Murder by Nature (Organic Tropical Mystery Series)

by Lynn Ambers

  I kept paddling slowly to give me enough time to survey the area. It was not until I turned near the open water to head home that I noticed a sign warning shallow water with the number 17 on it. It would be easy to tell Mathew where I found Blake. If I decided to tell him.

  The sun was warm on my back as I paddled towards my own mangrove entrance. It was time to get back and get to work. I took a moment to breathe in the sea air. I also took a moment to be grateful for being in the kayak and everything I had.

  Everything I had could be taken from me if I did not put in the work or keep moving forward. It was not always easy to keep going but it was important to be grateful and keep going every day.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Angela and I sat down at one of the outside tables at the Mayocrab Café at the end of main street. The waiter brough us lemonades and took our order. We both had the same thing the crab dip plate. The plate came with crab, crackers, olives, cheese, and a cool veggie salad. The crab dip is delicious at Mayocrab along with just about everything else.

  “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Angela said.

  “I know I have missed you so much,” I said. “I have been working, you have been working. We are so busy with season. I also have been busy trying to get the murderer to free David.”

  “How’s David doing?” she said.

  “You mean you haven’t heard?” I said.

  “No,” she said.

  “He is free,” I said.

  “Really, that is amazing. Oh, thank god. Now I don’t have to be worried about you playing Ms. Sleuth,” she said.

  “Well, David is free, but the murderer is still out there,” I said.

  “Oh Felicity, just forget it. You were only concerned about David and now you have him back,” she said.

  “Hey, I was concerned about Valerie also. She needs justice. She has no family. Who is looking out for her?” I said.

  “Honey that is very sweet of you, but David was your involvement in the case, so just let the cops do their job,” Angela said.

  “Yeah, you know your right. I have enough to do with the farm and the market. The festival is coming up. I just need to be focused. I have information though that I need to do something with,” I said.

  “What do you mean? What information?” she said.

  “Okay so remember I went to Puerto Rico when all this started because of the tip from Valerie’s datebook.”

  “Yes, your breaking and entering thing. Okay.”

  “Well, I went back to tell Caleb that we were still looking for her killer and his hotel was all boarded up. Granted it could be for hurricane season, but that place has no windows except for small ones because of privacy and only the office has some windows. The guy has just vanished. I cannot find a trace of him.”

  “That is not saying much. He could be doing anything. He might have hotels elsewhere. Who cares? You barely knew him.”

  “Okay, but there was a picture of Caleb and Mr. Dalefort in front of Mr. Dalefort’s yacht in St. Bart’s.”

  “That is a little odd. It is quite coincidental that Caleb would know Mr. Dalefort of all people. Who knows he could have visited Valerie and gotten to know Mr. Dalefort somehow? She did own a public bakery.”

  “Yes, true that is possible, but I asked Mr. Dalefort and he said that he met the guy in St. Bart’s and that was it.”

  “Hmm, still not any type of guilt.”

  “Okay then I saw Blake the other day on my kayak dragging four boxes, and you cannot tell anyone this,” I said.

  “You know I won’t,” she said.

  “Okay, so one of the boxes tilted, and prescription drugs fell out. He said that they were seconds from a place in PR and that he was just helping someone get them to someone who sells them to low-income families in Miami,” I said.

  “Puerto Rico makes prescription drugs?” Angela said.

  “Yes, they are one of the biggest manufactures in the world of prescription drugs,” I said.

  “Wow, I didn’t know that. Do you believe him that that was one-time thing?”

  “No because when I was diving for seaweed a while back and Mathew and I got stuck, Blake helped us get out of the sandbar. I saw these tracks under his boat that I had never seen before. I noticed that same type of hardware on those boxes?”

  “Why would the Dalefort’s need to smuggle drugs. They are millionaires,” Angela said.

  “This is what I am trying to work out. It all does not make sense,” I said.

  “Are you going to tell Mathew about the drugs?”

  “I don’t know, I mean Blake said it was heart medicine for low-income families. The interesting thing is Matt found out there was a prescription drug ring connected to the sting that we did.”

  “And you believed that with Blake and you did a sting. The two must be related?”

  “Valerie is dead, Blake was arguing with Valerie before she died. Maybe she was going to give his secret away and he had her killed.”

  “It is a very good theory, but does he really seem like the killer kind.”

  “I know. I don’t know. There must be a way to find out who is behind the death of the two boat guys in jail. Now let’s dig into this excellent crab dip.”

  “I hear you sister; this dip is so delicious, solving crime has got to be put on hold.”

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  “Okay, do we have all the plants loaded in the trucks. We must get them to the float by 9:00 am so they can place them before the 4 o’clock start time. The afternoon was beautiful for a parade. The floats were starting at 4:00 so the last one would past Sunset Square at 5:15 just before the sunset went down. That was when the party really started.

  It looked like the night would be beautiful about seventy-eight degrees. Some might say that 78 is too warm, but for Floridians who love the heat seventy-eight is simply perfect.

