Paradise Island: Complete Edition (25 page)

Well, I wasn’t going to let fear rule my life ever again. I wasn’t going to let people like Lucy, Henry, and Greyson control my destiny, to manipulate me for their own ends. They all tried, and where did that get them? Dead. And I was still living, breathing, and happy. That meant that I was stronger than them. And at this moment in time, with Jack right by my side, it was enough.

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I
held on tight to Jack as we rode into town on his motorcycle. The air was chilly, but I had dressed for it. Jack had his trusty leather jacket on which kept him warm. He had done a bit of research and had found out where the mayor’s offices were located. It seemed that it wasn’t at all formal. There wouldn’t be many people there, if any besides him at all, and that was a relief.

Soon Jack spotted the building, which looked like an old fashioned house with a sign out front. It was still early in the day, but hopefully he was there. If he wasn’t we’d have to wait. I admired Jack as he got off the bike. It was hard to believe that he was all mine. He was beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. Even I knew that was a hard combination to find in this world.

He held my hand as we went up the steps to the front door. The bottle of poison was in my purse, slightly open, ready to be utilized at any moment. We had no time to waste. If this was to be done right, it had to be quick and clean.

Jack rang the bell. I heard him sigh hard. He was getting ready to act, I thought, I just hoped the mayor would buy it.

It took a minute or so, enough time that we were ready to call it a day and move on to our next destination, when the old wooden door opened slightly.

“Oh, Mr. Stark, what are you doing here?” The mayor said, looking like he had just gotten out of bed, which was more than possible.

“I came here to talk about the problem you brought up the other day. May we come in?” It was extraordinary how calm and collected Jack sounded. How confident. Even I, who knew our true motives for this visit, was spellbound by his performance. He had a trust worthy face, at least when he looked at you with a certain flair, and the tone in his voice could make you do anything.

“While, of course, please come in,” the mayor said, opening the door wide.

I went in after Jack and smiled a weak smile at the mayor. I was not as good an actress as Jack was an actor. I could not look the mayor straight in the eye.

Now that he had closed the door behind us I could see that I was right. The mayor had on a robe, not a proper suit like the one he wore when we first saw him.

He led us to his office at the end of a long hall. It was actually pretty nice. Big wooden antique desk, bookshelves brimming with what looked like rare volumes. Big window looking out on the trees outside.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll be with you shortly,” the mayor said, seeming much nicer than he did when he visited us the first time. “Anything to drink. Coffee? Tea?”

“Tea would be fine,” Jack said and I agreed.

The mayor left the door open and was gone.

I looked around the room and hoped that everything would go as planned.

“He seems awfully nice,” I said. “Maybe everything will work out, after all?” I was careful not to say anything that could be construed as malevolent, especially with the door wide open.

“Yeah, it’s weird. I guess we’ll see in a minute if reason wins here.”

I hoped so too and took one of the seats across the desk. My legs felt like jello, and it was hard to stand. What we were planning on doing here if things didn’t go as planned was a pretty serious matter. I did not want to poison the mayor, but if it had to be done to protect Jack and me...

Well, anyway, Jack did not take a seat. He walked back and forth by the bookshelves, obviously nervous at what was about to happen.

Finally, the mayor appeared with a tray with three cups on it. Two teas and one coffee, as well as some biscuits. I thankfully took my tea and so did Jack. At least there wasn’t going to be any confusion on whose drink was which. I immediately felt guilty for thinking that thought, but then I reminded myself that it was the mayor who had put himself in this situation by trolliping around with a tramp like Lucy.

The mayor sat across from us on his comfy leather chair and motioned for Jack to do the same. Jack obliged, but it looked like he didn’t want to.

“I’m all ears, Mr. Stark,” the mayor said as he sipped his coffee.

“It’s about the other day, Mr. Weatherbee, when you came by my property, asking me to stop what I was doing. I’m here to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. I’ve satisfied my curiosity and have put everything back the way it was. I just came here to inform you of that fact, so you wouldn’t waste any of your precious time drawing up papers.”

