by P. Creeden
Then she noticed that the page was in the sports section and times were circled as well as notes scribbled in the margin, but she only recognized the words, win, place, and show before the paper was snatched from her hand.
Heath’s smile remained frozen on his face as he tucked the paper under his arm. “Thanks so much; I hadn’t finished reading the sports section.”
She shrugged and smiled. “No problem. My father is an avid paper reader as well.”
He clutched his chest and feigned pain there. “No… please tell me you didn’t just compare me to your father. Hopefully I’m not that old.”
She laughed. “No way. You’re much younger. No worries there.”
“Phew.” He sighed with relief and then waved his paper toward her as he started back onto the porch of the wine store.
She laughed and pulled the handle on the hatch of her SUV to let Jay hop into the back of the vehicle. Once inside, he turned about and waited for her to pat him on the head—which she did before closing the hatch and making sure he was secure. With a long sigh, she looked around at the quiet morning once more. Heath had been right. The winery would be a great location for a bed and breakfast. It was quiet enough out here to feel like a bit of country even though the main city of Redwood Cove wasn’t far away at all.
She smiled and got into the driver’s seat of her car, starting the engine and rolling her neck again to get that kink out before backing the SUV up. Soft music played low on the radio as her phone connected wirelessly and started the last playlist she’d been listening to on her last drive. She pulled down the narrow drive, having to pull over and stop once to allow another car to come in with a purple shirted employee to pass her. They waved, and she returned the gesture.
In her mind, she mapped out her route to the donut shop as she pulled out onto the main street and accelerated to the speed limit for the area, which was forty-five. She’d be back in town and at Cup of Joe’s diner in less than fifteen minutes and would pick up some of those crème-filled chocolate donuts that Georgia liked so much.
The sun shone through the back of the car, glinting off her rearview mirror, into her eyes. She leaned forward to push the rearview mirror into a better position when she heard it. The scratching rattle of a snake and a hissing noise. Then something slithered across her left leg.
Chapter Ten
Felicity’s heart raced in her chest and everything felt as though it were going in slow motion. She jerked the wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes at the same time. The sudden change in speed and trajectory sent her car spinning. The SUV tilted into a ditch and landed somewhat on the passenger side. The snake was thrown to that side of the vehicle as well. The brown pattern across its body coiled as it looked up at her. She met eyes with it as she clung to her seatbelt.
Had it bitten her? She racked her brain but didn’t remember feeling any pain. She eyed the back kennel where Jay looked at her through the rearview mirror. He was panting. What if the snake had bitten him? Oh God, please let him be all right.
“Are you okay?” an older gentleman came to the door of her car and peered in. His voice was muffled by the closed window. “I saw the whole thing. I already called the police. What happened?”
Felicity pointed to the rattlesnake that still lay coiled on the passenger door. “Can you help me?”
“Good Lord!” The man’s eyes grew wide as his hand ran through his graying hair. He nodded and helped her pull the door open. “Take my hand. Hold onto me while I undo your seatbelt.”
“Thank you so much.” Felicity clung to him while he pulled the seatbelt free and helped lift her from the vehicle. All the while she attempted to keep her feet away from where the snake sat in her car.
Once her feet were solid ground, she looked down at her vehicle in the culvert. How on Earth had the snake gotten in there? The only person she knew who had been handling the snakes was Mr. Curtis Page. Could he be trying to kill her? Was he the one who killed Liz? She rushed to the back of the SUV and pulled open the hatch. “JJ! Are you okay?”
The Golden Retriever wagged his tail and hopped down as soon as the hatch was opened. Tears filled Felicity’s eyes as she leaned down and searched Jay’s legs and body for any blood or sign of a bite.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
The gentleman who’d helped her from the car put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay? Were you bitten by that thing? Step back and I’ll close the hatch. Let’s try to keep the snake inside for the moment.”
She nodded and stepped back. A police car pulled up behind her SUV, and it was followed by an unmarked sedan with a blue siren on the dashboard. Darren hopped out of the car, and relief flooded her. Her knees felt weak, and the tears she’d been holding back broke free and spilled over her cheeks. A sob pulled its way up her throat.
When he reached her, he pulled her into his arms and just held her tightly while she sobbed in the darkness as his chest blocked out all sun.
Darren thought he’d have a heart attack when he heard the description of the vehicle involved in an accident on the highway from the winery. When they said the license plate—READWJJ—he whipped around and rushed back to the scene. Now he held her in his arms while she fell to pieces. The strong, stalwart Felicity who sent away the paramedic yesterday was nowhere to be found.
The gentleman who called in the incident, Mr. Stokes, told him the story as best as he could with the information he understood. The uniformed police officer called for a tow truck and for animal control to handle the snake. Jay sat right next to Felicity the whole while, not letting his eyes off of her. The depths of the dog’s loyalty knew no bounds.
Once Mr. Stokes had finished his relaying of what happened, Felicity seemed calmer and pushed herself away from Darren just enough to look up into his face. “It’s Mr. Page. I think he’s trying to kill me. He’s the one who shut of the light when I was in the cooler, and he’s been catching and releasing the rattlesnakes at the winery.”
