Citrus Beach Mystery: Box Set

Chapter Four-3

“You’re right. People are going to be jumpy too. We’ll have to make sure all our staff are on their toes and in uniform. I’m thinking that it might be a good idea for everyone to work in pairs or teams. It might not be as efficient, but safety is more important.”

“I agree. I think I’m also going to have Lois give scheduled clients a courtesy call in this afternoon so that they will be expecting us. Do you want to have her do the same for your clients?”

“That would be great, I would appreciate her help. I can email that to her right now. It was a clever idea we had to combine administration with your company, Megan. Janice is so organized, and I trust her with anything I throw her way. It’s great that she works so well with Eric.”

“Yeah, she’s fabulous. My life is so organized now that I actually have time to enjoy my work.”

Paul gave her a quick smile before turning serious. Giving her a look that allowed for no misunderstanding, Paul pointed Megan to the table and chair in front of the window and indicated that she take a seat. Pulling out the chair across from hers, Paul sat down.

“I know how independent you are, as well as stubborn, but right now let’s get something straight. I am worried about your safety. The sheriff’s right. You need to limit the places you go and make sure that when you are not in a secure, locked place that there is someone with you. And I don’t mean my wife, the two of you can get in too much trouble under normal circumstances. Neither of you needs to put yourself at unnecessary risk. Work and home should be the only places you go for the next few days. As a matter of fact, I think you should stay with us.”

Even though she knew he was right, Megan was not happy with being told what to do. She was quite capable of making her own decisions and thought she should at least have a say in the matter.

“I don’t need to stay with the two of you. Our property has a security gate and alarm system. Besides, I’ll be getting police protection, as well. We can be smart about our movements without getting all nervous and jerky. Anyways, I still think they’re long gone. Why risk sticking around a small town where strangers are sure to be noticed? I’ll agree to limit my normal running around until we know that there is an actual threat to my safety.”

“See, there’s that stubbornness rearing its head. You may think that you will be fine at home on your own, but how are you going to handle things when that news circus out front of Carol’s sets its sights on you and brings your life into the limelight for anyone to follow? Anyone, as in suspected killers wanting to silence their only witness? Besides you can only spread our small police force so thin before they run out of men to patrol. Why not be proactive and help out the sheriff?”

“Paul, I’m not staying at your house. You know as well as I do that we have state of the art security and with those two dogs, no one is going to creep up on me without my knowledge. I’ll spend the next few days working in the office catching up on paperwork, and, when I’m not working, I’ll limit my time outdoors to the bare minimum. Can we agree to that?”

Giving her a frustrated glare, he nodded, knowing that this was the best he was going to get now. With no solid threat to hold over her head, he knew that Megan was not going to give in any more than she had. He did make a mental note to adjust his workers' schedules so that there would be someone on site with her always. He could play the office catch-up game, as well. Deciding to be productive while they waited for an update on the activity by the river, Paul pulled out his Smart phone and began to compose an email to Janice.

Megan raised her eyebrows in disbelief that he would give into her argument so easily. Not wanting to stir things back up, she grabbed the remote for the kitchen TV and turned on the local station to find out what was going on in the area. As she expected, the news crews out front of the Bloomquest home were reporting “breaking news”. Since they knew even less than Megan, she found their information a bit lacking. Still it annoyed her that so much focus was being placed at her client’s home. No specific names were reported, but if you were familiar with the area it would not be hard to narrow down which house they were broadcasting from.

After watching for a few minutes, Megan grew restless. Turning the TV off, she got up and walked to the larger bay window in the family room where she had a clearer view of the river’s shoreline. She could see that there did not seem to be any change in the activity pattern she had seen earlier and realized that everyone was in a wait-and-see mode until a body was found. Deciding that she may as well get something accomplished, Megan told Paul that she was going to go through the house and do her checks on her list to make sure all was ready for when Carol did return. As she left the room, Megan heard Paul’s phone ring, so she waved to him, pointing towards the stairway to indicate to him where she was heading. Nodding to her that he understood, Paul picked up his phone to answer it.

As Megan walked through the upper floor where the bedrooms were contained, she wasn’t surprised to find that Carol’s niece had left her room in a typical teenage disaster. The bedspread was tossed on the floor, and the pillows were piled up at the end of the bed, clearly used to prop up the girl while she either watched TV or talked on the phone. Empty glasses and dirty plates littered the dresser and used bath towels left a trail to the bathroom. Megan knew that she had already scheduled to have a cleaning crew come through later today, but she bent over and picked up the moist towels and draped them over the bathtub so that the rug would not get damp. Remembering her own daughter’s similar habits, she just sighed: no reason to get frustrated over something that was just naturally going to happen.

After putting the towels on the tub’s edge, Megan checked the doors to the balcony to make sure they were securely closed and locked and then went on to Carol’s room. This room always took Megan’s breath away. Decorated in an old-fashioned style, it could have been like you walked through a doorway into a turn of the century lady’s private room. Feminine elegance, delicate lace, and all in whites and creams were in abundance in the room. Pictures of southern women strolling along the grounds of a plantation dressed in their finest gowns were on the walls and in one corner stood a custom shelf unit filled with hats: Derby style hats and lacy parasols that just cried to be admired. It was a stark contrast to the active, modern woman that Megan knew Carol to be.

