Malice Times Page 26

  “Oh, come now, Bruce, it is over. Everyone knows your little secret. Joshua knows. So does Joshua’s sister. Where is she by the way? I wanted to commend her on a fine performance. She was masterful.”

  “Why do you say that Watkins knew where the loot was?”

  “Just something small he said to me before Joshua got his revenge.”

  They both ignored me.

  "You know you weren’t supposed to kill him yet," Drake said. “Paul was very clear that you were to wait until the Fourth.”

  "I told you I couldn’t wait,” Joshua said. “It is over. Your only hope for the diamonds is sitting right there.”

  “I think Uncle Paul wouldn’t be very happy if you started killing people, Bruce,” I said. “But that’s not your real name, is it? I wondered. You used to be the manager of The Golden Seagull up until the time Buddy Costello got killed. Then, you left Las Vegas. Was that right after you sold The Golden Seagull? You are Buddy Costello’s son, aren’t you?”

  Joshua started to laugh. Bruce looked at him in horror. “Shut up.”

  “Oh, you shut up, Bruce,” Joshua said. “This man is smarter than all of us put together.”

  “How were you able to separate Bruce Drake from Bruce Costello? That was a masterful piece of deception if I must say so myself. How did you manage that?”

  “Joshua’s sister was very handy in creating the illusion of Bruce Drake, as were the many employees of The Golden Seagull.”

  “But why tie yourself to The Golden Seagull at all?”

  “Because it is mine. That bastard stole it from me through fear and intimidation.”

  “You got your revenge on Dutch Gordon.”

  “When I found out that he had been tortured and murdered in his jail cell, it was the happiest day of my life.”

  “All of the people that Regan was trying to protect from Dutch Gordon all in one place, right here in Malice Grove, just like they had sent Brian Prater. I always thought this was such a dangerous place, but I was wrong. This was the safest place in America. Was.”

  “Where are the diamonds?” Drake asked. “You said Watkins knew where they were, which means you must know where they are. What did he say to you that convinced you that he knew where they were?”

  “My memory isn’t working very well. I’ve been drinking rather heavily.”

  "Things are going to end very badly for you, March,” Drake said.

  "You’re not going to kill me,” I said. “It isn’t in your nature."

  "It might not be in mine, but he is another story.” He pointed at Joshua.

  “Me? I’m not going to kill him,” Joshua said. “I like Joe.”

  “Oh, you like Joe,” he said. “More than you like your Uncle Paul or me?”

  “I wouldn’t push that right now, Bruce,” I said. “I don’t think Joshua is very happy with either of you right now. And we both know what happens when Joshua gets angry. He might not turn green, but he certainly is quite a bit of a rage monster. When his sister told him what Daniel Miles was writing about his father, he went ballistic, and killed him. Not until after he tortured him in an attempt to get everything he had written about him. But he was tougher than he looked, wasn’t he. When he overheard Michael accusing his father of raping him, he went ballistic, and killed him.”

  “Brian raped you, too, March,” he said. Joshua looked at me and his face got whiter that it had been before.

  “He didn’t rape me, Bruce,” I said. “You got your wires crossed somewhere.”

  Joshua grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the study and down towards Drake's room. I didn't know what to think, only that I was going to die. That was inevitable and I didn’t care. He unlocked a door, opened it and led me in. Lying on the bed was Elizabeth. Joshua had a confused look on his face. “What are you doing here?” Joshua asked.

  Joshua tossed me on to the bed. Elizabeth looked down at me. I looked up into those sapphire eyes. “I was wondering where you were,” I said.

  “I came here to tell you about Watkins,” she said.

  “Too late,” he said.

  “Bruce locked me in here,” she said. “He told me that he would take care of it, but I knew he was lying.”

  Joshua left the room. I stood up and tried the door. No luck. I went to a window, but there were bars on them. I looked around for a weapon. There was nothing in the room except for the bed.

