by Lena Gregory
“Now.” Simone struck Francesca, wrapping her arm around the shorter girl’s neck and tightening her grip.
Bee whirled on Levi, almost simultaneously, grabbing his wrist and twisting him against the wall.
Cass lunged at Francesca, frantically grappling to grab hold of the gun.
A loud crack echoed in the chamber.
Francesca froze, giving Cass the instant she needed to grab the gun.
Simone shoved her to the floor and took the gun from Cass, holding it out in front of her, aimed directly at Francesca.
“You broke my arm,” Levi screamed.
Bee aimed the gun he’d taken from him at Levi and backed toward Cass. “You’re lucky that’s all I broke, buddy.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Cass dug her feet into the warm sand and leaned back in her beach chair, staring up at the lighthouse. It would be a while before the sight of it didn’t bring a chill all the way to her bones.
Bee lifted his sunglasses and looked up the beach toward Mystical Musings. “Seems we have company.”
Simone strode toward them, her smile wide. She waved as she approached.
Bee stood and offered his chair, then spread a towel over the sand and sat facing them, his back to the lighthouse. Purposely?
“Thank you, Bee.” Simone slipped off her sandals and sat. “The contracts are signed, and I am now the official owner of Bay Island Ghost Tours.”
“You changed the name?” Bee squinted against the sun, then slid his sunglasses back into place.
“I thought it best.” She crossed one leg over the other, leaned her head back to angle her face toward the sun, and closed her eyes. “It reflects the new direction I’ll be taking the tours in and rids the company of Fred’s influence.”
“Well, congratulations. I couldn’t be happier.” Cass reached over and gave her a quick hug. “Have you spoken to Amelia?”
She nodded. “I’ve been staying with her since the incident at the lighthouse.”
“How is she?”
“She’s holding her own. She’s finally coming to realize her relationship with Fred had already ended before he died, when Levi showed her proof Fred had been fooling around with Piper. After that, it was just a matter of filing for divorce. She’ll heal. It’ll just take time.”
“Did she ever?” Bee asked. “File, I mean?”
“No. Amelia and I have been friends for a long time, and when she called me, crying and crushed over Fred’s infidelity, I begged her to just file for divorce and be done with him, but she insisted on making his life miserable, payback for duping her into helping him become successful then being unfaithful.”
Bee sat up straighter and folded his legs. “So, what did Amelia do to get even with him?”
“She told Levi Fred planned to cheat him out of his portion of the profit and then paid Levi to find the treasure before Fred could.”
If Simone had been able to talk her out of her revenge, Fred might still be alive.
“Aha.” Bee snapped his fingers. “That’s what was in the envelope she was passing to him in the surveillance photo. A payment.”
“Apparently, Fred wasn’t a very trusting man,” Simone said.
Bee snorted. “Untrustworthy people usually aren’t.”
“Very true, dear. In the end, Levi betrayed her and tried to find the treasure for himself.”
“Is that how you ended up buying the company?”
“Yes. The tour company had always been in Amelia’s name, since she’d applied for the original loan to start the business, and when she found out he was cheating on her, she offered it to me first. First, because she knows I’m an avid history buff.” A slow lazy smile spread across her face. “And even more so because she knew the addition of the paranormal aspect would entice me.”
“So Amelia knew you were psychic?” Cass asked.
“You can’t be such close friends with someone without picking up on what they can do.” She shifted her gaze and her smile to Bee.
Cass frowned. She’d asked Bee numerous times how he’d known Simone was going to attack Francesca, and each time he’d insisted he hadn’t. Now that she had them both together, it was a good time to find out the truth. “Bee swears he didn’t hear you tell him to attack, yet he went after Levi an instant after you attacked Francesca. It happened almost simultaneously. So fast I’d have sworn it was a coordinated attack.”
“And it was.” Simone shrugged. “In a sense. Bee might not have been able to read me, but I could read him.”
Bee lurched forward. “You were in my head?”
“You could say that.”
“Great.” He slapped his hands over his ears as if afraid his thoughts might leak out. “I’m going to need to make a tinfoil helmet.”
Simone’s smooth, easy laughter seemed to mollify Bee, and he leaned back on his hands, still sulking but not as aggressively.
“Don’t worry, Bee. It’s not like that. A good number of things led me to anticipate what you were going to do, not the least of which was your feelings for Cass. There was no way you were allowing her down into that hole if you could stop it.”
“No, there wasn’t.” Bee’s cheeks flared red, and he changed the subject. “So, Simone, what made you become such an avid history buff?”
She tilted her head, narrowed her eyes, and studied him. “I love gossip and, after all, what is history but gossip from the past?”
“You’re doing it again, aren’t you?” Bee slapped his hands against his temples, fingers spread wide to cover as much of his head as possible. “Stay out of my head. It’s creepy.”
“No, Bee. I promise I’m not in your head. Even though I managed to call out to Cass in the instant before we attacked, because she is psychic as well, mostly my talents run the same as hers. I can read people very well, my instincts are strong and I trust them, and I can hear the dead speak.”
Bee choked.
Simone just laughed, the two of them seeming to understand each other. Despite Bee’s reluctance, Cass could tell he’d become quite fond of her.
“Will you be moving to Bay Island to oversee the tours?” Cass warmed to the idea of Simone hanging around. It had been nice having someone around to talk to who understood the issues she was having.
“No, actually, I’ve hired Quincy Yates to run the company, so he’ll be staying year-round, and I’ll be popping in and out.” She sat up and turned to face Cass. “Right now, I need to head back to the city and speak to the detectives in charge of my husband’s case.”
