I said bye to Alani and pushed the phone into the pocket of my shorts. On my way to the staff parking lot, the jog picked up to a run as I passed the man-made lagoon that made its way around the grounds. I only stopped when I reached the bike. I probably should have gone home for a shower first, but my work shirt covered my swimsuit adequately. Sure, I was now getting wet spots on my butt and boobs, but people would just have to get over it. I needed to get to Casey.
The resort wasn't that far from town. It only took me about fifteen minutes to get there. Yes, I'd come close to breaking land speed records for a bike, especially a cruiser designed for leisure, but nothing had slowed me down. Not even the red light I probably should have stopped at. And I was sure Mr. Fathersham would forgive me for riding out in front of his vehicle, causing him to swerve.
I dropped the bike against the police station wall and ran inside, ignoring the aroma of coffee wafting across the street from the coffee shop. Inside I found an officer behind a counter, tapping away on his keyboard. He raised his eyes to me as I approached the counter in a whirlwind.
"Where is he?" I asked, my breath coming out in short, sharp spurts. I wasn't really fit enough to have been riding as fast as I had, and it was now catching up to me.
"Pardon, miss?" he asked.
"Casey. Casey Dalton. Where is he?"
The sergeant raised his eyebrow at me. "He's with the detective. He'll be out when they're finished. Please take a seat if you'd care to wait." He nodded towards row of chairs pushed against the far wall. As I looked to where he was pointing, Luke stood and walked towards me.
"Sam, what are you doing here?" he asked, taking my arm and leading me away from the counter.
The station was pretty busy. Voices and ringing phones mingled, filling the air. An attractive woman in a pastel suit glanced my way as she switched her briefcase from one hand to another. She looked like a lawyer. I hoped Casey had a lawyer. But maybe not her. I tried to remember the name of the man who helped Mum a few months back. He'd be much better suited to Casey, as he was nowhere near as pretty as this woman was.
"Alani called me," I said to Luke, giving him the evil eye. "Why didn't you call me? I should be here."
"Yes, but Casey asked me not to tell you until after we knew what was going on."
I took a breath and sat heavily on the nearest chair.
"What is going on?"
"All I know for sure is that Detective Ray came into The Lava Pot and asked Owen for Casey. I was in the kitchen talking to Casey at the time, so I followed him into the bar. The detective advised that he had the murder weapon and wanted Casey to accompany him to the police station for some questions."
"Was he arrested?"
"Not that I know."
"What was the murder weapon?"
"I'm not sure."
"How much longer will they be?"
"I don't know."
"What do you know?"
"Not much. Sam, we just have to be patient."
Yes, but we all knew that wasn't a strong character trait of mine.
I would report that even though I wasn't particularly patient, I did wait quietly. About an hour later Casey, the pretty lawyer in the pastel suit, and Detective Ray wandered down the corridor towards the station's waiting area.
Casey looked pale, the lawyer looked smug, and the detective looked tired.
"Don't leave town, Mr. Dalton. I will no doubt have more questions," Detective Ray said, nodding to Casey. "Have a good day, Miss Hunt," he said to the lawyer.
I quickly moved towards him. The detective stopped when he saw me.
"Samantha," he said in way of acknowledgement. He looked me up and down, frowned, then turned and walked quickly back down the corridor before I got a chance to ask him anything.
Casey looked at the lawyer. "Thanks, Angie. You were a big help."
"Glad to be there. Call me if you get pulled in again. And don't say anything to them until I get here."
"Will do."
Okay, at least she sounded helpful.
* * *
It turned out that the murder weapon was an ice pick with The Lava Pot inscribed on the handle. That gave Casey motive and opportunity, and it placed the murder weapon right in his path. It also came out that Rick Dawson was correct. The resort room that had been ransacked was Ryan's. And the detective believed it to have happened after his death. (Which of course I already knew. I just hadn't confessed it to anyone yet.)
