Jenn Vakey - Rilynne Evans 07 - Revenge with Murder (18 page)

“Good,” Ben replied.  He stepped forward and stood by her side.  “I was planning on bringing you here to propose, but you had to go and get yourself framed for murder and kidnapped first.”

Rilynne pushed him slightly with her shoulder before shaking her head.  “See, now that just doesn’t sound like me at all.  You must be thinking of someone else.”

“You’re probably right,” he replied sarcastically.  “I try to keep all of my girls separated, but sometimes it gets a little difficult.  You’re Taylor, right?  No, wait… you’re Rachel.”

Rilynne chuckled, though a strange, almost jealous sensation passed through her.  She quickly brushed it off, knowing that she was being ridiculous for letting it have any effect on her at all, and walked forward until the waves reached over her toes.

Rilynne gasped and said, “You didn’t tell me.”

He pulled her in and wrapped his arms tightly around her.  “You mean you didn’t know?” he asked.  There was a note of skepticism in his voice as his cheek brushed gently against hers.  “Not even an inkling?”

She shook her head and looked out at the vibrant blue water dancing in front of them.  “No,” she said honestly.  “You said you wanted to go to an island, but it never crossed my mind that you meant coming here.  I know we’ve talked about it, but I guess it still seemed like nothing more than just a dream to me.”

“And you didn’t see anything about it?” he asked again.  She could tell that he was pleased with the thought that, even with her abilities, he had surprised her.

“Even if I had seen us on this beach, I would have just assumed it was just like the other dreams I have about us here,” she replied.  She gently squeezed his arms before pulling out of them and taking another step into the water.  “It really is exactly like I saw it.  That’s where I sit when I want to relax.  When I’m over there, it seems like every worry I have just melts away,” she said, pointing to the large rocks to their right.  “And down there,” she pointed down the beach to the left, “is where I see things that are case related.  Generally, that’s where people stand when they are guilty of something or another.  Either that or they’re very important in some way.  The first time I was here I saw Nicole in a wedding dress.  Well, at least I think she was in the dress.  I don’t really remember.  I know she was later on, at least.  I tend to only remember seeing you covered in blood when I think about that one. 
That and the creepy clown.”

“Yeah, that’s still one of my least favorite of the dreams you’ve told me about,” Ben stated.  His face twisted in contemplation for a moment before he continued.  “Come to think of it, I haven’t really enjoyed most of the ones you’ve told me about that involved me.”

“That’s just because I keep the good ones to myself.”  Rilynne winked and flashed him a quick smile before turning and running toward the rocks down the beach.

He let out a laugh as he started after her, reaching them just after she did.  She climbed atop without any trouble, knowing them better than just about any place she had actually been.  When she reached the top, she sat down and watched the waves crashing below.

“You know,” Ben said, sitting down beside her.  “Part of me actually regrets not waiting and bringing you out here to propose.  I don’t think I could have lasted that long, though.  The three weeks after I bought the ring were some of the most excruciating of my life.  Most of the time I kept it locked up in my apartment because I was afraid I would just break and propose in an elevator or something.  This was the place I saw in my head when I thought about it, even before I knew you had been here in your dreams.”

“No,” she stated.  “That night was perfect.”

“
W
ake up,” she heard Ben whispering.   Rilynne let out a soft groan as she slowly opened her eyes.  When she did, she was greeted by her husband’s handsome smile.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said softly.  Rilynne snuggled her head against his arm as her eyes dropped closed.

“Shh,” she mumbled.  “You’re still sleeping.”

Ben slid his finger tips gently down her arm and along her thigh, sending warm shivers through her body.  She let out a pleased moan and smiled.  “Still want me to go back to sleep?” he asked.

Rilynne lightly bit her lip as his fingers took another pass over her arm, causing it to erupt in goosebumps.  Before she could respond, he slid his hand tenderly up to her neck and pulled her in for a kiss.  The feel of his warm lips against hers sent a spark through her, waking her up almost completely.

“Now let’s go,” he said, quickly pulling away and pushing off the bed.  I know you’re going to want to go talk to Perez today, and we’re on a strict schedule.  We haven’t even started to pack yet and we have to be on the boat by four.  It looks like there’s a storm system moving in, so if we aren’t out today we might be stuck for a little while.  While I wouldn’t really be upset about that, your mother’s supposed to be meeting us at the airport so we can drive back to Addison Valley together.  I doubt she will be able to move her trip around, which would mean losing a pair of hands for unpacking.”

Rilynne groaned and kicked the blankets off of her before slowly pushing herself up.  “The one downside to this place is the lack of an airport.”  She threw her feet over the side of the bed and rubbed her face for a moment before standing up.  “And remind me again why we didn’t get packed last night?  I seem to remember that being the initial plan.”

Ben shot her an amused glance before pulling their suitcases out of the closet.  “Because after we finished the second bottle of wine, you decided it would take away from the specialness of our last night if we spent it packing.  I think there was also something about it being like closing a door before we were ready to walk through it.”

