The Beach House (6 page)

The beach house came equipped with all of the necessities for cooking; pots and pans, dinnerware, large refrigerator, and even a small grill on the patio. The only problem was the lack of food.
Not to mention that these appliances hadn’t been used in years.

Mark and Damon had volunteered to grill up some dinner if the girls would drive down the street to the local grocery store. Megan was more than happy to agree to this as she was starving and loved the idea of the guys cooking for her.

Megan grabbed a pair of shorts and tank top from her suitcase. “No problem, guys. Just let me take a quick shower and see if I can get Kristi up.”

Mark was content with sitting out on the small patio, finishing his beer, watching the ladies in their bikinis walk up and down the beach, and staying as far away from Damon as possible.

Damon, on the other hand, seemed unable to relax. He was walking around and searching the beach house as if a horrible surprise may be lurking around the corner. Megan assumed he was reminiscing about family vacation moments and his childhood. That really wasn’t unusual. There were times in her life when some small event or object would trigger fond memories of herself as a child. She could only imagine all of the fun times Damon had had here as a kid.

Megan made her way up the stairs to take a hot shower so that she could head to the store. Before hitting the bathroom, she walked into Kristi’s room. Kristi had already gotten up and changed. “Hey, you okay? The guys are going to make us food as long as we hit up the grocery store. I’m going to take a quick shower.”

Kristi approached her friend. She felt guilty thinking about their friendship, knowing that just a couple of hours ago she had occupied the bed with her boyfriend. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just tired and that guy really gave me the creeps. Food sounds good, I’m starving.”

Kristi watched Megan enter the bathroom and heard the water from the shower running. She made her way downstairs to see Damon sitting in the living room as if in a trance. “Hey. What are you up to?”

Damon abruptly broke from the daze into which he had fallen. He really wasn’t thinking of anything specific. It was such a great feeling to be back at the family vacation home after all of this time. It gave him such a sense of power to know what he had done to his little brother out there. This really was his home.

Damon smiled at Kristi. “Nothing, just thinking about times I had here with my parents. You’re feeling better, I see.”

Kristi sat down next to Damon. “Yes, much better. Just waiting on Megan so we can get some food.”

***

Sullivan was trying to hide his excitement at the thought of solving an actual murder case. It looked a bit unprofessional to be happy about the murder of a young man. Let’s face the facts though; Cliff wasn’t going anywhere in life. If someone had to be the victim in his murder case then it might as well be a convenience store cashier. Sullivan couldn’t help but smile as he felt the rush of being in the midst of a major crime. Solving this case could land him a big spot on the force in a real town. No more small time robberies
; just the big time from now on.

Sullivan decided he would hit up the beach, just drive up and down the tourist areas a few times. Maybe he would get lucky and that Jeep would turn up somewhere. Where else could the murderer be headed anyway? No one came through these parts unless they were headed for a getaway on the beach.

Worst case scenario, there would be no Jeep and he would head home ready to take a new approach to this case in the morning. There was always the hope that some evidence would turn up at the convenience shop or on Cliff after all of the fingerprinting and DNA tests. Only problem was that lots of people could have made their way through the shop that morning or afternoon.

Either way, Sullivan didn’t mind making the drive to the beach for a look around. And who knows, perhaps a murder case would be one step closer to being solved. With that thought, he smiled, turned the radio up, and continued to the beach community.

Megan came down the stairs. She had showered and dried her hair. Slight signs of sun burn already appeared on her bare shoulders as she approached Kristi and Damon sitting in the living room area. Megan was wearing cut off denim shorts and a bright pink tank top. Damon took a moment to reflect on her appearance. She was definitely a good looking girl, very cute with a simple sense of style. She was also very loyal, even though her boyfriend was undeserving of her faithfulness. He wondered if she knew the extent to which her boyfriend lusted for her friend. She could do better, but some people just accepted their lot in life. In her current state, Megan would always play second fiddle to her best friend. Damon supposed that he could have grown up with his brother Jonathan in much the same way. He could have allowed his little brother to be the main attraction while he merely got by, living through his brother’s accomplishments. That just wasn’t his style though. He had no regrets that he had eliminated his brother who really had stood in the way of him having his own, fulfilling life. Maybe one day Megan would feel the same way about Kristi. Maybe one day she would feel the need to eliminate her too. He wouldn’t blame her.

Mark came out of the kitchen from where he had grabbed another beer. “You leaving, babe. Be sure to get plenty. I’m starved.”

Megan gave Mark a kiss on the lips. “Be right back. You ready, Kristi?”

Kristi smiled. “All ready. Damon said the grocery store is just down four blocks or so. Can’t miss it.”

Kristi and Megan grabbed their wallets and
the car keys and headed out of the front door. The beach house had a small walkway that went down to the sand and then veered off to the left and around back where the car was parked. As the girls walked down towards the beach, they saw something written in the sand. It appeared that someone had taken a stick or something and written a message directly in front of their beach house.

Megan walked down to read the message. “That’s weird. It says
Jonathan
. I wonder who would write that in front of our place like that.”

Kristi came over to take a look. “Who knows? Probably some kid writing his name or something. Come on, let’s go.”

Megan and Kristi made their way around to the Jeep. Kristi hopped into the driver’s seat while Megan happily took a seat on the passenger’s side. Kristi put the Jeep into drive and they were on their way to the store.

***

Damon had no desire to sit in the beach house with Mark until the girls returned with the food. He hated guys like Mark; egocentric men who looked at women as objects to be conquered. The thing that bothered Damon most was that even
though Mark was a complete jerk, he really couldn’t compete with him. Regardless of how much he cared for Kristi and what he did for her, she would still end up in the arms of a guy like Mark. He hated the fact that she had sex with Mark behind his back and played him like a fool. Damon could read people better than most; he recognized the way that Mark looked at her, talked to her, and wanted her. Being made out to be a fool was not an option and he knew he had to rectify the situation.

