Page 73 of The Summer Inn on Plum Island
“Wait!” Liam said. “When Carl was taken, the person with him said that Dawn had something they wanted back.”
“They also said they were returning something with an added surprise,” Scott remembered. “You said that was the journal, watch, and locket.” He paused. “I wonder what the added surprise was?”
“I’ll ask Dawn,” Liam said.
“Give me a minute,” Scott could be heard shuffling in the background for a few minutes before he came back. “I just replayed that recording. The person’s exact words wereshe was going to give back what she took.They also mentioned payback for an old friend.”
“Why give Carl a sedative that mimics that poison?” Liam was confused, and his mind whirled as another thought struck him. “Whoever took Ben knew he had a bio band on.”
“My thoughts, too,” Scott admitted. “If they knew what Ben was wearing, they must’ve known Carl was wearing one too.”
“This was a huge elaborate setup,” Liam stated. “They knew you were recording the conversation with Carl, and that’s why that person chose their words so carefully.”
“I did pick that up,” Scott agreed. “From what I can gather, two entities are working together. One wants something Dawn’s got, and the other wants payback for something.”
“Okay, so I’d understand why they may have targeted Dawn,” Liam pointed out. “But why target or set up Ben?” His brow creased. “Misdirection?”
Scott went quiet for a while. “Where is everyone else? Are you out of earshot?”
“They’re all in the cockpit as far as I can see,” Liam craned his neck to look toward it.
“Ten years ago, Ben and Wade were accused of kidnapping Bailey Blackwell,” Scott explained. “Well, it was mainly Ben, but Wade was charged with aiding and abetting him.”
“I got snippets of that story,” Liam told Scott.
“It was no secret that there was no love lost between Ben and Bailey,” Scott continued. “As soon as Wade and Ben became friends, Wade started getting into trouble.” He sighed. “You know, usual teenage angsty things like joyriding in Alex Blackwell’s Lamborghini, stealing his yacht, and a few other incidents. Whenever the two of them caused trouble, it seemed to be aimed at the Blackwells.”
“You think it was Ben egging Wade on because of his dislike of Bailey?” Liam guessed.
“Something like that,” Scott confirmed. “The night of the kidnapping, Ben had supposedly spiked Bailey’s drink and then lured her towards Wade’s sports car. Bailey told us that Ben had lied to Wade to get him to help her get to her brother’s yacht so she could sleep off being intoxicated where her family wouldn’t see her.” He paused. “But when they got to the docks, he knocked Wade out, or at least that’s what she can remember, as whatever Ben had spiked her drink with was making her woozy.”
“Really?” Liam’s eyes widened in alarm.
“When Ben was taking Bailey to the car, a security guard realized she might be in trouble and tried to stop him,” Scott told him. “Ben laid into the guy, and Wade jumped in to help out his friend, thinking the security guard was out of line. They roughed the guy up so badly he nearly never made it.” Scott paused again.“The next morning, Wade was found passed out near the docks where Alex’s boat had been moored, and the boat was missing. The Coast Guard was able to track it and catch Ben trying to get the boat started after it had been remotely deactivated. They found Bailey bound, gagged, and drugged, locked in one of the cabins.”
“What?” Liam breathed in disbelief.
“Ben and Wade told a whole different story,” Scott said. “Wade even said he had evidence to prove it, but the evidence was never brought to light, and when they were pressed for it, Wade and Ben just said they were trying to get people to believe them. They thought if everyone thought they could prove it, everyone would listen to the truth and not the words of a rebellious, jealous, eighteen-year-old on some war path for revenge against Ben.”
“Why would they say that about Bailey?” Liam asked. “I met her at Alex’s wedding. She was here for a few hours before having to fly out again. But she seemed great.”
“Mmm,” Scott answered. “That’s what I’ve always thought as well. But it’s not what Ben, Clem, Ben’s twin sister who was also Wade’s ex-fiancée at the time, their parents, and many others who knew Bailey back then have said.” He paused for a few seconds. “When Clem got Ben out of prison and pardoned a year ago, I reopened the case, secretly, of course. I went to speak to the Blackwells, and they finally admitted to disagreeing with Bailey’s version of events back then. She’d become so rebellious, angry, and spiteful. They didn’t recognize her.”
“But of course, they’re not going to say that in court,” Liam guessed. “Instead, they sided with her and sent a potentially innocent man to prison.”
“Wade, while he didn’t get as harsh a sentence, was put under house arrest for a year and a criminal record as well,” Scott told Liam. “The strange thing is, near the end of the trial, it was like Wade and Ben had just shut down and went along with the verdict. They no longer contested anything or tried to argue their version of the story was the truth.”
“What was their version of the story?” Liam was curious.
“Ben was trying to save Bailey after seeing a guy slip something into her drink,” Scott explained. “Before he could talk some sense into her, she’d deliberately defied Ben by taking big gulps of the drink. When he tried to grab it from her, she threw what was left of the drink in his face. It was Bacardi, and it got into his eyes. Ben wears contact lenses.”
“Agghh,” Liam felt his pain. “The Barcadi would’ve been bad enough, but with contact lenses.” He drew in a breath and shuddered.
“Even with the pain stinging and blurring his vision, he went after Bailey as she made a beeline from the back door of the exclusive club where they were,” Scott continued with the story. “When he got outside, he saw some men grab her and put a sack over her head. Ben tried to stop them, but they grabbed him aswell, telling him he’d save them the bother of having to try and lure him out to grab him.”
“So Ben claimed they were not only after Bailey but him too?” Liam clarified.
“Yes,” Scott confirmed. “Clem hadn’t been feeling well, so Wade had taken her home, and when he came back to get Ben, he saw him struggling in the alley with three men, one of which was the security guard that they beat up.”
