With the appearance of Silver Lining in the most recent victims, coupled with the brutality of their murders as opposed to the much more thought out way the first three had been killed, Alexandria was growing more and more certain that Kelli’s and Lynette’s deaths weren’t connected to the victims from four years ago. She’d told Adam Cooper as much when she’d checked in with him to fill him in on what she’d learned so far.
Lost in her thoughts about the case, she didn’t see the woman walking by on the sidewalk until she stepped out the front door of the Sheriff’s Department and plowed right into her. The box in the woman’s arms hit the concrete, landed on its edge, and flipped on its side. The contents spilled on the sidewalk at the woman’s feet.
“Oh, God! I’m so sorry.” Alex kneeled and reached for the box, righting it. “I hope I didn’t break anything.”
The woman kneeled with her, laughing. “Don’t sweat it. It’s only lingerie.”
Alex lifted her brows as she picked up one of the items that had fallen out of the box. Her red silk teddy had nothing on the sleek, black, full-lace teddy she held. “Wow! I’ll say. This is sexy.”
“I thought so.” The woman sat back on her haunches and rested her elbows on her knees. “It’s got this classy seductive look without giving off the slut vibe, you know?”
Alex giggled as she passed the teddy to the woman and finished packing the other articles that had fallen out back into the box. “Again, I’m truly sorry. I should’ve been paying closer attention.”
“Hey, I was off in la-la land, too.” The woman loaded the box in her arms and pushed to her feet.
Alex straightened with her, noting the woman’s gaze had lingered on the gun in her shoulder holster before the woman dragged her attention away. She was a good inch or more taller than Alex and, though wasn’t strikingly beautiful, her short bob of flaming red hair perfectly accented her pixy face. Mischief and excitement danced in her brown eyes.
“I’m thinking that teddy you were admiring will be perfect for the display window. I’m betting the tourists will really go for it.” She adjusted the box, resting it on her hip with one arm hooked around it, and extended her free hand. “I’m Michaela Gleason.”
Alex took Michaela’s hand. “Alex Sykes.” She angled her head and gave the woman a questioning look. “Display window?”
Michaela nodded. “At Divine Playthings.” She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the shops lining the opposite side of the street Rhett had told Alex the islanders called the main drag. “It’s four stores down over there. My partner, Chad Divine, and I run the place.”
Alex had noticed the shop when she and Rhett had walked by it on their way to Ménage à Drink last night. “Right. It’s the one with the midnight-blue, ankle-length flowing nightgown in the window. I was admiring it, too, by the way.”
Michaela waggled her brows. “That one is perfect for that seductive dinner at home with your men. It’s kind of a mix between sexy lingerie and a cocktail dress.” Her gaze slid down Alex’s front. “It would look great on you.”
Alex gave her a half laugh. “Thanks, but I don’t have any men to wear it for.”
“Stay on the island long enough and you will,” Michaela predicted. Her attention flicked past Alex to the door of the Sheriff’s Department and then back at Alex’s Glock nestled in her shoulder holster before she asked, “Are you the agent the FBI sent to investigate that girl’s body found on the beach?”
“I am.”
Her expression sobered. “It’s so sad, what happened to her. I remember seeing her on the island several weeks back. She was a pretty thing. Great smile.”
“Did you talk to her?”
Michaela shook her head. “Chad did. Most of the women that walk in Divine Playthings flock to him if he’s around. They didn’t talk long, though. I believe he said she told him she lived on the mainland in Silver Springs and was only on the island for the day. I think it was her second time catching the excursion boat over or something. Chad’s already told this to Drake and Rhett. I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you, if you want to come over to the shop for a few minutes.”
“Thanks. Yes, I’ll do that.” Alex fell into step with Michaela as the woman led her across the street and down the sidewalk to Divine Playthings.
“It’s still early. Most of the island is just waking up, but I’ll bet Chad’s already hit up Siebel over at the Karma Café for some French toast.” She glanced at Alexandria. “Have you eaten breakfast?”
