“Had some trouble with the brakes,” Kat yelled back, still a little shaken from her close call and now wondering if the brake line really had been cut, the throttle not just stuck but wired open. But why? It made no sense. “Could you turn that down and then come into the living room. I need to talk to you.”
Emily’s expression closed. “What now?” she asked with a groan.
Kat motioned for her to turn down the stereo first. “I just need to talk to you.”
“Yeah, right.” Em set down her nachos on the table by the door next to the phone and climbed the stairs to turn down the music as if she were headed for a hanging.
Kat checked the answering machine. No messages. No big surprise. But she had expected Ross to call even though she hadn’t planned to see him again. Maybe Elizabeth was right. Maybe she did intimidate men. Except for men like Jonah, she thought with a silent groan.
Kat took a chair in the living room, a room filled with furniture that had been in the family for years, a mixture of styles and colors, but too homey to even consider replacing if she were so inclined—which she wasn’t.
She looked up as the noise stopped and Emily slinked back down the steps, picked up her nachos and plopped sullenly into a chair across from her. “Okay, what have I done now?”
“I need to ask you about something I saw earlier,” Kat said, not sure how to broach the subject, but she noticed her sister suddenly seemed nervous. She didn’t want to accuse Emily of vandalism and she sure as the devil didn’t want to believe that Em had had anything to do with breaking into Dr. Manning’s lab, but she also couldn’t ignore what she’d seen—a young female vandal wearing a jacket exactly like Em’s running from the scene.
“Where’s the red jacket I bought you?” she asked, glancing toward the coatrack by the door, already aware that it wasn’t hanging there.
Em rolled her eyes and made an impatient groan. “You want to talk about my jacket?”
“Where is it?” Kat asked again, not about to be dissuaded.
“I don’t know,” Emily snapped. “Probably around somewhere.”
“Would you mind finding it for me?”
“You aren’t serious?”
Kat just gave her a look and waited. Emily uncurled herself from the chair, her plate of nachos slamming down a little too hard on the coffee table as she stomped up the stairs again. Kat could hear her rummaging around in her room, swearing. She wished she didn’t have to have this relationship with her sister. But without parents to guide Em, Kat found herself in that role.
She turned at the sound of Em’s bare feet thumping down the stairs again. “I can’t find it, all right?”
“Do you remember the last time you wore it?” Kat persisted.
Em rolled her eyes and dropped into the chair again. She pulled the plate of nachos onto her lap and resumed eating, obviously angry. “This morning, I guess. Maybe I left it at school.”
Kat knew the signs of lying: avoiding eye contact, rubbing the nose, putting too much interest in something uninteresting like the melted cheese on a nacho chip. Em was lying about the jacket and Kat could only think of one reason why.
“I saw some kids spray painting the side of the Bait & Tackle last night. One of them was wearing a red jacket.”
Em’s head snapped up, her eyes widening. “You think I was one of them?” she demanded, sounding both insulted and surprised.
“Were you?”
Em opened her mouth and shook her head as if at a loss for words. “You’re accusing me!” Emily was on her feet, the nachos flying. “I can’t believe this.”
“Yes or no?” Kat asked.
“No!” Emily’s glare dared her not to believe it.
Kat realized she hadn’t been keeping close enough tabs on her half sister. She didn’t know what kids she hung out with or where she went or what she did lately. “Then you can tell me where you were yesterday and who you were with?”
Em’s face instantly closed. “I was with some friends.”
“Who?” Kat asked, feeling like a warden instead of a sister.
“Just a bunch of kids,” Emily snapped, looking close to tears and at the same time angry. “I’m almost eighteen!” She said it as if it were a threat. Then she sighed. “Okay, I wasn’t with anyone. I had a fight with Angela.” Angela was her best friend and a girl that Kat worried wasn’t a good influence on Em. “I just took off walking by myself, but I don’t expect you to believe that.”
