Chapter 26 - The Midnight Intruder
The descent down the cliff staircase was brutal.
The Pacific gale tore at our clothes as we navigated the wet timber steps bolted into the sheer granite face. Fifty feet below, the black ocean churned against the rocks, throwing foamy white spray high into the gray sky.
At the base of the bluff, the boathouse stood like a forgotten fortress—thick river-stone walls, reinforced iron-banded doors, and a narrow concrete pier extending into a natural sea cove.
The black SUV had skidded to a halt on the rocky gravel apron forty yards from the boathouse door.
Melinda stood near the open passenger door, her bleached hair whipping wild in the wind, clutching an umbrella that was already inside out from the gusts. She was screaming at the leather-jacketed driver, who was hauling a heavy steel pry bar and a cordless demolition saw out of the trunk.
"Melinda!" I shouted, my voice carrying over the thunder of the crashing waves.
Melinda spun around, her face pale, hollow, and contorted with hysterical venom. When she saw me descending the steps with Clara and Cole, she stumbled backward against the SUV.
"Bonnie!" Melinda shrieked, pointing a shaking, manicured finger at me. "You ruined my life! You took the Chicago trust! You took Mom’s house! You left me rotting in a filthy warehouse while you play queen of the ocean!"
"You ruined yourself, Melinda!" I shouted back, stepping onto the gravel apron, Cole flanking me with his hand firmly inside his coat. "You sold your own soul to Richard Vance! Do you even know who you're working for? He embezzled Grandma thirty years ago!"
"He’s giving me five million dollars!" Melinda screamed, her eyes wild with desperation. "Uncle Richard is going to fix everything! All we have to do is burn whatever is inside that damn vault! And who the hell is that?"
Melinda’s gaze landed on Clara. For a split second, Melinda froze. Even through her hysterical greed, the family resemblance struck her like a slap across the face. Clara stood tall, her hazel eyes staring down Melinda with pure, cold disgust.
"I’m the sister our grandmother actually loved," Clara said, her voice clear and cutting through the storm.
"Shut up!" the leather-jacketed man bellowed, dropping the saw and pulling a heavy black stun gun from his belt. "Get out of the way, lady! Richard Vance bought this property rights lien yesterday morning!"
"He bought nothing," Cole barked, stepping forward and drawing his badge and firearm in one fluid motion. "Police! Drop the weapon and put your hands on the vehicle!"
The driver froze, his eyes darting to Cole's drawn weapon.
At that exact moment, the high-pitched wail of police sirens tore through the coastal pines at the top of the bluff. Blue and red flashers swept across the tree line as Sheriff Miller’s two cruisers tore down the private road.
Melinda gasped, total panic seizing her face. "The police? No... no, I can't go back to jail! You swore they wouldn't call the police!" she screamed at the driver.
The driver cursed, threw the pry bar onto the rocks, and made a desperate dive back into the SUV’s front seat. But Cole was faster. He lunged across the hood, wrenched the driver’s door open, and dragged the man out onto the gravel in a shower of loose stones and seawater.
Melinda turned to run, her high-heeled boots slipping on the wet rocks. She scrambled toward the edge of the stone pier, her umbrella tumbling into the churning black surf below.
"Melinda, stop!" I yelled, running toward her. "The tide is coming in! You'll drown!"
Melinda reached the edge of the granite pier, trapped between the freezing ocean swells and the advancing sheriff’s deputies who were already sprinting down the cliff stairs. She turned, looking at me with eyes so full of bitter, unearned hatred it broke my heart for the sister she could have been.
"I’d rather jump than see you win!" Melinda sobbed.
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"Then jump," Clara said coldly from behind me, stepping onto the pier. "Because the only person you're destroying today is yourself."
Melinda looked at Clara, then down at the boiling waves, and collapsed onto her knees, weeping uncontrollably into the wet gravel as Sheriff Miller slapped the cold steel handcuffs over her wrists.
