by Jill Sanders
“What does this all mean?” Rose asked.
Hunter pushed the paperwork away from him, his eyes moving between them quickly. “Worst case, it goes to court, but most likely it won’t since there isn’t any evidence you had anything to do with Isaac’s death. Like I said, we’re probably looking at the judge throwing it out before it heads to court.”
“What if it does go to court?” she asked.
“Then we simply have to prove you had nothing to do with Isaac’s death.” Hunter smiled over at Rose and took her hand in his. “Trust me.”
“What happens if she wins?” Rose asked.
“If she wins, she can recover any expenses, get a settlement for pain and suffering caused to her, and possibly even punitive damages.”
Just then, there was another knock on the door. “I’ll get it.” Sawyer stood up, but Hunter stopped him.
“Better let me. I’m Rose’s lawyer and brother. Besides, this is probably just the beginning.” He stood up. “If Miss Owens is in this for fame, I doubt she’ll stop at one lawsuit.”
Sure enough, there were two more visits that day before Hunter headed back home for the night. He had pulled Rose aside privately before he left. Sawyer knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop but couldn’t stop himself.
They had talked about why he was staying in the house. Hunter had made it very clear that he didn’t like that there was a cop staying with her. Rose told him about his attack and that she was taking care of him, and that he was also there to protect her, and he seemed to quiet down.
Hunter took the legal paperwork with him, but not before Rose scanned them into her computer system. New lawsuits for pain and suffering and libel and slander were added to the mix.
“Why is she filing these lawsuits? I’ve never said a word publicly about her.” He could hear the weariness in her voice.
“Attention,” he guessed. “Like your brother suggested. Besides, Hunter will be filing several suits against her on your behalf in return. She went on several interviews calling you a murderer.”
She sighed and nodded. “I hate using the law.”
“I have to side with your brother on this one.”
They moved back into the kitchen, and he watched her make dinner. The way she moved around the kitchen was almost like a dance.
Her cell phone rang, and he listened to her side of the conversation. It sounded like she was talking to her agent, Julie.
When she got off the phone, Rose had a huge smile on her face. She did a little booty dance, which got him just as excited as she was, only in a different way.
“So?” he asked, feeling his heart race at how beautiful she was when all the worries of the day disappeared.
“Julie has set up an art exhibit for this weekend.” She did a little dance again. “This weekend! She snuck me into another showing. When she called them… well, it appears that all this news has caused quite a demand for my art. She says that several of the pieces I gave her have already sold.”
“Do you think it’s wise to play off the publicity at this time?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I can’t stop my life and wait around for the killer to expose himself.” She glanced over her shoulder as she worked on making dinner.
“Or herself,” he added, thinking about Kristy Owens.
Rose nodded. “Julie seems to think that striking while the iron is hot—her words, not mine—could bring in almost double what I made at the last show.”
“What did you make?” he asked.
“Enough to pay for my car.” She nodded towards the back door. “Isaac wanted to get me a present for my last showing, but I wanted to pay for something for myself. I chose it, went down to the car dealership, and negotiated the deal myself. Isaac was in New York that weekend.” Her smile fell slightly.
“Not bad.” He thought about the last price tag he’d seen for the BMW SUV she drove and realized it was more than he made in a year.
She danced again as she went back to work. He was so busy watching the way her butt wiggled in the tights she was wearing that when she stopped and turned around, he was slow to move his eyes back up to hers.
“Come with me,” she said, causing him to smile.
“Now?” His eyebrows moved up and she laughed at the look he was giving her. He didn’t bother trying to hide the lust that was in his eyes.
“No, to New York,” she answered.
His first inclination was to say no. After all, he had work and Ozzy. But he did still have a few days before he was going to see the doctor. He was past the two-week mark in his recovery. From the slight twinges he still got in his left kidney, he doubted the doctor would let him get back to a full work schedule before that weekend.
“I can see if Carson can watch the dogs.”
“Really?” She smiled. “You’ll go with me?”
His mind quickly ran through everything. He was pretty sure he could convince the chief that someone needed to watch over Rose in the city. Especially now that it was clear that someone had hired Willis to do the dirty work.
“Yes.” He walked over and wrapped his arms around her, then kissed her.
“How will we get there?” She turned back around to the stove when the timer went off.
“We can drive.”
She frowned over at him. “Seven hours?” She shook her head. “I’m nothing like Julie, who absolutely enjoys long road trips. Are you?” she asked.
He shook his head. He hated sitting in a car or a plane for more than two hours unless he was staying wherever he was going for more than a week.
“I can ask Hunter to fly us up,” she suggested.
That would allow him to see Hunter’s piloting expertise firsthand. “It’s up to you.” He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. “I have to make a few calls before I commit fully.”
She nodded. “Dinner will be done soon.”
He snapped his fingers and the dogs followed him out onto the back deck while he called the chief and ran his idea by him.
“I doubt the doc will clear you by then, so it’s up to you what you want to do on your free time. Since there hasn’t been a move on Clayton’s life, I can’t justify police protection, so the moment you’re cleared, you’re back at work.”
