by S. E. Harmon
I parked on the hill behind a row of cars. Danny’s Charger was in front. The black Camaro in front of me sported a My child is an A student at Blackwater Elementary bumper sticker, which meant Kevin was wandering around somewhere. Then there was the dive team van and a white Chevy Tahoe.
Crap. I knew that SUV.
Sure enough, I spotted Tate as I headed down the sloped hill. She was on the precinct boat and dressed smartly in a sharp navy suit and matching heels. As if she could feel my presence and a missed opportunity, she turned and treated me to a scowl. Fucking fantastic. Apparently she’d made time in her busy schedule to personally rip me a new one.
She turned back to Danny and spoke animatedly. For his part, Danny just listened, leaning against the hull with his arms folded, his gaze trained on the water. He had one booted foot perched on the edge, balanced as a cat even as the boat rocked gently. Every so often, his dark hair would lift with the breeze and cover his eyes and impatiently, he would flip it back out of his face. Considering we were on day four of a search authorized on my gut feelings alone, he looked relaxed as fuck.
I tucked my hands in my pockets and looked away. I hoped his faith in me wasn’t misplaced.
A shadow crossed my peripheral, and I glanced over to find Kevin next to me, a small bag of peanuts in his hand. Dark shades covered his eyes and a BBPD ballcap did the same for his hair. He offered the peanut bag to me. When I shook my head mutely, he dumped a handful of nuts in his palm and tossed them back.
“Well?” I finally prodded as he chewed silently.
“Well what?” he mumbled around a mouthful of peanuts.
“I find it exceedingly hard to believe you have nothing to say.”
He shrugged. “I assumed anything I could say now would be particularly redundant to what you’re already thinking. Like do you know what Tate is going to do to you if we don’t find that body?”
“Something that involves dental identification of my own?”
“So you do know. Thank God.” He tossed back another handful of nuts. “I hate being the bearer of bad news.”
“That must make family notifications very painful for you,” I said dryly.
“I’m just sayin’.” He brought the bag directly to his lips and shook it a few times. His voice was muffled as he spoke, probably since he had more nuts tucked in his jaw than an industrious squirrel. “It’d be different if we had some evidence that brought us here. An anonymous tip. A witness. Something. Not just your hunch.”
As if on cue, a small precinct boat trolled by, pulling a diver on a towline. The small craft joined the dive recovery team’s boat. I winced. The department didn’t do anything in small measures. All that was missing was the fucking Coast Guard at this point.
One of the divers popped up and pushed up his mask. He spat out his mouthpiece and shook his head at Danny. Fuck.
Kevin crammed the last handful of nuts in his already full mouth and then wiped his hand on his trousers like a barbarian. “Tate says we have until five in the morning before she calls it.”
I nodded silently. I expected as much.
He nudged me. “Dude. It’s not over. They’re doing a side scan sonar off the other boat. We’re good.”
I sent him a half smile. “Don’t try to be nice. It’s creepy.”
He clapped me on the shoulder before he meandered off. When I looked over at the precinct boat, Tate was gone. Probably spotted some small animal nearby to terrorize. I ambled down the dock and made the short leap onto the precinct boat. By the time I loped over to Danny, he was talking to someone else. Diego Alvarez, who was sitting on the edge of the boat in his dive suit.
Fucking Diego. He seemed a little put out by my approach but recovered nicely, sending me a quick smile and a jaunty little wave. My greeting was a little more reserved, even though Diego was pretty hard not to like. He was laid-back, even-tempered, and meticulous at his job, which was great. But then there was his crush on Danny. That kind of canceled out Diego’s better qualities for me. Not that I ever thought Danny would act on it. Diego’s crush was just unprofessional and that was annoying. It was a distraction. An unnecessary—all right, fine. So I was a little jealous. Sue me.
“Hey.” I returned his friendly wave. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all,” Danny said. “Diego was just explaining how they use the tow line to control the depth of their dive. Then they go side to side searching, almost like mowing a lawn.”
“Fascinating,” I murmured.
Diego beamed. “He’s such a good listener.”
“Isn’t he, though?”
Diego was cute enough if you liked earnest, fresh-faced, young guys with perfectly combed hair. I glanced at Danny with his heavily stubbled jaw and wrinkled shirt that could barely contain his muscled arms. Clearly, I wasn't into cute and cuddly.
I couldn’t speak for Danny. He certainly seemed fascinated when Diego squatted down to check his dive tanks. Or maybe it was the way his wetsuit pulled across his pert behind like it was painted on. I was glad when he finally disappeared in the water with a little splash.
I smiled pleasantly. “You’d better be entranced by the miracle of underwater diving.”
His mouth quirked. “Gotta love our dive team.”
“Remind me later to elbow you in the gut.”
“Do your worst.”
“You’ve got size on me, McKenna, but I do know judo.”
He chuckled. “You’re more than enough trouble for one man, Christiansen.” His voice lowered for my ears only. “And his ass has nothing on yours.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep. I’m more than willing to prove that by pounding it mercilessly.”
Getting me hard at a potential crime scene—it was the lowest of lows. I glared at him and those twinkly blue eyes. “Hard pass.”
