Thunder Island

by Meryl Sawyer

  Next to him, Kyle felt Jennifer stiffen and knew what she was thinking. He hated the way she’d suffered, losing Chloe so tragically, but she had done the right thing by keeping their baby. Their baby. He still couldn’t get over it.

  He’d never seen the little girl, but just hearing about her caused a hollow ache in his chest. He could only imagine how terrible Jennifer felt. What an extraordinary void there would be in your life when you lost a child.

  “Iz there a point to this?” asked the sheriff.

  Tyler nodded, looking very guiltily around at the others. “I met Chad Roberts in Bogotá when I was working for a coffee exporting firm. We hit it off. One night I told him about my mother, and I happened to mention Thelma Mae. We agreed women were nutty about their kids. They never got over losing one.”

  Kyle reached over and took Jennifer’s hand. Her fingers were cool as he laced them between his and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

  “Chad got this brilliant idea. He decided to pose as Thelma Mae’s long lost son. He figured she was rich and she’d leave him all her money.”

  “You’re making this up,” insisted Lisa. “Chad would never do such a thing.”

  “Don’t be so sure.” Raven fluffed her long hair with one hand. “He was a con artist.”

  “He kept it secret,” Tyler told them, “so his parents wouldn’t find out. He comes from a real nice family in Iowa. Nice but poor. Chad hated being poor.”

  “Maybe Thelma Mae found out the truth and killed him.”

  This brilliant thought from Plotzy. Didn’t he remember Thelma Mae sobbing because her “son” was dead?

  “I saw how rattled Thelma Mae was over Chad’s death,” Tyler said. “She didn’t know the truth until I told her.”

  “Oh, my God,” Jennifer said. “You told her when she was so upset.”

  “I thought it would bring her out of it.”

  What a guy. So sensitive.

  “Maybe that’s why she killed herself,” suggested Chuck. “She couldn’t take the truth.”

  “I’ve heard enough,” Prichett said. “This isn’t helping us find the killer.”

  “Now you know how deceitful Chad was. If you check into his background, you might discover the motive for the killing.” Kyle wasn’t sure this would add anything, but it would buy him some time. He might just need the additional time to clear Jennifer by finding the real killer.

  Puffed up with importance, the sheriff stepped out front to hold a press conference. The deputy took Plotzy upstairs to gather his things.

  “The sheriff seems to think you’re the number one suspect, Jennifer,” Lisa said, a calculating edge to her voice.

  Raven spoke up. “Lisa told him that Chad left you for her. I said Chad had thrown me over, too, and we’d talked about it. I said you weren’t angry, but he didn’t pay any attention.”

  Aw, hell. Raven had just confirmed his suspicions. Not that he had any doubt Prichett would try to hang this on Jennifer if he could. An intellectual brain trust, the sheriff wasn’t. He’d take the easy way out rather than take a beating in the media for not making an arrest.

  “Then they found the rifle in your room. It looks bad,” Tyler said.

  “It’s a sharpshooter’s rifle. I have to be able to hit the head of a snake, if I’m going to be useful on an S&R team. If I planned to shoot someone at close range, I’d use a handgun.”

  Kyle led Jennifer away, saying, “You don’t have to explain yourself to them.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m calling Trevor. He’ll let us stay at Half Moon Bay until this case is solved.” This he said loudly enough for the group to hear. When they were down the hall by the telephone, he told Jen, “I have a plan. Pretend we’re going to Trevor’s to stay. We’ll go out to the base and get some special equipment I have.”

  “I’m nervous,” she admitted, and he put his arm around her. “They’ll arrest me the minute they run the finger-prints in Chad’s room through the police computer.”

  “We’re going to solve the case before they can run the prints. I plan to double back here and go up to Chad’s room as soon as the sheriff’s men leave. With luck, there’ll be a bit of blood still left on the floor.”

  “You’re going to run a field DNA test.”

  He hugged her. “Great minds think alike.”

  “What good will it do? We can’t get DNA samples from everyone.”

  “Why not? As long as we have access to the house, we can go in each room and get a hair out of their hairbrush or off a pillow and compare it to the results we get with the blood.”

