Secrets Among the Cedars (Intertwined Book 2)

by Johnson, Sherri Wilson

  The sky looked like ashes and billowy cotton. Hopefully, an evening storm wouldn't crop up before she got back to the condo. But storms had been brewing all week out in the Gulf, so there was no guarantee.

  She pulled her car under the massive palm trees beside the picnic area, then hooked Sadie up to her leash and followed the paved path to the nearest table underneath a pavilion. The ocean lapped on the beach area, the only one in Cedar Key, and the palm fronds danced in the hot, salty breeze. Children laughed and played in the playground, and tourists bustled around the storefront area, filtering in and out of establishments with bags of goodies in their hands. Kathryn breathed in and closed her eyes. She might form an addiction to this place.

  "Let me drink this, Sadie, and then we'll go back to the condo. I don't want to miss one single sunset on the dock. How 'bout you?" She tugged Sadie's right ear; Sadie barked, drool sliding out of her mouth.

  "Yeah, I hate missing sunsets too."

  At the sound of the deep voice coming from behind her, Kathryn jumped and almost dropped her drink. The hair stood up on the back of her neck, and her back stiffened. Some watchdog Sadie was.

  Sadie darted away from her toward the stranger, and she had no choice but to turn around. She locked her gaze with Phil’s, as he squatted to meet her baby. Her breath caught in her throat, causing a hiccough to erupt from deep within, and she covered her mouth with her hand. What was he doing here? Had he followed her? Maybe he was the one behind the threats. Kathryn reached for her keys and positioned them between her fingers in case she needed to defend herself. Sadie certainly wasn't going to do it.

  Not seeming to notice the strange reaction he'd caused, Phil complimented, "Your dog is amazing! What kind is she?"

  "She's a Silken Windhound."

  "She's beautiful."

  "Thanks. I wish everyone around here felt that way."

  "What do you mean?"

  After Kathryn explained to Phil about the threatening note, he responded with obvious concern stamped across his face. "I can't believe anyone would threaten her." He ruffled Sadie's ears and stood, pulling his white V-neck T-shirt down over the low-slung waistband of his faded jeans.

  "I agree." Kathryn sighed and arched her right eyebrow. She tried to ignore the toned muscles bulging from beneath his shirt. He looked great in white. He'd probably look good in any color though. Why had her mouth suddenly gone dry? It had been too long since she’d been this close to a handsome man in a conversation outside of the topic of law. "She's supposed to protect me from strangers." She tugged at the leash and rolled her eyes.

  Phil crinkled his brow. "But I'm not a stranger."

  "To her you are. I suppose I should've gotten a Rottweiler." Sadie wagged her tail and whimpered for Phil to play with her. Kathryn tightened her hold on the leash and dragged her back, shoving her keys into her pocket.

  “Am I bothering you?”

  She felt a pang in her chest. She shouldn’t have been so rude. “No, of course not. But you are following me, right?"

  "No way! I live here. Remember?" He shrugged his eyebrows. "I always stop at my favorite spot to watch the clamming boats come in before heading back home." He directed his attention toward the dock adjacent to the shops.

  Was there no escaping this man? She smiled but groaned and returned to her seat. "Favorite spot?"

  "Yep. You can't beat the ambiance."

  "Is that what you call it?" She giggled.

  "Of course." He held up a sack he'd held underneath his arm. "Care if I join?"

  She held up a finger. "On one condition."

  "Okay, shoot."

  "Don't feed Sadie any of whatever's in that bag…"

  Phil tucked his legs underneath the table and sat on the bench opposite Kathryn. "Deal."

  "…no matter how hard she begs." Kathryn laughed and sucked on her straw. Then she grabbed her forehead and scrunched up her face.

  "What's the matter?"

  "Brain freeze!" She stomped her foot on the ground. Like that would help.

  "Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and hold it there."

  She squeezed her forehead again. "What?"

  "Just do it. Trust me."

  Kathryn pressed her tongue hard up onto the roof of her mouth and within seconds, the brain freeze disappeared. "Thanks. Where'd you learn how to do that?"

