Nursing a Grudge is Murder (A Maternal Instincts Mystery) (21 page)

He nodded.

Whiskers peeked around the corner of our kitchen. Jim leveled a gaze at the cat, but before he could turn to me I was already down the hallway.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The smell of salt air was refreshing and I took big greedy gulps of it as sweat dripped down my forehead. I was running through the knee-high sand that spanned the distance from the Great Highway all the way to the coastline. When I reached the water, I ran along the coastline toward the Cliff House, my legs throbbing as my heels pushed against the harder, more compact sand.

I let the rhythm of the run carry me as thoughts floated in and out of my head, relieved that I was finally getting my figure and tone back after giving birth.

The weather was still clear, although a bit cold, and the wind whipped at my ball cap, threatening to pull it off my head. I had an unobstructed view of the Farallon Islands and beyond, the mountains of Marin, including Mount Tamalpais.

The sun was getting lower in the sky, casting a streaked orange and pink glow on the horizon.

No matter how many times I witnessed the sunset on the Pacific Ocean, I never grew tired of it.

What was getting tiring was the running, though. I glanced at my wrist watch.

What?

I’d been running an entire seven minutes.

That had to be wrong.

Maybe there was another way to get back into shape besides punishing myself with a relentless run.

Forget hiking too. Apparently that was pretty dangerous.

What I could use was some martial arts training.

Before giving birth to Laurie, I’d enjoyed a kickboxing class at my local gym. But it was purely a cardio workout, not really any self defense training of any sort. I was sure V.D. had training. He was a serious P.I. and Galigani had been through the police academy. Was there an academy for private citizens? Surely security folks had to go through something.

I made a mental note to look up karate classes when I got home.

I spied my watch again.

Ten minutes.

Crap. I’d wanted to get to twenty. On the one hand, I could think that I was
already
half way done, but all I could think was that I was
only
half way done.

Half way seemed like a good time to take a break. I collapsed onto the sand and kicked off my left running shoe, then dumped the sand out of it.

One of the things that bothered me about running on the beach was that it was difficult to gauge the distance I’d run. I glanced around, straining to find a telltale street sign off of the Great Highway. There was a tunnel area up ahead that passed under the highway and connected the beach to one of the Avenues. I wasn’t far from that, maybe only a block or two, so I decided that when I reached the tunnel, I could turn around and run home to enjoy a nice dinner out with Laurie and Jim.

I replaced my shoe, then stood and continued my run. A figure dodged out from behind the tunnel area, racing toward me menacingly.

My breath caught as I realized it was skull cap man.

Fear struck me immediately in my gut. Without thinking, without pre-meditating anything, I began to run in the opposite direction, trying to think of a way out.

I commanded my legs to move and pumped my arms as hard as I could, the previous run serving as an initial warm-up. My body now fueled and ready for flight, my feet hitting the sand with a speed I didn't know I was capable of. My lungs burned and my heart pounded through my chest until I thought it was going to explode.

Run, run, run, Kate!

I tried to remain calm as skull cap man advanced on me, hot on my trail.

A thousand thoughts collided in my head at once. Why was he chasing after me? If he was the killer, what was his connection to Melanie?

I felt his hand brush against my jacket sleeve. I shoved at him and kept running.

Suddenly he reached out and grabbed my ponytail; my head jerked back and the ball cap flew off my head.

“Get away from me!” I screamed.

Somehow his grip slipped. I evaded him and switched directions. I kept running, this time putting a greater distance between us. I focused on the tunnel. If I could make it to the tunnel and out to the other side, there were bound to be people around on the street.

It was either take the tunnel or risk climbing the stairs to the Great Highway. The problem with the stairs was that I’d have to traverse knee-deep sand.

No, it would be too risky to slow myself down on the looser sand.

I bemoaned my broken cell phone. Would Jim be missing me by now? Would he know that I was in danger? I could barely think of Laurie, my heart breaking when I pictured her little face and her toothless grin.

Skull cap man was swearing behind me, a vulgar string of obscenities hurled at me. He was closing the distance between us.