  She nodded, saying, “The first thing we’ll learn is if Lisa is lying. The DNA test will tell us if the blood is a man or a woman’s. I’m betting Lisa’s blood.”

  “I’m suspicious of Tyler. Want to bet he wasn’t working for a coffee firm in Bogotá? Or if he was, he was involved in drug trafficking on the side. I—”

  “Your turn,” called the deputy, interrupting them.

  Kyle stayed downstairs with Sadie, telling Jennifer he would call Trevor, then pack up the dog’s kibble and bowl. He made the call, getting Trevor’s machine. He went into the mud room where Jennifer fed Sadie. He picked up Sadie’s things and walked out to the back porch to wait his turn to go to his room.

  Sitting on the swing, Sadie at his feet, Kyle tried to concentrate on Chad’s murder, but his mind kept replaying his conversation with Jennifer. He’d been a father and he hadn’t even known it.

  What might have been.

  The cruelest words in the English language, he decided. If only he had known. If only he could have been with Jennifer. Chloe might have lived.

  He tried to imagine what their little girl had been like. A young Jennifer, he decided. Smart and fun-loving and as cute as the devil.

  Even though he hadn’t known Chloe, the same dull ache seeped through him, the way it had when his father had died. He hadn’t seen their child, had never held her in his arms. Knowing she’d lived and he’d never had the chance to hear her say “Daddy” hurt much more than he expected.

  He wanted to marry Jennifer and have a family. No child would ever replace Chloe and nothing could change the way Jenny had suffered, but he believed they would be happy together. They’d make great parents.

  Jennifer followed the deputy upstairs, apprehension coursing through her. She hadn’t killed Chad, but someone was guilty. There should be enough evidence in his room to implicate the real killer, but she couldn’t be certain.

  They passed the open panel to the secret room on their way upstairs. She saw several men at the top of the landing, but she couldn’t tell just what they were doing.

  “Have they removed the body?”

  The deputy nodded. “Yes.”

  She wanted to ask if they’d dusted for prints yet, but she didn’t dare. She went into her room and packed a few things while the deputy watched. Inside her closet was the rifle she’d planned to take into the mangroves. They knew it was there, but they hadn’t seized it as evidence.

  Yet.

  Chapter 31

  Carrying her things in a small duffel, Jennifer went downstairs. She was looking for Kyle and Sadie, when she ran into Raven in the kitchen. Since their talk on the beach, Jennifer felt a special bond with Raven. The former fan dancer had tried to help by telling the sheriff that Chad didn’t mean anything to Jennifer.

  “Where are you going to stay?” Raven asked.

  “Kyle arranged for us to stay with Trevor.” Jennifer remembered that Kyle wanted everyone to think they were going directly to Trevor’s home. “We’re on our way to Sunset Key now. Where are you going?”

  “Right next door to Weller’s Guest House. They have vacancies because of the hurricane. Chuck doesn’t think we’ll be there very long. He says Thunder Island will reopen right away.”

  “You and Chuck patched things up?”

  Raven broke into a wide, open smile. “Yesterday we went to Trent Jewelers and picked out a diam
ond. It should be ready this afternoon.”

  “You’re getting married.” She looked down and saw a small cut on the tip of Raven’s ring finger.

  “Yes. It’s going to be a big, formal wedding.” Raven’s joy was almost infectious.

  Jennifer glanced around the kitchen where Thelma Mae had spent countless hours. Her death seemed so sad, so unnecessary. After hearing about the child Thelma Mae had given up, Jennifer knew how terribly the woman had suffered. Losing a child was extremely difficult, something you never got over.

  Kyle wanted to marry her. Jennifer wished she could be thrilled and anxious to plan a wedding. But like Thelma Mae, Jennifer couldn’t forget her child. She wasn’t getting married and having any more children. She couldn’t put herself through that again.

  Jennifer forced herself to focus on getting any helpful information she could. “How does Lisa feel about it?”

  Raven’s smile vanished. “Lisa is Lisa. She and Chuck are so close. But she was okay with it because she was going to marry Chad. Now …” She shrugged as if to say who knows?

