Текст книги "Last Resort"

Автор книги: Jeff Shelby

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

THIRTY THREE

“So what do you think happened to the money?” I asked.

It was the next morning and we were up early, tooling around Windy Vista in the golf cart. We'd returned to the campground after meeting with Ellington and Jake had waved off any conversation about him or Harvey or Delilah or anyone else connected to the events of the past week. Instead, he'd thrown steaks on the grill, opened a couple of beers and we'd Skyped with the kids because we missed them. We couldn't use the iPad because the router was still in police custody so we used Jake's phone instead. They told us all about their week—there'd been no more sprained ankles, my Dad hadn't ruined any more electrical equipment and the Bonfire with Boys had gotten rained out—and it made me miss them even more. Jake seemed intent on wrapping up our trip sooner than planned because of the uncertainty and, after chatting with the kids and seeing them on our computer screen, I was just fine with that. So we'd gone to bed early and gotten up early so we could make arrangements to head home. We weren't sure if we could reschedule our flight or drive the rental car home but they were both options we could consider.

The morning was crisp and cool and, even with all of the drama that had surrounded our trip to Windy Vista, I was still feeling a little nostalgic about leaving.

And, of course, my mind was still working over Harvey and the money.

“Didn't we decide to drop this?” Jake asked, guiding the cart with a single hand, his other arm draped lazily over the seat and behind me.

“You decided to drop it last night because you were tired of it,” I pointed out. “I merely agreed to table it.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. Ah.”

He coasted to a stop sign, paused and then pressed the accelerator again. “I don't know what happened to the money. I think Harvey was hoping for too much and I'm not sure Ellington was much of a help.”

“Why?”

“His answers about the stocks,” he said. “He didn't give me a direct answer about where they parked the money. And you know I'm not some financial wizard, but I'd like to think I know a little bit about where you'd invest money if you hoped to turn it around fast. But Ellington didn't answer me specifically about where he'd put it and that makes me think he didn't know what he was doing with it.”  He shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe not. I just thought his answer was kind of evasive, something you might get from a guy who pretends to be a finance guy, but is really just an amateur.”

I nodded. I did, too. I wondered if Ellington was just that guy in a small town who everyone turned to simply because there was no one else to turn to. Maybe he'd somehow become the default expert on all things.

Jake guided the cart past the clubhouse and we drove through the parking lot and onto the dirt trail that led to the lower campground.

“So you think he was just pissed that it was all gone?” I asked. “That he went to Ellington just to confirm?”

“Probably,” Jake said. “And vent a little. He probably was mad and probably initially blamed Ellington. That's not unusual when guys lose their shirts in the markets—they tend to blame their brokers first before realizing that they hired the broker to do something they didn't want to do themselves.” He slowed as the dirt road got bumpy. “But all brokers are just educated guessers. They're like weathermen. And it's not their fault when something happens to a company suddenly and the bottom drops out of their stocks.”

“So then why didn't Delilah know about it?”

The trail narrowed and Jake put his other hand on the wheel as we cut through the dense thicket of trees and bushes, dust kicking up all around us.

“Good question,” he said. “But my guess is that she didn't know he'd handed the money over to Ellington. I think that might be why he didn't want those goofball twins to know where he was going because they'd start asking questions or blabbing to anyone with ears. But he and Delilah opened the account together and then she seemed to leave it in his hands. So maybe he pulled the money out to give to Ellington and didn't tell her. She stayed away from it, then decided she needed the money to pay the bills and it was empty.”

I leaned toward the middle of the cart as some of the longer branches from the bushes that lined the trail reached toward us.

“I think Harvey was trying to do a good thing and Delilah was hoping he could come through,” Jake said. “But neither of them were being realistic. They were both hoping for miracles that didn't happen.”

I thought he was right. It was just sad to hear. I didn't like bad things to happen to good people and I thought both Delilah and Harvey were good people.

“So what happened to Harvey then?” I asked.

“That's the million dollar question, I guess,” Jake said.

“Because it can't just be coincidence.”

“It could be.”

“But it's not. No way. All of this stuff happens at the same time?”

“Maybe he killed himself.”

“We found him. It wasn't suicide.”

“Technically, you found him...”

“Shut up.”

He chuckled, then shrugged. “I don't know what happened to Harvey. And my hope is we'll be gone before they figure it out because I think I've had enough of the goings-on up here.”

I sighed. I wanted to know what happened, but I was starting to agree with him. It seemed like fun was going to be hard to find at Windy Vista in the coming days and I didn't want to be a part of that. We were probably better served getting packed up and home to the kids.

