Twisted Secrets

by Amy McKinley

  A few minutes later, he responded. I grinned from ear to ear because he’d said yes. He would be back in Honolulu tonight and would meet me tomorrow at the harbor. With school, work, and meeting Xander, my life was finally looking up.

  21

  Xander

  I had been lounging on one of Jaxon’s balcony chairs when my phone rang. I pressed the cell against my ear, pinpricks of warning stilling all further movement. Mark’s voice jolted me into an upright position. Jaxon’s hand, which held his beer, paused halfway to his mouth. It was clear that he, too, sensed from the tension in the air that it wouldn’t be good news.

  “I tried to get ahold of Tyler earlier today but couldn’t,” Mark whispered. “Daryl pulled the reports from the last mission. I don’t know what’s up, but he’s going over them with a few guys on your team. I overheard that he might send Tyler on another mission.”

  “Why haven’t I been called in?” It wasn’t normal. Even if I wasn’t needed for the mission, I should have been included in the meeting. After years of working together, our team was tight.

  “I don’t know. The thing that caused a red flag is that no new messages have come in. We don’t have another informant, but he’s acting like he has new intel.”

  “Fuck. I’ll find a reason to come in. Is Tyler there?”

  “Yes.” Commotion sounded on his end. “I’ve gotta go. Maybe check with Tyler before doing anything.”

  “Yeah, will do. Thanks for the heads-up.”

  Mark disconnected, and my gaze locked with Jaxon’s. He didn’t pretend he hadn’t heard every word, which saved me from explaining the conversation with Mark. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  “It doesn’t make sense why you aren’t there. We’ll have to wait to hear from Tyler.” Jaxon rocked back in his chair like our brother Ty did, balancing precariously. “You’re right.”

  I summed up the call and a meeting that hadn’t included me. “There isn’t any news about a new mission.” That was all I could really say, even though he was my brother and a former SEAL. If they’d gotten new intel on where the weapons were, I hadn’t heard anything about it.

  “If what you’re going for there is even there.”

  I side-eyed Jax. “Come on.”

  “Yeah.” He grunted. “Whatever it is, it’s there. I was just hoping that for once, things were good.”

  “I can’t sit around anymore. I need to go back on base.”

  “Normally, I would agree.” Jaxon dropped the front legs of his chair back down and set his beer beside the empty burger wrappers from lunch. “But Ty’s there. Let him ferret out information. He’s good at that. Then you can reconvene with him and figure out what the hell is going on.”

  I didn’t like it, but he had a point. Ty was damn good at putting together missing puzzle pieces.

  “How much personal time do you have left?”

  I rolled my eyes. “The enforced leave? I’ve got another week.” I was pissed about it, but on the flip side, I’d met Riley, and she was worth any aggravation from Daryl. “It’s bullshit, though. Daryl put in for it. I can’t help but wonder if he did it to get me out of the way.”

  Riley

  I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I rounded the corner and hurried to my apartment. All the work was done, and my grad project was in my professor’s hands. I’d checked my grade for my theory test—I got an A. After taking a screenshot of it, just in case, I was good. Not only that, but my diploma would be in the mail after the weekend. I wouldn’t have to go to campus again. The relief was tangible and nailed home how much the conflict with Charles had affected me.

  The best part was that I was going to spend more time with Xander soon.

  I shoved the heavy stairwell door open then turned the corner of the hallway to where my third-story apartment was. The smell of copper, like old pennies but not, hit me, and my reaction was instantaneous. Bile climbed my throat in a bitter, acidic burn.

  It was familiar. Jarring. Horrifying. My heart rate accelerated as if I was sprinting, and I wanted to—I felt an impulse to get away from there and from what I feared I would see. Again. My lungs strained to pull in a full breath, but I crept closer.

