Dead Wrong Page 17

  Her schweschder had given her the craft scissors, which came with an embroidered sheath—something she claimed would come in handy for her new venture in Texas. “Because inn owners probably always need them on hand.”

  Thinking of her family caused a sob to catch in her throat. She loved Texas, but she wanted to see her siblings and her children and her grandchildren again.

  With a start, she realized her emotions were all over the place. She needed to pull them under control if she was going to be any help at all. Certainly Tony didn’t deserve to die this way—he’d simply been helping out a neighbor.

  She opened the tiny scissors, felt for the gap between his hands and went to work on his bound wrists.

  When he was free, instead of rubbing his wrists, Tony put his hands on both of her shoulders. She could easily imagine his look of concern.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. What do you think happened to Gina?”

  “They didn’t find her, so hopefully she’s alerted the authorities.”

  “What do we do until they come for us?”

  “We don’t wait for that. We get out of here. Keep a hand on my shoulder.”

  He led her a few feet until they’d reached the back of the van. “Back up into the corner. I’m going to open the door, and we’re going to jump.”

  “Yikes.”

  “You’ll go first. Try to land in a crouch, not straight-legged. Chin to your chest and roll as soon as you hit the ground.”

  “Got it. Chin to chest. Won’t they notice?”

  It was then she became aware of the rowdy music coming from the cab of the truck, along with a rather foul odor.

  “By now, they should be high from whatever they’re smoking, and they won’t hear us over the music. Wait for me to say go.”

  He must have found the latch. She heard a click and then the door opened. The interior of the van was filled with the rush of air. Those thoughts barely registered when he shouted, “Go. Now!”

  His hand on her back, he gave her a good shove, and then she was tucking and rolling and hitting the ground as pain coursed through her shoulder. She sat up and fought to catch her breath when she heard Tony running toward her.

  “What took you so long?”

  “I waited until you were clear. I didn’t want to jump on top of you.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “Anything broken?”

  “Nein. I don’t think so, but there’s going to be a bruise.”

  “I’ll take a bruise to a bullet any day.”

  He helped her stand, and they both turned to face the van, whose taillights were fading from sight.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Tony wasn’t sure when it had happened. Maybe when they’d jumped from the van. Possibly when Daryl McNair had first pointed a gun at them. Or perhaps much earlier...perhaps it was when Agatha first ran up his back porch steps breathlessly telling him there was a dead body in Cabin 3.

  Somewhere along the way, Tony had decided that he wanted to live.

  His life would never be the same without Camilla.

  His retirement years certainly wouldn’t be what he’d always dreamed they would be.

  But he was still grateful for every new day, thankful that he could draw a breath, and happy about the unexpected friend walking by his side. Tony Vargas knew, for the first time in a long time, that he was glad to be alive.

  “Will they turn back? When they discover we’re gone?”

  “They might.”

  “But we’d hear them coming.”

  “We would.”

  “Do you know where we are?”

  Tony stopped in the middle of the road, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her to the right where moonlight was sparking off water.

  “The Guadalupe,” she whispered. “We could walk along the banks and end up at home.”

  “The road is probably safer. Wouldn’t want you to escape McNair’s goons just to be bitten by a cottonmouth.”

  They proceeded to walk down the center of the deserted road.

  “I still don’t understand what Dixon had to do with McNair’s plans for a resort.”

  “Neither do I, but the police will sort all that out when they arrest him.”

  “Unless he runs.”

  “Daryl McNair strikes me as too arrogant to run. He’ll believe he can maneuver his way out right up to the minute they close the prison door on him when he’s serving ninety-nine to life.”

  “And that’s what he’ll get?”

  “No doubt about it since—”

  The whine of a motorcycle split the night. Agatha jerked to the right, but Tony pulled her back. “McNair drives a Maserati.”

  The single light of the motorcycle lit them up, the driver skidded to a stop, and Gina Phillips jumped off. She jerked the helmet off her head and ran toward them. “You’re okay. Oh, my stars.” She bent over, hands on knees. “I thought...I was sure...”

  Agatha pulled her friend into a hug. “We’re fine. How did you find us?”

  “I was coming down the stairs when I heard McNair and his hoodlums come in. I went back up, and then it was simply a matter of waiting for them to go into a different room so I could sneak back downstairs.”

  She’d left the bike’s headlight on. Tony moved to the right and smiled when he saw her shotgun bungee-corded across the back.

  “I didn’t think I could outgun them three to one, so I ran to try and find Nate.”

  “He was still there?”

  “Yeah. He knew something was up when he was suddenly given the night off, and he wasn’t comfortable leaving until he’d seen or heard from us.”

  “But how did you follow us?” Tony asked.

  “Nate had the motorcycle, which I know how to ride. He also has a drone he’s been messing around with during the middle of the night when there’s nothing else to do on his shift.”

  She tapped the Bluetooth device she was wearing. “Agatha and Tony are with me. They’re okay. Yes, about three miles after the turn.”

  “He searched for us with the drone?” Agatha and Tony peered up at the sky, but if Nate’s drone was there, they couldn’t see it.

