Over Maya Dead Body

by Sandra Orchard

  Tanner raised his hands in surrender, still with an annoying half grin on his face. “I’m not arguing with you. Sometimes it’s easier to see those kinds of things in others than for ourselves.”

  “Exactly—he may not have realized how much he cared for her until it was too late. It explains why Frank wanted to buy Jack out. It was the noble thing to do.”

  A raised brow replaced Tanner’s amusement. “So what you’re saying is if a guy loves a girl who is being pursued by another guy, pulling himself from the race proves his love is pure?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll let you two finish the debate on your own,” Isaak interjected. “I have a family to get home to. The team will meet at the Oak Bluffs station at 9:00 a.m. to execute the search warrants. See you then.”

  I clicked off my phone and finished my argument. “If a guy truly loves a woman, he’ll want what’s best for her. He wouldn’t want to jeopardize her happiness by sabotaging her wedding plans.”

  “Even if he’s ready to propose their own happily ever after?” Tanner’s voice spiked with a tone of disbelief. “He is in love with her after all, right?”

  “But he obviously didn’t make that known soon enough, before her emotions were entangled elsewhere, and not wanting to cause her any distress, he’d do the noble thing and bow out.”

  He looked at me speculatively. “You really think that’s noble?”

  “Yes!”

  Tanner started the car and pulled away from the curb. “Killing him would be more expedient.”

  32

  Tanner was unusually quiet as he drove me back to the police station. Maybe feeling self-conscious about the “expedient” quip. We were talking about my family friend after all. He stopped in front of my borrowed Land Rover. “Get some sleep, Jones. Tomorrow you’ll get your answers.”

  “I hope so. Thanks for your help today.”

  A smile flitted across his face. “Any time.”

  He waited while I climbed into the vehicle, trailed me as far as his B&B, then flicked his headlights and turned off. A couple of minutes later my phone rang.

  “It’s Moore. Learn anything I should know about?” He sounded as if he was driving too.

  “We’re executing search warrants in the morning. Turns out Carly was arrested for smuggling as a coed.”

  “Who told you that?” Irritation laced his voice.

  “Don’t beat yourself up. Our background check didn’t turn up the report either. The guy she accused of putting her up to it told us.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Realizing I’d passed Ashley’s road, I pulled a U-turn.

  “Joe got any idea where she may be holed up now?”

  Spotting the road this time, I turned into the woods. “No.”

  “You got a plan to flush her out?”

  “No, heading back to my friend’s for a good night’s sleep.”

  “Ditched the sidekicks, did you?” He chuckled.

  Slowing down for the driveway, I chuckled too. No denying it must’ve seemed comical the way I’d show up at one scene with Nate and at the next with Tanner. “They’ve gone home. Goodnight.”

  My headlights swept across Jack’s porch as I pulled into the driveway. Someone was on the porch steps. I parked in front of Ashley’s cottage and could see her and Ben’s silhouette, through the curtain, sitting in front of the TV. I squinted at Jack’s porch. I wouldn’t put it past Aunt Martha to wait out here for an update on the investigation, but she’d stand up and yoo-hoo me. I reached for my phone to use the flashlight app.

  The visitor rose from the step, triggering the motion detector light. Carly.

  No way. I thumbed a quick text message to Tanner: You won’t believe who’s waiting for me on Jack’s porch—Carly.

  She was hugging the same thin sweater around her middle as she’d been wearing earlier.

  I couldn’t see her hands, so I slid out from the passenger side of the vehicle to give myself cover.

  “Al killed Charlie,” she wailed across the distance between us, “and he’s going to kill me.”

  “Okay, take it easy. Can I see your hands?”

  They flew into the air. “Please, you have to listen to me.”

  “I will. I just need to know you’re not going to pull a gun on me.” I beamed the cell phone’s flashlight over her hands, pockets, waistband.

  “I don’t have a gun.”

  I swept the light beam over the rest of the porch, then stepped out from behind the cover of my vehicle. “You fled from the scene of a crime, Carly. This is standard precaution, okay? Please turn and place your hands against the wall so I can check you for myself.”

