Past Imperfect

Written by Cait MacChat
 


 

Part Seven



    “Connor! Do you have any idea...? Yes, of course he’s here, hold on.”
    “Adam, wait! It’s Connor. He wants to speak with you. He say’s its urgent.”
    Adam took the receiver, “Connor, what can we do for you? Bloody hell.” his face reflecting serious concern. “Right away, yes, thanks,” he said abruptly as he ended the conversation.

    Having judged that everyone had had enough time to settle in for the night,de la Garza cautiously cracked his bedroom door. All the lights were out in the suite; no light was shining through the crack in Amanda’s door.
    Carefully making his way down the staircase and into the kitchen, he paused for a moment to listen for any sounds of people moving around. Satisfied, he opened the door and slipped out, congratulating himself for his patience.
    Soon it will be over, he thought, it will finally be over. They think I’m sleeping. What fools they are. I hope you’re enjoying you last minutes, Ms. de Santos, I hope you’ve made your peace with God.
    Thinking ahead he fantasized about the reactions of the others when they discovered her body.  He could see it now, their shock, their disbelief, and their grief over her murder - just another random act of violence. Of course he would express his deepest sympathies to Kit and Adam. Knowing Amanda and Duncan would want to stay, he would courteously and discreetly remove himself from Riverhaven after the de rigure questioning by the local police. It would be a simple matter to call a taxi and escape to Portland - his alibi fully intact.
    His weapon was clean, untraceable, and the caliber was common. He would take the greatest of pleasure in making sure it looked like a robbery gone bad. Destroying de Santo’s possessions would be a bonus.

    As he approached the carriage house, de la Garza was pleased to see there were no lights visible from the windows. Mentally reviewing his plan one final time, he felt himself becoming aroused.
    He slowly and carefully made his way around the carriage house, surreptitiously looking into the windows as he passed. Satisfied that Renee was not downstairs, he cautiously tried the back door. She is as much of a fool as her father was, de la Garza thought contemptuously. She feels safe here, not even locking her doors. Easing the door open and slipping inside, he stopped, listening for any movement or sound. As he was about to place his foot on the first step of the staircase, he tensed as he heard voices.

    “Ah, Renee, you’re amazing,” a male voice said huskily and a little breathlessly. “Why did we wait so long? I can promise it won't be long before we’re doing this again. I think I can guarantee it will only be a matter of minutes.”
    De la Garza released his breath in a long sigh of satisfaction. This is better than I’d hoped, he thought as he mounted the staircase, his body moving silently. MacLeod and de Santos together, how convenient. He paused just outside the door to Renee’s room and listened. Angling his head slightly, he looked in the room.
    Renee and Duncan lay entwined. Duncan was gently caressing Renee’s hair as she lay in the crook of his arm. They were both slick with sweat, their bodies gleaming in the firelight. Judging it to be the perfect moment, de la Garza cleared his throat loudly and stepped into the room.