"Still, anyone could have murdered Ryan," I commented from the back seat of Luke's car. My bike had been tied into the trunk. Luckily, Luke had a stretchy rope thing to tie it in with.
"I agree," said Luke.
From what I could see of Casey, he looked thoughtful.
"Why was his room turned over?" he asked, facing me.
I did the palms-up thing. Like I had any idea. However, guilt betrayed me, and before I knew it, I confessed to how I'd been in Ryan's room and how I had hidden in the cupboard when someone else had entered.
"Everything was neat and tidy when I was there," I explained, ignoring the death stares I was receiving from both Casey and Luke. "Someone turned that room over after I'd left. That made it sometime after ten."
"Have you told Detective Ray any of this?" asked Luke.
"Of course not. If it got back to management, I'd be sacked."
"Sam, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" asked Casey, concern dancing in his electric blue eyes.
I shrugged. "I didn't think it was when I did it. But I had the crap scared out of me when someone else came in."
"Did you get to see who it was?" asked Luke, looking at me in the rear-vision mirror.
"No. But it felt male."
"Felt male?" asked Luke, signaling and turning on the green light.
"Yeah. Don't ask me how I know that. Maybe it was the sound of the footsteps, or a scent that I couldn't identify," I explained. "All I know for sure is when I first opened the safe, the journal was in there. Afterwards, it was gone," I said, watching the houses zip past as Luke accelerated down the street. "Were there any fingerprints on the murder weapon?" I asked, thinking of CSI.
"No. It was clean," replied Casey.
"Where did they find it?"
"In one of the bins in the car park at the entrance to the forest walk."
"When you were there waiting for us, did you see anyone near the bins?" I asked.
"No. But I wasn't watching them. I wasn't the only one there. Another couple had pulled in, and they were having a heated argument about whether or not that was the stop on the tourist map. They kind of took my attention."
"If the police believe that you had motive and opportunity, why didn't they arrest you?" asked Luke.
"Luke! That's an awful thing to ask," I snapped.
"Well, I'm just asking. I don't believe Casey did it."
"They can't arrest me because they have no proof—'yet,' the detective said. He's waiting on the forensics to come back on the blood from my T-shirt."
"When he gets it back, will he look in a different direction?" I asked.
It was Casey's turn to do the palms-up thing. "I'm his number one suspect."
"Don't worry, mate," said Luke. "We'll figure this out and clear your name."
Love for my brother swelled as I watched him punch Casey's arm in a show of camaraderie.
"Have you seen your old mate Travis again?" I asked Casey.
"No. I've made some enquiries with a few blokes back in Australia to see if I can get a hold of him. I want to ask him more about what he's doing here."
"Maybe we should all get together and work out a plan for how to find him and how to clear your name," I suggested.
Luke nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll call Alani."
"Come over to my place," said Casey. "My fridge is full of beer, and I need a beer."
We dropped Casey at his house and then headed home. I was going for that shower and some clean clothes, and Luke was going to pick up Alani. The clock read
2 pm, and I already felt exhausted. Luke dropped me in the driveway and continued on his way.
Home alone, I started to peel off my clothes before I even made it to the bathroom. I had my swimsuit still on, so it didn't matter if someone was looking through the windows. Not that they would. This wasn't that kind of neighborhood.
I stepped into the shower and allowed the hot water to soothe my aching shoulders. My mind started going over the events of the last couple of days.
Travis and Ryan were both from Casey's past, and they had both turned up in Aloha Lagoon at the same time. Then Ryan was murdered. What did that tell me?
Absolutely nothing, that was what. Surely if Travis was responsible, he would have killed Ryan in Australia. He wouldn't have followed him here to do it. But then I remembered how Casey said Travis and Ryan were both interested in lost treasure. Ryan believed he had the evidence stating where the treasure was. Could Travis have followed him and then killed him to be the only one knowing where it was?
And who took the journal?
