Murder in Aruba: An Anna Winters Cozy Mystery (Murder in Paradise Book 5) (5 page)

"What do you want, Monica?" Anna demanded.

"Sweetheart," Monica began. "It warms my heart to know that you know when I am around. Have you caught your killer yet by chance?"

"I know it's Cassandra," Anna sighed. "Do you know who the other killer is?"

"You mean there's more than one serial killer on the loose?" Monica smiled. "Well, this is fascinating indeed."

"Serial killer?" Anna asked.

"There are two more bodies, darling," Monica laughed. "Why, you are absolutely late to the party!"

"Who died?" Anna asked in shock.

"Now, who were they?" Monica thought for a moment. "I think one was Henry. Poor man was shot in the face. I haven't seen that much blood since my trip to Russia. Terrible mess. The other was some silly girl with a strange name."

"Ithica?" Anna asked.

"Yes," Monica nodded. "I remember her name sounded like a fish disease. Well, I would hope it sounds like a fish disease."

"You are an absolute monster at times." Anna sighed. "So, are you going to help me? Do you know who the killer is?"

"No," Monica shook her head. "I do not know who the killer is. Oh, sweetie, I did not kill them. These murders are making the Grand Palatial Group a household name. Why would I help this company after all the grief they have caused me?"

Monica laughed and ducked around the corner.

Anna ran to catch her but the hallway was empty.

"They don't call you the Phantom for nothing," Anna sighed.

Walking down the hallway, she couldn't help but think about what Monica had said to her. Taking a few more steps, Anna's jaw dropped. She knew exactly who the killer was. It had been in front of her the entire time and she couldn't believe that she had been so stupid. Running to the elevator, she pushed the button frantically. As the doors opened, Anna darted inside.

"Lobby, Steve," Anna replied.

She noticed the finger pushing the button for the roof instead. Anna turned and looked at a masked figure with their hands crushing Steve's neck. The man's face was blue and his body was limp.

"Going up?" The figure laughed and flung the man's corpse to the ground. "Hello, Anna. Why you couldn't have just died in the stairwell like I wanted you to." His voice was a growl.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, the man threw Anna into the side of the elevator. Anna let out a gasp and fell to her knees.

"Let me go," Anna pleaded. "I have nothing on you. You can escape and I will never know who you were. You'll have a chance to get away with the murders."

"I'm going to kill the famous Anna Winters." The man laughed. "You weren't my original target. But knowing how infamous I can become with your death is too good to pass up. To kill the woman who outsmarted numerous killers in the past. It would make me legendary."

"You can spare my life," Anna pleaded. "I'll go into hiding. You can claim my death and I will never show my face again."

The man stood over her, looking down at her. She could feel her heart pounding and knew she needed an anxiety pill. But reaching into her pocket right now would be a foolish move that would mean certain death for her. Anna could feel the tears streaming down her face. She wished there was something she could do to stop this.

As the elevator came to a halt, the doors opened and she could see the blue tropical sky. The man reached down and grabbed her by the collar. Yanking her to her feet first, he pushed her onto the roof. The salty ocean air was refreshing, but she found her focus directly on the man in front of her.

"Please," Anna pleaded with him. "Spare me. I will do anything you want."

"Oh," The man laughed. "You'll do whatever I want and I won't have to spare you."

Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a gun. Raising it, he aimed the weapon at the center of Anna's forehead.

"It makes sense," Anna sighed. "I always assumed I would die from a gunshot wound to the head. The law of averages pretty much guaranteed that."

"You could still die another way," the man replied. "You could fall to your death. Some random 'accident' could still happen. Nothing is set in stone. Well, except for the fact you are dying today. It's just a matter of how. Get on the ledge," the man demanded.

Anna looked at building's ledge. It was a 22-story drop onto pavement that would kill her on impact. Anna didn't need to look down to see the drop. Her stomach churned and she felt dizzy.

"Tell me who you are," Anna demanded. "If I die without knowing you are, you're nothing more than a coward. Why hide behind the mask?"

"I'm no fool, Anna." The voice growled. "We both know there are cameras up here. There are cameras all over the hotel. I will not risk everything I have worked to accomplish to expose myself now. I will kill you. We both know this doesn't end until you die."