We made the deadline. Barely.
A little after four in the morning, they stumbled across a padlocked chest. In the early morning mist, the chest rose from the lake like a phantom, the tow line nearly invisible in the dark. They suspended it over the mossy bank, water draining off the chest in sheets. Then we had to wait another ten minutes for them to begin lowering the damn thing.
“You’re all but pacing,” Danny murmured exasperatedly.
I was a little exasperated myself. “What’s the fucking holdup? They’re acting like they unearthed the Titanic, not a rusty old chest.”
“Will you relax? People are starting to stare.”
That wasn’t why they were staring. We both knew it, so I didn’t bother to state the obvious. I’d coined the look as the Creepy Ghost Whisperer Stare. They weren’t half as covert as they thought they were because Creepy Ghost Whisperer had excellent peripheral vision. I turned quickly and spotted Diego in the act. He looked away so fast, his eyeballs probably caught whiplash.
When they finally lowered our bounty to the ground, two officers used a crowbar to pry the chest open. They used too much force for rusted padlocks that were cheap to begin with, and the lid flew off and landed a few feet away. We all inched closer to peer inside. To say the contents were surprising would be… a bit of an understatement.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” one of the officers said, scratching his head. “He’s not alone.”
Two skulls smiled macabre grins.
I stared at the tea-colored bones in dumbfounded silence. Mason hadn’t mentioned anyone else, and there certainly hadn’t been another missing person indicated in the previous detective’s report.
“He didn’t mention he wasn’t alone?” Danny murmured.
I shook my head in response. I just hoped that they were already dead before some lunatic crammed them in that trunk and dumped them in the water like trash. The alternative was unthinkable and yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Pictures flashed through my mind of them struggling, water leaking in through the sides of their makeshift coffin as they floated to the bottom of the lake. It would’ve been to
o dark to see anything, too cramped to really move around. The cold water would’ve seeped into their clothing and panic probably started to set in as they realized there was no way out. And then that last, final moment when the water came over their heads—
“Hey.” I blinked to find Danny looking at me, his eyes filled with concern. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Of course.” I wiped damp palms on my pants discreetly. “I was just thinking.”
He could read me like a book. “Don’t picture it,” he said quietly.
“It’s hard not to. I met him. Talked to him.” I blew out a breath. “I already feel like I know him.”
“I know.” He rubbed a hand through his hair and dragged it down to the back of his neck. “So hopefully the ME will confirm one of those bodies is Mason. Then we need to figure out who the hell is in there with him.”
As if the case wasn’t cold enough. Now instead of one victim, we had two—and we didn’t even know their name. I realized Danny was still talking and tuned in just in time to catch the end.
“—in the meantime, I say we speak to his brother. He was one of the last known people to see Mason, after all.”
“You mean the guy who said Mason just disappeared off the face of the earth and he has no clue why? The guy who inherited Mason’s business, house, and car?”
“That would be the one.” His eyes crinkled with amusement. “Don’t forget the insurance money.”
Oh, I certainly hadn’t. “We can probably catch him at work,” I ventured. “Bakers have early hours, don’t they?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, I’ll drive.” I rubbed my tired eyes, trying to get my brain in gear. “I can bring you back later to get your car.”
We were halfway up the hill before Danny spoke, his tone skeptical. “Let me just see if I have this right. Our investigation starts at a donut shop?”
My stomach grumbled on cue. “Bakery.”
“That seems a little… convenient.”
“The word you’re looking for is providence, Irish. Providence.”
Chapter 7
Bakeology.
I peered up at the sign on the front of the darkened bakery and glanced back down at the address on my phone. According to Yelp, the shop didn’t open for another hour, but I could see a light on in the back. I tapped on the glass door lightly, and then harder when I heard the strains of music.
After a few knocks, the music stopped. The door in the back opened a pinch, and a guy stuck his head through the crack. Even with the bandana over his dark hair, I recognized him as Luke. At some point, he must’ve shaved his beard. He looked younger. More clean-cut.
He pointed at the closed sign. Danny lifted the shield around his neck and stuck it on the glass. Luke hustled toward the front, wiping his hands on his apron. He opened the door to let us in and the bell on the door jingled merrily.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked warily.
“That depends,” Danny said. “Are you Luke Paige?”
“Yeah.” His brow furrowed. “What’s going on, officers? Was the music too loud?”
I cleared my throat. “No, we just wanted to talk to you about your brother.” I watched his reaction carefully, but the only emotion that registered was slight surprise. “We just have a few questions.”
“Oh. Of course. Well, come on back this way then. You don’t mind if I work while we talk? I’m a little behind this morning, and I already had one worker call in sick.”
“That’s fine,” Danny said.
Luke gestured toward the back. “Follow me.”
We trailed behind him in the darkened bakery. The smell of butter and sugar and vanilla grew stronger as we headed through the double doors leading to the back of the shop. Everything in the kitchen was bright and shiny and meticulously clean, and I was once again reminded how life could pick up from one moment to the next. One moment you’re standing on the banks of a lake with a couple skeletons at your feet, and the next you’re in a beautiful kitchen, standing over… my mouth watered as we passed by a tray of freshly glazed donuts sitting on a wire rack. They were glossy. So very glossy. Almost in slow motion, the excess glaze dripped onto a metal tray beneath.
