Marshmallow Creme Killer: Book 7 in The INNcredibly Sweet Series Read online

  CHAPTER 30

  “Well now, it seems we’re at a bit of an impasse, doesn’t it?” Steve Arnold smiled nastily. “You’re telling me that you refuse to agree to do your duty, and I’m telling you that I don’t care what it takes to subdue you, you’re going with me.”

  “Give it your best shot,” Spencer replied through his teeth.

  He wasn’t looking forward to having to incapacitate his former boss, but he was determined to do whatever it took to remain with the Beckett household, and not go back to his former life in the shadows.

  “Look, you two,” Janssen interrupted. “It doesn’t have to be like this. We can…” he began, only to be startled into silence when the door burst open with great force.

  “Nobody move,” Patrick “Paddy” Wellsley ordered, brandishing an automatic weapon.

  All three men stared at him, and Steve was the first to respond.

  “Well now, that was just rude. That doorframe that you ruined was solid mahogany,” he observed.

  “Give me a reason, Arnold. I swear to you…” Paddy growled, his brogue thick, finger on the trigger.

  “I doubt that we’ll need that Paddy,” Spencer interceded. “What took you so long anyway?”

  “Rough time at your home, sir,” the Irishman replied, still pointing the gun at Steve.

  “Everything okay?” the Marine’s brow furrowed as he thought of Missy being left behind, unprotected.

  “As okay as I could make it, sir. When I got the notification from you, I knew I’d need all the men up at the mansion, which meant I had no choice but to come down here myself, so I honestly hope the missus back home is okay,” he said earnestly, never taking his eyes from their former boss.

  “The mansion is secured then?” Spencer clarified.

  “Thanks to Master Beckett, aye sir, it is,” Paddy nodded.

  “Chas?”

  “Aye sir. He figured out who had been the inside person all along once he spoke to the nurse and the doctor.”

  “Let me guess, it was the nurse.”

  “Not even close sir,” Paddy looked pained.

  “Then, who?”

  “My own dear aunt, sir,” he sighed, not dropping his gaze from Steve Arnold for even a second.

  “Bonnie?” Spencer and Janssen exclaimed, shocked to their foundations.

  “Aye. I apologize for my family, sir. Our name will be forever tainted by her treachery.”

  “Not at all, Paddy, don’t be ridiculous,” Spencer dismissed his concern. “But she’s been with us her entire adult life. Was she always working against us?”

  “No sir. From what I understand, it was a recent thing. She was ready to retire, and Mr. Chalmers told her that he needed her to stay just a few more months until he could find a replacement. She’d gotten advances on her pay because her only boy has a terrible gambling problem, and she was broke, so when Chalmers told her he couldn’t advance her any more money, because she was leaving and all, she got a better offer.” Paddy swallowed hard, clearly mortified. He was bright pink from the base of his neck to the top of his head. Even his close-cropped red hair seemed to glow with humiliation.

  “Who gave her a better offer?” Steve couldn’t help but ask.

  Paddy stared at his former boss with utter contempt, not saying a word.

  “Do we know who paid her off?” Spencer asked quietly, sensitive to his friend’s embarrassment.

  “No sir. Master Beckett was trying to find out when I left. I couldn’t even look at her,” he shook his head.

  Spencer nodded, saying nothing, and spotted a wheelchair in the corner of the room. He made eye contact with Janssen, who also nodded.

  “Okay,” Spencer said, reaching a decision. “Paddy, you just keep that gun trained on Steve, and incapacitate him if he tries to make a move. Janssen and I are going to go back to the mansion. Once we’ve been gone a couple of hours, get him out of here. Keep him alive if you can. We don’t need to have to mop up that kind of mess.”

  “Aye, sir, and on behalf of my family, I…” he began.

  “You’re not your family, Paddy,” Spencer interrupted him quietly. “Your service has been exemplary, thank you.”

  “Aye, sir,” Paddy took a deep breath and maintained his laser-focus on Steve.

  “You won’t get away with this, Tiger,” Steve smirked.

  “That’s hilarious coming from a man who can’t even get out of his chair without being shot,” the Marine replied, gliding the wheelchair over to Janssen’s bedside.

  “I’ll be back,” the insufferable man insisted.

  “You might want to think long and hard about that,” Janssen stared him down after getting settled into the wheelchair.

  “I know where you live. I know where they live. You might want to think about that,” Steve countered, looking smug.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Spencer levelled his former boss with a look.

  “I’ve got this, sir,” Paddy assured him.

  “I trust your judgment.”

  The Marine wheeled his scarred friend from the room, and they headed for the mansion.

  **

  Spencer gazed down at the prone form of Bonnie, who had been with the Beckett family for longer than he had, with a measure of sadness. It seemed that even the best of people could turn bad when desperation hit.

  “Cyanide?” he asked Chas, who nodded.

  “She got it down before I could get to her.”

  “Did you find out who paid her off?”

  “No. Nothing, but Chalmers seems to think that with our current staff, now that he’s called in some reserves, things will be okay here, at least in the short term.”

