by Diane Capri
His eyebrows lifted in surprise, and it nearly made me chuckle. “I’ll talk to you later, then.”
I nodded. “Most likely.”
He started to walk toward the lobby while I went across the park to my suite. I stopped and called to him, “Hey, make sure you ask the doc to test Tyler’s bloodwork against Brittany’s. It would make sense that they both suffered from the same poisoning.”
He flipped his hand in a backward wave to signal that he’d heard me and continued on his way. I saw the slight shake of his head, and it made me smile.
As I approached my patio, I saw that, yes, I had left my patio door open in my haste to spring into action. Closer to the partition, I caught a whiff of sweet cigarette smoke and wondered who’d been smoking nearby. I’d get someone in the grounds department to fix that. We needed a sign that said No Smoking Near the Hotel or something like that.
When I jumped over the partition and back onto my patio, instantly I realized something was wrong. My whole body started to shake as I stepped into my suite through the gaping glass door. Swallowing down the bile rising in my throat, I took in the destruction before me.
My entire suite had been trashed.
The cushions on the sofa had been slashed open, and the stuffing was strewn all over the carpet. Every shelf in the living room had been cleared, the books open on the floor, the knickknacks broken, pieces scattered about. Careful not to step on things, I saw that every drawer in my small kitchen was open, and the contents tossed on the floor. I was shaking by the time I reached my bedroom.
The covers had been stripped from the bed, and the pillows slashed. All my dresser drawers were open, panties and bras sticking out, and a few tossed about. My closet had been riffled through. Pants were thrown on the bed, the pocket linings protruding as if they’d been turned inside out. The only thing intact was my giant unicorn.
I rushed back to the living room, pushing cushion stuffing off the table. My laptop was gone. All the blood drained from my head, and I felt faint. Slowly, I lowered myself to the floor, putting my head between my legs to breathe.
Chapter 24
Ginny placed a cup of hot tea into my cold hands as we sat out on the patio while two deputies picked through the wreckage in my suite, taking pictures and making lists of the things that had been destroyed.
After nearly hyperventilating because my place had been wrecked, I’d called 9-1-1. I hadn’t expected the sheriff to come because I knew he was busy, but I had secretly wished he’d put everything else aside and come running. It was a foolish notion, and I had no business thinking about it.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to my place? I could run you a hot bath so you could warm up,” Ginny said. “You’re still shaking.”
“I’m okay.”
“Andi, there is nothing okay with this.”
“I know. I’m trying not to think about that.”
She rubbed a hand over my back. “I can’t believe someone would just come and wreck your stuff. Makes no sense. You don’t think it was that Clive Barrington, do you?”
“What?”
“Clive Barrington. The hottie from Hong Kong you were trying to set me up with. Amazing eyes, by the way. Never seen anything like that before.” She paused to widen her eyes and shake her hand as if she’d grabbed something too hot to handle. “Didn’t I tell you we had coffee? All he did was ask questions about you the whole time. He seemed really smitten with you. What the heck did you say to the guy at that concierge desk, anyway?”
“What kind of questions was he asking?”
“Were you dating anyone, what was your job here, how long were you planning to stay,” Ginny rattled off. “Like that. Things a guy would ask if he was interested in you.”
I was already upset about my suite, and now some guy just happened to show up here—from Hong Kong, no less—asking my best friend questions about me. It was too much to think about. And Ginny was right. It didn’t make any sense that someone would want to destroy my suite.
Because that’s not what had happened. This wasn’t senseless destruction. This was both a search for something and a message. I had no idea who would do this, what they were looking for, or why. But this was most definitely deliberate.
Deputy Marshall took one last photo then stepped out onto the patio. “I should take your statement now, Miss Steele.”
I nodded, while he looked at his clipboard and wrote down some info on the witness statement form.
“I’ll do it, Marshall.” I looked up to see the sheriff come up behind the deputy and take the clipboard from him. A surge of relief flowed through me, and I sagged against the chair. He nodded toward his deputy. “You finish up inside.”
“Okay, Sheriff.” Deputy Marshall stepped back into my suite.
Sheriff Jackson looked me over, his brow furrowed into worry lines. “Are you sure you want to do this here?”
I nodded.
Ginny’s cell phone buzzed. “It’s Mom.” She answered.
While Ginny stepped away to talk to Lois, the sheriff sat in one of the chairs near me, his knee touching mine. It was such a simple thing, almost innocuous, but it felt right. Comforting. Supportive. I wasn’t even sure he consciously knew what he’d done.
“Take your time telling me.”
“After we parted on the path, I walked across the lawn to my suite. I knew I had stupidly left the balcony door open.”
“Open or just unlocked?”
“Open, wide open. When I approached, I saw that something was wrong inside. I could see some of the destruction when I reached the glass door. I stepped inside and saw everything ruined.”
“Did you have to push the door open or could you just walk in?
“Just walked in.”
“Did you notice anything odd before you entered the suite? Any movement nearby? Any voices? Any—”
“I smelled cigarette smoke right here at the partition.” I gestured to the cement berm behind me.
“And you don’t smoke.”
