Murder at Sunrise Lake

by Christine Feehan

  “You didn’t do that,” Vienna reprimanded. “You can’t let yourself think that way or you’ll go crazy. This is an opportunity to save lives. Maybe not this time or the next time, but if we don’t catch him, think how many people he will kill.”

  “That’s what Sam and Raine say.”

  “They’re right. In any case, if we can’t stop the couple, Sam and I will start up from Trail Crest. Thanks to your dream, we know what to look for. It’s possible we can prevent any other hikers from trying to help a lone male feigning altitude sickness. We’ll sit a distance from him and just talk to him. That should frustrate him to no end.”

  “He’s lethal.”

  “I’m counting on your Sam being lethal. Is he?”

  Stella thought about that. She nodded slowly. “I believe he could be, given the right circumstances. If anyone tried to harm you, Vienna, then yes, he would be.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Meaning, if you go up there with him, don’t let yourself get separated from him. You have to stick right with him no matter who else is with you. No matter who else you know and how well you know them.”

  Vienna’s light wheat-colored eyebrows came together. “What does that mean? Do you suspect our friends? Or someone we know?”

  Stella sighed and rubbed the sudden goose bumps covering her forearms. “It makes me sick to admit this, but I think the only way it works for me to get these nightmares is if I’ve come in physical contact with the serial killer. I’ve been in close proximity to a serial killer before and not had nightmares, but each of the killers I’ve had nightmares about I’ve actually touched physically.”

  Vienna looked at the sketches and then crossed one elegant leg over the other. She was dressed in soft burgundy-colored straight-legged yoga pants. The pants had little twists at the bottom that made them look classy. At the back was a band of crisscrossed ties in a darker shade of burgundy. Her cable-knit sweater was cream with dots of various sizes and shades of burgundy. Everything about Vienna screamed classy, sophisticated and stylish, yet she was a super-skilled outdoorswoman.

  “That sucks, Stella.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “It could be anyone, though, right? You check in all the men and women who compete in the big fishing tournament every year at the fishing camp. And you check in the people who rent the cabins at your resort. When you’re here in town, you’re at the businesses all the time, talking to everyone and picking up brochures, refining them. It doesn’t have to be someone in our immediate group of friends.”

  “No.” Stella kept rubbing her arms.

  “Why would someone we know suddenly start killing?”

  “I don’t know, Vienna. Why does anyone do anything? I don’t think my father killed those first few years of my life, but he certainly did after I was five. Why would he start then? He’s never said.”

  “Were you ever tempted to ask him?”

  Stella shook her head. “I couldn’t bear to look at him. I closed the door on my childhood and I’ve been afraid to open it. This has been hard enough. I’ve been remembering things about my mother I haven’t wanted to look too closely at. The last thing I want to do is confront him.”

  “I can relate to that,” Vienna said. “I’m all for moving forward and letting the past stay where it belongs. Sam and I should be up there tonight. If that couple hits Trail Crest around two in the morning, we need to be there. I can’t tell by the sketches what time it is. Did Raine give you a list of permits?”

  “Yes. Everyone who has a permit for both days. I’ll have her send them to your phone.” She was already texting. She sighed when she got a reply back. “Poor Raine. They’ve sent a helicopter for her again. She’s going to try to make it back to my place before morning to wait with me, but apparently she has to work. She’ll send you the list of permits, Vienna.”

  “Something big must be up.”

  “Whenever there’s some kind of terrorist thing going on somewhere that I’m reading about, Raine suddenly is nowhere to be found,” Stella said, lowering her voice, although she didn’t know why. It wasn’t like anyone was around. “Please be careful up there, Vienna, and don’t leave Sam’s side. Promise me.”

  “I promise. This guy scares the crap out of me.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Stella, there’s a couple of men at the gate saying they want to see you. Man by the name of Marco Rossi?” Patrick Sorsey said, his voice sounding tinny as he called up from the security gates. “He asked for Sam first, but Sam’s nowhere to be found and it’s damn early for visitors.”

