Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 02 - Island Intrigue (23 page)

Madame Geri tapped the side of her head. “I’m not
channeling too well right now. I think I’m on the wrong
frequency or something.”

“Perhaps you need an antenna?”

She shot me a long, low glance. “It doesn’t work
like that”

I turned back to my computer. This conversation was
getting too weird for me.

An e-mail appeared on my screen. It was from Lou
Tabor. I clicked to open it. As I scanned the contents,
something clicked in my mind.

I sat back and gripped the arms of my chair. “I know
who murdered Tom.”

“That?” Sandy and Jimmy exclaimed simultaneously.

“It’s all right here.” Excitement bubbled up inside
me like a fountain. I pressed the Print button. “Lou Tabor was one of Lefty Kreh’s disciples. He learned to
build flies at the feet of the master-along with three
other men. I asked him if any of the other men lived in
Florida” I whisked the paper out of the printer.

“Go on,” Sandy urged.

“There was only one: Ed Mitchell. He works as a
hairdresser in Miami.”

Jimmy scratched his head. “So he killed Tom?”

“No,” Madame Geri answered for me. “He has a
child, right?”

I nodded. How had she figured that out? “A daughter.
And she’s a master fly builder.”

“Daughter? But who?” Sandy said. “There’s no one
on the island named Mitchell that I can think of.”

“She married a man named Jennings. They apparently
divorced a few years ago, and she left Miami.”

“Oh, no” Sandy’s eyes widened. “Beverly Jennings.”

“Exactly” I jumped to my feet. “Frank told me that
Tom had been having an affair. It must’ve been with Beverly. All this time, we’ve been thinking it was Frank or
Jake. But Tom’s lover was the murderer. It fits. She knows
fishing and boats like the back of her hand. She was able
to motor out to Tom’s boat, kill him, and make it back
without anyone’s being the wiser.”

“We’ve got to call the police,” Jimmy said.

“This is all just theory” I reached for my jacket. “We
need to get her to confess-for Kevin’s sake. She could
hurt him.”

“Mallie, let Detective Billie handle it-” Sandy began.

“Go ahead and call him. I’ll meet him at the elementary school with my findings.” I checked to make sure
my iPod was in my canvas bag just in case Beverly
said anything incriminating. “Don’t worry. It’s a public
place. There’s nothing Beverly can do to me there”

“At least take Mom with you” Jimmy stood between
me and door, with no sign of backing down.

I hesitated a few seconds, then relented. “All right.
But keep that bird quiet.”

Madame Geri squared her shoulders and patted Marley. Jimmy stepped aside. Sandy picked up the phone.

“Let Anita know where we’ve gone,” I tossed off over
my shoulder as Madame Geri and I left the office.

We climbed into Rusty, who, for once, roared into
life just when I needed him. “Are you up to this?” I asked
Madame Geri.

“What do you think?”

I put Rusty into gear, and we headed for the Coral Island Elementary School.

When we arrived, I ducked into the office and obtained passes from Trish on the pretext of doing another
news story. She gave them to me without hesitation.
Once I had them, Madame Geri and I made our way
down the hallway.

“It’s almost lunchtime. We’ll wait out here for Detective Billie.” I checked my Mickey Mouse watch. A quarter till noon. Fifteen minutes. I touched the amulet around
my neck for good luck. Okay, I admit it-I needed all the
help I could get.

“Did you get a pass for Marley?” she whispered.

“Madame Geri, please try to focus.” We halted just
outside Beverly’s classroom. “We’re about to confront
a killer. This is serious business.”

“I’m aware of that” She looked affronted. “The spirits are with us, though.”

“That’s nice. I guess it’s better than having them
against us” I checked my watch again. Five minutes. Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. I pushed
my curls back with a shaky hand. Where the heck is Nick
Billie?

The bell rang, and I heard a jumble of children’s
voices in the classroom. Then the door opened, and kids
filed out in pairs, still talking. Madame Geri and I hid behind a potted palm so they wouldn’t see us. When they’d
left, I peeped into the classroom and heard Beverly say
to a remaining student, “I don’t have time to look over
your reading journal right now. I’ve got a family emergency, and you may not see me for quite a while.”