Casey was holding something back from me. I just wasn't sure what. I believed it wasn't anything bad, at least not in the I-murdered-Ryan sense. Was it to do with the woman who lied about the charges?
And what was the real story of the treasure? Was that what all of this was about?
I made a mental note to raise this question at our afternoon meeting.
After doing all required for showering, I wrapped a towel around me and made my way across the hall to my room.
The breeze blowing down the hallway was unusually strong, and Mum's bedroom door slammed shut. I jumped at the sound and then chastised myself.
My feet padded silently over the floorboards into my room, looking out of the window to the trees. They were moving with the wind, but it wasn't as strong as it was in the hallway. It was almost like the back door was open and the air was being pulled through the house. But I knew that wasn't the case. I'd closed and locked it myself.
The hair on my arms stood up as a chill ran down my spine. No one was home, and it felt eerie.
I pulled my cut-off denim shorts and black tank top out of their drawer and got dressed.
Something crashed in the kitchen.
Okay, that wasn't my imagination.
My adrenaline spiked as I called, "Luke! Is that you?"
I held my breath waiting for his response. Silence. No Luke, then.
Maybe a window was open and the wind blew something over.
With a spike in my blood pressure, I quietly padded down the hallway, scanning the room ahead of me.
And that was when I saw that the back door, the one I had closed and locked, was wide open, swinging on the breeze.
My lungs emptied as adrenaline took my breath away.
I told myself there was a good explanation and not to be scared. It was the middle of the afternoon, and no one was there to hurt me. I was just being silly.
Still—it didn't settle the nerves.
"Hello?" I called, sticking to the edge of the room.
I got no answer. I could see the back door from where I was standing, so I took a minute to assess what was going on. Looking around me for a weapon, I found nothing that would be any help. Instead, I crept over to the kitchen, my heart beating fast.
Mum's vase of flowers was lying on the kitchen floor, broken glass surrounding it. The stale water trickled its way towards me.
Alright…did I close the door properly? I racked my mind, thinking back. I thought I did, but I was preoccupied with what was happening with Casey. Could I have missed closing it, and the wind picked up, pushing it open?
No. Even though I often lacked focus, a life in the city had taught me to be pedantic about things like that. I would never not check that a door was locked properly.
So how was it open now?
Fear battled with my conscious mind, each of them thinking it knew best. Fear told me someone had opened it. The logical side of my brain was telling me that was ridiculous.
I stepped over the broken glass, making my way towards the knife drawer, fear being the loudest voice in my head at that time.
Silently sliding the drawer open, my hand felt around searching for the largest knife I could grab, my eyes never leaving the door. I wrapped my fingers around the plastic handle as footsteps echoed loud on the outside timber deck running the length of the house.
Just as I pulled the knife from the drawer, I heard a voice.
Fear was screaming in my ear, and it took me a second to realize what I was hearing.
It was only as Luke stepped through the open door that it all made sense.
"Sam, what are you doing?" he asked, looking at me like I was crazy.
All of a sudden I felt silly. Adrenaline was causing my knees and hands to shake, but I didn't want Luke to know that. Instead I quietly dropped the knife and silently closed the drawer.
"What's that mess?" he asked, looking passed me.
"Oh," I said, attempting to keep the tremble from my voice. "Ummm…the wind must have blown the flowers over."
"Are you okay?" Alani asked, walking in behind him. "You look a bit pale."
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Yes, yes I'm fine," I lied. "I just got a fright over the flowers, and I didn't hear your car pull up."
I turned from them and busied myself with cleaning the flowers up.
"Oh, I left the car on the road. Your bike was still in the trunk, and I wouldn't have had the room to get it out if I'd pulled into the driveway. I should have dropped it off earlier, but I forgot all about it. It was only when I got out at Alani's that I remembered it."
"Geez, don't you look in your rear-vision mirror?" I asked.
