Death of a Cupcake Queen (18 page)

Chapter 34

“Sabrina, it's Hayley. Call me when you get this message. I need to speak with you. It's rather urgent,” Hayley said, trying to remain calm.

She ended the call and looked at Randy.

“Do you think . . . ?”

“There's no reason to assume the worst. Sabrina may be preoccupied. She could be taking a swim and left her cell phone in the house or she's out running errands and didn't hear it ring in her tote bag.”

“We should call Sergio,” Randy said, grabbing his phone out of his back pants pocket.

“And tell him what? We
think
we know who the killer is? Dustin's app isn't one hundred percent reliable. It just tells us that the boy in the picture grew up and became a man who just happens to look like Sabrina's boyfriend. I've learned not to bring Sergio into anything until we have absolute concrete proof.”

“Well, I've never learned that lesson. I'm going to take the magazine and the photo from FutureFace and show Sergio. At least maybe it will get him to focus more on Mason rather than Nigel.”

“Okay, keep me posted,” Hayley said, grabbing her car keys off the kitchen counter.

“Wait. Aren't you coming with me?”

“No. I'm going over to Sabrina's summer rental to see if she's there.”

“Hayley! Haven't you learned anything from all those horror and suspense thrillers we stayed up late watching when we were kids? Whenever the heroine goes anywhere alone, it never ends well!”

“I'll be fine. Mason has no idea we're on to him. As long as I keep my cool, he won't suspect a thing. But I can't wait for Sergio! There's no telling when Mason plans on striking again. Sabrina's life could be in danger!”

She was out the door in a flash.

Hayley almost broke speed records driving to the summer rental in Seal Harbor.

When she pulled up out front, all appeared quiet and serene.

She knocked on the door and waited.

No answer.

She tried the door.

It was unlocked.

Just like last time.

Sabrina certainly wasn't afraid someone might rob the place.

Hayley silently entered and walked to the big picture window that overlooked the property that ran down to the coastline.

There didn't seem to be anyone around.

She had heard Ivy's sister Irene had temporarily adopted her seven pooches while Nigel was incarcerated.

Hayley made a beeline to the bedroom on the opposite side from Nyyki's where she found the body hair in the bed that undoubtedly belonged to Nigel.

This room was well kept and spotless.

Sabrina had a mild case of OCD for as long as Hayley could remember.

The bed was perfectly made, the bedspread pulled tight so there were no wrinkles or creases.

A few beauty products were lined up in a single row on the dresser, all turned so their labels faced outward.

This definitely had to be where Sabrina was staying with Mason.

She opened a few drawers.

Two stacks of women's shorts and pullovers all neatly folded.

She crossed to the closet across the room and opened the door.

A few print blouses hanging on the rack.

No wire hangers.

Joan Crawford would have been proud.

There were some men's shirts hanging there too.

Mason didn't strike Hayley as a neat freak so she assumed Sabrina had ironed and pressed his shirts for him so they didn't drive her mad.

She was about to close the door when she noticed something balled up in the corner of the closet. She reached down and picked it up.

It was a men's hiking shirt.

Back country green plaid.

It must have been recently worn because it was smelly and smudged with dirt.

And there was a tear on the sleeve.

Something had ripped the fabric.

It was the same fabric Hayley found caught on that tree branch when she was up on top of Dorr Mountain with Liddy and Mona.

This had to be the shirt Mason Cassidy wore when he killed Nykki.

He probably didn't even know it was incriminating, which would explain why he didn't get rid of it.

Mason.

Mason Cassidy was the killer.

He was the one who stole the nine iron from Nigel's golf bag.

He was staying at the same summer rental so of course he had access to it.

Hayley could hardly forget he was at the reunion because he tried pawing her and kissing her in the kitchen.

There was plenty of time for him to sneak back there when Ivy was arranging her cupcakes and whack her over the head a few times.

Then, when it was convenient, he simply returned the golf club to Nigel's bag thereby framing him if anyone found it.

That took care of Ivy.

Then he probably followed Nykki when she hiked to the top of the mountain with Nigel, stalking her like prey, waiting until Nigel left her alone and made his way back down before sneaking up behind her.

Knowing Nykki, she put up a hell of a fight, which would explain his shirt getting torn during a struggle.

But Mason was an athlete, young and strong.

She didn't stand a chance.

He hurled her over the side to her death.

That took care of Nykki.

Now it was Sabrina's turn.

He saved her for last because in the end she would be the easiest to kill.

