by Sonia Parin
Scooping in a calming breath, she drove the short distance to Abby’s place. She’d have a quick look around, and make sure everything was as it should be. The local realtor could be trusted to lock up, but it didn’t hurt to check.
She took a few minutes to walk around the property, checking windows and doors. While Abby’s house was closer to town than Mira’s place, Abby had told her this was the quiet end of the island with most of the surrounding houses owned by people who lived on the mainland.
As she strode in, she gave more thought to the idea of turning the house into an inn. The wide hallway entrance had a welcoming feel to it. Inside, the house looked as if it might have come out of the pages of an interior design magazine. A set of double doors opened to a sitting room with a fireplace. The dining room was on the opposite side of the hallway, with a door leading to a large country style kitchen in the rear with another sitting room attached to it, and a spacious sunroom to the side.
Eve thought it had been a smart move to list it fully furnished. While Jill had removed the more personal items such as photos, there were plenty of decorative items to make the place looked lived in and inviting.
Although, she wasn’t so sure about the rifle hanging over the fireplace.
She checked more windows and then made her way upstairs. Not that she thought she really needed to. If anyone broke in, there’d be signs of disturbance downstairs. But she’d become a little intrigued.
Could she really turn the place into an inn?
There were plenty of bedrooms. Another set of stairs led up to the top floor with two more bedrooms, both with uninterrupted views of the ocean. Abby had been using one of them. She’d offered the house with the lot, so the room was still furnished and that was probably why she was asking for so much since most of the furnishings were antiques.
Eve sent her gaze skating around the bedroom. Her attention caught on something glinting next the bedside table.
Too big to be a bracelet, she thought.
Taking a closer look, she frowned.
A handcuff?
It looked real enough.
What would Abby be doing with...
Her mouth gaped open.
Abby.
Naughty Abby.
Who would have thought?
Smiling, she opened the top drawer to put it away and found its twin.
“Well, well. Never judge a book by its cover.” Abby Larkin didn’t strike her as the type to walk on the wild side. It only went to show one never knew what went on behind closed doors.
With a small shake of her head, she locked up and made her way into town to pick up some cookies for Mira.
Later that evening, she caved into temptation and called Abby to tease her.
“What are you talking about?” Abby asked.
“Pleading innocence, are you? Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. I can keep a secret.”
“Do I look like the type to play kinky games?”
“Well... no. But is there a type?”
Abby growled into the phone. “Could you please do me a favor? Go back tomorrow and get them out of there. I’m having palpitations. What if the realtor finds them? What will she think of me?”
Eve laughed. “It could be a selling point.”
“It’s a large house targeted at families. Please, Eve—”
“All right, I won’t taunt you... much.”
They spoke for a bit longer, although Abby didn’t have any tales to tell, her efforts to find Mr. Right so far yielding nothing.
“By the way, I just finished reading The Princess and the Sea Wolf. All I can say is... hot, hot, hot.”
Eve groaned. “Not you too.”
Chapter Two
“What’s going on?” Eve asked when she met Jill the next morning at the Chin Wag Café. “It looks like the locals are picketing the place. I had to fight my way past a mob to get in.”
“This corner gets the most foot traffic during the day,” Jill said, “A few of the locals are up in arms about speeding cars. They want speed cameras installed.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere. Did you sign the petition? Linda Brennan organized it.”
“I didn’t realize there was one.” Eve looked out the window and saw a woman holding a clipboard. “Who’s Linda?”
“She’s the one in the red sweater. She holds the record for the most distance walked on the island. Three hours every day.”
Eve glanced at her and thought she looked familiar. “And who’s the woman holding the clipboard?”
“That’s her walking buddy. Steffi Grant.”
“I don’t see many people signing up.”
“I doubt anyone will. It’s a waste of time. I’ve never seen anyone speeding.”
Eve was about to say she hadn’t either when she remembered the black sports car that had nearly ran into her the day before. “Do you know anyone who drives a black sports car?”
“What model?”
Eve shrugged. “No idea. It looked expensive. Then again, all sports cars look expensive to me.”
Jill shook her head. “Doesn’t ring a bell. Most people around here drive SUVs or pickup trucks.”
Maybe it had been someone driving in to look at Abby’s place. Eve picked up the menu only to set it down again. “Before I order, there’s something I need to know.”
“You sound serious. What’s up?”
“Have you read The Princess and the Sea Wolf?”
Jill put her hand to her forehead and swooned. “Oh, Jack. Jack. Jack.”
“All right. I get the picture.”
Jill grinned. “I usually wait a few months to reread a favorite book but as soon as I read the last page, I had to flip over and start again. Mira’s onto a winner with this one. I couldn’t really pick a favorite from all her other books, they’re all good, but this one is special. There’s just something about a pirate—”
“Enough already.”
“What? Why?”
Eve made a point of looking around the café.