“Sure thing.” He glanced around the frozen yard. They’d had lots of the white stuff, enough to make the ground gleam white. “Did you find any fingerprints on the keys?” he asked. He had a list of questions he’d wanted to run by the chief since their last meeting. Seeing Rose’s notes had made him realize there were some answers he hadn’t gotten yet.
“Other than hers and Isaac Clayton’s, no.” The chief sighed. “She’s still not sure how they ended up back in the house?”
“No,” he answered.
“Who had access to the place? Besides her?” Deter asked.
“The workers were still here.” He remembered when they had finished up with the basement door. “The basement was wide open, so anyone could have come and gone. Hell, we found a set of footprints, remember? They could have been coming and going as much as they pleased before it started snowing. The stepbrother has a set of keys. I’d have to check with Rose, but I think that’s it.”
“I didn’t get my keys back from RJ yet,” Rose said from the back door. He turned and realized she was leaning against the doorjamb, listening to him.
“RJ?” Deter asked, obviously he’d overheard her.
“Yeah, sounds like Gamet still has a set of keys to the house. He didn’t turn them in after he stopped working here,” Sawyer relayed.
“We’ll head over there and collect those for her,” the chief said quickly, then he hung up.
“So?” She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him to keep warm. “What’s new?”
He filled her in over another amazing dinner.
“I should have remembered that RJ still had a set of house keys before tonight. I’ve been so…”
“Preoccupied?” he supplied.
; “Distracted.” She smiled over at him. Tsuna was curled up at her feet and Ozzy was at his, begging for scraps. “Have you made up your mind about New York?” she asked.
“I’ll go.”
“Wonderful!” She jumped up from the table and took the empty plates to the sink. “I’ll have Julie arrange everything.”
He took his glass to the sink and wrapped her in his arms. Her arms came around his shoulders as she smiled up at him.
“I’ve never been to New York,” he said. Her eyebrows shot up.
“You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “I know, it’s so close, but… I never had a reason to go.”
“You’ll like it. I did, at first, after we moved there.” She dropped her arms and walked over to get a cup of tea.
“What changed?” he asked, following her into the living room.
She sat down on the sofa and he bent down in front of the fireplace to stoke the fire.
“Isaac was so involved in his work, he was gone almost all the time.” She sipped her tea. “Now, of course, I know that he was leading a double life. But I was alone most of the time. The city was so large and so… full of people I didn’t know. I even took an art class locally, just to make friends.”
“And?” He moved over and sat next to her. The dogs both settled between them.
“And the only friend I had was Julie. And she was spending so much time trying to get her career off the ground, she was traveling all the time as well. Most of my time I spent locked away in our apartment, painting. Which is why I had so many dark pieces.” She nodded to the piece she’d hung on the wall in the living room.
He looked up at the stormy ocean scene. He’d loved the piece when he’d first seen it. He hadn’t realized it was one of hers until he was staying there and had walked around and looked at the art that she had hanging up everywhere. Every piece on her walls was hers, and he’d been more impressed than ever. The piece in question was a lot darker than those hanging around the rest of the house.
“Then you moved here?” he asked.
“Yes, Isaac bought this house, Stoneport Manor, as another gift—”
“Did he always buy you things?” he interrupted. She tilted her head and he could tell she was thinking about it.
“Yes. I used to think it was because he loved surprising me, but now I wonder if it was his way of justifying his deceit.”
He nodded. “Guilt gifts. Ann used to do that as well.”
“I’ve never heard it called that before, but yes. Looking back now, I’m sure that was it. Every time he would have to leave or stay out of town longer, he’d come back with something small, a piece of jewelry, or even the flowers…” She stopped suddenly. Her entire body froze.
“Rose?” He reached over and touched her.
“The flowers.” She turned to him. “Who sent me those last flowers?”
“What flowers?” he asked.
“The ones that were delivered the day before you and Carson showed up on my doorstep. If Isaac was already… in the wall, then who sent me the text and the flowers? I get the killer sending me a text, if he took Isaac’s phone, you know, to throw everyone off and make it seem that Isaac was still alive, but why send the flowers? How would the killer know that Isaac sent me flowers when he was gone? How did the killer know Isaac did that?”
“It has to be someone close to you,” he supplied. “Let’s look at that list again.” He stood up and walked over to where they had stashed all the sticky notes and stacks of papers.
For the next hour, they laid everything out again, this time, setting two names to the side. He suggested they take Boone Schneller off their main suspect list altogether since he doubted the neighbor would know about the flowers.
“Maybe he noticed the flower delivery van arrive all the time,” Rose suggested.
“What about Ray Gardezi?” Sawyer asked.
She shrugged. “Isaac wasn’t too private of a person. Maybe he overheard him making a call or even talked to the man about it. But it is highly unlikely.”
“Okay, so we move these two down the list, but not off of it. Owens?” he asked.
“A mistress would know, wouldn’t you think?” she asked. “I mean, I would think that if you got into a relationship with a man and stayed with him when he marries, you’d know that he sends flowers to his wife each time he’s with you.”
