Charli shrugged. Her eyes swiveled to the old man, and she said, “Tell us what happened, Gramps.”
“Okay. So, Charli, after you left, Mark came to visit every few days, and we hit it off. He’s a…wasa good man. Just so you know, he never let on where you’d gone, but I figured it out from a show I used to watch that you maybe went into witness protection.”
“Seriously? From an old TV show? How could you jump to that conclusion?”
“Because when you’d go on undercover jobs, you always managed to call every few days. This time, you warned me that wouldn’t happen. And then, Mark dropped the ball just the one time after I convinced him to share with me—”
“You mean, you nagged him.”
John waggled his head from one side to the other, “Yeah, okay, so I nagged for a little more information. What did you think? I could handle day after day with no word from you? Drove me batty.”
“Which means, he let something out.”
“What he said was – you were in the program. I couldn’t get near you, it would be too dangerous, and I should just be proud that you were such a good agent.”
Still not getting it, she asked, “So… from that you determined I must be in witness protection?”
“Not until me and Brad found the story about a shooting in the apartment across from yours. The one that happened the night before you told me you’d be going away.”
Blake shook his head, confused and not hiding it. “Brad?”
“He’s a friend of my grandpa’s, lives at the same lodge.”
John cut in, “And he used to be a big-shot reporter for theLos Angeles Times.”
Charli sat back on her heels, stunned. “That old hypochondriac? I didn’t know.”
Before John could do anything but nod, Blake jumped in. “So, between the two of you researching crimes and coming up with a plausible answer, you figured out that Charli was in danger and had gone into witness protection. But how come you assumed she’d be coming to Fort Lauderdale?”
“‘Cause I know my little girl. She’s like her grandma, gets focused on one thing and woe betide anyone who tries to change her mind. She’d already planned her vacation and had chosen Fort Lauderdale for personal reasons. In fact, we were both supposed to come here, stay together and rekindle some sweet old memories. She’d even shown me the photo of the house she’d rented.” John winked at her, his way of saying – pay attention.
“Aha! You wily old fox. That’s how you did it. You’ve been here so many times, you recognized the neighborhood from the images they showed online.” Charli stopped herself and then changed her mind. “Hold it. All you could see in those pictures was the outside angle of the house and the waterfront. How did you figure out which house when there’s so many?”
“They had the sun setting behind them in the photos and the one you’d rented had a stained glass window on the top bedroom floor. It was easy, Charli, come on.”
Nodding after hearing his explanation, she grinned at Blake’s confusion and added, “Now you know where I get my brilliant mind from – my gramps.”
John turned to Blake, a huge smile lighting his proud face. “Ain’t she cute?”
Charli cut them off. “She’s a United States Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That’s what she is.” Her harsh tone warned both men who lost their grins.
“Okay. Just for the record,” Blake asked, “how were you able to get close enough to watch the murder take place and fortunate enough to get away without being another victim? That’s what dazzles me.”
“Pure bloody luck and a little planning. I figured I’d watch and make sure it was Charli in the house, so I snuck up from the beach and approached from the front. There were bushes around the house to take shelter from being seen.”
“You must have arrived after the killer had disengaged the security system by hacking into it or the alarms would have sounded.”
John shrugged. “I guess so. Nothing happened, no lights or alarms, not like this place. Maybe I wasn’t close enough to set them off. Though it’s fortunate I had binoculars. Don’t see so good with this eye anymore.” He pointed at the sightless blue one on the left. “I’d thought to bring them so I could identify Charli before blundering up to some stranger and scaring the pants off her.”
Blake laughed. “So now we have you at the right house. And you’ve explained what happened. There’s just one more thing, John. Why were you so long coming forward? The murder occurred hours ago.”
“I know. It’s been eating away at me. There’s no doubt in my mind that the lady died after she took a bullet in the forehead, but I really wanted to get the police there in case of a miracle, you know? Except, after I ran away, I tried to get help from the neighbors, and they weren’t home. They had a pergola in their yard where I decided to catch my breath. Problem is, I kinda dropped to the floor after my marathon across the beach.”
Charli spoke up. “Grandpa…”
“I know, kiddo. I wasn’t thinking. I was too busy recuperating. Of course, I fell asleep.”
Charli added, her glance at Blake a warning not to pursue this line of questioning, “Just like any ninety-year-old would have after what you’d been through. What I want to know is… how did you get back up to your feet?”
“Very slowly and painfully. That took me the longest. But once I came to, I knew I needed to get to the police station. After what I’d seen, I had to make a report.”
“Okay. So, can you tell us exactly what it was you saw?”
“I saw this white guy, scary-looking creep, beat a woman nearly to death before he shot her. That’s what I saw.”