  There was no telltale sound of anyone home on my floor as I inched past a few closed doors in the dim hallway. I wished my neighbors weren’t at work or out. If they had been there, movement or muffled voices would have indicated their presence. Panic surged, and I broke into a cold sweat. No one could save me if the attacker was still there. I crept closer, helpless against the pull of what waited for me. Dread sat heavily in my gut.

  Something coated the doorknob. An ominous drip landed on the floor, runoff from the liquid that had been thrown against the worn but solid wood. I took a half step back as I gagged. A wretched, acidic taste coated my tongue, and tears streamed from my eyes. My hands trembled as I pulled my phone from my pocket, refusing to look at the knife that jutted from the door, anchoring the paper below it.

  Is someone inside? My heart leapt to my throat, and the shaking in my limbs intensified. I couldn’t make out the words on the paper beyond the tears swimming in my eyes. I blinked furiously, letting them fall over my lashes in an attempt to clear my vision. I took one step back then another. I could make it to the stairwell—to safety.

  I knew who I wanted to call, who made me feel safe. But it would take too long for him to rescue me. I called Xander anyway. My fingers found my cell phone in my pocket, and I pulled it out. I instantly pressed Xander’s number as I inched farther along the hall, stopping three feet away from my door.

  Bile climbed my throat as Xander answered. I choked out that I needed him.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “There’s blood. And a-a—” I couldn’t get it out. The knife wasn’t something I had personal experience with. The blood—God, yes. And I was terrified about what it meant.

  “Where are you?”

  His strong, take-charge voice pierced my consciousness and spurred my legs into motion. I backed away, pivoted, then fled down the stairs. “Home. On the stairs now.”

  “I’m half an hour away. I’ll call Jaxon. He can get there sooner. Go outside, Riley, or into someone’s apartment that you know.”

  “Going.” As if my feet had wings, I was out the door and on the sidewalk in a matter of seconds. The phone went back into my pocket, and I bent at the waist, gasping for breath.

  Sweat coated my hands and beaded along my hairline and upper lip. The memories were close. I was both hot and cold, unable to control my body temperature or the shaking. It would get worse. I had to get help before the past caught up to me in more ways than one.

  My stomach cramped, and I wanted to curl into a ball on the cement. Instead, I leaned against the building, hands on my knees. The damage was done. I couldn’t stop the childhood memories from crowding back, and they exploded into my mind with the viciousness of a sledgehammer.

  The scent of old pennies saturated the air, and I gagged. It was familiar, evoking horror and nausea. Loneliness. Abandonment.

  What else will be taken from me?

  At seven years old, I’d grasped a doorknob, and the sticky stuff had gotten on my skin. I yanked my hand back, not wanting to see what was on the other side of the door. There was no one else there. I had to.

  My fingers gripped the knob to our back door, and I pushed.

  As the sight I’d seen in my youth invaded my mind, I jolted violently from the memory. Gasping, my heart thudded painfully, and I found myself on the ground. I wildly glanced around, cataloging my surroundings. Palm fronds rustled overhead, and cars zoomed by on the street. The cloudless sky and warm breeze were so very different from that day. It wasn’t my childhood home. I was in Hawaii—safe.

  The high-pitched whine of a siren preceded flashing red and blue lights. Jaxon slammed the police cruiser to a halt at the curb. He unfurled himself from the car and rose to his impressive six-foot-plus height, carrying himself so similarly
to Xander.

  “Riley?” He approached cautiously. “Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened?”

  Warm brown eyes met mine as I relayed the details of coming home and finding the blood and the knife.

  “Was anyone there?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t wait to find out.”

  “Good.” Xander’s pickup truck screeched to a stop behind Jaxon’s squad car. “Hang tight while I go have a look.”

  Jaxon disappeared inside the building as Xander hopped out and was by my side in a heartbeat. When he opened his arms, I fell into his embrace, soaking up the strength and security, the warmth. There were things I would have to face, like who was behind the incident upstairs and why. It was too similar with what I’d already experienced. For the time being, though, I preferred to let Xander keep the world at bay.