  "Oh, we Italians know all sorts of useless things."

  "We Southerners know a lot of useless things too." She laughed. "But that wasn't so useless. You saved me a lot of pain."

  Phil bowed his head and folded his hands. He whispered words Kathryn couldn't discern and nodded several times. He was praying? She wouldn't have guessed he was a man of faith. Since he was, he must be trustworthy.

  Phil looked up, opened the bag, and pulled out a colossal cinnamon roll.

  Kathryn burst into laughter. "You're going to get so fat eating like that."

  "They're good!"

  "I know they are. But they'd be the death of my waistline."

  "No, you're so thin; it'd take a lot to kill your figure."

  Kathryn froze mid-slurp. Had her heart stopped beating? This guy was slicker than her driveway on an icy winter morning. She had better proceed with caution, or she’d be metaphorically hydroplaning in no time.

  He wiped icing away from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, his cheeks a touch rosier than before he'd made that comment. So the big New Yorker could blush after all. His beard couldn't disguise his embarrassment. "Did you figure out anything more on your case?"

  Kathryn shook her head. "I studied the files for hours. I think the weapon, a .22 caliber pistol, is hidden somewhere out there." She pointed to the Gulf.

  "What?"

  "Witnesses say it was transported here, and the evidence was washed away. So far, we've found no connection between the suspect and Cedar Key."

  "I'm glad to help, if you'd like me to look over your file."

  Her gaze traced his face, landed on his lips, and then returned to his eyes. Was he trustworthy? It didn't matter. She couldn't ask for help from such a new acquaintance. "Thanks, it's classified. I hope you understand."

  "Absolutely." He smiled and shoved the last bite of his cinnamon roll into his mouth. "How long have you been practicing law?”

  “About five years, not counting law school internships.”

  He licked his fingers. “What’s been your most interesting or memorable case to date?”

  “Besides the one I’m working on now?” Kathryn sipped on her drink and followed a boat from the yacht club pier until it disappeared behind the buildings on Dock Street. “I guess I’d have to say the Clark Buchanan case out of South Carolina. He was in exports but made most of his money exporting drugs. He was arrested in Georgia and let out on bail until his trial. He went home to his wife, Cora, but took off one night and was never seen again. Until he turned up dead, that is.”

  Phil’s eyes widened. “Dead?”

  “Yes, someone he owed a chunk of money to came after him and shot him down.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “Just last year. I spoke with his wife, and she’d left town just before he was killed. I was afraid that whoever killed him would come after her.”

  “Did they?”

  “No, she ended up at a ranch in South Georgia and later married the owner’s son. They own a B&B. I’ve often thought about stopping by sometime and meeting her. In fact, I might do that on my way home.”

  “Sounds like an interesting case.” Phil tossed his sack in a nearby trash can. “So do you talk to Maria much?"

  Kathryn choked on her drink. This man was going to be the death of her. If he wanted to know about Maria, why didn't he just call her himself? "No, I haven't spoken with her since she moved back to New York. She sort of erased Georgia from her mind."

  "I guess it's easy to do when there are bigger and better things waiting on you. I'm glad I missed that train wreck. Lucky for me, I moved to Savannah right befo
re she returned to New York."

  "I'm sorry she did that to you."

  He removed the cap from his water bottle and gulped the drink down. "Don't be. I dodged a big bullet."

  "Really?"

  "Yes, definitely! If we'd married, we'd probably be divorced by now. Or she'd still be cheating on me."

  "I wish I'd known it was going on. I would've said something. You didn't deserve that."

  "Water under the bridge. Life goes on. And all those other clichés people say. Right?"

  Kathryn shrugged. "I suppose so. It still had to hurt a lot. Rejection stinks."

  "Yeah." He steepled his fingers on top of the table and drummed their tips against each other. "If I remember correctly, forgive me if I'm wrong, you had a boyfriend at the time."

