Murder Games (26 page)

“Really
?” Austin asked.

“Come on,
” Kyle said with a groan, “I don’t know who you are, but you are not a professor. No history professor would go to these lengths to find a ruby necklace . . . Go on sabbatical at a fancy resort? Sure, I can see that. Spend several hundred hours researching in an old dusty library? Yep, no doubt about it. Write a long boring article about some long forgotten Prussian jewel? Absolutely. Participate in a secret treasure hunt with a murderer?” Kyle made a face. “Doubtful. Until I reached the gate and suddenly realized the killer had to be Jerry, you were my top suspect.”

Austin
raised an eyebrow. “Just because I don’t act like a history professor?”

“
Well, that and that you lied to us about when you arrived,” Grace said.

“I didn’t lie.
I just didn’t tell you everything.”

“It might have helped if you had,” Grace said. “To be fair, I didn’t know who to
trust, but I started to suspect you after speaking to Caroline and she told me that she saw you and Erica arguing in the gazebo about a quarter after eleven. For a while there I thought you may have killed all three of them: Erica, Belinda and Drew.”

Kyle
shook his head. “If I had really thought about it, I could have figured out the mystery when we read Belinda’s letter.”

Grace looked at him in surprise.
“How?”

“Belinda
spelled out where and when they were going to meet. Erica was to wait for her and Drew at the glass gazebo at 11:15. When you told me that Caroline said that she saw Austin and Erica fighting in the gazebo at that time, I just assumed she saw them arguing at the open gazebo near the pond. When I passed by here on my way to the hotel, I suddenly realized that it couldn’t have happened there, because Erica would have been waiting for Drew and Belinda at the
glass
gazebo. That’s where she and Austin had their fight. It actually didn’t occur to me until I tried to unlock the front gate that Caroline had made a huge mistake by telling you that.”

Grace
cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

“
I don’t understand. What difference does it make which gazebo they met in?” Molly said.

“
Don’t you see? If Rupert locks the maze at ten o’clock every night, how could she have seen Austin and Erica at the glass gazebo at 11:15, unless she was already here inside the maze waiting? I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”

“I wish you had, you could have saved me the trip out here.” She turned to Austin. “Caroline
did a good job pretending to be afraid of you. She definitely was trying to make you look guilty.”

Austin shook his head. “She knew why I was
here. They tried to kill me last night in the cellar. If I hadn’t grabbed that railing when I did, I could have broken my neck. I basically slid the rest of the way down on my backside.”

Molly
looked at him curiously. “I’m surprised they didn’t try again. You were lying upstairs helpless all day. They had plenty of opportunity to kill you then.”

Austin smirked. “They didn’t need to. Everyone was happily drugging me to the gills.
I think, at that point, they decided to just make me look guilty.”

“You didn’t need
their help with that,” Kyle said peering around the tombstone. “Just who are you, by the way?”

“Exactly who I said I was. A history buff.”
Austin ducked as another bullet struck the tombstone he was hiding behind. He shook his head. “Drew and Belinda must have thought they had it made when everyone just accepted them as the Knights.”

“
Okay,” Molly said with a frown. “I don’t understand something. If Drew killed Belinda, then who shot him?”

“Belinda,” Grace said. “
We heard two different shots in rapid succession. He must have caught her with the bust, thinking she had found the ruby. They shot each other. She died, but he lived.”

“But
if he’s been shot, how can he be out here shooting at us?” Molly asked.

“Desperation
,” Grace guessed with a shrug, “He must not be hurt that badly.”

“I don’t know.”
Kyle lifted his head and looked over the headstone. “We’ve been playing cat and mouse for the last hour and I keep finding little drops of blood on the ground.”

Another shot rang out
as the fireworks lit up the little graveyard exposing them all to Jerry’s gun. Grace reached up and pulled Kyle back down. “He must be just outside the hedge.”

“
I don’t get it,” Austin said. “He’s got a gun. Why doesn’t he just come in here and kill us?”

“
He thinks I’m armed.” Kyle grinned. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” He opened his hand, showing them two tiny tubes. “They’re small little explosive devices. Tricks of the trade. I’ve been leading him around in circles waiting for him to freeze to death. He’s not exactly dressed for this weather.” He looked down at Grace. “Neither are you,” he said, wrapping his scarf around her neck. “Eventually, he’s going to realize we’re sitting ducks. We need a plan.”

Grace gripped the edge of the gr
avestone and peeked around the side. “I’ve called the police and they’re on their way. We just have to wait until they arrive.”

“No, we can’t wait,” Kyle said. “
He wasn’t doing this much shooting before you arrived
.
He knows he’s been found out. He has no choice but to kill us now.” He ducked as another bullet struck the top of the gravestone.

“What if we offer him the ruby?” Grace asked.

“You have the ruby?” Molly gripped Grace’s arm excitedly. At Grace’s nod, she added, “If we give him the ruby, maybe he’ll take that and leave.”

Kyle
picked up a piece of gravestone that had fallen to the snow and gripped it tightly. “What’s to prevent him from killing us after we hand him the ruby?”

“We won’t hand it to him,” Molly said. “
We’ll tell him that the police are on the way, then we’ll offer it to him and when he gets close enough, we’ll throw it into the snow. When he dives in after it, we’ll run back to the manor and wait for the reinforcements to arrive.”

Grace shrugged. “It could work.
Like you said, we’re running out of time.”

Clearly not thrilled with the idea, Kyle reluctantly nodded
before calling Drew’s name.

“Well
, aren’t you the clever one,” Drew said laughingly. “I guess you do deserve that stupid
Best Sleuth
trophy. It’s just too bad you’re not going to live to collect it.”