  “How is he?” Spencer looked concerned.

  “Resting comfortably. I’m going to be heading back to Calgon in the morning, now that he’s out of the woods. How about you?” the detective inquired.

  “It would look rather suspicious if we returned at the same time,” Spencer pointed out.

  “Back to cloak and dagger, are we?” Chas smiled faintly.

  “Afraid so, Sir…er…Chas. It’s part of the job.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” he nodded. “Spence, I may not know everything that’s going on here, but I know enough to know that you’ve been a huge part of saving lives in my family, and I can’t tell you…” the detective paused and swallowed hard, gazing at the carpet and taking a deep breath before continuing. “I can’t tell you…how much that means to me.” He stuck out his hand, and pulled the surprised Marine into a bear hug. The two men clapped each other on the back a few times and released, feeling much better.

  “Does this mean you’ll be helping me solve crimes?” Chas teased on his way out.

  “Nope, it means I’ll be by the pool guarding your family while you’re out solving crimes,” Spencer shot back.

  Janssen shook his head at the banter, feeling much better now that Chalmers’ nurse had given him some pain meds. Life would be easing back into normalcy soon, though that was a relative term for everyone in the room, and he personally couldn’t wait to get back to living off the land in the Florida swamps.

  CHAPTER 31

  Chas was utterly appalled at the events that had transpired in Calgon in his absence, but he was so proud of the brave and intelligent way that his wife had handled some decidedly rough circumstances. When he discovered what Richard Morgan had done to his beloved, his blood ran hot with the desire for vengeance, but for now, he had an interrogation to do.

  “You’ve killed one woman, don’t make it two. Just tell us where the real Carla Mayhew is, and it might just convince a jury to spare your life,” Chas said quietly, leaning nearly nose to nose with a man he’d quite frankly like to throttle.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Richard shrugged. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “The evidence says otherwise, and we retained another expert to compare the handwriting on the card that Carla supposedly wrote. Turns out she didn’t. She’s left
handed, and whoever wrote that note is right handed.”

  “Must’ve been that Manta chick,” the prisoner shrugged.

  “Renee Manta is left handed as well.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “Oh, it’s very much your problem,” Chas said calmly, flipping through the case file. He stopped flipping when something caught his eye. “You like boats?” he asked, finding a receipt for a small boat, purchased with Carla’s credit card.

  “Not really. I’m more of a land kinda guy.”

  “This was purchased after Carla disappeared,” Chas waved the receipt in front of Richard’s face.

  “So?”

  “So that means that someone other than Carla was using her credit cards, and guess what we found in the bathroom drawer, with your fingerprints all over it?”

  “My hair brush?”

  “Funny guy. Jim, we’re done here. Lock this joker up for now. I’m headed to the marina,” he said watching Richard for a reaction. He got one. The killer tensed up momentarily, and his eyes darted about the room.

  Chas made a beeline for the door.

  “Get an ambulance down to the marina right away. Tell them to look for a boat called “Lucky,” he called to the dispatcher on his way out. He’d be using lights and sirens for the first time in a long time.

  **

  “Carla!” Chas called, stepping aboard “Lucky.”

  There was no response, and his blood ran cold. If she wasn’t on the boat, at least he could look for clues. Jim Reubens had sent a forensics team down into the decorator’s crawl space, and while they found evidence that Richard Morgan had buried Renee Manta there temporarily, they’d found no trace of Carla under the house.

  The boat rocked slightly, and the detective lifted the hatch to the large storage compartment in the front of the vessel. Shining his flashlight inside, he saw a human-shaped bundle and feared the worst. The compartment smelled like a zoo, and he held his breath as he grabbed what looked like a blanketed body. There was a sudden movement beneath his hand, and he jumped, dropping the end of the bundle, and hearing a muffled cry.

  “Come over here,” he called to the EMT’s standing by. “She’s alive.”

  The detective got out of the way, while the emergency personnel pulled out a disoriented and disheveled, but very much alive, Carla Mayhew. She was too weak to walk, having only been given the barest of provisions once a day for the past few weeks, and needed an IV immediately to address dehydration and malnutrition. In shock, the poor woman didn’t recognize Chas at all, and couldn’t bring herself to speak, staring into space and whimpering. The detective notified the forensics team that they were needed at the marina, made sure that everyone showed up, then went home to his lovely wife. Finally.

  **

  “I can’t leave you alone for a second,” Chas teased his beautiful wife during their romantic, candlelit dinner.

  “That’s right, so don’t ever stay gone so long again,” she grinned, reaching for his hand.

  “Not if I can help it,” he promised.

  “Oh, hey…have you heard from Spencer?” Missy asked, worried.

  “He texted me the other day, said he’d be back soon,” her husband reassured her.

  “Oh good, I was so afraid that something awful had happened to him or his family.”

  Chas smiled a faraway smile. “I think we can be confident that Spence can pretty much take care of himself and anybody else who happens to come along.”

  “I hope so…that boy is a part of our family,” Missy smiled.

  “Family indeed,” Chas agreed.