Suddenly I reached the tunnel and turned into it. My legs bouncing off the cement, giving me a feeling of speed as I pounded easily on the concrete without the added burden of having to pull my foot out of the sand.

Flashes of relief bobbed inside my stomach as I raced farther into the tunnel and away from skull cap man.

I was going to make it!

If I could get to the other side of the tunnel, people would be milling around the street and the café that fronted the beach.

I could yell for help.

But something was wrong in the tunnel.

It was dark, and remained dark the farther in I ran.

I swallowed past the panic, then I realized I'd made a deadly mistake. The tunnel had been closed due to new construction.

The tunnel dead ended.

I was dead ended.

Skull cap man was upon me, laughing. “Oh, Kate, not as smart as you think you are!” he snarled.

I hated him with an intensity I'd never felt before. I tried to marshal up all my resources, but I was huffing and puffing.

Could I take this man here in the tunnel? I needed a weapon. I needed leverage.

Right now, all I had was my head.

“What are you doing, man? I have nothing on you. You could walk away. I don't…I don't know who you are— ”

“That’s a lie,” he spat. His face was inches away from me. I could smell his sour breath. Coffee and rotted teeth mixed together.

It was dark inside the tunnel and I couldn’t study his features. There was something about him that was horrifyingly creepy, like I was staring into the eyes of a man without a soul.

“You’ve been to my place. You’ve been to my boat. Right, Kate?”

I hated the way he used my name. He said it with a mocking ring of familiarity, like we were long lost friends.

“No,” I lied. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He reached out with one hand and caressed my cheek. I slapped him away. He recoiled and in that moment when he seemed off guard I knocked him in the nose with my elbow.

He doubled over. I pushed him hard, his head bouncing off the concrete with a sickening crack.

I fled.

I wasn't fast enough, though. Before I could run out into the sunlight he was upon me. He pushed me hard from the side, throwing me off balance. I struggled not to fall and kept moving forward, but he dove at my legs. He grabbed me by my ankles and dragged me to the floor.

He pressed against me, his weight on top of my arms, pinning me to the ground. “You’re going to take a little trip with me, sweetheart. Don't worry, I’ll make you comfortable.”

He reached into his hip pocket and pulled out a small vial. He shoved it under my nose. I tried to push him off me but the fumes were too strong.

I tried to hold on to consciousness, praying for Jim and Laurie, then suddenly—blackness.

<><><>

When I awoke, I was bound to a chair in a dark room and he was standing above me. There was a decided sway to the room and I couldn’t figure out if it was me or the room. I looked out of the small circular window and spotted the twinkling lights from Alcatraz.

We must be on his houseboat.

What did he want from me? Why bring me here?

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re skullcap man. Smith & Wesson man. You're responsible for Perry's death, probably Melanie’s too.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied me.

“Why did you do it? For hire? Brent or Lillian hired you, right? I'm sure…if you let me go…It’s nothing personal, if you let me go, I’ll pay. I can pay you.”

He laughed. “You don’t have any money.”

“Why add another crime to the list? You can let me go and take off on your boat. Go to Mexico, live on the beach.”

He smiled. “You know, those were my thoughts exactly.”

Relief flooded me.

Was he really going to let me go?

“But I can’t just let you go. You’d cause problems for her and then my final payment wouldn’t come in.”

Her? It was Mrs. Miles then, not Brent.

I swallowed my tears. “Final payment for what?”

He gave me a crooked smile. “For making you disappear, of course.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

I needed to keep him talking. Jim would figure out where I was, wouldn’t he? It was dark now, the sun had set. Jim would be missing me. Laurie would be hungry… Maybe, Kenny would pop over to the house and tell him about my trip out to Sausalito. Jim would figure it out, he had to. I had to believe that he’d come and get me.

“Take me to Mexico with you.”

He froze in place. “Seriously?”

I shrugged. “You don’t really want to kill me. You just want to get your payment. Let’s head down to Matazlan. Make sure she wires you the funds and then you let me go.”

I could tell the plea had done something to him, because his body language changed.