She thought back to the night before and slowly nodded.  “That sounds about right.  Do you happen to know why my mouth tastes like I ate several bags of candy?”

He laughed and pulled the top drawer of the dresser open, tossing everything in it into one of the awaiting bags.  “After the third bottle was emptied, you said it would be a waste not to enjoy the fruits of the island one last time before leaving.  I thought you were talking metaphorically until you went outside and actually started pulling fruit off of the trees.  You had it in your mind you would climb that big coconut one by the time I finally pulled you back in.  You did manage to collect a few good mangos, though, which you proceeded to devour before curling up in bed and passing out.  Right around then I decided it probably wasn’t our best idea to try and finish the last of the wine before heading home.  How’s your head?”

“Surprisingly not bad,” she mumbled, watching him empty a second drawer into the bag.  Before he zipped it, she quickly reached in and retrieved a shirt and jeans.  “I did think that thing with the trees was just a dream, though.  Were the monkeys real too?”

“No,” he laughed.  “We didn’t see any monkeys while we were out there last night.  I did hear some outside the back window just before I fell asleep.  The sounds probably worked their way into your dreams.”

“Good,” she said, stepping into the jeans before pulling them up.  “I would have been a little bothered if there had really been monkeys sitting on the steps of the porch drinking out of a wine bottle we left sitting out.  While they were pretty cute running around drunk, I don’t actually want to contribute to the intoxication of any island monkeys.”

“Did you know monkeys actually have alcoholism rates similar to humans?” he asked.  “There are even monkeys that live near resorts that will steal drinks from people because they like getting drunk.  Studies have even shown that they will drink more heavily in stressful situations.”

“Really?” she asked, amused at the thought.  She had seen clips on the internet of monkeys getting drunk, but she had never given it much thought.  “What types of situations do you think would make a monkey drink more?”

Ben laughed and shrugged before pulling open the closet door.  “No clue.  Are you just going to stand there thinking about drunk monkeys, or are you going to help me get our stuff together?”

“I guess I can help,” she said with a sarcastic groan.

While Ben finished packing up their clothes, Rilynne moved from room to room collecting anything that was theirs, using what she needed before tossing everything in the open bag sitting on the bed.  It only took ten minutes to get the last of their things gathered and packed.  After making one last paranoid pass, Rilynne met Ben out on the front porch and they started for the last time down the road to the station.

“I’m actually glad you came in,” Sergeant Perez said when they walked in half an hour later.  Rilynne was almost uncomfortable by the amount of joy he seemed to have at the sight of them.  He was a completely different person than the one they had been dealing with before.  “I wanted to thank you for your help with this.  I know I wasn’t the most welcoming when it came to your involvement, but the two of you weren’t completely useless.  I, uh, I also wanted to thank you for not sharing the full extent of my relationship with Caitlin.”

“You mean the fact that you were the man she was having an affair with and that’s how you really knew something had happened between her and Lucas?” Rilynne asked.  She walked over and sat in the chair across from his desk.  “They were secretive and you suspected something might be going on between the two of them.  Did you think they were involved in a romantic relationship of their own?”

Perez let out a deep sigh as he massaged his fingers into the back of his neck.  “I wondered,” he admitted.  “Caitlin was at my place a few nights before she was killed and I saw a text message from him when she was in the shower saying they couldn’t tell anyone.  It was on the phone she bought so we could talk without that imbecile of a husband of hers finding out.  I assumed it was sexual in nature.  I still had my doubts, though.  Lucas has had an on-again, off-again relationship with his high school sweetheart for years.  Even though they hadn’t been together the last few months, having an affair with a married woman would have effectively put an end to it for good.  She was the girl who broke up with him because she suspected he was seeing someone else.  A scandal like that would have verified any ill feelings she had.  The next night I went out to the bar, and admittedly, I had far too much to drink.  I ended up sending her a text even though I knew she was home with her husband.  I can’t be sure, but I think that might be when he found her second phone.”

“Didn’t you consider the possibility that Lucas might have been responsible for her death?” Rilynne asked.  “When her husband mentioned that she had been having an affair, why didn’t you offer his name as a possible person?  At least then you had a chance of finding out if that was what was really going on between them.”

“Because I knew he didn’t have anything to do with what happened to her,” he said confidently.  “We had an early dinner the night she was killed.  I invited her to stay with me because her husband had left a couple nights before, but she said she had something she needed to do.  I was sure she was going to go meet up with him.  I didn’t want to outright follow her, so I went straight to his house as soon as we said goodnight.  I saw him walk in just ten minutes after I arrived, and he didn’t leave again until he headed to the diner for breakfast the next morning.  Whether he was having an affair with her or not, I knew he didn’t kill her.  Honestly, my main concern was that I wasn’t sure if she had told him about me.  I thought that if I had pulled him in for questioning and he did know, he would out me.  With the two of you here, I knew that the mayor would insist that I recuse myself and let you handle the investigation.  I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

“You loved her,” Ben stated from where he sat across the room.  It wasn’t a question.