  “Elizabeth Pray or should I say Prater. Just shortened your last name. And I thought I was so clever,” I said. “You know Uncle Paul set you guys up.”

  “I know.” She was sobbing. “We kept telling him that Watkins had the diamonds. He told us to prove it, but we couldn’t prove it. There was no proof. He told us that we had to wait and then we could kill him. But I didn’t want to kill anyone. I just wanted this nightmare to be over. For me and Joshua to just get away from here, away from Bruce and Uncle Paul.”

  “Oh, don’t act so innocent. Daniel came to you with his story after I put you in charge. He needed help. Michael was dead. You were the next person in line. He trusted you. He went to you and gave you the whole story. You panicked and you knocked him out. Then, you called your brother. And he took care of the rest.”

  “I never expected him to do that.”

  “Of course, you did. You knew he killed Michael. You even helped him. You stole the rug from this building and took it to Michael’s apartment. Joshua wrapped Michael up in that rug and took him to the docks and dumped him in the lake. Your job was to clean up and cover up the stain. You didn’t care if people found out that Michael was dead, but you didn’t want them to know where he had been killed, because it would have made it difficult for them to pin the murder on too many people. Tom Watkins maybe. Or maybe even me. Watkins never actually was allowed into his apartment and I didn’t know where he lived. But Joshua made sure to change that. He brought me back to the apartment, so that people would know that I knew where he lived. Could recognize me. Joshua pounding on the door loudly, so that the neighbors would hear and look out and see me there. Joshua shrouded in the darkness of the hallway, but me behind him in the light blocking him from anyone that could see him. But then I discovered the blood stain. I wonder how close Joshua came to killing me right then and there. I mean he does have severe impulse control problems. All of that careful work you two had done. You buzzed him when you were finished cleaning up. Were you watching when we drove up? I’m curious.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  I could hear the voices next door starting to rise in volume. The words were muffled by the thick walls.

  “What are you going to do about all of this?” she asked. She moved over towards me and placed her hand on my leg. “I could make you very happy.”

  I looked up into those sapphire eyes and jumped off the bed. I could barely stand looking into those eyes.

  Then a series of gunshots rang out. They were deafening. Elizabeth's eyes got wide with fright. Elizabeth looked up at me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I pushed her away. Footsteps came down the hall and stopped outside the door. I heard the key in the lock and Elizabeth grabbed me again and hid behind me. The doorknob turned and the door swung open. Joshua walked into the room a smoking gun in his right hand.

  "Come on," he said.

  We walked towards him. He motioned us by and we did as he said. He closed the door and pushed us forward. As we walked by the study, I stopped. Lying there, face down in a pool of blood was Drake. He was face down his right arm outstretched. On the floor away from his right hand laid a gun.

  "Did he shoot at you?"

  "No,” Joshua said.

  "What happened?"

  "We started to talk. He was nervous. Then, I got angry, because I knew he was lying to me. Then, he grabbed the gun from his desk. Bruce isn’t very good with guns. He was scared. He knew things were going sideways for him. I shot him.”

  "We have to get out of here," she said. "Get out of Malice Grove, the three of us. Take off somewhere toge
ther.”

  "Not without the diamonds,” I said. I was buying time.

  We walked up the steps and out into the early dawn light. I was leading them. Joshua and Elizabeth were behind me. We walked around towards the gangplank.

  “Do you know where they are?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Of course I do,” I said. “I have known for quite some time.”

  “All that talk about Watkins was a lie then,” Joshua said.

  “No,” I said. “He had finally figured it out. Just a little too late.”

  “We get the diamonds and then we get out of town,” Elizabeth said.

  “I don’t care about the diamonds,” Joshua said. “I just want out of here.”

  “Those diamonds will make it so much easier to disappear, Josh,” Elizabeth said. “He’s going to take us to them.”

  “All right,” Joshua said. “Take us then. Don’t try anything and I’ll let you live.”