  Mitch and I jumped into the truck and headed for the rehab center to drop off the flowers for the float. We drove around to the side of the building where the float was being set up. The float already looked amazing.

  The large word sobriety was in a nice chunky font. Everyone had worked so hard covering the wire sunshine with papier mache and yellow cups. There were also baskets of candy hanging for the rehabbers to throw to the crowd.

  The rehabbers were gonna dress up and grab the candy off the float and throw the sweets to the spectators. There was also candy in the little yellow cups so that there would be no space when they threw the candy out. There were caramel’s, bubble gum, skittles, starburst, butterscotch, saltwater taffy, key lime flavored, and more. All the candy was of course a sort of bribe to convince the crowd to vote for the rehab float in the float contest.

  The best float was to be determined by the crowd. Everyone would head down to square where volunteers were ready to take the votes. The votes were tallied as they came in. The voting would close at 8:00 and the winner was to be announced at 8:30. The winner was crowned the top entertainers of Marina fest.

  Many people in the town including everybody at the farm were hoping the rehab float would beat the Dalefort float. The Dalefort’s business had won the last six contests in a row. We really did not care who won, many people just wanted someone to beat the Dalefort’s this year.

  A bunch of people came to help us unload the yellow and orange flowers from the float. We all worked quickly. Some people were already putting the plants in place. The flowers were the last thing that the float needed, and it would be ready to go.

  Nila, the rehab director came over to me and said.

  “Thank you, Felicity, for the donation. We always appreciate your help, love.”

  “Your very welcome, “I said. “We have to go. I can’t wait to see the finished product tonight.” I reached out to give her a hug.

  “We will see you tonight, thank you again, the flowers are beautiful,” Nila said. I smiled.

  Mitch and I got back in the truck and drove back towards the farm.


  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Mitch and I got back to the farm. I gave everybody ½ of the day off so people could get ready for the festival tonight. We all shuffled around to finish the days farm work. There was no market day today, because of the festival.

  Mathew was going to pick me up, but he also was on duty tonight so he would hang out a little and then do work as well. I thought maybe tonight was the night we might get a little closer.

  I did some stuff around the house until about 2:30 and then started to get ready. I picked out a simple floral dress that was cute comfortable and stopped about mid-thigh. I showered, dried my hair, and put make-up on. I sprayed myself with my favorite light floral perfume. If there was ever another business, I would love to be in, it would be growing the flowers and pressing them to make beautiful smelling floral perfume.

  I got a text from Mathew saying he would pick me up in about a half an hour. I popped open a bottle of pinot grigio and poured myself a small glass.

  Mathew picked me up and we drove down main street just before they were getting ready to close it for the festival. The booths were set up for the partygoers. Ladies were walking around in bikinis getting ready to have their bodies painted. Some already had purple paint, glitter and bows decorated on them.

  The usual guys were moseying around in their big floral button-down shirts with beers in their hands. Kids had glow sticks and streamers in their hands to shake around.

  For just this one night the open container law was lifted in the specific blocked off parade area, so everyone could have a good time. The town ordered extra security for everyone’s safety. The partygoers at the festival were known to get a little rowdy.

  There were decorations everywhere. The last of the lights were being strung from the lamp posts. Some people had on costumes and some just had regular weird clothes on. There was a light festive atmosphere all over Marina Key.

  Our friends rented a hotel room at the Pink Conch Inn with a large balcony on the corner of sunset square and main street. We could see the boats in the harbor, the parade by, and the sunset all while drinking margaritas, wine, and beer.

  There would be about eight of us to begin with. By the end of the night who knew who would show up. Mathew and brought a cheese and veggie platter along with a fruit platter. I had a plate with passion fruit, mangoes, strawberries, and chocolate.

  The party lights were hung throughout the town. The town’s own streetlights also added to the glow of the night. Food and drink vendors were selling their best tonight. Cars parked everywhere. More people were dressed up with feathers and sequins. It was a second Halloween.

  We turned left off main street and then took a right onto Palm Street which runs parallel to main street. The hotel was at the end of palm street. We parked in the back of Angela’s store and walked to the hotel.

  Angela was going to keep her gift shop open until after the parade and then join us at the hotel. There were always people who wanted to buy little souvenirs and gifts.

  We walked into the hotel and road the elevator up to the third floor. We walked to room 306. We knocked on the door and Annabelle answered.

  “Hi, loves, so glad you could make it.” She gave both of us a gracious hug.” Mathew held up the cooler.

  “We brought drinks,” he said.

  “Oh, wonderful, you can set them over there with the collection. Everybody is well on their way of feeling good. Please join in,” she said.

  “We will,” I said, “it has been quite a beginning to the season.”

  “Oh, I know honey,” Annabelle said. “I am so sorry you have had to deal with all this murder business. Thankfully, we can get back to normal now that those guys were arrested and David is out of jail,” she said. Mathew and I looked at each other.

  “Yes right, we have so much to celebrate tonight,” I said., “Let’s get a drink,” I said.

