Marty Ambrose - Mango Bay 01 - Peril in Paradise (17 page)

“I might’ve been wrong.” She dropped her arms and
sat up straight. “Right now, you’d better go on back to
the Twin Palms and ride out the rest of this storm” Anita
waved me out.

I wasn’t convinced about Pete’s guilt, but I didn’t
need to be told twice to go home. I knew Kong would
be nervous as heck with more stormy weather ahead.

First, I drove to Whiteside’s at Mango Bay and purchased four gallons of water, bread, toilet paper, dog
food, and the latest copy of People magazine. I figured
if I got bored with the history book, I could read about
how anorexia was taking over Hollywood’s starlets.

When I parked to the side of my Airstream, I noticed
most of the debris left by the storm had been cleared
away. Go, Pop Pop. My site looked neat and tidyready for the next go around with the elements. And I
was, too.

I exited Rusty, bags in hand, when all of a sudden, an
odd shivery feeling snaked through me. Just like when I
found the dead egret on my picnic table. Oh, no. Not
again.

I halted. My gaze slowly panned around the RV site.
Nothing seemed amiss, nothing unusual.

I gasped as my eyes came to rest on the front of my
Airstream.

Someone had slashed my two front tires.

“I don’t believe this. A moron came into the park and
did this in broad daylight,” I said aloud. I ran my hand
over one of the tires. Yep, it had been slashed all right. I
could feel the deep groves the blade had carved into the
rubber. Tears stung at the back of my eyes as I banged
my head against the trailer in frustration.

Just then, a battered white truck pulled up. I thought
it impossible to drive a vehicle more dingy than Rusty,
but this one had even more dents and scratches.

Nora stuck her head out the window. “Mallie, you’ve
got to help me. They’re going to arrest Pete-“

“Oh, no!” Damn. Anita had nailed it.

“He’s hiding out on Little Coral Island and says he
won’t let them take him in.” Eyes wild, hair uncombed,
she clutched the steering wheel with shaky hands.

“I don’t know what I can do-“

“Please, you’re the only person I’ve been able to talk
to who believes that I still love him. Help me to get him
turn himself in.”

“I … uh … all right.” I opened the Airstream door,
threw in the grocery bags, and checked to see if Kong
was okay. He wagged his tail in usual chipper fashion. I
locked everything up carefully.

“Mallie, hurry.” Nora began crying.

I opened the driver’s side door of Nora’s truck. Interestingly, it squeaked just like mine. “Scoot over. You’re
in no shape to drive.”

She complied.

“Is Pete armed?” I asked as I took the wheel.

“No … yes. I don’t know,” she babbled. “He might
have a gun.”

Great. Just great. An armed ex-con. What was I getting myself into? I paused.

Nora sobbed harder. “Please!”

I rammed the truck into gear and hit the gas pedal.

As I steered Nora’s truck onto Cypress Road, I
reached up to adjust the rearview mirror. It fell off in my
hand. I set it on the dashboard and realized I’d have to
make do with the side mirror. I glanced out the window.
Also gone.

Okay, so much for the need to see what’s behind us.

Luckily, traffic was nonexistent and, luckier still,
some of the tree branches had been shoved to the side
of the road.

“Nora, try to calm down and tell me what happened”
I pressed the pedal down to the floor, and the speed increased only about five miles per hour. This was going
to be a long drive.

She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand
and blew her nose in a crumpled tissue. “I felt sort of … I don’t know, hopeful after we talked yesterday.
So I tracked Pete down at a friend’s house-to tell him
that I still love him. When I got there, Detective Billie
pulled up behind me, said he wanted to see Pete. I
freaked out and started screaming. Pete must’ve heard
and lit out the back door.” She choked and swallowed a
sob. “He yelled out that he’d never go back to jail.”

“What did Detective Billie do?”

“I expected him to jump in his car and take off after
him, but he just watched Pete leave. Said he didn’t want
to panic Pete into doing something stupid.”