  Kathryn didn't want to talk about Zeke. Not with Phil anyway. It had taken her a year to recover from their break-up. She blew out a big breath. "Yes, I did. That was a long time ago though." She stood. "So…I need to let Sadie take a walk before I head back to the condo."

  "I'll walk with you, if you'd like. There's a path along the water's edge."

  Kathryn pulled her keys out of her front pocket as they approached her car parked in front of the city park. "Well, I had better get back before the sun goes down."

  "Oh yeah, you want to see the sunset." Phil cut his eyes sideways at her.

  "Right. And I don't want to be out after dark." She brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face.

  "Maybe you should give me your number."

  "In case you need me to come rescue you?"

  "Ha!" He stepped back.

  "I'll call you if I need anything. Thanks." After Sadie jumped into the car, Kathryn climbed in after her and shut her car door. She looked up into those caramel eyes for what she hoped was the last time. Her heart couldn't handle all the fluttering this man caused. What did it matter though? He was Maria's ex, which made him off limits.

  So why couldn't she stop thinking about him now?

  Chapter Four

  Kathryn parked in the side lot of the grocery store and left Sadie in the car. A grilled steak for dinner and a swim in the pool afterward might cheer her up since she hadn't solved the case yet. She walked along the mural-covered wall of the store, stepping around the front of a beat up yellow pickup truck.

  Kathryn tugged the glass door open and stepped up into what looked more like a convenience store instead of a full-fledged grocery store. The prices were probably sky high. She grabbed a battered blue plastic basket and found the produce section to her right. She chose a large potato to bake and a bagged salad then headed for the meat department all the way in the back. After she picked out a t-bone the size of Texas, she strolled up and down the rest of the aisles and let her thoughts drift back to the case.

  How would the charges against Louie Ezzo stick if his gun couldn't be located? Maybe she could stay here a few more days. She'd be cutting it close if she remained any longer since the trial was in two weeks, but she needed more time here to find the gun. If only Ezzo’s defense attorney hadn’t asked for an immediate trial based off the fact that the weapon hadn’t been found and Ezzo was sure there’d be no conviction, she’d have years to work on this case. But everyone was entitled to a speedy trial, and that clock had already begun to tick.

  Kathryn found her way to the front of the store to check out. Three men stood near the register, encircled by the odor of cigarettes, and stalked her with their eyes. The one with greasy brown hair lifted his chin and gave her an arrogant smile. Another winked at her with beady dark eyes. The third man studied the floor. Could one of these suspicious looking guys be behind the threats?

  Kathryn hurried to the register and placed her basket on the counter. "Hi. How are you?"

  "Good." The skinny man behind the counter with tattoo sleeves running down both arms took her items out of the basket and scanned them with the barcode wand. He didn't seem too eager to make her feel welcome at all.

  "This seems to be a place a lot of people in town would visit. And I’m guessing a lot of vacationers come here too. Have you heard anyone talking around town about a Cedar Key connection to a murder in Georgia?"

  He shook his head and placed her salad and potato in a bag.

  "How about anyone trying to unload a gun?"

  "No." His voice sounded like sandpaper scratching across glass.

  "What about a man by the name of Ezzo?"

  He stopped with the steak in his hand, half in the grocery bag and half out, and looked at her with bloodshot amber eyes. The three men, now huddled in the corner by the bread, scurried out of the store like cockroaches when the lights come on in the middle of the night.

  "Did I say something wrong?"

  "No." He shifted his attention from her face to outside the store and back. "Look lady, you don't want to go sticking your nose in places it don't belong."

  She put her hand high on her hip. "What do you mean?"

  "You're new here, right?"

  Kathryn nodded. He didn't have to know she was only here for the weekend.

  "There’re a lot of things you don't know about the way things are done in this town."

  "Like what?" She challenged him with an arched eyebrow.

  "We're kind of like the edge of the world. Ya know? If the world was flat. People come here with their secrets, and they leave 'em here. Those secrets are better left buried."

  "If you know something, you had better tell me."

  The man placed the steak in the plastic bag with trembling hands and glared at her. "Mind your business." Obvious fear hid behind his boldness.

