Deadly Deceit (31 page)

Suddenly, loose stones and earth came sliding down from above. When he looked up, he thought he saw a shadow.

Turning back, he slipped. A searing pain shot through his knee as he tumbled over. Arms flailing, he rolled over and over, his hands trying to grasp onto something.

Rolling onto his back, he dug his heels into the earth, and came to a stop on the track. Gingerly he pulled himself into a sitting position, and rubbed his knee. Sore, but not broken. He turned onto his stomach and started climbing back up the track on all fours. Suddenly a crack rang out. He craned his neck to look up.

A figure loomed above.

Something whined past his ear.

He pressed himself flat on his stomach. More bullets pinged into the earth around his feet. He pushed his face so hard into the earth, he could hardly breathe.

Suddenly, the whole scene lit up. The lighthouse. A strong light beamed out to sea.

He held his breath.

*

Jess paced around outside the Disaster Management Centre, wondering why Tom wasn’t answering his phone or texts. Where the hell was he? It was pitch black now, everyone else had gone at least 15 minutes ago. She jumped as something touched her leg. It was only a small branch being blown along the ground by the strengthening wind.

She heard an engine in the distance, and peered along the track, but she couldn’t see any lights.

Her phone rang, making her jump again. “Hello,” she answered.

“Where are you?” Tom shouted.

“Where am
I
?” she asked, sarcastically. “Where are
you
?”

“Listen, Jess.” His voice was low, but urgent. “Go inside the building and lock yourself in!”

“Whatever for?”

“Go inside. Now! Please!”

Jess didn’t know what was going on, but she heard the panic in his voice. “Okay,” she said.

“And stay in there until you hear my voice. Don’t open it for anyone else. Someone just fired at me at the lighthouse. They’ve gone. But I think they may be coming for you.” He hung up.

Jess stood shocked. Then she heard the crunch of a footstep on gravel.

She ran inside the building, slammed the door and turned the key in the lock. Ear to the door, she listened hard, but all she could hear was the wind whistling around the building.

The door handle rattled up and down.

“Tom?” she called out.

No reply.

She grabbed a chair and jammed the back under the door handle.

She heard something slam into the heavy, wooden door.
A bullet?
She ran away from the door, and hid under a desk. She could hear nothing but the wind.

Suddenly a car horn rang out in the distance. It kept going as it got closer and closer. A car screeched up to the building. Brakes squealed. Engine still running, a door opened: “
Jess!
”

Tom!
She pulled the chair away, unlocked the door and ran outside.

“Thank God you’re all right!” He grabbed her arm. “Quick. Let’s get out of here.”

They ran to the car.

“Someone fired at the door,” Jess shouted over the wind.

“Did you see who it was?”

“No.” She jumped into the passenger seat.

Tom got in behind the wheel. “Did you hear a voice?”

“No.”

He spun the car around and drove fast along the track. The undertray bumped and scraped as they bounced over the rough terrain. At the end of the track, he turned left, and sped down Lighthouse Road towards town.

When Jess finally took her eyes off the road, she looked over and saw he was covered in dirt and sand. Only when it was safe enough to ease his foot off the accelerator did she ask what had happened.

He glanced in his driver’s mirror. “I went to the lighthouse. I saw a small, sandy beach below the bluff. There was a trail leading down, so I thought I’d go and take a look.”

“You went down in the dark?” Her voice was incredulous.

“It was still dusk,” he said, defensively. “There are some rocks directly below the headland. I thought there might be caves down there, and the only way to check that out was from the beach.”

“For God’s sake!”

“I slipped and fell when I thought I saw someone above. They fired at me. But they couldn’t get a clear shot because the bank was steep.”

“Did you get a look at them?”

He shook his head. “Shortly after I got to the lighthouse, I thought I heard a motorbike rev up. Whoever it was must have ridden the bike to the headland, and watched me through binoculars. Something was glinting over there. Probably saw me drop you off, and followed me to the lighthouse.”

“And then they came back after me,” she said, quietly.