We descended the bottom of the trail, leaving the trees and bushes behind us. The lower campground looked deserted. No one was out walking their dogs, no kids were out riding their bikes. But there were cars parked in front of campers so I knew we weren't alone. Jake maneuvered the cart down to a fork in the road and then continued on to the right. Then he slowed, leaning forward.

“What?” I asked.

“You smell that?”

I sniffed the air. “No.”

“Smells like gas.”

“Natural?”

“No. Like from a pump.”

He slowed the cart. The lots we passed looked abandoned, with rusted out campers and waist high grass.

“I don't think anyone's back here,” I said. “Why would we smell gasoline?”

Jake ignored me and leaned out his side of the cart as he drove, still sniffing at the air. Then he pointed straight ahead. “Well someone's back here.”

I looked to where he was pointing. The waist high weeds in the lot at the end of the path were flattened down in two rows. An old silver air stream trailer sat crooked on the lot, with two busted out windows, one flat tire and a sagging clothesline next to it. The flattened grass ran to the right of the trailer and disappeared behind it.

And I smelled the gasoline, too.

Jake hit the brake on the cart and we stopped.

I could barely make out voices on the other side of the trailer. Jake cocked his head to the side, then held his finger to his lips. The voices grew louder.

And we recognized them.

“Just pour it everywhere, I guess,” Jaw said, backing around the corner of the trailer, a red gas can in his hands. “Shoot, I don't know. I ain't never done this before.”

Chuck emerged on the other side, backing around the same way, an identical can in his hands, gasoline spilling out of it onto the grass. “Well, me, either, dude. I was just asking.”

“Just asking what?” Jake asked loudly.

Both of them froze and turned slowly in our direction. The blood drained from their faces almost simultaneously.

Jaw set his gas can down and wiped his hands together. “Uh, about watering the yard here. We ain't never, uh, taken care of a yard.”

“Watering a yard? With gas?”

Chuck and Jaw looked at one another.

“There ain't gas in here,” Chuck said. “It's water.”

“Smells a lot like gas,” Jake said.

“Probably because they used to hold gas,” Chuck said. “Yeah. That's why.”

“Are you going to set fire to that trailer?” I asked, horrified.

Both of them looked at me like they were seeing me for the first time.

Jaw then looked at Chuck. “Did you tell her?”

Chuck scowled back at him. “No, I didn't tell her. How could I have done that?”

“Well, how else would she have known?”

Jake had closed the distance between him and Chuck. Chuck realized it and dropped his gas can. Whatever was left in it spilled out and streamed toward Jake's feet. Jake took a step back and leaned toward the ground.

“Definitely gasoline,” he said.

“Aren't you guys out on bail?” I asked.

Neither said anything.

“Daisy, just pull out your phone and call the police,” Jake said.

“No!” Chuck yelled. “Don't do that!”

“We are so screwed,” Jaw muttered, shuffling his feet agains the weeds.

“Daisy, I'm serious,” Jake said. “Get your phone out.”

I reached in my pocket.

“It ain't our idea,” Jaw muttered.

“Quiet,” Chuck barked. “Or we ain't gonna get paid.”

“We ain't gonna get paid anyway if we go back to jail.”

“I'm not going back!” Chuck yelled, then took off running toward Jake.

Jake waited for him to close the distance, then slid over to get in his path. Chuck immediately recoiled as if Jake was going to tackle him and he fell to the ground.

Jake looked at me. “Well, that was easy.”

Jaw shook his head. “Man, you are so stupid.”

Chuck was sitting on his rear end, leaning back on his hands, unsure of what to do with himself.

“You said this wasn't your idea,” I said to Jaw, as I pulled my phone out. “What did you mean?”

Jaw bounced on his heels, like his feet were covered with biting flies. “I mean, it wasn't our idea.”

I looked around. I saw a couple of other abandoned trailers in the cul-de-sac. Overgrown yards. A red pick up. An old station wagon. Two bikes laid up agains one of the abandoned trailers, one of them missing a tire. But I didn't see another person.

“So whose idea was it?” I asked.

Jaw didn't say anything.

“And why were you going to burn it down?” I asked. “What's the point in that?”

“Just more trouble around here,” Chuck mumbled.

“So you're trying to make trouble around here?” I asked.

“It ain't us,” Jaw said.

“Well, I don't see anyone else around here,” I said, turning around, irritated. “I see a couple of old trailers. A truck. A station wagon. A couple of...”

Then I stopped.

My eyes moved back toward the truck.

A truck I'd seen before.

“Daisy?” Jake asked.

A red truck. That I'd seen at Delilah's office.

And a cold chill ran down my spine.

I looked back to Jaw and said “Is anyone else here?”

