere in sight as Dorothy and I made our way across the sand toward the covered picnic area. The waves lapped against the sand, causing an eerie roar. Other than that, silence filled the air…definitely spooky.

  Once we were at the covered area, Dorothy and I stopped and scanned the area.

  “Well, they’re obviously not here.” I released a deep breath.

  Dorothy placed her hands on her hips. “Well, do you think they drowned?”r />
  I looked out at the water. “I guess I hadn’t thought of that, but no, that’s not possible.”

  Dorothy shrugged. “Anything is possible.”

  “It’s certainly strange that they would walk out here and disappear. They haven’t been gone long enough to walk that far down the beach to where we wouldn’t see them.” I stepped out onto the sand and looked to my left and then to my right. I’d expected to see someone, but it was just us.

  I glanced down at my phone, expecting to get a call back from Jake, but it didn’t ring. It looked as if my service was out. Had he tried to call and my phone wasn’t working? Maybe I should go back to the car and see if I could get my phone to work.

  But before I did that I wanted to go out by the water.

  “Let’s step over to the water,” I said. Dorothy adjusted her purse on her arm and nodded. “Maybe we can see down the beach further if we go out there.”

  “Okay, but we can’t stay long. I want you to try to call Jake again,” Dorothy said.

  We walked across away from the covered area and my feet sank into the soft wet sand. I slid out of my shoes and let the water rush over my feet and beat against my ankles.

  Dorothy slipped off her shoes and stuck her feet in the water too.

  “It’s cold,” I said.

  I looked from left to right again, but still didn’t see anything. It was obvious that the men weren’t there. We needed to just go back to the car and give up. I wasn’t even sure that they’d done anything wrong, so it probably was for the best that I hadn’t found them anyway.

  “Are you ready to go?” I asked.

  I was surprised that I could even get near the water after what had just happened to me. I’d come narrowly close to being eaten by a shark.

  Dorothy nodded. “I’m ready to go.”

  Just then my phone rang. I reached in my pocket and pulled it out. It was Jake’s number.

  “Are you looking for us?” I said when I answered the phone.

  There was no noise and no Jake. I glanced down at the phone. The call had been dropped.

  “My phone service is terrible out here,” I said, holding the phone up, trying to get a better signal.

  The little bars at the top of the screen increased, so I punched in Jake’s number again. It took a few seconds, but it finally began to ring.

  “It’s ringing,” I said, answering Dorothy’s silent question.

  It rang several times, but then it was silent. I looked down at the screen again.

  “It stopped working again. It’s pointless out here,” I said.

  “We should go back to the car,” Dorothy said.

  “I’m sure he’s trying to find us,” I said.

  I reached down, grabbed my shoes and slipped them back on. Of course now I had sand on my feet, but I didn’t want to accidentally step on one of those crabs as I walked back to the car. As I waited for Dorothy to put her shoes back on I looked down at my phone again. The service was still not available.

  My focus was on Dorothy when someone knocked the phone out of my hand. I let out a gasp and looked up. It was the man who had been on the boat. He was tall and looked even bigger than I remembered. He glared at me with his dark eyes.

  “Why the hell are you following us?” he asked.

  He studied my face and I knew that he was trying to recognize where he’d seen me. His eyes widened and I knew that he’d just remembered that I’d been on his boat with Jake.

  “You’re a cop,” the man said.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

  “She worked with me at the restaurant. I knew she was a narc. I told you,” Spencer said.

  My eyes widened. “A narc? No,” I said again. “Is that way you were following me?”

  A terrified look was splashed across Dorothy’s face. I felt so bad that I’d brought her into this dangerous situation, although she had insisted on coming. I should have insisted that she stay out of it.

  “Answer my question,” the man said.

  “I’m not following you,” I said.

  “We were just going for a walk on the beach,” Dorothy answered.

  “I saw you on my boat and then we saw you follow us tonight. That’s not a coincidence,” he said with a growl in his voice.

  The next thing I knew, he had grabbed me by the arms. I wasn’t prepared for his strength as his hands tightened on my arms.

  “Let go of me,” I demanded.

  When I looked over, I saw that Spencer had grabbed Dorothy. My stomach turned at the thought.

  “Let her go,” I said.

  I jerked my arms to try to get away from his grip, but it was no use. I couldn’t break free. I had to think quickly because I didn’t know what they would do next. If he had killed Kristin, then he wouldn’t think twice about doing the same thing to us. If I could get this guy in just the right position, I might be able to break free from his grip. What would I do if I got away though? I couldn’t run and leave Dorothy there. I didn’t want to use the gun, but it looked as though that might be my only option. Maybe just pointing it at the guy would be enough to get him to stop. I would race back up to the road to see if my phone would work.