The mayor looked at Jack like he had won some sort of game over him. “Thank you Mr. Stark, that’s good to hear. As a matter of fact I have not drawn up any papers as of yet, hoping that you’d see reason. And now I’m glad I waited.”

“That’s good to hear,” Jack said, looking around the room. “This is a beautiful house you have, Mr. Weatherbee, do you live alone?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Ever since my wife died a few years ago. My mother often visits, but she doesn’t like being in the center of town that much. She has a nice cottage a ways from here, close to my sister. She takes quite good care of her.”

“It must get lonely,” Jack said, compassion in his eyes. I had no idea where he was going with any of this. Well, I knew why he asked if he lived alone. That was pretty obvious, but who cared if he was lonely?

“I have so many responsibilities, I keep quite busy. Marie, my secretary usually comes in at eleven, so it’s not like I spend too much time alone.” It was almost ten o’clock now, so we had plenty of time.

Jack nodded. “Well, we best be on our way. I’m glad we got this issue settled.”

Jack got up and so did I. We were ready to leave the mayor to himself. From what I could see, he seemed like a reasonable fellow.

“Tell me, Mr. Stark, why such a sudden change of heart?” The mayor asked before we had a chance to leave the room. “Not just a day ago you were quite adamant about your decision, and here you are now spinning a completely different tale. What gives, good sir?”

I cringed. Thankfully, I was facing towards the door and the mayor couldn’t see the look on my face. I reminded myself to breathe and turned around.

“And, you dear,” he looked in my direction. “Lucy has told me so much about you.”

“She has?” I asked in shock.

“Oh, yes. She said she had a plan to make you stop the digging last I spoke with her. She was on her way to your place. Haven’t heard from her since. Did she ever arrive to her destination?”

Jack breathed hard. “What do you want?” Jack said, all pretense of friendliness gone now.

The mayor got up from his chair and joined Jack by the door, looking quite confident for a man who was much shorter and much older, not to mention flabbier.

My legs felt jittery again so I took back the seat I had previously occupied and took a sip of my tea. The mayor looked sideways at me and then turned to Jack, apparently with full attention.

I looked at the expression on Jack’s face. He didn’t look too pleased, but I saw the slight nod that told me what had to be done. Quickly, as they spoke, I took out the powder. Jack saw what I was doing and distracted the mayor, giving me enough time to put a generous amount of the powder in the coffee. But damn, the mayor did not have a spoon handy. Thankfully, I had one and used it to swirl the coffee until the white powder had dissolved. The coffee looked a bit lighter but not by much. Hopefully, not enough to be noticeable.

I quickly took my hand away and wiped the spoon as I took a sip of the tea.

“I only want what Lucy got. I’d like to get paid for my cooperation. Unless you want me to draw up those papers, after all?” I heard the mayor say.

I turned around and nodded in Jack’s direction, telling him the drink was ready.

“I might be amiable to such a deal,” Jack said as he slowly led the mayor back to the table. It was quite jarring to watch how easily he could manipulate the mayor into doing what he wanted. Jack had taken a seat by my side again, and the mayor insatiably took back his original seat. He didn’t seem nice anymore. There was greed in his eyes. “Why should I end up with nothing while Lucy gets enough to get off this damned island?”

Neither of us answered the question.

“My checkbook, dear, if you don’t mind,” Jack said and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. I rummaged in my purse for the checkbook he had put there earlier, just in case the mayor was willing to be paid off, and I handed it to him.

“Your price?” Jack asked, as he took a long sip of his tea, miming how good it felt.

The mayor lifted his coffee cup and it was halfway to his mouth. I stopped breathing. Should I stop him? Maybe we should just pay him off and be done with it?

“Give me a moment to think about it,” the mayor said and took a large sip of his coffee. He started to cough almost immediately. “Excuse me,” he said and coughed some more. Perhaps not all of the powder had dissolved or I put in too much?
It was all pretty messed up, anyway
, I told myself.

“Pen please,” Jack said and the mayor handed him one. Jack held it in his hands looking up at the mayor with his eyebrows raised, the kind of look that waited for something to be said, or for something to happen in this case.