"Why?" Anna asked. "Why doesn't it end until I die? I can let it go."

The man ripped the mask from his face and confirmed what she had suspected.

"Why Mr. Puccio?"

"Think back to who would have the most to benefit from the murders taking place," he began. "Who would have wanted everyone to die?"

"I could see Christos," Anna began. "He would have been fine with Adonis' death. But not the others. But why Ithica?"

"Because it upped the stakes," the man replied. "It caused people to talk. The newspapers picked up the story. It snowballs from there."

"But Cassandra," Anna whispered. "How does she fit into all of this? She was the one who supplied the poison and committed the murders."

"You've put way too much faith in her," the man laughed. "She served a purpose this entire time. "She was my pawn. I was able to control her with ease. "I knew that no matter what I asked her to do, she'd do it. She craved your position."

"But Mr. Puccio," Anna whispered. "Why did you drag me along the entire time? You pushed me to find the killer."

"No, I pushed to find Cassandra," Mr. Puccio laughed. "Once you managed to take her out, I'd be home free. I know she wouldn't go out easily. My plan is to have her shoot you under my command and I will then kill her. Cassandra the Serial Killer. I would then end the string of murders and the ghoul ghost hunters and murder mystery fanatics would flock to the hotels. This has always been to drum up business. The economy of the world has changed. If there isn't a gimmick to get people in the doors, you struggle most of the year. Now, the other hotels are doing incredibly well and will for years to come. I'll throw out some rumors about them being haunted. It will work. Besides which the board have already promoted me to Chairman of the hotel group as they believe you have solved these murders under my direction. Its been very good for my career all this."

"Why me?" Anna demanded. "There were others you could have led astray."

"You were the only one who was committed to their job," Mr. Puccio sighed. "The others would have taken forever to solve the murders. It would have driven me insane. Plus, you also travelled with Cassandra. So, the murders could easily follow you and we'd mix things up a bit."

"How did you manage to get people to hire Cassandra?" Anna asked.

"That was easy," Mr. Puccio smiled. "There is always that one person at a wedding who has a vendetta. We just had to find that person, coax them into agreeing to hiring some help. Then have Cassandra go forward with it. Sure, some of them felt guilty, but Cassandra is great at blackmail. She managed to get them to keep silent. I just had to sit back and watch and wait."

"Why fire me and have me banned from the hotel?" Anna questioned.

"Because you were getting too close to me." Mr. Puccio replied, "I needed to know if you suspected me or not and so I played a game where I fired you, then pretended it was all a plot so that you would tell me who you suspected. You never suspected me at all did you?"

"You thought of everything didn't you?" Anna asked. "So what happens now?

"The tapes in the elevator and roof are damaged," Mr. Puccio sighed. "So, no one will ever know what happened up here and when. Cassandra will be up here soon and we'll have our big finale. Just as originally planned."

"What if she backs out of it?" Anna asked. "What if she betrays you and decides to side with me instead?"

"That's not going to happen." Mr. Puccio laughed.

"Why not?" Anna demanded.

"She hates you." His words stung. "I convinced her that you are holding her back. I finally gave her the job she wanted. I kept pointing out little things you did that any sane person would know was their job. But I made it look like you burdened her with menial tasks. As I did that, she grew to hate you more each day. Now, I can get her to kill you and then I can kill her. By the time I am done, nothing will ever be linked back to me."

Anna stopped and just watched the man with a shocked look on her face. Behind him, the door to the elevator sounded. Anna prayed as she watched as the doors open. She knew that soon, all of this would be over. He was right. Cassandra did hate her and it was an unreasonable hatred.

Until the bullet struck her, all Anna could do was hope that death would be fast and painless. After all, the alternative was suffering slow and painful death. Something that Cassandra seemed certainly capable of doing.

The door opened to the elevator and Cassandra walked out and looked at Mr. Puccio and Anna.

"You said I could kill her," Cassandra hissed.

"She's yours for the killing." Mr. Puccio lowered his gun.

"So no one from the wedding party asked for the murders to take place?" Anna asked. "I know I should be pleading for my life but I am still not grasping this."