  “Yes, lets get you two a drink,” Annabelle said.

  “Non for me right now, but I will be back later. I am on duty, but you guys enjoy. I will have a soda for now,” Mathew said.

  Mitch walked towards us with two long stem wine glasses and hands me and Annabella each a glass.

  “Do you guys want to head down in about an hour to see David perform his acoustic songs on the stage,” Mitch said.

  “Yes, yes of course, but can’t we see it from here?” I said.

  “Yeah, we can, but I thought maybe you would want to be closer,” he said.

  “Let’s check the view from the balcony,” I said. We walked onto the balcony. The view was beautiful. We could see boats in the distance to the right in the marina. Sunset square was right in front of us. People were walking around everywhere. The crowd was getting thicker. We had a great view of the stage where David would play.

  “I have to head out to help with the details,” said Mathew, “but I will be back in a while.”

  “Aww darn,” came a collective sound from all of us.

  “I’ll walk with you,” I said.

  “Let me know when you go to see the floats, maybe I can meet you,” he said.

  “Okay, I will. I’ll text you my location, see you soon,” I said.

  “Okay, see you soon, be safe.” he said. I closed the door and joined everybody on the balcony to relax. We started some serious people watching.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  The parade started. The hotel was on Sunset Square, but the street did not go through the square. We were going to walk up to main street to see the parade. Nobody wanted to go so I decided to walk to Angela’s shop and watch the parade from outside the front of her shop. I told everybody I’d be back later.

  I walked up main street to see all the fun. People were sitting on the curb talking, drinking, and having a good time. People were smiling and sipping the drinks in their hands. I got up to Angela’s shop and went inside. There were some people shopping, but it was a relief from all the people outside.

  “Hi Ang,” I said. I walked to the middle of the store where the counter was.

  “Hi, I thought we were meeting later,” she said.

  “I know, but I want to see the parade and we can’t see it from the hotel, so we can see it from here and then walk back later,” I said.

  “Yeah, that sounds great, do you want a glass of wine?” she said.

  “Yes, thank you,” I said. Angela walked over to a table that was set-up with wine, cheese, and crackers. She poured me a glass and handed it to me.

  “Thanks,” I said. We clinked our glasses together. I could hear the cheers. The floats were beginning to come down the street. People from the store heard the cheers and we all walked outside to see the first float.

  Everyone was looking in awe of the first float. It was a giant tomato with a giant spray bottle next to it and big yellow bugs flying around the tomato. The spray bottle was decked out in reflective material. There were people in plant costumes on the float throwing candy to the crowd along with magnets, toys, and other little trinkets.

  This was the big Dalefort’s float. Every time the gigantic spray bottle sprayed a mist, the bugs would fall to the ground of the float like they were dead. Once the bugs died some time would pass and then the yellow bugs would pop up again. Then the whole show would play over again. It was ridiculous. He was glorifying spraying pesticides on food.

  Angela and I looked at each other shook our heads. The sad thing was people were enjoying it, yet they did not really understand the full spectrum of what this float meant. Although the float did look cool, a lot of what was behind it was not so great.

  We stood watching the bug float go by with everyone else. No need to worry about the Dalefort’s now. Blake and his drugs, Mr. Dalefort and his pesticides and philandering, and Mrs. Dalefort and all the bad they did would for sure catch up to them sooner or later.

  Angela and I watched as the other floats went by. The other floats were great too. Ray’s Restaurant had a great float with a large lobster and all the people on the float were mini lobs
ters. Sunny’s yoga float was a hit with people on pedestals changing yoga positions every few minutes. Angela and I loved that one.

  Then came the final float glowing as the tail of the parade. The rehab float looked beautiful. They had lights shining up at the large Sobriety letters and a sun bursting from behind the sign. Everything looked bright and beautiful. The candy was flying everywhere. Kids were scampering to catch some in their hand.

  We watched as it went by. I recognized some of the rehabbers and they recognized me. We waved to each other. One threw four large handfuls of candy in my direction. It was hilarious. The people around me were happy too because, there was no way I was catching all that candy.

  The rehab float was the last one and it went by. The crowd started following it and the party really began kicking up. Angela and I went back into her store. It was time to close up shop.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Angela locked up and we were walking with the crowd. The streets were full of people. The costumes were colorful. Some people were half clothed. The air was hot and when it gets so hot less clothes help when you are dancing and drinking.

  I got swallowed up by the crowd and was looking around for Angela. I lost her and had left my phone at the hotel. I just decided to keep going with the flow and dancing and singing.

  I was dancing and laughing. I felt hands slide around my body on my rib cage and squeeze awfully hard. I started to struggle and couldn’t catch my breath easily. I was overpowered by the strength of the arms holding me. I could feel something cold and metal-like in between my chest. I could feel a hot breath in my ear.

  “Having fun Felicity? Keep walking and listen,” said a deep voice. It took me a second to place it. I went to scream, and I heard,” Oh I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Right now, I have the tip of a very thick serrated knife pointed just below your heart. I will push it in if you try to scream.