Kat wished she could, but Em wouldn’t look her in the eye and seemed nervous. “Someone also broke into Dr. Manning’s lab last night and stole his property,” she said, watching her sister’s face, afraid of the reaction she was going to get. “We’re not talking about a prank. We’re talking about breaking and entering and burglary, a punishable crime.”
“Someone broke into Dr. Manning’s lab?” Emily asked, her eyes wide with amazement—and surprise. “What did they steal?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Kat hedged, wondering herself what the kids had taken, “but he’s hired me to try to find the vandals. All he wants is his goods returned and no questions will be asked.”
Emily held her arms out to her side. “So?”
“So you don’t know anything about that either?”
Her sister’s eyes blazed with anger. “I just told you that I don’t know anything about any vandalism.”
“I have to ask.”
“Because you’re a private detective, right?”
“No,” Kat said. “Because you’re my sister and I don’t want to see you getting into trouble.”
“Right.” Emily stood, arms crossed, looking angry. At least she hadn’t stomped upstairs.
Kat tried to think of something to say to ease the tension between them. She wanted to demand Em come up with alibis for both incidents, but she backed off, maybe because she was afraid of what Emily was hiding from her.
Em shook her head as she started to clean up the spilled nachos. “I have homework to do.” She looked up at Kat, obviously waiting for her to say something. Or maybe apologize.
“I’ll help you clean up the nachos,” Kat said. “Maybe we could make another batch. I wouldn’t mind a few.” She saw Emily weaken a little.
“I can clean up my own mess.”
“You know I love you.”
“Right,” Em said, sighing. “And you worry about me. And you only give me a hard time because you’re older and you don’t want me to make some of the same mistakes you’ve made.”
That about summed it up. “Yes. Sure you don’t want more nachos? I’d share with you.”
Em shook her head, her back to Kat, as she rose and took the dirty plate to the kitchen. Kat could hear water running in the sink, the slam of the trash can. Kat turned on the TV to the late news.
A few minutes later, Emily came out of the kitchen with a fresh plate of nachos. Wordlessly, she handed them to Kat. “I got a job today. At the ice-cream shop. I thought you’d like that.”
Kat smiled. “I do.”
Em nodded and smiled grudgingly. “Like, how much trouble can I get into at an ice-cream shop?”
Kat didn’t want to even think. “Let me know if you need any help with your homework, and thanks for the nachos,” she said, touched by her sister’s thoughtfulness.
“Yeah, you’re a real whiz at calculus. Like you would be of any help.” She rewarded her with a small smile as she headed upstairs.
The phone rang and Emily hurried back down to pick it up.
“It’s Angela,” Em mouthed, motioning that she would take the cordless phone upstairs.
Kat nodded, figuring Angela had called to patch things up after their fight. “You’re in for the night, though, right?”
Emily turned to give Kat an impatient look. “I’m not going anywhere. I told you I have calculus.”
Kat channel surfed and nibbled on the chips for a while, then washed the plate and followed her sister on up to bed. It wasn’t until she reached her thir
d-floor bedroom that she realized why she’d avoided going to bed for so long. The nightmare. After everything that had happened tonight, all she needed was to have the dream again.
Without turning on the light, she went to open the French doors and step out into the night. Stars glittered overhead, the moon brighter and bigger. The fog hung in the trees of the town green.
Was it possible her brake line really had been cut, as Jonah had told her? She’d know in the morning when Doug at the garage took a look. In the meantime she’d remain skeptical and leery. It was too much of a coincidence that Jonah had been on that road tonight. Between him and Emily, she was worried. But Kat knew it was more than that. She felt…scared of the future. Why was that?
The town clock struck midnight. She thought of Dr. Manning and his missing research materials. Had they been returned before the witching hour?
A movement down by the witch-hanging tree caught her eye. She saw a man looking her way. He stepped back into the foliage and fog, but there was no mistaking who she’d seen. Jonah Ries. And there was no doubt he was watching her house.