“No. Paige suggested I stop by the Karma Café as I was leaving the department and I met Arianrhod on my way from my cottage this morning.”
“Oh, Arianrhod is one of my favorite people on the island. No need to stop by there this morning, though.” Michaela waved that away. “I’ll share my breakfast with you. Chad always gets me way more than I can eat.” She stopped outside the shop, shot a scrutinizing glance at the display window, and pulled open the door. “Yeah, it’s time to change Jasmine.”
“Jasmine?” Alex followed the woman into the shop, blinking to encourage her eyes to adjust to the difference in lighting.
Michaela grinned at her. “The mannequin. It didn’t feel right undressing and redressing another woman all the time when I didn’t even know her name.”
Alex threw her head back and laughed. “I can imagine.”
Michaela moved to the customer counter and offloaded the box. “Chad must be in the back. Come on. We won’t open for another half hour.”
Alex followed the woman through the rows and racks of sex toys, massage oils and lotions, lingerie, and videos. By general definition, Divine Playthings was a porn store. Yet, as she took in the various displays and items on the shelves, she noted everything had obviously been chosen with care and good taste.
“I brought the new teddy for Jasmine,” Michaela said as she pushed through the back door of the shop. “I got the stuff from the Post Office on the mainland, too. I’m not too sure about the new stock of pearl vibrators, though. We might have to send them back.”
Alex stopped in the doorway of what was obviously used as a combination office and storage room. Shelves of boxed stock lined three walls and stretched over most of the space. Against the fourth wall sat a rectangular folding table with a laptop computer on one end and a takeout bag with a sun and moon logo around the words Karma Café sat on the other. A tall surfer boy with sandy-blond hair, the body of a swimmer, and the tan to go with it stood next to the table.
“I’ll take a look at them after we eat.” The man’s gaze slid past Michaela and locked on Alex. Sharp blue eyes studied her from a movie-star worthy face and his lips kicked into a heart-fluttering grin. There was no way she could miss the interest and intrigue that sparkled in his radiant blue eyes. “Well, hello there.”
“Chad, this is Agent Alex Sykes from the FBI.” Michaela started the introductions before Alex could return the man’s greeting. She turned and pursed her lips at Alex, her brows etching together. “Your parents didn’t really name you Alex, did they?”
She smiled. “It’s short for Alexandria.”
Michaela nodded once. “I was hoping so. Anyway,” she went on, turning her attention back to Chad, “Alex is on the island investigating that girl’s murder. I told her you had already talked to Rhett and Drake, but that I was sure you wouldn’t mind telling her what you told them, too.”
Chad raked a hand through his surfer-boy girls and pushed a hard audible breath from his lungs. “Actually, what I told Drake and Rhett wasn’t really everything I know.”
“It wasn’t?” Michaela and Alex said in unison. Michaela’s tone rang with surprise, while Alex kept her voice conversational, heavily outlined with professionalism.
Chad backed to the table and leaned against it. “It’s been driving me nuts. I didn’t lie to Drake and Rhett, but I didn’t come completely clean either.” He scoffed. “I don’t expect you to believe this, but I was waiting on Michaela to get here so she could open the shop and run t
hings while I went to the Sheriff’s Department to talk to them again.”
Convenient story, Alex thought. “What exactly haven’t you told the deputies?”
“Lynette came in here the last time she was on the island. Well, the last time she was on the island alive, I mean. She made a pass at me, slid me her phone number on the mainland, and made it clear she was available whenever I decided to take a trip to Silver Springs.” He lifted a shoulder and winced. “I’ve got a thing for redheads and strawberry blondes. I would’ve come on to you if Michaela hadn’t opened with the whole introduction of you being an FBI agent and all.”
“Which was exactly why I made a point to do that,” Michaela sing-songed. “I thought I would save both of you the embarrassment.”
“Lynette was a looker,” Chad went on. “Hell, the two of you could’ve passed as sisters. Anyway, I told her I’d be in touch.”
