Chapter 31 – Lee
Giving our statements to the authorities took the better part of the next morning. Drew and Anya were there as well, and we took turns being interviewed.
Zach, Rae, Clay, and Lucy had been busy searching their assigned ends of the island while we were playing chicken with seaplanes.
When Anya was safe and her assailants captured, Drew texted them the news.
Lucy suggested meeting up at the brewery later to hear the whole story, rightfully figuring that everyone would be exhausted after the wild night and day at the sheriff’s office.
Vi and I caught naps in the afternoon, and I felt almost human as we walked down the hill to the brewery for dinner.
A few observant citizens had posted on the WNFH page about the police activity at the cove, but for the most part, news of Owen and the Underwoods’ arrests was still under wraps. It was only a matter of time before the entire story leaked. Our friends deserved to hear it from us first.
Lucy waved from a table at the back of the restaurant, jumping to her feet. She wrapped Violet in a tight hug before banding her arms around me. I stared at her boyfriend Clay, eyes wide. Lucy wasn’t exactly demonstrative.
“I was so worried about you all,” she said as she pulled away, eyes bright. Clay tucked her under his arm, hugging her to his side.
Rae, Zach, Anya, and Drew arrived together, and Lucy repeated her fierce hugs. “You all are like family to me. I’m so glad everyone’s okay.”
“Guys… I think we broke Lucy,” Zach said in a mock whisper.
Lucy sniffed. “I love you, okay? Don’t make me say it again.” The last part came out like a threat.
Clay’s lip twitched. “There’s my Lucifer.”
We ordered massive amounts of food and spent the time waiting for our dinner regaling our friends with the tale of our late-night adventure at sea.
“What I don’t understand is why?” Rae asked as we finished walking them through the basic sketch of our boat chase and float plane showdown. “Why take Anya? She wasn’t involved with the Underwoods. And what was Owen doing with them in the first place?”
Drew reached for Anya’s delicate hand, his big paw engulfing hers where it lay on top of the table. “Owen wasn’t originally affiliated with the Underwoods, but apparently they have some contacts in common,” she said.
“Yeah, shady ones, obviously,” Lucy groused, frowning. “So what – they joined forces for evil and picked you up for funsies?”
Anya’s chuckle was a little raspy, but I was glad she could find humor in the whole thing.
“No, everything is much more screwed up than that. The Underwoods needed a way off the island. Dr. Underwood was served with a warrant earlier today. She got in touch with her shadowy contacts, and they came up with Owen as their exit strategy.”
“Then how are you involved?” Lucy asked Anya. “If the Underwoods were looking for revenge, you’d think they’d start with us.” She waggled her thumb between herself and Clay.
Anya grimaced. “That was Owen all on his own. Or rather, at my parents’ direction.
” Drew squeezed her hand on the table, silently offering his strength.
“My dead-drop to the FBI had more of an impact than I realized. The feds launched an investigation, slowly tightening the screws. They picked up a few low-level folks, but no one with any actual knowledge of my parents’ operation.
Apparently, it was enough to put strain on their business.
That’s why they sent Owen here in the first place, scoping out alternative routes.
Confirming my whereabouts was only a bonus. ”
She shook her head. “As the noose tightened, they started planning their exit. Picking me up was supposed to be insurance. I guess Owen had someone watching the town, looking for an opportunity.”
My arm tightened around Vi, and we exchanged glances. I regretted not making a bigger deal of Vi’s watcher at the store. Maybe we could have kept Anya from ever being taken.
“That’s so messed up,” Lucy said. “I hope they get what’s coming to them.”
Anya’s smile was rueful. “Feels weird to say about my parents, but me too.” She shuddered. Drew squeezed her tight. You could practically see it giving her strength. She straightened, meeting my gaze head-on. “I can’t thank you and Vi enough.”
“We’re just glad this sorry tale has a happy ending.
” I leaned in. “When I gave my statement this morning, an agent asked if I’d noticed anything strange at Megan Underwood’s office.
Those colored files on her shelves? They weren’t patient charts.
They were records of who was getting counterfeit meds through her practice. ”
The table went still.
“Jesus,” Zach muttered. “That’s beyond shady. People could’ve died.”
“They definitely targeted locals, didn’t just facilitate off-island shipments,” I said grimly. “It only looked like insurance paperwork to me, but now it’s evidence that’ll bury the Underwoods.”
Rae wrinkled her nose. “That’s awful. But I still don’t get it—why go after you, Anya? Is it even still kidnapping if it’s your own kid?”
“With me out of play, Mom and Dad thought the case would wobble.”
Drew tensed, wrapping his arm around Anya’s shoulders like he needed a physical barrier between her and the reason her parents and ex moved against her.
“They figured I had to be the leak. By then the damage was done. The feds issued warrants for them a few days ago. I had no idea.” Anya frowned.
“I guess that’s the price I pay for keeping my distance, though I would have appreciated a heads-up from Agent Harris if he was in the loop.
He’s DEA, not FBI, so maybe he didn’t know about the Bureau warrants.
My parents slipped away before they could be arrested, but for any hope of beating the charges, they needed my cooperation. Or my incapacitation.”
“As lovely as you are, cooperating wouldn’t be your style. So what, they thought they could hold you prisoner and keep you from testifying?” Lucy didn’t speak the other possibility: that her family planned to kill her and dump her body somewhere.