"Yeah! Usually. Obviously not today though," said Luke, smiling. "I don't know how I missed it." He gave me his lopsided grin, reminding me of a little boy. "My mind was on Casey and how we can help him. Not a good way to drive, I know."
"Oh don't worry, Luke," said Alani. "I once had a police vehicle behind me, and I never saw them once. When I did finally notice them, I pulled over, and the officer told me he'd been behind me for ten minutes, lights flashing." She shrugged.
"How did you get out of that one?"
"I just smiled at him, and he seemed not to mind too much."
Yeah, if I had Alani's smile, I could probably get away with a lot too.
* * *
Casey lived in a gorgeous little two-story beach hut across the road from the ocean. The main room contained a sofa, a TV, and a coffee table. Behind that at the back of the room, was a kitchen, also small, with just one counter running along the back wall and a dining table with three chairs. A set of stairs was on the left of the room, leading up to the bathroom and bedrooms.
We all sat around his small table discussing the murder. I'd filled everyone in on how I'd questioned Lori and about my theory of her obsession with Ryan and how I thought she was stalking him. The funny thing was, no one else seemed to share my enthusiasm for it.
"I don't know, Sam. Would Lori know how to kill someone like that?" asked Alani.
I shrugged.
"That strike was precise," said Luke. "Not too many people would have that kind of knowledge."
"Has she ever worked?" I asked.
Everyone did a palms-up. They had no idea.
"Why?" asked Alani.
"Just wondered if she'd ever been in the line of work where, you know, you kill people." It was a stupid thing to say. But it was too late—it was out there.
Luke shook his head at me, and Casey smiled.
"Detective Ray asked if I knew if Ryan owned a cell phone," said Casey, moving the discussion in a different direction. "I told him I had no idea, but I assumed he would."
"Yes. He had a phone," I said, excitedly. "Well at least he did the night he was in The Lava Pot." I remembered falling off my stool when trying to look at it.
"He didn't have it on him when they searched his body?" asked Luke.
"Obviously not."
> "What happened to it?" Casey asked.
"Maybe he dropped it. Or maybe it was in the backpack," I said quietly. Even though I didn't remember seeing it.
"Backpack?" Casey asked.
"We found Ryan's backpack near the lagoon," I explained.
"Where's it now?"
I turned to Luke. He'd been the last one to have it.
"At the lagoon," said Luke, looking at me and letting out a very long breath.
"What's it doing there?"
"I put it down to get dressed and then forgot about it, as I was preoccupied with Roxy barking." Luke quickly recounted to Casey what had exactly happened.
"So it's still there," I said more as a statement than a question.
"Probably," said Luke, his jaw muscles flexing. "I should have thought to have taken it with us."
"We weren't to know that we were about to find Ryan's murdered body," said Alani, touching Luke's hand.
"But I don't remember seeing a phone in it," I commented. "Just an iPad, notebook, and a water bottle."
"If Detective Ray is asking me about it, then I'm guessing the police haven't found it or the backpack yet," said Casey. "Maybe we should go and see if it's still there."
"That's a good idea. If we find it, the iPad at least may be able to tell us something. Before we hand it all to the police, of course" I added with a smile.
"Yeah, it won't hurt for us to learn a few facts about Ryan," said Luke.
I considered what I knew about Ryan.
"Why murder him?" I asked. "If it had been me, I would have waited until he found the treasure before killing him for it." I'd been thinking of this a lot in regard to Travis.
"Maybe this isn't about the treasure," said Casey. "Maybe someone wanted to kill him anyway, and they saw the opportunity."
"Ryan had only been in Aloha Lagoon a few days," said Alani.
"Yeah, but let's not forget that Travis turned up too," added Casey.
"And Bicep Man," I added.
"Who?" asked Luke.
I quickly reminded them I had seen Bicep Man that day in the forest and how he had been asking Owen about Casey.
"Why was he asking that?" asked Luke.
I did the palms-up thing and shrugged. "I guess we need to add that to the list of things to find out."
Lethal Tide Page 9