“Yeah, I know it’s a little weird.” Norville lowered his voice, his eyes on Kate. “But she’s really nice, and we get along. And she’s mature, you know? It’s about time I started thinking about serious stuff, like saving money and setting career goals, maybe starting a family someday.”
Tim wanted to snort, but held it back at the last moment. Norville growing up? Not a chance.
“I’m … glad for you, Jeremy. I hope it works out.”
Liz’s smile looked forced. And he’d heard hesitation in her voice. Was she jealous? Did she still have feelings for the guy?
The thought wedged in Tim’s brain like ice. What was he doing standing here, listening to this garbage? He turned on his heel and headed toward the fireplace to return the magazine. He’d leave. Call the sheriff and tell him to assign someone else to keep an eye on Liz. He couldn’t handle this.
SEVENTEEN
Liz started when Tim turned abruptly and stomped away. Jeremy stared after him a moment, then gave a slight shrug. Jazzy and Caitlin both wore inquisitive expressions as their gazes slid between the two men. They were probably picking up on the unspoken nuances.
“Listen, Jeremy,” Liz said, “I need to talk to Tim about something before he leaves. Will I see you again? At the wedding, maybe?”
Jeremy watched Tim’s retreating back for a moment. Then he shook his head. “I don’t think so. Best not to rub it in, you know? Apparently some of us haven’t moved on in three years.”
Irritation stabbed through Liz at his slightly superior tone. He had no right—zero—to feel superior to Tim. She straightened her spine and jumped to Tim’s defense. “Well, maybe some wounds take a little longer to heal. The deep ones.”
Jazzy and Caitlin’s expressions were more than inquisitive now. They were downright curious. Liz had confessed about her engagement to Tim last night before dinner, but she hadn’t included Jeremy in the explanation. Obviously, she was going to have some explaining to do later.
“Whatever.” He shrugged again. “Listen, it was nice to meet you two.” He nodded at her friends, then threw an arm around Liz for a quick hug. “Keep in touch, okay?”
“I will.”
He headed for the front desk and his date. Which was beyond weird, as far as Liz was concerned. That Jeremy Norville would actually go for a woman who looked to be in her late thirties just about blew her mind. Nothing against Kate, who seemed nice enough, but she didn’t fit the mold for Jeremy’s typical girlfriend. She was slightly on the heavy side, for one, and short. And she didn’t look at all like a powder hound, as Jeremy had always been.
But hey, people could change, couldn’t they? Maybe Jeremy really had grown up.
Tim had tossed his magazine on the surface of the coffee table and was heading toward the door. One glance at his stormy expression made Liz want to forget the whole thing. She had the sheriff’s business card. Maybe she could just give him a call.
But Caitlin apparently wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. She stepped into Tim’s path to stop him. “Where are you going? We told you, Liz needs to talk to you.”
“That’s right.” Jazzy nodded. “Don’t you, Liz?”
Tim turned an expectant stare her way. Liz sucked in a breath. “Yeah. I guess I do.”
He paused, his eyes flickering toward the door. He’s contemplating his exit! Liz was just about to draw an outraged breath and tell him to go ahead and leave when he allowed a smile to flash onto his face.
“All right. Let’s have a seat.”
Liz followed him back toward the fireplace. He returned to the chair he’d been sitting in when they arrived earlier, and she sat on the couch nearest to him. Jazzy and Caitlin dropped onto the cushions beside her.
She gave them a look. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Practicing our music, maybe?”
They both gave her guileless smiles.
“We can’t practice without our cellist,” Caitlin said.
Jazzy nodded. “Besides, we want to make sure you don’t leave anything out.”
Liz rolled her eyes at them. “Fine.” She turned toward Tim. “I think I might know what that man was after on the slopes today.”
Tim sucked in a slow breath. “What?”
“This.” Liz reached into her purse and pulled out the box. She held it in her palm for a moment. Tim would recognize it immediately, of course. And the memories associated with the thing wouldn’t be pleasant ones for him. But she had to show him. She thrust the box into his hands.