“No.”
He got up and went over to the partition. He looked over it, to the left and to the right near some bushes. He reached down and plucked something from the ground. He brought it over to me. It was a cigarette butt with a gray filter.
“Marshall,” he called into the suite, “bring me an evidence bag.”
The deputy, seeing what was in his hand, opened up a small evidence bag, and the sheriff dropped the butt inside. Marshall sealed it and wrote on it, and then he put it into his pocket.
The sheriff pointed to the bushes behind the partition. “Take a couple of photos there.”
The deputy did as asked and then went back inside.
“How long were you gone? From leaving to find Tyler to returning home?”
“An hour at most.”
He sat down, his knee touching mine again. “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary before you went chasing after Tyler?”
“You think whoever did this was waiting nearby?”
“Doesn’t seem random. It seems like a perfect opportunity taken by someone who was looking for one.”
I thought about the cigarette butt I had found in the trees when Simon and I had been talking. At the time, it seemed logical that it was someone watching Simon, the Germans even, but now…now whoever it was might have been watching me. But who and why?
The only person that popped into my mind was Jeremy Rucker.
He’d called me, sent me flowers, and had left a fairly ominous note: See you soon. But why would he do this? I just couldn’t see it. He’d have no reason to scare me like this. We’d been colleagues for years, friends even, and whoever had done this was looking for something specific. I’d practically been marched out of our firm’s offices with a single box filled with the totality of my meager belongings. I had nothing Jeremy could possibly want.
Sheriff Jackson nudged my knee. “What are you thinking? I can tell you’re running through scenarios in your head.”
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br /> “Jeremy.”
“Who’s that? Ex-boyfriend?”
“Not at all. Jeremy Rucker was my boss back in California. He was arrested for embezzlement.”
His eyes narrowed. “And why did you make that connection?”
“He’s been sending me flowers, and he called me once when I first moved here.”
“What does he want?”
I shrugged. “Nothing, as far as I can tell. To apologize, to see how I am doing.”
“You were never romantically involved?” he asked.
“Certainly not. Besides, he was married.”
“And you weren’t the one who had him arrested?
I shook my head. “I hadn’t even known it happened. I went to work one morning, and the partners gave me the heave-ho and sent me on my way.”
He made some notes on the form. “Was anything taken tonight?”
“My laptop.”
He grimaced at that. “That sucks.”
“It certainly does.”
He made more notes and then looked at me. “Do you have somewhere to sleep?”
For some reason, the blue sofa in his house popped into my mind. I could easily see myself comfortably sleeping on it.
I began to open my mouth, but Ginny jumped in, putting her arm around my shoulders. “She’s staying with me. And I just talked to Lois, and we’ll get you a new suite to move into tomorrow.”
“That’s good,” Sheriff Jackson said.
“Is it okay that I go in and get some of Andi’s things?” Ginny asked. “I don’t think she should have to do that.”
He nodded. “Just let Marshall know what you’re doing.”
Ginny squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
I closed my eyes briefly and took in a deep breath of fresh air. When I opened my eyes again, the sheriff had taken my hand, which had been shaking in my lap. His skin was warm against mine.
“I’ll find out who did this, Andi. I promise.”
I gave him a small smile. “I know.”
He returned it. “That’s high praise considering when I first met you, you thought I was an incompetent rube.”
“I wouldn’t have said rube…”
He chuckled, and I suddenly wanted him to wrap his arms around me and hold me tight. I knew, if he did, that nothing could harm me, nothing could make me feel alone and sad ever again. Licking my lips, I leaned forward in the chair, toward him. I knew it was the most horrible, most inconvenient, most inappropriate time, but I wanted to kiss Sheriff Jackson. I think maybe I’d wanted to from the moment I met him, even if the kiss would only wipe that stern scowl from his lips.
His eyes widened, and I could hear his breath intake in surprise, but he didn’t pull back. His thumb rubbed slowly over the knuckles of my hand. The heat from his touch was rising up my arm, filling me with a fever that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
I wasn’t positive this was the right thing to happen between us. It would definitely change our relationship, our dynamic. Right at this moment, though, I didn’t care. All I wanted was to feel Luke’s lips on mine, to feel his want for me. And for the first time, I realized, I’d just thought of him as Luke, not just Sheriff Jackson or the sheriff.
“I wasn’t sure what to grab.” Ginny walked out onto the patio, her head down looking through the bag she’d filled with some of my things. She looked up at us.
Luke pulled his hand away and leaned back in the chair. I wasn’t quick enough and was still leaning forward.
Ginny’s eyes widened, and she made an O with her mouth. “Whoops. Do I have bad timing or what?”
I shook my head. “You’re fine. The sheriff and I were just finishing up with my statement.” I reached for the clipboard. “Should I just sign the bottom?”
He nodded.
I did and handed the board back to him.
“Thanks. I’ll keep you posted. I’ll put out the word to the pawn shops on the mainland to see if your laptop turns up.”
“I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.”