Especially given the fact she was sleeping right next to him.

She would never see it coming.

The torn piece of fabric from his shirt was the evidence needed to connect Mason to at least one of the murders.

It was time to call Sergio.

She grabbed her cell phone from her bag and called the station.

Office Donnie answered.

“Donnie, it's Hayley Powell. Get me Chief Alvares. I know who killed Ivy Foster and Nykki Temple.”

“I think he's out. Hold on. Let me go check his office,” Donnie sighed, annoyed.

He was probably eating his lunch and resented the disturbance.

Hayley waited.

“Give me the phone,” a man's voice suddenly commanded.

She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and it made her shudder.

Hayley slowly turned around.

Mason Cassidy's eyes darkened as he held out his hand.

“I'm not going to tell you again,” he hissed. “The phone. Now!”

Hayley carefully placed it in the palm of his hand.

And then he flung her phone across the room where it hit the wall and smashed to bits.

He stared at the dirty torn plaid shirt she held in her hand.

Chapter 35

Hayley sized Mason up and down.

If his face wasn't so menacing she would have thought he looked adorable in his sky blue shirt, navy chinos, and lightweight navy blazer with matching navy deck shoes.

He looked as if he just stepped out of a sail boat catalogue.

And then it hit her like a freight train.

She gasped.

Boating.

“Oh dear god, you've already done it!” Hayley wailed.

“What are you talking about?”

“You've been boating!”

“Yes. Sailing the high seas. I was probably a ship's captain in another life. I just can't seem to get enough of it.”

“And you took Sabrina with you! Out past the harbor and to the dark choppy water away from where anyone on shore would spot you, especially the Coast Guard, and you shoved her overboard! Just like you shoved Nykki over that cliff! And then you simply drove off in the boat, leaving her to drown . . . just like your father did!”

Mason flinched at the mention of his father.

Hayley made a mad dash around him to escape but he anticipated it, blocked her move and grabbed her forcefully by the wrists to hold her in place. “It's a shame you couldn't leave it alone. I really liked you. I couldn't understand why someone so nice would be friends with those conniving, appalling bitches!”

“Mason? Are you here?”

Hayley and Mason momentarily froze.

Hayley's arms in the air.

Mason's hands wrapped around her wrists.

Their faces close like they were locked in some kind of dancer's embrace in the middle of a macabre waltz and the music had suddenly stopped.

Sabrina walked into the room.

The sight of them still like statues startled her.

“What's . . . what's going on here?”

Mason released his grip on Hayley but kept his eyes firmly fixed on her as he spoke quietly to Sabrina. “Hayley just dropped by for an unannounced visit . . . again.”

“I saw that you called, Hayley. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to get back to you. I was—”

Mason interrupted her. “Your instincts were right, Hayley. I thought about taking her out on the boat. It would have been so quick and easy. All I had to do was ask her for a beer and when she was bent over the cooler I could just pick her up by the legs and toss her over the side . . .”

“Mason, what are you talking about?”

“But why rush it? I love it here in Bar Harbor. I'm having such a good time. Sightseeing in the park, gorging on lobster, whale watching. Tomorrow I'm even thinking of renting a kayak. Doesn't that sound like fun? If I knocked off Sabrina too early, there would be all this drama and I'd have to cut my vacation short. At least with Ivy and Nykki there was no real personal connection so the police didn't hound me too much.”

Sabrina rushed him. “Ivy? Nykki? Mason, are you saying—?”

He slapped her hard across the face.

She yelped and fell back on the bed.

Hayley eyed the door.

But Mason was too fast for her.

He rushed over and slammed it shut.

And then he stood in front of it like a guard dog.

Trapping all of them inside the bedroom.

“How did you find out about how your father really died?”

“A little homeless woman told me,” Mason sneered.

“Vanda Spears?”

“Once I figured out who my father was, I had to know the truth about his death. I never believed the official story. So I traveled to the town where it happened. Bar Harbor, Maine. And I started asking questions. I found the now retired real estate agent who rented the place to him and she happened to mention the crazy fan who constantly hung around outside the gate of the estate hoping to get a glimpse of her idol. That's what put me into Vanda Spears' orbit. She wasn't hard to find. I just had to drive up and down Cottage Street a few times before I spotted her pushing her grocery cart and muttering to herself. The good Samaritan I am I offered to buy her lunch. I managed to get her liquored up real good to the point where she started singing about what she saw that night. Three stuck up bitches running away from the scene leaving my father face down in a swimming pool to drown!”

