She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Levi called me last night. On my cell, which you wouldn’t let me check, and on the office phone. He sounded freaked out and I want to check on him.”
“You think he’s in trouble?”
“No. I think I’m going to go over there and he’s going to be annoyed that I bothered to stop by so early.”
“But you called me.”
Katy turned without saying anything. She wasn’t about to tell Nathan she suddenly agreed with him. Because she didn’t. This was a better-safe-than-sorry situation. Except she was already sorry.
The walking trail through the woods was very well defined and easy for the guests to have a small private nature walk. The turnoff to go to Levi’s property was subtle, but she’d walked it enough that she knew exactly when to take the right fork and soon enough, she and Nathan were both walking onto Levi’s lawn.
“Oh God,” said Nathan as they looked up at the house.
“Don’t,” warned Katy.
“Come on. Who gave this guy decorating advice?” The house itself was very pretty. It was all white and the front was lined with four big columns. Not exactly Maine style, but it was striking nonetheless. Especially taking in the water view behind the house.
The part that was hard to take in was how over-decorated the house was. Four of the shrubs had been trimmed to take the shape of jumping dolphins. The middle of the wraparound drive had an elaborate fountain spouting water. On the corners of the house were marble-like statues of guards.
“Levi is a successful businessman. He can decorate however makes him happy.”
“It’s not fair to make me look at this,” said Nathan as they both walked up the driveway. They had to cut across the grass, and the morning dew had soaked through her flats, making her grumpy mood even worse. Levi had better have something damn interesting to tell her.
“Katy, can we talk about last night?”
“No.”
“I want to—”
Katy stopped and twisted around to face him. “Stop.”
“But—”
“No. You’re either going to apologize, which I know won’t be sincere. Or you’re going to try to justify yourself again and I don’t want to hear it. I’m not a porcelain doll you can possess or own, Nathan. You can’t make these decisions for me or lock me in a tower to keep me safe, no matter what your motives are. Even if I wanted to have something with you, how could I let myself? How am I supposed to forgive this? I just—” She could go on all day yelling at him but there was nothing new to say. The pain was too fresh and it was mixed in with the sting of betrayal.
It would take a lot more than an insincere apology to get over this. “Let’s just go talk to Levi.” She started for the house. It was hard to focus on any one thing while approaching Levi’s lavish estate, but soon enough something became apparent. Something wrong.
Nathan must’ve seen it at the same time because he reached out, wrapping his fingers around her arm and stopping her. “The door’s open.”
The slight unease Katy had felt for the entire trip suddenly ramped up. She glanced around, as though she’d catch someone staring at them from the woods, but they appeared to be alone.
“Is that his car?” Nathan pointed to the black BMW off to the side.
Katy nodded as she fiddled with her phone, calling Levi once more. There was no answer still. She cursed under her breath as Nathan let her go.
“Stay here,” he ordered as he started for the porch.
For a few seconds she listened, but then his words hit her. Stay there? While he went up alone? Katy walked fast to catch up with Nathan and met up with him right as he was walking inside the door.
“I thought I told you to wait.”
“So you can die and then I’ll feel guilty? No. I’m too mad at you to let you get hurt right now.”
She waited for Nathan to tell her something reassuring, like how he was sure nothing was wrong, but he turned away from her. “Levi!” he called, but there was no answer. “It’s Nathan Farrell and Katy. Your door was open so we let ourselves in!”
There was still no answer. Nathan cautiously went farther into the house. There was a sitting room off to the right and what looked like an office to the left. In front of them was the kitchen.
Strange to think that this was her first time in Levi’s house. She’d always known how Levi felt about her and tried her best not to lead him on. Somehow going into his home with him had seemed like a green light she didn’t want to offer.
Nathan was just in the kitchen when he twisted around and started for the front door. “Let’s go.”
“But—”
He set an arm around her waist. “Now, Katy.”
She pulled free from his grasp and ran for the kitchen, coming to an abrupt halt when she saw what Nathan must’ve seen. The body was lying across the kitchen floor, surrounded by utensils and spices. The face was barely recognizable, but she knew who it was.
She gasped in a breath and covered her mouth with her hand. It took her a few seconds to realize that the screaming she heard was her own.
Nathan rubbed a hand over his eyes as the exhaustion hit him. Fuck, this wasn’t good. Well, it definitely wasn’t good for Levi, but it was a sign that he’d been right. The one time he didn’t want to be right.
“Hey,” said a voice behind him.
He looked over his shoulder to see Scott Hart behind him.
“Got your message. I came as soon as I could.”
“Tell me this has nothing to do with what’s happening at the inn,” said Nathan.
Hart frowned but didn’t give Nathan any comforting words. “I got to know the sheriff yesterday. I’ll see if he can give me any details.” At the moment, the sheriff was talking to Katy on the other side of the driveway. After Nathan had pulled her out of the house, she hadn’t shown any desire to go back in, which was for the best.
