Death By Sunken Treasure (A Hayden Kent Mystery Book 2) (23 page)

The roar of Janice’s twin engines cut into my consciousness. Officer Barton prepared to leave the boat with her prisoner. I had one last question I needed to ask.

My hand shot out and grabbed Grant’s bare arm. He looked down at my hand as if it were something dirty. “Why, Grant? Why did you do it?”

“I’ll let you work that out, Ms. Genius.”

“Grant!” I pulled my hand back as if he burned me. I couldn’t capture the emotions in my heart. Worst was betrayal. I’d trusted Grant. I was so wrong.

He cast a long look at me and his face crumbled. “I’m sorry, Hayden. You read too much into things. I warned you to stop investigating. You kept at it.” Barton took Grant’s elbow in her hand and guided him over the gunnels to her patrol boat. He spun around to face me before she could secure him safely in the bow of the boat. “I had to do it. It was my only chance.” Splotches of red colored his cheeks. “I couldn’t die like my father. Full of regrets for the things I never did. The thought terrified me. When Devon came to me…we go way back. I called in a favor.”

Janice touched my arm. “Greed. Plain, pure, and simple greed. Nobody gets rich practicing law in the Keys. Grant was the one no one would suspect. With his legal knowledge of estate planning, especially in offshore companies, he was funneling the treasure out of the country until the partners were ready to follow. Now let’s get you to the hospital.”

I braced myself as best I could. With the sound of Janice’s powerful engines as a backdrop, my mind continued to churn out answers to the puzzle. Grant wrote the notes and sent the emails. His handwriting had become illegible recently. That led me to another path. Was Grant sick? I remembered his shaky hands and the tremors that escalated recently. His father died of Parkinson’s; now that I thought about it, so did his brother. Did he get involved so he didn’t have to work? So he could spend his last days in ease and comfort wherever he chose to go? That’s more or less what he said. Isn’t that just another kind of greed?

I caught Janice’s eye as she drove the boat through the chop. “I can’t process this, Janice.” I pulled the towels closer around me. “How could I have been so blind?”

Janice studied me for a moment before she answered. “I shouldn’t tell you this, so please, don’t repeat it. Jake and Devon were selling a lot of what they recovered, stuff that was common enough not to cause comment. Doubloons, some gems, some gold money chain loops. Items you can find in most treasure shops.”

She keyed the microphone at her shoulder and told the dispatcher her location. Then she turned back to me. “They marketed the treasure through the bar and Grant figured out how to funnel the cash out of the country. Mike found out. That’s when he severed his business ties with Devon and Jake, and changed his will. Grant’s fee was a cut of the action.”

“So are you saying Grant was involved in money laundering?”

The cop bit her lip. “No, not money laundering, not on Grant’s part. More like fraud with a side of larceny. Don’t try to think about it now. Give yourself some time.”

My hand gripped the support for the Bimini top on the boat. The aluminum felt cold and slick. Now I understood what Barton didn’t say. The bar had served its purpose. The owners would be fleeing soon. “Why did Mike come to Grant? He might still be alive if he’d picked another lawyer.”

“We don’t know, and we never will. Probably because his mother thought so highly of him.”

A wave of emotion washed over me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream, cry, or both. Janice was right. I needed time.

She turned the boat in a wide semicircle, bringing it safely between the channel markers. “What happens to you, Hayden? Do you think the law firm of Huffman Koons will stay open?”

Her question startled me. I hadn’t thought about it. Maybe it was an opportunity. I had time to decide. Frank Koons, the other name partner, still practiced. I doubted he would keep the firm going over the long-term. He was well past retirement age. “I’ll help close out Grant’s cases, and then I don’t know.” I allowed myself a small smile. “Maybe I’ll take some time and heal. One good thing though, the will Buddy filed stands. The innocent little boy that Mike accepted as his own and Dana will benefit.”

Janice smiled. “Yeah, that is nice.”

“As for me…Well, the future is a mystery.”

About the Author

Kait Carson spent a lifetime living and working in the tropical paradise of south Florida. She opted for a day job as a paralegal practicing in the world of high-end estates and probate litigation. Legal pads give way to a keyboard in the evening and Kait spins tales of murder and mayhem set in the steamy Florida heat. Like her protagonist, Hayden Kent, Kait is an accomplished SCUBA diver. She lives with her husband, six rescue cats, and three tropical birds at an airpark in Florida. Not too far from the water.

In Case You Missed the 1
st
Book in the Series

DEATH BY BLUE WATER

Kait Carson

A Hayden Kent Mystery (#1)

Paralegal Hayden Kent knows first-hand that life in the Florida Keys can change from perfect to perilous in a heartbeat. When she discovers a man’s body at 120’ beneath the sea, she thinks she is witness to a tragic accident. She becomes the prime suspect when the victim is revealed to be the brother of the man who recently jilted her, and she has no alibi. A migraine stole Hayden’s memory of the night of the death.

As the evidence mounts, she joins forces with an Officer Janice Kirby. Together the two women follow the clues that uncover criminal activities at the highest levels and put Hayden’s life in jeopardy while she fights to stay free.

Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon

CLICK FOR DEATH BY BLUE WATER

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