    “I do so hate to interrupt...," he said, enjoying the surprise on their faces. “But I’ve some business to complete. Don’t move a muscle, MacLeod; I don’t want to take you out prematurely. You wouldn’t want to spoil my fun. It wouldn’t be fair since I allowed you to have yours.” De la Garza pointed his gun at Duncan’s chest to make sure he’d made his point.
    “What do you want?" Duncan demanded.
    “To finish what I started with Senorita de Santos parents, of course. And to even the score for myself, MacLeod,” de la Garza said patiently.
    “So you’re the one,” Renee said calmly, masking her fear. “Why?” she asked simply as she pulled the sheet up to cover her body.
    “Your father betrayed me, betrayed the Libertie de Basque,” he replied with venom. “Ah, Senor de Santos was clever but not clever enough. We thought he could negotiate terms between the government and us. We trusted him, met with him, and for that trust we paid a very high price. Instead of negotiating, he shared names, dates and locations with the puta’s in the government. They were raided, many were killed. In return, he was rewarded with the job in Paris. He underestimated us, as did you. You didn’t think you’d escape did you? You are the last de Santos and you will join your parents in hell.”
    “Excuse me, but where do I fit in?" Duncan asked reasonably as he began to shift his body on the bed.
    “Please remain still, Senor MacLeod,” de la Garza demanded pleasantly. “Through your relative of course. An eye for an eye.”
    “Now I’m the one who doesn’t understand.”
    “Connor MacLeod,” he replied, the tone of voice turning the name into a curse, “has caused me much aggravation. I must commend his tenacity and his misplaced sense of honor. He thought he could track us and avenge de Santos. MacLeod is very clever but not clever enough. Unfortunately, for you, he was overzealous in his efforts to obtain information. He located my brother. My little brother was very dear to me. I was very unhappy to learn of his death at MacLeod’s hands. Certainly you can understand that I wish to cause him equal pain before I kill him.”
 “Aye, I can understand well enough,” Duncan responded, again moving himself on the bed. “And I can see you’re a determined man. Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”
    “No, and now it’s time to prepare yourselves. I believe I’ve answered your questions.”
    “Aye. But I do have a request. It’s not very dignified to die naked. Would you consider allowing me my pants?” Duncan asked as he motioned to his clothing. He pressed his hand on Renee’s thigh, signaling her to pay attention and play along. Renee gave the briefest of nods showing him she understood.
    “Yes, please,” Renee said, “I don’t want to be found like this.”
    “I am a gentleman and not totally without feeling,” de la Garza replied as he quickly glanced at their clothing, laying on the floor. “You first, MacLeod and very slowly. I will not hesitate to shoot you. I find I’m becoming impatient.”
    Duncan eased himself off the bed, again signaling Renee to be ready. He carefully walked to his clothing and bent over to retrieve his briefs.
    “Why must you kill me?" Renee demanded. “I had nothing to do with your brother or your stupid Libertie de Basques.” She sat up suddenly, allowing the sheet to fall from her torso.
    De la Garza momentarily took his eyes from Duncan as he appraised her breasts, “It is truly a pity,” he began just as Duncan’s arm came down on his gun hand. Spinning to defend himself, he doubled over as Duncan’s foot connected with his stomach.
    “Get out, Renee,” Duncan ordered and she wasted no time in obeying. As she moved off the bed, she took a fleeting second to press the ‘panic button’ on the telephone beside the bed. The two men continued to struggle as Duncan maneuvered them to the low railing of the loft. Wrestling him close to the edge Duncan hooked his leg under de la Garza’s. In one fluid motion Duncan easily propelled him over the railing. De la Garza’s body made a sickening sound as it hit the flagstone below.
    “Renee, are you ok?”
    “My God, Duncan,” Renee said panting in shock. “Yes. Fine. Scared. Ok.”

    The front door was shoved violently open as Adam and Kit burst in.
    “Renee? Duncan?” Adam shouted.
    “We’re up here. We’re all right,” Duncan called out as he instinctively pushed Renee behind him. “I think now would be a good time to put something on,” he said out of the side of his mouth. “We’ll be right down.”
    As they descended the staircase, they met Kit on her way up. The two women embraced, Kit’s face a mask of fear and concern for her friend. Leaving them on the staircase, Duncan joined Adam, who was bent over de la Garza’s body.
    “Nicely done, MacLeod. Did you break his neck first then throw him over or did he manage it all by himself?" Adam asked. “You all right?”
    “The dumb bastard,” Duncan said disgustedly. “He made the mistake of looking at Renee when he should have been looking at me. What are you doing here anyway?”
    “I pushed the ‘panic button,” Renee said. “Never thought I’d need it. But I remembered to push it,” she continued, her voice tinged with hysteria.
    “Before we sit around and swap stories, someone needs to call the Carson PD and cancel the alarm. They’re slow but they’ll be on their way. And, speaking of, what’re we going to do with him,” Kit asked motioning at de la Garza’s body.
    “Kit, we have to call the police! We were held at gunpoint for God’s sake. I’ve got a dead guy in my living room,” Renee all but shouted as she began to tremble all over again.
    “Shh, Renee, it’ll be ok. Come back upstairs with me. Let’s get you dressed. Adam and Duncan will take care of things here. Then we’ll go back to the main house,” Kit said as she gently propelled Renee out of the room.

