Beach Wedding(71)

I watched him turn and start bobbing up and down, trying to grab at the rim of the fishing boat to pull himself up. But it was just a bit too high.

“Just missed it that time,” I taunted him.

He screamed and then came swimming for me. He might have been great at shooting people or throwing them off buildings, but I could see right away he sucked at swimming. I swam back easily farther into the bay. There was no way he was going to catch me. I used to be a lifeguard, after all.

“You can do better than that, Hoss. You’re not even trying,” I taunted him again.

“What? You don’t want to fight me? You afraid, you little coward?” he said, huffing and puffing. “Even after I killed your daddy, you’re still afraid, aren’t you? I killed your daddy and, oh, it was sooo—”

Before I knew what I was doing, I swam forward and got him around the neck with my own elbow. I screamed as I locked in and pulled back with everything I had.

He reached back at me with his powerful arms but I had him. I knew I had him, and he made a high crazy shriek as I pinched closed his thick windpipe.

“Terry, stop! No! Let go! Get away from him! I got him!” a voice suddenly screamed from the marina dock.

Through my sweating eyes, I saw it was my new good friend Officer Kelly. He had his Glock pointed right at us.

That’s when I let up.

But it was the wrong move.

Gun or no gun, the Texas commando seemed to gain a new life as he swung around and cracked me in the mouth with a hard left. Rearing back in the water with my lip bleeding, I suddenly saw in his other hand he had a nasty curved little knife that he had produced from somewhere.

I immediately lunged left as loud pops started coming out of Officer Kelly’s service Glock. I remember seeing spouts from the bullet strikes in the water and then watching as the curved knife went flying.

Then it was just me bobbing up and down while my father’s killer rolled back in the salty water bleeding and howling like he was on fire.



EPILOGUE

LAID TO REST




97

Six months had passed since my brother’s extremely unforgettable-in-every-way beach wedding. I put on my clicker and got off the Montauk Highway.

But not in Southampton.

I was in Riverhead, and I winced as I suddenly remembered everything that had happened since then.

The worst part, by far, came in the immediate aftermath of everything back at the beach house when I had to tell my family about how Dad was murdered. Telling my mother was especially brutal. It was only the second time I had seen her cry in my life, with my father’s burial being the first.

But maybe we’d finally get some closure now, I thought a few minutes later as I pulled into a parking lot and stared at the ugly gray concrete face of the Cromarty Courthouse for hopefully the last time in my life.

It started to snow very lightly as I got out of the car. I was on my own today since Viv was home with Angelina and the newest Rourke, Sean II.

But it actually wasn’t all tears, was it? I thought as I pictured my cute leprechaun of a son.

I smiled as I remembered all the videos of little Seany Viv constantly sent to my mom. The last one had Angelina holding him while “petting” our dog with a spatula, of all things. Even so, by the number of hearts and smiley face emojis Rosemarie constantly sent back, maybe her spirits were getting picked up a little after all.

I crossed the street and spotted the doughnut cart near the courthouse entrance, still there just like last time, and I got a coffee and another chocolate doughnut.

As I stood there enjoying my breakfast of champions, I noticed that there were some reporters standing around. They were mostly locals, though, no national news armada this time.

Which only made sense, I thought as I chewed, when you realized that probably a lot of money was being paid to not cover this particular trial.

There was no Xavier Kelsey attending this go-around, which I found bittersweet. Though he was definitely here in spirit, as none of this would have ever seen the light of day without his extensive research, which had inspired me to get to the bottom of all of it.

But, in a way, that’s why I was here. After all the media dust had settled, I had contacted Kelsey’s publisher and let them in on what had happened and how the famous author had played into everything.

After some negotiations, they had offered a book contract to me to complete the story of the Sutton Slay, and I had accepted.

Which was why I had come up from Philly this morning.

To write the final chapter.

I was still standing there in the courthouse plaza five minutes later licking the chocolate off the waxed paper when my brother Tom arrived behind me with Marvin Heller.

“Hey, you. Missed a spot of chocolate there, Sergeant Sloppy,” my big brother said, suddenly licking his thumb and roughly scraping at my cheek with it.

I laughed as I danced back away from him. Then I shuffled left and sucker punched him in his arm hard enough to make him wince.

“Terry, what the hell? Ow!” Tom cried. “Marvin, you see this? Police brutality. And, look, he spilled coffee on my damned suit, too.”

“Glad you made it, Terry,” Marvin said, ignoring the both of us idiots and shaking my hand like an actual civilized person. “All the way from Philly, wow. How long did it take you?”

“Three and a half hours,” I said. “This weather wasn’t helping. Whoever heard of snow at the beach? It’s unnatural.”