Twelve to Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) (21 page)

Mac looked down at the body of the once-great actor sprawled out in the chair. His lifeless eyes gazed up at the ceiling as if in search of the star that he had once been. Mac felt a tug of sympathy at seeing such an ending for someone who had achieved so much at such a young age, only to have thrown it all away during his descent into madness. “And serving up his life as retribution for his betrayal.”

Epilogue

Spencer Inn Restaurant

Archie looked around the table at the six empty seats. She also took note of the equally quiet tables throughout the restaurant. At six o’clock on Saturday night, with the spring blossoms in full bloom, the five-star restaurant should have been hopping.

A smile came to her lips when she saw Mac making his way toward her. Since they had first met, Mac Faraday had come a long way. He used to be one of the worst dressed men in Spencer. Gone were his worn leather dockers, which Gnarly had chewed to bits, and faded jeans, though he had looked good in them. Mac had learned to embrace a more stylish image in tailored suits like the blue-gray one he was wearing with a matching silk shirt and tie. 

Earlier, when Archie saw the suit he was putting on, she had slipped into a pale blue cocktail dress and gold jewelry.

They matched like every perfect couple should.

“Where is everyone?” she asked when he slipped into the chair next to her.

Confusion crossed Mac’s face when he took in the empty tables around them. “I guess they all had places to go.”

“Mac,” she said, “this is Saturday night in the spring. The Spencer Inn is always busy this time of year.”

“Now you sound like Jeff.” He gestured for the wine steward to bring over the champagne and glasses.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” she asked.

“We’ll have another bottle delivered when they arrive.”

She checked her watch. “They should be here by now.”

“Stop worrying.” After Mac approved the taste of the champagne, the wine steward filled their glasses and hurried away. Mac held up his glass in a toast to her. “Do you remember the first time we came here?”

She picked up hers. “You choked on your champagne when I told you how much the bottle cost,” she recalled with a smile.

“You also had to test the champagne because I knew nothing about it.” He gazed softly at her. “You’ve taught me so much, Archie Monday.”

“Thank you.” Her throat tightened.

“This case with Lenny Frost made me see how very important it is to value those things and people who mean the most to you,” he said.

“Poor Derrick,” she said, “I feel so sorry for him. Lenny killed the love of his life and his parents. What’s going to happen to him?”

“Legally, nothing,” Mac said. “The feds aren’t going to prosecute. They believe that he was as much a victim of Lenny Frost as everyone else was. Forensics found gunshot residue and Carson Drake’s blood on Lenny’s clothes, which they had taken into evidence after the kidnapping. That proves he shot Drake. They’ve also been going through all of the interviews that he gave about the kidnapping and are finding a ton of inconsistencies in his stories.”

“Funny that no one noticed that before,” she said.

“No one ever entertained the thought that a seventeen year old would be able to pull a caper like that and get away with it,” Mac said. “Once they looked at it from that angle—”

“Because you pointed them in that direction.” She reached over to grasp his hand into both of hers. “What made you suspect Lenny Frost was the mastermind of his own kidnapping?”

“Something he said while we were in the pub that didn’t hit me right.” Mac paused to take a sip of his champagne. “He said Drake’s addiction to fame got him killed. But, that morning, I saw on a newscast that Carson Drake was Hollywood’s D.B. Cooper. No one knew what happened to him. But Lenny not only knew Drake was dead, he knew what killed him.”

“Zachery Harris had said in his recording that Lenny claimed he killed Drake in self-defense,” Archie said.

“Why keep it a secret if it was self-defense?” Mac asked. “Lenny was brilliant enough to know that as soon as the police discovered he had shot Drake with his father’s gun, they would question his story. I believe that’s why he buried the gun with Drake’s body up in the mountains and came up with this whole kidnapping scheme. Not only did he cover up a murder, but he made a million dollars doing it.”

“I can’t believe the cadaver dog found the body after fifteen years.”

“Cadaver dogs have uncovered bodies that have been buried for close to thirty years,” Mac said.

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need to get rid of a body,” Archie quipped while picking up her glass of champagne. While taking a sip, she eyed the empty tables in the five-star restaurant. They were the only customers.

Jeff must be having a stroke.

She was getting worried. However, she noticed Mac, the inn’s owner, didn’t seem concerned in the least. His eyes were only on her—exactly the way she liked it.

