Six sweets under, p.24
Six Sweets Under, page 24
There were a few empty hangers, but I figured those were probably for guests. I took a quick look around the rest of the closet, but nothing stood out to me. Time was ticking by, so I eased the closet door shut and tiptoed to the washroom. I shut the door quietly and ran the water for a few seconds before returning to the hallway.
When I entered the kitchen, Dizzy bounced out of her seat, clutching the clipboard I’d left with her. “I think we’ve got everything we need.” She gave me a pointed look. “Do you need a drink or anything before we leave, Becca?”
“No, I’m good.” I addressed Maria. “Thanks so much for donating to the cause.”
She made a move to grab her crutches.
“You don’t need to get up,” Dizzy told her as she set her empty glass by the sink. “We’ll show ourselves out. Thank you so much for the donation and the drink.”
“You’re welcome,” Maria said. “Just let me know when I should have the gift basket ready.”
“Of course,” I said. “Someone will be in touch.”
Dizzy and I headed for the front of the cottage. As soon as we were out of Maria’s line of sight, Dizzy tucked her arm through mine and practically hauled me to the door. When we had it shut behind us, she turned to me, looking like she was ready to burst from anticipation.
“So?” she asked. “Is Maria the owner of the torn jacket?”
“Nope,” I replied, disappointment weighing heavily upon me. “It seems our plan is a total bust.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
We tried to track down Jolene or her husband, but had no luck there either. They weren’t at home or at the portable office by the town house development. Despite our distinct lack of success, Dizzy was determined to remain optimistic, and that helped to revive my spirits. We’d struck out for today, but we would try Oliver and Jolene again the next day. Since we had only one donation listed on our sheet so far, we spent the next couple of hours doing what I’d told Estelle we would do—visiting the other businesses on Venice Avenue. Everyone we talked to was willing to donate something to the auction, and by the time we wrapped up our last visit, we’d filled an entire sign-up sheet.
Dizzy needed to make a trip to the bank before it closed, so we parted ways and I set off for Estelle’s town house. I’d hand over the sheet we’d filled up, and keep one of the blank ones to take while visiting Oliver and Jolene the next day.
Dizzy and I had managed to make our rounds of the shops and businesses during a break in the rain, but as I walked toward Estelle’s neighborhood, lightning flashed over the mountains. A rumble of thunder followed soon after and big raindrops pelted down from the dark and ominous clouds. I picked up my pace, hugging the clipboard to my chest so the papers wouldn’t get wet.
When I reached the shelter of Estelle’s small porch, I wiped raindrops from my face. As thunder boomed overhead, I spotted Jolene driving along the street in a covered golf cart. For a split second, I considered trying to flag her down, but then lightning lit up the darkening sky and I thought better of it. There was no point in talking to her now, I realized as she trundled past. She wasn’t wearing a jacket, and I couldn’t get a look at her closet if I didn’t visit her at home.
I knocked on Estelle’s door, realizing as I did so that she might not yet be home from her volunteer shift at the seniors’ center. I cast an uneasy glance at the sky, wishing I’d gone straight home after saying goodbye to Dizzy.
Estelle opened the door and quickly ushered me inside. “You poor thing. You’re drenched! Come on in out of the storm.”
I handed over the clipboard and papers before I had a chance to drip all over them. “I still have a couple of business owners to talk to, but we did pretty well, I think. Dizzy helped me out.”
Estelle ran her gaze down the list and beamed. “Becca, this is fantastic! Thank you so much!”
She tore her attention away from the list and took a good look at me. “Let me get you a towel. And how about a hot drink?”
“Thank you, but that’s all right. I should probably get home before the storm gets any worse.”
“Then at least let me lend you an umbrella.”
“It’s probably best not to use one with all the lightning.”
“Of course. How silly of me. Then how about you borrow a jacket?” She opened the closet door. “I’ve got a couple I never use.”
“Thank you,” I said, as she riffled through a collection of jackets. “That would be . . .”
My voice died in my throat as I stared at the closet. Amid several other garments hung a black rain jacket with a four-inch tear by the bottom hem.
Terror washed over me. I forced myself to finish my sentence.
“That would be great.”
I didn’t know if it was another round of lightning or if Estelle’s eyes really flashed.
“Well, that was stupid of me,” she said, her voice taking on a chilling edge. “I never should have let you see that jacket. I was worried you’d recognized me at Archie’s place, but then when nobody said anything about it, I figured I was fine.”
“Archie’s place?” Even though my throat had gone as dry as a desert, I forced myself to speak normally, falling into the role of someone completely out of the loop. “What do you mean?”
“Nice try, Becca. I know you’re an actress, and you might have fooled me under different circumstances, but I saw you there, and I know you ran after me. And you recognized my jacket just now and put all the pieces together. Even an Oscar-worthy performance won’t convince me otherwise.”
Fear gripped me, making my chest tight.
I lunged for the front door. I tried to yank it open, but it didn’t budge.
I fumbled with the lock.
Pain exploded in the back of my head.
