Murder by the Seaside

by Julie Anne Lindsey

  “I need a little air. I’m going to take a walk.” I managed a calm voice despite the hurricane brewing in my chest.

  Chin high, I stood, marched into the sun, jogged across the street and kept going. For the first time in my life, I understood the scene in Forrest Gump where he just kept running.

  Within moments, blinding rays of light glinted off the shiny silver Range Rover trailing me down Front Street. I turned onto Main at the light and caught a glimpse of myself in a storefront window. Disaster didn’t begin to cover it.

  My phone sang in my pocket, “...been through the desert on a horse with no name...” A tear rolled down my cheek. I assigned Dad the ring tone the moment assigning ring tones was possible. I loved him for wanting to protect me. That thought added guilt to my tapestry of problems. My curiosity affected more than me and Adrian. It worried my folks and Claire, kept Sebastian working when he should be planning a new life in witness protection, aggravated the killer and plain old-fashioned pissed off the sheriff.

  “Hello.” I kept moving, ignoring Sebastian’s Range Rover crawling at a snail’s pace beside me in the street.

  “You all right, Peepee?”

  “I will be. Sorry I left. Lunch was delicious and very thoughtful. Thank you.”

  “Anything for you, baby girl. You go on and take care of yourself. Me and your mom and Hank will get things righted here.”

  “Thanks.” My throat swelled.

  “We love you.”

  “You, too.”

  I disconnected with Dad and gave Sebastian a wave goodbye. He sat stock-still in the driver’s seat of his Range Rover, expression hidden behind those damnable glasses. I appreciated him seeing me home safely, but it was time for me to be alone. I dragged my feet up the stairs to my place. Freud ran to me, winding around my ankles as I climbed. Tripping down the stairs would be the perfect end to my week. I scooped him into my arm, hoping he didn’t have fleas.

  “Mew.” Freud licked my shirt with abandon. Not every day did a homeless cat get grilled salmon. I peeled him off me at the landing and went inside to change.

  I needed to think.

  “Warning,” a jovial voice called from my bedroom. “I am Adrian Davis and I am in your room. Please don’t hurt me.”

  I walked in and glared. “Thanks for the warning.” Too drained to care, I stripped my fish shirt off and wiped my face with it. I grabbed a cotton sundress from my closet, pulled it on over my head and shimmied out of my shorts underneath.

  Adrian was speechless for probably the first time in his entire life.

  “I’m having a day.” I flopped onto my bed face-first.

  He stepped between me and the door. “I thought your guy was supposed to be protecting you. Where is he now?”

  I groaned without lifting my head. “Sebastian followed me home. He’s probably still sitting in his car outside.”

  “I saw him. What do we do next?” He shuffled, restless on his feet.

  “Try not to die.”

  “Come on, Patience. What next? What are we missing?”

  I’d asked myself the same question so many times it’d lost meaning. Where was my intuition when I needed it? Cowering, or on its way to Mexico if it had any sense, unlike me. “I don’t know.” Defeat dripped from my pores. “I don’t know what the murder weapon was, or if it matters. I liked Mrs. McGee for Brady’s death. Now I’m looking at Perkins. I guess I’ll go talk to him again.” I slapped the pillow and kicked my feet, which hung off the bed.

  “Roll over.”

  I did and Adrian stepped closer. He had on an old football shirt with his college logo, gray basketball pants and sandals. I smiled. He looked like the perfect mix of cuddly and confident. “Don’t worry. I’m keeping watch over you and so is Sebastian. You’re going to be safe, but we need to find out who’s doing this before someone else gets hurt.”

  “Or killed.” My parents came to mind. Mrs. Tucker. Claire. Maple Shuster. I cared about everyone on the island. Adrian was right. I needed to pull it together. This wasn’t just about him anymore. Someone dangerous walked among us. Who knew what might happen next.

  A tear welled in my eye and coursed over one cheek. I sniffled and wiped it away. Adrian leaned over the bed, pressing massive hands into the blanket on either side of me. His expression softened and his lips parted. I was almost too lost in those stormy gray eyes to notice the massive black shadow stretching up behind him.