  Her story spilled out as I patted her down. “He’s been blackmailing me for years. Threatened to turn us in if we didn’t pay. So we did. We always paid. But then when he heard about Jack—” Her voice cracked.

  “Okay, you can put down your hands and turn around.”

  “He must’ve gotten scared we’d turn on him to cut a deal. That’s why he killed Charlie. I’m sure of it.” She swallowed hard and, finally seeming to register my instructions, lowered her hands and started to turn toward me.

  “Who?” I asked.

  Her gaze shot past my shoulder.

  Instinctively, I dove.

  But not quickly enough. Probes caught me in the shoulder and a gazillion watts of electricity jolted through my body. Dropped me to the ground. My limbs shook uncontrollably. A fist clipped me in the jaw. Then everything went black.

  33

  I drifted into consciousness, feeling as if I was falling. I landed with a bone-jarring thud.

  “We’re going for a little ride,” a familiar voice whispered in my ear, followed by a knockout blow to the head.

  I awoke to the low whirr of a motor

  My eyes flew open. But blackness still enveloped me.

  And the suffocating smell of gasoline.

  A trunk. I was in a trunk! I tried to scream but tasted cloth. I instinctively reached for it. Only . . . my arm wouldn’t move. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening. This so could not be happening.

  I writhed against the binds holding my arms wrenched behind my back. Tiny pebbles dug into my cheek. Pins and needles prickled my legs, which were also bound.

  I strained to finger the knot securing my wrists, but could scarcely graze the rope.

  Panic set in with a vengeance. My breath came in short desperate gulps. Well, as much as I could gulp with a gag between my lips. And yeah, my brain knew that was a bad thing. That it’d use up the oxygen faster. But I couldn’t stop. I could barely endure confined spaces at the best of times. Oh, Lord, please, let this be a dream.

  Breathe. Tanner’s calm voice came to me, as audibly as if he were right beside me. My mind flashed to how he got me through a panicked elevator ride. Except . . .

  A trunk was twenty times smaller. Carbon monoxide could be seeping in through the holes. If there were holes. And if there weren’t holes, I could run out of oxygen in . . .

  Breathe, Tanner’s order whispered through my mind once more.

  I squeezed my eyes closed and forced my breathing to slow—long inhalations through my nose; relaxing exhalations through my mouth.

  Other realities began to set in. The gentle roll of the floor beneath me. The quietness of the motor. It couldn’t belong to the car I was in . . . if I was even right about being in a trunk. A boat maybe? A ferry?

  Yes, that had to be it. The ferry to the mainland was forty-five minutes. It gave me time. But how much? I had no idea how long I’d been out.

  I worked my jaw to try and edge the cloth out of my mouth, but it was no use.

  I drew my knees to my chest and wriggled my hips through the circle of my arms, followed by my legs.

  Whew. My muscles relaxed a fraction at the reduced strain. I yanked the gag from my mouth, but still couldn’t maneuver my fingers enough to loosen the ropes around my wrists. I made short work of untying my ankles. T
hen, ignoring the screaming numbness that gripped my legs with the returning circulation, I maneuvered the best I could, feeling around for the trunk’s release latch. Where was it? I felt my pockets for my cell phone. It was gone. So was my off-duty weapon.

  My breaths were coming too fast again. Remembering Tanner’s calming voice, I drew a long, slow breath and scrutinized the blackness, hoping for a glow-in-the-dark trunk release. No such luck. I felt up and down the rear panel, praying my abductor hadn’t been smart enough to dismantle the latch.

  Who was he? Someone strong enough to hoist me into his trunk. And where had the vehicle come from? Ashley’s had been the only other car in the driveway. I’d seen lights behind me on the road at one point, but I didn’t hear anyone drive up after I parked. He must’ve already been parked farther up the road, watching and waiting. A setup, like I’d feared.

  Had to be or Carly would be here too.

  He’s going to kill me. Carly’s voice echoed through my brain—the terrified tone that had neatly drawn me into the Taser’s range.