“Oh, I get it. You’re not comfortable with people picturing Jack that way.” Jill laughed. “Don’t be greedy. You have the real Jack. The best we can hope for is a bit of fantasy.”
“You’re the most level headed young woman I know and you’ve lost your head over a fictional character—”
“Based on a real life one,” Jill said.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. He’s taken.”
“I can’t believe this. You’re really jealous.”
“I feel as if I’m being cheated on.”
“But Jack hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“It’s going to get worse. Mira’s giving Captain Jack Blackthorn a twin brother and he’s bound to be another heartthrob. If my Jack finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I didn’t realize you were so insecure.”
“More like possessive. I don’t like all these women... you included, thinking about my man. I know it’s silly, but everyone’s being so blatant about it.”
“Everyone?”
“I’m doing Mira’s fan mail. You wouldn’t believe how fanatical her fans can be. Imagine if someone finds out about Jack. He could be stalked. And that’s not so farfetched. I don’t know how the cover artist managed to capture his likeness.”
“Mira must have described him.”
“Only too well. Now it’s too late. I can’t ask her to change him.”
“Well, if that’s your biggest concern, then you can consider yourself a lucky woman. We have to live vicariously. At least you get to play with the real Jack.”
Only when he wasn’t involved in a case. She took comfort in knowing he’d just wrapped one up, so she had some fun to look forward to.
When the waitress came over, Eve checked the time and placed her order for coffee.
“What? No cake?”
“I need to get going. I promised Abby I’d swing by her place and pick up... Never mind.” She should have collected
the handcuffs first thing that morning, in case the realtor had an early morning showing but Jill had called to ask if they could meet in town for a coffee as they hadn’t seen each other in a few days.
“You can’t do that,” Jill complained.
“What?”
“Cut me off like that. Now I’m curious. What do you have to pick up?” Jill bobbed her eyebrows up and down. “Abby’s secret stash of... naughty DVDs?”
“What made you say that?” Eve asked.
“I don’t know, maybe all this talk about fantasizing about fictional heroes.” Jill shrugged. “Was I right?”
“No... Not really.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. Was I close?”
“I promised I wouldn’t say anything.” She hadn’t promised but it didn’t sound like something Abby would want everyone to know about. “How’s your painting going?”
“All right. I’ll find out soon enough.” Jill sat up. “I’m between pictures. Do you think Jack would consider sitting for me?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Why not? I could make a killing selling paintings of him dressed up at Captain Jack Blackthorn.”
Eve gave an impatient shake of her head and changed the subject. “Remind me to grab some chocolate chip cookies for Mira. I tried to get some yesterday but they’d run out.”
“You’re out of luck. Jonathan McNeil, the baker, is away on vacation.”
“What? Since when?”
“Since last week. The other baker’s bread is good, but his cookies are fairly average.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“I had no idea. You normally do all the baking for Mira.”
Eve sighed. “I’m off my game. I don’t know what’s come over me. I think I’m putting too much pressure on myself to find something to do and I can’t even focus on the simplest tasks.”
“Well, you’re going to have to snap out of it. Mira needs her cookies and we need her to be happy and write her books.”
“We?”
“Her adoring fans.”
Eve rolled her eyes. “Come on, drink up.”
“What? Am I tagging along?”
“Yes, please. I can always do with the company.”
After making a detour to buy some ingredients for baking, they arrived at Abby’s beach house.
“I’ve never been inside,” Jill said. “It’s huge.”
“She inherited it from an unmarried relative. I think that’s what made her so determined to find herself a husband before it’s too late.”
“Selling this place is a bit extreme. In her place, I’d hold on to it as a weekend getaway.”
“Abby’s afraid if she has a place to come back to, she’ll be tempted to give up her search for Mr. Right.” Personally, she would have struggled to let the house go. The house felt comfortable, homey. Inviting. “I won’t be long.” She dashed up the two sets of stairs and headed toward the main bedroom. As she turned the doorknob, a thought flickered in her mind.
If the handcuffs didn’t belong to Abby, then her unmarried relative must have had a few tales to tell. Just because someone wasn’t married didn’t mean they didn’t play around. Then she decided the handcuffs looked too new to have belonged to Abby’s aunt.
Pushing the door open, Eve came to an emergency break stop.
Before her brain could engage and shoot out an order, her legs turned to noodles and wobbled.
Her fingers held on tight around the doorknob even as her instinct told her to let go and run.
In the next few seconds she tried to get her throat to work so she could call out to Jill, but it took the last of her willpower to draw in a breath.
It made her head swoon.
With her heart beating an erratic drumbeat against her chest, she managed to get her feet moving into an awkward retreat.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the bed. Even when she bumped against the balustrade and nearly lost her footing, she continued to look.
She stood there, eyes wide, her breathing coming in short choppy bursts.
A part of her knew she should take a closer look.
Common sense told her she had to.
She shot her gaze down the stairs but before she could change her mind, she pushed off the balustrade and propelled herself back inside the bedroom.