“Mason, you don't know the whole story,” Sabrina said, choking on tears.

“Shut up! You don't get to talk! It's my turn to talk!”

Sabrina buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

“Once you had their names, I'm sure it was easy to get close to one of them by following her posts on Facebook. Sabrina was a recent divorcee. Visiting her sister in San Diego. Maybe open to the idea of a fling with a younger man after a bitter and exhausting divorce,” Hayley spat out.

“You came
looking
for me?” Sabrina screamed, infuriated.

Mason ignored her. He kept his eyes on Hayley. “She checked in on Facebook at an ocean front cafe and tagged her sister. I was there within ten minutes. I just happened to casually stroll by their table and stop to introduce myself. I made up being a high diver at Sea World because I knew it would be a real turn on for her. What woman wouldn't want to bed a stud in a rubber suit who swims with dolphins?” Mason said. “It was so damn easy.
She
was so damn easy.”

Sabrina sat upright, eyes burning with contempt. But she noticed Mason's hands both rolled into threatening fists so she remained silent.

He had already hit her once.

“After that, it was a whirlwind romance. I followed her around like a puppy dog and heaped compliments on her about how beautiful she was, how lucky I was to have a woman like her in my life, blah, blah, blah. I didn't mean a word of it but it certainly did the trick. I had access to her whole life. Her house. Her car. Her old diary I found stuffed in the back of a dresser drawer. That was a real page turner. The desperate scribblings of an eighteen-year-old-girl with a big dark secret. Yearning to relieve herself of all that guilt but there was no one she could share it with because she had made this pact with her two girlfriends never to breathe another word about it. So she took to writing it all down as a way to deal with the trauma.”

“So once the facts were confirmed, you set your plan in motion,” Hayley said. “First Ivy, then Nykki, and now Sabrina.”

“Yes, but unfortunately, I need to add one more name to the list,” Mason said, abruptly turning his head to the left and cracking his neck. “You.”

Before Hayley had time to react, Mason sprinted forward, his hands outstretched, about to wrap them around Hayley's throat, but Sabrina was suddenly off the bed and seized a lamp off the nightstand and smashed it over Mason's head, shattering the lamp into pieces.

Mason dropped to the floor, blood running down his forehead.

“Sabrina, run!” Hayley shrieked as she jumped over Mason's body, grabbing Sabrina by the hand, throwing open the bedroom door, and dragging her out of the room, not looking back.

They were half way across the living room, the front door within reach, when Hayley sensed someone running up fast behind her.

Sabrina flung open the door and ran outside screaming.

Before Hayley could pass the threshold, she felt a tug on her shirt collar and then she was being jerked back inside.

She struggled in the iron tight grasp of Mason, who violently hurled her to the floor. Her head cracked on the hard wood and for a moment she was disoriented.

She turned over and looked up at Mason, who was now standing over her, his chest heaving, blood all over his face, a wild murderous look in his eyes.

Hayley tried to get up but he pinned her to the floor with a foot to the chest. Then he looked around, his eyes settling on the Paul Bunyan statue on the wooden desk. It was within arm's reach. He grabbed it in his fist and raised it over his head.

He gripped it with both hands.

He was going to bludgeon her to death.

Just like he did to Ivy Foster.

She fought with all her might to escape but he was too strong. He then dropped to one knee, using his other to pin Hayley firmly to the floor. He was close enough now to get the job done.

Just as he swung the statue down to strike his first blow, a loud gun shot rang out.

Hayley screamed and squeezed her eyes shut.

There were a few moments of silence.

When she opened her eyes, Mason was still kneeling there, the statue still in his hand, a surprised look on his face.

And then he toppled over, landing on the hard wood floor next to Hayley, breathing heavily and moaning in pain.

Hayley looked up to see Sergio, gripping his pistol, shell shocked that he actually had to use it.

Randy was in the doorway with a distraught, almost catatonic Sabrina, gripping her arm so she didn't faint and drop to the floor.

Sergio marched over to Mason and rolled him over. “Just a flesh wound. He'll live.”

Randy left Sabrina quivering at the door and bolted over to his sister and leaned down and drew her into a tight hug.

“I thought I was a goner,” Hayley said, fighting back tears.

“Did you honestly think I was going to let you come here alone? Of course I called Sergio immediately and told him we had to get over here to make sure nothing happened to my favorite sister.”

“I'm your only sister,” Hayley said, smiling.

“Semantics,” Randy said, gently holding Hayley close to him while kissing her on the top of the head.