He nodded, then moved her to the top of the list. “Hunter?” he asked.
“You know how I feel about his name even being on here. But”—she sighed loudly— “he’s been here several times when the flowers arrived. Plus, he’s known us and our relationship pattern for as long as I’ve known Isaac.”
He nodded and kept Hunter’s stack where it was.
“Your father-in-law?” Sawyer asked.
She nodded. “Yes, I remember Sean mentioning something about it when Isaac was here. They seemed to think it was a great joke. Now that I know everything, I’m sure Sean knew about Kristy all along.”
Sawyer moved the father-in-law’s pile next to Owens’s pile. They both had financial motives. He crossed his arms over his chest as they both looked down at the list. “Our top two suspects.”
Nineteen
Treachery…
When the weekend came, Rose couldn’t contain her excitement as the three of them loaded onto Hunter’s plane.
Since Sawyer wanted to witness Hunter’s flying abilities firsthand, he sat up front with him. She’d flown with Hunter plenty of times and didn’t mind relaxing in the backseat of his Cessna 172S Skyhawk.
Their luggage was crammed in the seat next to her, but she still had plenty of room to relax. There was still a light snow falling as they took off, and she smiled when Sawyer’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the overhead handle when Hunter took off.
“Have you flown in a small plane before?” Hunter asked, chuckling.
“Yes, but not in bad weather,” Sawyer replied.
“This isn’t bad weather. We once flew to Montreal in a blizzard, remember that, Rose?” Hunter glanced back at her.
She laughed. “Yes, what fun we had. He took me skiing.” She touched her brother’s shoulder. “We had a blast.”
“Where was Isaac?” Sawyer asked.
Her smile fell away.
“Stuck in the city,” Hunter supplied. “Now, I suppose, we all know why.” He glanced back. “Sorry, sis.”
“It’s okay.” She smiled up at him. “I’m just thankful you didn’t know about it before I did.”
“Why?” Sawyer asked as the small plane continued to climb.
“I probably would have killed the guy,” Hunter said easily.
Sawyer nodded. He seemed to relax a little when the plane leveled off.
“You went to school with Isaac, didn’t you?” Sawyer asked.
Rose leaned back. Sawyer had talked about using the flight time to ask Hunter a few questions he still had. She’d tried to talk Sawyer out of grilling Hunter during the flight but understood that he wanted to get some answers for himself. In her mind, Hunter being on the list of suspects was ridiculous.
Still, she knew she was biased and Sawyer needed to look at all possibilities. For the record, her money was on Kristy Owens. After all, it hadn’t taken the woman much time to jump in after they found Isaac’s body.
The only question that weighed heavy on her mind was why the woman hadn’t made herself known after Isaac had supposedly died in the plane accident almost a year ago? Why now? Then again, she wasn’t sure that Kristy Owens had been in financial difficulties a year ago. Sawyer had mentioned that Owens had signed a large movie deal shortly before Isaac’s death, so maybe she hadn’t needed the attention or money then. Did that mean the woman hadn’t had anything to do with his death?
She leaned her head back as Sawyer and Hunter talked and before she knew it, Sawyer was shaking her awake.
“We’re coming in.” He smiled back at her. She noticed the change in him instantly. He was relax
ed and actually looked like he was enjoying himself. “Your brother let me fly for a while,” he said with a smile.
“Oh?” She smiled. Hunter had let her fly several times and she had at one point even thought about getting her own pilot’s license. Before Isaac’s death, that was. “How did he do?” She leaned forward and touched Hunter’s shoulder.
“Not bad,” Hunter answered. “Most people already have the basics down, steering, and all that. It’s the takeoff and landings and what to do when you’re caught in a crosswind that are harder.”
“What would it take to fly one of these into the ocean?” Sawyer asked.
Hunter looked over at him, his eyebrows shooting up. “Isaac’s you mean?” Sawyer nodded.
“I mean, in the movies, they tie something to the steering wheel.” Sawyer nodded to the two small wheels on either side of the cockpit. “But I doubt it would cause this to take a nose dive into the water.”
“Yeah.” Hunter thought about it. “I guess, someone would have to be able to jump out.”
“Mid-flight?” Sawyer asked.
“Sure. A lot of people who parachute use small planes to take a few people up. Of course, they always have a trail of forms they have to fill out beforehand. You know, flight patterns, legal release forms.” He tilted his head. “They don’t usually jump out of the front of a plane; the doors aren’t easy to open against the wind. But, it can be done. Or,” he shrugged. “the door could have been removed before flight. If whoever flew it kept it low.”
She could tell he was thinking about the logistics of it all. From what she was hearing, however had dumped her husbands’ plane in the ocean, would have had to have been an expert.
“Have you ever parachuted?” Sawyer asked.
“Sure.” Hunter smiled. “Plenty of times. Isaac and I used to go all the time.”
“I didn’t know that you had been skydiving or, for that matter, that Isaac had.” Rose leaned up as the plane started heading downward.
“Isaac got me hooked on it back in college. He was going up with a few buddies and invited me along.” Hunter turned the plane.