“Sure! How much do I owe you?”
“I don’t charge for this. You’re welcome to buy something from the shop if you want to help the cause.” It was all I could do to keep talking away, praying he’d get tired of it and leave.
Instead, he took a pistol from his jacket pocket and pointed it at me. “After we get the gold, I’ll be glad to buy something from you. Get your jacket. You’re coming with me.”
“Wait a minute!” I feigned anger—I was really terrified. “I found your answer. Why are you doing this?”
“I know you’re connected here, Dae. I can’t take a chance on you giving me away before I get what I deserve. I’ve worked too hard to get to this point—harder than I needed to, I guess. Do you have any idea how difficult it was getting that cannon from Corolla and setting it up next to the museum here so no one would notice it? And all the time, I could’ve just asked you. I didn’t need to go through so much to take dear Agnes out of the picture and leave the gold for me.”
I knew from listening to Gramps and his law enforcement friends that it wasn’t a good thing when a killer decides to unburden himself to someone. That meant he didn’t plan for me to be around long enough to share the information with anyone else. It was a sobering thought. How did such a good plan go so bad so quickly?
I put on my jacket, wishing I could think of some way to let someone know what was going on. Obviously he wouldn’t let me use the cell phone. Mrs. Euly Stanley wasn’t due until five—three long hours away. I could be so dead by then.
I reached for a tissue, knocking over a few personal items I kept on the counter, then quietly set Celia’s phone on the counter behind the cash register. I didn’t know if that would mean anything to anyone who saw it, but I couldn’t think of what else to do.
“Okay.” He pushed the gun into my side and walked close beside me. “We’ll close up for the day and be on our way. No strange moves or friendly conversations on the boardwalk. We walk straight down to my car and get inside like friends. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Dae, unless you don’t listen to me. After I get what’s mine, you’re free to go.”
“Okay.”
He laughed. “We’re getting along just fine, right? I don’t know what made me think you were such an arrogant little bitch before. You’re sweet as pie.”
I didn’t reply to that. We stepped outside the shop together, and I locked the door behind me. Brad kicked the UPS packages out of the way. I watched them scatter across the boardwalk—too scared to care. I realized that I might never come back here again.
We walked past Curves and Curls. With the gun pressed in my side and Brad’s breath on the back of my neck, I didn’t wave to Trudy. I didn’t even look her way. I was too busy trying not to panic, trying to think of some way I might be able to survive this. It didn’t seem likely, but there was always that possibility I’d be able to escape or convince him to let me go.
We went down the boardwalk together—no one stopped to talk or even noticed we were there. It helped him that there were so few shoppers in the cold. If this had been summer, I might’ve been able to catch someone’s eye and let them know there was a problem.
But not today. Today we walked into the parking lot and got in his car. He had me drive while he held the gun. I felt as hopeless and trapped as a dolphin in a net.
“We’re gonna take it nice and slow,” he said. “We’re not in any hurry. Drive down to the Blue Whale and nothing fancy, please. I don’t want to shoot you and draw attention to what we’re doing. That would be bad for both of us.”
I started the car and thought about putting my foot down hard on the gas. The car would fly through the parking lot—and at this angle, hit a group of teenagers leaving the shops. That wasn’t a good tradeoff. But there had to be something I could do.
“How did you find out you had this talent, Dae?” He made polite conversation as we turned onto Duck Road.
“I found things for my mother and my grandfather.”
“So you started doing it when you were just a kid, huh? I’m surprised some good-looking, sweet-talking young man didn’t grab you and take you out of here. I can imagine you could make some money for someone.”
I resisted the urge to jerk my head away from him as he touched the side of my face. “I’ve always known the difference between right and wrong. No one could sweettalk me out of that.”
“Slow down here and swing around the side instead of going to the front.” I started to protest his directions, and he smiled. “I’ve been staking this place out for a while. There’s a delivery entrance over there. I think we’d be better off going in that way, don’t you?”
I couldn’t keep silent anymore. He was probably going to kill me anyway. “Too bad your father didn’t leave the Blue Whale for you, Brad. Is Brad your real name?”
“I wouldn’t want this piece of junk anyway.” He chuckled. “And Brad
“Is there enough gold to satisfy what you want?”
“Maybe. If you can help me find what the old man hid on the island. What he gave my
By this time, we were facing the open delivery door. Kevin must still be waiting for his dinner delivery. It made it easier for Brad to get inside. He’d have to rely on me to tell him where to find the gold, but even if I lied, it wouldn’t take him long to go through the inn and find it.
“Let’s go inside and see what we can find.” He turned off the engine and put the keys in his pocket. “I think you said it was in front, right?”
It occurred to me that if I tried to walk him through the inn, Kevin might catch on and his life would be in danger too. I couldn’t risk that. I decided to tell him the truth by the time we’d reached the loading area. I’d just opened my mouth to speak when Agnes, Celia and Vicky came through the door from the inn.
“Brad!” Celia smiled and ran toward us. “I saw your car pull up!”
“This is your boyfriend?” Vicky asked.
“Don’t fight, girls,” Agnes said. “We’re back here for one reason only.”
“To try and steal my gold again, sister dear?” Brad spit out the words as he shoved Celia to the side. “Don’t even consider it. You got to play with it for a while. Be glad I can’t charge you interest on the loan.”
Agnes looked at me as though she expected me to have the answers. “What’s going on? Why is he calling me his sister? I thought he was the arson investigator.”
Brad laughed. “Arsonist, arson investigator, and your half brother. It seems our mothers shared a love of bad men who liked gold. He killed them both. We have that in common too.”
Agnes looked almost as baffled as Celia, who was on the floor, crying. I pointed to the freezer door. “The gold is in there. Take it and get out of here.”
“Smart place to hide it. Let’s take a look.” Brad went to the freezer door, leaving me behind in his eager anticipation. He picked up a crowbar that was close at hand and pried off the lock Kevin had put on the door. “Whiskey barrels! Now that
He was partially in the freezer, staring straight ahead as he walked toward the barrels. I remembered what Kevin had said about the lure of gold. It was now or never.
I ran to the door and slammed it shut with Brad inside. At the same instant, a dozen or so SBI agents came out of nowhere with their guns drawn. Chief Michaels led his team of Duck police officers in from the back door.
Agnes and Vicky had joined Celia on the floor—all three were crying. I leaned against the side of the freezer when I saw Kevin running back from the kitchen. It was over. Everything was going to be okay.
It was a sunny, warm day two months later as a large crowd gathered at Elizabeth Simpson’s house. Today was the dedication of the Duck Historical Museum. I was wearing a new blue dress with a matching hat. This was a different look for me, but I felt like I’d grown into it over the winter. I felt more mature,
