Murder by the Seaside

by Julie Anne Lindsey

  We walked briskly back to the service road, rain pouring over us. The energy surging through me, replacing defeat and driving me forward, came as a surprise. A few minutes before, I’d been frozen in fear. Sebastian’s presence melted through the ice and fueled me. I filled him in on everything I’d seen, recounting every detail. He belted me in the passenger seat of his Range Rover, locked the door and sighed. He called the sheriff and the park ranger while I let my parents know we wouldn’t be over for drinks after all. Mom sounded near hysterics. It must be hard to be my mom this week.

  “Didn’t you get my message this morning?” Sebastian tossed his phone in the cup holder and turned out of the park. No paramedics and flashing lights. This time he’d come alone.

  “You didn’t call in the cavalry?”

  “I didn’t know who I could trust. I stayed on with Mark Eaton until I reached your cell. I had no idea what would happen if we found the cell and you were gone. Did you see the screensaver? I thought you’d look at my laptop. I should’ve texted you.”

  He didn’t know who he could trust. Mark was tech support, not an agent. What had he learned today while he was at work?

  “You weren’t supposed to get into trouble.” He exited the national park and shot me a pointed glare.

  “I didn’t mean to.” I swallowed another urge to bawl. I didn’t need to be scolded by him. I needed him to tell me things were going to be all right.

  His jaw worked as he looked my way.

  I turned my face to the window. “I went out on the water to think.”

  The Range Rover pulled by the sidewalk outside the police station. Sheriff Murray and his deputy climbed into the cruiser. With his window down, Sebastian nodded in their direction and waited. Raindrops bounced off the window frames, landing on my soaked body.

  “We need to talk.” Sebastian wedged an elbow over the armrest between us. The rain had slowed to less than a drizzle. Enormous claps of thunder rocked the world around us. The sheen of water on the road glistened under the streetlights.

  I wiped my face with the back of my hands and jumped at the sight of Sheriff Murray outside my window instead of Sebastian’s. He looked mad enough to spit. His expression shook loose the words building in my head. Sebastian powered down my window from the driver’s side control panel.

  “I think Perkins killed Brady.” I cleared my throat, hoping to sound brave and well-informed. “Perkins was Brady’s partner, and they were getting paid to look away while those guys the Coast Guard arrested dumped barrels of guns into the ocean. I saw another boat retrieve them tonight. I was wrong. They weren’t contaminating the water. They’re using the shelf where Brady fished to make an easy exchange of weapons.”

  Sheriff Murray’s face paled visibly under the cone of the streetlight. Sebastian laid a hand on mine. The act might’ve looked like comfort to someone else. I felt instinctively it was his way of warning me not to go on. He’d said he didn’t know who he could trust.

  The sheriff took note of our touch and his eyes narrowed on mine. Blood returned to his face, pinking him up like a tamale. “Perkins is dead. Murdered on the mainland.” His palms clamped down on the edge of my door frame. He leaned his torso in toward me. “Don’t make any plans to leave town, Miss Price.”

  “What? Why?” Did he honestly believe I’d somehow overpowered Perkins? Why would I even try? My body trembled, and my teeth chattered.

  “Did you go to see Perkins? Keep asking questions? You think the officials need your help figuring this out?” He shook his head in disgust. “You government types are all the same.”

  “I was human resources.” My mouth went dry.

  How did he know I went to see Perkins? I looked at Sebastian for guidance. He moved his head a fraction of an inch to the side. All expression fell from his face. If he’d been in the passenger seat, he might have dragged the poor sheriff in through the window.

  “No.” Really, how much damage could one more lie do? My karma was already toast.

  “So, I suppose the blue and white love bus neighbors saw parked a block from his house at the approximate time of his death belonged to someone else?”

  “I—” I looked at Sebastian. He squeezed my hand again.

  The sheriff shot eye daggers at both of us and then returned to his cruiser. When he pulled the driver’s door open, the interior light blinked on, revealing the deputy riding shotgun. They crept away, pulling past us at two miles per hour, never looking away from the Range Rover, though I doubted they could see much inside, considering the hour.

  “Breathe.” Sebastian squeezed my hand then shifted into Drive.

  I let out a long breath and pulled in a fresh one. Dizziness swept over me. “I—I thought Perkins was the killer. He was a maniac last time I was at his place. He yelled at his dog, screamed at someone on the phone and thrashed around inside his house like a madman that day.”

  “You’ve stumbled into an ongoing investigation.” He raised an eyebrow and smiled.

  My mouth dropped open. “How are you smiling about this?”

  “Irony. I enjoy the irony.” He passed my apartment and angled up to the curb outside the boathouse.

  “Irony. Like visiting the place I keep getting shot at?”

  “Yep.” He rounded the front of the Range Rover and helped me out onto the grass. My legs wobbled a moment before finding strength enough to hold me. “I think it’s safe to say they won’t be here tonight.”

  “Because no one in their right mind would expect me to come back here.”

  “Precisely.”

  I wasn’t sure I loved his logic. “Why not my apartment?” Though I could guess the reasoning there.

