Without Any Warning (A Samantha Jamison Mystery Volume 2) (25 page)

Chapter 89

Killing Time

The mindset of a criminal was not my forte, but I was learning fast. Obviously, they were unpredictable. I took a deep sigh of relief. I was still breathing.

Barely.

No killing had taken place yet, just my panic attack. I needed a way out of all this. I also needed a completed novel. But at the moment, I wasn’t exactly seeing either. I’d put in quality time on this thing and had obviously gotten nowhere.

“That’s a cigarette lighter?” I asked incredulously. I felt like a complete fool!

“Of course! It’s my favorite. I carry it everywhere.” He slipped it back in his pocket, mumbling, “Crazy broad.”

I gave him a nasty look. That was the second time I heard that derogatory remark mentioned in reference to me, but forced myself to consider its source, determined to move on.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” I demanded.

He offered a smile. “What? You mean about Martha?”

“Yes. What does she have to do with all this?”

He smiled. “She’s my insurance.”

That was not what I wanted to hear. “What do you mean your insurance?” I asked nervously, my thoughts upended.

He laughed. “You might say she’s tied up at the moment.”

I sank down to a chair. “What have you done to her?”

“No harm done….yet.”

“What do you want from me?” I asked, but knew.

“You already know, don’t you?”

I rested my head back and closed my eyes. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Well, why don’t you give it to me so I can leave and nobody gets hurt?”

I knew that would never happen, letting me off, especially since his identity was now known. “You set Martha up from the beginning, ever since the casino that first night. Didn’t you?”

“Of course! She was an easy mark.”

 
I thought about it. “So you’re both Roland and Joey.”

“How clever you are!” he said, enjoying himself now.

I had to kill some time so I could come up with a way out. But there was still something I needed to know first.

“Was Mona a part of your crime conspiracy?”

“No, she wasn’t, but as far as you or Martha? That was completely my idea, my territory. Back then, I found out that Mona saw more than she needed to see in the books, crossing into too many areas she had no business being in and that finally pissed me off.

“I had to play rough and threaten your safety after finding out where you were, so she would try to help find that damn disc she sent to your husband. Then he died and I pressed harder and presto, the grand reunion in Ocean City. Clever! Don’t you think?”

Upset, I stood to face him. “Obviously you think so.”

Suddenly, from behind us, a voice said, “Not so fast grandpa!” We both turned together, taken back by who it was.

Joey/Roland’s mouth dropped open. “I can explain.”

She stood there smiling, aiming a pearl handled gun directly at him. “Did you actually think I’d let the car jacking slide? Now, the money angle, that’s real personal.”

“Pat?” I looked back and forth.

They knew each other?

Suddenly, there was another click. We all turned. There stood Mona, her hand firmly clutching a gun.

“Drop it, Pat.”

Chapter 90

Are We There Yet?

I was just rationalizing one relationship, when another one popped up. I couldn’t keep pace. I looked at Mona. “So, you were both fighting over him?” I asked, gesturing over toward Joey, as Pat’s gun slid to the floor.

Hold on! Why was Mona holding those two at bay?

Mona sighed. “We weren’t fighting over him. I lied.”

She saw the look I gave her. “You what? Why?”

“Obviously, revenge ranks high on Pat’s list, because she unexpectedly showed up trying to get her money back. She must have tracked him here to Ocean City.”

I looked from one to the other. “Obviously, more is in play here than meets the eye. Now, what’s going on?”

Mona looked over to Pat. “You want to start, or me?”

Pat turned to me, smiling. “I’m a treasury agent, who was assigned to Joey’s money laundering case and was working undercover in California. I slipped up and fell for him,” she said, looking over at him, and winking. “He was sort of cute, even for his age, especially all that money. But he had other plans, like taking off with my car in L.A. with a large chunk of my money. Then I was taken off the case.”

I took a shot, verbal that is. “That’s when he must have found out about the computer disc mailed to Stephen, and decided to come after me, thinking I had it!”

Pat turned to Mona. “You’re right, she’s no dummy.”

Mona looked at me. “Unfortunately, by then, Pat decided to work both sides of the street, saying she knew where the disc was, but she didn’t, because the disc was already ditched. I just winged the rest to stall you, Sam, borrowing her story until I could find where it disappeared. You might have figured it all out if Joey let you live long enough to do it.”

I didn’t like her reference about my possible demise and was upset. I’d been played by the all of them. How easy it was to let yourself slide and fall for all the empty chatter. Regrettably, I’d bitten. Well, that was history.

“I don’t like what I’m hearing,” I said, angrily.

“I don’t either,” said a voice from behind us. The four of us turned. There stood David, pointing a derringer. “Step away, Sam. Come over here.”

Mystified, I did as I was told and moved away from the trio and slid in David’s direction, but kept my eye on all of them, suddenly fascinated by this turn of events.

Mona held her gun steady on Roland. “Well, hello there David,” she said, smiling.

“You know, Mona, you always pushed the envelope.”

“I can’t help it. I was well trained by the government.”

I stared over at Mona. “You’re FBI, aren’t you?”

“Very good, Sam! I’m an undercover operative, but I couldn’t reveal that to you. Too risky. David’s FBI too.”

She turned to him and laughed. “We don’t like each other. Do we, David? We’re too competitive.”