  “He used the drone to follow the van. We saw them put you in it. I’m surprised I didn’t run over you—I was trying to stay back, but I also was afraid of losing you. Nate’s been giving me directions, but his drone...” She put a finger to the ear piece. “Police are almost here.”

  “What about the drone?”

  “It only has a range of four miles. He was able to tell me where to turn, and then he had to pull it back. We don’t know where the van went, only that it continued down this road.”

  The quiet of the night was split by the sound of police cruisers.

  And then they were surrounded by Hunt County police officers. Tony was even glad to see Tami Griffin and Jimmy Bannister. Behind them was an ambulance.

  He filled Bannister in on what he knew. Bannister radioed it to someone else, who responded that they had the van in their sights and were directing other officers toward it.

  So they’d called in a helicopter.

  That was surprising.

  Tony wouldn’t have considered him and Agatha to be that big a priority, but then Bannister met his gaze and nodded once.

  Tony felt a new respect for the man. He might be arrogant and over-eager but he did his job thoroughly, and because of that Daryl McNair would be in a jail cell before morning light.

  He wasn’t absolutely certain about every detail of what would happen next—though with his years on the force he had a pretty good idea.

  What he knew for sure was that the nightmare was over.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Agatha and Tony stepped out of the police cruiser. Officer Griffin blipped the siren once, then drove away.

  “Long day,” Tony said, his hand at her elbow as they walked up the steps to her porch.

  “But a productive one.”

  “
I suppose you could see it that way. How’s the shoulder?”

  “Fine. How’s your hip?”

  “I’ll survive.”

  She turned to him to try and voice the many feelings tumbling through her heart and mind. Now might not be the best time, but she’d learned not to wait. Nothing was certain in this life, only in the next one—their heavenly one. Best to tell him now that she appreciated his help, that she was relieved to have a friend like him next door. She’d interrupted his quiet and peaceful life, and turned it into something much more chaotic. She didn’t know how she’d make it up to him, but she planned to try if it meant baking him pies every week until he begged her to stop.

  She was wondering where to start, when the sound of her back porch door slapping shut startled them both.

  They jogged around the corner of the house in time to see two people sprinting down the path that led to the river. Tony took off at a run, Agatha lagging a bit behind. She stopped at the path where it turned away from Cabin 3, where all this had started. She stopped and put her hand to her side and pulled in a deep breath.

  Tony would be fine.

  He had help.

  The Cox brothers had stepped out of the river in time to stop Jasmine and Xavier. She’d thought Mason and Paxton were gone—their note said as much, but there they were. With the Cox brothers on one side and Tony on the other, the two dropped the bags they were carrying and held up their hands.

  Fifteen minutes later, they were in Agatha’s kitchen.

  Tony put in a call to the police department and told them there was no hurry...to finish up with McNair first. He’d make sure the Coopers didn’t get away.

  Mason and Paxton had trooped into the house as well, dripping water all over Agatha’s floor. Tony gave them a pointed look, and they stepped outside and removed their waders. But honestly, Agatha didn’t care about water on her floor. She could clean that up the next day, though perhaps now would be better. No need in surviving a kidnapping just to fall and break a leg in her own kitchen. After she wiped up the water, she sat down at the table.

  “I don’t understand. You seem like such a nice couple.”

  “Nice doesn’t cut it, Agatha. Not everyone has a place on the river.” Jasmine’s bitterness seeped from her like water through a sieve.

  “We were robbed, if you want to know the truth. Robbed by McNair.” Xavier slouched down in his chair.

  Agatha resisted the urge to remind him to sit up straight. No doubt a sore back would be the least of his problems.

  “McNair was looking for investors.” Xavier looked from Tony to Agatha then back to Tony. “He made it sound so lucrative, so certain. When he offered to let us in, how could we turn it down?”

  Agatha probably should have kept quiet, but at this point, she was so tired her thoughts bubbled out of her head without consent. “But why? Why would you risk everything for money?”

  “Says the person who has plenty of it.” Jasmine shook her head. “You have no idea what it’s like. You’ve always had family, always had plenty to eat. Xavier and I...we fought our way out of the south side of Houston.”

  “Which doesn’t justify falling in with a killer,” Tony said.

  “We didn’t know he was a killer!” Xavier crossed his arms and glared at them. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Dixon was sent here to scare you away—”

  “Was that why he was snooping around in my pantry?”

  “I guess. Maybe he was going to mess with your breaker box or something. One way or another, he was supposed to convince you to sell your place, and if that wasn’t possible to sabotage it. His job was to ensure that the city came out and closed you down.”

  “There’s no reason for them to shut me down.”

  “There would have been, if Dixon hadn’t gotten cold feet.”

  Tony sat back, arms crossed. He didn’t think these two would be running again. They both looked exhausted. “You came here because Dixon was here.”

  “We were supposed to back him up—make sure he did what he was hired to do.” Jasmine threw a hate-filled look toward Mason and Paxton, who were blocking both exits from the kitchen. “This would’ve worked if he’d stuck to the plan. Instead he told us this place reminded him of his grandpa’s. Said he couldn’t lie anymore, not after what he did with your brother’s case.”