  “I’m afraid it’s bugged, or at the very least someone’s watching it, and we need to talk.”

  Swinging the front door open took me aback. The inside looked amazing, not at all like I’d left it. Sebastian shut the door and moved to hit a light switch in a room away from the street. Soft light illuminated the area. My office.

  “Your dad, Hank and some others have been here every morning. I ran into Maple Shuster at the grocery and she told me everything. They wanted to surprise you.”

  I ran my hand over a row of mahogany file cabinets. A credenza on the far wall held all my books and a picture of my dad and me at high school graduation. I blinked out a tear. The drawers were filled with office supplies. Freshly sharpened pencils tied with a ribbon sat inside a mug on the new desk.

  “You went to Crate and Barrel.” I sniffed. “You shouldn’t have.”

  He pulled me to his chest. “I didn’t. Claire ordered it all and sent it to The Pony.”

  “I love her so much.”

  “Well, this town certainly loves you. Everyone wants to thank you for your help, but no one wants to admit you counsel them.” He chuckled. “I love this place.”

  “Thinking of moving?”

  “I don’t think I could keep up the commute on a regular basis.” He pulled me back and rolled out my perfect ergonomic chair. A tiny bowl on the floor had the word Freud painted on the side.

  “Freud?”

  “I thought he could stay here. He’s a pretty good mouser.”

  “Perfect.”

  I took a seat in my new chair and Sebastian positioned himself on the desk in front of me. He wadded some tissues from the box beside him and handed them over.

  “Thanks. I promise to repay everyone when the insurance comes in. This was way more than a couple of conversations are worth. I would’ve talked to all those people for free.” I dabbed my face with the tissues. What a night.

  “We know. That’s part of your draw. And don’t hold your breath for any insurance money. Where bombs and guns are involved, there’s always an investigation.”

  “After I complete the police report.” Of course. />
  He gave me a half smile. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Kiss me? I sent out telepathically.

  He looked away. “Tell me everything about your visit to Perkins’s house.”

  I started at the beginning, being more thorough than ever, in case Sebastian heard something in the details I’d missed. When I finished the story about Killer and the rolls and my sunburn, I recounted the dark boat and pony killing. Sebastian kept his expression dry, but heat flashed in his eyes at some of my facts. His fingers curled tighter around the desk’s edge when I was in danger. He looked as if he wanted to travel through time and flatten someone.

  If only he could.

  “So, I was sure Perkins killed Brady to collect all the money. Then I saw the barrels and realized how much money he stood to gain. I assumed traffickers wouldn’t be stingy with the monthly stipend. I guess I was wrong.”

  “Maybe. But his death doesn’t prove him innocent of Brady’s murder. It only shows someone wanted him gone, too.”

  “You said this is an ongoing investigation? The FBI knew about the trafficking?”

  He nodded. His eyes shifted around the room. “Someone on the inside is supporting this. I need to find out who that is. There’s a chance you’ve been spared so far because they know me, not you. I’ve been asking around and following threads at the department since you found the barrels off shore. Gun trafficking is big business. This afternoon I got word of an internal investigation with a file fitting what you saw off the coast. We need to be careful until this is sorted out. Know that I’m on it all the time. I won’t allow you to continue living in fear or danger.”

  I’d confessed my worries late one night to Sebastian—what if someone I knew and loved was involved in the mess? At the time, I’d worried it might be Adrian.

  “They wouldn’t have spared me tonight.”

  A curt nod showed we were in agreement, and he didn’t want to dissect the idea any more than I did.

  “I’m going to go back to work tomorrow as if I don’t suspect anything. I’ll plant seeds and drop ideas to see if anyone bites.” Sebastian looked glum.

  I imagined believing the agency he served so dutifully might be crooked would take a toll on a patriot like him. Personally, I believed most people had a price tag. Not to be negative about humanity, but everyone had something they found hard to pass up. Money for food, a surgery, aging parent, sick child, debt, gambling. Everyone had a moment of weakness at some point. The sad thing about working with murderers was the finality. There was no backing out. When I was weak, it involved cheesecake. An extra slice of cheesecake I could undo with a little effort. Getting in bed with gun runners, not so much.

  “The sheriff looked pretty mad.”

  Sebastian nodded. “Well, from his position, it looks like you swept into town pulling a truckload of trouble along with you. Until the day you came back, there hadn’t been a crime larger than jaywalking or truancy in three years.”

  “I should do something nice for him.”

  That earned me a loud and hearty laugh. “I think we’d better get back to your apartment. You need to get some sleep.”

  “What about you? You saved me. Again. Can I do something nice for you?” We moved into the front room, and I said a silent good-bye to the most delightful office I’d ever owned. I planned a trip back as soon as possible to add personal touches and write thank-yous to everyone who loved me enough to brave car bombings and drive-bys to do this for me.

  “I like to spoon.”

  “What?” I giggled, trying to remember what I’d said last. “Shut up.” I shoved him through the front door and followed him to the Range Rover, wondering if what he said was true and imagining how much I’d enjoy it if it was.

  “Looks like the storm’s passed.” The engine purred to life.

