‘What’s going on?’ Sarah grabbed Molly’s t-shirt as she zipped past, her hands laden with coffee for the cops.
‘Lindsey Chung’s been killed, can you believe it?’ Molly hissed, still moving. Shocked, Sarah let her go, watching her as she dished out the drinks to the waiting, and grateful, police officers and technicians. She had known Lindsey for years, was friendly with her. They’d been the same age – twenty –eight. the young lawyer had only been married just over three years – the wedding had been the last social event she and Dan had been to before he disappeared. Both Lindsey and her doctor husband, Tom were frequent visitors to the coffee house. Good people. Tom had been to see her in the hospital, sat with her. Her heart ached for him. Sarah moved like an automaton through to the backroom, dumping her bag down on the counter. The backdoor opened and Nancy, their barista, greeted her as she came in, her face drawn. She hugged Sarah. ‘Terrible news, huh?’
Sarah followed her out to the coffee house. ‘How’d it happen?’
Nancy frowned. ‘You don’t know? She was murdered. Stabbed to death right there in her apartment. Tom found her this morning when he got back from the medical center. I saw him with Mike earlier, guy’s a mess.’
Sarah felt like she’d been punched in the chest. ‘Oh God. Poor Tom, I can’t believe it.’
Nancy nodded. ‘Just awful. Never seen so many cops. Finn doesn’t know half of them, he’s gone to see their boss, see if he can be any help.’
They both went to serve customers then, the coffeehouse becoming busier by the minute. Every conversation Sarah overheard was about the killing and she hoped beyond hope that most of the speculation was exaggerated. That hope disappeared when she saw Finn’s face as the young chief made an appearance later in the morning. Molly hugged her brother and he smiled gratefully, his face stricken and tired. Sarah poured him a large coffee and made him a sandwich. Finn smiled his thanks. They waited until he had eaten, until the coffee house had emptied out a little. Finn wiped his mouth with a napkin and sighed.
‘I can’t tell you much but it’s bad. The homicide cop from the city – ‘ he looked at Sarah, ‘- you’ve met Cabot – told me the Feds are getting involved. The victim worked for the State Legislature. Also, they’re finally taking the racial thing seriously.’
Nancy and Sarah exchanged a look. Sarah cleared her throat. ‘So they think…’
Finn nodded. ‘Yeah. Do me a favor, the both of you? Don’t go out at night on your own.’
Sarah half-smiled. ‘As if Isaac would let me. God, the sisterhood would kill me for that remark – sorry – ‘ she said when the others flinched – ‘bad choice of words.’
‘No,’ Finn said, ‘it’s okay. Look, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you all. Sarah – when Buddy died, remember we told you that there had been murders of other Asian American women, countrywide?’
She nodded, but the others gaped at them both. ‘What the hell?’ Molly flushed red. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell us?’
‘Because I had no proof of who I think might be behind the murders. I still don’t.’
Sarah was silent for a moment then nodded at Finn. ‘Tell them.’
He took a deep breath in. ‘The murders in the city. On the islands. Lindsey.’ He put a piece of paper down on the counter. ‘There were more, over the two years. All over the country. Seventeen women of Asian descent. Murdered. Over the last two years, during the time where no one knew where Dan was, what he was doing. All of them stabbed repeatedly in the stomach, some of them disemboweled. Like George. Like Buddy. All the women look like Sarah. I think he wants to kill her.’
‘Oh my god…’ Molly clamped her hands over her mouth. ‘I don’t believe it. Why?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘He’s not who we all thought he was, Mols. The Dan Bailey I married changed at the end – so much. I kept a lot of it from you..’
‘I know he could be controlling and arrogant, but why the hell would he disappear for two years, kill a bunch of people and then decide all along it’s his wife he wants to murder? Why not just kill Sarah then?’ Mike put his hand up to soften his words.
‘Listen, listen,’ Molly was shaking her head. ‘We don’t know if Dan even wants to communicate with Sarah, let alone kill her. As far as we know, all he’s doing here is screwing that snake you were married to.’ She fixed her brother with a steely eye.