Darren frowned. He didn’t want to argue with her, but she was on the verge of hysterics. And though Mr. Page had been surly, he’d helped Darren when they found Felicity trapped in the cooler. Was the old man really capable of murder? “Let’s not jump to conclusions, Felicity. Are you hurt?”
She frowned up at him, the wrinkles in her forehead deepening. “But I know it’s true. He’s a bad man. Liz probably fired him, and he killed her in retaliation. Now he’s trying to kill me because… because…”
Pulling her closer, Darren squeezed her in his arms. “It’s okay. Just stay calm. It is possible if there were snakes on the property that one could make it into your car all on its own because it sat in the same place all day yesterday and overnight. Now, are you hurt?”
A sigh escaped her. “I’m not hurt.”
“Maybe we should get you to Gold Coast Reginal Hospital, anyway, and checked out. We don’t know if—”
“Really, I’m fine. I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
He frowned, not getting why she was always so resistant to taking care of herself.
“I need to keep an eye on JJ though. If he was bitten by the snake, I don’t know what I’ll do.” She hugged the Golden closer to her leg.
“Let’s get you and JJ home, then.” Darren started guiding her back to his sedan. “Animal control will take care of the snake, and then the tow truck will take your SUV to the shop. They’ll call me and let me know which one. We can pick it up later once they’ve given it a once-over, okay?”
She nodded, her gaze still cast toward the ground.
Silence settled between them on the drive back to her house, but it was a comfortable silence, with soft music from his radio playing in the background and the occasional static and talk over his police band. Felicity seemed deep in thought, and JJ just lay comfortably on the backseat of his sedan. When they drew near town, she perked up. “Could we stop by the diner there and get some donuts?”
He nodded and pulled into the
small lot, even though the request seemed a little odd.
Once the car came to a complete stop, Felicity undid her safety belt. “I’ll just pop in and grab a half dozen. I’ll be right back.”
Even though he lifted an eyebrow at her behavior, he was glad to see Felicity acting somewhat normal after the stressful ordeal she’d gone through yesterday and the accident today. One thing was certain—it did seem like too much of a coincidence that she’d locked herself in the restaurant cooler yesterday on her own, and then a rattlesnake just happened to make its way into her car… all on its own.
She ducked into the diner, and he watched her through the glass windows as she smiled at the man behind the counter. After a short conversation while the man loaded a box for her, she paid and was soon right back out, heading toward the car, a soft smile still gracing her face.
Jay stood in the backseat as she approached the car and opened the door. “My roommate Georgia loves the donuts here, but we rarely get out this way to pick them up because it’s on the opposite end of town from us. Since we were out this way for the winery, I promised to pick up a box.”
She lifted the lid on the box and pointed it out toward Darren.
“Want one?”
He smiled back at her. The rebound from the incident with the snake had happened faster than expected. Felicity seemed like the type to not let her emotions rule her for very long. She was sensible. He liked that about her. He peered into the box. “Is that blueberry?”
“Yes! Those are my favorite—blueberry donuts coated in glaze. The others are chocolate covered with a light cream in the middle—Georgia’s favorite.”
“Well you only got six of them. I don’t want to take one away from either of you.”
She shook her head and half-laughed. Her nose crinkled in an incredibly cute way. “The last thing either of us need is three donuts all to ourselves. Feel free to take one of each if you like.”
“I’ll take one of the blueberry. I haven’t had a good blueberry donut in a long time.”
“You haven’t had the donuts here?”
“I have, but not the blueberry.” He grabbed one between his finger and thumb and guided it straight for his lips. The crispy glaze on the outside gave the donut the only structure. The inside was the softest, melt in your mouth, blueberry flavored heaven he’d ever tasted. “This is awesome.”
“I know, right?” She smiled even wider as she closed the box and set her donut on the top of it while she buckled her seat belt.
After sharing their donuts with each other, the silence had been broken, and Felicity was back to filling the drive with anecdotes and stories about life with the kids she worked with, the Golden Retriever in the backseat, and even her roommate. Darren loved listening to the soft lilt of her voice. It made him feel at ease in a way that he’d never experienced with anyone that he could remember, except for his mother. And he could barely remember those kinds of things about her since she had died when he was so young.
They pulled into the driveway of the ranch home but stayed in the car for two minutes longer while she finished telling the last story about how JJ had had nearly jumped into the shower with her the first time she tried to take one without him in the bathroom. Then she suddenly blushed. “I guess really, talking about bathroom behavior is a bit too much information.”
He laughed. “It’s fine. I like that you feel open with me.”
After a sigh, she asked, “Would you like to come in for coffee? Maybe another donut?”
“I wish I could, but I really need to check in at the station.” Dread filled his heart upon those words. It was time to close the case, but it made Darren feel like he was closing the door on the closeness he’d achieved with Felicity at the same time. Sure, he’d asked her out and she’d accepted, but would it feel forced once they started trying to date? Their growing affection for each other had felt so natural as they’d spent more time with each other on this case.