  Crap.

  Sebastian landed a giant hand on Adrian’s shoulder and both men froze. Muscles clenched. Jaws went on lockdown. I stuttered incoherently.

  “Hands up.” Sebastian ordered, reaching his free hand behind his back for what I hoped were handcuffs and not a sidearm.

  “Sebastian, this is Adrian.” I squirmed into a seated position, hoping to diffuse the testosterone bomb exploding before me.

  “I know who he is. I did my homework.” In the fraction of a second Sebastian looked at me, Adrian rammed an elbow into his gut and the fight was on. Adrian tried in vain to get past Sebastian and into the hallway, but Sebastian blocked his every turn. My tiny room was already full of a bed and a dresser—there was no room for brawling giants.

  “Stop!” I dodged Adrian as he landed where I’d been moments before. If I’d had a waterbed, the impact would’ve shot me onto the ceiling. “Stop!” Adrian lurched into tackle stance and charged Sebastian like a bull. Together they dented my wall, ricocheted off the door frame and tumbled into the hall. “Stop!”

  Adrian held his own, considering what I knew about Sebastian. Maybe all the college football improved his reflexes.

  I plucked my laptop out of harm’s way and looked at the pair exchanging punches and bone-crushing thumps against the floor. The sink caught my eyes—a dousing of water might cool them off—but I hated to soak my floor. Plus, I’d be the one who’d have to clean it up.

  “I’m naked!” I screamed.

  It worked. Adrian’s head jerked around.

  Sebastian cuffed him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You have the right to remain silent.” Sebastian glared at the back of Adrian’s head.

  “Looks like you found yourself a hero.” Adrian frowned at me.

  “You have the right to an attorney.”

  “Do not arrest him.” My voice cracked. Both men stared at me. A smile ticked up on one side of Adrian’s face. Sebastian worked his jaw. I tried my best to look fierce. When he didn’t budge, I let my eyes go wide and dropped my shoulders. “Please?”

  I hated to be that girl, but desperation did bad things to me. He had to at least hear me out before he made a decision.

  Sebastian threw his arms in the air and turned his back on me. He didn’t take the cuffs off Adrian, whose face stretched into a full-on victory smile.

  “I can explain.” I stepped toward Sebastian with trepidation. What I asked of him was wrong. I asked him to break the law for me, when he’d sworn to uphold it. Adrian was on the lam. He belonged in jail until the court decided otherwise. His fate wasn’t mine to decide. I stopped within an arm’s reach of Sebastian and glared at Adrian. His smile vanished. Stormy gray eyes watched me as though his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

  Sebastian looked over his shoulder in my direction, emotion swimming in the depths of his bottomless browns. He lifted his scowl in defeat and waved me to the couch. He stayed with Adrian. Both waited for an explanation. Eyes locked on me.

  I cleared my throat. “Sebastian, this is Adrian Davis. Adrian, Sebastian.”

  Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest, looking somehow bigger than before.

  “Adrian didn’t kill Brady,” I said.

  Sebastian’s gaze narrowed and slid to look him over. “All right.”

  “All right?” Adrian’s face lit up.


  Sebastian’s lips turned down as he looked at Adrian. “You’re a marshmallow.”

  Adrian smiled, taking the remark in stride.

  If the bad guy didn’t kill me, dealing with these two might. I let out a long stage sigh. “Arresting him will only stop the investigation. I mean, they won’t bother looking for anyone else once he’s in custody. That serves no one. People are still dying. His mom is missing. Something huge is happening here.”

  “Mom’s not missing.”

  “What?” Joy and frustration fought for first place in my heart. “No one’s seen her since my car blew up and she called for help.

  “I have.” Adrian rolled his eyes. Obviously there was more to this story.