Silver stars glittered in front of my eyes.
Then darkness took over.
Chapter Thirty-Five
My head throbbed with pain. I didn’t want to open my eyes, but a sense of urgency nudged at my fuzzy mind. I forced my eyelids open and blinked in confusion. It took me several seconds to realize I was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
Footsteps sounded nearby. I tried to move, but something was wrong, aside from the pounding at the back of my skull. Some of the haziness cleared from my mind. I bit back a cry of pain as I raised my head enough to get a look at myself. I was in a hallway with hardwood floors. My hands were bound together, resting on my stomach. My ankles had also been tied together.
I rested my aching head on the floor again as memories came rushing back.
Estelle.
She must have killed Archie. And now she was probably going to kill me.
Alarm shot through my body. I sat up, wincing against the pain in my head. I moved my hands to my left pocket, where I’d left my phone. I patted the fabric of my shorts, but the pocket was empty.
I reached for the thin rope binding my ankles together.
“Stop it!” Estelle appeared at the end of the hall.
My pulse pounded in my ears. She had a gun, and it was pointed right at me.
I slowly pulled my bound hands away from my ankles.
“It didn’t have to be this way, you know.” She moved closer, keeping the gun trained on me. “You should have minded your own business. I tried to warn you. I tried to scare you off.”
“I don’t know anything.” I sounded calm even though I was anything but.
“Yes, you do.” Estelle grabbed me by the arm and hauled me to my feet with surprising strength. She shoved me against the wall, holding me there with her forearm while pointing the gun at my chest.
I made myself look at Estelle’s face rather than the weapon. “You’ve known my mom forever.” I hoped the reminder would appeal to some part of her that wouldn’t want to hurt me.
“You’re right. I have. And I can’t believe you’re making me do this to another friend.”
“Another . . . ?” My confusion disappeared in a flash of clarity. Susan Derendorf was her best friend. “You killed Lexi?”
Estelle’s eyes grew misty. A tear escaped, and she released her hold on me to wipe it away with the back of her hand. The barrel of the gun drifted off to the side.
I shoved her away from me as hard as I could. She slammed into the opposite wall.
I grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the gun, trying to wrestle the weapon away from her, all the time screaming at the top of my lungs for help.
Estelle kicked my shin so hard that I lost my grip on her. She knocked me to the floor.
I rolled onto my back. Estelle was breathing heavily and her hair was a wild mess, but she had the gun pointed at me again. She pulled two bandannas from her pocket.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t regain consciousness,” she said. “It would have made everything easier.”
She grabbed my shoulder and forced me to sit up. Then she stuffed one of the bandanas in my mouth. I tried to spit it out, to grab at it with my bound hands, but she yanked at my hair right where my head hurt the most. I nearly blacked out from the pain.
When my mind and vision cleared, Estelle had already finished gagging me. She climbed to her feet, still holding the gun.
“Lexi was an accident. I never would have hurt her on purpose. It was so dark on the highway that night, and she was dressed all in black. By the time I saw her in the headlights, it was too late. I was devastated when I realized she was dead. I couldn’t tell anyone. I’d had a couple of drinks that night. I would have been sent to jail, even though it was an accident. It wasn’t my fault. None of this was my fault.”
Now that I was gagged, I couldn’t contradict her. Maybe I wouldn’t have bothered even if I could talk. I didn’t want to do anything to cause her to kill me sooner than she planned.
Fear threatened to send my thoughts into a panicked spin. I tried to breathe evenly through my nose. I needed to stay calm and find a way to save myself.
Estelle yanked me to my feet again. She kept hold of one of my arms and poked the barrel of the gun into my back.
“Walk,” she ordered.
A shiver ran through my body at the ice in her voice. I did as I was told. I barely recognized her as my mom’s friend, as the woman who had volunteered for so many community events and causes.
“You’re as nosy as Archie was,” Estelle said as she marched me through a door and down a narrow set of stairs. “He wondered what I was doing in the woods, off the trails. He went poking around and saw that I’d been digging. I thought I’d moved all of Lexi’s remains, but I dropped that darned pendant. Archie found it. I never thought he was very smart, but he recognized the pendant when he saw the poster for the vigil. He thought he could blackmail me. That definitely wasn’t smart.”
Why had she moved Lexi’s remains in the first place?
If I didn’t get myself out of this situation, I’d never find out.
The stairs led down to a damp, shadowy cellar. A single lightbulb dangled from a string overhead. When we reached the foot of the stairs, we stood facing a heavy wooden door. Even though it was shut tight, I knew where it led.
The door creaked as Estelle shoved it open. Damp air rushed at me, along with a smattering of raindrops. The storm was still raging, and it was nearly dark out now, even though I didn’t think it was nighttime yet.
Rain poured down in sheets. We stood at the top of wide cement steps, which disappeared down into the water of the canal.
A small, aluminum, V-hull boat was tied up by the steps, bobbing slightly as the wind rippled the water.