Damon headed out the front door for some fresh air. As he headed down to the beach, he recognized the writing in the sand. The name JONATHAN was written in huge, capital letters directly in front of his beach house. Who the hell would know about his brother?

Damon took a look at the neighboring beach houses. There were people lying on the sand, playing volleyball, swimming in the ocean, and having picnics. Then he caught sight of that old, hobo sitting out in front of his hovel of a beach house with that damn dog.

With his foot, Damon wiped away the message in the sand. He decided that maybe he should be neighborly and pay his new friend a visit.

***

Horace
knew what had happened to that family and had the newspaper articles and memories to prove it. He definitely found it odd that the older brother would come back here to vacation after all of these years. It was especially odd that he refused to acknowledge what had happened here. What was there to be ashamed of after all of these years? Horace still remembered that night well. He saw more than he should have, but still held firm to the idea that it’s best to stay out of business that isn’t his own personal business.

As Horace was contemplating the odd circumstances, he saw the older brother making his way over to him and Max. “Howdy, neighbor. Just enjoyin’ the nice evenin’ air. Sorry if I said somethin’ wrong earlier.”

Damon looked down at Horace and Max. He almost felt sorry for them. Almost. “I don’t know what fucking games you’re playing but I’ve had enough.”

Horace couldn’t help but chuckle as he got to his feet. “I’m not playin’ any games, boy. Just think you should remember your little brother. This was after all, the place you came with him as a child. You need to respect him.”

Max began to whine and whimper as Damon took a step towards Horace. “Look, I don’t understand how you know about Jonathan, but I don’t want you bringing that shit up again. Drop it, or you’ll regret it.”

With that, Damon made his way back up the beach to his beach house. Horace couldn’t help but watch as Damon made his way back inside. “That damn kid thinks he can scare me. This is my beach though, Max. My beach.”

Kristi pulled up at the “Food Mart” which was exactly four blocks from the beach house. She was impressed that Damon remembered the lay out of this beach town so well considering he hadn’t been here since he was a kid.

She parked in the very back of the parking lot. Damon sure liked his Jeep, and she didn’t want to be responsible for any dings in the parking lot.

Megan got out of the
vehicle. “Not the greatest looking store, but I’m sure it will have the basics.”

Kristi and Megan went inside of the small grocery store. Megan took a cart and they began to peruse the aisles looking for dinner food, snacks, and beverages. They piled in hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, ketchup, pickles, chips, beer, soda, and water. They were sure to grab some food for breakfast the next morning too.

Kristi peered into the cart. “Think we got enough? It really isn’t good to shop on an empty stomach.”

Megan laughed as they made their way to the checkout line. Of course there was one cashier working and a line backed up into the center aisle. With a deep sigh, Megan and Kristi cemented their place in line.

***

Detective Sullivan finally made his way to the beach town. He forgot how much he enjoyed the fresh air and the sound of the ocean. His job gave him few opportunities to come down here
or to take a vacation of any kind for that matter. Let’s face facts though, he was way too dedicated to vacation. And besides, who would he take with him? It was hard enough to be his age and not married, let alone be his age and have no prospects in sight.

Sullivan decided to start down at the south end and work his way back up to the main highway. The sun was beginning to set and he would need the light to see the Jeep if it was even out here anyway.

Sullivan drove around rows of beach houses and condos that were available for rent during the summer months. He saw lots of vehicles parked outside of these summer homes, but nothing that resembled that olive-green Jeep. Then he made his way to the small shopping center at the end of the beach community. There was a grocery store, surf shop, and a few stores that sold clothes and swim wear.

As he approached the “Food Mart” at the center of the shopping center, Sullivan caught sight of the Jeep parked in the back of the shopping area. It was definitely the right color. Too bad they were unable to read the license plate on the surveillance cameras outside of the convenience store.

Sullivan parked his undercover car about ten yards away from the Jeep. He was under some kind of a tree that would give him some shade and hopefully not draw any attention to himself. It was a
good thing he had opted to not take the police cruiser. Now this was real, undercover police work. He decided he would wait to see who got into the Jeep, snap a few pictures, and see where this vehicle ends up.

The detective slouched down some in the driver’s seat and made sure his camera was perfectly zoomed in on the vehicle in question. As he began to relax some, he saw two young women approaching the Jeep. They were carting about six bags of groceries. Both women were very attractive and appeared to be doing nothing more than getting food for their vacation.

Sullivan began to snap pictures of the women as they were unloading the cart. As he zoomed in on the brunette, he began to feel as if he had seen her before. Then he realized that she looked like the girl seen on the surveillance tape walking out of the restroom. If that were true, then he would be able to confirm that this vehicle about indeed been the one at the gas station earlier that day when Cliff was murdered.

He would have to get a still shot off of the surveillance tape and compare it to these pictures to be sure this was the same girl.

The blonde got into the driver’s seat and the women took off in the Jeep. Was it really possible that these beautiful girls had murdered an innocent gas station attendant just hours ago? Sullivan wasn’t sure, but if there was anything he knew about this business, it was that you could never rule anything out. With that thought, he slowly pulled onto the road behind the Jeep.

He followed them for a few blocks until the Jeep turned off and pulled in at the beach house. Sullivan was satisfied with his work. He potentially had the vehicle and the murderer. He began to wonder how the murder may have gone down. Did she stab the guy so she could get some free food? Did she murder the guy and then clean herself off in the bathroom?

He knew he had to confirm that this was the same girl and then have his crew check that bathroom from top to bottom for any sign of blood. He would be back to the beach house soon enough once he had some answers.