Mona then focused back on me. “While David’s been tracking Pat, I worked undercover to not only get the financial information we needed to nail Joey and his organization, but because we only heard him on recorded conversations with Pat, we needed more evidence on his identity. I had to give you some spin about a relationship with me, while we flushed Joey out from the woodwork, so to speak, before he got to you. We never let on to Pat that we already knew that she was playing both sides.”

Mona sighed. “I caught them rifling through my computer. So I grabbed my disc and quickly printed an envelope. I couldn’t send it to the FBI, as I suspected even the postman. But I felt safe sending it to Stephen. End result? Someone saw me with the disc, found his address on my computer; and he became a target.

“Stephen said he’d help me hide the disc, but he never got the chance to reveal where; only that it was hidden in the puzzle, which I could never figure out.

“Meanwhile, Stephen asked Clay to hold a gift for him until he returned from his business trip, explaining it was for your birthday. None of the players had a clue what the other was actually up to. Suddenly, the key figure in all this with the disc, Stephen, died in an unexpected car accident.

“Clay had no idea about anything, just that the painting with the note was a gift for your birthday. You assumed the typed note and painting was from Clay, when all he did was merely delay forwarding it after he felt you were finally emotionally ready to receive Stephen’s belated gift.

“Having finally read the note, after Stephen’s death, Clay merely thought it was an inside riddle between the two of you and that you would understand Stephen’s cryptic message, like in a mystery. But after all the chaos broke out in Ocean City with everyone looking for that disc, it suddenly dawned on Clay, and then the FBI, that the painting and note might actually hold a clue to the location of the disc with all the mob’s financials. So, Clay quickly sent it to you, as Stephen had originally asked.”

I stood there, my mind spinning.
What next?

“Roland! Why’d you leave me like that?” accused Martha, as she rounded the top of the stairs.

We all turned in unison.

She rushed to Roland’s side, embracing him. “You know how I hate unexpected foreplay! Why did you tie me to the bedpost and leave me like that, you rascal?”

Next thing I noticed was a silver gun aimed at him. She must have taken it from his pocket. S
he was fuming.

“Martha! No! Don’t!” I yelled, frightened. “That’s his cigarette lighter.”

She looked down at her hand and laughed. “I don’t think so. Berretta doesn’t make lighters.”

Roland pushed her to the side and made a break for it. “I’m out of here. You people are all nuts!” he said, knocking David over, as he raced for the stairs.

Roland pulled out a gun and aimed at all of us. I hit the floor. Then a shot rang out. I stared over at Martha, shocked, and turned back as Joey tumbled down the steps.

How’d she do that with a lighter?

Martha lowered the gun to her side, walked over to the railing, looked down and gave a bitter laugh.

“Got the bastard!”

I swear her version of
‘senior citizen’
not only blew my mind, but also just blew away Roland.

Chapter 91

I’m Not Buying That

I wasn’t buying that all this was over. Not by a long shot. I still didn’t know where the disc was. Come to think of it, neither did anyone else. Where was it?

I leaned over the railing as Barbara, Betty and Hazel burst through the front door thoroughly upset, and out of breath just as David and the others reached Roland’s side.

“What in the world is going on?” asked Barbara.

“Oh, my! “There’s a body lying on the floor of the foyer!” announced Betty.

“We heard a shot as we approached!” exclaimed Hazel.

They were all leaning over Roland, as he began to stir.

“Look out!” shouted Martha. “He’s alive and kicking!”

David knelt down. “It’s a shoulder wound. He’ll live.”

Mona was dialing 911 for an ambulance and backup.

I checked out the crowd down below.

Where was Pat?

I turned in time to see her bend down to retrieve her gun.
I frantically looked around and grabbed the first heavy thing I could think of and pitched it in her direction
.

Déjà vu!

That framed picture sailed through the air like a missile, nailing its target with precision, and then Pat fell with a thud, as her gun flew across the floor.

The others scrambled up the stairs, as I reached her body, after side stepping through the scattered broken bits of glass.

“What happened?” asked David, as he approached.

“She reached for her gun, maybe having second thoughts about saving her former boyfriend.”

Mona stared down at Pat. “I guess that’s what happens when you work both sides of the street. Too much money was involved and her greed got the best of her.”

By this time, everyone was finally upstairs in the living room watching the spectacle sprawled out on the floor.

“It’s obvious she fell for his sweet talk too,” said Martha, shaking her head and frowning.

“My! My!” exclaimed Hazel. “What a switch!”

“You know, they always say look out for the surprise ending you don’t expect. How true!” said Betty.

I just stood there, looking down at what was staring me in the face. “Well, look what we have here!” I exclaimed, reaching down to grab the infamous disc off the floor.

Mona turned to look. “Where did that come from?”

All eyes turned to me. “When I saw her reaching for her gun, I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on, Stephen’s birthday gift; the glass framed picture of the woman by the sea. The disc must have been inside the frame behind the picture.”

Martha stooped down to have a closer look at the floor. “What picture? That was a puzzle that was lightly glued together and glossed over and framed!”

We all stood there, now noticing all the individual puzzle pieces scattered everywhere underfoot on the dark hardwood floor.

Mona nudged me. “Remember Stephen told me he hid the disc in the puzzle? Well, there you go. He did just that!”

I stood there amazed, laughing at the last page to the book being set into its final rightful place. I looked up at everyone. “And that folks is what they call,
The End
!”

“What in hell is going on?” yelled Crystal from the foyer.

…Well ...Maybe not quite the end!

We all ran to the railing and looked down the stairwell.

Crystal was leaning over Roland’s –
no Joey’s!
– body, looking at him.

“Dad?”