Rose Pressey - Chase Charley 02 - Seems Like Old Crimes (21 page)

We drove down the main street along the beach looking for a hotel. Palm trees sporadically lined the street. Even though I couldn’t see the water, I knew the beach was close because the smell of the ocean drifted through the car’s window.

“What about that place?” Dangerfield pointed at the vacancy sign at a small hotel.

“How about we stop there as a last resort? I think there’s a Holiday Inn down the road.” I gestured.

Dangerfield continued for another mile and then pulled into the parking lot. At least the sign said there was a vacancy here too.

Dangerfield parked the car. “I can go in and get us a room.”

I opened the door. “Not so fast. I’ll go in and get a room for myself.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Whatever you want.”

We walked into the hotel lobby and over to the front desk. A sofa and chairs decorated the lobby area to the left. The pastel colors looked like someone had stolen the Golden Girls’ set. No one was around. Cold air from the air conditioner blasted us bringing up goose bumps on my arms. Dangerfield talked with the employee while I walked over to the window and peered out. Of course it was too dark to see anything. After a minute, Dangerfield joined me.

“I got our rooms.” He held up the key cards.

Luckily, there were rooms available. Dangerfield and I headed toward the rooms. I was just sad that I didn’t have any clothing, no pajamas to change into. But after everything that had happened, that was the least of my worries
.
I’d have to ask for a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Dangerfield stopped in front of my room. “Looks like this is it. I’m right next door if you need me.” He stared at me for a moment. Was he going to kiss me? Maybe I should grab him by his shirt and say kiss me, for Pete’s sake. After a long pause, he started to move toward his door. “If you can’t sleep, come and get me.”

I rolled my eyes and then opened my room door.

“Goodnight, Dangerfield,” I said over my shoulder.

“Sweet dreams,” he said as I closed the door.

There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the room. The air-conditioning hummed as it blew at full capacity, so I flipped the switch to the lowest setting. I collapsed onto the bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable I’d ever felt, but it definitely wasn’t the worst either.

Unfortunately, I was wide awake now. I kept thinking about Dangerfield telling me to come over if I couldn’t sleep. Was he serious?

There was a door that led out to the pool area. I stepped over to the window, pulled back the heavy drapery and peered out at the sparkling pool.

Surprisingly, there was no one in the water or anywhere around for that matter. I supposed I could go out and stick my toes in the water for a second. Just a quick dip to wet my toes. Maybe that would relax me enough so that I could sleep.

I unlocked the door and stepped out into the night air. The lights around the pool made the reflections on the water dance. If Dangerfield was out here I wouldn’t put it past him to jump in with or without his clothing. I walked around the pool, looking at the inviting water. I stepped over to the edge and sat down.

I slipped off my sandals and eased my feet into the water. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the soothing feeling of the cool water against my warm skin. The tension was already easing from my shoulders. It was hard to get everything that had happened out of my mind though, no matter how relaxing the water felt.

A breeze stirred my hair and I leaned back to soak in my surroundings. I hoped that I could stay out here alone for a little while longer. I had no idea the water could be so relaxing.

“How’s the water?” Dangerfield asked from over my shoulder.

I jumped, almost falling in the water. “You’ve really got to stop sneaking up on me like that.”

He leaned down and sat beside me. He took off his shoes, rolled his pant legs up and put his feet in the water too.

“This is nice,” he said.

I smiled. “It is nice.”

“I guess you couldn’t sleep after all,” he said.

“What about you?” I moved my legs through the water. The motion was almost hypnotic.

“I looked out the window and spotted you. I hope you don’t mind that I came out.”

I smiled. “No, I don’t mind. I’m just surprised that no one else came out here to enjoy the pool.”

“Lucky for us,” he said.

We sat in silence for a little while longer. I moved my feet through the water. Dangerfield moved his back and forth too. A different feeling came over us. The relaxation was no longer there. I looked up and across the back of the hotel was a sea oats flanked pathway that led to the beach.

I spotted him then. “It’s Jeff.”

“What?” Dangerfield said with shock in his voice.

I pointed as I jumped up. Just then Jeff took off. I grabbed my sandals and slipped my feet into them. Dangerfield jumped up and shoved his feet into his shoes.

“Are you sure that it was him?” Dangerfield said as he ran after me.

I reached the gate that led onto the path. “I’m sure that it was him. He was watching us.” We ran out onto the path in the direction where I’d seen Jeff leave. I spotted him running around the hotel.

“There he is.” Dangerfield pushed his fast legs into action and moved ahead of me. I wasn’t far behind. I just hoped that Dangerfield could catch up with Jeff before he got away. What had he been doing watching us? And why was he running away now?

As I turned the corner of the hotel, I spotted Jeff and Dangerfield up ahead. Dangerfield was only steps away when he reached out and tackled Jeff from behind. Jeff fell to the ground and Dangerfield was next. They struggled on the ground. I wasn’t sure who would come out ahead. What could I do? I moved as fast as I could and finally caught up with the men.

I had to call the police, but I’d left my phone in the room. I’d have to run into the hotel’s lobby and use the phone. I hated to leave Dangerfield alone to deal with Jeff though.

Dangerfield had Jeff on the ground where he’d tackled him. Just then Jeff managed to roll over and now he was on top of Dangerfield. I couldn’t watch this any longer without doing anything. I raced inside the lobby and yelled, “I need to use the phone.”

“I’ve already called the police.” The man working behind the reception desk looked at me as if I had caused the fight. He motioned with his hand as if he didn’t want me to enter the hotel.

I guessed technically I had caused the fight, but I certainly hadn’t planned it. I ran back out to the parking lot where I’d left the men.