I tried to scream, but the gag did its job. The pathetic noise I was able to get out was quickly swallowed up by the swirling wind.
Estelle pressed the gun between my shoulder blades and put her mouth next to my ear. “Get in the boat!”
I looked around frantically, searching for help, but I couldn’t see another soul.
Not knowing what else to do, I climbed into the boat. I lost my balance and fell to my knees. The boat rocked as Estelle climbed in after me. I considered throwing myself overboard, despite my fear of the dark water.
I didn’t have a chance.
I glanced Estelle’s way just in time to see the gun coming at my face. It smacked into my head and I fell onto my side. Pain blurred my thoughts and left my limbs stunned and useless.
Rain pelted against my face and ran down my cheeks. Maybe there were tears mixed in; I couldn’t tell for sure.
I felt the boat begin to move. Despair wrapped tightly around me, blotting out everything except pain and fear. But then something else crept through the fog in my head: a desire to survive.
I breathed carefully, in and out. The pain in my head dulled to an ache, and I wrestled my growing panic into submission. I raised myself up on one elbow and took in my current situation.
Estelle sat in the stern of the boat, steering it with one hand while keeping the gun trained on me with the other. The rain had plastered her hair to her head and her clothes to her skin.
Lightning flashed, lighting up the world around us. I hoped someone would see us, would see the gun and call the police, but I couldn’t count on that. I was running out of time. Already, Estelle had reached the mouth of the canal. She increased the speed of the boat and we rushed out onto Shadow Lake.
“No one will hear the shot over the thunder,” Estelle yelled at me through the wind.
I fought against another surge of panic. We were well out on the lake now, the dark water choppy in the storm. I thought of what might be lurking beneath the surface. Then I took in the sight of the monster sitting in the boat with me.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
Estelle cocked the gun.
As thunder boomed overhead, I threw all my weight to the side.
The boat flipped, throwing me into the lake.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The water swallowed me up.
I kicked my bound feet and broke through the surface. I gasped and struggled. The gag in my mouth was saturated with water, choking me. I drew air in through my nose and silently screamed at myself to calm down.
I wasn’t choking. I wasn’t drowning.
I treaded water as best I could with my ankles and wrists bound. Fortunately, Estelle had tied my hands in front of me rather than behind my back, otherwise I would have had more trouble staying afloat. I yanked the gag from my mouth and immediately found it easier to breathe.
A wave splashed me in the face. I shook off the water and surveyed my surroundings.
The capsized boat bobbed in the water about ten feet away. At first, I couldn’t see Estelle, but then a hand appeared over the keel of the boat. Her head popped up next as she clung to the craft, trying to right it. I couldn’t tell if she still had the gun, and I didn’t want to wait around to find out.
Mad Hatter Island was over my left shoulder, closer than the mainland, but if Estelle followed me to the island, I’d be trapped, with no way to get help. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to untie my ankles to give myself a better chance of evading her.
I looked at the dark water around me. I couldn’t see what might be swimming below me, but Estelle and her gun were far more frightening than the thought of any lake monster, no matter how large.
I made a swift decision.
I turned onto my side and began swimming as best I could, kicking with my bound feet and pushing at the water with my hands. I coughed and sputtered when water hit me in the face, but I didn’t stop swimming.
At any moment Estelle could come after me, either in the righted boat or by swimming. If she tried to drown me, I wouldn’t stand a chance in the struggle, thanks to my bindings. So I kicked and swam, never slowing, never pausing, even as exhaustion worked its way into every muscle fiber.
A man’s voice shouted in the distance. Or was it just thunder?
A wave of water seemed to come up behind me from beneath the surface. It gave me an extra push forward. I kicked harder, making the most of the extra momentum.
Something splashed nearby, and I swallowed a mouthful of water in surprise. Coughing, I raised my head.
Somebody grabbed me.
I nearly screamed, but then I heard a voice. Not Estelle’s voice.
Sawyer’s voice.
“You’re okay, Becca. I’ve got you.”
I nearly sobbed with relief, but I kept kicking at the water, helping to propel myself closer to shore as Sawyer towed me along, standing waist-deep in the water.
Mike Kwan splashed his way into the shallows. Together, he and Sawyer hauled me up onto the beach. They eased me down onto the sand and pebbles.
“I’ll get a knife,” Mike said before running off toward the Boat Barn.
Sawyer crouched down next to me and touched two fingers to my forehead. “You’re bleeding. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
I shook my head, still trying to catch my breath. “Estelle,” I managed to say. “She killed Archie. She’s getting away.”
“No, she’s not.” Sawyer looked out toward the middle of the lake.
I followed his gaze. As lightning flashed, I saw a police boat swiftly closing in on Estelle, who was still in the water, clinging to the overturned craft.
“How did you know I needed help?” I asked.
“Mike spotted the boat on the lake. He was worried about someone being out there in this weather, so he took a look with his binoculars to see if they were in trouble. When he saw Estelle pointing a gun at you, he called 9-1-1. I wasn’t far away at the time.”
Thank goodness for that.