Nathan shifted his weight as Hart went to stand to the side of Sheriff Dan and Katy. He walked and stood with authority, as if he were a cop who had every right to be there. Good. Nathan needed the guy to start giving answers soon. Everything had a sense of urgency now. Abstract fears were now definite threats, and if Nathan didn’t get things sorted soon, his protective instincts were going to go into overload.
Sheriff Dan said something else to Katy as he set a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Katy just stiffened. She didn’t want to be touched; she wanted to get the hell out of there. Nathan cursed under his breath and started across the driveway. He wasn’t going to stay here and watch her suffer when he could be there.
But it seemed as though the sheriff was done with her because she started to leave right as Nathan reached her. “Hello,” she said softly when she saw him. No bite of anger over what had happened last night. Damn it. He wanted that anger back suddenly.
“Are you free to leave now?”
She nodded. “They’re going to call me if they have more questions. Not that I can really help. I mean, I don’t know anything. He never had a chance to tell me what he wanted to.”
“Maybe I should take you home.”
“No. I have so much to do and—”
Nathan took a chance and intertwined his fingers with hers as he took her hand. She didn’t stiffen like she did when the sheriff had touched her. She just looked down at the spot where they touched and stared. Probably wasn’t sure whether she should punch him or slap him.
Instead, she just sighed. “Let’s go back to the inn.”
Nathan nodded and looked up just in time to see Hart staring at him. He didn’t look away once he saw Nathan noticed, so he obviously wasn’t being discreet about it. Nathan gave him a quick nod of acknowledgment before he walked with Katy back to the woods. “I’m sorry about your friend,” he said once they were far enough away.
“Thanks,” she said weakly. “Do you think that this had anything to do with—”
“I don’t know. I’m looking into it, though.” He didn’t want
to say anything to her, but he was pretty convinced this was all connected. It was one hell of a coincidence that she’d been threatened yesterday and Levi ended up murdered today. Nathan had never been a big believer in coincidence. No reason to start believing in it now.
“Your family—”
“My family isn’t any of your concern right now. I want you to relax.”
“I don’t need to relax. Levi and I weren’t close.”
“Do you find a lot of dead bodies out here?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t need to act like this is an everyday thing. Your boss is giving you the day off.”
“I’m not calling you my boss,” she said.
But she didn’t fight him about taking the day off, so he didn’t argue with her. Maybe it was a good thing. If she wasn’t calling him her boss, that maybe left the door open for other things.
Once they reached the inn, he took his chances and, still holding her hand, went right for the stairs. But Katy didn’t fight him as he led her to his room and opened the door. Except once they were both in the room, she pulled her hand from his and turned around. “You know I’m not here for you, right?”
“I know.” He stepped forward and to his surprise, Katy closed the distance between them and kissed him. It was over as quickly as it started as she turned back to face the bed.
“I thought you weren’t here for me,” he said as she started to work the zipper at the back of her dress down. He approached and caught the zipper, slowly taking it the rest of the way down.
“That was for me.”
“And this?” he asked as the zipper reached the bottom, the barest hint of black lacy panties showing.
“This is for me.” She turned around, the dress still up. “I hate it, but you’re right. I’ve barely slept at all and I’m not going to be able to focus on a thing. I need a nap. So I’m commandeering your room. Manager’s privilege.” She rolled her shoulders and the dress fell to the floor.
Nathan had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself in place. Everything inside him wanted to reach out and pull her against him, but he forced himself to remain stone still. Some parts harder than others...
To make things worse, Katy turned around and bent over as she pulled the blankets back. But soon enough, she crawled into the bed and covered up all that temptation. Just when he thought it would be safe again, she reached behind her and a second later, she dropped her bra on the ground next to her dress. Then she rolled on her side, facing away from him as she seemed to settle in.
Nathan’s hands curled into fists as he stumbled back from the bed. She needed time and he hadn’t brought her up here for any reason but to relax. Through some miracle, he made it to the door and out into the hallway where there was at least a solid wall to act as a barrier between him and Katy. A solid wall that he had the key to enter. Hell, he shouldn’t leave her alone. Maybe he could just sit on the chair and that way if she needed him, he could be there... He was halfway toward going right back inside when he heard someone come up the stairs. He straightened and got ready to greet one of his brothers, but it was Scott Hart approaching. “I thought you’d still be with the police,” said Nathan in a lowered voice.
“We need to talk. Is there anywhere private?”
The major thing this place lacked was a conference room. But that didn’t mean there was nowhere. “Follow me.” Nathan led the way downstairs and into the library. There were glass French doors that he closed. It was neither soundproof nor private, but at this time in the morning, at least they were alone. If he went into Katy’s office and closed the door, that would probably draw more attention than this.
“This will have to work. What do you have for me?”
“First of all. Have you ever heard of Picard Holdings?”
There were probably a hundred different “holdings” companies he knew of, but Picard meant nothing to him. “No.”
“They’re the buyer.”
“Great. Who are they and what do they do?”
“They’re nothing. It’s a shell company owned by another company owned by the Killion Group.”