A cautious expression stole over his features as he searched her face. Then he opened the lid as gently as Mr. Cole had done earlier. Liz watched him carefully for a reaction, but all she saw was his throat move once as he swallowed.
“Your family heirloom.” His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. “You still have it.”
“Grandma didn’t want to take it back after … what happened.” She cleared her throat. “I’m supposed to give it to Debbie on Saturday.”
Tim shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You had this with you on the slopes today?”
She nodded. “In my backpack.”
“Why would you carry it with you while you skied?”
“Because I was afraid someone might break into our hotel room and steal it.”
His gaze rose from the pin to Liz’s face. “Why would you think that?”
Liz clasped her hands between her knees and looked down at them.
Caitlin answered for her. “Because we think someone searched our condo yesterday while we were out. And Debbie thought someone might have been in hers, too.”
“Not only that,” Jazzy said, “but six weeks ago Liz’s apartment was broken into back in Kentucky. Whoever it was trashed the place, but they didn’t steal anything.”
“We think they might have been looking for the pin, which Liz had with her that night,” Caitlin added.
Disbelief grew stronger on Tim’s face with each word. “Liz, why didn’t you tell me this before? Why didn’t you tell the sheriff this afternoon?”
She grasped her hands more tightly. Time for full disclosure, even though it might be painful. “Because I didn’t want to remind you of the reason I have the heirloom to begin with. I was embarrassed.”
Apparently Jazzy and Caitlin felt they’d served their purpose. They rose and slipped away without a word. Liz didn’t look at them as they left.
“Elizabeth Ann Carmichael.”
Liz’s head rose almost of its own accord in response to the tenderness in Tim’s voice. His eyes, light brown with flecks of green in patterns she had memorized long ago, reflected his tone. Alarm claxons sounded in her mind. Danger! Danger! Don’t go there. But her lips tingled with the memory of his kiss on the slopes.
“No embarrassment between us,” he whispered. “We’ve been through too much for that.”
Liz felt herself slipping over the edge of a precipice. If she leaned forward a tiny bit, gave him the slightest encouragement, he would kiss her again. She knew it. But did she really want it? Okay, yes. She wanted to lose herself in his kiss the way she used to, back before the whole mess with Jeremy had destroyed their lives. But the past was full of guilt and pain—the pain she’d inflicted on Tim and on herself. This was dangerous emotional ground, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it. She had to get a grip on herself, on the situation.
She straightened her spine, which made her lean backward, out of the danger zone. “I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, that’s all. Especially in front of your boss.”
Tim held her gaze for a long moment, then gave a nearly imperceptible nod. He leaned back in his chair, as well, and closed the lid on the box.
“Did you or Debbie tell anyone about your room being searched yesterday?”
Her muscles relaxed at the normal tone he used. “No. We weren’t even positive anyone had been there. I’m still not sure. If someone did search our room, they were very careful not to leave any signs.”
He held the
jewelry box up. “You know I’ll have to report this to Sheriff Daniels?”
Liz nodded. She’d probably have to answer some tough questions, like why she chose to keep this from him before. “Honestly, it didn’t occur to me at first that the guy on the mountain would want my grandmother’s brooch. I mean, nobody knows about it except my family. Plus, I didn’t think it was worth much until about an hour ago.”
Tim’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?”
Liz told him about their visit to the jewelry store and Mr. Cole’s estimation of the value of the pin.
“Even so,” she concluded, “I still don’t see how my apartment getting trashed back in December could have anything to do with today. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Tim pursed his lips and stared at the velvet box. “It does seem unlikely. But we have to check it out anyway. The sheriff will probably contact the police in Kentucky for a copy of their report. If there’s a connection, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, we need to put this someplace safe.”
Liz agreed wholeheartedly. “Do you have a safe-deposit box?”
“Yeah, but the bank is closed for the night.” He glanced behind her, toward the front desk. “How about the lodge’s safe?”