Earlier, after their almost accident, she’d forgotten about asking him why he seemed to have an interest in her—and her mother’s murder. Now he was watching her house….
Kat tapped at Em’s door, waited a minute, then knocked again. No answer. She opened the door, thinking Emily was probably still on the phone and hadn’t either heard the knock—or had ignored it.
The room was empty, the window open and the breeze stirring the note pinned to Em’s pillow. “Sorry sis, but I have to talk to Angela. I’m spending the night at her house—in case you find this.”
Kat swore under her breath, noting that Emily had failed to take her calculus book with her. But right now, Kat had something even more pressing to take care of. Jonah Ries.
Tired of being scared and in the dark about what was going on, she pulled the Beretta from her purse, determined to find out exactly what this man wanted from her—and why he was so sure someone was trying to kill her.
Chapter Eleven
Kat kept to the shadows as she moved through the darkness toward the tree. Behind it the gazebo glowed stark white in the illumination from the scant lights on the green.
She could no longer see Jonah under the witch tree but she knew he hadn’t had time to cross the green and leave without her seeing him. He was here somewhere and she intended to find him.
The breeze smelled of the sea, sharp and cold as the Atlantic was this time of year. In the distance, the foghorn moaned soulfully. The dark seemed to close around her.
She saw Jonah before he saw her. He had started past the gazebo, then stopped and moved toward it as if drawn there. He didn’t seem aware of her as she cut across the green after him.
As she drew closer, she saw that he knelt over something at the back of the gazebo on one of the benches. She slowed her steps, a vague sense of unease turning into something much worse.
A white object caught her eye. White like daisy petals. White like seagull wings. On a gust of breeze, it billowed out. White like the scarf that had been tied around her mother’s neck.
And that’s when she saw the body.
JONAH SWUNG AROUND, startled by the shrill bloodcurdling scream. He hadn’t heard Kat approach—nor had he sensed her presence. He’d been too shocked at what he’d seen lying in the gazebo—lying in the exact spot Leslie Ridgemont had lain.
Hurriedly, he tried to shield Kat from the body lying naked on the bench with the white silk scarf knotted around its throat.
Kat stumbled back, the fear in her expression almost dropping him to his knees. She thought he’d killed the woman lying there.
“Easy,” he said, trying to calm her. “It isn’t what you think.”
But from the wild, terrified look in her eyes, she wasn’t hearing him. She was reliving her mother’s murder. The thought tore at him. He could have killed the person with his bare hands who’d done this, because there was no doubt in his mind that it had been for Kat’s benefit.
“It’s a prank,” he said, reaching for her.
She stepped back from his touch, shaking her head.
“It’s a cadaver, probably stolen from the college as part of some fraternity thing,” he said, although he couldn’t imagine a more cruel prank. The cadaver, smelling of formaldehyde and obviously lacking in blood, had been placed in the same spot as Kat’s mother had been found twenty years ago, complete with the deadly white scarf around its neck. Jonah knew it was no prank. It was a warning. Pure and simple. “I’ve called the police.”
Her gaze came up to meet his then, her eyes still filled with terror and what he suspected were flashes of memory.
He reached for her again. This time she didn’t try to move away from him. Pulling her into his arms, he held her tightly, afraid she might break if he let her go. In the distance he could hear the police siren.
KAT WRAPPED the blanket around her shoulders, still chilled to her core. She felt too shocked to make any sense of the things that had happened tonight, too tired to even try.
Across the interrogation room at the police department, Jonah stood leaning against the wall, looking relaxed to all appearances. But she could see the tension in his face, in his large masculine hands, as he sipped a cup of the hot horrible station coffee and seemed to wait patiently. She had felt his gaze, almost as comforting as his arms had been.