  “Do you think Chad would have married Lisa? It was just a line with him.”

  “Lisa believed him. I tried to tell her, but she insisted, she was different.”

  “I guess we’ll never know.” Jennifer tried to think how to delicately put her next question. “I’m a little surprised Lisa and Chuck were together last night. I thought he would have been with you.”

  Raven’s gaze shifted to one side, then flashed back to Jennifer with an unmistakable spark of anger. “Don’t try to pin Chad’s murder on Chuck. He’s a good man. If he said he was with Lisa, then he was with his sister.”

  “That doesn’t seem odd to you? Why would they be together in the middle of the night?”

  “Sometimes Lisa can’t sleep. She dreams she still has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant again. Chuck is the only family she has. He donated his bone marrow to save her. He understands what she went through.”

  Raven flounced out of the kitchen, saying, “Maybe the sheriff was right about you being the killer. You sure are trying hard to blame Chuck.”

  She hadn’t blamed Chuck, Jennifer thought. She’d merely asked a question. Obviously, this was a sore subject. Despite being engaged to Chuck, Raven had not spent the night in his bed. She wasn’t positive she bought the nightmare story.

  Kyle opened the locker where he kept his special equipment, most of it experimental, and took out the laptop computer.

  “I thought we were running a DNA test,” said Jennifer.

  “We are, but it’ll be hours probably before we can get into the house. While we’re waiting, let’s do a little checking on Tyler Langley.”

  “Good idea. Right, Sadie?” She petted the bloodhound as Kyle pulled out several other pieces of equipment and loaded them into a military-style backpack.

  “I think I paid too much attention to Sadie,” Jen told him.

  “What do you mean?” he asked over his shoulder. He was trying to hurry without appearing desperate and worrying her more. It wouldn’t be long before the authorities matched Jennifer’s fingerprints with those in Chad’s room.

  “I’ve read a lot of the research on crime. Women tend to shoot or poison the people they kill. Knives are rarely a weapon of choice especially with a man like Chad. He was big and fit. He could fend off any woman.”

  “Unless she took him by surprise.”

  “Think of the crime scene. A broken glass with blood next to it. That doesn’t sound like anyone crept up on him.”

  Kyle zipped up the pack, saying, “Maybe, maybe not. We’re assuming the two things are connected. It’s possible that the glass had been broken earlier. Then hours later, someone took Chad by surprise.”

  Jennifer shook her head, sending her blond hair fluttering across her shoulders. “No way. Chad was too anal. He would have cleaned up the glass and the blood immediately.”

  Her observation upset him more than he was willing to concede. He’d realized Jennifer had slept with Chad and must have known him intimately. Still, he didn’t like it one bit. He padlocked the storage locker and turned to go.

  “I know what you’re thinking.”

  Was it written on his forehead? He’d never thought of himself as jealous or possessive, but when it came to Jennifer, his feelings became surprisingly intense.

  “You think I’m a total idiot for getting involved with Chad Roberts.” She bit down on her lower lip, the way she often did when she was upset. “You’re right. If I’d taken my time and really gotten to know him, I would never have fallen for him.”

  She blamed herself for too much, he thought. She felt guilty over her mother’s suicide and outright blamed herself for Chloe’s death. Now she was coming down hard on herself over Chad.

  He slipped his arm around her, saying, “That wasn’t what I was thinking at all. I was jealous of the time Chad had spent with you.” He wrapped his arms around her midriff and kissed her, then forced himself to let her go. They didn’t have any time to waste. “Women fell for Chad. Lots of them. Don’t go blaming yourself or thinking you were stupid. He was a pathological liar, and like most pathological liars, he was damn good at it.”

  “True.” She nodded, knowing he was right, but she still blamed herself for being such a fool.

  He studied her a moment, then asked, “How did you cut your finger?”

  She gazed down at the small cut on her index finger. “I don’t know. I didn’t realize I had a cut until the sheriff asked to see my hands.” She thought a moment. “I might have cut it when I climbed to the rocks at the edge of the beach. I sat on top of them and thought things out. I was so upset that I wouldn’t have noticed a small cut.”