  We walked down the gangplank, Joshua’s gun trained on my back. As we started to walk up the pier, I heard a distant explosion from deep into the town. I could see fire and smoke curling up in to the air. It looked like it was coming from The Garlic Clove. Then, another explosion, not far away, smoke billowing up into the dawn sky from the direction of Donna’s. I looked towards The Malice Times. Joshua grabbed Elizabeth and started to run. I looked back at The Diamond Schooner. I ran for the side of the pier and dove down into the water as the building exploded behind me. As I entered the water, I could feel the heat from the explosion. An enormous wave grabbed me and lifted me up and dumped me far up on the beach with a giant thud. I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air, but oxygen wouldn’t enter my lungs. Finally, the air started coming slowly. I sat up facing The Malice Times when the building expanded and then blew up in a big giant fireball in the sky. Fire rained down on the buildings all around. Dozens of the surrounding buildings caught fire. There was panicked screaming throughout Malice Grove. People fled from apartment buildings and filled the streets. I looked back at where The Diamond Schooner used to be and the wreckage of wood floating in towards the beach. I stood up and saw Joshua and Elizabeth lying on the beach.

  From behind me, cutting through the screams, I could hear my name ringing in my ears over and over again, but it didn’t register. As I turned to run to my Jeep, I could see the figure of a woman standing in the street. I tilted my head. It looked like Rae. My head was buzzing. She walked down to where I stood.

  “Joe, are you okay?” the ghost asked. I pulled away from her as she grabbed hold of my arm. I turned and threw up on the sand. She held my arm as I did so. I looked up at her. Her face was marked where tears had streaked down her face.

  “Rae,” I said. “But you’re dead.”

  “No,” she said.

  “I saw you. I saw you blow up into tiny little pieces.”

  “I don’t know what you saw, Joey, but it wasn’t me.”

  “You were at the back of the boat and it exploded,” I said.

  “So you were there?” she asked and began to sob.

  My mind tried to grasp it all. It must have been Lynda at the back of the boat. I just assumed it was Rae, because she had waved back at me when I had waved to her. “You’re alive, but how? You were on the boat.”

  “I wasn’t on the boat, Joey,” she said through sobs.

  “But you were going down the coast with Lynda and your father,” I said.

  “Do you really think I would spend all that time on that small boat with my father and Lynda? I was on a plane to Florida when it happened. I was going down to get everything ready for when my father got there.”

  It finally dawned on me that she was real. I grabbed her and hugged her tight to my body. We stood there as Malice Grove burned down around us. The light from the fire lit her face.

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked. I realized we needed to get out of here as the Malice Times crumbled to the ground in the distance.

  “I’ll tell you on the way,” I said. I grabbed her hand, ran up to my Jeep and drove out of town up into the hills as Malice Grove burnt down in my rearview mirror.

  43

  Brad moved in close to Celia. He didn’t even bother looking to see if anyone was looking. After he approached her, he could see Archer looking at them. He didn’t care. There were other more important things on his mind. Alarm bells were going off in his head.

  “Do you think you can get away from your husband?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she smiled at him. “If you really want me that bad.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” he said and she stopped smiling in response to his brusqueness. “Something’s not right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Not now. I’ll tell you later. Meet me at your house. Swing by my apartment and get me a change of clothes first.”

  “I thought I was supposed to keep him busy,” she said.

  “Just do what I tell you,” he said.

  “Okay,” she said. “When?”

  “Give me about an hour.” And then he was gone. Celia moved away towards some friends and struck up a conversation trying to remain cheerful, but it was hard. The conversation had left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Brad moved quickly and quietly out of the party. He didn’t want anyone to notice. No one did, not even Michael. Michael watched the conversation between Celia and Brad intently. Celia Archer and Brad Graber had come into quite a bit of money. They would make a nice little addition to his blackmail book. After they separated, Michael kept his eye on the one that would be easiest to get money from. Brad Graber leaving didn’t even register on the Richter scale.