Sarah sighed. ‘Dan is back. He came to the hospital to see me, made it pretty clear he wants me back. I didn’t give him a chance to explain where he’s been or what he’s been doing. I wanted him away from me. I hate to admit it but he scared me. There’s something…not right about him. That’s not to say we’re not all jumping to conclusions. Dan hasn’t a good reason to want to hurt me – unless he’s gone full psycho.’
Molly snorted. ‘Well, he did sleep with Caroline.’
‘Thanks a lot, sis,’ Finn rolled his eyes and Sarah grinned.
Finn was studying her. ‘You tell Isaac this?
Sarah shook her head. ‘No. I was going to but things have been so much better for me living there. I feel safer. Which brings me to what I was going to talk to you about.’ She glanced out of the window at the cops milling around. ‘Actually, more important things are going on today, it can wait.’
There was another reason she felt safer. The tiny .22 gun she had in her purse. Isaac had insisted she carry it, had all the legal stuff dealt with, and he’d taken her to the gun range to teach her how to use it. She hated that she felt better now she had it with her but she realized that it was a safeguard.
She had honestly meant to talk to Isaac about Dan but the time they’d spent alone at his apartment had been so heavenly she couldn’t bear to spoil the mood.
Now, as she stared out of the window to the melee outside, she shivered. When it came down to it, did she believe Dan capable of murder? The old Dan, the one she met, fell in love with (or so she thought) wouldn’t have been capable. No way. He might have been arrogant but he had a good heart. The Dan she had confronted in her hospital room, the one who scared her….did she think it was possible he could kill someone? Yes, but was that really his endgame?
She shook her head and sighed. She was in the kitchen of the Varsity, making some fresh muffins. The homicide cops, as well as Finn and his deputies, had cleaned out the place. She dumped two cups of flour into a mixing bowl and grabbed some eggs. She left the kitchen door open slightly so she could hear if Molly needed help. As she worked the mixture, a calm settled over her. This was her world, her little space where she could bake and think. She heard Molly coming back the counter, her voice icy.
‘You really are a walking piece of shit, you know that? Seeing as you are no longer my brother’s wife – plus, you are screwing my best friend’s ex-husband – I don’t feel a need to be polite to you, Caroline, even if you are a ‘paying customer’ So, kindly, fuck off.’
Sarah sniggered, and listened to Caroline, her whiny voice rising in annoyance, as she attempted to save face.
‘You know something, Molly? I always thought you and Finn were too close…if you get my meaning.’
Sarah shot out from the kitchen immediately. She stepped in between her friend and the redhead. ‘Time for you to go now, Caroline.’
Caroline, sneering, looked her up and down. ‘Hello Sarah, I can see your aureole through that shirt. Getting the goods out again? Guess the hooker-gene runs deep, huh?’
Sarah smiled, used to this particular line of Caroline’s. ‘And the skank is showing through...whatever it is you're wearing, Caroline. What is that?’ She pretended to look confused, turned to Molly, her hands spread wide.
Molly pretended to consider. ‘Something from Hosebags ‘R’ Us?’
Sarah tutted. ‘No, I’m sure it’s designer – Michael Whores?’
Molly snorted. ‘Ho-darte?’
‘Whore-gio Armani.’
‘Nice. Hoo-chi.’
Caroline looked between them. ‘You think you’re so fucking
funny?’
Sarah and Molly nodded in unison.
‘Yep, pretty much.’
‘Yes, we do.’
Caroline hesitated, huffed, turned on her heel and left.
‘Sorry about that, Saz, I set her off.’
Sarah snorted with laughter. ‘Honey, don’t worry, the bitch is strong in that one. Still,’ she flexed and stretched, ‘busting her chops is like squeezing a stress ball. Good for the soul.’
Molly nodded in agreement. ‘Chicken soup, indeed.’
Sarah grinned at her and went back to the kitchen. She finished the muffins and slid the tray into the oven. Fixing the timer, she washed her hands and returned to the shop.
‘What was she talking about anyway?’
Molly hesitated, not looking at her friend. Sarah bent to catch her eye.
‘What?’