Gritting her back teeth, she pushed out a soft groan. She could do this. She had to.
When she reached the foot of the bed, she scooped in a big breath.
Two more steps, Eve.
The man lying on the bed looked fast asleep, in an eternal sort of way. Fixing her attention on his chest, she waited several seconds, hoping... praying to see the steady rise and fall that would have her running for the right reasons.
If given the choice, she would have preferred the embarrassment of walking in on someone luxuriating in the aftermath of a thorough lovemaking session.
Instead, she’d stumbled upon a lifeless body.
There didn’t seem to be any doubt about it now or any point in denying it.
“You’re only saying that because you know what comes next.” She cleared her throat. “Go on. You can do it.” She had to be absolutely certain. She had to feel for a pulse. “On the count of three.” She drew in a breath and hissed it out. “One—” Eve plunged forward and pressed two fingers to the side of the man’s throat. “Neat trick,” she said through clenched teeth.
After only a couple of seconds she snatched her hand away.
He felt cold.
“There’s no coming back from that.”
Reaching into her back pocket, she retrieved her cell. Her hand shook as she keyed in the emergency number.
“Yes. Police. Yes. Dead. Body.” She nodded in response to the operator’s request for more information. “Pulse. Yes, I checked. No. No pulse. Address?” She didn’t know the address. “Abby’s place.” As the words spilled out she realized how ludicrous she must have sounded. “Cove Lane. My white SUV’s parked outside. Alone? No, I’m not, but Jill can’t see this. Who’s Jill?” She shook her head. “Just get here. Fast.”
She stood there a moment, swaying and concentrating on breathing.
Her mind cranked up and began to process the scene she’d walked into.
Bits and pieces fell into place, like a jigsaw puzzle.
The man’s hands were handcuffed to the bed post.
His hair looked slightly ruffled but still retained that styled look she knew cost a small fortune to achieve.
He had a toned build. She guessed he worked out.
At first, she thought his eyes were closed, but now she realized they were at half-mast, as if he’d been gazing down.
Eve drew in a small breath, inhaling through her nose and that’s when she picked up the flowery scent. Had it been there the day before? She owned a couple of scents that always lingered in the air and on her clothes.
The strangest thought crossed her mind.
One decision had been taken care of.
She wouldn’t be opening up an inn here.
“Eve? Do I need to come up and get you?” Jill called out.
What?
No. No. Jill. Don’t.
Her lips were moving, but she didn’t hear herself speak.
She moved, one small step at a time, retreating without taking her eyes off the man.
“This place is great,” Jill chirped, “You should buy it.”
She heard Jill’s footsteps coming up the stairs. “No, Jill. Don’t. Don’t.” Eve swung away and forced her legs to move. They responded to her command but the rest of her body remained stiff.
“Hey. What’s up?” Jill asked as she reached the top of the stairs. “And what’s with the robot walk?”
Eve shook her head. “Nothing,” she squeaked.
“You look pale and what’s wrong with your shoulders? They’re level with your ears.” Jill gasped. “Let me guess, I wasn’t wrong about the DVDs. Did you find something else? A secret stash
of dominatrix underwear? A blow up dolly? I watched a documentary about them. They look so real now...”
“What?”
“I want to see too.”
Jill tried to move past her but Eve stretched her arms out like an ice hockey goalie blocking a shot.
“You can’t go in there.”
“Why not?”
“It’s bad. It’s very bad in there.”
“What do you mean?”
The sound of approaching police sirens had Jill turning toward the door.
“Who’s in that bedroom, Eve?”
Eve shifted. “No-one.” And that was the truth.
Chapter Three
“I don’t often find myself in this type of situation,” Eve said under her breath thinking that if she said it often enough, she might come to believe it.
She tried to find a comfortable spot on the chair she’d been asked to sit in while the police went about their business, but she felt on edge. Jumpy.
Why wasn’t someone asking her questions? And where was Jack?
She knew the moment he stepped through the front door he would be Detective Jack Bradford, and not the man she had intimate dates with. And when his gaze connected with hers, she’d have a split second to capture the hint of amusement she loved about his bright blue eyes. After that, she knew Jack would withdraw. Freeze her out. Distance himself without necessarily leaving her in the lurch. She understood he needed to remain impartial. His job would always come first...
His personal attachments would be set aside.
She knew she could trust his judgment.
A few months before, he’d had ample reasons to come down hard on her. Being the prime suspect in a murder investigation, all fingers had been pointed at her and she hadn’t really had a leg to stand on.
Yes, his job came first but that meant he would trawl through all the evidence, putting together a rock solid case. Detective Jack Bradford did not jump to conclusions.
Jill sat opposite her with her feet tucked under her, her arms hugging her chest. Her gaze had remained fixed on a spot somewhere on the floor.
Eve had already checked to see what there could be to hold her interest but she hadn’t noted anything interesting about the floorboards or the rug.