He looked at Chuck and his friend stared back at him. Then both of their eyes drifted back toward the trailer.

And the door of the trailer opened.

Davis Ellington walked out with a gun in one hand and a gas can in the other.

He smiled. “I'm here.”

THIRTY FOUR

“Drop that phone and both of you get your hands up,” Davis Ellington said, waving the gun back and forth between us, then setting the gas can down. “And you two knuckleheads can do the same.”

I looked at Jake, but he was staring at Ellington. He did have his hands in the air, though, so after I laid my phone on the ground, I did the same.

Ellington walked over and kicked Chuck in the butt. “Get up.”

Chuck scrambled to his feet and put his hands up. Jaw walked in my direction, his hands already aimed skyward, like he'd done it before.

Ellington frowned at us from behind his glasses. “Well, this is not something I counted on.” He glanced at me. “Lady, you have done nothing but give me a headache since you showed up.”

All of his small town, aw shucks attitude was gone. He was no longer the desperate salesman hoping to get our names on a contract. I'd been fooled and underestimated him.

“Me?” I asked, my mind racing. “What have I done?”

“You haven't left things alone is what you've done,” he said, frowning. “First you find Harvey in the bushes. Then you show up every time these two are on a job. Then you start asking questions.” He looked at Jake. “Your life must be hell, pal.”

Jake didn't say anything.

“You killed him, didn't you?” I blurted out. “You killed Harvey.”

Ellington rolled his eyes. “I wasn't going to have these two bozos do that. I can't even get them to vandalize things correctly.”

“Why did you kill him?” I asked.

Ellington adjusted his glasses with his free hand and sighed. “That wasn't part of the plan. Not originally, anyway.” Then he glared at me. “But no one was supposed to find him right away. That was your fault.”

Jake seemed to be edging over to his left with tiny steps, trying to move out of Ellington's vision. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but I was hoping it was part of some plan to save us.

“So why did you do it then?” I asked, trying to keep his attention focused on me.

“Good God, you ask a lot of questions, lady,” Ellington said, sighing again. “Because he found out about the money, alright?”

“The investment money?”

“Yep.”

“So you killed him because you lost his money?” I asked. “That doesn't make any sense. He asked you to invest it. He should have known the risks.”

“No!” he snapped, totally irritated with me now. “I didn't invest his money. Jesus. If I'd invested his money, he'd have made money. I'm not an idiot.” He waved the gun at Jaw. “I used his money to pay off these two clowns and when Harvey realized it was gone and I'd never dropped it into anything, he came to me looking for it. And that's when he saw the plans for Land of the Loons.”

“What is Land of the Loons?”

Ellington smiled. “The development I'm going to build in place of this crappy old campground.”

“Land of the Loons?” Jaw said. “That's super lame, dude.”

Ellington turned on hi, the gun leveled on his chest. “Yeah, well, the next time I need your opinion will be never,” he barked.

Jake edged further to his left.

“Why did you have to kill Harvey because of Land of the...Loons?” I asked, tripping over the last word.

“Because he realized I wanted to build on Windy Vista,” Ellington explained. “He saw I was angling to buy the land. He'd told me himself how much financial difficulty they were in and he very quickly put things together. He knew I hadn't invested the money and he knew I wanted the land. He was going to run and tell Delilah and probably anyone else who would listen.” He shrugged. “Couldn't let that happen. We argued in my office. And then he came after me.”

“He came after you?” I asked.

He nodded. “Pretty sure he was gonna take me out right there, he was so mad. I had to defend myself. I tried to hold him off, but he kept throwing punches at me. I didn't have a weapon. So I grabbed a hand-carved wooden loon off the table and swung it.” He swallowed and for the first time, he sounded uncertain. “I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to get him off me, to see if we could figure it out. But I caught him just right. And then I started thinking that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. He wasn't going to listen to me and a dead body on the campground would bring a lot of bad publicity.” He smiled apologetically. “So I guess it all worked out.”

I thought for just a moment. “So it was you. Harvey's body. The vandalism. It was all you.”

“Well, the vandalism was supposed to be a bit better,” Ellington said, glaring at Jaw. “But when you hire a couple of morons to do a job, you end up having to bail them out of jail.” Ellington coughed, then cleared his throat. “But it worked. Word got out. Windy Vista is a mess. People weren't interested in the empty lots and even some of the regulars were making noises about not renewing their lease for next year..” He grinned. “And it's gonna work out even better than I planned because I'll be able to get this place way cheaper in foreclosure than if I'd had to buy it outright.” He paused. “Win-win.”

So he'd been pretending to work for Harvey and Delilah when he'd really been undermining her all along.