“And were you?” Alex asked.
He nodded. “I called her and met her at Castaways. That’s a club in Silver Springs.”
“It’s known to be where she liked to hang out.”
“Yeah, well, anyway. Lynette was into drugs. I didn’t realize it until that night. We had a great time until she started looking to score. She said the cops had arrested this guy who used to get the stuff for her, but that there was another guy they didn’t know about who still came in Castaways from time to time.”
“Did he come in that night?”
“He might have. I don’t know. I told her I wasn’t into that sort of stuff. I used to be.” He glanced at Michaela. “We used to be. We cleaned up our act, got our lives on track, and moved to the island. Neither of us wants to go down that road again.”
“So you left Lynette at the club?”
He shook his head. “I convinced her to let me take her home. When I dropped her off, I made sure she’d saved my number, but not so we could go out again. I told her if she ever wanted help getting clean, to call me. I would do what I could for her.” He bowed his head. “The next thing I know, her body is found on the beach here at the island.”
“Could that be why she came back to the island? Could she have found another way here other than the excursion boat, come looking for you, and the killer got to her first?”
“Could be, I suppose.” He lifted his head, scratched his chin thoughtfully, and then his eyes widened slightly. “Damn, you really believe she was killed on the island, don’t you?”
Alex didn’t answer him. “Why didn’t you tell this to the deputies?”
He gave her a “really” look. “Obviously, I didn’t want them to think I was a suspect.” His expression turned considering. “And obviously, now that I’ve told you, I am a suspect.”
“Anyone who crossed paths with Lynette Cross in the weeks before her murder is a suspect, Mr. Divine.”
“Chad,” he corrected her. “And I didn’t kill her.” He scoffed again. “Of course, that’s what I’m supposed to say, right?”
Alex couldn’t help but give him a small laugh. “I’ve heard it a time or ten zillion.”
“Look, I realize it was wrong of me not to say anything before, but I really didn’t see how me taking her out one night on the mainland would help find out who killed her. She talked to damn near every person in that club that night. She was a regular there. We danced, had a few drinks, talked, and then she started looking to score.”
“And you didn’t talk to her after that? She never called and you didn’t call her?”
“No. Like I said, I made sure she had my number if she decided she wanted my help and that’s the last I saw or talked to her.”
“Where are you from, Chad?”
He blinked at the change of subject, but rolled with the conversational shift. “I was born in Miami, lived there until I turned seventeen, and hit the road. I was in with a bad crowd back home and thought, if I got away, I could get my life together. Instead, I got right back in with a different bad crowd in Pensacola.”
Alex played it cool as her suspicions climbed. It was one of the first rules she’d learned as a detective. Never let a witness or potential suspect know when they’d struck a nerve. “Does the name Patty Smart mean anything to you?”
He narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. “No. I’ve never heard of her.” He glanced at Michaela and asked, “Have you?”
Michaela shook her head. “No, I can’t say I have. Why?”
Rather than answer, Alexandria asked another question. “Have you ever lived in Louisiana or Texas?”
“I’ve never even visited those states, let alone lived there.”
“What about Gulf Shores? Have you ever visited or lived there?”
“Visited, yeah. I—” He broke off suddenly and a look of misgiving took over his expression. “I was talking to a girl who lived there for a while. She was another woman I met here on the island about a year or so ago.”
“Kelli Darcy?” Alex supplied the name.
His face paled. “How did you know that? Did something happen to her, too?”
“When is the last time you talked to Kelli Darcy?”
“At least a year. She stayed on the island a couple of days, came into the store her first day here, and we hit it off. I made the pass that time. She was beautiful. Long, strawberry-blonde hair, big brown eyes, curves in all the right places…I took her to Starry Skies for dinner, we hung at the beach, and that sort of stuff. I thought we really hit it off. When it came time for her to leave, we talked about getting together on the mainland, but we never did. We talked on the phone a few times and then I fucked up my phone, dropped it in the surf on the beach. I lost all my stored contacts including her number. I got a new phone and requested the same number hoping she would call me, but I never heard from her again.”