“I need the break, anyway,” I said.

He laughed. “They’re working you too hard, huh?”

I shrugged, not wanted to give away any more than I needed to.

I wondered if Brent even had any idea about her involvement. Would V.D. figure it out and call Jim?

“How much?” I asked.

“How much what?” he asked.

“How much did she pay you? How much is a life worth?”

“It started at 10k,” he said. His tone was proud, and I tried not to cringe. So little for a human life. I wanted to choke on my tears.

“Ten for the first, but then I doubled it the second time around. I ain’t risking no jail time for nothing.”

“They can’t pin it on you,” I said. “They don’t have any proof of you pushing Perry. They didn’t find any witness, nothing.”

He nodded, obviously proud of himself.

“Was Perry the first?” I asked.

He frowned. “Sure, what do you mean?”

I looked away from him and out the nautical window at Alcatraz…

“There was another guy, Rick Link. Died in Yosemite.”

Skull cap rubbed at his chin. “Yosemite? No, no. That wasn’t me.”

Football captain…prom king…Escape from Alcatraz…

Nausea bubbled up inside me. “Oh my God! She said Lillian, but she’d meant Jillian.”

“What?” Skull cap asked.

“Jill had the Escape from Alcatraz t-shirt. It was his, wasn’t it? Rick Link’s.”

A crashing sound came from overhead, pounding and shouting. The boat rocked violently. Sirens sounded in the distance.

“Help!” I screamed.

Skull cap man dove for the door of the cabin, but wood splintered all around him as Jim broke through it in one fluid motion. Jim tackled skull cap like a linebacker while I cheered him on.

Directly following Jim was Vicente. He piled onto skull cap man and restrained him, while Jim came to me.

“Kate,” Jim screamed, crushed me into an embrace. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” I said. “We were going to Mazatlan.”

He untied my wrists and then my ankles.

Before I could give him any explanations, he ushered me up to the top deck and off the boat. The sirens grew louder and at the end of the dock I could see Galigani directing a police cruiser to park. Two uniformed officers jumped out of the car and ran past us, climbing aboard The Shady Lady.

Jim squeezed my hand. “Thank God, you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you found me,” I said. “Where’s Laurie? Who’s watching her?”

“The cat,” Jim snickered. “And your mom,” he said, ushering me toward Galigani.

Galigani stood at the end of dock, leaning on a cane with his foot in a boot cast. He ruffled my hair when I got close and said, “Hey kid. You’re a sight for sore eyes. Glad we got here in time.”

“How’s your ankle?” I asked.

He scolded me. “Just because I led the charge in saving your butt, doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for taking me hiking.”

Jim and I both laughed and I leaned into him. “How did you guys find me?”

“Vicente called me. He and Kenny got some information off the laptop that showed—”

“It was Jill,” I said.

“You know?” Galigani asked.

“I pieced it together. She went hiking with the guy in Yosemite, right?” I asked.

“Right. His mother called the house after you left for your run, but I didn’t know what she was talking about, said that the girl who’d camped with Rick was Jillian Harrington.”

“Yes,” Galigani confirmed. “Miles suspected her of stealing from the restaurant and I suppose the manager, Rick Link, may have had proof. So she got rid of him.”

“Then Perry found out and blackmailed her,” Jim said.

“How did Perry find out?” I asked.

“Same way we did,” Galigani said, “Rick’s mom.”

Perry was the one who’d phoned her.

“If Jill didn’t pay Perry to keep silent,” Jim said, “he was going to ruin her career, not only as a restaurant critic, but also as a TV host on Foodie Network. So, she hired this creep,” he gestured toward The Shady Lady, “to get rid of Perry.”

“The guy went a little unhinged when Melanie interrupted his cleanup at Perry’s. He figured once Perry was out of the picture, he’d help himself to the guy’s big screen
TV,” Galigani said, “But when Melanie interrupted the heist, he got nervous that she could ID him.”

Vicente emerged from the houseboat and swaggered toward us. “The police are reciting him his Miranda rights. How is Kate?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Thank you for calling Jim and for coming along to help.”