Two-faced pig.

“And today was supposed to be the grand finale,” he said, the grin fading. “Set a little fire and chase a few others away and be done with it. I'd be able to start building next spring. But I figured I'd better come supervise these two clowns to make sure it got done right. And then you showed up.” He rolled his eyes. “Again.”

He was like the villain in a bad TV show. Lying to everyone, hiring incompetents to do his work and managing to get away with it.

“And now I'm gonna have to explain away a few more bodies,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Hadn't planned on that, but I'll come up with something. At least I'll be done with you.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” I asked, trying hard not to look at Jake as he continued circling to his left.

Ellington had gotten so caught up in recounting his genius, that he hadn't once glanced in that direction. Even Chuck was shifting a little to his left. Ellington stayed focused on me and Jaw.

Ellington tapped a finger to his chin like he was thinking. “Good question. But I think the easiest will be to herd you all into the trailer here before I set it on fire.”

My heart hammered inside my chest. I did not want to die and I certainly didn't want to die in some crappy old trailer with a guy named Jaw.

“So let's stop wasting time,” Ellington said, waving his gun at me. “Let's get everyone in and get it over with.”

“Not so fast,” Jake said.

THIRTY FIVE

Jake took two quick steps and, by the time Ellington whipped around in his direction, Jake was on him, chopping down the arm that held the gun. The gun fell to the ground and Ellington and Jake collapsed in a pile next to it.

Jaw and Chuck glanced at each other, then took off running down the road.

I stood by the golf cart, paralyzed.

Jake and Ellington rolled away from the gun, locked in a bear hug, dust kicking up around them. They were grunting and it didn't look like either of them was winning.

“Daisy!” Jake yelled. “Gun!”

My eyes shifted to the small handgun on the ground.

Never in my life had I held a gun. I abhorred them. I feared shooting myself or worse, shooting someone around me who I didn't want to shoot. I didn't know how they worked or what I was supposed to do with one once it got in my hand.

I was not picking up that gun.

“Daisy!” Jake yelled again as they continued to roll. “Gun.”

I ran over and kicked the gun away from them.

“Grab it!” he yelled.

I had a better idea.

I ran back to the cart and grabbed the can of bug spray that had been riding around under the dash all week, a bright orange can with a blue lid. I'd coated my legs in it and it had been mostly successful in keeping the mosquitoes off of me.

I ripped the cap off and ran over to my husband and Ellington wrapped in their fight-hug.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked, his face red, his arms locked up with Ellington's. “Go grab the goddamn gun!”

Ellington twisted his head to look at me, his his eyes bulging, his face a sweaty mess.

I aimed the bug spray and fired right into his eyes.

He screamed and immediately rolled off Jake, his hands covering his eyes. Jake scrambled up from the ground and ran over to the gun. He picked it up and came back, pointing the gun at Ellington.

He looked at me, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. “You couldn't have just grabbed the gun?”

I held up the bug spray. “This was closer.”

“You had to run back to get it. After you kicked the gun.”

“I just saved your life,” I said. “You should shut up and thank me.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Now give me your phone so I can call the police and we can leave this god-forsaken place and go back to our life of completely boring normalcy.”

I at least agreed with him about that.

THIRTY SIX

“I'll miss this place,” I said, zipping up my bag.

Jake fixed me with a stare. “Like you'd miss the ebola virus?”

“Stop.”

“I'm just glad it's all over with,” he said, grabbing his own bag and pulling it off the bed.

At least part of it was over with. We'd called the police and they'd come and arrested Ellington. They caught Jaw and Chuck running away, as well, and arrested them, too. We'd given our statements, telling them what Ellington had confessed to us. Delilah showed up right on the heels of Sheriff Larrabee, her pink golf cart skidding to a stop directly behind ours. She'd listened and cried when she heard the story of Harvey's death. After, she tearfully thanked us for stopping them. I wished there was more that we could've done.

We'd come back to the camper, showered, and, after making arrangements with the airlines, made plans to leave the next morning.

So we were packed up and I was doing the final walk-thru of the camper to make sure it was cleaned up. I'd packed up our leftover groceries and walked them over to Wayne and Rhonda Hackerman. Wayne had eyed the bags suspiciously at first, like he'd expected the ketchup and mayo to be laced with rat poison, but Rhonda had happily taken them off my hands. And then asked where Jake was.

A knock on the glass door interrupted me. Jake went to open the slider and I heard Delilah greet him.

I walked out to the front room and she was standing there with a small envelope in her hands.

She smiled at me. “I wanted to make sure I got to say goodbye to you before you left.”

I smiled back. “We're almost done cleaning up.”