The mayor held his chest and took another sip of his coffee. “Oh dear, I feel terrible,” he said.

“What’s wrong Mr. Weatherbee?” Jack said, concern in his voice, but I could also hear a hint of mocking.

“My heart...it’s beating so fast.”

It all happened too fast. Faster than I thought it would. The mayor clutched his chest and looked like he couldn’t breathe. He was turning blue right in front of our eyes.

“Help... me...” he managed to get out before he collapsed face first on the table, nearly spilling the coffee in his cup.

I looked away in horror and shock. “Oh my God, Jack, what have I done?”

Jack was by my side in no time. His big hands were on my shoulders, comforting me.

“Shh, Sophie, you only did what needed to be done.”

“But he was willing to take the money,” I protested.

“But he knew too much. He knew about Lucy coming over and about her plans to blackmail us. This was the only way.” Jack looked back at the dead mayor. “It was quite quick. Maybe the coffee made it act faster?”

“We should get the hell out of here,” I said. Ready to leave and forget everything that had happened in this place.

“We’ve got some cleaning up to do first,” Jack said. “We have to get rid of our cups so it would look like he was alone when he died.”

“Of course,” I said. “How stupid of me.” I was still in shock at seeing the man die right in front of our eyes. It was fairly quick, but it also looked quite painful. Jack was right about one thing: the poison caused a heart attack.

I helped Jack carry our cups while we searched for the kitchen. It was frustrating. It felt like we were in a nightmare looking for something that could never be found. But finally, after opening yet another door, we found ourselves in a quaint little kitchen. We washed our cups thoroughly, dried them, and put them back with the other ones we found in one of the cabinets.

I breathed a sigh of relief after we were done.

“What about his coffee? Should we get rid of it as well?” I asked, certain of the answer.

“I don’t think it’ll be necessary. It’s supposed to be undetectable.”

“It was also supposed to work after few hours.”

“I see your point there,” Jack said and smiled. “I’ll go get it. We can wash it out and put some fresh coffee in there.” There was still some in the coffee machine.

I waited for what seemed like forever for Jack to come back. I did not want to go back to that room. I did not want to see the mayor’s dead body ever again. I was wrecked with guilt at what had just happened. Finally, the door swung open and I helped Jack clean the cup. He put in a full cup and then drained half of it on one side into the sink, so it looked it had been drunk.

“Perfect,” Jack said as he looked at the cup. Thankfully, he had the brains to wear his leather gloves as he carried the cup to and fro. There were no fingerprints to wipe off. I followed Jack as we made our way back.

I waited in front of the office, not daring peek in as Jack set the scene.

“That should do it,” he said when he returned.

“Let’s get out of here before his secretary or someone else shows up,” I said and held my jacket tight around me, suddenly feeling a great chill.

“Good idea,” Jack said and led me out. He still had the gloves on so he opened and closed the door behind us. I felt a bit better when the fresh cold air hit my lungs, but I still wanted to be as far from that place as possible.

We quickly got on the bike, and I almost forgot to put my helmet on, but Jack nudged me out of my daze. I had just committed a terrible murder, and I wasn’t so sure the man I murdered really deserved it.

I held on tight to Jack as we made our way to our next destination, a hardware store, so Jack could inquire about getting some work done on the front yard, mainly installing a cement deck.

I walked around the store in a daze while Jack talked to the man as if nothing had happened. Either he really was a good actor, or he didn’t feel much remorse at all for what we had just done. I don’t know which thought was worse.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jack was by my side again, his hand on my back. At first I jumped in fear, but when I saw it was him I calmed down a bit.

“Let’s go home,” he said and I just nodded.

The ride back was a blur but as soon as he parked the bike I made my way inside. I headed straight for the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I felt like I was going to barf, but when I kneeled by the toilet nothing came out. I splashed my face with some cold water, which despite the weather outside felt like it was on fire. I was getting sick, but I knew why. I wondered if I had accidentally put some poison in my cup, and at the thought, my heart started to beat faster. I looked into the eyes of the woman in the mirror and could not recognize her.