“Lenny made a career out of playing the victim,” Mac said while brushing his fingers across the top of her hand. “It was his award-winning role in more ways than one. He won an Oscar for it when he was eight years old. He got a million dollars from the studio for playing the kidnapping victim when he was seventeen years old, and when he walked into that pub and saw that his conspirators were doing a number on him, he launched into the role of the victim being framed for murder.”

“But that role was planned, wasn’t it?” Archie said. “Lenny wasn’t in Deep Creek Lake at the same time as the Stillman murders by accident.”

“No, he planned that,” Mac said. “He knew he had the motive since Janice had made him a beneficiary in her will. So he had to make it look like he had opportunity by being in the area. The media has been making noises about Cunningham trying to buy the movie rights for the Mickey Forsythe movies, so Lenny, realizing I lived in the area, decided to drag me into the case. As big as his ego was, it must have been a turn-on for him to match wits with me.”

“But taking the hostages was totally unplanned, wasn’t it?” Archie asked.

“You’re right there,” Mac said. “Lenny had an intricate plan in place. He told Derrick right before he died that he was planning to make Zachery and Sela disappear just like their father. But that broadcast and the bartender recognizing him forced his hand. He had to launch into his role of the victim in a big way and pull me into the case to identify the shooters trying to frame him. He assumed that once we discovered that he had an alibi and that his supposed meeting with Cunningham was a ruse, the authorities would conclude once again that Lenny Frost was a victim and look no further. He was wrong.”

She kissed his hand. “What if Lenny had not walked into the Blue Whale right when that newscast was reporting their interview with Derrick?”

Mac forced his attention away from how her short pixie-like blonde hair was framing her beautiful face. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if Lenny hadn’t seen that television report about Zachery writing his name in Janice’s blood, who do you think would have won? Would Lenny have managed to kill both of them, or would they have killed Lenny?”

“They all lost,” Mac said. “Justice won out in the end.”

“Just like it should,” she said.

“Lenny Frost has ruined every life he’s ever touched,” Mac said. “Zoe Reese, Derrick’s assistant, was arrested in a major drug bust by the DEA on the same day that Sela poisoned him. They have a ton of evidence against her for running a drug operation from within the Comedy Café. She’s singing like a pop star and naming names, one of them being Lenny Frost for being the brains behind the operation.”

He chuckled. “If Lenny Frost wasn’t nuts, he could have done great things with his life. According to Zoe, he came up with whole idea of dealing drugs out of the Comedy Café and how to do it under Derrick’s nose, while making it appear like Derrick was the one running it. The drug dealers that the DEA arrested, they truly did believe that Derrick Stillman was the boss.”

“I hope Derrick has proof that he’s innocent,” Archie said.

Mac was already nodding his head. “The money trail. Everyone believed Lenny Frost was broke. Well, Zoe led the DEA to a bank account that he had in the Cayman Islands where he had been building a retirement fund from his drug profits. He had two million dollars stashed away. Every few months, he would go on a binge and disappear. Well, actually, he was in the Cayman Islands making a deposit.” He chuckled. “Guess when he opened that bank account.”

“When?”

“The year after he was kidnapped,” Mac said, “the month after he turned eighteen years old. He deposited a half a million dollars in cash when he opened the account.”

“Could that money have come from anywhere else?” she asked.

“No other source that the feds can find,” he said with a shake of his head. “Derrick claims that Lenny had made a big stink when he turned eighteen and discovered that there was only fifty-thousand dollars in his trust fund. By then, he was washed up as a star. We can pretty well assume that money that he deposited was the missing ransom. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prove it. That bank makes it a policy not to check serial numbers, which I’m sure Lenny made sure of before making the deposit.”

“You got to hand it to him,” she said with a shake of her head.

“If Lenny had applied his intelligence to making the world a better place instead of…” At a loss for words, he shook his head.

“I guess the DEA isn’t interested in cutting a deal with Zoe to prosecute a dead mastermind?” she asked.

“Nope,” Mac said. “Another life that Lenny Frost has ruined. Do you want to know the irony?”

“What’s that?”

“The motive for the Stillman murders was betrayal,” Mac said. “Lenny felt threatened because Janice brought in a comic with more talent than him.” He chuckled. “We thought that maybe he had made her for being an undercover agent. But, according to Zoe, Lenny never knew. No one had any idea. The motive for Lenny wanting the Stillmans murdered was because he was convinced Janice had betrayed him by hiring another comic—insane paranoia.”

Archie rested her head on her hand and tilted it at him. “And you managed to figure it all out.”

“I did have help.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek.

“Another homerun for the good guys.”

“I’m glad you’re on my team, Archie.”