Another silence.
‘Milly Molly Mandy?’
‘Don’t call me that.’ But she smiled.
‘Come on then, out with it.’
Molly bit her lip. ‘She was…crowing about being pregnant with Dan’s baby.’
Sarah winced. A wrecking ball through the chest would hurt less.
‘Good for her.’
Molly squeezed her hand. ‘Ignore the bitch. Would you really want to be pregnant with Dan’s kid?’
Sarah sighed, the ache in her chest still pounding at her. ‘No. But it would have been nice to have Isaac’s kids one day.’
She’d never forget the day her gynecologist had told her she would never carry children. At the time, she’d been upset but not devastated. It had been after Dan went missing and the only other person who knew was Molly. Sarah had been resigned and it was only when she’d met Isaac that the regret really hit her.
‘Have you talked about it?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘Not really. Maybe we should – if he wants children of his own, then…’
‘All he wants is you,’ Molly said confidently. ‘Don’t worry about it, Isaac just wants you.’
Isaac repeated what Molly said, almost-word-for-word. ‘Sarah, sweetheart, as far as I’m concerned, if we decide to have kids – and I’m honestly right down the middle of whether we do or don’t – we have options. There are thousands of kids out there who would love you as their mother.’
He was sitting at one of the tables in the now-closed Varsity, watching her as Sarah moved around the room, switching on the Tiffany lamps, turning down the overhead lights. She loved this time of day, the sensuality of dusk when the coffee house would glow with a soft warmth, the rush would ease, and she could relax. She returned behind the counter, slipping a disc into the shop’s sound system and a second later, Billie Holiday filled the room with sweet music.
‘Just when you are near, when I hold you fast, then my dreams will whisper, you’re too lovely to last…’
She’d asked Molly and Finn to join them for a quick supper – where she intended to tell Isaac about Dan. She wanted Finn and Molly there for moral support – and to reign in Isaac’s anger when he found out.
Molly had disappeared somewhere, Finn was due any minute so Sarah had taken advantage of their privacy to tell him about her inability to get pregnant. He had taken it well, expressing sympathy but she could tell, as she gazed into his soft green eyes, that it made no difference to how he felt about her.
He pulled her onto his lap now and kissed her. ‘You and me, Sarah. That’s all I want.’
She kissed him back, sinking into the embrace and then grinned as she felt his erection harden through his pants. ‘Ambitious, soldier, but my de facto siblings will be here any minute and I don’t think they’d appreciate the floor show.’
Isaac chuckled. ‘Just you wait till we get home; I’ll make you pay for giving me blue balls.’
She giggled. ‘Doesn’t that only happen after a long time without sex? In which case, I doubt that’ll ever happen between us.’
He grinned. ‘Still, they’re full and ready for you. Like overfull…coconuts.’
She laughed along with him. ‘That is so gross, Isaac Quinn.’ She kissed him again. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance to…no, I’m not continuing with that euphemism, it’s just wrong.’
She hopped off his lap – managing to stroke his erection as she did – which only made him groan. ‘Dear lord, woman, you are trying to kill me.’
Sarah was debating whether they could get away with a quick screw in the back room when Finn tapped at the closed door and smiled at her. Embarrassed by the flush in her cheeks, Sarah walked over to the locked coffee house door and opened it. ‘Hello fella, come on in.’
Finn chucked her cheek as he passed, then greeted Isaac, who smiled easily back at him. Sarah noticed he’d pulled his sweater over his lap to hide his erection and she exchanged an amused look with him as Molly made her entrance from the backroom.
All amusement had left Isaac’s face a half hour later after she’d told him about Dan’s visit to the hospital. He’d got up from the table, paced around, obviously trying to calm himself before speaking. The three of them watched him in silence; he sat down and took Sarah’s hands.
‘Okay, I’m going to let the fact you didn’t tell me right away slide. I kind of get why you didn’t but still. What did he want?’
Sarah took a deep breath in. ‘Me, apparently. He wanted to come back and be my ‘husband’ again. I shut him down. He wouldn’t be in any doubt that I meant it too, I might have slapped him when he tried to kiss me.’