Nathan frowned. Now that was a name he knew about. But not for real estate. “What the hell would Killion want with a place like this?”
“Because evil is exhausting and they wanted a nice place to vacation?”
So the rumors were true. Nathan had heard about the mysterious corporation who made millions by doing all the dark tasks that were considered dirty work. Except somehow they did it without ever getting on the bad side of the law. Well, except for Scott Hart apparently.
“I doubt it. There has to be something here they want. But they’re not the type to go after natural resources.”
“That’s what you thought this was about? Something on the land?”
“That’s why I’ve gone after properties in the past.” Nathan narrowed his eyes. “But you were thinking something else.”
“There are thousands of things people would pay millions for. When investigating, I try to keep an open mind.”
That’s why Hart did what he did and Nathan did what he did. Nathan preferred his mind closed and comfortable. “What about the murder? Was it connected to Killion?”
“Not sure, but there was something pretty big to go off that the sheriff let me in on.” Hart reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. After running his fingers, he held the phone out to Nathan. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Nathan looked at the picture on the screen. “Where did you get this?”
“It was written on a piece of paper in the victim’s pocket.”
Nathan handed the phone back to Hart. “Yeah, I know him. The son of a bitch is a guest here.”
Nathan turned the key in Austin Miles’s room, the Grey Room. He held a finger over his mouth, signaling Hart to keep quiet as the door swung inward. Nathan led the way, careful that his shoes didn’t make any noise on the hardwood floors. Hart drew his gun and Nathan suddenly wished he had something of his own.
The room was dark due to the curtains being drawn, but the digital clock cast a soft blue glow in the room. There was a figure in the bed. Nathan stood on the side between the bed and the door while Hart stood by the foot of the bed. Nathan couldn’t make out a lot of detail, but he saw Hart give a small nod, and Nathan flipped the switch next to the bedside lamp, the same setup that was in his room. The second the light was on, Austin Miles was sitting up straight, his own gun pointing right at Hart. “We can talk about this,” he said.
“Talk about what?” said Nathan, trying to get as much information as the son of a bitch could tell him.
Miles started to inch off the bed, but Hart responded by pulling the slide of the handgun back, loading a bullet into the chamber. “Move one more muscle and this is going to fire.”
“Shooting a man in his own bed? That’s murder.”
“What about beating a man to death in his kitchen?” asked Nathan.
Miles looked between Nathan and Hart. “What? You’re going to kill me in the kitchen?”
“That’s where you killed Levi,” said Nathan.
“Who the fuck is Levi?”
Nathan looked over at Hart, but the man didn’t look the least bit moved by Miles’s proclaimed ignorance. “Levi lived in the house next door to here. He was found murdered this morning. How did you know him?”
“Hey, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone named Levi, and I sure as hell didn’t kill anyone.”
Hart didn’t let up. “Can you tell me where you were last night?”
“Yeah. I was in the library, looking for any sign of ghosts. All night. Ask the desk guy. He was giving me the evil eye about it.”
“Ghosts?” For the first time, Hart seemed surprised.
“Yeah! That’s what I do. I hunt ghosts.”
“This inn isn’t haunted,” said Nathan.
“Not that you know of,” said Miles.
&nbs
p; “Where’s your equipment?” asked Hart. Miles moved to get up and Hart continued, “Point to it.”
Miles angled his head to the chair next to the window and Hart looked to Nathan. So Nathan let them keep their standoff going while he went to the backpack and looked through it. There was a camera, some notebooks, some books about ghosts, and a few other things he couldn’t identify. “What is all this crap?”
“My EMF meter and my notes about the ghost I’ve been tracking. Gregory Paulson, the suicide victim from last year.”
Hart narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been using the EMF meter? Where?”
“The halls. The library.”
“You know that if the power is on in the building, the thing won’t work, right?”
Miles rolled his eyes. “It’s a very specific technique—”
“Who are you?” asked Hart. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you! I’m here to investigate—”
Hart reached into his back pocket and pulled out some handcuffs before throwing them on the bed. “Put those on. I’m taking you in for questioning.”
“What? You’re a cop?”
“Yep. Now hurry up. My finger is getting tired and it might slip.”
“Wait. You’re going to arrest me for the murder of some guy I never met?”
“No. I’m bringing you in for questioning. But if I were you, I’d start answering questions. At this point, you either killed the next-door neighbor or someone is setting you up.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Miles held up one hand as he slowly set the gun down on the nightstand. “We can talk about this.”
Hart frowned. “There’s no magazine in there.”
“I’m not going to sleep with a loaded gun under my pillow. I’m not a moron.” He opened the drawer in the nightstand. “The clip is in there. Next to the Bible. Seemed fitting. But we can clear this up without handcuffs. I didn’t kill anyone.”
He might not have killed anyone, but he wasn’t innocent. He slept with a gun under his pillow and seemed to have a deathly fear of going to the police station. Nathan crossed his arms over his chest. “Who are you?”
“Austin Miles. I write a blog on—”
Relentless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 5) Page 14