  More police cars came to a halt, lining up behind the two vehicles parked at the curb. Xander exchanged a word with some of them while my eyes stayed shut, blocking out the team that would comb through my apartment.

  “I can’t do this.”

  “Darlin’, you don’t have to be afraid. I’m right here by your side.”

  I leaned into him until Jaxon came down, maybe an hour later. My fingers tightened on Xander’s black T-shirt. I held very still, unwilling to leave the protection of his arms. The concern in Jaxon’s eyes warned me that I wouldn’t like what he had to say.

  “We aren’t finding evidence of any other prints than what was here last time. The detective on duty would like you to come to the station for questioning.”

  “Not today. She’s been through enough. Not only that, but there are no grounds to have her go to the station.” Xander stiffened against me as he leveled his brother with a penetrating gaze. “She stays with me.”

  22

  Xander

  Flames danced in the makeshift bonfire pit, casting a golden glow on Riley’s taut face. It’d taken some time to pack what she needed most from her apartment and move them to my island until things were sorted. There weren’t any new prints inside. The handwriting on the note was similar to hers. Jaxon didn’t think it looked good but hadn’t said so—as my brother, I knew his tells, what he was thinking. While he was worried about her innocence, I was not.

  Tremors wracked her slender frame, and I held her and encouraged her to take sips of ginger ale. Exhausted, she’d quieted and even dozed for a few minutes. I brushed a kiss across her forehead and carefully shifted her from my arms. Then I stood and stepped a couple feet away. I hadn’t wanted to release her. But what I also wanted to do was hunt down whoever had done it. The protective instincts inside me had flared to a blazing inferno.

  Without knowing it, she’d changed everything for me.

  The fire flickered from a small gust of wind that swept along the beach. Palms rustled overhead, and night ushered in with a dramatic whoosh. I couldn’t put it off any longer and called Jaxon while Riley waited for me to return. I remained nearby, close enough so she could see me, so she would know she was safe.

  “You’d better know what you’re doing,” Jaxon snapped as soon as he answered.

  “I told you at her place. She stays with me.” I hadn’t liked the insinuation behind the questions the police had asked, and I’d acted on instinct. “She wasn’t under arrest. Besides, you know it’s safer for her if she’s with me.”

  “I get it.” Weariness clung to his words. “The detective is trying to use the angle that she’s a suspect. We don’t know whose blood—”

  “It could have been from an animal.”

  “And the note, ‘this isn’t finished’? It’s ambiguous. Not to mention the handwriting. Between this and the last call, the incidents appear staged.”

  “The key word there is ‘similar,’ and you know that’s bullshit.”

  “Yeah, I do. And trust me, I’m on your side here. But I still shouldn’t have let you two leave when you did. You knew things were going to go to hell and slipped away on purpose. Sending me a text and taking off with Riley was bullshit.”

  After Jaxon had given us a preliminary rundown of what the team had found, the cops had allowed us back into her apartment to recover any items she would need. The questioning began with the detective onsite, and my instincts screamed to get her out of there. Then we were told to wait outside while they locked up and went over a few theories—the detective issued a warning not to go anywhere. I ushered Riley into my truck and took off, texting Jaxon at a stoplight to tell him where we were headed.

  “She hasn’t done anything wrong, and there’s no reason to lock her up while the investigation is going on.”

  “I agree. There were just a few questions the detective wanted her to answer, which started when her prints were the only ones on the knife that was stuck in the door.”

  “Yeah, because it was hers, taken from her apartment.”

  “Even so, you’re putting me in a bad position,” Jaxon said. “I don’t think she should be charged, either, but fleeing the scene didn’t win any points with the detective assigned to the case. He’s going to be a real pain in the ass. He doesn’t always follow the best leads. If he catches wind of an easy thread, he’ll pull, regardless of whether there’s better, more accurate ones. It’s always the path of least resistance with him.”

  I shook my head. “It’s temporary. Isn’t Chief Kane due to come back soon?”