“I
have what you want. If you let us go, I’ll give it to you.” Another shot rang out suddenly.

Kyle reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the handkerchief. He dropped the ruby into his hand and then lifted it up just as the fireworks lit up the cemetery.
He let it dangle between his fingers. “You can either drop the weapon and come and get the ruby or I’ll swallow it. Good luck getting it out of me before the police get here.” When they were greeted with nothing but silence, Kyle added, “Come on, Drew, you’ve killed four people so far for this ruby. You’re so close, don’t screw up. All we want is to live.”

A rustling nearby caused them to tense. Another firework went off bathing the cemetery in blue light long enough for them to see Drew crawl through the hole in the hedge. He peered into the cemetery. “You’
re lying. You don’t have a cell phone, so how could you call the police?” he ground out through chattering teeth. Shaking, he wrapped one arm around his middle while pointing a gun toward the center of the cemetery. His eyes darted from one tombstone to another. “What happened, Kyle? Did you run out of bullets?”

Grace took Erica
’s phone out of her pocket and held it up for Drew to see. “We did call the police. Rupert forgot to destroy Erica’s phone.”

Hidden behind the headstone, Kyle brought the ruby to his lips.
“I’m swallowing it, Drew. Make a decision.”

“
Fine,” Drew said wearily, “toss the ruby to me and I’ll let you go. That’s all I care about.”

“No deal
,” Kyle said. “You throw the gun down, over there into Timothy’s grave, and
then
I’ll toss the ruby to you.”

Drew began coughing. As soon as the fit stopped, he asked,
“And what guarantee do I have that you’ll do that once I’ve gotten rid of my gun?”

“
The only guarantee that I’m going to give you, is that I’ll swallow this ruby if you don’t get rid of the gun. The police are on their way. If you want this ruby, you’re going to have to trust me.”

Drew hesitated briefly before tossing the gun into Timothy’s open grave.
Wincing, he carefully gripped his injured arm with his hand.

They all stood up at once and faced
Drew, who slowly backed away from the hole in the hedge. “The girls can go first.”

Grace and Molly carefully edged around the headstones.

“Hurry up now, before I change my mind,” Drew barked. He took a wheezing breath which sparked another coughing fit. He doubled over as they got closer.

Sensing a trick, Kyle grabbed a hold of Grace’s arm just as Molly hurried past him and toward the opening.
Austin must have had the same feeling, because he tried to pull Molly back, but was too late. Drew got to her first.

Reaching into his coat, he
pulled out a small pearl handled pistol and stuck it into Molly’s side. “Lucky for me, my ex-girlfriend had come prepared. Of course, I didn’t think it was too lucky when she used it to nick me in the arm earlier. Good thing I’m a better shot than she is.”

Drew
held out his hand, palm up. “The ruby, please.”

Kyle dropped the ruby back into the handkerchief and walked toward Drew.

“No tricks,” he warned as he pressed the gun harder into Molly’s side. She let out a whimper.

Kyle dropped the handkerchief into Drew’s hand. As soon as Drew’s fist closed around the
ruby, he pushed Molly towards Austin and looked down. He smiled brightly as he unwrapped the handkerchief from around his prize. “Well, I guess I don’t need you all anymore.”

Another firework went off above his head
, bathing the cemetery in a bright white light.

Several things happened at once.
Frowning, Drew brought his hand closer to his face. Austin took that momentary lapse in attention to grab Molly about the waist and dive into Timothy’s grave. Surprised, Drew swung his gun toward them and fired automatically. While Kyle, taking advantage of Drew’s sudden focus on Austin and Molly, leapt forward. He tackled the other man to the ground before he had a chance to swing the gun back toward him. As soon as Drew landed on his back, the gun and handkerchief went flying from his hands. Kyle quickly overpowered the smaller man, knocking him out cold with one punch, while Grace recovered the gun.

They walked over to Timothy’s grave.
Kyle reached down and pulled Molly up first, and then Austin. Swaying slightly, Austin gripped Kyle’s lapels tightly to prevent himself from falling. Molly immediately came to his other side. He smiled at her gratefully as she helped him walk to the glass gazebo.

Grace ran over to Kyle and wrapped her arms around his waist.

*  *  *

Grace stood in the heated glass gazebo and watched as the police cuffed Drew Yates and read him his rights. She tried to ignore the way he looked at her as he was led away.

Kyle
wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Well, that worked out well. I wish Becky was here.”

“Why?”

“I think we deserve that
Best Sleuth
trophy. She should just hand it to us now.” His handsome features suddenly twisted in a grimace. “You know, I haven’t eaten since this morning. I wonder if the dining room is still open.”

“I think the police may want to talk to us a bit more.”

“I already gave my statement.”

“Yes, I know. I overheard. You seemed to
have left out one important fact.”

Kyle hung his head.

Molly opened the door and walked up to them. “Have either of you seen Austin?”

Still watching Kyle, Grace shook her head.
“It doesn’t belong to us, Kyle.”

Kyle leaned against the glass and crossed his arms.
“It’s been missing for over a hundred years; it doesn’t belong to anyone anymore. Besides, I’m pretty sure there’s a law out there called finders keepers, losers weepers.”

“
That law only applies if you’re ten years old and you’re on the playground. The ruby belongs to the hotel,” Grace said patiently. “It’s their property.”

Molly pressed closer to the glass. She craned her neck trying to spot
Austin among the dozen officers milling about the scene. “The police wanted to speak to Austin next, but I can’t seem to find him.”

Grace nodded absently as she held out her hand
. “Come on, we have to hand it over to the police. There may be a reward.”