As usual, everything was in perfect order in the room, nothing out of place or to show that just yesterday it had been occupied. Sighing, Megan thought of the clutter in her own bedroom. Just once she would like to enjoy this type of haven at her own home, but having two dogs, cats, and a desk in her room would never allow for that. Walking over to the balcony doors in Carol’s room, Megan double checked to be sure they were also securely locked. Leaving the room behind her, she continued down the hall to make sure the remaining rooms at that level were secure.

Checking the next two, the rooms were completed. As she started to the last door, Megan heard the downstairs door open and close, followed by Paul calling her name. Hurrying to the top of the stairs, she called to him that she was on her way down. Moving down the wide staircase, Megan could hear her cousin and the sheriff talking in the kitchen. As she entered the kitchen, the expression she saw on the sheriff’s face told her all she needed to know: the body had been found.

“Is it someone we know, Sheriff?” This was the first thought to pop into her head, and it was uttered before Megan even thought it through.

“I’m pretty sure I know who it is, but I need a positive ID before it can be official. If it’s who I think it is, then, no you probably have not met him yet. We are going to need to bring the body up through the Bloomquest property, and I want you to confirm to the best of your ability that this is the same person you saw in the boat. Just a general confirmation. You were too far away to see his face clearly, right?”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t see his face and I was really too far away to see any details about his appearance. I’ll do what I have to do to help, Sheriff,” Megan told the man, her face growing pale with the thought of what he was asking her to do.

“Thank you, Megan. We’ll make it as comfortable as possible for you and Paul will be right there with you. If you would meet us out by the garage in about ten minutes, we will be ready for you. After you have confirmed it’s the body, we will transport him to the morgue. I will go out and make my statement to the media next. I would like for you two to remain here inside for at least the next hour. By that time, I figure the media will have cleared out, and you will be able to leave without having your pictures being taken and plastered everywhere for our possible suspects to see. Paul, I would like you to drive yourselves directly to either your home or office and remain there until I can get a surveillance team together and in place for Megan’s protection. Please plan on as little travel activity as possible for the next day or two. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m needed outside.”

Giving her a reassuring smile, the sheriff moved towards the door, straightening his posture as he prepared himself for the work ahead of him. Megan watched him leave, not envying the job he had ahead of him, nor the awful task ahead of her. As if he could feel her fear, Paul put a comforting arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug of reassurance. Staring after the sheriff’s retreating back they were both startled by the ringing of Megan’s phone. Pulling away from her cousin, Megan answered her phone on its third ring. It was Janice.

“Megan, are you aware of what is going on out front of the Bloomquest home? The media is having a field day out there trying to figure out what’s happening.”

“Oh, I’m aware of it, Janice. That’s part of what the meeting will be about. Just prepare yourself. It’s going to get a lot worse. The sheriff will be making a statement in about ten to fifteen minutes, but I can tell you that there was a murder out on the river behind the house last night.”

“Oh, my, gosh. Are you right there in the middle of all of this?”

“Yes, I was there yesterday when it happened. I’ll give everyone the details at once during our meeting. We are going to need to schedule security here for the next couple of days at the least. Once the media takes off with the murder story, I’ll bet that several our clients are going to want to beef up their security, so be ready. The sheriff has said that some of the officers will be willing to do off-duty-work, so that will help, but let’s also hire the business out of Palm Beach that we use when we have dignitaries in town on standby, so we’re ready. And, Janice, I know I don’t have to tell you, but if we start getting calls from anyone other than clients, all we will be saying is ‘no comment’. If it gets too out of hand, turn the phones off. We will contact our clients first thing anyways.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you when you get here. I’m going to activate the gate, so only those of you that have a clicker and the staff with their codes can get in. Just in case someone makes the connection of Bloomquest to us. Don’t worry any more than you have to, Megan. We’ll all pull together on this.”

Reassured that she did not have to worry about what was going on back at the office, Megan checked her watch and then motioned to Paul that it was time for her to meet the sheriff. Side by side, they left the house and walked to where they were expected. The next twenty minutes were the hardest Megan had gone through since her husband’s death. After confirming that the body was the same one that she had seen based on size and clothing, she then had to give her statement again to see if she had remembered anything else. After that, she was sent back into the house to wait for the sheriff to give his statement to the press and for the grounds to clear in front of the house.

Watching the story break on the news from the calmness of the living room, Megan was surprised to see that the crowd outside had grown even larger than when she and Paul had arrived. For a small town, this was big news, especially when it involves an island residence. She was glad that they had been forewarned to stay out of the way for a while. She was also pleased to see that the police were doing an excellent job of keeping the press contained to the road and not allowing them access down the drive to the front of the house. As they watched, they saw that Kim Heart from the Daily Press was right up front with the reporters from the TV stations, trying to record every word being said and throwing out questions right and left. Once the sheriff had finished his statement and answered what few questions he could, the news conference was over, and the media began to clear away from the Bloomquest property. Turning off the TV, Megan turned her attention to the surveillance cameras that monitored the front of the property. Seeing Kim Heart open the door of her Kia, Megan breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure why, but she found that she had an uneasy feeling about the woman. Somehow Megan just knew that where Kim Heart was involved, there would be problems for her.

An hour later, Megan and Paul locked the house up behind them and got ready to head to the office. This time, Megan drove her own car, pulling out of the garage a few minutes after Paul pulled out of the driveway. With her windows rolled down, Megan waited until the garage door was completely closed and then followed Paul, not bothering to look around her as she left the property. If only she had, she may have noticed the branches on the Oleander hedge separate as her car was photographed leaving.