  I hoped he was right. And not just the rain.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A chill crept over my back, alerting me to a new day. I slept easily with Sebastian. The first night back in my bedroom had a great memory attached now. He lay fully dressed, one arm protectively over my side all night. Turned out, he did like to spoon. A smile crept over my face. I slid from bed, checked the closet for creepers and locked up on my way out of the room. Sundress in hand, I knew what I needed to do. I spent a minute in the bathroom getting presentable and felt more confident than I had in some time. Onward to face the day.

  The quiet island had transformed into the annual tourist trap. Cars lined the streets, bumper to bumper. The briny air teemed with kettle corn and cotton candy. After days of preparation, the big finale was only twelve hours away. Cowboys from all over would show off their rodeo chops all afternoon at the fairgrounds. Vendors selling inflatable ponies, cowboy gear and food served on paper plates stood at the ready.

  Something about the growing crowd made me smile. The familiar scene, complete with honking horns and screaming babies, erased years from my mind. My worries dissipated and blew away with the wind. I’d eaten my weight in corn dogs and funnel cakes at this event over the years. Sebastian would love the quirky island tradition. I couldn’t wait to introduce him to it.

  Coffee in hand, I bounced down the front steps and headed straight for the police station. I had reports to complete. Claims to file. The sheriff rolled his eyes when I walked in and excused himself to his office. A first time for anything. I guessed, considering the day, he had bigger things to grouch about than the sight of me.

  “Good morning.” I focused my attention on the receptionist. “I need to fill out a police report.”

  She stifled a grin and handed me a file folder. Inside, I found several reports, all completed to the point of my commentary. She’d filled in my name and contact information, the location of the crime and who was called. All I needed to do was write down my account. She and I would be great friends.

  “Thanks. You didn’t have to do this.”

  “I wanted to. My job was pretty boring before you arrived.” She gasped as if she’d inadvertently insulted me. “I mean, no one blames you for these things. They aren’t your fault. I just...” She covered her mouth. “It’s been interesting.” The words were muffled behind her fingers.

  I stretched my hand to her. “We haven’t officially been introduced. I’m Patience Price. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Frankie Dimmer.”

  “Are you going to the pony auction today?” I still hadn’t decided if I planned to attend the auction portion of the events. Watching cowboys herd up wild ponies and force them across the marsh to be auctioned made me sad. As much as I avoided the ponies, I didn’t like the idea of herding them. Anyway, I wanted to see my parents and then sit in my new office a while before Sebastian came back. He promised to take me to the fireworks after drinks with my parents. I had all day to spend as I chose. The day ahead was certain to make up for the day before.

  “How long have you and the FBI guy been dating?” Frankie’s cheeks turned rosy against her milk white skin. The dash of freckles on her cheeks became instantly more pronounced. “You don’t have to answer that.”

  Girl talk. I missed girl talk. “We aren’t dating. We met at the FBI and he’s helping me sort things out here.”

  She shook her head at me. Long platinum locks fell over her shoulder. “I see the way he looks at you, and it’s not like a coworker.”

  “Ha!” I covered my eyes with one hand. “What? No. He’s intense. That’s all.” I went back to the reports on my lap. “I’ll introduce you sometime. He’s an incredible guy.”

  I forced my concentration to focus on details that eluded me. Unfortunately, Frankie threw off my groove, and too much time had passed for me to remember everything other than the night before. I peeked at Frankie. Obviously Sebastian wasn’t as smitten as I was, but could he like me enough to give people that impression? No.
I was too intuitive to miss something so huge. Wasn’t I? I did have plenty on my mind these days. Our kiss took over my thoughts, and my fingers moved to touch my lips. The tips of my fingers tingled with the memory. Frankie smiled. It was my turn to blush.

  “I think this is everything.” I handed her the file. “Can I see Adrian before I go?”

  “Sure. I’ll walk you back.”

  To my surprise, Sheriff Murray didn’t come in yelling that I had only ten minutes to visit. Adrian roused when he saw us. Frankie smiled and shut the door behind her on the way out. I appreciated the privacy, but I had no idea what to say to Adrian.

  “Coffee?” I slid the cup between his bars.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, it’s not from Mrs. Tucker. When do you get out? Have you talked to your attorney?” I expected him to be released on bail until the trial. The fact he remained incarcerated broke my heart.

  “Tomorrow, I think. Turns out the entire island is involved in something. Offices everywhere are closed.”

  “Yeah, what is everyone up to?”

  His eyes drooped. “You know this is the first pony auction I’ve missed in my life. And I’m right here.”

  “Really?” I hadn’t been back more than a handful of days since I left for college. I chose holidays and avoided pony week as best I could.

  He chuckled darkly. “Yeah. I love this island, traditions and all. Some of my best memories are wrapped around the auction.”

  I blushed. “Are they being nice to you here?”

  “Frankie’s nice. She brings me things and keeps me company when the sheriff’s out. Lucky for me that’s more and more with all the chaos going on out there. Your parents come by, too. Your dad plays cards with me.”

  A tear pricked my eye. I summoned my inner calm. Adrian needed me to be positive, not emotional. I hated seeing him behind bars.