  “You think the arrest would make him a scapegoat?” Sebastian shifted his weight, resting a shoulder against the wall beside Adrian. He stayed within an arm’s reach at every moment. Not that Adrian planned to run but, of course, Sebastian couldn’t know that. Plus, he seemed to like the sight of Adrian in cuffs.

  “Yes. I think the fact he fought with Brady meant nothing to whoever killed him. I think the two events are unrelated. The real killer planned to kill Brady. At first I thought it was a crime of passion. Blunt force seems passionate. I guessed his wife or girlfriend had had enough and lost control. But after talking with the girlfriend, I understood that she’s scared. So was Mrs. McGee. In fact, I know they’ll find she didn’t kill herself. She was dead before she died.”

  The men exchanged a look.

  “You know what I mean. Someone cold and calculating is out there—someone who took their time to kill Mrs. McGee then stage a suicide. Whatever this is about, anyone else involved with it will probably be next.”

  I hoped the next someone wasn’t me.

  “Don’t go too far.” Sebastian unlocked the cuffs and gave Adrian another stern examination.

  Adrian rubbed his wrists. Conflict played over his expression. The set of his lips and crease between his eyes told me he didn’t want to go. The hulk with the Glock said he did.

  “Your mom’s not missing?”

  He shook his head.

  “Where is she?” I’d gotten used to her following me, and I needed to thank her for calling an ambulance when my car blew up.

  “Wherever she is, it’s safer than following you around.”

  I breathed easier. I didn’t get her killed after all. Sebastian ran a hand over his mouth, probably suppressing a laugh.

  “If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.” Adrian kept his eyes locked on mine and headed to my bedroom.

  “Where are you going?” I called. Sebastian and I watched him disappear around the corner.

  “Why’d you let him in?” Sebastian turned to me, looking betrayed.

  “I didn’t. He uses the window.”

  “I nailed the window shut. Are you sure he doesn’t have a key?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned for my room.

  I followed.

  “See.” He pulled the curtain aside and waved a hand over it. “Nails.”

  Sure enough, silver nail heads shined in the wooden frame. I gave it a few tugs to be sure he did it right. Nothing budged. “So, where’d he go?”

  Sebastian unholstered his gun and checked the closet. I looked under the bed.

  “What the hell?” Sebastian turned down the hall to look in the bathroom.

  “I’ve been saying that a lot since I got here.”

  He stood feet shoulder-width apart in my bathroom doorway, hands on hips, frown on lips. “He didn’t just vanish.”

  “He kind of did.”

  “I need some fresh air. Come on.”

  “Where’re we going?”

  “How about the national park? I could use the quiet, and I don’t want anyone listening to us while we try to figure out what’s happening.”

  I hated the park. The ponies lived there. I stuffed Mace into my pocket and checked behind all the doors before I left. Sebastian triple-checked the window and then the door when he pulled it shut.

  “Your place gives me the creeps.”

  “Get in line.”

  Inside the Range Rover, I tried to ignore the purple golf cart sitting where my Prius belonged. The Prius was supposed to save the environment, not become part of it. What if I’d been in it? Would he have still blown it up? Was the bombing a warning like the break-in at my place? Why would someone so dangerous not kill me and be done with it?

  I shivered.

  Sailing over the marsh bridge to the national park, Sebastian laid a huge hand over mine and squeezed once before placing it back on the wheel. “We’ll figure this out.” He handed his pass to the park gatekeeper and rolled under the candy-cane-striped gate. He’d bought an annual pass to the national park. I hoped that meant he planned to be back after his week off was over.

  Trees towered overhead, creating beautiful multicolored patterns on the road. We stopped near the lighthouse trail and climbed out.

  “How much do you trust this guy?” Sebastian walked beside me, easily matching his pace with mine.

  “To not be a murderer?” I laughed. “I know he didn’t do this.”

  “What’s your history with the suspect?”

  “Adrian.”

  “I’d rather call him the suspect.”

  “Adrian and I met in preschool. I’ve known him my entire life. We were close.” I took sudden interest in the trees.

  “Do you love him?”