  “I know about the resort, but I still don’t understand what that has to do with my bruder’s death. Did McNair...did McNair hire that woman to run into him?”

  Jasmine snorted.

  “Nah. That was just good timing.” As if suddenly hearing her words, she looked temporarily chastened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I think you did,” Tony said, his voice hard and his expression cold.

  “It was good timing is all. McNair made your brother an offer for this place, but Samuel said he wasn’t interested in money. He was interested in creating a haven of rest. Those were his exact words. Can you believe it?”

  Agatha met Tony’s gaze. “Ya. I can.”

  “All McNair had to do was have Dixon assigned to the case, ensure the wrongful death claim was denied, and this place would default to the bank.”

  “McNair would swoop in and buy it cheap.”

  “Except I came along.” Agatha’s thoughts scrambled to put all the pieces together.

  The Cox brothers had been largely silent, but now Paxton stepped forward, rubbing his brow as if to ward off a headache.

  “I thought you two were gone,” Agatha said.

  Mason smiled at his brother. “We were, or we pretended to be. Then we hid down at the river to help you catch whoever did this.”

  “It seemed to us that we were mixed up in the middle, but we couldn’t explain how.” Paxton stuffed his hands in his pockets. “We didn’t even understand what happened. Dixon came to our cabin—accused us of shadowing him, of being the backup in case he didn’t finish the job. We didn’t know what he was talking about. The guy started shouting. He was super agitated. We finally told him to leave.”

  “The argument Jasmine and Xavier heard...”

  “Yeah, we didn’t have to make that part up.” Jasmine massaged her forehead with her fingertips. “We didn’t know McNair was going to kill Dixon.”

  “Why didn’t you just talk to me?” Tony’s voice was puzzled, his question directed to Mason and Paxton. “Might have saved us all a lot of trouble.”

  Mason was shaking his head before Tony finished speaking. “Having an argument with a guy before he turns up dead doesn’t look too good on a witness report.”

  “He didn’t know we were the ones here to watch him,” Xavier admitted.

  “McNair used you to kill him.” Tony spoke slowly, his eyes tracking from Xavier to Jasmine and back again. “When Dixon had a change of heart...”

  “He threatened to report everything to the police,” Jasmine said.

  “So McNair resorted to Plan B. You two were Plan B. He had you exchange the breakfast food. And maybe he had you break in during the argument and steal Dixon’s EpiPen, computer and cell phone.”

  Xavier and Jasmine exchanged worried looks.

  “We’re not saying anything else,” Jasmine said.

  “And we want a lawyer.” Xavier covered his face with his hands, and neither of them said another word.

  Tami Griffin showed up ten minutes later. “Texas Rangers have custody of McNair. He’s already lawyered up, which won’t matter. There’s enough evidence in his cabin alone to convict him of murdering Russell Dixon. We won’t need his confession, but if he’s smart enough to admit it, he might get life instead of the death penalty.”

  “What happened to the two burly guys?”

  “Tommy and Trent Riggs?” Tami’s eyebrows shot up and a smile spread across her face. “State troopers caught them. At the moment they’re being held for DUI, but they’ll transfer to us tomorrow for additional charges.”

  For the second time that day, Agatha and Tony stood on the front porch wat
ching a Hunt Police Officer drive away.

  Agatha had forgotten about the Cox brothers until she turned and saw them still standing on the porch. “What are you two doing still here?”

  “Here?” Paxton asked.

  Mason pulled back in surprise. “We helped you catch those guys.”

  “Yeah, we’re on your side in this. We told you—we were in the river, watching and ready to catch whoever did this.”

  Tony looked toward the heavens, as if he might find more patience there. “What Agatha means is, what are you doing at her Bed-and-Breakfast? It’s obvious you’re not fishing, though you seem to be in your waders pretty often.”

  The brothers shared a look.

  “Might as well tell them,” Mason said.

  “Not like we found anything anyway.”

  “Personally, I’m ready to get back home.”

  “Yep, panning’s a lot harder than our real jobs.”

  “Panning?” Tony shook his head in disbelief. “You were panning the Guadalupe?”

  “We came across this website pretty much by accident—Hidden Treasures. If you were willing to pay, the website gave you clues to lost riches.”

  “Lost riches?” Agatha had thought this evening couldn’t get any stranger, but it just did.

  “You know—sunken treasure, buried money, even streams that hadn’t been panned out. The website said there was gold here.”

  “Practically guaranteed it.”

  “Maybe not here exactly, but along this stretch.”

  Tony held up his hand to stop them. “There’s no gold here, guys. Though there are a lot of fish.”

  “So we found out.” Mason momentarily looked dejected, but then he seemed to catch his second wind. “Still, you have a good place, Agatha. Best vacation I’ve ever spent with this goober.”

  Paxton sidestepped his brother’s light punch. “Maybe next time we’ll come back and fish.”

  “And sleep...man, I could use some sleep.”

  The brothers walked off around the porch and to their cabin.

  “Another mystery solved,” Agatha said.

  “You need to get some rest.”