  “That’s not the point.” Silence stretched between us. “Remember that I’m pulling for you both, but we need to cover all angles. You don’t know her that well. The pain-in-the-ass detective brought up a point about her recent breakup and the possibility that she’s trying to draw attention to herself. It’s something to consider. What if this is like all those cases where the husband killed his mistress? I can think of twelve off the top of my head. The soccer player murdering his girlfriend and feeding her to his dogs, the marine killing his girlfriend, the cop, or the principal—all to avoid getting caught by their wives. All these cases were about not getting caught. From what you told me, she and Charles broke up when she learned about his wife—could it be they were playing a deadly game with each other?”

  “It’s not her. Question the professor.” I couldn’t help the growl that came with the thought of her ex-boyfriend.

  “We’re looking into him as a potential suspect but haven’t been able to reach him. Nor has the university or his wife. Charles Wright missing isn’t the detective’s only concern or angle. What if she killed Charles because he wouldn’t leave his wife?”

  “I’m not entertaining this stupidity. I called you to make sure we’re good. I’m keeping her here with me.”

  “I’m not arguing she isn’t safest with you. But know that you’re damn lucky I’m involved with this case, or she’d be behind bars. Nolan, the head detective, is worried I’m gunning for his position. He’s looking for an easy win here to shut me down. So far, he hasn’t had good enough reason to come after her.”

  “So Riley is a scapegoat because of your involvement?” It sounded like this Nolan guy had a chip on his shoulder and a know-it-all attitude.

  “Yeah, in a way.”

  Dammit, that meant he was targeting her despite any evidence that pointed elsewhere. “Keep Nolan away.”

  “I’m working on that. Keep Riley in your sight.” Jaxon sighed when I didn’t respond. “I’m not happy about this, either, but there are things that aren’t adding up—like how we can’t get ahold of the ex-boyfriend.”

  No matter what secrets Riley had, I knew she was innocent.

  Riley

  Delicious heat blanketed my back, and a heavy weight anchored me where I lay. The ebb and flow of the cresting waves eased me into the next day, and I cracked my eyes open. We were on the couch in Xander’s oceanside lanai, and it was his arm thrown over my waist that kept me in place.

  We’d stayed up late into the night, watching a storm roll in. Lightning had split the sky, and flashing sheets of rain fell while boo
ming thunder vied for supremacy with the roar of the waves hurtling against the shore. The palm trees bent and shook their fronds in response to the gusting wind. Electricity charged the air. It was dark, but when lightning lit the sky, we glimpsed a water funnel dancing on the horizon.

  It was a fitting end to a traumatic day.

  Xander had relayed what Jaxon had told him about the prints on the knife being mine alone. They were waiting for forensics to tell them whether the blood was animal or human. But I suspected it would be human. Thinking about it made a panic attack threaten to come on. I took a few deep breaths and thought about Xander, which helped me take my mind off my problems.

  Wrapped in his protective arms, the horror of the day before lost some of its tenacious grip on my psyche. He’d helped keep the monsters at bay, and I was able to stave off the fear for a little while. But there were things I had to tell him. As we’d hunkered down before the bonfire, he’d given me a reprieve. I couldn’t wait any longer. He needed to know everything.

  “Morning,” Xander greeted.

  I repressed a shiver from his sexy-as-sin morning voice. “Morning.”

  He moved his arm as I went to sit up. I stood and stretched. When I turned, he got to his feet, running his fingers through his hair. I located my bag on the chair near the screen door, unzipped it, then grabbed a few things to take to the bathroom, leaving the rest where it was because I wouldn’t be staying in his house. He’d promised I could use the one closest unless I wanted to stay with him. I wasn’t ready to, so next door was perfect. But I couldn’t go anywhere until we talked. And for that, I needed a clear head. “Do you have any coffee?”

  “I’ll make us some.” He waved to the inside portion of the house. “Make yourself at home. You remember where the bathroom is?”