“Same here.” She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

When she pulled away, he turned his head and pulled her back to kiss her on the lips. Sensing that the moment was turning into a sensuous display, Mac gently pulled back and took her hand. “Archie…”

“Yes, Mac…” 

“Before Robin left me everything, and—most importantly—before I met you, I had nothing. But I was a survivor. I knew that I could rebuild my life. If I lost everything that I own now—this resort, Spencer Manor, the money—if I lost it all tomorrow, I would be sad, but I’d survive.” He squinted into her emerald eyes. “I’m not so certain I could survive if I lost you.”

She blinked away the tears she felt coming to her eyes.

“I do love you, Archie Monday, and I am ready to marry you.” He reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small ring box. “How’s this for making it official?”

While she sat with her mouth hanging open, he opened the box to reveal a ring made of white gold and a single small diamond.  Her mouth worked to find the words to respond while Mac took the ring from the case. Taking her hand, he slipped it onto her finger.

“In the journal my mother left me, she wrote about how Patrick O’Callaghan had bought her a ring and asked her to marry him after finding out that she was pregnant with me. He sold his car to buy it. She accepted his proposal.” He wrapped his hands around hers.

“But they never got married,” she said in a quiet tear-filled voice.

“Robin was only seventeen, and her parents broke them up,” Mac said. “But Patrick, my birth father, insisted that she keep the ring to signify their never-ending love for each other. Even though they never married, they did love each other, and she kept the ring. I finally found it in the back of the safe in the study. I’m hoping that with this ring we will be able to have the endless type of love they had, and more, when we get married.”

He searched her eyes for her response. When she said nothing, he added, “I’ve set the date, too.”

“You set the date?” She gazed at the small diamond on her hand.

“I booked the inn for New Year’s Eve this year for our reception. You book the church. Tell me the time and I’ll be there. Oh,” he added, “you have to tell me where, too.” He flashed her a smile. “I don’t want to leave you standing at the altar.”

She giggled. “So that’s what Jeff meant when he told me that you were trying to kill him. New Year’s Eve is the biggest night of the year in the hotel-restaurant biz.”

“So I’ve been told.” He tightened his grip on her hands. “What’s your answer, Archie Monday? Are you ready to become Mrs. Faraday?”

“Oh, Mac Faraday,” she blubbered, “I was ready to be Mrs. Faraday the first moment I laid eyes on you.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the lips.

When she pulled away, he asked, “Is that a yes?”

“Oh, I love you so much!” she said, and continued to say “yes” between kisses on his lips.

Holding each other tightly, they continued to kiss until the clearing of a throat made them realize that someone had come up to the table.  Sheepishly, Jeff Ingles waited a few feet away. “Did she say yes?” he asked in a whisper.

Peering into Archie’s sparkling eyes, Mac clutched her hand on which she wore the ring. “She said yes.”

Jeff turned around. “It’s yes! Let the celebration begin!” Patrons and employees flowed into the restaurant. Most of them stopped to congratulate the couple.

“Oh, Jeff,” Mac stopped the manager on his way out. “A bottle of champagne for each table tonight—on the house.”

Jeff visibly slumped on his way out. When he saw the despondent manager, David asked Mac, “Are you still trying to kill him?”

“I’m just keeping life interesting for him,” Mac replied.

Chelsea, Doc Washington, and Catherine Fleming, Ben’s wife, admired the diamond ring that Archie then wore. Even Molly sniffed Archie’s hand as if to inspect the ring before turning to lick one of Gnarly’s ears. David had decked out Gnarly in a service dog vest in order to let him join in the celebration. As long as the German shepherd laid low, hopefully Jeff wouldn’t notice.

“When’s the date?” Catherine demanded to know.

“New Year’s Eve,” Archie said. “And we are planning for you all to come.”

“It’s going to be a huge wedding,” Mac warned. “Archie has six big brothers.” He held out his hands. “And I mean big.”

“And they all have families,” she added. “Being their only baby sister, they’ll all come, for sure.”

Draping his arm across the back of Doc Washington’s chair, Bogie chuckled, “Sounds like it’s going to be an affair to remember.”

Gnarly let out a bark as if to agree. Appearing to have forgiven him, Molly was still licking his ear.

“Would it be anything less than memorable with Mac, Archie, and Gnarly involved?” David asked. “I can tell you one thing, the only way I’m going to miss this is over my dead body.”

“Hear! Hear!” Bogie called out.

Mac kissed his lady love while they all raised their glasses in a toast to the newly engaged couple.

The End