Cass recalled the last words she’d heard before being knocked out. “He’s dead. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I really knew it already, though he was too stubborn, even in death, to reach out to me and let me help. I saw and heard the same thing you did, though. And a couple of the detectives on the case know me and trust my abilities. Now that we know his mistress was the one to kill him, we have a direction to head in.” She stood. “Thank you for helping me with that, Cass. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
Cass and Bee stood as well, and Cass hugged Simone. “No problem. That’s what friends are for.”
And Simone had become a friend, from the first moment she’d felt that instant bond with her to the moment she’d fought by her side.
“And thank you, as well, Bee. If not for you, Cass and I both would have died in that tunnel.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely.
Bee blushed all the way to his hairline. “Yeah, well, like Cass said, that’s what friends do.”
She kissed his cheek. “Well, I am very proud to call you my friend then, and if there’s ever anything you need, you just call. In the meantime, I hope you’ll both keep in touch.”
After promising they would, they watched Simone walk back across the beach.
Bee watched her go, then picked up his towel and shook it out. “You know, I was prepared not to like her.”
“And how did that work out for you?�
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He laughed.
A loud rumbling from the direction of the lighthouse caught their attention, and they turned to watch the heavy equipment they’d brought in to move some of the boulders and dig up the treasure Bee had been able to pinpoint from the journal’s description. “I can’t wait to see what they come up with.”
“Me neither, I—”
“Cass!” Luke ran toward them from the direction of Mystical Musings. “Bee!”
Cass stiffened as the image of a red vehicle drove through her head.
Bee grabbed her arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Hurry.” Luke ran faster. “You have to come.”
“Where?” Bee wrapped an arm around Cass and held her against him.
“The hospital. Tank’s already there, and an officer that was closer to the house already picked Stephanie up.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Cass closed her eyes, letting the hum of the tires against the smooth pavement lull her.
Luke had refused to tell her what was going on, though he did say Tank was all right. The image she’d seen as he ran toward her down the beach haunted her, flashing over and over in her mind. Bee sat beside her in the backseat, holding her hand. Whatever had happened, they’d get through it together.
Luke pulled to the curb in front of the emergency room and jumped out of the car.
Bee and Cass followed suit.
With Luke and Bee on either side of her, Cass braced herself for the worst and strode through the ER doors.
The barrage of voices assailed her. Not from within her own mind but from the crowded waiting room filled with hushed voices, pain-filled cries, and soft sobs. She blocked it all and followed the hallway Luke led her down.
Tank emerged from a curtained area at the end of the corridor, his eyes red and swollen. He held his arms wide. “Cass.”
“Are you all right?” She rushed into his embrace. “What happened?”
He held her close for another moment, then gestured toward a small waiting room.
Cass went in but didn’t sit.
Bee stood at her side, her rock, as always.
Tank faced her, his eyes bloodshot, his expression grim. “Cass, I just want you to know none of this would have happened if not for you.”
Her heart stopped for an instant, then thundered heavily against her ribs.
“They found the lighthouse figure used to kill Fred in the tunnel beneath the lighthouse, and I was heading back out there, when I noticed a car next to me. A beat-up red Nissan with patches of gray primer and a partially blocked license plate whose last three numbers were four, four, four.”
Butterflies fluttered in her chest along with the mamba her heart was doing. She covered her mouth to hold back a sob.
“I never would have given it a second glance if not for your warning. But, because of you, I did. And there was a child in the backseat. A little boy. Tears ran down his cheeks and he glanced at the driver and back at me, and I just knew something was wrong. Since he wasn’t in a car seat, I had just cause to pull the car over.” Tank’s voice hitched.
Bee sniffled.
Cass squeezed her eyes closed, dreading whatever would come next, willing him not to tell her.
“Stephanie’s with him now.”
Her eyes shot open.
“He’s been abused, Cass, and he’s being removed from his father’s custody. His mother apparently died a few years ago, and we can’t find any relatives as of yet. Stephanie and I have applied for emergency custody.”
Tears prickled the backs of her lids, and she had no hope of holding them back.
Bee grabbed her hand and strode out of the room to the curtained-off area Tank had come from. He yanked back the curtain and slapped a hand over his mouth.
Cass slid her arm through his elbow and sobbed softly.
Stephanie put a finger to her lips and pulled the sleeping child closer.
“She’s the only one he’ll let touch him. He’s four years old, and his name is Aiden. His father says he’s on the autistic spectrum.”
“Oh, dear.” Bee cried softly.
“It’ll take some time, but the father’s not objecting, and there’s no way the courts will return custody to him, so we’re working on arranging a private adoption. And it’s all thanks to you. You saved him, Cass. You saved our son.”
Books by Lena Gregory
Bay Island Psychic Mysteries
Death at First Sight
Occult and Battery
Clairvoyant and Present Danger
Spirited Away
All-Day Breakfast Café Mysteries
Scone Cold Killer
Murder Made to Order
A Cold Brew Killing
A Waffle Lot of Murder (coming soon!)
About the Author
Lena Gregory is the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series, which takes place on a small island between the north and south forks of Long Island, New York, and the All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series, which is set on the outskirts of Florida’s Ocala National Forest.
Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island. She recently relocated to Clermont, Florida, with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, jigsaw puzzles, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full-time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.
To learn more about Lena and her latest writing endeavors, visit her website at www.lenagregory.com/, and be sure to sign up for her newsletter at lenagregory.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9765d0711ed4fab4fa31b16ac&id=49d42335d1.