  My finger caught on a sheared-off bolt. “Ow!” My heart sank. He’d cut the latch. I strained to recall what I’d thought sounded so familiar about his voice when he said we were going for a ride.

  A loud thump vibrated through the floor beneath me. What was going on?

  The car’s engine roared to life.

  No! I quelled the impulse to kick and scream. This could be my last best chance for someone to hear or see me, but if no one did, my abductor would know I’d come to and do something about it the first chance he got.

  Another engine came on and a thin beam of light seeped into my prison.

  There was a car behind us! With one great heave, I kicked the corner of the trunk, aiming, I hoped, for the taillight.

  The car lurched forward, sending me tumbling. My face slammed into metal. Pain exploded from my nose. I cradled it with my bound hands and kicked again.

  A hoarse curse cut through the engine noise and the car braked abruptly.

  I stilled, holding my throbbing nose and my breath.

  A horn beeped.

  The car lurched forward once more and I breathed again. Except from the change in noise of the tires, he was off the ferry too soon for it to be the one to the mainland. It must be the little ferry that crossed the channel to Chappaquidick. How long did I have before he found a secluded spot to pull off and check on me?

  The rough cords binding my wrists chafed my lips. Releasing my nose, I realized I could tug at the ropes with my teeth. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? The cords felt like binder twine—thin and prickly. I ground them back and forth between my front teeth until I isolated one, then pulled.

  The ropes tightened against my wrists.

  I isolated a second cord and tried again, prayed whoever tied me up couldn’t tie knots as well as Ben. Ben? Could he have done this?

  He’d been in the house with Ashley. I’d seen his silhouette. Or was it Preston I saw?

  I isolated a third cord and tugged. It slackened and my hopes surged. Ashley must’ve heard me scream. Called the police. And Tanner . . . Tanner would’ve hightailed it over to Jack’s the second he saw my text. He’d be looking for me. He’d have every cop on the island looking for me!

  I tugged faster, switching between cords until the ropes were loose enough for me to wriggle my hands free.

  I patted my hands along the floor, searching for something I could use as a weapon. A tire iron would be good, Lord.

  The trunk was stripped clean.

  Straining to move as quietly as possible, I searched again for the latch. Not finding it, I reoriented myself and yanked back the fabric lining the wall of the trunk on the driver’s side. Most cars had a trunk release cable you could activate from the front of the car, and if I could find it . . .

  The car started to slow then suddenly swerved, throwing me to the other end of the trunk and back again.

  A string of curse words punctuated by a loud smack split the air. “Do that again and you can join her in the trunk,” a deep male voice bellowed from the front of the vehicle. “You leave over Maya dead body. Got it?”

  “You won’t get away with—” a female shrieked and then suddenly clammed up.

  Carly. And she didn’t sound copacetic with her partner’s plan.

  But if that were true, why didn’t the guy put her in the trunk earlier? He had to have overheard what Carly told me. And if Carly were so scared of him, why didn’t she run when he zapped me? Scream for Ashley? Something?

  She must’ve been going along with him. He couldn’t have managed to subdue both of us. Unless he’d reloaded a second after knocking me out and then Tasered her too.

  Carly’s first words outside Jack’s came back to me then. “Al killed Charlie.” I’d been so hyper focused on ensuring her being there wasn’t a setup that the allegation hadn’t registered.

  Who was Al? Albert. Alvin. Alan.

  My breath caught. Alan Moore?

  As I scrambled once more to feel for the cable that would release the trunk, my thoughts flipped back to the interrogation at Charlie’s. To Carly’s wary glances at Moore. To her cry of why are you doing this to me?

  What had she said before that Taser scrambled my brain?

  He’d been blackmailing her.

  Of course. In my last conversation with Moore, when I told him Carly was arrested, he’d asked if Joe knew where she was. But I never mentioned Joe’s name. I’d been so distracted at missing my turn, it hadn’t registered. Moore must’ve been part of the investigation, kept his eye on Carly and Charlie after that, and when he caught them smuggling again, blackmailed them for his silence.