Luke’s voice snapped me back to the task at hand. “So what’s this all about?”
“There have been some developments in Mason’s case, and we just had a few questions,” I said smoothly.
“What kind of questions?”
“Is there some reason you mind answering questions?”
“I’m just surprised you’re here. I thought I was cleared. Ten years ago.” He washed and dried his hands before he got back to kneading the lump of dough on the counter. “You can’t possibly think I’m still a suspect in Mason’s disappearance.”
“Should we?” I asked.
“Of course not. I would never hurt my brother.”
“But now that he’s gone, you have his business. His house. His car.”
He glared. “I decided to take over his business instead of selling it to honor Mason. I knew how much he cared about this place. It was his baby. And just so you know, taking over this place hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. I didn’t know anything about the business, and I had to learn on my feet. If it wasn’t for Melanie, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“Melanie?” My mind locked on the name because I knew I’d seen it before, right on my suspect board. “Mason’s ex-wife? The pastry chef?”
“Well, yes.” He hesitated for a moment and then stuck out his chin. “My fiancée. She moved in with me a couple months ago.”
Now isn’t that interesting? Danny and I exchanged a wordless glance that said we were on the same page.
Luke gritted his teeth. “They’d been divorced for some time before we got together. We comforted each other because we both missed him so much. Eventually we realized we really enjoyed spending time together, and the rest was history.”
“We’re going to need to speak with her,” Danny said. “I assume we can find her at home?”
“Yes.” His tone was bitter. “I know you have your process. Now that you have a renewed interest in the case, you’re ready to rip my life apart again.”
I didn’t deny it. I’d dig up every dirty little secret he had. If he cheated at earning a fucking patch in Cub Scouts, I wanted to know about it. If that’s what it took to solve my case, so be it.
“Did you know Mason was involved with someone?” I asked.
“No.”
“Would it surprise you to know that man was married?”
Luke snorted. “Not really. Mason never did have much luck in love. But like I said, I didn’t know about it.”
“Who would?”
He shrugged. “Maybe you should talk to our mother. She and Mason spoke nearly every other day. Or Casey, his best friend.”
“We plan on it,” Danny said. “If necessary, would you be willing to take a polygraph?”
“Well, I guess. I have nothing to hide.” When he looked up from his dough, his eyes were suddenly filled with apprehension. “You guys never did tell me why you’re here.”
I furrowed my brow. “You know why we’re here. We’re here to talk about Mason.”
“No, why are you here now?” he clarified. “Why the sudden interest in his case?”
“No cold case is ever closed until we have a resolution,” Danny said. “We’re just trying to get some facts straight.”
“You found him.” Luke’s voice was flat. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Danny cleared his throat. “We can’t confirm anything until the ME—”
“God.” Luke’s voice cracked and he swallowed hard.
I put a lot of stock in reactions of my suspects, and I could tell he was authentic and genuine. Unfortunately, that didn’t clear him of the murder. There was a razor’s edge worth of difference between love and hate, and both emotions could make someone kill.
“Is there anything else?” Luke aske
d, clearly trying to get us out of his bakery. If I had to guess from his glassy eyes, he was waiting to be alone so he could have a good cry. I really couldn’t blame him.
“No,” I said quietly. “We’ll call you if we have any more questions.”
“Please do.” He went back to shaping his dough. “Feel free to help yourself to some of those fresh donuts on your way out, guys.”
“Oh, no, that’s all r—” Danny turned at the sound of a crinkling bag to find me mid grab. “I guess we will. Thank you.”
I sent him a what look and carried on putting donuts in the bag. Luke said we could help ourselves. You don’t turn down freshly glazed donuts. Everyone knew that. I paused and shook the bag, gauging if more could fit. I gave Danny’s judgmental stare my back and continued to stuff the bag.
At least he waited until we were back in the car to chastise me. “Really?” he demanded, putting on his seatbelt. “You were just poisoned by eating a suspect’s food—”
“A year ago,” I protested. “Also, it wasn’t food, it was tea.”
“My bad,” he said dryly. “I didn’t realize there was a one-year rule between poisonings.”
“Last time I checked, we’re cops. We can’t turn down donuts. People will talk, Daniel.”
He declined when I offered him the bag. “One of us has to be able to call nine-one-one when the poison kicks in.”
I stuffed another soft, glazed piece in my mouth and then licked at my sticky pointer finger. “Sounds like a plan.”
He let out a put-upon sigh. “So what’s your take on Luke?”
“I think his grief was genuine. But I also think Operation Take Over Mason’s Life was a rousing success.”
“Can’t say I’d be all that surprised to find him wearing Mason’s bathrobe and slippers.” Danny drummed his fingers on his leg. “That doesn’t mean he was willing to kill Mason, though. Maybe it was just luck and opportunity.”
“Yeah, it’s strange how lucky people can get… like when your brother falls off the face of the earth and you take over his everything?”