Isaac gave a low growl and she squeezed his hands. ‘All I felt was utter revulsion, Iss. I don’t know that man, he is a stranger to me.’
He searched her eyes. ‘Do you think he means you harm?’
She sighed. ‘I honestly don’t know. He did say he wouldn’t let anyone else have me – take that as you will. Is it macho posturing or a threat?’
Finn cleared his throat then, reminding the couple that there were two other people in the room. ‘Look, guys, as far as the police are concerned…Dan went away, faked his disappearance. But it wasn’t for monetary gain or to cover up a crime so technically, he’s done nothing wrong. Maybe it was just because he was fucking my wife.’
‘Then why didn’t she disappear too? Make all our lives better?’ Molly interjected, then grinned. Sarah and Finn chuckled at her face.
Isaac sighed heavily. ‘But then who attacked Sarah? And why? If Dan didn’t kill those women and George and Buddy, then why wouldn’t the killer just…’ He couldn’t finish, just looked at Sarah, her lovely face, those kind, warm deep brown eyes. ‘Why would anyone want to hurt you?’ His voice was almost a broken whisper and it made tears spring into her eyes. She leaned her forehead against his.
‘I’m here, Iss, I’m still here. It’s okay.’
Molly surreptitiously wiped a tear away. ‘So, what do we do?’
Sarah looked at Isaac. ‘I say, I have a final meeting with Dan. Here, publicly. I tell him that we are no longer in each other’s lives, I wish him the best, but I want him to stay away from me, you, Molly, Finn. If he wants any property, he can have it.’ She turned to Molly. ‘Except The Varsity. As from Friday, Mols, you are the sole owner of this coffee house.’
Molly gaped. ‘What the hell?’
Sarah smiled. ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about new opportunities. I want to go back to school. I have my MBA but I want to do something I’m really passionate about. Literature, art, music. Maybe even start my architectural degree again. So I decided. You have done so much for me and you deserve something good so it’s my gift to you, Molly. The Varsity is yours.’
Molly had tears on her face. ‘Sarah…no, come on, let me buy it.’
Sarah shook her head. ‘No way. It’s yours, I just hope you don’t feel I’m dumping it on you then running. I’ll stay on until you are fully staffed. And then there’s this… I’m moving in with Isaac - permanently.’
She grinned across at her love, who had visibly relaxed now, hearing her talk about their futu
re. ‘In fact, although we haven’t made it official…’
‘I asked Sarah to marry me,’ Isaac said proudly and then chuckled. ‘Twice, actually.’
Sarah laughed too as Molly started to grin. ‘Once, I was on morphine, so he had to ask again.’
She shared a look with Isaac and he knew she was thinking the same thing: when I was inside you, kissing, you, fucking you, loving you…
Finn half-smiled. His cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes were flat but he congratulated them genuinely. Sarah smiled at him, ignoring the look in his eyes. Pain. She shoved the wave of sadness that came over her away. ‘Finn, I have something for you too.’ She grabbed her purse and dug out a set of keys, throwing them to him. ‘George’s house. Now I know that…well, you may not want to live in that because of…you know, but the land is good. You could finally build that house you’ve always dreamed of building.’
Finn was shaking his head. ‘I can’t accept it, Sarah, it’s too much.’
Sarah clamped her hands over her ears. ‘Can’t hear you lalalalalala. Look, I’m starving, I’m going to order pizza. Who’s in?’
Molly grinned. ‘I’d love to but Mike’s waiting. We have a night off from the kids for once and we’re going to enjoy it.’
Sarah hugged her. ‘Ok then, happy humping.’
Molly grinned as Finn groaned and Isaac laughed. She waved and left the coffee house.
Outside the streetlights were on, their sodium glow throwing the buildings into relief. A bunch of high school kids, giddy from the summer heat and the idea of another week of vacation, danced and shoved each other around, their laughter echoing down the purple-shadowed alleys and passageways leading off Main Street. One of them danced like a court jester, flailing his arms around and making the girls screech.
The Billionaire’s Lighthouse Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance Page 85