  “That’s probably what happened.”

  Kyle might agree with her, but she doubted the sheriff would accept this explanation. “Raven has a cut on her finger.”

  “Like I told the sheriff, most all of us do. Helping out at Trevor’s caused a lot of us to get small cuts or scrapes.”

  “Jennifer! There you are. One of the men told me you were here.”

  They turned and saw Mike Dowd walking up to them. Dowd was wearing his off duty uniform: khaki shorts and an olive polo shirt. Kyle hoped Dowd didn’t ask what was in the backpack. None of the equipment was supposed to leave the base.

  “I’ve got some great news,” Mike told Jennifer. “I told the rest of the Miami-Dade S&R, but I couldn’t find you. Your team has received a federal grant, the first of its kind. They’re going to spend a bloody fortune training all of you. Then when you come back home, you’ll be a crack team ready to train other groups.”

  The fine hairs across the back of Kyle’s neck stood at attention. “Back home?”

  “Yeah, the team will spend eighteen months at top anti-terrorist schools and camps around the world. After you certify them, Kyle, they’re off to Israel. No one’s better at antiterrorism than the Israelis, right?”

  Kyle managed to nod. The ecstatic expression on Jennifer’s face told him all he needed to know. She’d leap at this chance, and he couldn’t blame her. They’d have to wait to be married.

  Hey, maybe not. They could get married before she went away. He didn’t like the idea of her training with a bunch of men without a ring on her finger. Guys would be hitting on her right and left.

  “After Israel, they’re sending you to Saudi, then to Munich. The police in Munich are the best civilian force in the world,” Dowd told her. “After the Olympic massacre, they got serious about terrorists. They were way ahead of everyone else. You’ll spend some time at New Scotland Yard, where they developed programs to combat the IRA.”

  “It sounds like a great opportunity,” Jennifer said, excitement punctuating every syllable. She turned to Kyle. “Now, if I can just pass the marksmanship test. I’m getting better, but …”

  She rolled her eyes heavenward. It was all he could do not to grab her and kiss her until she said she would rather stay with him than spe
nd her time training abroad.

  “The team finishes up in Japan, where they’ve done a lot with chemical and biological terrorism after that saran gas attack in the subway. Then you and your bloodhound,” he pointed at Sadie, who was sitting on her haunches, waiting for them, “are going to spend six months in Kesseldorf.”

  “Kesseldorf! Oh, my God!” She leaned down and petted Sadie. “The big time, girl.”

  “What in hell is Kesseldorf?”

  Mike opened his mouth to answer, but Jennifer was quicker. “That’s where they train the best dogs. A Kesseldorf dog is worth seventy-five thousand dollars, maybe more. They train them and sell the dogs to police departments all over the world.”

  Aw, shit. She’d be tied up for two years. Two long, miserable years. Even if they were married, they’d be apart most of the time.

  “I’m outta here,” Dowd said. “I have a golf game.”

  Dowd left and Kyle stood there while Jennifer cooed to Sadie, telling the dog what a challenge Kesseldorf was going to be. Didn’t he mean anything to her?

  “We’d better leave,” he said.

  “We’re lucky Mike didn’t ask what you have in the pack,” Jen said as they left the building.

  “Damn lucky.”

  “You don’t sound happy. Aren’t you excited for me? This is such an opportunity.”

  “It’s great.” He forced enthusiasm into his voice. “Don’t worry about the marksmanship course. We’ll have you ready.”

  Unless you’re in jail, added an inner voice. He decided to put off discussing their relationship. There’d be time for that when they’d found the real killer. Still, he couldn’t help being bothered by her attitude.

  “You don’t know how important training at Kesseldorf is to me,” she said quietly as he opened the car door for her.

  He opened the back door and helped Sadie get in. He put his backpack in the trunk and took out the police scanner, then closed the lid. Inside the car, he attached the device to the dashboard and turned it on. A blast of static shot out of the machine. He adjusted the volume, listening to the police dispatcher. He fiddled with the dial until he was on the sheriff’s department channel.