    The men could hear Kit speaking gently and reassuringly to Renee as they went upstairs.
    “Well, MacLeod, I’m open for suggestions. Obviously we simply can’t bury the guy in the garden,” Adam said snidely. “Too high a profile for that.”
 “Renee has a point. Why not let the local police handle it? I may have bruised his arm when I knocked the gun out of his hand....”
    “He had a gun?”
    "But a bruise shouldn't be a problem. I don’t think it would cause any questions. He was astonishingly easy to take out,” Duncan said incredulously.
    “An ‘accident’ then? Do you think Renee’ll go along with it? She’s pretty shaken up. I know Kit won’t have a problem with it. We don’t need the bad PR but an accident’s better than ‘crazed guest attacks chef in carriage house.’ “
    “You don’t seem at all surprised at any of this. Why is that?” Duncan asked.
    “Back at the house if you don’t mind. Let’s gather the ladies and go back. We need to tell Amanda. I think I’ll let you do the honors, MacLeod.”

    It was surprisingly easy to dispense with the police. They were solicitous towards Renee, expressing their sympathy at what they called ‘her ordeal.” As they all sat in the common room the young police Lieutenant promised to try to keep publicity low key
    “I know this has been an ordeal for you, Ms. de Santos. But accidents do happen. You might want to raise the railing around your loft a little higher. We sure wouldn’t want to have to come back out here for you!” he said tactlessly. “I’m sorry, I only meant we wouldn’t want you to have an accident like that,” he said hastily as he saw Renee go pale.
    “Is there anything else?” Duncan asked tiredly.
    “No sir,” the Lieutenant said as he flipped back through his notebook. “Mr. de la Garza was a guest, a friend of another guest,” he nodded in Amanda’s direction. “ He was here to check out your operation and you were showing him the carriage house. He was upstairs with Ms. de Santos and wasn’t paying attention. He was walking backwards to get a different view of her room and fell.”
    “The two of you, Ms. Hawthorne and Mr. Pierson, were in the kitchen getting ready to make some coffee. You,” he said again looking at Amanda but including Duncan, “were looking at Ms. de Santo’s shell collection. All of sudden you heard Ms. de Santos scream and saw the deceased hit the floor. Then,” he said as he addressed Renee, “hit the panic button to call us. That right?”
    “That’s correct, Lieutenant,” Kit answered. “Will there be anything else?”
    “That’s all for now. We’ll take the body on in to Vancouver and the coroner will have a look at it tomorrow. What about the next of kin? Somebody’ll have to claim the body.”
    “He didn’t have any,” Amanda said.
    “He had a brother,” Duncan amended, “but he’s dead. He mentioned that during our dinner conversation.”
    “I’ll contact his office, they might know something,” Amanda continued.
    “Then that’s all for tonight. Will you be staying on?” he directed his question to Amanda and Duncan.
    “Yes, we’ll be staying through tomorrow - possibly a day or two more,” Duncan replied. “We’ll be available.”
    “Then I’ll be going. Good night, and thank you for your cooperation. Or, should I say good morning?” the Lieutenant said with a feeble attempt at humor.
    “I’ll walk you out,” Adam said dryly.

    As soon as the policeman was out of earshot, Renee’s carefully maintained composure broke. “ Mon Dieu, what a nightmare!” she sobbed. “If he found me, that must mean he found Connor, too.”
    “Connor’s fine,” Kit said reassuringly. “Now that the cops are gone, I think a little medicinal brandy is in order,” she said as she walked over to the liquor cabinet.
    “Can you make mine a Scotch,” Duncan asked. “This calls for something a bit more fortifying.” He was gratified to see a slight smile on Renee’s face. Duncan reached for Renee’s hand and held it tightly. “You were magnificent, Renee. I’m verra proud of you. Had you not distracted him, we’d be dead,” he lied. “Come here and let me hold you for a bit. You look like you need it.”
    “Amanda, I’m sorry,” Renee hiccuped through her tears. “I’m so sorry.”
    “Don’t be silly,” Amanda snapped, “it’s not your fault! God I hate to be made the fool. I’m only sorry I didn’t kill him myself. I should be the one apologizing, Renee. I brought him here.”
    “Now’s not the time,” Adam interjected. “It’s done. He’s dead and you’re not. The police have gone - for now. Brava, Renee - you did well. I want a beer. Kit?”
    “No thanks, I need something with a little more bite to it. Adam’s right, Renee - you’re alive and he’s dead,” Kit stated firmly as she placed generous portions of brandy in front of her friends. “Get your beer, Adam. We need to make a toast.”
    When he returned, Kit raised her glass and looked at each of her friends, “L’chaim,” she intoned.
    “L’chaim,” they responded, each putting their own meaning into their toast to life.

Part 8 will be posted in about two weeks!  Join us then
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