When I got near, I stopped in my tracks. Jeff had managed to get up and now he was pointing a gun at Dangerfield.

I had to move quickly before he used the gun. Jeff was focused on Dangerfield, so if I could just get behind him, maybe I could knock the gun out of his hands. Then again, I could mess up and give him an opportunity to kill both of us. Careful not to grab his attention, I inched closer to Jeff. I decided that I would have to take a risk and try to knock the gun out of his hands. One wrong move might set him off.

I ran up behind Jeff. Pulling my arms back over my head, with all my strength, I shoved them forward and knocked him in the head with my shoe. It was all that I had at the time. He stumbled forward and the gun fell from his hand. For a second, I didn’t know what to do next, but then I realized I needed to get the gun before Jeff got it again. It was as if I was moving in slow motion, but I managed to wrap my hand around the gun. Now what would I do with it? I wasn’t exactly a skilled marksman. Dangerfield was counting on me to do something though.

With a shaky hand, I pointed the gun at Jeff. His eyes widened. Maybe he was just shocked that he had actually lost the gun to me. Well, believe it, buddy, because this was really happening. I needed to steady the gun or I would end accidentally shooting something I didn’t mean to.

“Don’t make any sudden moves,” I said. “Tell me why you killed Tim.”

He just stared at me, as if he was just a shell, no emotion. If there was emotion, he wasn’t using it now.

“We know what you did and so do the police.” Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, but it was hard.

“It wasn’t me alone.” His lips curled into a cruel sneer.

Now we were getting somewhere. “So who did this with you?” I asked.

He stared for a moment, and then said, “Dean Michaels hired me to kill Tim and Kristine.”

A gasp slipped from my lips and I almost dropped the gun. That was terrible. And to think we had just been in their house. I hoped that Kristine was okay. Now I knew why she’d been acting so strangely. She knew and was trying to tell me something was wrong. I hoped that I could get to her soon. First, I had to take care of Jeff.

Dangerfield stared at me. He’d been behind Jeff, but now he inched around next to me.

“Why did he hire you to do this?” I asked.

“He wanted their money. With Tim gone, Kristine would get all the trust fund money. Then if Dean killed her he would get the money. He wanted to kill Tim’s wife too.”

“That is disgusting and evil,” I said.

Jeff didn’t say anything.

“Were you in a black car the night Tim was murdered?” I had to get more answers.

He scowled and then said, “No, that was Dean and Kristine. They went to the bar to meet Tim. After they left I confronted him.”  

“Kristine didn’t know what was about to happen?” I asked.

“I guess not, or she would have put a stop to it.”

“What do I do now?” I whispered to Dangerfield. My hand was still shaking, but I tried to steady it.

“Did you call the police?” Dangerfield asked.

“Technically the hotel employee called. What is taking them so long?” I blew the hair out of my eyes.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I prayed that it was the police, but when I looked over, I realized I wasn’t that lucky. Dean was the last person I wanted to see right now. He walked toward us with a cunning expression on his face. Either he didn’t see that I had a gun in my hands, or he just didn’t care.

As Dean moved closer to us, I realized that he held a gun in his hands too. I hadn’t expected this turn of events. Now what would I do? I wasn’t ready to have a shootout with this man.  

“Don’t come any further,” I said.

He didn’t listen. He just kept walking toward us with a slow and steady pace. Now Jeff’s lips curved into a smug smile. I was beginning to think the employee hadn’t really called the police after all. Couldn’t he see that I was in a dire situation out here?

An engine revved from somewhere behind me and then a car sped by so quickly that I almost fell forward on my face. The car swerved toward Dean. He jumped out of the way. His arms whirled as he tried to stop his fall. The attempt was unsuccessful and he fell backward to the ground.

The gun fell from his hands, landing a good distance from his body. Dangerfield took that opportunity to run over. He kicked the gun just out of Dean’s reach and then leaned down and grabbed it. Now he stood over Dean and pointed the gun at him. That was when I realized the car was my Porsche. Courtney climbed out of the car and ran over to me.

Fear flashed in her eyes.  “Chase!” Hysteria sounded in her voice. “My life flashed before my eyes. I had no idea I could drive like that.”

It would take her a while to calm down from this. She was more jumpy that if she’d mean in a coffee drinking contest at Starbucks.

“What are you doing here?” My voice was probably panicked.

“I felt like something was wrong, so I turned around and came right back,” she said breathlessly.

I was glad that she had. The thought sent a shiver down my spine. What would have happened if she hadn’t? How would we have gotten out of the situation?

Just when I thought all of the action was over, I spotted Kristine headed our way. I released a sigh of relief to know what she was okay.

She ran over to me. “He tried to kill me. My own husband tried to kill me.”

“It’s okay, Kristine,” I said, “The police are on their way.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” she said.

“Courtney, can you call to see if the police are actually headed this way?” I asked.

Courtney pulled out her phone and dialed 911. She rushed her words and frantically tried to explain our dire circumstances.

“They’re on their way,” she said when she hung up. She’d barely spoken the words when I heard the sirens.

Then I saw the lights. The next thing I knew, cop cars were all around us.

“Drop the gun and put your hands up,” the cops yelled.

Of course I immediately complied. My stomach clenched and my heart pounded
.
I eased the gun to the ground and then placed my hands up. My heart thumped in my chest.

I just hoped that when I put the gun down that Dean or Jeff didn’t get away. I suppose the police had it under control from here. At least I hoped they did.

“They tried to kill us,” I said.

The police ran over and placed Dangerfield and me in handcuffs. Was that really necessary? I suppose it was. Anyway, I hoped it didn’t take too long to sort this out
.
Thank goodness they handcuffed Dean and Jeff too.