"You were always meant to die here," Mr. Puccio replied. "Demetrius was willing to take the fall. But he was too obvious and we all knew about his and Christo's past. Knowing you'd figure it out with a little mediocre detective work would be too risky so we didn't involve him in the end. Cassandra committed the Aruba murders herself. That's another reason Ithica and Henry both had to die. It would destroy any theories you had come up with."

"Did Cassandra know about the backdoor plan you had in place?" Anna asked.

"What plan?" Cassandra demanded.

"He is going to kill you as soon as you kill me," Anna offered.

"Oh, I know that." Cassandra replied casually.

Raising her gun, she pulled the trigger. Mr. Puccio's lifeless body fell to the ground, a gaping hole in the back of his head.

"It's always so messy," Cassandra sighed. "Now, Anna. How would you like to die?"

"As a 95 year old woman in my sleep?" Anna asked.

"You're still destined to die." Cassandra shook her head. "But you told me you loved me. So, you were spared in a moment of weakness. I'm not going to let you live this time."

"But I love you." Anna forced a smile. "You are like a sister to me." Anna looked at Cassandra and knew the woman had lost anything that remained of her soul years ago. Now, for Anna, it was just about surviving as long as she could. Hoping some miracle happened and her life would be spared.

"I have killed over a dozen people in the last few months." Cassandra laughed.

"You were going to kill Mr. Puccio the entire time. Weren't you?"

"That was always the plan, look at him. He wasn't man enough to control me. I just had to be sure everything was in place. I've planted evidence against him for all the murders now. I took a polaroid of each of the bodies, took souvenirs from them. They'll all be found in the safe in his office. I purposely left that unlocked and cracked open slightly."

"So it looks planted?" Anna asked. "That's real smart."

"What do you mean?" Cassandra demanded. "He could have been going through it just before he died."

"You want to make him seem like the likely killer," Anna chuckled. "But would someone that meticulous leave their safe open? So anyone could just stumble in on the contents? You've messed up. People are going to see right through it. I would strongly recommend you take the time to deal with that or the cops will look at you and toss you in jail."

"Shut up," Cassandra screamed. "I need to think about this now. You've ruined everything."

"How?" Anna asked. "Was I the one who stupidly made a rookie mistake? Once again, I have the brains. You have managed to embarrass yourself. Please, stop setting yourself up as a fool."

Anna knew that the only way she was going to survive was if she could keep Cassandra occupied until someone came to help her. But as darkness crept across Cassandra's face, Anna knew that she had overstepped her limits.

Cassandra raised the gun and aimed at Anna's left knee. Pulling the trigger, Anna found herself falling forward off the ledge and slamming onto the roof. The air was knocked out of her. Her thoughts began to drift, but Anna was determined to remain focused on the situation at hand. She couldn't give in to the pain.

"Must hurt pretty bad," Cassandra snickered. "You know your words are like pouring salt on the wound."

Walking over to Anna, Cassandra reached into her pocket and pulled out a saltshaker. Anna couldn't take her eyes off the woman standing over her.

"Just let me be," Anna breathed. "I'll tell everyone that it was Mr. Puccio. Please, spare me."

Cassandra threw back her head and howled in laughter. She removed the lid from the salt and turned the shaker upside down over Anna's gunshot wound. Anna felt the waves of pain crash over her as she bordered on passing out. Cassandra's laughter seemed to distance itself from her and she struggled to breathe. The pain was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.

As she started to fade, she felt a hard slap on her face and she turned her focus to Cassandra.

"No, not yet," Cassandra snarled. "You've made me suffer for years under your iron fist. I want you to suffer as you've never suffered before. I want you to plead for death to take you from this land. Then bring you back just to push you to the edge again. I hate you, Anna Winters. My hatred for you is at an unholy level and I love it. It feels good. It feels right. It feels like justice to me."

Anna spat at Cassandra and grimaced in pain.

"Justice would be you behind bars." Anna struggled to breathe. "You better get this over with quickly. The amount of blood I am losing is already taking its toll. So do your worst, Cassandra."

She watched as Cassandra raised the gun again and aimed.

"I want you to know you are hated," Cassandra hissed. "I want you to die not knowing you are loved. But knowing there is someone in this world who has a passionate hatred for you. I am getting satisfaction from your suffering and pain."