Anya grimaced again, her face a rictus of distaste. “According to Owen, the plan was to drug me and commit me to a psychiatric facility where my parents have influence.”
“That’s fucking evil,” Lucy whispered.
Drew clenched, as if even hearing the story physically pained him.
Anya scrubbed her palms across her face.
“In the end, I don’t think it would have worked.
They might have been able to discredit me, but I doubt the FBI took this long to issue warrants because the evidence I gave them was enough to make charges stick.
They’ve taken years to build this case. Pulling me from the equation wouldn’t save my parents, but I guess I’m easy to blame. ”
Lucy shook her head. “Still evil.” She grimaced. “Have they been caught yet?”
“Not yet,” Anya whispered.
“Sheriff Walker is sure they won’t try again, and I agree. But I’ll still rest easier once they’re safely behind bars, where they fucking belong,” Drew said, his voice stern.
“Cheers to that.” Rae raised her glass.
Anya’s gaze swept the table, gentling. “And to friends who are more like family than anything I was born into. I wouldn’t be here without you all.”
Our glasses met with a quiet clink, solemn this time.
Rae gazed into the distance, her expression wistful. “Do you think the Underwoods are sitting in lockup right now, ranting about how they would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for the Fenwicks and their meddling friends?”
Violet snorted. “Congratulations, team. Achievement unlocked: Scooby-Doo crime-fighting status.”
That kicked off a lively debate about which one of us was Velma and who got stuck being Scooby. We went back and forth, playfully arguing our character assignments, laughter filling the space between observations.
If someone told me last night that, by tonight, I’d be laughing about everything that had happened, sitting comfortably with my friends like it was just another adventure in the books, I never would have believed it. But that was the power of our little Scooby Gang.
The next morning, Violet rolled from my arms to use the bathroom, grabbing her phone as she slipped back beneath the covers. A moment later, she chuckled, showing me her screen.
Gran: You went on an adventure WITHOUT ME?!?
Gran: You’re dead to me.
Gran: All of you.
Gran: Dead to me.
Gran: You never let an old lady have any fun.
“I take it our exploits have found their way onto WNFH?” I asked dryly.
“Yup.” Her cheeky grin made me smile. She waggled her brows. “Want to have some more fun without Gran?”
I squinted. “If that’s an attempt to seduce me, I’m here for it. If you’re referring to another boat chase, I’m gonna pass.”
Violet smirked. “Lucky for you, I meant the seduction one.”
We spent the next hour in the most pleasurable way imaginable, but we couldn’t escape Gran’s wrath forever. Violet checked her phone and groaned.
“What now?” I asked.
“How do you feel about a family dinner with my folks?” Her tone was carefully neutral, which in itself was a tell.
“Let me guess: Gran will be there.”
She could be a lot. Funny, when her sharp tongue wasn’t aimed at me – exhausting when I had her full attention. Thankfully, that had been rare until now.
“Yep. She won’t be satisfied until she hears the complete story, firsthand.”
“And you’re okay with that plan?” I watched her steadily. She’d already been through a lot.
It’d be our debut. Not just with Gran, but with her entire family.
She tilted her head. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I arched a brow. “It’ll be my first family dinner since we started dating.”
She patted my chin, grinning broadly. “Murphy, that sounds like a you problem. Good luck.”
Easy for her to say. She’d already turned down my proposal once, swearing she needed time. And now here we were, about to walk into her family dinner like nothing had changed.
“What happened to us being a team?”
“This half of our team is going to enjoy every freaking minute. Consider it karma, Murphy. You’re going to be the proud recipient of all the boyfriend grilling that didn’t happen when I was a teenager.
My dad’s a quiet guy, but I’d guess you have a fifty percent chance he’s going to ask you to help him clean his gun collection. ”
A soft snort escaped me. Gary wasn’t that kind of guy. A sinking sensation made my knees weaken as Vi just looked on, a hint of pity shadowing her features.
“Your dad doesn’t have a gun collection.”
I was sure of it. Pretty sure.
She tapped my chin before covering my frown with a kiss. “Honey, for you, he’ll borrow every gun he can get his hands on. If there’s anything less than a militia’s worth of arms in the house, I’m going to complain that he doesn’t love me enough.”
He loved her plenty. Which gave her words the ring of truth. I’d always liked Gary — steady, easy-going, the kind of man you trusted on sight. But if Violet was right, he was about to turn into John Wick just to test me.
“You’re thirty! You’ve been dating and taking care of yourself for years.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not his baby girl.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
One wrong move and I’d be out, back to the sidelines of her life, where I’d wasted too many years already.
“Keep my dad from shooting himself in the ass accidentally, obviously. No one wants that man anywhere near firearms.” She tapped her lips, eyes dancing.
“Come to think of it, he may invite his friends over too, for safety reasons. It’d only take a split second for Gran to lift a weapon.
” She shuddered. “We don’t need an encore of the Great Shotgun Standoff of San Juan. ”
I hadn’t been there for that particular debacle, but knowing Gran, I believed every word.
I scrubbed my hand across my forehead. “I love you to death, Violet Fenwick. But right now, I don’t like your family very much.”
“Love you too, babe,” she chirped. Unperturbed, she tossed me a saucy grin as she slid from our bed.
She could have her pound of flesh. She might not be ready for forever yet, but I’d bide my time until her answer matched mine. A future with Vi was worth the wait.