“I guessed they would.”

Jess stared at him, then turned to look out the back window. “Are we being followed?”

He looked in the mirror again. “Don’t know. Can’t see anyone.”

She turned back. “I don’t get it, Tom.
Why
would anyone want to kill you? Or me?”

“Because we’re getting too close.”

They fell silent, stunned by what had happened. When they reached the roundabout in town, Tom took the road towards the Governor’s Office, but then he stopped abruptly at a beachside bar and parked the car in the middle of several others in the car park. Switching off the lights and engine, he sat still for a while to check no-one had followed.

Jess looked at him.

“Let’s get a drink before we go back to the Residence. We need to talk… get our heads sorted.” He brushed the sand and dirt from his hair and clothes.

They got out and walked over to the bar, which was little more than a wooden shack with a corrugated iron roof. Inside, the place was humming. They managed to find a free table and sat down. It was very basic. No table cloths or napkins, but the place had some life about it, and that’s just what they needed.

“TGIF,” Tom nodded over to the bar. “There’s the sign. Cheap drinks for a couple of hours.”

“No wonder the place is full.”

“What can I get you?” he asked

“Whatever you’re having.”

Tom went over to the bar, and came back with two glasses of local rum and two menus. “Might as well eat while we’re here.”

Jess took a long swig of rum, and grimaced.

Tom knocked his back in one go.

He looked shaken, but she said nothing more. She didn’t feel in the least bit hungry, but she was happy to be in the bar with other people around, and Tom. “I can’t believe we’re thinking about eating.”

Tom nodded and opened his menu. “Looks like it’s conch stew again, or barbequed chicken wings. No, tell a lie, there’s fish and chips too.”

“Then it’s fish and chips for me,” she said, without looking at the menu.

“Me too.” Tom got up to order the food.

When he came back, he had two more glasses of rum with him.

Jess emptied her first glass. As she put it back down on the table, she noticed her hands shaking.

Tom put his hand over hers, and they sat in silence until the barman brought over the food.

Jess recognised him. It was the young man who’d been her taxi driver on arrival.

“Evening, Miss.” He gave her a beaming smile. “How are you liking Grand Turk?”

“It’s wonderful.” Her response was automatic.

Tom gave a wry smile.

The young man looked pleased. He put the food down proudly in front of them and touched the side of the old shack. “Hope my restaurant’s still standing on Monday night.”

“Is there any more news about the hurricane?” Jess asked.

He shrugged. “It’ll come and it’ll go.” And with that he walked off.

Jess couldn’t believe how relaxed he was about it. Everyone was. Men were drinking and laughing at the bar. Other people were tucking into their dinner. It was like any other Friday night.

“They might as well enjoy the evening,” Tom said, as if reading her thoughts. “What else can they do?”

Jess nodded. Once she’d started eating, she felt a bit better. The rum helped too.

Tom said nothing, but looked grim as he ate his food.

Jess put down her knife and fork. “I don’t know what Maggie was doing at the Haitian settlement this afternoon, but it doesn’t add up. None of it does.”

He nodded. “Maybe she was just visiting? Doing some community work, or something like that?”

Jess shook her head. “Then why didn’t she just say so? And why go out in a rush and not lock the Residence doors?” She paused. “She seemed to know those Haitian women well. They were standing in a group, talking, and looked relaxed with each other.”

“Well, you’ll just have to ask her about it when you get back?”

“Oh I will.” She nodded. “You know my mind keeps coming back to when this all started. It was Clement Pearson’s suicide
after
giving evidence to the British Inquiry into those two Haitian sloops that kicked it all off.” She paused. “So this has to be about the Haitian migrants. The islanders don’t want them here, that’s for sure.”

“They don’t want their voodoo either.”

They both looked up as loud reggae music suddenly blasted out from two speakers over the bar. The owner gave them another wide grin as some of the locals got up. They cleared a space in the middle of the tables and chairs and started dancing.