  Stella glanced over at Raine. At least she wasn’t alone. Raine had just gotten there, before the sun came up. She had the feeling Sam wasn’t going to like this, but she couldn’t turn away Sam’s father. Besides, it was a welcome distraction while they waited for news on whether or not they were successful in reaching the couple before the killer had.

  There were so many names on the permit list for the two-day window the killer might work in. So many question marks. Vienna and Sam had gone up to Trail Crest to see what they could do to find the couple and hopefully stop them from getting killed.

  “Please escort him up to the house.” That would give her just enough time to change from her pajamas to jeans and get the fire going in the living room. It was too cold to make him stay outside on the porch, although Sam would probably insist that was what she should have done—or just waited for him to get back before allowing his father to visit.

  “Sam’s father is here,” she hissed, dragging down her pajamas, tossing them on the bed and yanking up her favorite jeans. She found a cable-knit sweater to pull over her T-shirt and then hurried into the living room to get the fire going.

  “Sam has a father?” Raine asked.

  “Very funny.” Stella took the time to glare at her over her shoulder. “He isn’t going to be happy with me for letting him in. They kind of had a falling-out. I’ve never actually met him. Do you have a weapon on you?”

  Raine raised an eyebrow. “Of course.”

  “Just checking.” Stella scowled. “This is crazy. I’m already out of my mind waiting to hear from Vienna and Sam.”

  “Then this is a good distraction.” Raine was practical.

  “He’s mafia, Raine. You might want to go out the back way. He’ll have a bodyguard with him and I don’t want you in trouble with your work.”

  Raine raised her eyebrow. “You do know my family is originally from New York, right? It isn’t like I don’t know what goes on. We did eventually relocate to California, but I was already grown by that time.”

  Raine rarely gave insight into her family, other than she’d had a happy childhood. Stella knew her father was dead, but her mother was still alive. Raine didn’t ever go home for holidays. She spent them with Stella, Shabina, Denver, Vienna and Zahra and, recently, Sam in the Sierras. Stella had always enjoyed having the others there to celebrate with. None of them were ever alone. They’d formed their own family.

  “It isn’t like I think he’s dangerous or anything, it’s just that he came in the middle of the night and Sam was really upset with him for doing that.”

  “I can imagine, especially with what’s been going on.” Raine remained strictly neutral. She looked out the window. Bailey had alerted and Daisy was leaping up and down, giving her joyous welcome. The little Jack Russell loved everyone until she realized they were strangers, and then she would by turns growl and eye them suspiciously.

  Stella signaled Bailey to his corner to remain on alert, letting him know he was on guard. He would ignore Daisy’s antics and keep his eyes on their guests, waiting for a signal from her to attack, or any indication from them that they were going to hurt either of his charges. Raine put Daisy in the bedroom and closed the door with a sharp order to stay quiet.

  “Do you want me to make coffee?”

&nbs
p; “Let’s see how this goes first,” Stella said, and went to the door. Taking a breath, she opened it at the first knock.

  “Stella, this is Mr. Rossi. He was here to see Sam, but asked to see you when I told him Sam wasn’t here,” Patrick informed her, repeating what he’d told her before. He was obviously curious and very disapproving.

  “Thank you, Patrick. I can take it from here.” She waited for Patrick to reluctantly leave before turning her entire attention to Sam’s father. He was studying her intently with dark eyes. Sam’s eyes, although he didn’t have the same intensity that Sam did. “I’m Stella Harrison. Would you like to come inside?”

  “Marco Rossi. This is Lucio Vitale.” The older man introduced his bodyguard. “Thank you, I’d appreciate a few minutes of your time.”