Anna closed her eyes and jumped when she heard the final gunshot. The darkness around her remained. After a moment, she noticed her ears were still ringing. She opened her eyes. Cassandra's body was crumpled next to her. The woman's blood pooling around her head. Anna didn't have to look closely to know she had been killed by a gunshot wound to the head.

Anna thought she had it figured out. Cassandra decided the ultimate method of torture was taking her own life. That way, Anna would bleed out and die alone. It seemed strange this was the way her life was going to end. She had always dreamed of falling in love, having a child and having the chance to do something important with her life.

But as she had lived her life, she was surrounded in death. She noticed her breathing was becoming shallow.

"Help me," she whimpered.

But only silence surrounded her. Moving her hand, she took Cassandra's in hers. If she was indeed dying, she didn't want it to be alone as Cassandra had hoped. She was going to make the best of a terrible situation and use her life to do the last bit of good.

"I forgive you," Anna said between gasps. "I forgive you for your hatred toward me."

The world seemed to fade around her and Anna felt herself slipping away. All she hoped for at that moment was that everything would turn out okay for Pauline, her friends and her family.

An eternity seemed to pass when she felt a splash of cold water hit her face. Struggling, she forced open her eyes. There was a figure hovering over her, but she couldn't quite make out who it was.

"God?" She asked.

"Oh, sweetie," the voice laughed. "Not even close. But I do appreciate that super sweet remark. Thank you, baby."

It took a moment, but she realized her savior was Monica.

"Why?" Anna asked.

"Because I like you, darling," Monica replied. "Save your breath and get ready because this is going to sting, baby. Just brace yourself for a moment."

Anna felt an intense pain in her knee and then felt only a minor burning sensation.

"Vodka has so many uses, dear," Monica laughed. "I am going to treat this wound as best I can. The paramedics are on their way and they simply must not find me here. I would be a terrible shock for them and I need them to assume there was some sick twisted murder suicide thing going on. So, you'll need to create a story, darling. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes," Anna replied.

"I knew you could, baby." Monica laughed. "Now, as soon as we hear those doors open, I need to vanish. I can't be around when they whisk you off to the hospital. But don't worry, I'll still be watching over you. I've grown very fond of you, Anna Winters. You are a smart and fiery little woman. You remind me of a younger version of myself."

"Thanks." Anna struggled to stay focused. "How did you find me?"

"The elevator being stuck on the top floor for over 10 minutes might not arouse the suspicions of most people." Monica explained. "But I know when something is up, that is why nobody can catch me.

Anna nodded in agreement.

"Think about what you've done," Monica continued. "You survived several killers. You've been on the wrong side of a number of guns. You've managed to get justice for a number of victims. Plus, you exposed the Phantom of Barbados. A mystery that has been there for decades. I've got to say, if you were anyone else, I'd have taken a shot at you."

"You did pistol whip me." Anna forced a smile. "Never forget that."

"Oh, sweetie,” Monica laughed. "I did it because I like you. You'd be dead right now if I didn't. Now, when everyone asks you who took care of your leg, tell them you did. I'm going to leave the bottle of vodka right here. I do hope that one day, our paths cross again. Of course, I know they will. Just remember that when we meet, you have to pretend like none of this happened."

Anna tried to respond, but she could feel she was growing weaker by the minute. The sound of the elevator dinging in the distance let Anna know that help was here.

"Goodbye for now, darling," Monica replied and took off running.

"It looks like there's three bodies," a man yelled. "Call the coroner to come out here."

"Help!" Anna struggled to get the word out.

"Wait, the redhead is still alive!" Another man shouted. "Get her on a gurney now!"

Anna could sense people were surrounding her. She felt herself being lifted onto a gurney and felt the sting as a needle was stuck in her arm.

"Stay with us, Ma'am!" A woman urged her. Anna nodded her head. As the gurney was moved toward the elevator, she saw only the few puffs of clouds in the blue sky.

All she knew is that she felt safe...finally. The nightmare was over. No one was out to get her anymore and she would be free to do as she wished. As soon as she was able to, she'd take off with Pauline and the two of them would start the business with the generous funds from Anstice. In her eyes, Anna considered that a win.