Liz looked over her shoulder. Thank goodness Jeremy and his girlfriend had left. Mr. Harrison sat behind the desk, his head bent over his hands as he wrote something. “Perfect.”
Tim nodded and stood. “And one other thing. I want you to stay here tonight. Hang out with your friends and Debbie and your grandmother. I’ll be right here in the lodge, in Ryan’s room with the guys. If you do have to go anywhere, you call me and I’ll go with you, okay?”
Liz bristled. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“I knew you’d say that.” Tim grinned. “Some things never change.”
Something inside Liz melted as she returned that oh-so-familiar grin. He was right. Some things never changed, no matter how far she ran. Even all the way to Kentucky.
EIGHTEEN
After he’d seen Liz safely to her room—with her protesting the need for an escort all the way—Tim slipped out his cell phone and punched in the number for the sheriff. As he waited for the call to connect, Tim walked toward the stairwell at the end of the hall. Ryan’s room was at the other end of the building and one floor down. Far enough away to make Liz feel that he wasn’t hovering over her, but close enough that he could get to her quickly if he needed to. He planned to crash on the floor in Ryan’s condo tonight, since that one had only a single bedroom and the other guys planned to stay over. Tim could go back to his apartment for the night. But he felt better sticking close to Liz.
The phone didn’t complete the first ring when it was answered.
“Daniels.”
“Sheriff, it’s Tim Richards. I need to report a development in the Eagle Summit case.” He laid out the pertinent information about the brooch and Liz’s suspicions that her room had been searched in succinct details.
Daniels remained silent until he had finished. “What about the cleaning crew? Any chance they were in her room?”
“No, sir. I checked with the resort owner when we locked the pin in his safe, and he said no cleaning crew had been up there yesterday. They only clean the condos once each week, and between guests.”
Harrison had been horrified at the suggestion that someone had gone through his guests’ rooms. He insisted that all the room keys were kept secured. Tim glanced at the door he passed. Standard, if old-fashioned, locking handle and dead bolt.
The sheriff let out a disgusted blast. “Why didn’t the Carmichael girl tell us this afternoon?”
Tim gulped. He really didn’t want to go into their whole background in front of his boss. “It was me, sir. As I told you this morning, we have a history.”
“Do I need to pull you out of there?”
“No, sir.” He reached the stairwell and stood with his hand on the door handle. “I just left Miss Carmichael, and we’ve gotten past it.”
Well, maybe not all the way past it, but at least Liz had opened up to him. About the pin, anyway.
“Oh, and one other thing, sheriff.” Tim described the break-in at Liz’s apartment six weeks ago. “Hard to see how that’s related, but I thought you might want to have someone follow up on it.”
“Good job, Richards. I’m going to send a couple of deputies over there to hang around that lodge, keep an eye on the place. Act as a deterrent. You got things under control with the girl?”
Tim scuffed his shoe against the carpet in the hallway. “Well, I’m trying. She got away from me this afternoon. But at least she was with her friends. And I’ve got her promise she won’t leave the lodge alone without letting me know.”
“Ha!” The sheriff’s laugh spoke volumes about what he thought of Liz’s promise. “Still, maybe she’s scared enough now to listen to reason. All right. Richards. I’ll need some paperwork from you by tomorrow. Lay it all out. In the meantime, I’ll have someone contact the police in …” Tim heard a paper rattle in the background “… Lexington, Kentucky. You don’t have the exact date of that break-in, do you?”
“No, just December. Want me to ask her?” Tim half-turned to head back down the hallway to Liz’s room.
“Nah, they can figure it out.”
Sheriff Daniels ended the call without another word. Tim gave a silent laugh and slid the phone into his pocket. Apparently his boss didn’t waste breath on unnecessary things like saying goodbye.
He’d taken a few steps down the hall when his cell phone rang. The ring tone echoed in the hollow stairwell. Tim fished it out as he walked and glanced at the screen.
“Hey, Mom,” he said as he rounded the landing.