“Good for him.” Maybe he wasn’t totally a by-thebook kinda of cop.

“No one has seen Pete since, but I think I know
where he might be. His grandpa used to run a still in the
mangroves out on Little Coral Island, and there’s a
small shack there. Not too many people know about it
because it’s hard to find and you can only get to it by
way of a one-lane, dirt track road”

“The road must be like mush. Can we get through
with all the rain we had yesterday?”

“I … I think so” She bit her lip.

“It might’ve dried out today. We can only hope that it
won’t start raining again.” As if on cue, raindrops splattered against the windshield. Oh, no. I rammed the
pedal down again, trying to get every ounce of power
out of the truck. The speedometer stayed at forty-five
and stubbornly refused to move.

“Tell me where to turn,” I said.

“Make a left turn on Bayview-that’ll take you past a saw palmetto strand. Most people think the road ends
there, but it doesn’t. It circles around to an itty-bitty
spit of land that connects to Little Coral Island”

“Okay, I’m game” I continued down Cypress Road
for another couple of miles, managing to nudge the
truck’s speed up to almost fifty. I smelled a burning odor,
but refused to let up. The rain was coming harder, faster,
and the truck’s windshield wipers didn’t work much better than Rusty’s.

“Here’s the turn,” Nora exclaimed.

I yanked the wheel to the left and the back tires skidded, causing the flatbed part of the truck to fishtail. I
compensated by jerking the wheel to the left and, somehow, we held the road.

“Dang, that’s some fancy driving,” Nora commented.

“I spent a couple of months operating the Pirates of
the Caribbean ride at Disney World.” What that had to
do with driving a car, I don’t know, but it seemed relevant.

“Pete and I honeymooned there” She sighed. “It was
so romantic.”

I had no response to that. I was working hard to keep
the truck on the shell road and see through the rain so
we wouldn’t end up ditched.

“Slow down and steer around to the left”

I peered through the windshield and spied the saw
palmetto.

“Okay, now veer down that dirt track,” she said.

“Where?” I couldn’t even see anything that resembled a raccoon track, must less a road.

“Over there” She pointed at a break in the strand and
I steered the truck in that direction.

The poor truck lurched and bumped its way along
the rough road while the rain pelted down on us. I eased
up some more on the gas pedal, but we were still going
forty-five. I hit the brakes, but nothing happened.

“Nora, I can’t slow down.”

“Oh, it’s that dorky gas pedal. It sticks. Just give it a
couple of stomps and it’ll behave”

Knowing I couldn’t go much faster and keep control
of the truck, I pumped the gas pedal. Finally, the
speedometer inched back down.

I still couldn’t see much of a road, so I just followed
along the trimmed area. It seemed almost like a tunnel
with pine trees and melaleuca arching around us from
either side.

We emerged into a clearing and lumbered over a
sand and shell track that took us onto Little Coral Island. The wheels stuck a few times, but I refused to stop
now we were so close.

“Does anyone live on Little Coral Island?” I asked.

“Not now. But at one time, Pete’s grandpa
homesteaded around here with his partner, Pappy. I
think Pappy ran the still and Grandpa tried his luck with
a citrus grove”

“Nice combo”

“They made a living till Grandpa died. Pappy stayed-then he died. The last couple years, you could
see him if you went by in your boat, half naked, holding
a jug and waving people on in.”

“What is it with Coral Island men and clothes? Do
they all go around bare-chested or what?”

“I don’t think so. Pappy was the only one I know who
did it regularly. And gosh, he was near to ninety before
he expired-and looking like a scrawny chicken, if you
ask me”

Too much information. I thought seeing Hillman and
Everett bare-chested was traumatic. Pappy must’ve had
them beat to all getout.

“We should be there in-” She drew in a sharp
breath. “Oh, no”

I followed her glance. Detective Billie’s truck was
parked in front of the shack and he stood next to it,
soaked from head to toe in the rain.

Cautiously, I applied pressure to the brakes, and
miraculously, the truck slowed down. Small miracles.