She waved a hand in the air. “Don't worry about that. You both have already done enough.”

“You were the one who gave us a free stay,” I reminded her. “The least we can do is clean up after ourselves.”

Delilah smiled. “I came by because I have some good news,” she said. “Which feels like a change.”

“Oh?” That was a change. Almost every interaction I'd had with Delilah over the past week had involved some type of bad news.

“We're going to be able to keep Windy Vista open,” she said. Her eyes were moist. “And it's because of Harvey.”

“Really?” I said. “How?”

“Kat came over this morning,” Delilah said. She leaned against the kitchen counter and folded her arms across her chest. “There was a life insurance policy in Harvey's name—a fairly sizable one, actually. She's giving it all to me.”

“She is?”

A tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. “For Windy Vista. Because that's what he would've wanted.”

“Oh, wow,” I said. “That is incredibly nice. And generous.”

Delilah nodded. “It really is.”

I walked over to her and gave her a hug. “That is great news.”

“There's more,” she told me. “Kat has agreed to come over and help me manage the campground. She already gave her notice at the restaurant. So she'll be helping me keep this place together and hopefully helping me make it better.”

“So you're back on good terms with her?”

She nodded again. “We are. I think we were just a couple of old, stubborn women who didn't want to say we were sorry.” She smiled a sad smile. “But tragedy brought us back together. I'd give anything to have Harvey alive. But I'm grateful that he brought us back together, you know? That there was something good to come out of this huge mess.”

“I'm glad,” I said gently, stepping away from our embrace. “I'm sure Harvey would have wanted you two to patch things up. To be friends again.”

“I also wanted to thank you,” she said.

“Thank me?” She'd already done that after Ellington had been arrested but I'd told her it was unnecessary.

“We might not have ever known what had really happened if you hadn't gone nosing around.”

Jake snorted at her choice of words and I shot him a glare. He smirked and turned back to his bag.

Delilah held out an envelope. “I have a going away present for you.”

“We don't need a going away present,” I told her. “I mean, you gave us a free vacation here to begin with.”

“Well, I'm afraid it hasn't been much of a vacation,” she said, still holding the envelope out. I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off. “Take this.”

I took the envelope and opened it. A small laminated card was tucked inside. I pulled it out.

Daisy & Jake

Lifetime Pass

Windy Vista

 

“Given what this week has been like, I'm not sure why you'd ever consider coming back,” Delilah said ruefully. She let out a deep sigh. “But hopefully you'll at least consider it. Maybe you can bring your kids back with you. So if you do, you'll always be able to stay here. For free.”

Jake peered over my shoulder to look at the card. “We can't accept that,” he said. “Really. We don't need—”

Delilah held up her hand. “I don't care what you need. What I need is to give you this as a way of saying thank you for your help this week. You listened when no one else would and you cared enough to help. And I know a free pass to here isn't much, but I'd like you to know that you'll always be welcome here.”

I reached out and hugged her again, harder this time. “Thank you. And we'll come back.”

She patted my back. “I do hope so.” She pulled away and tugged on the hem of her purple polo shirt, straightening it. “Alright. You two finish up packing. You can leave the keys on the counter. Think we've gotten rid of all the riff raff around here so no need to lock up.”

I stared at the card I was holding. “That was incredibly nice,” I said. “Incredibly nice.”

“It was,” Jake said. He lifted the bag and set it down by the sliding door. “But I can't imagine coming back.”

I turned to look at him. “Why not?”

“Why would we?”

“Because it's beautiful up here. Because we like the people. Because it's family friendly.”

“We found a dead body,” he reminded me. “And, with the exception of Delilah, most of the people we've met up here could probably qualify for asylum residency.”

“They're nice,” I said stubbornly. I thought about the Hackermans and the twins and old Copper. “Even if they're a little crazy. Anyway, I think we should come back every summer.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You can't be serious.”

“Oh, I am,” I told him, smiling. “Make it a new tradition. Bring the kids. I mean, we have a cabin to stay in for free.”

“Camper,” he corrected.

“Whatever. A camper.” I looked around. “With the loft area upstairs, there's more than enough room to throw down some air mattresses or sleeping bags. We have a golf cart. A pool. Access to a lake. The kids will love it.”

“Uh, until we tell them you found a dead body here and that we were nearly burned to death by a crazy real estate agent.”

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. “So let's just tell them about the good parts.”

His arms snaked around my waist. “Which were?”

I thought about our week. We'd definitely had our share of misadventures. Telling the kids about finding a dead body in the woods and almost being burned to death would probably not go over well with them. I imagined their reactions and fought back a smile.

“We'll come up with a few,” I told him. “On the way home.”

THE END