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  THE LAST HOUSE ON FLAMINGO ROAD

  by: Yvonne Remington

  Copyright 2013

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

  The alarm clock was set for six o'clock. Beth Hyatt reached over and turned it off before it could wake up Jeff. She had something better in planned for him. The on-again-off-again relationship with her airline pilot boyfriend Jeff Turner was on-again for the moment and she had morning delight planned. His profession and irregular schedule left plenty of room for jealousy for an insecure relationship.

  Turning over to meet his deliciously tanned body, she kissed first his neck and then worked her way down his chest. He stirred just enough to respond to her advancing touch. His hands came around and grabbed her shoulders, brought her up to where their lips met. She straddled his 6'2" frame and continued exploring his body.

  The rising sun crept slowly into the bedroom, leaving the night shadows behind. The two cell phones on the nightstand laid quietly until one started to vibrate.

  "Yours or mine?" Jeff mumbled through locked lips.

  Beth parted from the embrace enough to see that it was hers. "It's mine. I put it on vibrate at night." She ignored the ring until the call went to voicemail. She attempted to regain the mood that had been broken, without the same result. The vibrating cell phone repeated its annoying sound.

  Beth picked up the phone and saw on the display that the caller was her persistent mother who lived in Florida. "If my mother is calling at this hour, it must be important," She rolled over and sat up as she answered the call.

  "Hello mother, how are you?"

  "I need you to come home as soon as possible." Subtlety was not her strong suite and the quiver in her voice was evident

  "What's wrong?" Beth stopped running her fingers through Jeff's chest hair and listened

  "I just need to see you. I need your help and I can't talk over the phone."

  "Are you sure you're okay? It doesn't sound like it." Beth was trying to get more information from the conversation, but it wasn't working.

  "No, I'm not. But you are the only one that I can confide in. Something is going on here and I really need to talk to you."

  "Mother, I can't just come down to Florida at the drop of a hat, but I will see what I can do. I'll call you tonight when I get home from work and let you know what arrangements I have made. I do have vacation time coming. I'll talk to my boss and see what can be arranged."

  "Please come as quickly as possible." This was out of character for her matriarchal mother who loved being in control of any situation.

  "Victoria, I wish you would tell me what's going on. You have me worried."

  "All I can say is that there are things going on here that are not right and I am beginning to fear for my safety. Call me tonight and let me know when you can come down."

  "Are Brittany and Mike of any help and are they okay?"

  "They are okay, but no, Brittany doesn't spend much time at the house between school and her social life. Mike works long hours and then spends a lot of time at the bar with his friends. He isn't any help at all, actually."

  "And your other daughter, the one who lives in California, you know, Margo, the one that is always too busy to come see you."

  "I've already called her. Margo is in the middle of a film contract. She is the set designer and can't get away." Beth wasn't surprised.

  "I really do have to go now Victoria. Let me see what I can do."

  "You're not sending me off without finishing what you started, woman." Jeff said. They made love until both were exhausted and running late for their scheduled workday. They showered and decided together they would give the relationship a verbal contract with an option for renewal.

  She arrived at her office she managed for Peter Haggerty, the city commissioner, and explained her dilemma to her personal assistant, Ruth

  "That sounds serious. What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know. I have reservations for a cruise next month. I don't want to, but it looks like I will have to cancel it and go to Florida. I have to call Peter and see if there are any problems with me changing my vacation plans."

  "I can cover for you. I have vacation coming but I haven't planned anything yet."

  "Good. Mother doesn't ask favors lightly, Victoria is like an 82 year old pit bull who has lived in the same house for fifty years and now that house is too big and too old for her. I think all those years living with a sea captain rubbed off; don't even think about asking her to move. That is out of the question. My children are living with her now, which helps everybody out. However that won't last forever." Beth called Peter, her boss, and asked if she could exchange her vacation time. It was unexpected and it was an emergency on her mother's part. Peter agreed to allow her to take her vacation now instead of next month. That meant that she had to cancel her reservation for the cruise and lose her deposit. Oh well, there would always be next year.

  After final arrangements were made to cover her office responsibilities, she made plane reservations to arrive in Florida where she would spend the next several weeks.

  Beth arranged with the woman that lived in the condo next to her to feed and care for her cat, Biella, while she was gone. Beth had a good life in Atlanta and she had no interest in moving back to Florida. She needed to take care of this quickly and get back to her life. She called her mother and advised her that she would be taking an early flight the next day and would be renting a car and be at the house around noon. Beth knew her daughter, Brittany would be busy in school and Mike would be at work; she did not want to depend on them for transportation so a rental car was in order.

  Victoria had never been an affectionate mother therefore no visible displays between the two occurred when she arrived at the house she grew up in, except a quick peck on the cheek. Beth took her suitcase to the guest room and unpacked.

  They were alone in the house, except for the black lab Butch, Victoria's long time companion, this gave them the time needed to discuss Victoria's issues.

  Victoria had been busy, dusting the living room when Beth arrived. She had always been obsessed with keeping a clean house. She would go from room to room, and make sure that it was spotless from the window curtains to the cracks in the corners to be sure there was no dust. . She liked to work in the garden when the weather wasn't too hot. That was her only devotion to the house. She kept after Beth's son Mike to do minor repairs, but he would find excuses so he wouldn't have to finish or do it half way and then Victoria would dismiss him and she would finish it herself. Mike acted as it was as a game and leave for the neighborhood bar when she got huffy or moody.

  Beth made herself a cup of tea while Victoria made them each a sandwich. They sat down across from each other at the kitchen table.

  "Okay, mother, what is going on?"

  "I'm scared and worried. There are thing going on that are not right. I've been getting phone calls at all hours of the day and night. When I pick up the receiver there is no one there. There was someone prowling outside the house a couple
days ago. Butch barked but it took a long time to scare them away."

  The house was the last house on Flamingo Road with a cul-de-sac in front of her house. The nearest house had been vacant for over a year. The owners walked away and turned the house back to the bank in the recession of '08. Northerners owned the house on the other side. They came down a couple months during the winter and it was vacant the rest of the year. There was a patch of woods behind the house, thick with underbrush and a retention pond with an abandoned dirt road beyond that.

  "There was a car stopped several days ago with two men in it. They claimed they were looking for a family that I never heard of. They looked around and sat in their car for about twenty minutes before they left. I saw one man on the phone. The other man used the neighbor's property as a pit stop and he looked like he was checking it out. I haven't seen them since but, Beth, I'm telling you, something is not right.

  The Jamison's have offered to buy my house. Herbert Jamison has made two offers to me within the last 3 months. I told him no and since I turned him down, he has been doing his best to annoy me."

  "How, they have lived there as long as I remember; I grew up in with their boys."

  "It's not what he had done. It's what his sons are doing. They have used the neighbor's property to park their cars and have parties. They had a bonfire on