“Kelli Darcy’s body was found on the coastline a little more than a year ago just like Lynette Cross’s.”
Michaela gasped. “She was murdered, too?”
Alexandria nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“Alex. Agent Sykes,” Michaela corrected herself. “Chad didn’t kill either of those women.”
Chad reached for Michaela’s arm and pulled her close. “It’s okay, Michaela. Alex has a job to do and, in doing so, she will see I had nothing to do with either murder.” He leveled his gaze on Alex. “Whatever you need from me, Agent Sykes, a log of when I’ve left and returned to the island since I moved here, written statements, anything, just let me know.”
“Do you keep a log of your trips off-island?”
“Of course. Most of the trips I make are business related.” He gave her a small smile. “I do confess to often mixing business with pleasure, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell the IRS that.”
Alex returned his smile. “What you report to the IRS is the least of my concerns, but I do need that log.”
He moved to a filing cabinet in the corner and pulled out a spiral bound notebook. “It’s all in here.” He closed the file drawer and held out the book. “Every trip I’ve made off this island is recorded on those pages.”
“How do you get to and from the mainland?”
“My private boat. I keep it at the resident docks on the other end of the island.”
“Will you consent to a search of both it and your home?”
He nodded. “This store, too, if you want to go through it. Drake and Rhett know which boat belongs to me. My cottage is unlocked. They can take you to it as well.”
“Thank you for being open and cooperative, Mr. Divine. I’m going to insist that you don’t leave the island until further notice and you can rest assure I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait,” Michaela said when Alex turned to leave. “You can’t go yet. I’ll never eat all that French toast over there by myself.”
Surprised, Alex stared at the woman. “You still want me to stay and eat breakfast.”
“Of course,” Chad answered for Michaela. “It’ll give me a few more minutes to convince you that you aren’t about to sit down and eat
breakfast with a murderer.”
Intrigued, Alex shrugged. “Well, okay. While we eat, you can tell me how you went from being a drug addict to the owner of a tasteful adult shop on this very odd and yet charming island.”
Chapter Six
“Chad Divine isn’t our killer.” Rhett felt as certain of it as he did his own name. He flattened his hands on the table top in the conference room and leaned on them as he stared at Drake. “Come on, man. You can’t believe he’d do something like that to those women.”
Drake leaned back in his seat at the head of the conference table. “What I believe is he is the first solid link we have between the two victims and possibly Patty Smart from Pensacola, despite his denial that he knew her.”
“Why would he lie about knowing her when he came clean about Lynette Cross and Kelli Darcy?”
“Patty Smart never visited Silver Island.” True to form, Alexandria paced the narrow space between the back of Drake’s chair and the dry-erase board. “She couldn’t have because the island wasn’t developed until years after her murder. However, Kelli Darcy and Lynette Cross were here. He knew you had already found out about Lynette Cross’s visits to the island and he was bound to know we’d find out about Kelli Darcy’s the minute I brought up her name.”
Rhett had been at the island Welcome Center discovering exactly that at the same time Alex had been at Divine Playthings. The records kept at the Welcome Center of the visitors to the island had revealed a two day stay by Kellie Darcy less than a week before her body had been found in Gulf Shores. He’d stopped by the Island Resort next and found confirmation that the woman had been registered during her two day stay in one of the lower-end hotel suites.
“Add to that how he didn’t bother to tell us about his continued association with Lynette Cross, no matter how brief, after she left the island, and it definitely raises my eyebrows, Rhett,” Drake chimed in.”
“Yeah, I know.” Rhett sighed. “But the search on his boat and cottage came up empty and the log book he turned over to Alex checks out. He was on the island at least two days before both murders and on the days the bodies were found.”
Safe and Deputized with Ecstasy [The Heroes of Silver Island 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 11