Perez nodded.  “We met right after she moved here and that was it for me.  Caitlin was in the bar having a drink.  She was so excited about the restoration job on the bed and breakfast.  She said it was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever worked on.  She was supposed to do an old plantation house somewhere in the states a couple years ago, but it fell through at the last minute.  She was glad to have an opportunity again.”

“Did you know she was married?” Rilynne asked.

“Not at first,” he responded.  “We talked for hours that night; she never mentioned it.  It wasn’t until I saw her out a couple days later with him that I realized it.  Imagine my surprise after I realized he was her husband and not her son like I originally assumed.  Don’t get me wrong; I don’t advocate what we did.  When I realized she was married, I resigned to the fact that nothing would happen.  I didn’t pursue anything by any means.  We were friendly when we saw each other in the bar, but it wasn’t anything more than that.  After a couple weeks, though, I realized why she was spending her nights drinking.  I guess I didn’t even want to consider the notion until she actually told me.  She was hiding from her husband.  Caitlin confessed that she only married him as an ego boost of sorts.  He only married her for the money.  Things between us just kind of took off after that.”

“Why didn’t she just leave him if she was so unhappy?” Ben asked.  “It seems like a far better answer than entering into an affair.”

Rilynne glanced over to him and grinned.

“She was going to,” he stated.  “She contacted an attorney after our first night together.  He was supposed to be served with the papers as soon as he went home, which was supposed to be the end of this month.  Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for not telling Lomax.  We have enough issues between us as it is.  I didn’t need anything else added to the list.”

Rilynne shrugged and fidgeted with a pen sitting on his desk.  “It wasn’t really my place,” she said.  “I knew you didn’t kill her, so I didn’t feel like it was really necessary to stir things up.  And speaking of, have you been able to get anything out of Holly?”

He smirked slightly and turned to the cabinet behind him.  After unlocking it, he pulled out a large black chest.  On it, Rilynne could see a name: Caitlin.

“After securing her yesterday, Max and I went out to look through the bed and breakfast,” he grunted as he dropped the heavy chest down on his desk.  “With as much effort as she put into covering up what she’d done, I thought it would be more difficult to find this.  I really think she thought we’d never suspect her.  It only took half an hour before we found where this was hidden inside a wall.  She hasn’t said a word, but I imagine she was going to wait until Caitlin’s partner came in to finish the job, then she was going to pretend to find it herself.  I’m guessing she was just waiting for things to die down before she moved the box, or maybe she was planning on leaving it in Lucas’s house where we could find it.  I just don’t know.”

Rilynne was listening to him, but her eyes were focused on the box.  She had been considering all of the different things that might be in it for days.  More than anything, she just wanted to know what had been so magnificent that it was worth killing over.

“What is it?” Ben asked before she could.  He crossed the room and was standing over her shoulder looking down at it.

Perez’s grin grew even larger as he pulled a key out of the small envelope sitting on top of it and opened the lid.

Rilynne let out a gasp when she looked down at the contents within it.  With everything she had imagined, nothing came close to what filled the small chest sitting in front of them.

“Is that-” Rilynne muttered.

“Gold.”  Ben finished her sentence before looking up at Perez.  “Might I?”

Perez nodded and he reached down and picked up one of the large coins.  Rilynne took one of her own and examined it carefully.  It was old; it looked like something out of a pirate movie.  “What’s going to happen to it?” she asked.  “I’m assuming it belongs to Holly’s family.”

“Her only living relative is an aunt on her mother’s side,” he stated.  “I spoke with her this morning and she is donating it to the island, as well as the bed and breakfast, in exchange for an agreement that it will be restored and maintained.  She doesn’t want the family to be remembered by these events.”

“Understandable,” Rilynne said, reaching the coin out to put it back in chest.  Before she could, Perez held his hand out to stop her.

“I spoke with the mayor this morning after Holly’s aunt donated this gold, as well as the other sack we found that held Lucas’s share, and she decided that it would be appropriate to permit you each to have one,” he stated.  “We agree that you put in good work to help us out with our little problem, and she would like to offer you those as a reward of sorts.”

“We couldn’t,” Rilynne said, though only half heartedly.

“Yes we can,” Ben responded abruptly.

She peered up at him and grinned.  He looked like a school boy who had just been given his greatest desire.  In a way, she guessed that was true.  It was almost everyone’s dream at some point in their life to find real pirate treasure.

“I also spoke with your colleague this morning about the remainder of the evidence,” Perez continued.  He picked the chest back up and pushing it into the cabinet before locking it back up.  “He has agreed to stay behind to finish processing everything before taking the machines back.  I gave him samples of all of the water sources we found on the property, so hopefully he will be able to identify exactly where Caitlin was drowned.”