“Thank you,” Cullen Ryan said, and hung up the phone, jotting down a couple of notes before he looked up at her. Kat had known Cullen since they were kids growing up in Moriah’s Landing. At six feet, with short dark hair and an edgy, confident manner, he’d once been the town’s bad boy, living in a section of town almost as ill-reputed as where the Rieses had lived.
But he’d become a cop, returned to town and fallen madly in love with her best friend, Elizabeth Douglas. They were to be married in little over a week and Kat was going to be her maid of honor. But right now, none of that seemed real.
“The body you found,” Cullen said, “has been identified and claimed. It’s a cadaver Dr. Manning was using for research at his laboratory.”
“A cadaver,” she repeated.
Cullen nodded. “It was one of the bodies donated to Dr. Manning for his research. He says it was stolen sometime last night.”
That was the property he’d hired her to get back? No wonder he hadn’t wanted to tell her.
“That doesn’t explain how it ended up in the gazebo on the town green with a white scarf tied around its neck,” Jonah said, sounding angry.
Cullen eyed Jonah with a guarded expression. “Nor does it explain what you were doing on the green tonight kneeling over the body.”
“I told you, I was cutting through the park on my way to talk to Ms. Ridgemont when I saw something move in the gazebo, obviously the scarf. I had just found the body when Ms. Ridgemont discovered me.”
Just cutting through the park? A clear lie, Kat thought. She felt Cullen’s gaze swing to her.
“You have any idea who might have done this?”
She shook her head. She’d been so sure that Razz and Dodie had stolen Dr. Manning’s “property” and that they would return it for the reward—not use it for some malicious prank.
“We’ll continue to look for the person or persons who did this,” Cullen assured her. “In the meantime, the cadaver is being returned to Dr. Manning. I’m sorry you had to see it, though, Kat.”
She nodded and got to her feet, leaving the blanket he’d given her on the chair.
“I’ll see you home,” Jonah said, taking her arm.
“I don’t want you going home alone at this hour,” Cullen said, watching Jonah with suspicion. As bad as Cullen’s family had been, it paled in comparison with the Rieses. No doubt he was worried about her. And with good reason. “I could give you a ride,” Cullen offered.
Kat smiled, even more happy that Elizabeth had found him. “Thanks, but Mr. Ries can take me home.” She had no intentio
n of letting Jonah take her anywhere. She just wanted him alone, away from the police station.
Jonah seemed surprised—and wary that she’d opt to let him take her home. Smart man.
Once outside the police station, they walked the half block to the edge of the park where Jonah had left his motorcycle earlier. A breeze moved through the trees, scattering the fog among the branches. It rose in wisps, free as lost spirits. At this time of the morning, the streets were deserted and dark. She and Jonah were alone.
“Okay,” she said, stopping at the edge of light from one of the quaint old street lamps. “Let’s have it.”
He turned to look at her, surprised by her tone, no doubt. Even more surprised by the Beretta in her hand. “The truth. Why is it that every time I turn around I find myself tripping over you? Why were you watching my house last night? What are you doing in Moriah’s Landing?”
He just stared at her.
“Hello?” She sounded like Emily.
Slowly, he shook his head. “What I have to tell you might come as a shock.”
“At this point, nothing you could tell me could shock me.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” he said, his voice a low rumble that reverberated through her. His look could have melted stone.
She felt herself shiver. “Try me.”
“I’m working undercover with the FBI.”
Whew. She’d pretty much guessed that. Or at least suspected it. For a moment, she thought he was going to tell her—
“That’s the good part,” he said quietly. “Being a Ries comes with a small quirk, like I tried to tell you earlier. Because of my genes, I’m considered a warlock.”
She stared at him. He was joking. Sure, she’d heard stories about the Ries family, weird, creepy stories, but Jonah was different, Jonah was—“Let me guess, something to do with the full moon and wolves?”
“That’s a werewolf.”
She knew that. She’d been joking. “Then I guess you’d better tell me what being considered a warlock has to do with why you were watching my house last night, why you’ve been asking around town about me—and my mother’s murder.”
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