  Brad drove his car as quickly as he could to the Archer house. He entered the house with the key that Celia had given him for their liaisons. He moved through the house quickly and into the garden. He went to the shed at the far end, took out another key and unlocked the padlock. He deposited the padlock into his pocket. He reached into the shed and found a shovel and looked for a good place. When he found a suitable area, he removed his shirt and began to dig as quickly as he could. His heart beat with every shovel. Sweat glistened on his muscles as they worked to dig the hole. He could taste the salt and the dirt mixing together at the corner of his mouth. He spit. He dug quickly and he dug deep. After he had made a hole that was both deep enough and wide enough, he went back to the shed and grabbed the duffel bag. He dropped it into the hole. He grabbed the shovel again and started to fill in the hole. After the hole was filled, there was some dirt left, so he spread the rest of the dirt around the garden. He rinsed the shovel off with a hose and dried it with his shirt. He put the shovel back and then grabbed a rake. He raked the area making it look nice and clean. He stood back and admired his handiwork. He cleaned the rake off and again dried it with his shirt. After returning the rake to the shed, he removed the rest of his clothes and shoes and wrapped them up in a tight bundle. He walked back to the house. When he got there, he could hear someone entering the house. He hid in the shadows. When he saw that it was her, he stepped out in all of his dirty nakedness.

  Celia smiled. “And I thought that’s not what you wanted.”

  “Come on,” he said and walked her up the steps and towards the bedroom. She followed with glee.

  ♦♦♦

  Michael had been keeping his eye on Celia Archer. When the argument with her husband had erupted, he had been close by. Michael wasn’t sure what to do. It seemed the cat was out of the bag as far as Celia and Brad’s relationship was concerned, but there was all that money just waiting to be taken. When Celia stormed off, he made the decision then to follow her. Maybe he could get something else. After all, Brad seemed to be worried after speaking to Dad. Perhaps, he could get a little something from them. Brad surely wouldn’t hurt him. Brad had killed for him after all. Maybe Brad would give him something just to make him go away. Michael followed Celia. She drove slowly to Brad Graber’s house. Michael waited for a few moments and then got his camera
equipment together, making sure that the film was prepared and everything was in working order. He took a few shots, pleased with his ability to get a good exposure with the Polaroid. As he was about to get out of his car, Celia Archer came dashing out of Brad’s apartment building carrying a duffel bag. She drove off quickly. Michael started his car and was able to catch back up to her. She drove back up into the hills overlooking the lake and to her house. Michael stopped the car and watched her get out and run into her house. Michael grabbed his camera and approached the house. He peeked in through a window and saw a naked Brad Graber leading Celia up the steps.

  Michael searched around for a way into the home. He spotted a climbable tree that reached up to the roof above. He climbed the tree and made his way onto the roof. There was a light coming from a window at the side of the house overlooking the gardens below. There was a pergola beneath the window. Michael made his way from the roof of the porch to the corner of the house. The jump wasn’t that far. He made a leap and came to rest on one of the beams of the pergola. He could feel himself going over backwards. He pinwheeled his arms and regained his balance. He moved quickly to the brick of the house and clung to it like he was on the fiftieth floor of a skyscraper. After taking a breath, he shimmied his way along the beam closest to the house, the Polaroid camera dangling from his neck. The sun hung low in the sky behind him. It would give him great exposure.

  Once he got to the first window, he peered in. He could hear quiet voices from within, but could not see anything except for a black duffel bag on the bed. He ducked down and crawled underneath the window to a second window a little further on. He peeked up and into the window and saw Celia Archer and Brad Graber close to the window. They were naked and kissing each other, their passion filling the room. They were magnificent. Michael ducked his head down. Catching his breath, he could hear them moving away. He looked again and saw them moving towards the bathroom their arms wrapped around each other’s waists. Tossed on a chair were crumbled, dirty clothes. Celia’s clothes were not in view. Michael took a picture and ducked back down. The picture came out. He waited for the Polaroid to expose. When it came out, he was inordinately proud of his work. He looked down at the ground below. Grabbing the beam he lowered himself gently down and dropped to the ground below.