“Hi, honey. I’m not bothering you, am I?” His mother’s voice held the slightly anxious tone it always did when she was afraid she was interrupting him.
“No, I’m just on my way to Ryan’s room for the bachelor party.”
“You’re not going to be drinking, are you?” Her tone changed to stern disapproval.
Tim laughed. “Mom, you know better than that.”
“Sorry. You always were a good boy, even as a teenager. Unlike your sister.”
“Hey, I heard that!”
The sound of Maggie’s outraged comment in the background made him smile.
Mom chuckled in his ear. “Listen, I called to ask you something. At church last night I heard that Liz Carmichael is in town for her cousin’s wedding.”
Tim almost missed a step. “Yes, ma’am. She is.”
“Have you seen her?”
“A couple of times. Just a few minutes ago, in fact.”
Mom’s voice warmed. “Oh, Tim, please tell her I said hello, and that I’ve missed her so much.”
Tim snapped his mouth shut. Mom had always loved Liz, and had been almost as devastated over their broken engagement as him.
“Mother!” Maggie’s voice sounded closer. “I cannot believe you just asked Tim to talk to that woman. That’s like tossing your own flesh and blood into a rattlesnake pit. She broke his heart, or have you forgotten that?”
Mom sounded immediately contrite. “Well, if it will make you uncomfortable, of course you don’t have to relay my message.”
“No, it’s okay.” Tim reached the next floor and swung open the fire door. “I’ll probably see her again tomorrow. I’ll tell her you said hello.”
“Thank you, honey.”
“Here, let me talk to him,” Maggie snapped. Tim winced and jerked the phone away as Maggie’s voice blared into his ear. “Don’t you dare talk to her! In fact, stay as far away from her as you can. I don’t know what Ryan was thinking, asking you to be in his wedding when he knew she would be around. Some best friend he turned out to be.”
“Calm down, Sis.” Tim pictured his pregnant sister, face red with righteous indignation at the thought of her brother being insulted. “It’s not good for you to get all hyper. Think of the kid.”
That always calmed her down.
He heard her huff a few breaths of oxygen. “I’m perfectly calm. I’m just worried about my baby brother.” Her voice lowered to almost a whisper. “So, have you seen her yet?”
“Yes, several times.”
“Was it, you know, okay?”
Tim detected real concern in her question, and felt a rush of warmth for his big sister. She’d always been protective of him. “It was fine. Really. She looks good.”
“Oh, no, you did not just say that.”
“What? She’s not allowed to look good?”
“That is not what you said. Oh, those were the words, but that’s not what you meant.” Her words became a hiss. “You’re still in love with her, aren’t you? You saw her and did a back flip and ended up falling right at her feet, didn’t you?”
Tim stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall, eyes closed. Maggie had always possessed the uncanny ability to pick up on his thoughts, no matter how he tried to hide them from her. That kiss on the slopes today had felt just like that, a backflip. He kept his voice carefully bland. “I did not.”
“There it is again,” she accused. “I hear it in your voice. Please tell me you haven’t done anything stupid, like tell her you’re still in love with her.”
“Of course not.”
“But?”
Tim remembered the look that passed between them downstairs. He’d seen something in Liz’s eyes that made him wonder if she might still have feelings for him. Hope lifted his mood to the roof at the thought.
Still, he wasn’t about to discuss that with his sister.
“But nothing,” he said.
“Good. Because if you’re tempted, you just remember how awful you felt when she dumped you. How you wouldn’t leave my apartment for days. How your stomach was so sick you couldn’t eat.”
“Okay, okay. I remember.” Tim hefted himself off the wall. “Listen, I’ve got to go. Tonight’s the bachelor party.”
“I’m not kidding, Tim. Don’t set yourself up again. If I have to come up there and knock you around, I’ll do it.”
Tim couldn’t help smiling at the visual image that threat caused. “I’d like to see you try. Love you, Sis.”
Murder in D Minor Boxed Set Page 30