  "What would you think if I subpoenaed you for the Superior Court in Georgia?"

  He gulped and his Adam's apple bulged. "You're a lawyer?"

  "You bet I am. Now what do you know?"

  "You'll have to subpoena me." He shoved the bag of groceries at Kathryn. "It's on the house."

  "Oh no, it's not!" She tossed thirty dollars at him. "Keep the change. And consider yourself subpoenaed." He didn’t have to know that she couldn’t subpoena him without having his name. Kathryn flung open the door and rushed out onto the sidewalk. She bolted around the side of the building to the parking lot, and the three suspicious men darted behind the building. She unlocked her car and found Sadie awaiting her return unharmed. Kathryn pressed the pedal to the floorboard. She had to get to the condo without someone following her.

  #

  Fifty feet out in the water at the end of the covered dock, Kathryn sat with Sadie by her side basking in the orange sunset. Katydids chirped in the grasses and fish splashed to the surface of the water feeding on bugs. Kathryn sipped coffee from a seashell-adorned mug, her mind drifting back to her run-in with the store clerk. He knew something. That gun was here in Cedar Key, and she had to find it. But what if she didn’t?

  She needed to call the D.A. and let him know she’d had no success yet. Why had she thought she could find the gun? Her investigators and the detectives hadn't been able to. Way to go, Kathryn.

  She'd made it look like the people who worked so hard for her didn't know what they were doing, and here she’d failed too. Daddy would be ashamed of her. But then again dear old Dad might not be. Hadn't he always told her that the way to get to the top was to use others as steppingstones? Taking others down for your own gain was always okay in Daddy’s eyes.

  That's what he'd done to Mom. She'd paid his way through medical school by working every job she could find. And what did he do to thank her? He cheated on her. Now he was married with a new family. The only way Kathryn felt she could get his attention and make Daddy happy would be to push her way to D.A. then to judge and then onto Supreme Court Justice. Then maybe he’d be proud of her? Maybe he might love her?

  Could she do it? There had to be something else she could do with her life. Something that really mattered. Putting away criminals mattered, yes, but there was so much hard work and no time for Kathryn to enjoy anything else. That's one of the reasons Zek
e left her. Her job wasn't family-friendly. So he moved on.

  Kathryn brought her cup to her lips again with care and played with Sadie's ears. Dolphins glided across Daughtry Bayou. If only she could go with them. They seemed so carefree. Would she ever do something with her life that would bring joy?

  The fishing line pulled inside her reel, and the end of her rod bent toward the water. Kathryn set her mug on the dock and grabbed her rod. Something big had to be on the other end. As long as it wasn't a shark, she’d be okay. The last thing she needed was to go over the edge of the dock into the dark brine.

  She pulled back on the rod, and it bent nearly in half. She reeled until her wrist felt like it would break. What was on the other end of that line?

  When she finally got her line reeled in, a small ray flipped and flopped at the end of it. A beautiful creature, but not anything to brag about. Kathryn stepped on the barbed tail, removed the hook with her pliers, careful not to get nailed with the barb, and flipped the ray back into the water. She put a fresh piece of squid on the end of her line and sent it out as far as she could. She reeled in the slack and returned her thoughts to the case.

  In the file, a statement from a witness continued to badger her. Something about a honeymooning couple? What would a honeymooning couple have to do with a murder weapon? If the gun was out there, where was it? Phil wanted to help her find it, but could she put aside her attraction to him and work to solve this case?

  Kathryn’s hands ached from holding the rod, and her shoulders begged for a respite from reeling, so she reeled in the line. She cleaned up her fishing supplies, scooped up her mug, and grabbed Sadie's leash. "Come on, girl. We're not going to solve this case sitting out here on the dock."

  As they stepped with care down the narrow walkway in need of repair, the hairs on the back of her neck and on her arms stood to attention. The Gulf breeze blew the palm trees and the bushes surrounding the condo. Could someone be hiding in them? She ran across the patio around the swimming pool and shoved the back door open. Sadie followed her inside. Kathryn locked the door.