She bit her bottom lip, then nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt. Silently she started out of the car, closed her door, and opened the one in the back to let out the Golden Retriever. Before closing that door, she ducked her head in again. “Will you check with the tow company about my SUV and give me a call or text me?”
“Of course.” His heart fluttered a bit in his chest at the thought of getting to talk to her again today.
Her face brightened a bit in response. “Great. Then I’ll talk to you later.”
He nodded, and she shut the door. There was a lilt in her step as she walked, balancing the box of donuts in one hand as JJ jumped around her in an excited circle. It seemed that even the dog was happy to be home finally after the hardships the two of them had shared the last few days.
After she’d made it into the house, Darren pulled the car in reverse and headed to the police station. The lieutenant sat against Darren’s desk as he walked into the building.
“Glad to see you finally made it in.” The lieutenant frowned. “It’s already well after nine.”
Darren frowned in return. “I was near the call of an accident this morning, so I helped the uniformed officer and the driver in the situation.”
The lines in the lieutenant’s forehead deepened. “Were there any casualties?”
“No, sir.”
He nodded. “You do know that responding to accidents is no longer your job. You have cases on your desk that need settling. Witnesses to question. You cannot let irrelevant things distract you from your duties.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Close the suicide case at the winery today. Start on the case at the Highland hotel. There’s been a rash of robberies there, and one of the staff is suspect.”
“Yes, sir.”
The lieutenant lifted an eyebrow and looked Darren up and down before pushing off the edge of the desk and starting toward his office.
A sigh escaped Darren’s lips. The closer he came to closing the case on the winery, the more it seemed that the feeling there was foul play involved became more likely. He grabbed the stack of folders on his desk and decided to get the questioning done at the hotel, and since the hotel wasn’t too far from the winery, he’d stop in and ask a few questions about the snakes there as well.
Chapter Eleven
Felicity hung up the phone with the funeral home and blew out a long breath. Sunlight poured into the kitchen from the window above the sink, but there was still the slightest chill in the air. She gripped her coffee mug with two hands, letting the warmth seep into her skin. Did she still feel this way from being in the cooler the night before? She just couldn’t seem to get warm enough.
Georgia sat across the table from her with a worried expression and a lifted eyebrow. “Are you okay?”
“The funeral’s tomorrow morning.” She pursed her lips and then took a sip from her mug.
“I’m really sorry, honey. I’ll take off work tomorrow to come and support you.”
A weight lifted from Felicity’s shoulders at the sound of her friend’s words. “Thank you.”
Georgia winked. “What are friends for?”
Speaking of taking off from work… Felicity picked up her phone and shot off another text message to the vice principal. At least he wouldn’t complain about short notice this time. He quickly sent one back.
Sorry for your loss. Will you be back to work on Monday, then?
At least the funeral was on a Friday, so she could spend the rest of the weekend off and working with the lawyer to settle the estate. It definitely wasn’t unreasonable to think that she and Jay could be back to work on Monday. She texted him back that she planned to be back to work on Monday. And she truly hoped that would be the end of the talk of her position being eliminated.
But she knew it wouldn’t be.
For some reason the vice principal believed her job was frivolous and unnecessary. There might be others on the board of the school who felt the same. No matter. Once she started showing results for her hard work, those thoughts would b
e quashed. All she needed to do was get the results started. She thought about little Addison, and how the child likely missed her time with Jay already. Yes, she’d definitely be back to work on Monday.
Her phone rang—this time it was from an unknown number. She hesitated a moment, meeting eyes with her roommate who just shrugged and took another bite of her cream donut. Not much help there. She hit the green button to accept the call and then answered, “Hello?”
“Hi, Mrs. Stilton, this is Lucian Wright, Elizabeth Collier’s lawyer. The estate is settling a few of Ms. Collier’s personal debts—which were few, by the way—but I need you to come sign a few checks for me as executor so that I release the money.”
“Oh! Okay. Do you need me to come by your office?”
“Actually, I’m at the winery right now. Can you come by here?”
Dread poured down her back like cold water. Her mouth became dry. Although she tried to tell herself that Darren was right, and the snake had gotten into her car of its own accord, she couldn’t help but feel that it was sabotage instead—and Mr. Page was definitely the culprit. And even though she knew the incident with the restaurant cooler was accidental, she couldn’t get past the fact that it had happened at that place.
Was it all bad luck or just accidental? Either way, she had already begun hating the winery and everything it stood for. If she had her own way, she doubted she’d ever go there again.
“Miss Stilton?”
“Oh.” She blinked in surprise, tried to swallow but found it incredibly hard. “I’m sorry, but could we meet at your office instead? I’m not too sure I can get all the way out to the winery right now, as my car is at the repair shop.”
“Girl! I got you. You can borrow my car,” Georgia said from across the table, unfortunately, loud enough for Mr. Wright to hear as well. The smile across Georgia’s face as she slid the keys across the table made the pit of Felicity’s stomach flip. What was she supposed to do now?