  Stella stepped back to allow the two men entrance into her home. Marco was a handsome man, his dark hair streaked with silver. She could see that his son took after him, although Sam had much harder edges. Marco appeared powerful while Sam was . . . disturbing. His bodyguard, Lucio, was more like Sam in that he had that same dark energy flowing from him even though he appeared relaxed.

  Lucio’s eyes took in everything in the room, moving from Stella to Bailey. He noted windows, doors and exits. She was certain he knew she was armed, and then Raine walked into his line of vision and a flicker of heat and recognition slid into those dark, merciless eyes as they settled on her.

  Lucio moved ahead of Marco, the suit he wore every bit as expensive as the one his boss wore, but somehow, even though Marco exuded power in that suit, Lucio was the more dangerous. Even Bailey’s eyes followed him.

  Stella smiled a welcome at Sam’s father. “Was Sam expecting you?”

  Marco shook his head. “I was staying in the town about an hour from here and decided before I leave for home, I’d like to speak with him one more time. It’s been years since we had a chance to talk.”

  Stella waved the two men toward the chairs facing the sofa. “This is my friend Raine O’Mallory. Raine, Marco Rossi, Sam’s father, and Lucio Vitale.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rossi. I’ve met Vitale before,” Raine said. “I’m originally from New York.” She settled on the sofa with an enigmatic smile on her little pixie face toward Marco, barely sparing Lucio a glance.

  “You aren’t Sean O’Mallory’s daughter, are you?” Marco asked as he took the chair opposite Stella, giving his bodyguard the one across from Raine.

  “Yes, Sean was my father.”

  “Shame about his death,” Marco said. “He was a good man. Always kept his word when he did business. When he moved out to California, I thought he was retired.”

  “He was. Someone wasn’t willing to let things go.”

  “How’s your mother? She’s a lovely woman.”

  “I haven’t seen my mother in years,” Raine said, no change in her expression or tone.

  Stella had her gaze on Lucio, who had Sam’s mask and flat, cold eyes, but at Raine’s declaration, something crept into his eyes and then was gone. She had thought his eyes were black, but she realized they were actually navy blue, a dark, dark blue. Now they were fixed on Raine’s face. Stella wanted Raine to stop talking.

  “There is a punishment, the ultimate that can be given out when one betrays the family. It can be worse than death. You are thrown out of the family, declared dead. Your name is never spoken by any family member again. You are not seen by them even if you are standing in front of them, begging forgiveness. There is no forgiveness for betrayal.”

  Marco raised his eyebrow. “I can’t imagine how you could have betrayed your family.”

  She gave him that same enigmatic smile. “In those days, I had no knowledge of what my father’s business entailed. I was very young and female and considered, I guess, without a brain.”

  “No, no, Raine, protected. He protected you. All fathers want to protect their daughters.”

  “From sharks? From men who would use them to get information to ruin their families? To destroy their father? I very naively fell for the wrong man. I thought it was love. Do you have any idea how truly silly that sounds when my father is dead and my family lost to me? The thing is this though, I do have a brain. A very good one. Had my father told me, I would have watched out for sharks. Now that I’ve learned that lesson, I know men lie all the time to women. More, I made certain to gain as much knowledge and understanding as possible about the circumstances of his death.”

  Stella hoped Raine wasn’t challenging Marco in some way. Surely, she didn’t think Sam’s father had anything to do with her father’s death. She felt completely lost by the conversation and she still couldn’t keep her eyes off Lucio for some reason, and his reaction. He hadn’t said a word, but he was no happier with the direction the exchange was going than Stella was.

  “No, no, Raine.” Marco leaned forward. “This is very risky. You shouldn’t be looking into such things.”

  Raine’s eyebrow shot up. “This is truly fascinating. Are you telling me, Mr. Rossi, that if someone murdered your father, you wouldn’t hunt the one who ordered his killing? Because we both know whoever killed him was ordered to do it. The actual hitman is beside the point, merely the weapon. Whoever is behind the killing is the real murderer. Surely you would hunt for that person.”