Jess and Tom watched them. It seemed surreal after what they’d just been through, and with a hurricane approaching, that everyone should be so happy. After a while, Tom moved his chair round next to Jess, to be able to talk. “Earlier you said you had no idea what Simon thought about you staying here through the hurricane.” He paused. “What did you mean by that?”

Jess looked at him. “Simon’s not happy about me being here.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “I wish I knew, but he won’t talk about it. Then he told me he was going to LA for work. But I find out he’s taken a couple of weeks’ leave instead, and gone back to the UK.”

“Without telling you?”

She nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to say that Simon had bought two return air tickets, and had taken someone else to the UK with him.

“That doesn’t sound like Simon.” He paused. “Perhaps you need to talk to him.”

Jess felt uncomfortable telling Tom this, yet relieved to be finally talking about it. “He won’t answer my calls or texts. I don’t even know where he is.” She sighed. “I guess you never really know another person, do you?”

“True,” he nodded.

She looked at him. “Are you with anyone now Tom?”

“Nah. My last partner, Liz, left me around the time of that murder we worked on in Brisbane.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be. I’m no good at relationships.” He paused. “My job always seems to come first. Takes over my whole life, every waking hour, especially when I get a murder case. I can’t stop until I’ve solved it and the killer’s behind bars.”

“A dog with a bone?”

“Something like that.”

“Fine pair then, aren’t we?”

He nodded. “Talking of work.” He pulled out his mobile. “Finish your fish and chips while I go outside and phone Chuck. I need to talk to him about what happened up at the lighthouse.”

She pushed her plate away. “I’ve finished.”

He looked at her. “I’m only going outside to phone.”

But she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight. “Let’s get the bill. I want to get back to the Residence. Sally will be worried.”

He got up and went over to the bar. After he’d paid, he came over. “Stay here,” he said. “I won’t be long.”

No chance. She jumped up and followed him out.

Jess woke up the next morning to the noise of wind rattling her bedroom shutters, and rain lashing down. Her heart sank. She was hoping the hurricane would veer off in another direction overnight, and miss them altogether. Even more worrying was the sound of waves crashing onto the reef in the distance. At least it was Saturday, she thought, all the staff could look after their own homes and families without worrying about work.

She wondered if Tom and Sally were up, but she could hear nothing above the elements outside. Her mind ran through all the things she had to do before the hurricane hit. The local staff had already put up all the shutters around the windows of the Governor’s Office, and secured what they could inside. She’d worked into the night with Sally to dismantle the communications system and store all the electrical equipment on shelves as high as they could in case of flooding. The trouble was the building was single storey. Why hadn’t anyone thought to build two storeys on this low lying site? Tom had helped in any way he could, carrying and lifting.

She shuddered, thinking about the showdown the night before. Sally had refused point blank to leave on the afternoon flight to Provo. There was no way she’d abandon her post, she’d said, and leave Jess on her own. Jess knew Sally’s reluctance to leave was due more to Brad than to her, and gave up in the end.

It was different with Tom though. He was not a colleague. He was a friend. After what had happened to him out diving and up at the lighthouse, she had to get him off the island and out of danger. Someone saw him as a real threat. Of course he’d argued to stay too. “Either all three of us leave together, or none of us go,” he’d said, bluntly. She’d stood her ground, rehearsing all the arguments. This was not his problem, his job and reputation were on the line back in Canberra. And she’d be safe because the London team would get here ahead of the hurricane. In the end Tom grudgingly accepted he was leaving. Not that she wanted him to go. Far from it. She enjoyed having him around. Felt safer with him in the house. But her instincts were telling her it was the right thing to do.

Getting out of bed and walking over to the window, she found herself standing in a puddle of rainwater from having left the window open a fraction to let some air in overnight. The wind was blowing straight off the sea, at the house. She closed the window tight. At least the electricity was still working, she thought, as she looked up at the whirring ceiling fan.

Coming down the stairs, she heard loud reggae music, and smelt bacon frying. She went into the kitchen, but it wasn’t Maggie at the stove.

“Morning.” Sally gave her a small smile as she jiggled the pan.