  Thanks to my eyes being focused elsewhere, my toe snagged on a partially buried root. I pitched forward, calculating the damage before I hit ground. I never did. One broad arm snaked around my waist and tipped me back onto my feet. The hesitation between catch and release was so minute, it almost didn’t register. I looked at Sebastian. His eyes were hidden behind his mirrored glasses.

  “I did love him.”

  “What happened?”

  I started to walk again. “He left. We graduated and he went to Miami to play football. I eventually went to college on the mainland and got a job with the agency. You know the rest.”

  A ring sounded, and muttering something about stupidity, Sebastian pulled his phone to his ear. “I need a few more days.” He walked back several paces, continuing his call. With his back to me, I grew nervous. Crunching leaves and snapping sticks worried me. Ponies. I turned in a small circle, one hand in my pocket. I hoped Sebastian wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if necessary.

  “I’m going to try to stay awhile longer. I need to run to the mainland during the day for my psych eval and debriefing, but I can be here with you at night.” After hanging up, Sebastian swaggered back to me. “If that’s okay with you.”

  “It’s okay with me.” Ponies forgotten, I stared straight ahead at what, lucky me, happened to be a view of his T-shirt, stuck to the planes and angles of his chiseled chest. I tilted my gaze up. His glasses had been removed. Dark and soft, his eyes held me in place.

  “You didn’t answer my question earlier. I asked if you love him. You said you did then. Do you now?” The deepness in his voice, slow and thick like honey, soothed me.

  My skin tingled. Heat radiated off him, electrifying the space between us. He was so close. If I touched him now, raised onto my toes, I could finally know if I was right about those suggestive lips of his. Too bad he was asking about Adrian. Jumping naked into the seashore in January couldn’t have done more damage to the moment.

  “No.” I headed up the hill toward the lighthouse, leaving my daydream behind. My knees wobbled with each step. Heat crept up my neck.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Sebastian asked. His fingers touched my elbow.

  “Fine.” Weak. Woozy. Not fine at all, but far too stubborn to admit it. My tummy titled with nausea. The day scorched around me despite the leafy filter of the forest.
/>
  “I don’t like you aiding a criminal, and I don’t like him. I think you need to stay away from Adrian for a while. I think you should be careful, too. You haven’t seen him in a decade. A lot can change in that kind of time.”

  He had that right.

  “I trust your judgment, boss. What I don’t trust is him.”

  “I thought you agreed he didn’t kill Brady.”

  When we reached the lighthouse, I climbed a few steps and took a seat, winded. The lighthouse sat on the highest point in the area, making it easily seen for miles and an exhausting walk from the road. A breeze tossed hair into my eyes. Spots danced at my periphery. It was hot. I hadn’t eaten. I had stress. There wasn’t enough air to breathe. Humidity had saturated everything beneath the leaf canopy above us. I tugged on my shirt to cool myself. The effort was wasted.

  Sebastian looked as though he’d walked around the block instead of through the summer heat for nearly a mile uphill. He kept coming until the bottom step stopped him. He braced his hands against the rails on either side of my head and covered me in his shadow.

  “I didn’t say I thought he was guilty. I said I didn’t like him.” The look in his eyes sent my heart into a tailspin.

  Reason eluded me. Words, too. A lump filled my throat. My tongue became too heavy for speech.

  One massive hand released the railing and spooned under my jaw, tipping my face to his. For a moment, his fingers trembled. Reason filtered back, assuring me it wasn’t the agent before me who trembled at my hand. “May I?” he whispered too close for me to think straight.

  I closed my eyes and did the only thing I could in response to the situation at hand. I fainted.

  * * *

  Sunlight teased my lids open. Light and dark. Light and dark. A gentle rocking brought me back to reality, and I opened my eyes to the scruff of Sebastian’s chin. Wrapping me in his embrace, he carried me off the mountain. Sure-footed steps barely registered, only the gentle sway of his gait. He smelled like musk and spice and man. I inhaled a deep lungful. If testosterone had a scent, I could name it now.