  I turned my body to the side and jerked. Thank goodness the motion had put me in the correct spot. I jerked to my right and jabbed the guy in the stomach. He groaned and released his hold on me. I immediately ran toward water. Dorothy was still trying to get away from Spencer, but mostly he was just holding her arms. Why, I didn’t know. What was the most she could do? Hit him with her pocket book? Though she did have those knitting needles. Would she think to use them?

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  I jumped in the water. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours I was in the ocean. I’d made it to my waist when the man ran in the water after me. I had nowhere else to go. I couldn’t go farther out into the water. He had me trapped.

  Within seconds, he reached me and I fell down. Water splashed around and covered my body. Visions of Kristin’s lifeless body flashed through my mind. He would drown me in this water too. My body would be in the same position as her. He wrapped his arms around me and I struggled to break free from his hold once again.

  Water splashed around us as the man and I struggled in the water. I knew he was trying to get me down so that he could hold me under the water. I had my gun, but I couldn’t get to it at the moment. I didn’t want to allow him the chance to get hold of my weapon either. Now that water might be in the barrel, it could be dangerous to fire it. He might not know that though. There was little hope that I would get away from him this time. He was bigger and much stronger than me.

  I wondered what was happening with Dorothy. The noise from the waves was drowning out any sound that she may have been making. She could call out for help and I wouldn’t know, not that I could help her anyway. I felt powerless. I would have to pull out some pretty impressive moves to get this guy off me.

  Hitting in the lower portion of my attacker’s body wasn’t possible. I would have to go for the head area. I managed to get one hand free. I had only seconds to make a move. With the palm of my hand I jabbed upward on my attacker’s nose. He let out a wail that sounded more like a bear.

  He stumbled backward and I looked over at Dorothy. At that moment Dorothy had lifted her leg and jabbed Spencer right in the groin with her knee. The guy fell to his knees and then fell to the side so that his entire body was in the sand. Dorothy reached down and picked up her purse that had fallen to the ground.

  She draped the big brown bag on her arm as if she did this kind of thing all the time, dusting off the sand from her purse and hands. Nobody messed with Dorothy and her pocket book. Dorothy and I made eye contact. It was as if at that moment she realized what had happened. I knew she was just as shocked by what she’d done as I was. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised though, Dorothy could be tough when she needed to take care of business.

  My attacker was still on the ground and it looked like h
e wasn’t going anywhere for a few moments. I glanced down at the man and a wave of water flowed over him. There was blood on his face. It served him right for attacking me. He was lucky that I hadn’t done more bodily harm.

  The man looked over and saw what Dorothy had done. He groaned again, but he didn’t attempt to get up. Just then a wave slammed into my legs and knocked me backward. I landed in the water again on my butt.

  When I looked over I saw that he was climbing up. I should have run away when I had a chance. Now I would have to fight him off again. Where was a jellyfish to sting him when I needed it? I prayed that one didn’t get me.

  I pushed and struggled up before another wave crashed into me again. The man had gotten to his feet at this point and we stared at each other to see what move we’d make next. He glared at me, but didn’t speak a word. I’d almost expected to see Dorothy run up and smack him in the head with her purse. I was glad she didn’t make that move though. Who would make the first move? That was when I remembered I had one advantage over him.

  I reached down quickly and felt that my gun was still on my waist. He looked down and at that moment he knew what I was going to do. He knew that I had something over him. I didn’t want to use the gun, but he didn’t know that. I had to plaster the toughest look on my face that I could muster.

  I pointed the gun at him. “Don’t make another move.”

  My hands were surprisingly steady and he held his hands up. I glanced over and saw that Spencer had now sat up, but he clearly still wasn’t ready to stand. It didn’t look like he would cause any problems for a while. I had to get Dorothy to show me that move. It was practically lethal. Where had she learned to be so tough?

  “Dorothy did you call the police yet?” I asked.

  This guy didn’t know that our phones wouldn’t work out there.

  She nodded. “They’re on the way.”

  I looked at my attacker again with a satisfied grin. They thought they would take us down because we were smaller than they were, but small didn’t always mean weak. They’d learned that lesson the hard way.

  The guy stared at me. I knew he was trying to think of ways to get the gun away from me, but it was no use. There was no way he could get it out of my hands.