I didn’t think petty thieves looking for fast cash had broken into my place. Whoever did it would break into my laptop and then dispose of it. I had a quick, awful thought that there might be embarrassing files or photos on my computer. But the feeling faded. The most risqué thing on my laptop was a picture of me in a bikini on vacation in Mexico, trying to get a spider monkey to hug me.
The sheriff’s cell phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and checked his texts. He stood. “I’ve got to go.”
“How’s it going? The Germans talking?”
He sighed. “Their lawyer is a piece of work, to say the least. I’m not hopeful we’ll be able to bring any charges against them. Besides, I’m not sure what laws they broke here.”
“Any word on Tyler’s condition?”
He held up his phone. “That’s where I’m heading. He’s stable and awake.”
I got to my feet, despite my wobbly legs. I was likely still in shock. “I can go with you.”
“Geez, Andi, let the man do his job,” Ginny chastised. “You need to have a hot bath and some whisky and some sleep.”
“Ginny’s right. You need to take care of yourself.”
“But—”
“I know what to ask the doc about the bloodwork,” he said with a wry twist of his lips. He was humoring me, and I appreciated it. “I’m sure it will show exactly what you think it’ll show. Thanks to your stubborn and tenacious nature, June will be out of jail and home in no time.”
I smiled at him.
He smiled back.
Something passed between us, something significant. Not a kiss, but nearly as potent.
“I’ll call you later.” He dipped his head and went inside to talk to his deputies. After that, he left.
Ginny started, “Hey, sorry to have c—”
I put my hand up toward her. “Do not say what I think you’re going to say, Ginny.”
“I was going to say, ‘Come between you two.’” She giggled. “What did you think I was going to say?”
I shook my head. “I’ve heard some of the language that comes out of your mouth.”
“You should try it. It’s liberating.” She laughed and swung her arm around me. “Now, c’mon. Let’s go to my place and drink lots of whisky and pass out. You deserve a good night’s sleep.”
I let her lead me back through my suite, out the door, then down the corridor to hers. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t think I was going to sleep, whisky or not. There was too much going through my head. And none of it was good.
If someone was trying to scare me, he was doing one hell of a great job.
Chapter 25
Graying clouds floated by the sun, blocking it out for a few minutes, as I walked down Main Street toward the marina. Mrs. Weiss was right. A rainstorm was brewing. I actually loved this kind of weather. It didn’t rain much where I’d lived in California, so a rainstorm was a welcome event.
I lifted my face, enjoying the way the breeze came off the lake. It had a surprising salty tang to it, much like the ocean. Some days when I stood on the cliffs at the hotel and looked out over the vastness of the water, I imagined Lake Michigan was the Pacific.
I took in a deep breath of fresh, crisp air, and let it out slowly, relaxing my shoulders and neck. It had been a rough week, and I was still trying to brush off the negative remnants.
I’d moved into a new suite. It wasn’t as large as the other one had been and didn’t have the best view, but it would suffice until the new furniture arrived. The sofa, the mattress on the bed, the wardrobe, and the shelving unit in the living room all needed to be replaced. Everything else had been cleaned up, but the suite still felt dirty when I walked through it. I wasn’t sure that feeling would go away. I’d considered asking Lois if I could just permanently move into another suite, but she’d done so much for me already, I didn’t want to ask for more.
Twenty-four hours after the break-in
, Sheriff Jackson had called to make sure I was okay and to let me know that I’d been right about Tyler and Brittany. They both had the same blood chemistry, the same amounts and content of poisons in their systems. It hadn’t been one substance that had killed Brittany but a combination of them over a period of time. The same thing would’ve happened to Tyler eventually if the Germans hadn’t been there to help him.
No one had murdered Brittany Gervais. She had inadvertently done it to herself. The coroner ruled it an accidental death. And because there was no murder, June had been released, all charges dropped.
It helped that Brittany’s sister, Tracy, after some intense scrutiny from the sheriff, had recanted her claim that June had come to the mainland to see Brittany. And I had been right about Tracy’s car being the one that June had damaged with the garden shears.
Corporate lawyers for Nature Path Pharmaceuticals and Ackerman Biosystems were set to descend onto the island to interview Tyler and the Germans, and to sort out the mess. I imagined, somewhere along the line, Tyler would be facing some serious consequences. Or maybe one of the companies would hire him, give him a lab, let him do what he and Brittany had planned to do, and they would all make some serious money.
After the sheriff had told me all that, he’d paused, and I could feel his nerves coming through the speaker on the phone. I’d paused, too, as I had no idea what to say to him. I knew what I should’ve said: I like you, Luke. Let’s see where this goes, but I was too chicken. And I hadn’t actually broken up with Daniel, either. It wouldn’t be right to put the moves on the sheriff while I was dating Daniel. Even Ginny would agree with that, even as she’d been needling me about the astonishingly gorgeous Clive Barrington.
After a super-long, uncomfortable pause, the sheriff had finally said, “Don’t find any more bodies, Andi. I need a darn break.”
I’d chuckled, but it wasn’t heartfelt. I, too, needed a darn break. And that likely meant from everything. Including a stubborn, sexy sheriff who made my blood boil and my heart skip a few beats.
Finally, I’d said, “Me, too.”