We climbed out and went to join Detective Billie. The rain immediately plastered our clothes to our bodies.
When he saw us, his mouth tightened into a straight line.
“What are you doing here?” he ground out between
clenched teeth.

“We thought we’d work on our suntans,” I quipped.

“Very funny. Now get out of here so I can do my
job.”

“Are you going to arrest Pete?” Nora blurted out.

“I have to,” he said, wiping the rain from his face. “His fishing knife was found near Hillman’s house. It’s
unmistakable-carved handle with Pete’s initials-and
it fits the size of Hillman’s chest wound”

“But that doesn’t mean he killed him.” She clutched
at Detective Billie’s shirt. “He didn’t, I know it. Please
don’t arrest him. He said he couldn’t go back to jail.
Please. He’s got an alibi. He was out fishing when Jack
was killed.” Her voice reached a high pitch, close to a
wail.

Something flickered behind Detective Billie’s eyes.
Sympathy? Regret? I couldn’t make it out because my
vision was blurry from the rain.

“Nora, his alibi said Pete asked him to lie about
where he was the night Hillman was murdered. I have
to take him in.” He gently removed her hands from his
shirt.

“I’m not coming out,” Pete shouted from inside the
shack.

“Yes you are, Pete,” Detective Billie shouted back.
“Come on and make it easy. The other way makes you
look more guilty.”

“How do know he did it?” I finally piped up. “There
are other suspects-“

“I’m not asking for your opinions, Mallie. This isn’t
the time or place for a debate. Either shut-up or leave”
His tone was firm, final.

But I plunged on recklessly. “Isn’t it possible that
someone stole Pete’s knife, knowing how much he disliked Hillman because of Nora’s affair-“

“It wasn’t really an affair,” she cut in. “We were just
friends.”

“Right. Anyway, that person could be setting Pete
up.

That muscle began working in Detective Billie’s jaw
again. “You’ve been watching too much TV.”

“But it’s possible,” I persisted.

“Theoretically, yes”

“Then tell Pete that … let him know that this isn’t the
end of the line for him.” Our eyes met in the rain. His
black as night-that deep, dark obsidian that seemed to
lead to places I couldn’t even fathom.

“Please, Nick, give him a chance,” Nora pleaded.

He paused, still staring down at me. “All right.”
Turning toward the shack, he cupped his hands around
his mouth and shouted, “Pete, I promise that you’ll
have a fair shake. You’re innocent until proven guilty.
Trust me”

“No way.”

“Let Nora talk to him,” I suggested.

“Oh, jeez-okay” He gestured for her to move toward the shack.

“Pete, this is Nora. Please come with us. I know you
didn’t do it. That’s what I came to tell you last night-“

“Forget it,” he yelled back.

“Go on,” I encouraged her.

“It’s true. There was nothing between Jack Hillman
and me when you were in jail. Nothing. You’ve got to
believe me. I’ve tried to tell you so many times.”

Pete was silent.

“Keep it up,” I said.

“I’ll stand by you no matter what happens. You’re my
husband.”

“Tell him that you love him,” I prompted.

Detective Billie groaned.

“Pete, honey, I love you. I love you so much. Please
come out so we have a chance”

Silence.

“Tell him-“

“That’s enough,” Detective Billie interjected as he
reached for his gun. “He’s not coming out”

The door to the shack slowly opened and a thin,
brown-haired man wearing jeans and a black T-shirt appeared in the doorway.

“Pete,” Nora exclaimed as she broke into a run toward
the shack. She threw herself in his arms and sobbed
against his chest.

“It’s okay, baby. It’ll all be okay,” I could hear him
saying to her.

The rain kept falling, and Detective Billie and I stood
still as if we’d been turned to stone. Finally, he cleared
his throat and holstered his gun. “You’re damn lucky
things turned out like this or I’d be arresting you for obstruction of justice.”

“I didn’t obstruct anything.”

“I ordered you to leave and you refused,” he answered swiftly.