  “That is different.” Marco waved his hand in the air expansively.

  Stella groaned and covered her eyes for a moment, knowing that was like waving a red flag at Raine.

  “Because I’m a woman and you’re a man? Because I shouldn’t love my father the same way you love yours? I shouldn’t feel the same loyalty toward him? Tell me why, Mr. Rossi,” Raine persisted. “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Simply put, Raine,” he said gently, “even looking into it could get you killed. You need the right resources. You need to know what you’re doing. And if you were to find your answers, you’d have to be able to follow through.”

  She smiled at him, that same sweet Raine smile that meant nothing and yet everything. “And who’s to say I don’t have those resources, and that when I find the answers, I don’t have resources to follow through as well? Never underestimate women, Mr. Rossi. That’s what ultimately gets men in trouble in the end.”

  Marco stared at her for the space of thirty seconds and then burst out laughing. “You certainly are your father’s daughter. Sharp as a tack. I don’t think I’d want to argue with you very often.”

  “No one does,” Stella agreed. “Would either of you care for coffee?”

  Both men nodded. Raine immediately offered to make it. Lucio made a move as if he might get up.

  Raine lifted her chin. “I don’t need any help. It will only take a minute. Anyone take cream or sugar?”

  Stella got the feeling Lucio and Raine were definitely not friends. She hadn’t realized that Raine was “dead” to her family. When she spoke of them, she always talked about them so lovingly. She’d described her childhood as happy. Stella wanted to weep for her. How could she be blamed for falling for someone and talking about her family when she had no idea what her father did? She couldn’t know she was giving away information she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. To permanently disown her seemed horribly harsh. How could her mother and brothers do that? Stella didn’t understand, but then her own mother had left her to face life on her own after it came to light that her father was killing people.

  “Your friend is an interesting woman,” Marco said.

  “She’s brilliant,” Stella said. “IQ off the charts.”

  “What do people do up here?” Marco looked around her living room. The windows all had views. “I’ve seen for myself how beautiful it is, but you’re all young. Is there really work up here to support everyone? Do you all make enough money to live?”

  She sat back and curled her legs under her. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t know who you are
. You wouldn’t have come here to see Sam without first investigating me. You know I own this resort and the fishing camps, and the property around the lake. Sam works for me all year round. I employ another couple as well as security guards, full-time. Everyone else is temporary.”

  “I only discovered my son was here a short time ago. I came quickly, afraid he would move on. We’ve not been on good terms for years, and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to really talk to him. It wasn’t smart of me to come at night.”

  “Why did you?”

  “I thought he would be embarrassed for you to know who his father is.” Marco shrugged. “I’m not embarrassed, but we parted on very bad terms.”

  Stella nodded. “I can see why you would do that. Did you tell him your reason?”

  He sighed. “No. We got off on the wrong foot immediately.”

  “I watched from the window. He definitely wasn’t happy with any of you.” She looked at Lucio. She was going to make certain Raine knew all about his downfall and how Sam had taken his gun.

  The monitor for Search and Rescue went off and Stella’s breath froze in her lungs. “Sam.” She whispered his name and jumped up, feeling the color drain from her face. “Raine,” she called, taking two steps toward the kitchen. The door was wide open and Raine came into view, her expression compassionate. Stella couldn’t move.

  “I’m sorry, honey, Search and Rescue was called to Mount Whitney.”

  Stella bit hard on the end of her thumb. “Sam? Vienna? Has either of them checked in with you?” She could barely breathe.

  Raine shook her head. “Not yet. You know Sam. Nothing is going to happen to him and he won’t let anything happen to Vienna.”

  “What the hell’s going on with my son?” Marco demanded.

  Stella whirled around. Marco was on his feet. She’d all but forgotten Sam’s father. Bailey growled low in his throat at the tone, warning the man to stay put. Lucio had his gaze on the dog, one hand inside his jacket. Stella signaled to Bailey to stand down.