The little girl shrugged and followed her classmates
out.

I returned to the potted palm and my two companions. “I don’t think we can wait for Detective Billie. She
must know something’s up-she’s ready to run. We’ll
get her talking, and by that time he should be here” I
motioned for Madame Geri to follow me into the classroom. I clicked on the tape recorder.

Beverly had her back to us and was erasing the large
green chalkboard behind her desk. I looked around.
The ambiance suggested what educators today call “a
positive learning environment.” Every inch of the room
was filled with bright posters and pictures. Cheery and
inviting. Small tables were positioned in “modules” with
books and painting equipment scattered across the tops.
And, of course, a row of computers lined one wall. I
pointed to a large, neon yellow filing cabinet. Madame
Geri took her position behind it.

“Hi, Beverly,” I said in a quiet voice.

She whirled around. “Oh, it’s you. Are you working
on another story?” A brief shadow of hardness dimmed
the habitually sweet expression she wore. It lasted only
seconds, but I saw it. It made me shiver.

“You could say that” I strolled toward her. “I’m finishing up an investigative piece on Tom Crawford’s
murder.”

“Isn’t that old news? I heard that Jake Fowler was
arrested yesterday” She tucked her blond hair behind
her ear.

“True-for attacking Frank King. But I don’t think
he hurt Frank or murdered Tom.”

“Really?” She set the eraser down. “I thought you
were a reporter, not a police officer.”

“Sometimes I get very involved in my stories, especially when they concern cold-blooded murderers”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you there.” An overly bright
smile appeared.

“I think you can” I spoke slowly, stalling for time.
“You were having an affair with Tom. But then he decided to get back with Sally Jo, and you were enraged.
You were so angry that you took a boat out to where he
was fishing with Kevin, and you-“

“Killed him? You’ve got quite a vivid imagination,
Ms. Monroe.”

A blinding resolve rose up inside me. I was going to
make her confess before she hurt anyone else. “No, I’ve
got facts on my side. Fact: A fishing fly was found on Tom’s boat-the kind of fly that only a master builder
could make. That’s why you tried to kill Frank-to get
that fly. You somehow got hold of Jake’s fishing net and
used it on Frank. A nice touch. Jake was a suspect in
Tom’s murder. If his fishing net were found at the crime
scene, it would implicate him even further. But Jake
couldn’t have made that fly. Fact: Your father is Ed
Mitchell, master fly builder. He also owns a hair salon
in Miami where you told me you get your hair done. He
taught you everything he knows about building flies.
And you learned well.”

A brittle laugh escaped her. “So what if my father is
Ed Mitchell? That doesn’t prove anything.”

Ouch. She had me there. But I wasn’t Mallie Monroe,
motormouth extraordinaire, for nothing. “You forget, I
saw that fly. I know it was your father’s design. Only two
people could’ve made that fly: you or Ed Mitchell.” I
lied through my teeth. I had no idea whether anyone else
could make that fly. “All Detective Billie has to do is get
a drawing of the fly, call your father, and get him to confirm that it was one of his designs. I’m sure he’ll do
that. And I’m sure he’ll be dismayed to know that his
daughter-“

“Shut up,” she snarled.

“The game’s over, Beverly. You might as well own up
to what you did.”

Her eyes took on a hard, defiant look, and her voice
turned as bitter as a key lime. “So what if I killed Tom?
He deserved it. That lying, cheating jerk. I thought I was done with men like him after I divorced my first husband. But Tom didn’t seem like that when I first met
him. He was kind and sensitive. When he left Sally Jo,
I saw my opportunity and moved in on him. Everything
was fine at first. He was going to get a divorce, and we
were going to get married. Then he started having cold
feet. He wasn’t sure how the divorce would affect Kevin,
he didn’t know if he could hurt Sally Jo, and so on and
so on” She moved around to the front of her desk. “I
took a boat out there that night just to reason with him,
beg him to leave Sally Jo. But he said he’d already
made up his mind to go back to his wife.”