  Snippets of Carly’s frantic explanation came back to me then. He’d been afraid she’d cut a deal, she’d said. That’s why he’d been so desperate to find Carly after her escape from Charlie’s house. That’s why he’d only pretended to contact the post office about the parcel. That’s why he kept trying to make the investigation about drugs. He’d probably fabricated the intel on Charlie’s meet with a drug dealer to explain the murder Moore had been planning. Only, Carly gave him the slip before he could take care of her too.

  My fingers curled over a wire, and I gave it a hard tug. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing. Willing my pounding heart to slow, I felt around for another.

  Once I learned of Carly’s former arrest, Moore must’ve known it was only a matter of time before I connected his name to the investigation. That’s why he asked if I’d ditched Nate and Tanner. How could I have fallen for his I-hit-a-deer story? He must’ve been watching me since that first night, staged the accident to put an end to my snooping.

  To think I’d trusted him. Checked in with him countless times on the status of the investigation.

  The car jerked to a stop, and my head bounced off the carpeted back of the rear seat. A car door slammed.

  This was my chance! I kicked in the backseat and scrambled through. “Drive,” I shouted to Carly, slapping the door lock.

  “I can’t. He took the keys!”

  Moore appeared at my window with a gun and up popped the door lock.

  “Run,” I screamed and hurtled out the opposite door.

  34

  Carly and I jumped out of the car and dashed straight into the woods. The underbrush was sparse, which made for easier running but not hiding. And the sound of branches slapping past us was too easy to track.

  A flashlight beam cut through the darkness and bounced off the trees.

  “Duck behind there,” I whispered to Carly, pointing to an uprooted tree. “I’ll draw him away.” I scooped up a club-sized branch.

  Carly clutched my arm. “No, don’t leave me!”

  “Down,” I hissed and pushed her to the ground a nanosecond before the light beam swept past where we’d been standing. I clamped my hand over her mouth and bodily forced her to remain still.

  Moore’s footsteps trekked away from our position. Did he really not hear her cry
out? Or just mistake the direction of the sound in the darkness?

  A third possibility snaked through my thoughts—she’d deliberately alerted him. I had no illusions Carly wouldn’t sell me out if she thought it would save her hide. “Why didn’t Moore tie you up?” I whispered in her ear, then eased the pressure of my hand over her mouth just enough to allow her to answer.

  “Charlie hid evidence and I’m Moore’s only hope of finding it.”

  “What evidence? Where?”

  “Charlie secretly recorded my last conversation with Moore about his next payment. For insurance, Charlie said. Only . . .” A hot tear spilled onto my hand hovering over her mouth. “Threatening Moore with it didn’t convince him to spare Charlie’s life.”

  “Where’s the evidence?”

  “I don’t know. Charlie never told me. But Moore was convinced Charlie hid it somewhere on Chappy. Asked me where we used to go treasure hunting with our dad.”

  Because of the photo Ben saved.

  “I couldn’t remember where Dad used to take us, but I figured the longer I pretended I did, the better my chances of getting away.”

  “Shh.” I concentrated on the sounds around us. I thought I’d heard the hum of an engine, but now there was no sound beyond the wind whispering through the treetops. I edged up a fraction to see around the upturned tree root. There was no sign of Moore, but no way would he give up the search with what he had at stake. There was only one main road through Chappaquidick. If I ran toward the ferry dock, it shouldn’t be long before I intercepted a car, maybe even Tanner’s. I ducked back down. “You wait here. I’m going to go for help.”

  “No, please, take me with you.”

  “I can run faster on my own. Does Moore have a partner?” The last thing I wanted to do was flag down any reinforcements he might’ve called in to help him with his manhunt.

  Hand over her mouth to cover her whimpers, Carly shook her head.

  “Okay, don’t move.” I scrutinized the surrounding forest once more, then took off toward the road. Even with as lightly as I tried to tread, my footfalls sounded like the stomp, stomp of a giant piece of machinery.