“Then you hit him with the oar?”

“I didn’t mean to. I don’t even remember doing it.
All of a sudden it was in my hand, and I slammed it
against his head”

Her head dropped to her chest. Silent moments passed,
but I said nothing.

Then she turned her face up, her mood veering
sharply to anger. “But then you had to come along and
stick your nose into everything. I tried to scare you off
with the e-mail and-“

“Road rage?” Aha! I finally finished one of her sentences for a change. “You tried to force me off the road”

“Bingo. Go to the head of the class” She snatched
up a paint knife from the kids’ arts and crafts area and
moved toward me.

Uh-oh. “I was just doing my job.”

“You can blame yourself for Frank. You involved him by giving him that fishing fly. Luckily, my dad
called me on my cell phone during the fishing tournament. His friend, Lou, said someone named Frank from
Coral Island had been investigating Dad’s deceivers. It
didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who that was”
She drew closer. “Too bad he survived.”

“Beverly, the police are already outside the building.
Sandy called Detective Billie-he knows what you’ve
done.” And let’s hope he’s going to rush in here at any
moment, I added to myself.

“I don’t care” Her eyes took on an insane glitter.

The classroom door opened, and Kevin rushed in. “I
forgot to get my lunch-“

“Kevin, get out of here!” I yelled.

“No,” Beverly commanded, her attention fastening
on the boy. “You’re the one who caused all of this. Your
father would’ve married me if it hadn’t been for you.”

“What?” Kevin looked at her, then me. Puzzlement
clouded his small face.

“Go to the office, Kevin. Get the principal,” I said in
an urgent voice.

“No” Beverly lunged at him, but I swung my mammoth canvas bag in a wide arc and caught her in the face.
She dropped the knife. I heard a crunching sound and
realized the mammoth load of junk in my bag must’ve
hit Beverly in the jaw. I hoped it was broken. Served her
right. She staggered backward.

I seized Kevin’s arm and pulled him toward me. But
Beverly recovered and grabbed at him. An adrenaline rush flooded my body. I couldn’t let her hurt Kevin. Releasing his arm, I assumed my Tae Kwon Do fighting
stance and aimed a roundhouse kick at her ribs. It connected! She screamed and cradled her left side. Kevin
scrambled away and ran out the door.

“You witch!” Beverly lurched at me, yanking at my
hair. I jabbed an elbow into her stomach, and she grunted
but managed to keep a grip on my curls. Her fingers remained locked in their intention to pull out my hair by
the roots.

I yelped. It hurt like hell. Forget the Tae Kwon Do
moves. I stomped on her foot as hard as I could. She
shouted in pain and released me.

“Marley, attack!” Madame Geri emerged from her
hiding place behind the file cabinet. The parrot flapped
its wings, then settled back down again.

Stupid bird!

But the small movement distracted Beverly. I took the
opportunity to swing my canvas bag at her once more.
This time it landed smack dab against her already injured
ribs. She cried out and doubled over. I readied myself for
another go at her…

At that moment Nick Billie rushed in, gun drawn.
“Everybody, freeze!”

We all complied.

After holstering his gun, he pulled a gasping Beverly
to her feet and handcuffed her. He turned toward me,
his lips drawn tightly in annoyance. “I got your message
from Sandy. Couldn’t you have waited for me?”

I massaged my sore scalp. “We were waiting, but
then I heard Beverly say she was leaving. I thought she
might get away before you-“

“I don’t suppose it occurred to you that I was ready to
bring her in for questioning. I’d located the sites Frank
was researching on his computer, and her name came
up. Then Jake’s son came in this morning and told me
he’d taken one of his father’s fishing nets to school for
show-and-tell. But somehow it disappeared in Beverly’s
classroom. That confirmed my suspicions, because I already had a receipt showing that she’d filled up a boat
with gasoline the day Tom died.” He leveled a withering
glance in my direction. “But you couldn’t wait for me to
do my job, could you? Anything to get your story.”